Wandering in Search of Naps
Noon-ish, meandering on the outskirts of Ponyville. A lone wanderer ambles down the road leading into town, past the many succulent apples that dot the trees of Sweet Apple Acres. Stretching out his wings, the white-ish Pegasus leaps up and nabs an apple hanging over the fence, munching on it aimlessly as he makes his way down into town. His short-ish brown mane flutters slightly in the afternoon breeze. Placing one hoof on his black fedora to keep it from flying off, he slowly takes flight, tired of walking. He preferred the open sky anyway, he could move much faster there.
The clear blue sky brought a profound sense of calm to the tired Pegasus. After a few moments, he begins to drift off. The sensation of him falling due to nodding off brings him abruptly awake. Quickly adjusting his wings and body, he catches an updraft and slowly glides back up to his cruising altitude. Something didn’t feel right with his head. After finally noticing his fedora missing, the stallion frantically searches behind himself, before spotting it slowly drifting back to Earth.
With a quick turnaround, he raced toward the gliding headpiece. Slowing his approach, he went into a hover, letting the hat land daintily upon his brow. Content, Clarx lets out a quick sigh of relief, before taking off once more, one hoof upon his hat.
A few minutes of flying later, the Pegasus finally apprehended that which he had been searching for: a simple, fluffy cloud to sleep on. Alighting on the cream of the sky, Clarx laid on his back, ready to sleep. Out of pure habit, he moved his hat onto his face, and held it in place with one hoof. Light snoring ensued, indicating his entrance into the realm of dreams.
Not less than an hour later, a cyan Pegasus flew about, trying to find her favorite place to nap. “C’mon, it’s gotta be around here somewhere!” She said in frustration. She’d been looking for it for over an hour now, but it still eluded her. Her rainbow colored mane fluttered about with the mare’s constant jostling and searching. In the blink of an eye, Rainbow Dash was off again, still searching for the cloud that she napped on every day.
Less than 30 minutes later, the Pegasus was ready to give up, when the sound of somepony snoring caught her attention. A few feet above her head was her favorite cloud, and somepony was using it! Floating up high enough to see the culprit who stole her spot, Rainbow was surprised to see it was a stallion, one who she had never seen before. Even so, that still doesn’t excuse him from stealing my nap cloud, Rainbow confirmed to herself.
“Hey pal, just who do you think you are, stealing somepony’s spot?” Rainbow demanded as she picked the stallion up by the scruff of his neck. Readjusting his hat, Clarx groggily looked up at his assailant, confusion apparent.
“Ugh,” he started, before rubbing his eyes and yawning, “Sheesh, can’t a guy get a little shut-eye on a beautiful day?” Clarx simply stared at Rainbow, unconcerned that she appeared angry.
Rainbow was at a loss for words for the moment. Shaking off his words, she released him, before demanding once more, “I said, who are you and why did you take my cloud?”
The male simply shrugged, before stretching his wings and arms. “Name’s Clarx. I was just in the neighborhood. I was tired from my wanderings, and decided to take a nap. This cloud was empty, and seemed comfy,” he replied. Standing up, he turned away from Rainbow, and raised his wings. “Anyway, I think that was a good enough nap for now. Best be on my way. See ya,” he continued. After that, he stepped toward the edge of the cloud, tipped his hat toward Rainbow Dash, and then flew off toward town.
Rainbow stood there, confused as to what had just happened. Shaking off the encounter, she settled in for her afternoon nap. Still, she couldn’t quite be rid of the feeling that there was something odd about that Pegasus. Just before she drifted off to sleep, she understood why: that stallion didn’t have a cutie mark.
Clarx continued his journey, happy to have met someone new, even if he failed to remember to get her name. I’ve got to remember to work on that. Anyway, she was kinda cute in a spunky, dominant sort of way. Oh well. Back to my wanderings, he mused as he flew off toward a new town full of new adventures.
