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.
First Impressions
Mushroom Cloud awoke even earlier than she expected. Unsure about where she was, she looked around. Noticing the picture of Fluttershy and her friends reminded her. She gave a sigh and decided to get up and look around. The room was just as small as she remembered, but this time she noticed a closet door. A little curious she went to open it up. Inside was an assortment of dresses, including a stunning green dress. It was so finely stitched and even decorated in jewels. Cloud knew it was a special dress and not sure if she should ask Fluttershy about it. She decided to just close the closet door and move over to the window. She just now noticed that the sun’s rays could be seen in the distance. Celestia was right on time as usual. Cloud felt so tired and stressed out. She trotted back over to the bed and just fell face first into the soft bed and let out a muffled groan.
She looked back up at the picture to take a closer look. There was a purple unicorn with a pink stripe in her hair smiling back at cloud. For some reason she couldn’t let her focus off her, to the point her eyes started to cross eye and she shut them to correct her vision. The next pony she noticed was the light blue Pegasus. She absolutely loved her rainbow mane and tail. She looked really familiar, like Cloud had met her before. Then she remembered that her name was Rainbow Dash. Cloud got to see her preform a sonic rainboom. Cloud thought ‘why would this shy pony living here be friends with a famous flyer?’ She shrugged and saw that there was a little purple dragon in the picture. Cloud loved dragons; she’s always wanted to hold one. Her eye moved over the picture and noticed the tannish orange pony. She had a cowboy hat on, and both her mane and tail were done up in a ponytail. She always thought that ponytails were ironic, but never really knew why. Looking around the picture, she saw this pink earth pony jumping in the background. She wanted to smile back at this pony, but felt the need to look somewhere else. As she looked at the white unicorn, the sun peeked over the horizon, and she heard the animals starting to stir. Curious, she went to the window and looked outside. There were chickens that had just woken up, and the morning cock was about to begin his song. Fluttershy must have woken up by now, because she heard hoof steps outside her door. There was a gentle knock.
“Are you awake?” Fluttershy said softly. Cloud went over to open the door, and put on the best smile she could manage. Cloud opened the door to see Fluttershy with a massive grin on her face.
“Good morning Fluttershy” Cloud managed to keep her smile going
“And a great morning to you” Cloud doubted it’s greatness, but decided not to ask her why. “I was wondering if you wanted to maybe meet some of my friends today? They would find it nice to meet you, especially Pinkie Pie.”
“Well, I…” Cloud seriously considered rejecting the offer, but remembered that she was trying to change “Okay, I’ll meet your friends. I was just noticing them in your picture over there.”
“Oh, yea I forgot I had an extra in here. I keep one by my bedside too.” Fluttershy looked over at the picture. “We really have developed a special relationship between us, and I have learned so much from each of them. You would not believe the adventures we have been on.” Cloud felt an all too familiar lump in her throat, but she swallowed it back and kept her focus on Fluttershy.
“Well, I was able to identify one of your friends. Are you really friends with Rainbow Dash?” Cloud should have changed subject, but her curiosity got the best of her.
“Yes, we have been friends for a really long time. She and I went to flight school together, and she always stuck up for me. I’m not too sure about this, but if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have made any friends at all.” Fluttershy’s smile faded and she looked at Cloud. “I know it’s tough being friendless, because until I met Rainbow Dash I was too shy to talk to anypony. “
“Well, I wasn’t always shy, the ponies in school made me shy, but I guess it was for the better. I was literally a rain cloud to everyone, which is probably why no pony wanted me around.” Cloud looked down, and noticed that her hooves were cracked and in need of some attention. She thought ‘I really have let myself go, I never even noticed.’
“It’s okay Mushroom Cloud, that was the past and this is now, unless you like living in the past.” Fluttershy turned around. “Well, when you are ready I can take you to see Zecora. I might have somepony else come with us, it’s in the Everfree forest and I don’t like walking through there alone.” Fluttershy started to head downstairs.
“Hey, Fluttershy” Cloud called
“Yes?”
“Where is your wash room?”
“The door to the right” Cloud went to the first door on the right and opened it.
The bathroom had a decent sized tub with a pretty big porcelain sink. The walls were the same tannish color as the rest of the house, and the mirror was an oval shape. Cloud closed the door behind her, turned on the sink water, and stuck her front hooves in the running water. The water had turned warm, and she rinsed her face from the salty mess left behind by her tears. She refused to look into the mirror and dried her face off with a wash cloth hanging behind her. She opened the door and trotted downstairs. Fluttershy was sitting on the red pillow cloud was sitting in last night. She had made another pot of tea, and was quietly listening to the song birds outside. Cloud came over and sat next to Fluttershy on the red couch against the window.
“So, is there anything I need to know about Zecora?” Cloud hated to interrupt Fluttershy’s peace, but she wanted to make a decent impression on Zecora.
“She speaks in rhyme, and she can be a little scary at first, only because she isn’t from here originally.” Fluttershy sipped at her tea.
“Where could she be from?”
“I’m not totally sure, but she isn’t a pony, she is a zebra.” Fluttershy sipped at her tea some more. Cloud was surprised by this information, she thought Zecora was a pony, even her cousins described her as a pony.
“So, she’s a zebra. I had no idea who she really was; I just knew she dealt with plants and potions.”
“Mhm, one of the best, she really knows her stuff. We were all scared of her at first, Pinkie even called her an evil enchatress.” Fluttershy snickered and looked over at Cloud “Well, I was going to head out to find someone to come with us. You can come along, but only if that’s okay by you.” Fluttershy set her tea mug down and stood up.
“Yea, sure I can come along.” Cloud stood up and followed Fluttershy to the front door.
Cloud stepped out into the light and was a little dazed by it. She spread her ragged wings and let them absorb the sunlight. She then stretched them out a little bit, but right before she took flight; she noticed that Fluttershy was walking. She thought ‘why on earth would any pegasus no fly everywhere. It’s a lot quicker to fly.’ Out of curiosity she asked Fluttershy
“Why are you walking?” Cloud was hovering above the ground a little bit behind her. Fluttershy turned around and smiled
“Well I prefer to walk, I’m not a very strong flyer. Trust me I’ve tried to better my flying abilities, but I am a much better walker. I’m not quite so clumsy on my four hooves. If you really want me to I will though.” Fluttershy was still smiling at Cloud.
“Um, no it’s fine I’ll just keep up with my wings. I’m not much of a flyer. Just I’ve always flown everywhere I go. It’s now kind of a habit when I get outside.” Cloud flew a little closer to Fluttershy. It also keeps me healthy, which is probably the only good thing about me.” Cloud looked down at her body, she was pretty thin, but she was able to hide it with her small body.
“It sounds like you fly pretty well, so that’s another good thing, only if you think so however.” Fluttershy turned around and started walking into Ponyville. Cloud decided to let the last thing go, because she really couldn’t rebut it.
It took them about ten minutes to get to the edge of Ponyville. Over in the distance was an extremely pink pony sniffing some flowers. The pony looked up and cloud recognized her as Fluttershy’s friend. This pony must be that Pinkie Pie character she mentioned earlier. No other pony would be named that and not be pink. Then all the sudden the pony smiled really big and wasted no time hoping over to them.
“Hiya Fluttershy, whose your friend here?” Pinkie looked over at Cloud with a big smile. The pony had the most heartwarming smile Cloud has ever seen. It was too much for Cloud to bear and she had to look down. Cloud landed softly and waited for Fluttershy to introduce them.
“Pinkie Pie, this is Mushroom Cloud. She has had such a rough time in the last day or so. She isn’t much of a talker around strangers.” Cloud felt a little embarrassed that Fluttershy already knew that.
“Well, it’s really great to meet you. I’m Pinkie Pie, and like parties, cakes, balloons, and anything making new pony friends. I especially enjoy making them smile. It’s sort of my job. So, how old are you, what do you like, is there anything cool and interesting about you, when is your birthday…” Cloud interrupted Pinkie
“Please, one question at a time. I’m not much of a talker, and even then I’m not that interesting to listen to.” Cloud looked up with the same frown she always has. It must have startled Pinkie pretty bad, because she just sat there with a confused look on her face.
“Oh no, another Cranky Doodle, I know how to fix that frown right up.” Out of nowhere Pinkie pulled out a blue cannon with flower wheels and shot confetti all over Cloud and yelled “Pow, right in tha kissa!” Cloud just had to laugh as she shook off the confetti.
“You are one crazy pony Pinkie.” Cloud was still giggling at her.
“I’m not crazy, just happy. It hasn’t changed and never will. So, are you ready to loosen those lips yet?” Pinkie got in Clouds face and grinned a huge grin. Cloud backed away a little and shook her head
“Pinkie I have a favor to ask, if that’s okay” Fluttershy said softly.
“Sure Flutters, what ya need from ol’ Pinkie here.” Pinkie turned her attention on Fluttershy, and this made cloud sigh in relief. She knew it would be tough to be around this happy pony.
“Could you maybe come with us to Zecora’s hut? Cloud here wanted to meet her, because she thinks that her special talent may be in herbal remedy. If you can’t that’s okay I don’t mind.” Fluttershy gave Cloud a look of reassurance. The last thing Cloud really wanted was this energetic and overly happy pony going with them, but she didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
“Okie Doki Loki Flutters. It would be no problem to accompany you two. Maybe then I can find out about Shroom over there.” Cloud looked down, having bad memories flood back into her head. She didn’t mind that nick name, but it usually meant she was being made fun of. The bubbly pink pony hopped a circle around them and situated next to Cloud. This put Cloud on edge, because she knew what was coming next.
They set off back toward Fluttershy’s house, she must live kind of close to the Everfree forest. Pinkie had begun talking and asking a lot of questions Cloud just started to ignore at first, but then Pinkie paused.
“Oh yea, you need me to go a little slower. I’ll start with my first curious question of my friend questionnaire. Where are you from?”
“Cloudsdale” Cloud had already begun to get annoyed, but figured what harm could be done.
“Second question,” Pinkie giggled “I feel like Twilight every time I do this. How old are you?”
“I’m eighteen”
“Really?!?” Pinkie gasped “You are still a young pony in my books, why do you not have a cutie mark yet?” Pinkie looked back at her flank. Cloud looked back at pinkies and saw three balloons, two light blue and one yellow. It was hard to focus, because Pinkie kept hopping instead of walking.
“Um, I haven’t discovered who I am yet. You can blame my father for that.” Cloud looked down and a lump started to form in her throat.
“Oh, your father? Did you not get along?” Pinkie actually frowned for the first time since Cloud has seen her.
“Yea, and honestly I’d rather not talk about it. I’ll probably cry if I do.” Cloud looked up at Pinkie to let her know that she meant it.
“Oh Okay, we can talk about it some other time, like over hot cocoa and a nice tasty cupcake.” Pinkie began to smile again “Say, that actually made me hungry. She dashed off to a random tree and pulled out a pink cupcake with light blue sprinkles and devoured it.
“Where did you… Why was there a cupcake in that tree?” Cloud was thoroughly lost by this pink crazy pony
“Oh, I keep stashes of sweets all over the place. They are my emergency hunger stashes.” Pinkie smiled at Cloud as she hopped back in stride with them.
“How many of those do you have?”
“More than you would ever know. In fact I’m not even sure anymore, I’ve lost so many stashes out of plain forgetfulness, so I make new ones all the time. Anyways, when is you birthday?” Pinkie was now hopping along with her eyes closed and giant smile as she continued her questionnaire.
“It was yesterday actually” Pinkie gasped at this and had an even bigger smile than before.
“I must throw you a late birthday party. You have to come back and see us, I’ll get all my friends together you have to meet them. This will be great, a birthday party and a welcome party. I can’t wait to set everything up!” Pinkie’s grin never faded, and in the distance there was a feint light and a giant tree with a door and two windows.
Cloud thought ‘this must be Zecora’s place, it is really spooky. No wonder Fluttershy wanted company. Speaking of, she hasn’t said one word to neither me nor Pinkie. She must be one quiet pony. Either that, or a really good listener.’ Cloud stopped outside the door, and she could smell something brewing. It smelled like lavender mixed with vanilla. There was some chanting from inside the door too muffled to make out. Cloud turned to Pinkie and Fluttershy.
“Thank you guys for bringing me here, and I hope I’ll get done soon, I don’t want to keep you guys waiting too long.” Cloud gave them a reassuring smile
“No problem at all, especially for a new friend.” Fluttershy smiled back at Cloud. Cloud was a little confused thinking ‘am I really her friend now?’ Cloud shrugged it off and gave a knock on the door.
“Who is that outside, friend or foe? If I don’t answer I will never know.” The door opened and Zecora came out with a smile “My my, its dear Fluttershy and one Ms. Pinkie Pie. You have come with a friend I see, and who might you be?”
“I’m Mushroom Cloud.” Cloud’s mind was boggled by this rhyming stuff. She wondered how she was able to do that.
“Ah, one Mushroom Cloud. Why here at my doorstep, are you found?” Zecora gave Cloud a smile.
“I’m here to seek knowledge in remedies and potions.” Cloud swallowed, she felt herself start to get nervous.
“Ah it is knowledge that you seek, please come in and we shall speak.” Zecora stepped aside to let Cloud in. Cloud trotted inside and Zecora looked at Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. “You too my friends, my hospitality has no ends.” Fluttershy and Pinkie followed Cloud inside and Zecora shut the door behind them.
Mushroom Cloud awoke in the guest bedroom of Fluttershy’s cottage again. Cloud really wanted a place of her own, just she wouldn’t be able to afford it until she got a steady job. Being a student was going to be rough for a while, so Fluttershy decided to let her stay as long as she needs. Cloud felt bad about using Fluttershy’s hospitality, so she had begun to help out with some of the nocturnal animals and staying up late. She hasn’t been able to really sleep lately anyways.
Cloud had a killer headache slowly forming into a migraine, and was trying to collect her thoughts, but her head was pounding too hard. She looked around to see the sun was already up, and could hear Fluttershy singing with her birds outside. She could really use a cup of tea. She rolled out of bed to sort of flop on the floor and struggled to stand up. She was exhausted; it must be from the day or two before when she flew all the way from Cloudsdale. Her wings ached, her hooves ached, and even her eyes felt like they were going to pop out of her head. She slowly made her way to the bathroom to take a quick shower. She turned the water on and let the warm water run over the back of her neck and down to her wing's joints. She stretched them out and heard a small crack. She folded them back in and sat for just a few minutes to plan what she should do today. In her head she imagined that she would go into town to buy Fluttershy a gift, and from there try to learn the towns lay out. Zecora asked for a few days to get everything ready for her to learn the art of potion making. She would then return to take her shift for the nocturnal animals.
Her thoughts then took a turn and begun to think about her father, her headache finally tipped over to a migraine. Her blood boils at the very thought of her father, and then she finally opened her eyes. She gave out a sigh.
“What are you doing?” She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. The warm air lifting up past her face filled her nose and felt relaxing. She shut off the water and hopped out of the shower, dried off, and brushed her mane out. It didn’t require too much work; it was short enough to really just run her hoof through. Her short hair derived from a guy she once knew. He was kind and sweet, and she even tried to attract him, but to no avail. She cut her mane short, because he liked mares with short hair. He just gave her one look over, and went about his day. She felt oddly abandoned because of it. She liked the short hair, and just kept it that way.
She opened the bathroom door, and decided to head back in her room for one more glance over at her body.
“Ugh…” She hated her body, she wish she could be something else. She hated the fact her body wasn’t slim and sleek, and she hated the fact she wasn’t very tall. Her wings felt like they were oversized for her body type and that her face was too wide. All of these features about herself she hated. She really was one depressing looking pony. No wonder she was named Rain Cloud. She then picked up a small bag off her side table. She threw it in her saddlebag witch then it made a rattle noise. It was her life savings and it as enough to live with for a while. She put her saddle bag on, and gave a yawn. She didn’t ever get good sleep.
As many problems as Cloud had, she was always determined to make things better, even if they kept getting worse. She decided to go downstairs to make a pot of tea. She then looked out the kitchen window to see Fluttershy tending to her rodent pets. She noticed Cloud and gave her a smile and mouthed out the words ‘good morning.’ Cloud forced a smile back and even a wave. She then went back about her business of making tea, she had become an addict for it now. It kept her body warm, and somehow made her headaches subside pretty well.
Cloud had just threw her bag aside, and sat down to start drinking her tea. Then there was a knock at the door. It startled her a little. ‘Who could that be this early?’ She trotted over to the door and opened the door slightly. She gave a quick glance and recognized the pony as being Twilight.
“Oh, good Morning Twilight.” Mushroom opened the door all the way, she recognized her from the party Pinkie threw the other night.
“Hey there Cloud!” Twilight gave her a smile.
“Fluttershy is out back.” Cloud assumed that’s why she was here.
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you.” Twilight lost her smile, and she had a more serious look on her face.
‘Uh Oh’ Cloud thought. “Sure, what could it be?” She stepped out of the doorway to allow Twilight to step inside.
“I feel like there is a lot that you might need help with. I was wondering is there anything I can do. After all I am supposed to be learning about the magic of friendship.” Twilight came in and turned towards Cloud. “I mean it just seems like you’ve faced more than just a little hardship.” Cloud was a little confused, she didn’t remember telling Twilight anything like that.
Cloud closed the door and replied “Well, no I am feeling fine.” She lied through her teeth, and must not have been very convincing, because Twilight looked skeptical.
“Look, you don’t have to put up a defense against me. I am just trying to help.” Cloud got a little angered by this.
“No, I am fine.” Cloud's voice was more serious. “I don’t need to spill out my emotions, they bring up bad memories. Honestly, the only thing I can do is focus on bettering myself, and no amount of talking is going to help.” Twilight furrowed her brow, and just looked at Cloud. Cloud did just about the same thing.
Twilight gave a sigh, she rearranged her face to look concerned with a hint of seriousness. “What is your problem? I am trying to connect with you in order to be your friend.” She then gave her a more concerned look.
“Look, I find it hard to trust anypony really, Fluttershy just caught me in a moment of weakness.” Cloud looked down. “I don’t have any friends because this is what I do. I put up defenses in order to keep myself inside and away from the world around me.” Twilight cracked a tiny grin.
“There you go, it doesn’t matter the problem. Look, I know it’s hard to trust new people. I had just made friends with the girls, and finding out that they are the elements of harmony is a weird experience to have with strangers you hardly know. I had to step up, and put my trust into every single one of them, even when I didn’t fully trust them. Sometimes friendship is forced upon you, and you never really get a chance to say no. Lucky for you, you have the opportunity to make friends, and if I were you, I wouldn’t blow it.” Twilight patted Cloud on the shoulder, which made Cloud look up. She had tears welling up, and she quickly wiped them away.
“Thank you Twilight; I’ll keep that in mind.” Cloud was being sincere about that; it’s the first time she realized she actually had a choice in her life about who she befriends, and that the ponies around her wouldn’t discriminate against her. That thought actually relieved the stress she had been feeling for a couple of days now. She didn’t consider herself friends with any of these ponies until now.
“No problem, and like I said, if you need any help at all, please don’t hesitate to ask.” Twilight made her way to the door, and this kind of saddened Cloud.
“Wait.” Cloud called out, making Twilight turned around, “Would you maybe show me around Ponyville, I kind of want to talk a little more.” She felt embarrassed, but she really did need to know the layout of Ponyville a little better, and seeing as how she had time to kill waiting on Zecora to get everything ready for her.
Twilight gave her a smile, “Of course I can do that.”
