Mushroom Cloud: Hopeless

The Arrival

A dark grey pegasus with a short green and black mane, and a short tail, was flying through her tears and heartache. It was getting late and she needed to land due to visibility. She slowly landed outside a small hut somewhere close to Ponyville. Her tears were clearly visible, but she didn’t notice. She had cried so many times before and now was no different. The house, or hut, had animals around everywhere, and had several animal pins built all around it. The young pegasus walked up to the door and debated on whether or not she should knock. She thought 'no one would be home, and even if they were they wouldn't help me.'

She looked up at the door and gave a small sigh. She remembered she needs to find somepony named Zecora, and gave a gentle knock on the door. She quickly turned round to leave, but heard somepony on the other side of the door.

“Coming,” the voice inside sounded soothing. A pony answered the door with her pink mane draped over her right eye, and a big smile that quickly faded when the pony caught sight of her crying. “Oh, my, um can I help you?” The yellow pony tilted her head ever so slightly out of concern for her.

“Well,” she had to pause to sniffle. It must have been loud because the yellow pony flinched a little. “To start, my name is Mushroom Cloud. I’m here in search of a pony named Zecora. She is extremely good with potions and homemade remedies” she ended with another sniffle, only a little less loud.

“Well, I do know her, but it looks like you’ve had such a hard time getting here, could you use some tea maybe?” Cloud gave a small grin and nodded to come in.

The yellow pony closed the door behind her and trotted into the kitchen. Cloud heard the banging of some pots and pans, and decided to sit on a red pillow. She looked around the house, and noticed that it looked built for animals. It had holes in the walls for rodents, birdfeeders hanging everywhere, and several food bowls scattered around. Cloud got the distinct feeling that this pony was way into animals. Cloud noticed over in the corner was a bunny and It didn’t look too happy. Out of its curiosity it came over and sniffed at Mushroom a little bit. It then looked up at her, wiggled its nose, and then frowned. The bunny must not have enjoyed company too much. The yellow pegasus came out of the kitchen with a tray of tea cups and a kettle. She poured Cloud a cup, and gave a little smile.

“Umm, my name is Fluttershy. Normally I don’t talk to strangers, let alone invite them in my home, but I couldn’t help myself. You looked so pitiful and sad. I just had to do something to cheer you up.” She took a small gentle sip of tea, and cloud slurped her tea down. This made Fluttershy flinch; cloud would have to remember to be a little less noisy around this Fluttershy character.

“Thank you for inviting me in, and sorry. My real name is Rain Cloud, but I prefer my nick name Mushroom Cloud” Cloud was very uncomfortable, but out of politeness she didn’t show it.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. You must have had such hard time. Where did you come from?” Fluttershy leaned a little closer. Cloud was a little confused by this and scooted back to give herself some distance.

“I came from Cloudsdale.” Cloud looked down, and while saying this some more tears started to well up. She sat up quickly and fought back her tears.

“You flew here from Cloudsdale?!? That would take at least three hours for even the fastest flyer!” Fluttershy had a shocked expression and scooted even closer to Cloud.

“I guess I left after flying home to find out my mother had died.” The tears had won her over, and once again she was crying, and she took a sip of tea. Fluttershy had moved back in an upright position, her expression changed from shocked to concern.

“You poor child…” Fluttershy looked down “and I’m sorry to hear that. I know it’s hard to lose family.”

“I’m actually not that young, I’m just underdeveloped for a normal pegasus. Thank you for the apology, but it’s not your fault. Blame my father and me for killing her.” Fluttershy jumped out of her seat and moved back a little

“Y-you killed her?!?” She took a step back. Cloud was confused, and then she realized what it must have sounded like.

“Oh, gosh, no. It’s a long story, but no we did not murder her. It was accidental, and I didn’t really mean to scare you. I’m sorry, maybe I should just go” Fluttershy calmed down a little but didn’t sit back down yet.

“Oh I'm so sorry, I misunderstood. You said her death was an accident right?” Fluttershy’s voice was trembling a little bit

“Yea, duh. I wouldn’t kill my mother I loved her, she taught and showed me everything I know.”

“Oh, okay, you don't have to leave, it was my fault for getting scared like that. It's a problem I have, and I get scared really easily. Anyways, why would you blame yourself for her death.” Fluttershy was still tense. Cloud took a sip of her tea, still debating on leaving, but instead took a deep breath and looked at the floor.

“A while back she was taking me to visit my cousin here in Ponyville because of my father.” Cloud closed her eyes and took another deep breath to fight back tears again. “My father isn’t exactly a role model, but my brothers hated him and so did I. He treated my mom right, but he tried to control his children. Well he wanted to force me into his job of rain cloud manufacture, but it’s just not what I’m interested in. I like plants and the forest, not some water vapor.” Cloud began to tear up again, she wiped he soaked face with her hooves.

“Oh, here” Fluttershy picked up a tissue box and gestured it towards Cloud. Cloud shook her head, refused the tissues, and then sniffed.

“Just, never mind. I’m not worth the time to hear about my life. Needless to say that my mom died and I blame myself and my father. Not because I hate him, because I do, but because he created the storm that killed her. It had become too big for him to handle, and it got loose when my mom was returning to Cloudsdale after taking me to my cousins here in ponyville. She got vaporized by the high amount of electricity created in that cloud, and literally disappeared from existence...” At this point Cloud was crying and couldn’t say anymore. She turned away from Fluttershy embarrassed.

“Oh, please don’t cry.” Fluttershy placed a hoof on Cloud’s back. “I wish I could say I understand, but truthfully I don’t think anyone could. Look, you must need somewhere to stay. Can you go back to your cousins?”

“I-I w-wish I could, But…” she sniffled and took a deep breath to calm herself. “I was supposed to leave to go back home today, plus they don’t really like me that much anyways. It’s my birthday and I wanted to go see my mom.” She was able to calm her voice, but the tears were just pouring out of her eyes. “I know I’m a pathetic pony, I don’t even have my bucking cutie mark, all because of my dad. I don’t really know who I am. I don’t even know if this remedy thing will work out, but it’s something I would be profoundly devoted to.” She sighed and there was a moment of silence. Even Fluttershy had shed some tears, but she smiled and turned Cloud around and hugged her.

“Happy birthday, you can stay here tonight, and I’ll take you to meet Zecora tomorrow.” Fluttershy let her go, and Cloud just looked at her in amazement.

“Um, I.. I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much.” Cloud looked down “I’m sorry if I made you sad. I do that to everyone I talk to. I’m not exactly a fun and happy pony to be with, and was teased for it even. I deserved it though, because they are right.”

“Well, I’m not sad; in fact I’m really happy I’ve met you. I’m glad I could be here to soothe your emotions and be here to help. In fact it’s kind of my job to calm things down, I am an animal expert after all.” Fluttershy smiled at Cloud, even though her tears were still present. “Look, you’ve had a rough birthday, and I’ll make it up to you. I know a special pony who can give you a great late birthday party, after you meet with Zecora first. Feel free to stay here as long as you need.” Cloud stood up and nodded.

Cloud followed Fluttershy to the stairs, and noticed Fluttershy's cutie mark being three butterflies. Cloud looked up the stairs to see the bunny was a little bit ahead of them. They went up the stairs to a red door. Fluttershy opened it up. It was a small guest room, the bed had a red blanket on it, and it was very tidy. Cloud felt like it was too tidy for an animal expert. Like it mattered to her though, and even if she was a little confused by Fluttershy, she could only imagine how she herself seemed.Two candles had been lit on the bed side table, and there was a picture of Fluttershy and five other ponies. This made cloud tear up a little because she knew they had to be her friends.

“Again thank you so much.” Mushroom Cloud went passed Fluttershy and shut the door behind herself. She walked over to the bed, blew out the candles, curled up to make herself small as possible, and started crying again. The cool tears felt good against her warm face, and she slowly drifted off into slumber.