Other than Others

'Move it, idiot!' the Pegasus pony said.

Sunburst looked up from his book, and saw a tiny cloud floating over his head. 'Eh?' he said, and he climbed out of his hammock.

The blue Pegasus landed next to him. 'Good, now push it a bit more to the right. No, no. The óther right.'

Sunburst didn't know these two Pegasi, but they weren't talking to him.

One was as blue as he was, with a fluffy pink mane and tail. She was older than him, he thought, and she already had her cutie mark.

The other one was more grayish. She was a blankflank, and of the same age as Sunburst.

'Derpy!' the older Pegasus yelled. 'C'mon, seriously?'

There was something wrong with her eyes. They just... didn't seem right.

'Uh, sorry, Cloud Breaker,' she said from up above. 'I... just don't know what went wrong...'

The cutie mark of the older pony was two tiny clouds bursting apart, and Sunburst thought he'd seen her before. In Cloudsdale, maybe?

'Yeah, what could have gone wrong?' she asked sarcastically. 'Please, Derpy. PLEASE. Do something right ONCE.'

'Where do you want that cloud?' Sunburst said.

The two Pegasi looked at him in surprise.

'What?' the pony appearently called "Cloud Breaker" asked.

Sunburst's horn illuminated. 'No, I mean it. Need some help?'

'Yeah!' Derpy said enthusiastically. She jumped off the cloud and landed a bit roughly. 'Hey,' she said, her eyes all goggly.

'Hey...' Sunburst said uneasily, as he had never seen anypony like her before. How did she become so weird?

He then continued, 'So, where do you want me to drag that cloud?'

'Over there.' The older pony pointed in the distance. 'That piece of grass needs to be watered. And Derpy just can't get these things right.'

Derpy looked at her hooves. 'Uh, I'm sorry, Cloud,' she said.

Sunburst beamed at the cloud and got it in his grip. 'Okay, over there?'

Suddenly, the cloud turned all gray and it started to pour rainwater.

'Quick, quick!' Cloud Breaker said to Sunburst, and the unicorn pony did the best he could to get the cloud above the field. The older Pegasus took off and helped pushing the cloud towards the grass, but it was too late.

'Sorry,' Sunburst said as the raincloud disappeared. It had emptied itself and now it was gone.

Cloud Breaker rolled her eyes. 'I guess we have to get a new one,' she said, and reached out for Derpy. 'C'mon, silly. Let's get some more clouds.'

Sunburst saw the two Pegasi fade in the distance, and he felt sad and frustrated. He only tried to help, why didn't it work out the way he wanted?

Of course, he couldn't help it that it started to rain, because he only had practiced that spell for so long. It was terribly hard to drag a cloud, for it was made out of a giant amount of very tiny drops of water, and you had to grab them all at the same time and keep them on their place. Still, he was dissapointed with himself. And the Pegasi probably were, too.

He sighed as he crawled back in his hammock, and levitated his book into his hooves. Good, where was he?

The spells in his grandparents' book couldn't be that hard. He practiced his magic almost his whole life now, he could do this.

Hm, a teleport spell. Not for ponies, but for plushies.

He rolled his eyes. He was too old for this. Now, where could he find a plushie?

'Hnnnng...' Sunburst closed his eyes as he completely focussed on the spell. His horn shot some fireworks, but that was about it.

Frustrated, he threw the book across the room. Then, he stood up to fetch it and try again. He sighed and put the pony plush back in front of him.

His horn illuminated as he tried a levitation spell, and then he immediately switched to teleportation. It worked. The plush disappeared.

Sunburst opened his eyes and looked around in surprise. 'Woah,' he said to himself.

Woah indeed, his brain replied. But... where did it go?

Sunburst thought about the same thing, and searched through his room. He pulled off the blankets and turned his pillowcase inside out, but the hoof-stitched mud-coloured heavily-outworn plushie was nowhere to find.

'Criiiiispyyyyy!' he cried out, as if the stuffed pony was going to answer.

'He's here!' he heard his mother's voice from downstairs.

Sunburst hurried down the stairs and saw his mother doing the laundry. 'Look,' she said, and pulled out the perfectly clean Mr. Crispy.

Sunburst grinned. 'What's it doing there?' he asked.

His mother tossed the plush at him and said, 'I thought he could use a shower. He smelled.'

Her son frowned. If his mother had washed Crispy, then what did he just teleport away?

'You were right, mind,' Sunburst said. 'There's a lot of things I'd love to do right now.'

Like what? his mind asked.

The unicorn frowned. 'Eh, I think... well, Cloudsdale's no option, y'know.'

Why not?

'Mum would notice. Also, dad would kill me. He would kill me until I'm dead.'

True. Whatcha gonna do about it?

The unicorn rolled his eyes. 'I have no idea,' he said. 'You mind?'

Yes, I am your mind, the voice said.

'That wasn't exactly what I meant, but...'

You'll thank me later, his mind continued. Believe me. You're going on an adventure!

Sunburst looked out of his window and bit his lip. 'I... I don't know, really...'

Fine then, said the voice.

'I mean... it'd be fun, but I am... it's a bad idea with my parents, mind,' the unicorn continued, but his mind didn't listen anymore.

He sighed. 'Great. Nopony to talk to, nopony to play with...'

'You could play with me,' his Pegasus brother said. 'C'mon, Sunny. Please?'

Sunburst hadn't heard his brother enter the room they shared, so he startled and threw a pillow at him.

'Oops, sorry bro,' he said, as he nearly knocked Redlight out with the pillow crossing the room at nearly 120 mph.

Redlight shook his head. 'Eh, nevermind. Who were you talking to?'

'Nopony,' Sunburst quickly replied. 'Nopony at all.'

Redlight sighed. 'Well, fine,' he said. 'Mum's downstairs. She wants us to play Monopony with her.'

'Yay.'

The brothers quietly went down the stairs.

'I win. Again!' Redlight said happily.

Sunburst rolled his eyes. 'Congratulations,' he said. 'Want me to clap or something?'

'Sunburst,' his mother said. 'C'mon.'

The unicorn sighed. He wished that he was somewhere else, instead of being locked in the most boring living room in all of Equestria, with the most boring family ever, playing the most boring game of all time.

He was not really a pony who liked board games. He liked to be outside, climbing trees, staring at clouds and chasing his dreams.

'Woah, Sunburst? You there?'

Redlight waved his hoof up and down in front of his brother's face.

Sunburst didn't say a thing as he stood up from the dining table and walked away.

'Hay, Fluttershy!'

The yellow pony cringed and froze.

Sunburst walked up to her. 'Eh, I said hay... Fluttershy?'

The little Pegasus didn't reply, she only looked up to Sunburst from under her hair.

The unicorn smiled. 'C'mon, I won't hurt you,' he said. 'I only have a question.'

The hallway of the school was filled with laughter and the sound of hoofsteps, finding their way through the crowd. Fluttershy squeaked something Sunburst didn't understand at all.

'Sorry?' he said, but then the scared Pegasus ran away and disappeared in the crowd.

Sunburst rolled his eyes. 'C'mon! I just wanted to ask something!'

'Well, Sunburst,' he suddenly heard.

He turned around to see a rather familiar pony.

'Hey Fleur!' he said, as he recognized his friend.

She walked up to him. 'What did you want to ask?'

Sunburst smiled shyly. 'Just wondering...'

'...what a simple girl like Fluttershy is doing in Canterlot? Why, I actually wonder myself, too.'

Sunburst shook his head - this was really something he had néver thought about - and said, 'Nah, I wonder what Cloudsdale is like.'

Fleur smiled. 'Ah. Well, full of Pegasi, I think.'

'Of course it is. But, I mean, are they nice? Would they be needing a unicorn there?'

The white unicorn - about one and a half year older than Sunburst - simply shrugged. 'I have no idea. Why do you want to know?'

The blue unicorn grinned. 'Neh, it's not that important.'

At that moment, the school bell rang. 'See you later,' Sunburst said, and he walked away.

As he wandered through the large, overdecorated halls he thought about the city in the clouds. Oh, how he wished to return.

Also, he wondered who that rude green Pegasus was. She wasn't exactly mean, more cheeky. She probably lived close to his grandparents. Maybe they'd meet again, when he visited his grandparents' house.

As he was walking in his own world, he heard somepony say, 'Hay, sleepy! Watch out where you walk!'

A younger pony, also a unicorn, placed his hoof on Sunburst's tail.

'Eh, what?' Sunburst asked surprised. 'What's going on?'

The unicorn squinted. 'I saw you talking to Fleur De Lis,' he said. 'I'm only making sure that you're not stealing her from me.'

Sunburst couldn't help but chuckled. 'Come on, I am totally not into her.'

He thought for a moment. 'I'm not into anypony, actually,' he then said. 'She's all yours, partner!'

He gently pushed the little unicorn away and smiled as he left. How cute. A tiny filly trying to make Fleur fall in love with him. Pff, he could be her little brother!

Sunburst then got an idea and turned around. 'Hay, little guy!' he said, trying to get the unicorn's attention.

'What?' a voice sounded from beneath. Sunburst looked down and saw that the unicorn was a lot closer than he thought.

Sunburst's horn illuminated and a bouquet of white and purple roses appeared. 'Here,' he said. 'You should give this to her.'

The unicorn grabbed the flowers with his own magic. 'Woah, really? Thanks... eh...'

'I'm Sunburst,' said Sunburst. 'Good luck.'

He was pleased as he watched the little filly storm off with the flowers.

Fluttershy had looked from behind the door of the ladies' room. Maybe the unicorn wasn't that scary at all. Maybe she just should get herself together and...

'Hay, Klutzershy!' she suddenly heard, and cringed.

Behind her, there were two earth ponies.

'You're so shy, your mummy doesn't even know your name!' one said.

The poor Pegasus bit her lip as she tried to keep her tears inside. She squeaked softly as she slowly walked into the ladies' room.

Another pony closed the door. 'What were they talking about?' she asked.

Fluttershy looked up to see a pink, young mare with a cutie mark of a bow and arrow.

'Hm?' the mare asked.

Fluttershy dove in one of the toilet booths and quickly closed the door behind her.