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// Spring Break: Tuesday 
// Story: The Roommate 
// by totallynotabrony 
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	Something poked me in the leg.  A young female voice asked, “Hey, are you done with that book?”
I made a noise of slight annoyance.  It took a few seconds to remember that I was slumped over the library table with a small pile of spellbooks spread around me.  I hadn’t intended to stay up so late, but one thing had led to another and I ended up sleeping in the reading room rather than in bed.
I sat up, blinking the morning crud out of my eyes.  An orange pegasus filly pulled her hoof back from where she was about to poke me again.  She smiled eagerly.  “So are you done with it?”
I glanced at the book.  It was a basic text for foals.  I had started big, but quickly realized that as a non-unicorn, as a non-pony, I had no hope of understanding any high level discussion of magic.
Well, I should probably get up and get ready for the day.  As much as I had read or tried to read there wasn’t much about magic that I could apply to my daily life.  I gave the book to the little pony.
“Hey Sweetie Belle, is this what you were looking for?” the pegasus asked, holding up the book and calling to a pair of other fillies who were busy searching the bookshelves.
“It looks right!” replied a white unicorn.  She and her friend, an earth pony wearing a pink bow, came over and gathered around the book.  They were probably the three cutest things I had ever seen and for a moment I just stared.
The earth pony looked up.  “Thank’s for findin’ this for us.  We’re crusadin’ today.”
Her country accent only made her that much more adorable.  I nodded and smiled.  “Crusading for what?”
“Cutie marks!” replied the pegasus.
“We’re trying for something related to magic today,” added the unicorn.
“I know about the basic idea of cutie marks, but never really thought about the process to get one.  Is it hard?”
“That’s puttin’ it mildly,” answered the earth pony.  “We’ve been lookin’ for ours for months.  We just ain’t found ‘em yet.”
“I think it’s because we haven’t been hanging out with Rainbow Dash enough,” said the pegasus.
The unicorn rolled her eyes.  “That’s what you always think.”
I shrugged.  “I get to hang out with her all the time.  She’s my roommate.”
The reactions were mixed.  The earth pony and the unicorn did not look surprised.  The pegasus looked very surprised.  She even sqee'd.
They introduced themselves.  Apple Bloom was the one with the bow.  She was Applejack’s little sister, which explained the accent.  Sweetie Belle was the unicorn, and sister of Rarity.  Both of them had heard of me, and already knew Rainbow had a human roommate.
Scootaloo was the third filly and apparently was the president of the Rainbow Dash fan club – literally.  She was excited to see her hero again, now that Rainbow was back in town for a week, however they hadn’t managed to connect yet because Rainbow had been unexpectedly busy.
“Yeah,” I agreed.  “She had to help with the weather yesterday and is going to Cloudsdale this morning to get some kind of award.”
“We should totally go to the awards ceremony,” Scootaloo blurted out.
“I suppose we could put off the magic-related cutie marks for today,” Sweetie Belle conceded.
“How are we gonna get there?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I think Cherry Berry was going to be making a trip up there in her balloon today,” answered Sweetie Belle.
“Aren’t you going?” Scootaloo asked me.
“I don’t like heights.  Also, how am I supposed to visit a cloud city?  I’d fall through.”
“I heard that they just installed a new load-bearing ice framework that is kind of like sidewalks,” said Sweetie Belle.  “Also, my sister was learning a spell from Twilight to help with cloud walking.”
Well…I probably could go, then.  Rainbow would want me to.  I asked, “So are your families okay with you going to Cloudsdale?”
Based on the look the three fillies traded, I guessed that the thought to actually tell somepony where they were going had never occurred to them.  I crossed my arms.  “Are you allowed to leave Ponyville on your own?”
“If you were with us, we wouldn’t be alone,” Apple Bloom gave me puppy dog eyes, which should totally be called little filly eyes because they’re so much more cute and persuasive when used by a pony.
I sighed.  “I’ll go with you, but we really should tell somepony.  Spike!”
“What Twilight?”  I heard him yawn from his bed, and then he got up and came into the room.  “Sorry Densise, usually when my name is shouted this early in the morning it’s somepony else.  What did you need?”
“Can you watch these three for a moment while I get freshened up?”
Spike’s eyes went wide in protest, but I was already on my way out of the room.  I had a quick shower and put on comfortable traveling clothes.  When I came back out, Spike was alone.
“Sorry, they went to their treehouse to get stuff for the trip.”  Spike shrugged.  “That’s in the Sweet Apple Acres orchard outside of town.”
I left the library and followed Spike’s directions.  In just a few minutes I found the orchard.  Applejack was there, working with a robust crimson stallion who I took to be a family member.
“Howdy Denise, what brings you out here?” Applejack asked.
“I’m looking for your sister and her friends.”
A worried look passed over Applejack’s face but I added, “They just wanted to hang out with me.  They were trying to convince me to go to Cloudsdale for Rainbow’s awards ceremony.”
“I didn’t get an invitation to that, even though Rainbow said one was in the mail.”  Applejack shrugged.  “The mail system ‘round here ain’t the best.  I guess I’ll come with y’all.  Can you handle the rest of the day by yourself, Big Mac?”
The red stallion nodded.  “Eeyup.”
Applejack introduced us.  “My brother, Big Macintosh.  Rainbow’s roommate Denise.”
I nodded to him, but fortunately he didn't seem interested in conversation because Applejack was prodding me away to the treehouse.  I looked over my shoulder to see Big Macintosh casually buck a tree.  Every single apple fell off the branches and landed in baskets.  I nearly stumbled in surprise.  I had an idea that ponies besides unicorns had their own forms of magic – for example there was no way pegasi could fly with a wing to body ratio like that – but clearly even earth ponies had impressive tricks up their figurative sleeves.
Applejack and I found the three fillies in their treehouse.  They quickly came down and joined us.
“We should go see if Fluttershy got an invitation,” Applejack said.  Our little group went by Fluttershy’s house on the way back to town.  As it turned out, she hadn’t, and joined us.  Back in Ponyville, we found Rarity and Pinkie in a similar manner.
“Well, if we’re going to Cloudsdale I should probably cast the cloud walking spell on us all,” said Rarity.  “Hold still.”
Her horn glowed blue.  I flinched but only a little.  There was a little bit of feeling that washed over me, not quite a tingle but just a little something to let me know the spell had happened.  I just hoped it worked.
“How do we know it's okay to use on people?” Apple Bloom asked.
There was and uncomfortable silence.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” said Pinkie.  “Dashie will be there, and also the Wonderbolts.  If you fall, somepony will catch you.”
“How do you know the Wonderbolts will be there?” Applejack questioned.
“Well just because it’s not my party doesn’t mean I don’t know the guest list.  I mean, what sense would that make if I didn’t?”  Pinkie giggled and glanced up as the hot air balloon that would carry us to Cloudsdale approached.
I was introduced to Cherry Berry, the pilot.  The balloon’s basket was crowded with five mares, three fillies, and me, but we just barely managed.  With not much room left, Fluttershy opted to fly alongside.
To say that I was nervous would be an understatement.  The wicker basket seemed fragile.  Still, if none of the ponies were concerned then I was probably okay.  Even if the thing started falling apart in midair, primates like my ancestors were very good at climbing and hanging on for dear life.  I had no idea what ponies evolved from to get them where they were.
The thinner air at high altitude made me take deeper breaths, which reminded me that I hadn’t had nicotine in my system for several days now.  My hands jittered a little, looking for something to do.  I resorted to pulling out my cell phone.  This far up in the sky, the reception was excellent.
The ponies were all talking quietly among themselves, so I turned away and dialed Twilight.  The phone rang a few times and went to voicemail.  Hello, this is Twilight Sparkle.  I’m currently in the U.S. state of Louisiana doing research related to the human holiday of Mardi Gras.  Please leave your name and number and I will return your call as soon as I am able.
I left a message expressing my surprise at Twilight’s current location and curiosity at what it had to do with everywhere else she had been.  Hopefully Twilight would call me back soon.  Maybe it would help take my mind off how terrified I was at visiting a cloud city.
The balloon drifted up to Cloudsdale’s landing platform and bumped gently on an sheet of ice.  The ponies all jumped out, stepping carefully.  I stepped carefully myself, not at all trusting the footing.
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were happily testing the effects of the cloud walking spell.  As a pegasus I supposed it was nothing new for Scootaloo, although perhaps she spent her time on the ground like Fluttershy.
I hesitantly followed the crowd.  Fluttershy seemed to know the area best, including where the event was being held.
As we walked, I slowly began to relax and take in the sights.  Everything was made of clouds, and somehow those wisps of water vapor had been shaped into buildings and streets and everything else.  There was also ice for objects that required more substance.  Despite that, I didn’t feel chilly.  Mildly cold perhaps because of the higher altitude, but not freezing.
Here and there, something that resembled liquid rainbow was used for decoration.  I saw a building that was apparently a weather factory pouring out a shimmering waterfall of color and realized that it was in fact liquid rainbow.  I shook my head.  This meteorology was something incredible to me, a person used to just dealing with whatever weather mother nature decided to make.
I was so engrossed in the view that I found myself walking in the street on a bed of clouds without realizing it.  I squeaked in a very Fluttershy-like way and jumped back to the sidewalk.  The midair ice was scary, but trusting magic to keep me from falling through the clouds was terrifying.  I don’t care how much I’d read about it the previous night.
We made it to the convention center just in time to catch the ceremony.  Rainbow got a special commendation from the weather team for her fantastic volunteer service during the storm of the previous day.  She looked happy and proud of herself, even more so when she spotted her friends and me in the crowd.
There were a lot of ponies who wanted to speak to Rainbow afterwards.  “Guess we should give her room,” muttered Applejack.  “When Rainbow gets to talkin’ about herself, we might be here for hours.”
I chuckled.  “Sounds like she earned it.”
“Well, yes, I suppose,” Applejack acknowledged.  “She usually does.”
“We could look around Cloudsdale for a while we wait,” suggested Rarity.
“And set up a cool party for Dash when she gets finished talking?” asked Pinkie, bouncing up and down. 
“I would be okay with that,” I said.  “Uh, just one thing first.  I have to figure out how to use a cloud restroom.”