Cloudsdale

It is time to take another trip in my Equestria dreamscape. Only this time it was Rainbow Dash and I making a journey to center of pegasi culture, Cloudsdale.

    There were several reasons for the trip. The official reason given was to give me a chance to tour the Royal Equestrian Weather Services facilities and to meet some the higher ups in the Weather Service, also I could register a date to take my exam and become a full-time weather pony.

    However the real reason was so RD and I could post printed fliers about the upcoming Best Young Fliers Competition and drum up enthusiasm for the event. link Now the competition is usually very well attended, but Petina wanted to make certain there would as many ponies as possible attending it that would receptive to Dash’s performance. To improve those odds Petina had the fliers printed in Hoofington and shipped to a drop box in Cloudsdale that Dash uses for some of her Weather Services paperwork.

    The plan was for Dash and I post and distribute these fliers in bars, clubs, dormitories, barracks or any place where young stallions and mares live, work, hang out or go to be social. 

    The final reason was to test my long-range flying and primary navigation skills. Also RD and I could use some time away from some of drama that was occurring in Ponyville.link

    So late one spring morning Rainbow Dash and I packed our panniers and headed off into the brilliant, cobalt blue sky. This was scheduled to be a three-day trip. We did not take the direct route but instead took a more scenic route that took us through some of the lower mountain passes.  Still this meant flying to altitudes well above 10,000+ feet, which is about as high as I have flown routinely. I have reached 13,000+ on a couple occasions but for only brief periods of time. Now Dash and I were catching thermals from warming slopes that carried us higher and higher into early afternoon. Down below us it was warm, pleasant but up here the air cold and the winds blew fierce. Finally at about 14,000 Dash turned us north and we picked up a strong tailwind that sent us hurtling towards our final destination. Even with just mild flapping we were soon doing well over a hundred miles per hour.  With Rainbow Dash in the lead I followed.

    There were late afternoon thunderstorms scheduled and all around us small cells of fair-weather cumulus clouds were growing and forming into large, more energetic cells that would make up the days precipitation. Below us we could see weather teams working the clouds. As they worked them the cells began to swell and rise in the springtime air. Soon some of them would reach heights of over 40,000 feet.

    My prismatic colored guide, coworker, and friend skirted the edge of one of these rising columns white. Taking the same path I followed her, and then I saw it.

    This is one time where I fear my artistic skills cannot begin express the wonder of the sight before. I was approaching Cloudsdale.

    I have lived for a short while in Ponyville Library, link I have dined at Sugar Cube Corner link, and I’ve walked the streets and halls of Canterlot. link However this was the most fantastic places I had ever seen in Equestria.

    While small compared to cities like Manehattan, Cloudsdale is still home to more than 40,000 pegasi. It is largest and oldest pegasi city, and is built upon some of strongest structural clouds ever found in Equestria.

    Great sweeping arcs of sculpted structural clouds swirled and spiraled throughout the city. Pillars of virga link formed gossamer bridges and ethereal columns that linked great sections of the city together. Powerful Stay-There totems assured that Cloudsdale remained anchored to its location in Equestria. In fact some of the clouds that made up the great city have existed for more than three hundred years.

    As we approached the city I noticed brilliant colored dots moving around and city and across the sky. As the Cloudsdale grew in my vision I realized they were pegasi, hundreds of them.

    Dash looked back at me and yelled. “Okay Brick, follow my lead. We’re going to merge into the incoming traffic flow. Stay level with me at my four o’ clock and follow my lead. You’re about encounter more air traffic than you’ve ever seen. Stay close and do what I do. Got it? You don’t want to get separated from me in this mess. You ready?”

    I nodded my head. Dash grinned back at me. “Good then here we go!” Then she rolled to the left and dove for the flow.

To be continued.