Who Is That?

“She kissed you?” Rarity echoed in disbelief as I sat across from her, Applejack, Pinkie and Spike as I set down my tea. “On the cheek?”

“That’s what I said, yeah,” I answered and sniffed the tea. I idly reminded myself to take a pack home because this shit is good.

“And what did ya do then?” Applejack asked as I looked around Fluttershy’s cottage. It was pretty nice house, I’m not gonna lie. I wouldn’t mind owning one similar one day.

“I froze and everything short short circuited,” I admitted sheepishly with a blush.

“She was up all night, freaking out about how she didn’t even kiss her back and pacing around her room,” Spike chimed in.

“I was nervous okay!” I defended myself with a scowl. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been kissed by someone who I’ve actually liked? Flash I never gave a fuck about and he was an awful kisser. Made me sick honestly. The last one before him was some royal guard cadet before I went through the portal.”

“She ain’t lying,” Applejack commented and bit into an apple. “Ah wouldn’t know what to do if ah was in her boat.”

“See!” I flung a hoof Applejack’s way. “She gets me. But it was nice. We had fun, she took me flying which was naturally pretty damn terrifying at first but I grew to enjoy it. She was really soft. And then she dropped me but-”

“She dropped you?” Fluttershy repeated with a furious expression. “Why in Equestria would she do that? You’re a unicorn, you can’t fly!”

“Relax. It’s because I told her about humans parachuting all the time. It’s not like she just dropped without any warning,” I said and winced. Okay, maybe she technically did do that but it wasn’t to hurt me or anything. “She asked me if I wanted to try free falling and that she would catch me which obviously she did because I’m here with you all right now. Once I started screaming her name, she caught me. I’ve never seen anybody fly so fast before. She was there in damn near the blink of an eye.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy blushed and sat back down on her couch. She seemed like she was about to fight someone but this is Fluttershy we’re talking about. She doesn’t do violence and I assume the same for her pony counterpart. “Anyway, so uhm she kissed you?”

“On the cheek,” I confirmed and found my hoof touching the same spot. “We got a date Monday at five. I’m taking her to a theater she likes downtown and we’re gonna watch some movie I guess.”

I didn’t necessarily know what we were gonna watch. When all else fails, go with action movies. Everyone likes those and they are the best selling here too.

Knowing that, Cloudchaser would probably be a complete one eighty and like something completely random like romance or something. I don’t do romance movies. I’m no Dash but they’re too sappy in my eyes.

“How exactly didn’t you know it was a date from the beginning?” Spike asked and I rolled my eyes.

“Spike. It’s been literally ages since I’ve had someone legitimately interested in me so a really long time. I’m not entirely used to these feelings. I’ve kinda long since pushed that side of me away till now. This is an entirely new ballgame to me dude,” I answered and leaned back on Fluttershy’s couch. “It’s nice though. Cloudchaser is pretty cool after all.”

“She is,” Fluttershy agreed readily. “If Derpy trusts her enough with her daughters occasionally, then I suppose I should trust her. She has a rough side but means well I think.”

Scarily similar to me. I just tried to hide my occasionally aggressive side. It only came out on rare occasions and it was always when I was pushed to my limit or my friends were insulted. Brawly could confirm that personally.

“So you asked Twilight about a cloud walking spell but you didn’t tell us how you would get there?” Fluttershy said and I paused. I didn’t necessarily think of that one. Especially since Rainbow had to go to Cloudsdale for a few days and couldn’t fly me up there.

“I don’t know,” I answered and Fluttershy nodded.

“After this, I’ll take you to Cherry Berry. She’s the local balloon pilot. She owns a helicopter too I think it was called?” Fluttershy mused and I raised an eyebrow. I didn’t necessarily know helicopters existed here.

“I owe you all big time,” I sighed and they all snorted before smiling at me.

“Nonsense,” Applejack waved a hoof dismissively. “Ya don’t owe me or the others a single darn bit.”

“She’s right,” Spike added. “You’d do the same for us in a heart beat.”

I idly wondered if I should mention Flitter to him but decided. She’d probably not be happy if I outed her to him. Besides, she didn’t tell me herself.

I watched the pink earth pony with an aviator cap on trotting around a hot air balloon, occasionally tightening some ropes holding it down before she looked up at me trotting up with Fluttershy.

“Hey Fluttershy,” Cherry Berry I presumed greeted her as she flicked her eyes to me. “Hey there stranger.”

“Hi,” Fluttershy said quietly and rubbed the back of her head. “I just wanna say sorry for dumping trash on you that one time.”

“That was three years ago and you apologized almost three hundred times. Bon Bon and I already forgave you multiple times. Honestly starting to think you want to date me with how often you come up to me,” Cherry teased and Fluttershy turned bright as I chuckled and Cherry turned to me with an outstretched hoof. “Cherry Berry. You must be Sunset Shimmer.”

“One and only,” I answered as we shook hooves.

“Figured. You do have a pretty recognizable mane, Golden Grape was right about that,” Cherry Berry leaned against her balloon basket. “What can I do for you two today?”

“I kinda need to get to a cloudhouse Monday around five pm?” I said and she nodded. “Fluttershy here told me you’re the best pilot in the area.”

“Hell, I’m the best pilot in all of Equestria,” Cherry boasted smugly with a large cocky grin. “One of the first earth ponies to fly. There ain’t no better feeling than being miles up in the sky. Though you would know considering I saw you and your marefriend flying around the other day. It’s expensive though. This balloon here isn’t cheap to upkeep and I got house payments. One hundred and fifty bits. If you have to cancel before the flight, you get fifty bits back and I keep one hundred to make a profit after readying it. Short notice cancelations are the death of me.”

I winced and shrugged. One hundred and fifty bits was a lot. That was about three hundred dollars, give or take. I levitated the bits out of my saddlebag as Cherry Berry held out a bag and gave a satisfied nod once I poured them all in.

“All there,” she confirmed after she weighed it. “I took mathematics in college along with flight studies. Pretty handy skills to have, I’d say. Just sign this waiver saying you accept there’s always the off chance we could potentially die if something very wrong happens.”

I should have seen that coming, I mused to myself as I accepted the clipboard with the waiver attached and a quill Cherry had held out.

“So,” Cherry drew out the word as she looked at Fluttershy and I continued writing. “Spike still single?”

“Mhm.”

“Huh damn. Berry, Junebug and I all got into an argument about who should date him. Junebug says it should be her because she met him first but Berry said Spike helps her out the most. Me, I just somepony to travel with. Surprised you didn’t make your move on Spike Fluttershy,” Cherry eyed Fluttershy up and down. “You certainly get a lot of stallions and mares alike looking at you wherever you go.”

“Spike is like a son to me. I love him yes, but it’s purely platonic. There’s nothing romantic there Cherry. And I don’t really like anypony. I’m always so shy and don’t know what to say no matter what Rarity tries to do,” Fluttershy blushed a bright red. “There’s stuff I haven’t even told Rarity yet.”

“Now I’m interested,” Cherry grinned slightly. “Spill sis.”

“Not yet.”

“You’re no fun,” Cherry sighed and shook her head. “Anyway, I’ll be here Monday waiting. You got a couple days till then and don’t wear any clothing in the balloon. Sometimes the dresses go crazy and one caught on fire because of the flame setting White Lightning and Sprinkle Medleys dresses on fire. Don’t even get me started on the Sea Swirl and Sassaflash incident of last year. No sex allowed either unless I’m in heat and I can confirm I’m not.”

I sniffed the air briefly and shrugged. Not really my business whether she was or not.

“If you’re an earth pony and have cherries for a cutie mark, why exactly are running a hot air balloon company? Fluttershy says you have a helicopter?” I questioned and Cherry’s eyes lit up.

“I could talk about this all damn day. It’s about testing the boundaries, being the first earth to go places where others of my kind haven’t. Unicorns too I suppose since they’re land based too. My grandpa was a unicorn. It’s a completely different world up there in the sky. Everything stretches for miles and miles, the water is gorgeous up there. You can see every little detail, from how the Gorge goes and cuts through the land. It’s a nice feeling. I stole the neighbors hot air balloon as a filly and that’s where I got the idea from. Of course, I got grounded for three months but it was worth it.”

“Huh. Fascinating.”

“And a helicopter is the coolest thing I ever made with Pinkie. She calls it the whirley bird,” Cherry Berry continued and I gulped nervously.

“You mean you and Pinkie Pie of all people made a helicopter?” I repeated and rubbed my eyes. That doesn’t entirely seem safe if Pinkie was involved.

“Yep! Hoof powered. We pedal to make it and it’s hundred percent safe. We take it up all the time. We used stuff we found under her couch,” Cherry answered with a wide smile. “Wanna see it? We have plans to make an entirely gas powered aircraft.”

Honestly, I wasn’t so sure about this. But I’d be lying if I wasn’t the least bit curious. Not to be a dick or anything, but I just expected her to be a cherry farmer based on her name and cutie mark. I didn’t expect to be standing next to practically a genius engineer or whatever they are called.

“Yeah I do actually.” Cherry took off and could damn near rival Rainbow Dash as my jaw dropped slightly.

I explained the balloon for a brief second before galloping with Fluttershy to catch up. Remind me to preparing for this next time.