Sunset jumped out of the balloon, landing on the cloud with a soft fwomp sound and she trotted over next to Celestia, glancing back at Silver Spanner staring at them. A few pegasi stopped to watch curiously.

“Absolutely not,” Silver Spanner shook her head and Sunset bit back a groan. “We’re way too high up for me to jump out. I’m staying in the basket where it’s safe.”

“You do realize that it will run out of fuel in about an hour, right?” Sunset reminded her flatly and Silver Spanners eyes widened as she started to scramble out of the basket. “Don’t panic. Just climb out slowly.”

“How do you expect me to anything but panic?” Silver Spanner snapped and stumbled backwards and the basket flipped out. “Sunset!”

Silver Spanner screamed and flailed her legs in the air as a few pegasi and Celestia jumped after her as Sunset stared over the edge of the cloud with wide eyes.

“Oh fu-fudge,” Sunset quickly corrected herself. “Please don’t let her turn into a stain.”

A white pegasus caught her and Sunset gave a relieved sigh. Sunset didn’t necessarily want to have to tell Silver Spanners parents what had happened to her. Sunset obviously never had to deliver news like that before and she didn’t necessarily want her first one to be about her best friend.

“I am never letting go,” Silver Spanner grumbled and she wrapped her forelegs around the mares neck. “For as long as I live. You are my home now.”

“I don’t know about that one,” Celestia snorted as she landed on the cloud next to Sunset with the other pegasi. “I do believe Sunset would like a hug as well. She seems pretty worried about you.”

“Okay. But right after, I am getting back on and I am not getting off till we get to the hotel. Falling is terrifying,” Silver Spanner grumbled and nervously stepped onto the cloud. “Okay, not so bad. Kinda soft. Like a marshmallow.”

“Next time, I’m just gonna use magic to get you onto the cloud. I’ve never seen Mom move that quick,” Sunset nuzzled Silver Spanner. “Thank God you’re alive.”

“Felt that. This actually isn’t so bad, now that I think about it,” Silver Spanner stepped out of the hug and took a step. “Whoa.”

“It takes a bit to get used to it,” Sunset commented and Silver Spanner leaned against her. “Let’s stay away from the edge of clouds. That looked like nightmare fuel.”

“You have no idea. I’m just glad I wasn’t facing the ground as I plummeted. I’m still a bit shaken up, sweet Celestia. Uhm, no offense,” Silver Spanner glanced at Celestia and she waved it off.

“None taken. I do believe our hotel is near,” Celestia mused as she levitated a pamphlet she had received in the mail. “And you two were worried I couldn’t fly a hot air balloon.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. She had a point there, but Sunset wasn’t going to admit it. She was more focused on ensuring she or Silver Spanner didn’t fall off again. She wasn’t that surprised that Celestia had beaten all the pegasi who tried to help. Celestia was surprisingly a fast flyer when she wanted to be.

“Thanks by the way,” Silver Spanner turned to the white pegasus. White Lightning hovered a few inches above the three and she waved it off with a hoof. “Do you want some bits or something?”

White Lightning shook her head and high hoofed her before flying away to resume cloud pushing with a green pegasus mare above the two. The three stared at them for a brief moment before deciding to go about their day. Not like they’d run into her again.

“Hey, there’s a museum we can go to tomorrow,” Sunset nudged Silver Spanner and pointed at a square shaped building. “History of Cloudsdale. And then there’s the Wonderbolt museum nearby, too.”

“Interesting. You know, it’s kinda pretty up here. That being said, I will be kissing the ground for an hour straight once we go back to Canterlot. This was a hellavu start and we’ve only been here twenty minutes. Twenty minutes and I’m already trying to kill myself.”

Sunset gave a tired laugh and flicked her fiery mane out of her eyes as Silver Spanner levitated a brown suitcase behind her in the air.

“Why do you have a suitcase? We never wear clothes in the first place,” Sunset commented and Silver Spanner levitated out a sweater. “Oh.”

“It’s cold up here,” Silver Spanner explained and she levitated out two more sweaters, tossing them onto Sunset’s and Celestia’s back. “I do not like the cold. Therefore, sweaters. It took forever to find one large enough for Princess Celestia and her wings.”

Forever might have been an exaggeration.

“It was only actually five hours, but regardless, took a while.”

Silver Spanner zipped up her sweater that matched her grayish blue eyes, pulling the hoodie over her head with her ears poking out of some holes that had been cut in the hood.

Sunset shrugged and stepped inside the holes for her hooves of the leather jacket Silver Spanner had tossed her. It was surprisingly comfortable, which she wasn’t really prepared for.

“You look pretty cool,” Silver Spanner held up a mirror she brought with and Sunset admired her reflection for a few moments. “I had a friend come up with the idea.”

“I actually love it. Thank you,” Sunset hugged Silver Spanner and glanced at Celestia’s sweater that matched her bright mulfi colored mane. “Wow. Same friend as before, I take it?”

“Uh huh.”

“She does good work,” Celestia noted and Sunset was inclined to agree as Silver Spanner gave a smug grin.

“Maybe you two will meet her one day. She lives in Ponyville. Adorable little baby sister. She is a bit dramatic occasionally. I’m just glad she was able to ship it as fast as she did. Benefits of knowing your local mailmare.”

A little dramatic was an overstatement, but minor detail. Rarity was the only filly Silver Spanner knew to have a fainting couch.

“Heh, yeah, I can imagine.”

“I wanna find that pegasi. I should do more than just say thanks,” Silver Spanner scuffed a hoof against the cloud, internally grateful she didn’t accidentally destroy it. “Thank you also, Princess Celestia.”

“Think nothing of it, Silver Spanner. And I wish you luck finding her. Cloudsdale is full of pegasi. White mare, blue mane and gray cloud and a gold lightning bolt. Might be easy if you look for the cutie mark,” Celestia mused and Silver Spanner nodded along slowly.

“Let’s drop off our stuff and we can get some food. I’m starving. And knowing our luck, the mayor of Cloudsdale will want to kiss our hooves,” Sunset rolled her eyes with a scowl as some pegasi pointed at the three excitedly. Sunset was not a big fan of the Cloudsdale mayor. Most ponies she knew weren’t. But Sunset had made a bet with Moondancer that she would stay miles away from politics and Sunset was admittedly all too happy to avoid it. Politics sucked and pissed her off more than anything she had ever experienced in all her sixteen years of life.

Sprinkle Medley sat next to White Lightning in a brightly colored cafe. Raindrops and her coltfriend Milky Way sat across from the two, Merry May, Stormy Night and Rainbowshine sitting next to them with coffees in front of them.

“And then Whitey here dove down after the mare without hesitation before I could even realize what was happening, fly right past Princess Celestia and all the other pegasi’ heads, catch the unicorn midair and bring her back up to Cloudsdale. It was amazing!” Sprinkle Medley repeated the story for the third time today.

The other ponies excluding Stormy Night at the table clapped their hooves together and White Lightning blushed a bright red. Accepting praise in public like this wasn’t something she particularly enjoyed, same with being out in the spot in front of dozen of pegasi.

“And I for one am very proud of her,” Sprinkle Medley nuzzled White Lightnings cheek slowly and she turned an ever bright shade of red, something she didn’t think was physically possible.

“I heard about that from some ponies on your weather team. Wish I wasn’t stuck at the damn weather factory,” Rainbowshine grumbled and the purple mare cracked her neck. “I gotta work with idiots, I tell you. If I was in charge, Dumb Bell, Hoops and Score wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the factory or any form of weather work ever again. Trouble follows those three idiots like you wouldn’t believe.”

The group gave a brief laugh and White Lightning rested her head on the table followed by a yawn. Her wings and body ached from pushing annoying clouds out of the sky. Plus, having that unicorn had been a bit on the heavy side didn’t necessarily help her out any.

“So what was she like?” Milky Way asked and White Lightning rolled her head to look at him questioningly. “Princess Celestia and her daughter.”

“Nice I guess. I ran away pretty quick because I didn’t know what to say. The brown unicorn tried offering me money for saving her, but I turned her down pretty quick. Should have accepted it now that I think of it.”

“In my opinion, the unicorn should have stayed down where she belongs,” Stormy Night mused and the table fell silent as White Lightning and Sprinkle Medley barely held back their groans as Raindrops and Merry May gave each other uncomfortable looks. “She wouldn’t have nearly died if she stayed on the ground. Ground is for unicorns and earth ponies, sky is for us pegasi.”

“I don’t think that’s entirely accurate,” Milky Way commented and frowned slightly. “Cloudsdale gets dozens of earth ponies and unicorns every year. Hell, an earth pony lives down the street. So does a unicorn. And hundreds, if not thousands of pegasi live groundside.”

“They’re not real pegasi. Real proud pegasi live on the clouds,” Stormy Night proclaimed and the black pegasus waved a hoof around as Raindrops ducked to avoid being hit in the head by him. “This is our birth right and they willingly give that up? Please.”

“Eugh,” Merry May gagged into a hoof quietly. While he was her cousin, she was not a fan of him for the obvious reasons. She only tolerated him because well, she didn’t even remember why anymore. “Aren’t you supposed to check up on Grandma today and tomorrow is my turn?”

“Oh buck. See ya!” Stormy kissed her cheek and Merry May leaned into it with a sigh.

The group watched him fly off in silence after he paid for his part of lunch, Rainbowshine being the first to break the silence.

“Did we really have to hang out with your racist, tribalist cousin today?” Rainbowshine asked and Merry May shrugged helplessly.

“I don’t like him any either, but I don’t know. He happened to be with me today cleaning up my aunts place. I’m really sorry about him.”

“It’s okay,” White Lightning kissed Sprinkle Medleys cheek before the side of her muzzle.

“Down girl,” Sprinkle Medley giggled and pressed a hoof against White Lightnings chest. “You know how serious our parents about mares not dating and we’re two mares. I love you too.”

“Yeah, yeah secret relationship and all I know,” White Lightning sighed and stretched out on the table. “I love ya too. I’m so ready for us turn eighteen so we can get the hell out of here.”

“That does sound nice,” Sprinkle Medley mused and Raindrops sipped her water as the two hugged. “Only six more months till we’re eighteen and we can get the buck out of here. I’ve always been partial to Neigh Orleans or Ponyville that one year we went.”

“All I remember is making out by the river after we both snuck out the hotel the second night,” White Lightning muttered and Milky Way coughed out his bagel. “I forgot you all were here. You never heard that.”

“Obviously,” Milky Way shrugged and the stallion shoved his bagel into a bag. “You guys going to the BYFC this year? Rainy and I planned on going.”

“Mhm.”

“Maybe.”

White Lightning shrugged and Sprinkle Medley nodded, her partner changing her answer to a nod. Might be entertaining after all. And it got her away from her home for a few hours.

“Think Rainbow will sign up this year?”

“I don’t even think she’ll come. She and Fluttershy moved to Ponyville two years ago so we will see. I do miss Fluttershy,” Rainbowshine sighed sadly and her tail flicked.

“Yeah, I miss Fluttershy. Shame she was so shy,” Merry May mused and absentmindedly started to preen her wings. “Rainbow annoyed me. Too arrogant. Cloudkicker was always cooler to me. Shame she ran off to Celestia knows where.”

Raindrops shifted silently on her chair. She had been sworn to silence on where Cloudkicker had really went. She didn’t know what the heck she appeal of Ponyville was, but half her classmates. Fluttershy, Cloudkicker, Derpy, Rainbow Dash. Probably a few others. Granted, those four were older than her by fout years but minor detail. Apparently Derpy even had a kid that Raindrops was making plans to go see.

“My break is up,” Milky Way announced and stood up, pausing to kiss Raindrops and the jasmine coated pegasus returned the gesture as Rainbowshine gagged and Merry May snickered. “Love you.”

“Thank the lord they didn’t use tongue this time,” Rainbowshine whispered and rolled her eyes as White Lightning flicked her with her wing tip. “Watch it.”

“Shush you. We need to get you a boyfriend or a marefriend. That’s our goal for the week,” White Lightning decided and the other three nodded in agreement as Rainbowshine groaned, slamming a hoof into her face.

“I’m not getting out of this, am I?”

“Nope!” The four chorused eagerly and Rainbowshine rolled her eyes as the other three started bouncing around names of ponies, some she knew, some she didn’t.

God help me, Rainbowshine thought to herself.

Author's Note

Should I bring back the character bios?