Chapter 3

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I’m aroused from sleep but an odd sound.

It’s like knocking, but… not.

Trying to think through the haze of half-awake, I’m aware something is very strange, but can’t put my finger on it.

The odd not knocking happens again and I try to snuggle further into my bed. Man, it’s never felt this comfy before and considering it’s still summer in Australia, I should not be enjoying feeling so cozy at this point.

I turn over when I hear… something? It sounds like a door opening, but, like the not knocking… not a door opening?

Man, I’ve never been this out of it when half-awake before. What the heck was I doing before bed last night?

“MAX!”

“YAH!” I yell, leaping up and… smashing my head through a cloud ceiling?

At once, I’m wide awake as everything snaps back into glaring focus.

After a moment or two pulling my head out of the roof and Misty fixing it, said Pegasus gives me a look.

“What?” I shrug.

She just gives me a disapproving look. “I thought we agreed you’d be up at O eight hundred hours promptly so I could take you around the neighbourhood so you could get your bearings before I have to head off for work? It’s past nine now!”

I blink, blush, then shake my head and fold my arms. “In my defence, I’ve never exactly slept in a cloud bed before. How was I to know they’d be that comfy? Hardly my fault if my body decides, upon feeling the most comfy bed ever, to sleep in.”

Seriously, humans are missing out. When I head home, I’m going to really miss sleeping on a cloud bed. Won’t be surprised if I never get another good night’s sleep again once I return. No mattress in history will ever be as comfy as a cloud bed.

Misty sighs in exasperation, before looking to me. “If can get off early enough, I’ll show you around. If you want to explore a little, make sure the house is in your sights at all times. Last thing I want is to have to go looking for you because you got yourself lost.”

I frown as she turns and heads out my bedroom and down the hall, myself following.

We come out into the dining room, where she grab a saddlebag off the back of a chair, indicating to four plates piled with a lot of food on the table.

That does pull me out of my little peeved state at her tone earlier and I blush.

We learned our lesson after yesterday evening. I definitely have Max’s appetite now and that’s gonna mean a lot of food consumed. It’s a good thing the princesses said they’d compensate Misty for looking after me… but they clearly don’t realize how in over their head they’re getting themselves on my dietary needs alone.

I wave Misty off and she heads out the door, flying away to.... where would she be flying to?

I ponder this as I sit down and start devouring my breakfast that, to many, would seem more like a feast.

Obviously, Misty could be going to the Wonderbolts Headquarters for practice, but Rainbow Dash still worked as a Weather Pony before joining the bolts and… ya know, far as I can tell, she never stopped.

I blink. Wow. I suddenly have a lot more respect for Dash. Working two jobs, one of them being a Wonderbolt and still finding the time to do her own thing?

She’s more like Twilight than she gives herself credit. Pulling that off must require a lot of planning.

Finishing breakfast, I take my dishes to the weird metal-cloud sink and wash them, finding myself amused by the concept that the water is likely coming from the clouds all around me.

Having a shower last night had been an… odd experience.

One, washing myself as a girl. HOO, BOI, was I self-conscious throughout the whole thing. Damn near passed out when Misty offer to help.

The showers work in a similar vein as the sink, a mixture of cloud and cloud-like brick and metal with a soft floor that made me feel very self-conscious of the water the entire time, having to constantly remind myself that I wasn’t actually wasting water, as it was just going back into the cloud structure and filtering throughout Cloudsdale… which is still a weird concept to get used to experiencing in person.

Setting the dishes aside to dry, I pause, wondering if I could meet Fluttershy’s parents.

I mean, Misty said not to wander off too far, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got that thing Max has in the books where she can just know where she’s going, like an internal compass or something.

And it’s not like I’m going to be having much fun here inside all day.

No TV, no comic books, no internet.

If I don’t get out of the house, I think I’ll go nuts.

Packing myself a small snack and in a backpack we got for me yesterday, I make sure to lock the front door with the spare key Misty gave me, though, as Silver Quill pointed out, Pegasus security stinks because one can literally just walk through the walls if they want to, I back up and look at the house proper.

I hadn’t really gotten a great look at it yesterday, what with it being so late in the afternoon by the time we arrived and my running on fumes due to not having eaten since arriving in Equestria, but now.

It’s nothing special from the front, really.

A two story house, with three windows on the upper top floor facing outward, a side part to the house that I guess it where the living and dining rooms are, with three windows on them.

The house is separated from the one next to it by a rainbow coloured metal-like fence. I don’t know what it’s made it, clearly not cloud, but not normal metal either.

While the interior of the roof looks like a normal one from back home on the inside, the outside looks like someone just dumped a heap of clouds haphazardly on the roof and didn’t bother to fix it up.

And, for some reason, she has a bunch of clouds in the front yard like bushes.

Surprised Misty would choose to live in such a non-flashy looking place.

Hands behind my head, I turn around and look at the neighbourhood.

Honestly, it doesn’t look all that different from the one I used to live in back when I was still living with my family.

You have your cloudlike footpaths moving around everywhere, leading to and front houses and off to other directions, rainbow fences separating each house and its front lawn.

I blink, frowning as I notice a flower growing out a small patch of cloud.

Walking over and bending down, it is indeed a flower… but not like any I’ve ever seen. Is this some kind of breed specific to Cloudsdale that can only grow in clouds? Because I don’t see any dirt for it to be growing out of.

“Can I help you, um… what are you, exactly?” a kinda gruff, kinda gentle voice says from behind me.

Turning my head, I’m looking up at a Pegasus stallion with a purplish-blue coat and very short-cut rainbow mane and tail, with fetlock hooves, wearing a green short-sleeve shirt over a yellow under shirt.

Glancing to his Cutie Mark, I see a right side up horseshoe in front of a rainbow with a small cloud on the end at it’s left… that kinda reminds me of G3 Rainbow Dash’s Cutie Mark.

I blink as it clicks into place.

“Hi,” I stand up and turn around, extending a hand. “I’m Max.”

“Bow Hothoof,” he greets back, putting his hoof in my hand and we shake.

“Sorry if that seemed weird,” I say, pointing behind me to the plant. “I was just curious about that flower. Wasn’t aware plants could grow on clouds.”

I mean, I think Fluttershy’s mother has a garden with a bit of dirt in it, but not in the clouds themselves.

The stallion nods, before cocking an eyebrow at me. “Not meaning to sound rude in anyway, Miss Max, but I’ve never seen any creature like you before.” He glances down at my feet. “How’re you even standing on the clouds?”

I simply extend my wings out to their full length.

Bow takes a step back in surprise, before returning to his previous position and looking my wings over. “Wow. So, you’re a flier? That explains the walking on clouds, but… what are you?”

I smirk, folding my arms and slacking my wings so they remain out, but not extended. “I’m what one would call an Avian-Human Hybrid.”

Bow looks confused. “Hue-man? What’s that?”

I’m about to answer bluntly, before a line from the first episode of Doctor Whooves & Assistant pops into my head and I get a shit-eating grin even bigger. “Oh, you know, hairless apes. Walks bipedal.”

He just gives me a blank look.

I pout. Man, what a waste of a good inside joke.

“So… what’re ya doing here, Miss Max?” he asks, clearly wanting to change the subject to something that makes sense again. “I doubt you came up to Cloudsdale to our front yard just to look at a flower.”

I nod, putting my hands behind my head. “I somehow ended up in Equestria with no explanation. I’ve been placed to live here til they can figure out how to send me home.”

He becomes worried. “Really? You got lost? Do your parents know where ya are?”

I have to hold back a snicker. I highly doubt that.

I hold up my hands. “It’s fine, Hothoof. I’m staying with a Pegasus mare who’s agreed to let me stay til things can be sorted out. No need to worry.”

I blink. Why did that feel like it should’ve set off an alarm bell, just now?

“Well, okay then,” he says, though I can tell he’s still a little concerned for me. Guessing my voice makes me sound more childlike to him and he picked up on that fast, his parental instincts wanting to keep any kid safe. “Do you need any help?”

I blink, before smiling. “Well, and as long as it’s not troubling you, would you be able to point me in the direction of Fluttershy’s family’s home?”

He nods, giving me the directions.

I thank him and head out, stretching my wings out as I walk.

In all truthfulness, I actually wanted to get away from there as soon as possible. Halfway through our conversation I remembered Dash’s parents aren’t meant to learn she’s a Wonderbolt until season 7 and if the timeline’s still in season 5, I gotta be careful.

That’s not til next season and… I grumble, putting a hand to my head. If my memories of both the show and my own life would just becoming clearer, I could figure things out better.

Kinda hard to keep track of what should and shouldn’t happen if you can’t even remember how it happens.

Last thing I want is to accidentally interferer with a key moment and derail the entire Equestrian timeline.

Shaking my head, I put that aside and return my attention to the path, feeling excited to meet Fluttershy’s parents, before halting and deadpanning.

I better be at a point where Zephyr Breeze is already off trying to get into that Mane Therapy thing so I don’t have to deal with him.

Pretty sure his episode was in season 6, but whether he’s already left for it or not is unclear.

Sighing, not nearly as excited as I was several seconds ago, I continue down the path, checking for the landmarks Hothoof suggested to me.

Author's Note

PHEW!

This update is LONG overdue. You'd think, with it being a 5 day weekend for me last week, it'd have found a way to come down to the library and update something but NOPE!

Due to slight worries regarding 2 USBs i hadn't FULLY looked through, i think the prospect of HAVING to check them was killing my enthusiasm to the point i didn't even leave the house once.

I had to literally keep telling myself last night and the day before i was going to come down here, check them and move on from there, though the fear of possibly finding an encrypted folder in either of them nearly overwhelmed me.

thankfully, not only did neither of them have a single encrypted folder at all, i was able to get several videos i've been meanign to downloading, including all the Ask Ponies videos AND the better version of the Diablo 3 cinematics, where it's just the D3 cutscenes and the in-betweens being narrated by Tyrael instead of ALL the playable characters and without the Reaper of Souls stuff added in.

No offense to those who enjoyed the DLC, but i preferred it ending at Diablo 3 specifically as that felt more uplifting and hopeful for the future. the DLC ending just makes it feel like we're back at the ending of the first Diablo game.

Anyway, next chapter, Max interacts with Fluttershy's family, narrowly avoiding speaking with Fluttershy herself and thus avoiding interrupting a certain CMC event that, if she knew were happening, she'd be worried about making sure happens exactly as it's supposed to.

Would say more, but i'm kinda drained, so i'm gonna stop or else it'll just be rambling,

I will say this though, the person who put Call of a Raven into their RIP bookshelf? Not cool. i'm trying to find the groove to get back to writing at all and that isn't helping.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and, til next time, stay safe, stay clean and see you later everybody