_– –_
*
“You...you’ve never done this before, have you?” Rainbow Dash said in disbelief.
I huffed. “This is impossible!” I growled as I pushed my body forwards. With no results, I threw my forelegs up in exasperation and glared at the pony below me. “How the heck does this thing even work?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Try pushing harder.”
I snorted as I glared at the infuriating thing before me. “Like that's gonna work.”
She sighed and slapped her forehead with a forehoof. There was an audible whack.
I flinched at the sound. It seemed really strange, and unnatural at times, that these ponies were so resilient. Heck, I can't even fathom how their legs could bend in certain directions...
“It’s just a cloud, Yawn, and you're a pegasus. Just, I dunno, give it another push,” Rainbow Dash said whilst gesturing with her hoof.
I withheld a groan. “For nth time, Miss Dash, my name is John.” I flew away from the cloud so that I wouldn't get an aneurysm from the blasted reality-defying thing. “And I wasn't always a pegasus.” I pointed towards my wings and approached her. “You know that,” I enunciated as I tapped her muzzle.
She briefly went cross-eyed as she glanced at my hoof before she brushed it off. “Well, I can't help it if your name is boring.” She nodded towards the cloud. “Give it another go. It should come naturally to you.”
I was tempted to yell out my frustrations and leave, but I settled with a sigh and resignation if she couldn't offer any advice more helpful than ‘try harder’ or ‘keep going at it’. “I’m sorry, Miss Dash, but I can't even begin to imagine how this whole thing works.” I glared at the cloud above. “None of this,” I waved a hoof towards the clouds, “is natural to me.”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she seemed to contemplate my words.
After a few moments of relative silence, I figured she couldn't help me further, which I was fine with. She did teach me how to use these weird appendages on my back after all. I guess I wasn't cut out for being a weatherman. I mean, weatherpony and whatever else that job entails. I turned to leave Rainbow with her musings.
“Wait!” she called out as soon as she noticed my departure.
I turned around to face her and I couldn't help but notice her glare. “What?” I asked a bit uneasily.
“If I can teach you to fly, then I sure as hay can teach you to push some white piece of fluff.” The pegasus snorted and flew behind me. “C’mon, I’ll show you how it's done. Properly this time.” She gave me a light shove.
“Woah, hey!” I yelled in protest. My wings, which kept me hovering, faltered in their flight as she continued to push me forward. Her hooves must've hit an odd spot with them pressed in between my wings because I felt my face flush. “Miss Dash! Hands, damn it. Hooves off!”
She stopped and removed her hooves, thankfully.
I shook my head as I regained my composure. “I can fly on my own just fine, Miss.” I stared at her which prompted her to back off.
“Sorry, I just got a bit excited.” She held up her hooves defensively. “You can stop calling me Miss, you know,” Rainbow deadpanned. “I’m pretty sure we established that a few days ago.”
“Sure, I'll do that as soon as you say my name correctly,” I retorted.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and didn't respond. The nerve of that mare.
“Well…” I trailed off. “Just show me how this magic of yours works.”
“Our magic,” Rainbow said. Her eyes widened somewhat in realization. “P-pegasus magic, I mean,” she slightly stuttered.
I raised an eyebrow at her quirkiness, but I decided to ignore it in lieu of mentioning her behaviour. “Yeah, sure. Go ahead and defy physics, again.” I gestured to the cloud.
“It-it’d be better if I showed you up close.” In a few short strong flaps, Rainbow landed on top the cloud. “Come here.” She patted the white fluff like it was completely solid and not condensed water vapor.
I cautiously approached the cloud. There was no way… Sure, I've seen other pegasi trot all over clouds as if it were the cobblestone roads in Ponyville. Heck, I've even seen Rainbow Dash’s house! Yet I still didn't believe it because I was far away on the ground most of the time, so I couldn't help but be ignorant. I scoffed. Ignorant? I was being arrogant. There were many things that I refused to believe when I arrived here in this strange world. What else did I immediately reject? Not even bothering with a second thought? There was no denying it now.
Rainbow Dash stood upon the cloud.
“Hello? You in there, Yawn? We don't have all day.” She hummed. “Well, you do, but I'd prefer to not miss out on another nap today.”
I snapped out of my musings and hovered above her as I glared defiantly at the cloud. “How?” I inquired. “How do you stand on clouds? They can't be completely solid, that's impossible!”
She shrugged. “We just do.”
A low guttural sound escaped my throat, which felt weird as the vibrations ran through my long neck.
“Woah, rad.” Rainbow flinched as I directed my glare to her. “I mean, calm down, dude.” She raised her forehooves in a pacifying gesture. She glanced at the cloud she stood on and hummed in thought. “I’m no Twilight Sparkle, so don't expect a long boring sciencey explanation or whatever,” she explained.
When I realized she was waiting for some form of acknowledgement, I released a small sigh. Then I motioned for her to continue.
“You’re right, you know. These clouds,” Rainbow patted the white fluff, “are just condensed droplets of water.” She gathered several parts of the cloud and packed them into a small ball in front of her, which was a bit bigger than her hoof. “But,” she said as she lifted the little ball, “we can manipulate clouds because of our pegasus magic. Which is something the other pony races can't do.” Her head tilted to one side as if she had forgotten something. “Well, alicorns can too since they're basically all the other races combined. Oh, and there's also the cloudwalking spell, but that can only replicate a pegasus’s cloud manipulation to a certain extent.”
Intrigued, I tilted my head at the mention of magic. “Huh, concise. I like that.”
Rainbow Dash stood on her hind legs with wings flared and her head held high. “Well, I am Equestria’s—”
“Okay,” I quickly cut her off before I could experience yet another one of her moments, “so how does this magic work?”
Her muzzle opened to respond which immediately fell shut as she tried to form coherent sentences. Rainbow repeated this process several times before she frowned at me. “Just stand on the bucking cloud already.” Then she threw the cloud ball directly into my face.
It dissipated harmlessly when it impacted squarely on my eye. Relatively speaking, that is. Droplets of chilly water ran down my unamused face. I clenched my eyes and shook my head to dislodge the water on my face and mane.
Rainbow Dash fell over and laughed at my expense. It seemed really odd, the way the cloud molded as she rolled about—it was like a giant marshmallow. She at least had the decency to shut up and blush when she noticed my scowl directed at her. “Heh. I got you, ha, good. That look on your—”
“Yeah, sure,” I interrupted as I wiped a forearm over my eyes to remove the remaining moisture. “Whatever.” When I finished cleaning myself, I couldn't help but feel odd. Like I was forgetting something rather important.
Rainbow had eerily fallen silent. I glanced at her lying on the cloud and noticed the face-splitting grin etched on her muzzle. She was staring and unmoving.
I felt uncomfortable. “What?” I asked. “Is there something on my face?” I rubbed my chin. “No, there's nothing there but my chinny ch—”
My ears flopped and I couldn't help but attempt to glance at the strange movements they were making. I bet I looked ridiculous—like some dog chasing his own tail. I had heard something. Or rather, I had heard nothing. Complete and utter silence in the sky, which was very odd indeed. Especially when there's practically nothing around to block the sound. Often times you could hear the winds above the clouds or even the ruffling of…
“Ponyfeathers,” I explicitly said. I looked down at the cloud I stood on. Somehow, someway I failed to realize that in my stupor earlier, I let instincts take over and had unknowingly landed on the cloud to deal with that annoying white piece of fluff Rainbow threw at me.
“Finally realized it, huh?” She flew into the air and—after a few aerial maneuvers which I could never hope to achieve—she pointed at me. “Ha! You did it, John! You're standing on a cloud!”
“So she says,” I said, nonplussed. I gently prodded the cloud with a hoof. “Oh, so I am.” I glanced at the ecstatic pegasus beside me and opened my mouth, “That’s not possib—”
Aaaand I fell through the cloud. I should've kept my mouth shut.
–_*_–
