Difference

Chapter Two – Cloudsdale

I let out a scream as I soared through the air. I pumped my wing to climb higher and higher to the point I felt the air began to thin. Turning on my back I stopped flying and quickly fell back down to the ground. Throwing Lime Monsoon a grin when I passed him I laughed at his nervous look. Even though he knew I was a good enough flyer he still got nervous whenever I pulled these tricks.

Passing through a cloud on my descent I stopped right under the cloud. Coming back through the cloud I lounged on it. “What are you doing?” Lime Monsoon said looking at me. “We have to get to Cloudsdale and back before anyone at the farm realizes you’re gone from the house.”

“Alright mama bear,” I chuckled getting up from the cloud and began flying towards Cloudsdale.

“From what I heard from my mom yesterday Cloudsdale is now over the mountains. The Pegasi there are working on making some cloud cover there. The mountain ponies had been complaining that they were lacking on delivering rain there,” Lime was very interested in weather and everything to do with it. In fact his cutie mark was of a little sun behind a poufy white cloud. He had the makings to be a successful Cloudsdale resident, but he wouldn’t think twice about leaving his family behind.

“Let me guess the Neo-Gypsies and the Stallsteaders?” he grunted in agreement. “I don’t have a problem with most of the Stallsteaders. All they want is to live off grid and be self-reliant. However Equestria would be a lot saner place without the Neo-Gypsies. They burned half of my aunt’s crops and set most of her animals free into the woods.”

“Really? Your Aunt Bell’s farm?” he asked surprised. Growing up alongside me Lime Monsoon had grown close to my free spirited and lively aunt Bell. She was my mom’s sister and the only one my parents trusted with knowing what I was. “How’d they get pass her?”

“None of them got away with it. If there’s one thing you don’t want to do, it is get my Aunt Bell riled up,” Aunt Bell was as friendly as could be, but she could have the temper of a full grown Minotaur if provoked enough. “Once she had rounded up all of her animals, some of which had been injured, she went after all the Neo-Gypsies that were involved. She even scared one enough that the poor gelding had to go through therapy for two months. After that the gelding abandoned the Neo-Gypsies and is living somewhere around Ponyville. Last I heard of her the gelding had been planning on moving again.”

“Why? Ponyville too hard on him?” He said going side to side as he flew.

“Nah some massive dragon destroyed his home and on top of that the antics of the Mane Six were starting to stress him out. Last I heard from my Aunt Bell was the gelding was planning on moving to where her farm was,” I flew lazily beside him with my front hooves in the pocket on my hoodie.

“Why is she still in contact with the gelding who damaged her farm?” He said puzzled.

“Well they kind of hit it off a month or two ago. Aunt Bell had said that the gelding originally didn’t want to do the whole thing. Other members of the Neo-Gypsies had pressured him into doing it,” I said going quiet after a moment. What I didn’t say was the gelding was a Unicorn and as soon as the family found out that she was involved with him, she would be kicked from the family.

“Let me guess this guy isn’t an Earth Pony?” He said arching an eyebrow at me.

“How’d you know?” Looking over to him I saw the concern on his face.

“You get lines on your forehead when you worry. On top of that I didn’t really think your Aunt would date another Earth Pony,” he said passing through a cloud. His mane was damp when he came back out.

“What makes you…I see your point,” Aunt Bell was the rebel in the family and on top of that she didn’t like all the prejudice our family had towards anyone who wasn’t an Earth Pony. I shoved my front hooves deeper into the pocket as I thought of what would happen if they ever found out about me.

“Hey,” Lime Monsoon said pulling me out of my thoughts. “There’s Cloudsdale,” he pointed his hoof to the cloud city. My green eyes widened, I had been to Cloudsdale with my adoptive uncle before, but it never seized to amaze me. Cloudsdale was really close to the ground, but not close enough for any non-Pegasi to touch it. Rainbows, waterfalls, and fog came from the cloud city as we got closer.

“Look the Wonderbolts!” I followed the superfast flying Pegasi as they streamed through the sky. A rainbow trail was following close behind the one in the middle. “That’s Rainbow Dash!”

Lime Monsoon smiled. “Amazing isn’t she? A Wonderbolt, member of the mane six, and a carrier of an element of harmony.”

“Are you going to fan-colt?” I teased.

“No!” he snorted. “I just admire her,” he said just as we flew into Cloudsdale. Landing on the cloud sidewalk we looked around. Neither of us managed to get up here often at all so it was still a new sight to us. “Hey think we could stop and get something for Bluegrass Sunshine and Jubilee Rose?”

“I can’t say no to those little fillies,” I said trotting with him towards the Cloudsdale gift shop, Bluegrass Sunshine and Jubilee Rose were his twin little sisters. Their mother had died a few hours after giving birth to them and his father had abandoned his mother when he had been a colt. This had left him the legal guardian of his little sisters. Since then he had become a father figure to them and had raised them up to the best of his ability. I had been friends with him so long his little sisters saw me as their own family and often rushed towards me whenever they saw me.

Walking into the gift shop I looked around in amazement. Everything here looked amazing. “I think I’ll get something for my family too.”

Looking around in the young mares section I found a soft blue Pegasi hoodie that had white swirls curling around it. It even had ear pockets where I could stuff my ears in if it was cold out. “No way am I passing this up,” I said to myself pulling the hoodie off the rack. Walking into a changing room I pulled on the hoodie. I looked at myself in the mirror, the light blue hoodie went perfectly with my dun coat. It somehow pulled off the black stipe that ran down my spine and my black socks. I pulled the hood over my head and wiggled my ears into the ear pockets.

“Lime!” I called.

A moment later he came trotting up with a little stuffed Spitfire and Rainbow Dash in a white bag. “That looks good on you, how much is it?”

I bent around to look at the tag. “Thirty bits plus tax.”

“Not bad seeing as that’s a Wonderbolts special. I’d get Bluegrass one, but they only make them in young mare’s sizes,” he said admiring the hoodie. “Question is will you get to wear it?”

I gave him a look and arched a brow as I pulled the hoodie off. “What do you mean?”

“It’s clearly a Pegasi made hoodie and it has the Wonderbolt logo on the back. One look from your family and they’d know something is up. Do you still want to get it?”

I thought for a moment. “Yes, I’ll just keep it in the bewitched chest in the Darkling Caves.”

“You just want it,” he grinned and I nodded. Walking up to the counter I saw who was behind the counter. “Jupiter? Is that you?”

The lavender mare with a white mane looked up. Her brown eyes widened. “Oh my Celestia, Dawn?”

I couldn’t help, but to grin. “It’s me!”

The mare trotted as fast as she could from out behind the counter. “I haven’t seen you in ages! How have you been?”

“Great!” We pulled apart and then I saw her stomach. “You’re pregnant! Who’s the father?”

“Remember that painted Unicorn colt from school?” she said with a grin on her face.

“Little Sticky? Him?” she nodded. “I’ve always thought he would never date seeing as he was always studying every chance he got.”

She grinned. “Well he’s still like that, but now with a foal on the way he’s gotten a bit better. He adores the idea of being a father. The foal already has a fully stocked nursery and play room, I’m not even four months yet. Anyways what brings you up here?”

Then it hit me, she never knew I was a Pegasus. I looked up at her looking for any sign of surprise. “Aren’t you, you know, surprised I have wings?”

“Oh I’ve always known,” she said simply earning a look from Lime Monsoon. “It isn’t hard for me to pick up on things. How do you think I started dating Little Sticky? He’s horrible with words, but I knew what he wanted. So several years later here we are in Cloudsdale,” she smiled again before she walked back behind the counter. “So want me to ring you up?”

“Sure,” I trotted forward and sat the hoodie on the counter and handed her thirty bits.

“Want that in a bag?” she asked.

“Sure,” she wrapped it up and put it into the bag before handing it to us. “Thank you and it was nice seeing you again.”

“Oh you’re welcome and get in touch with me again,” she pulled a little card out of her gift shop apron and handed it to me. “That’s my husband’s business card, he’s an inventor and a computer genius. It has his work cell on it so give it a ring if you want our number. Also we live in Ponyville now so if you ever find yourself in that area don’t hesitate to stop by.”

I smiled at her. Jupiter Bloom had always been a sweet and gracious mare. Nearly everyone had loved her back in school and she didn’t know a stranger. I just hoped her little colt or filly turned out to be like her. “We’ve got to get, Cinnamon Lily has to be seeing her uncle.”

“Oh Celestia! I forgot!” I cantered to the door and rushed out into the open street.

“We’ll see you around,” I hear Lime Monsoon say from inside the store before he cantered out to catch up with me.