Kimono

2 House of the Dead

The next day Kimono woke up drowsy. After having breakfast she remembered cloud shades request. And she prepared to go out once she was finished.

After she finished she walked outside into the fresh morning sun. Which was comforting enough to make her smile. And she started her walk to the clearing they met yesterday.

When she arrived he came in a minute later. “Hi Kimono” he said cheerfully. He was more then excited to go to her house. “So may you lead the way?” He replied.

Kimono and Cloud then started the walk to her home.

When they finally arrived Cloud Shade was a little taken aback when he saw where the house was. “This is where you live? Right next to a waterfall? Doesn’t that get loud?” Cloud said slightly concerned. Kimono said “sometimes but it’s small. I got used to it after a while.” Cloud then shifted his eyes to the house. And he noticed that a pile of rocks was just above the roof.

Cloud then got a little bit more worried. “Kimono have you seen those rocks up there? They could crash down at any moment.” After he said that she really looked at them and she noticed. But she said. “Well I am an Earth pony. What else can I do?”

Cloud then flew up with a smile and said. “I’ll remove them.” Kimono’s face then turned to concern. “NO!” She then paused and then said. “I mean you don’t have to do that. I never wanted you to do that for me.” Cloud then flew back to the ground and said. “I don’t care. You’re my friend and I am helping you weather you want me to or not.”

Kimono started speaking again. “Don’t I don’t mean to be rude. But I don’t want you to. It’s not…” then she stopped right there. Cloud looked at her with confusion. “It’s not, what? And no I don’t think you’re being rude, really I don’t. But you could get hurt from that.” Kimono held her face to the ground. Cloud spoke up “kimono. Why do you not want me to help? What is simply saving your life not!?”

Kimono the shouted. “It’s not modest!” The 2 then looked with shock. “Kimono? What are you talking about?” Said cloud. “I mean I shouldn’t have asked you. You should’ve just…how do I put this?”

Cloud shade then looked a little sad. “I get it now. You don’t want to be demanding ever since the-“ cloud then stopped talking and started work on move the rocks into the river bed.

After that the 2 walked inside and never spoke of this again.

And the 2 seemed to be having fun. They saw a movie they loved, had lunch together, caught up with things & even did a small race outside. (Kimono won)

Cloud was happy with the time he was spending with her. And even Kimono looked happier than yesterday.

Kimono with a smile said. “Thanks cloudy. I had so much fun today. More then I had in so long.” Cloud shade said. “Anything for you kimono. I had a lot of fun too. I needed this.”

Kimonos face then looked shocked. “Oh sorry I forgot I needed to water my garden.” Cloud offered to help but kimono said. “No, no. All I really need to do is move the roof gutter to the waterfall, and move the spout to the garden.” Cloud smiled at that. “Ooo nice strategy. Very resourceful. And I noticed that garden. A lot of those veggies look ripe.”

Kimono smiled and said. “You’d be surprised what I am able to do after being out of town for so long.” Cloud then kept that in mind. When he realized he hadn’t fully explored Kimono’s room yet. “Say Kimono I haven’t see your room yet. Can I take a look at it while you’re watering?”

She said “I guess so.” She said as she then walked outside to begin her work.

Cloud walked through a small hallway and into her room. “Wow. This actually looks pretty good. Nice furniture.” Cloud had a fondness for architecture. And as he was admiring he came across the 2 picture frames on the floor. And the book.

Cloud was confused. “What happened here?” The frames contained not pictures but documents.

Cloud started to read.

“LOCAL CITIZEN CAUSES MAJOR CONFUSION.

Kimono the wise. Banned from ponyville for creepy behavior and items.

Items include a painting, a plush toy, and a board game and a hand written book. among many others.

Kimono claims these items to be “gifts for friends.” We at the Ponyville press can assure you they are not.

Kimono was clearly on the boarderline of stalking with these gifts. And they were clearly meant to be harmful in someway.

Many suspicious decisions and design choices seem to prove this. Kimono will be banished from ponyville today. As her trial as decided.”

Cloud started to look scared. “I…remember that.” He picked up the other picture and started reading.

This was a transcript of Kimono’s banishment trial. However as cloud read it. He started to become very suspicious of the prosecution. And her criminal record. “Kimono charged with crimes of: stalking, demanding, etc.”

And the list went down a bit. But Cloud Shade. Someone who knew Kimono more then anyone else. Knew something everypony else did not on that day. “She must have felt awful on that day…*sob*” cloud shade shed a small tear. Trying to imagine the trauma his best friend went through when she was sent away.

Cloud Dried up his tears. “Maybe. I could…I don’t know. I don’t really have anything to do for about a month.” Just then he heard. “This is why I live out of Town.” There stood kimono in the doorway. With a sad look on her face.

Cloud was about to panic. “Kimono I’m sorry I didn’t want to-“ kimono cut him off with a sad tired tone. “No no. I thought I cleaned this up.” Cloud calmed down and said. “Kimono? How bad did it feel?” Kimono just said. “Why do you want to know? I was banned from town because what I was trying to do for my friends was stupid. So what?”

Cloud shade knew that was wrong. “No. Kimono that’s not stupid that’s just being a friend. Everyone just took your actions out of context.” Kimono sighed “why did I get banished then? Why were ponies still AFRAID OF ME!?!?”

Cloud was shocked. And kimono broke down and hugged him. “That was the worst part for you wasn’t it?” Kimono was crying and said a small “yes…I just…” Cloud cut her off. “You just thought it would be fun?” Kimono then went wide eyed. “That was your last defense for the trial. I read the transcript. But look at this.” Cloud broke the hug to show her.

“This is what I read. KIMONO: I thought it would be fun. JUDGE CHERRY: You thought it would be fun?!. ERA SOMME: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? Era somme was the prosecution. Somepony you tried to be nothing but nice to like me? Do you not find that suspicious Kimono? That has to be taking what you did out of context for the worst.”

Kimono cried again. “That’s what I remember the most from it…*sob* was the screaming…the fear.” Cloud then gave her a hug again. “Kimono I was just trying to make a point. You are not a bad pony and you never will be.” Just when he said that Kimono looked at the wall and saw the shadow again. But this time it disappeared right before her eyes. Kimono smiled at clouds kind words and started to calm down. “But *sob* how do you know?”

Cloud whispered into Kimono’s ear. “Because I know you. You used to be the kindest of the kind in Ponyville before everything went down. You used to lend a hoof to ponies you barely even knew. You gave so much to ponies who needed you, even when they didn’t know it. You always just went above and beyond for anypony. And I know for a fact. That you never meant any sort of harm at all when the incident happened I promise you. And well Kimono. I can definitely say.” Cloud sighed and said the words “ponyville really has, never been the same without you.”

Kimono hugged him as she cried tears of joy. “If only everypony understood like you… I just wanted to be nice to everypony.” Said Kimono. Cloud shade spoke up and said. “You want to talk about it?”

The 2 sat on the bed. And Kimono described her true intentions. “So remember how rough Hearth’s warming was before the incident?” Said kimono as Cloud shade immediately remembered. “Oh celestia that was stressful! Barely any food and supplies. I never felt so hungry.”

Kimono went on. “Well that’s why I wanted to cheer everypony up that Spring. I tried doing all sorts of things like making art, toys, puzzles, and new ideas for stories. That’s why I thought it would be fun. But I don’t know. Everypony took it the wrong way and I just sort of shut down.”

Cloud shade then responded. “Kimono. I don’t think it’s excusable. But I do think it’s understandable. What else are you supposed to do when the whole town has your back to the wall?” Cloud replied. “I know. It’s just been lonely ever since. No pony to help. No smiles…smiles is what made me happy. And yes. I considered suicide at one point.” Kimono said firmly.

Cloud then decided to do something unprecedented. “Kimono. Do you want me to stay here with you for a while? I have nothing to do for the next month.” Kimono replied. “Um…I don’t know if I. Do you want to?” Cloud said. “No unless you want to. If anything just to keep you company.”

Kimono then agreed. “Ok cloud. But won’t ponies get suspicious? What if they find me? What if I can never ever change again?..” cloud shade looked with concern and said.

“Kimono. I promise you. We’ll find a way. And look if everypony thinks you can never ever change. They condemn you to just that. They basically give you permission to be bad. Show them, really show them you’re not when the time comes to it.” Cloud said with a relaxed grin.

Kimono smiled at that. She was still smart deep down. She knew that Cloud Shade was right.

1 week had passed. Cloud Shade was actively making her life better. Her behavior improved significantly but she wasn’t complaining back. Sometimes she felt like she was taking advantage of him but in reality she wasn’t. He did everything to make her life better and he didn’t seem to mind.

It soon got to a point where the 2 decided to sleep in the same bed. As she was worried for Cloud’s wings potentially having problems on the couch. He shared similar concerns. It was awkward at first but it didn’t take long for it to be ok.

Especially as nights were getting harder and harder for Kimono to sleep through. Sometimes due to powerful nightmares Luna was having a huge problem with.

But she always found comfort in his hooves. But every single night had something in common. The shadow.

She looked up at the ceiling one night. Seeing the shadow looking over her. But it disappeared after closing her eyes.

But when she woke up from nightmares the same shadow seemed to appear. Weather outside the window or on the ceiling. But it all got concerning when Kimono woke up early one morning and saw.

The book. Just sitting on the dining room table. “What?” She picked it up and read through the pages. All of them were now blank. Except for 1. That read.

“Nice distraction. But I can’t leave. So let’s play a game.

The more you deny me, the bigger I will get. I will linger and loom, until you properly purge your gloom.”

The page at the ending cover had a crude drawing of the shadow on it. This scared Kimono and she immediately threw the book in the trash. Cloud Shade came into the kitchen and said. “Kimono? What was that?”

Kimono now got concerned. This meant cloud didn’t leave it there. She said all she could. “I don’t know.”