A city floated in the sky.
The soft, fluffy clouds matched the blue sky as its foreground—a grand foreground that houses and homed many pegasi in its moving ways. Streams of rainbow colors flowed downwards from its relative ground.
Columns of marble and limestone, basking in their white colors, dotted and graced the proud Cloudsdale. Flags of different colors, along with many of its own flags, were winded by the strong wing.
A rainbow came out of a pipe. Some clouds were pumped out of another pipe.
A coliseum with streamers and flags breezing in the wind stood on a lonely yet huge cloud.
As pegasi of all kinds of colors flew and fleeted about, several of them wore vests and hard hats. They pushed clouds here and there, blocking some of the sunlight at times.
Roads of cloudy material brought the ponies and the buildings together as they walked and stood on clouds. In a neighborhood there, among the houses, fenced by a stream of rainbow, there was one house that was, like the others, spruced up with cloud trimmings on the roof, on the wall, and even the window. A bush of cloud stood on the front yard. The yard's ground was actually made up of cloud, also.
Inside, the floor was an extension of even more cloud-ground. The dining room was graced with many wooden green cabinets. The red round table was on a blue, elegant carpet. The red chairs were cushioned with clouds.
The ceiling was also made up of clouds.
Some ponies were sitting around the table.
"We're meeting Fluttershy's parents for the first time!" Apple Bloom yelled.
The parents sat beside each other, looking awkwardly and strangely at the cheerful filly. "Uh, you've already said that, Apple Bloom," the green stallion said, wearing a blue sweater. A polite smile went up his face.
"So, dears, how was your stay in Cloudsdale so far?" the cream-colored mare asked.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders nodded their heads up and down.
"Have you checked where's Babs Seed and Zephyr?" the mare asked on.
"I think they're on the way here, Mrs. Shy!" Scootaloo proclaimed.
The door swung open.
"Hello, everypony!" Zephyr sang.
Beside the younger green pegasus, there was an earth pony with light red mane. She blew her long bangs out of the way of her eyes. Then, she smiled. Beside her, a green changeling stood happily, displaying a grin for all the ponies there to see and behold on his jolly face.
"Ah!" the parents yelled as they shivered. They sighed and calmed down immediately after.
Zephyr cleared his throat. "After we left the Cloudseum, we managed to encounter this one right here!" He looked at the changeling. "He wanted to come along with us since..." He eyed him. "Uh, why were you here, again?"
But Humerus was already screaming. He buzzed his way to Fluttershy's parents and hugged them.
They tried to get out of his grip.
"Hello, Mr. Shy! Hello, Mrs. Shy! It's good to meet the both of you, the parents, the mom and dad of Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness!"
Mrs. Shy laughed a little nervously. "You must be very eager to see us, then!"
"Well, it is something special to be the parents of one of the Elements of Harmony, but I don't think it's that big of a deal..." Mr. Shy looked around, or tried to, at least, attempting to look nice under the changeling's continuing grip. "Uh, may I ask when you will be done hugging us?"
Humerus removed his grip from the two.
The two breathed loudly, gasping for air.
"He's pretty happy for a changeling," Babs Seed said in her deep Manehattan accent. She then hopped up to one of the empty red chairs.
The rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders bumped Babs's hoof.
Zephyr then sat down. "So, what's for afternoon snacks?"
He looked at the table.
There were plates of wobbling gelatin. Not one of the plates was empty.
Humerus wobbled along with the gelatin.
Mrs. Shy chortled at the sight.
"The first changeling in our house," Mr. Shy said. "I hope he welcomes our kind hospitality."
Zephyr gave a slow, shy giggle as he scratched his bunned mane. "About that, mom and dad..."
Humerus flew around and made cheerful and happy sounds as he went around in the small room. Standing in front of the brick walls were glass containers. Inside, clouds of various types moved about. Some clouds were white and calm. Others were gray and active. Still, others were even grayer and even had miniature lightnings flashing out of them.
There was one container that contained two clouds. One was a normal white cloud. The other was a smaller cloud that housed a rainbow that seemed to be half-finished.
And Humerus kept flying around in the backhouse.
Mr. Shy and Zephyr Breeze stared at the whizzing changeling. "He sure is very active, Zephyr." He shivered a little. "Maybe you should tell him to fly around some place else."
"Don't worry, dad!"
Zephyr flew towards Humerus.
"Uh, get down and get out!"
Then, the changeling sped by him. Zephyr spun around.
Humerus was finally out.
Zerphyr fell to the ground in a dizzy condition.
Mr. Shy helped him up. "Are you OK, son?"
"I d-don't know..." he said in a slurred fashion, his head still going around.
Humerus munched on the gelatin in front of him. With a full mouth, he declared, "Delicious and gelatin-like!" He raised a hoof, bringing attention to himself.
All the ponies looked at him.
"Your cooking must be that good, Mrs. Shy!" Babs then chowed down on her gelatin.
"It's not really my cooking, dear," she replied. "We just got an instant mixture, that's all."
Humerus eyes opened wide. "Instant mixture jelly?!" he screamed. "Tell me where to buy them! I'll eat them straight from the can or the pack or whatever it is they're inside!"
The parents looked at each other.
"They're from the store at the intersection over there!" Zephyr pointed a hoof.
Humerus zipped off and out the door while saying a quick "Thank you!"
The door remained open. A few pegasi walking on the sidewalk and the street stared at the changeling and then at the open door, peering at the ponies inside looking back at them.
"Well, this is awkward," Apple Bloom commented.
"So, how did you meet your...friend, Zephyr?" Mrs. Shy asked as they all sat around the table.
Gelatin was still on their plates. One plate was empty.
"Heh-heh-heh, well, we were just walking on the street when this changeling just shook our hooves out of the blue and spoke way too fast for even I to understand." He gestured a hoof to himself. "Then, he suddenly shouted at me. He kept asking me if I was the Zephyr Breeze, the younger brother of Fluttershy." He gestured to himself again. "When he realized that I was the younger brother of Fluttershy, he kept asking where our house was. I didn't want to disappoint a hopeful and joyful changeling like him, so I took him under my wing and I, Babs, and...well, I forgot his name—anyway, we went home and you know the rest." He laid on his chair and grinned.
"Weird for someone who used to be menacin' and all." Babs shrugged and smiled.
"Wait a minute!" Scootaloo yelled, stretching her front hooves towards everypony there. "I can't believe that I forgot to tell you!"
"Tell us what?" Mr. and Mrs. shy asked together.
"A few days ago, we met a changeling on our own!"
The pegasi parents stopped eating and stared at the little filly who was glad about it.
"Yeah, and he even met Discord!" Apple Bloom continued.
"And, he even ate some hay burgers with us!" Sweetie Belle finished.
"Aww, why didn't you tell me that? You could've at least written me a letter or somethin'!" Babs went on eating.
The changeling zipped back to the house. He held out a cardboard box with his hooves. "I got instant geltain in bulk!" His eyes were twitching and his mouth was wide open and there was loud breathing. "Let's make more of that gelatin!"
Mrs. Shy laughed again rather nervously. "You must really like jelly, don't you?"
Fluttershy knocked on the door.
The door slammed open and slammed her.
"Fluttershy!"
Humerus hugged her.
She looked at the changeling. "Uh, Humerus? Is that...what's that smell?"
"I get to meet your family, I get to meet the Cutie Mark Crusaders plus Babs Seed, and I get to go around Cloudsdale, all in one day! And then, I get to meet you again!" He laughed at the ponies passing by who were hurrying and their pace when they saw the overjoyed changeling. "Everypony wants to laugh with me and enjoy what I and everypony else can do together in this wonderful place in the skies!"
Fluttershy looked over his shoulder.
Plates of gelatin filled the table and the chairs and some of the floor and some of the counters. Powdered gelatin mix was scattered around the floor. Amidst all of this, the ponies sat on additional chairs, grinning strangely at Fluttershy as they ate the gelatin on their plates.
Fluttershy sighed. "Humerus, what did you do?" she asked in a calm and quiet tone.
Humerus looked back at the gelatin mess. "You mean over there? We're just making jelly!" He licked his lips. "It's tasty!"
She gave him a neutral, unimpressed face. "Did you manage to convince my parents to make this mess?"
"They were surprisingly easy to convince, Fluttershy! They're just so nice and kind to be with!"
She kept giving him that face.
"What's the problem, Fluttershy?"
Humerus, Zephyr Breeze, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were mopping the floor and washing the dishes.
Fluttershy looked over them from a place in the room. "This is what you get for, uh, making mom and dad make tons of jelly even if they didn't want to." She glared at the crusaders. "I'm ashamed of you for helping the two troublemakers."
"We're sorry!" the four said in unison.
"Come on, sis!" Zephyr yelled as he kept mopping the floor. "You've gotta understand! I had to be kind to houseguests! And besides, I like myself some jelly!" He shot a grin at her.
She did not smile. She sighed again.
Humerus buzzed up to her, his eyes watery somewhat.
"What is it now, Humerus?" Her voice was still overbearingly quiet.
"Uh...i-it wasn't my fault, Fluttershy! I just wanted to have a cool party with your family and the crusaders now that I got to meet them in the same house!"
She inhaled some air. "Well, it is your fault. You must learn that you cannot just make everypony happy by forcing their demands on them, even if it is for fun—it probably won't be that fun for the others, will it?"
Humerus nodded his head slowly. "Yes, Fluttershy." Then he hugged her again, smiling again, too. "Does this mean that you're not mad at me anymore?"
Fluttershy sighed again.
"Maybe you first."
"Alright, sweetheart."
Mr. Shy stood by the door.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders entered the backhouse.
They spoke their amazed expressions as they looked and saw the many containers of clouds on the shelves. White ones, gray ones, even ones that were close to black. The calm ones, the thundering ones—they were there. The container with the two clouds, one of them having a half-finished rainbow, was also there.
"How were you able to get all of these, Mr. Shy?" Apple Bloom asked.
He exhaled and closed his eyes. "Well, these clouds that I've collected through the years—it all started when I began my work as a worker in the weather factory. My job was to inspect and refine the clouds—I was pretty much at the last stage of cloud production." He hovered over to one container which had a white, moving cloud. He held it softly and gently under his hooves. "This was from the first cloud that I've ever handled in the factory. I knew, from that moment, that I was going to not just collect clouds from around Cloudsdale, but that keeping pieces of clouds from my tenure in the factory—it's going to inspire many pegasi one day." He looked up from his precious cloud. "If I can get to work up the courage to open the backhouse for display, that is."
"What about that one over—"
Everypony glared at the changeling flying towards one of the containers.
"Oh. Sorry." He grinned as he hovered down to the ground.
"Sorry, too," Mr. Shy said. He kept patting the container. "I know that this cloud looks nothing special, nothing like some of the ferocious thunderstorm clouds here. But, this is from my first cloud at the factory. No cloud can beat that."
"OK, what about the—"
Everypony glared at Humerus again.
"I was just asking about the cloud with the rainbow!"
"Oh, you mean this one?" Mr. Shy flew towards the container with the two clouds. "It just so happened that the cloud went ahead in the line and somehow got rainbow all over it. When it got back to the line for further refining, I decided to do my normal collecting—I thought the cloud with the rainbow all over was the best one that day. I just got a little amount of rainbow to do a half-finished arc like that—for art." He grinned.
"Wow!" Sweetie Belle yelled. "You could sculpture rainbows?"
"Not my talent, but I know some pegasi here who could." He tapped his chin. "Although, the word 'sculpture' might not be the best word...or maybe it is, Sweetie Belle."
"Well, what about this one—"
Everypony glared at him again.
"Humerus." Fluttershy walked towards him. "Please don't interrupt my dad." She gave him a smile.
He smiled sheepishly and nodded fast.
"I still can't believe we can walk on clouds like this!" Sweetie Belle said while she walked around on the front yard.
Apple Bloom poked the cloud bush. "It's just like a regular ol' shrub!"
"If it weren't for Twilight, we couldn't be here at all!" Babs said.
"I don't need any magical spells to walk on clouds!" Scootaloo then walked produly on the yard.
They all looked at the hovering changeling.
"Say, don't you get tired of all that flying around?" Zephyr asked in front of the front door. "Don't want to fall off, do ya'?" He smirked at Humerus.
"Well, I don't know if I can stand on clouds."
"What about you try?" Scootaloo asked.
He recoiled from the filly. "But, what if I fall?"
"Uh, you have wings," Sweetie Belle replied. "You could fly back up here if you fall through the clouds."
"What about I don't try that?"
"You have wings!" Zephyr yelled. "You have no excuse to not try! But, you could just stay over there and keep flying."
Humerus shook his head. "I'll just stay here!"
"Uh, OK," Scootaloo said. "Just as long as you don't get tired."