Princess Celestia and Luna flew through the skies as they approached the massive pink clouds that hung above most of Equestria.
As they drew closer, the clouds quickly started to become thicker and harder to fly through. Soon they were standing atop a sea of pink, fluffy clouds. Soft, pink cotton candy stuck to their hooves, and a sugary sweet smell hung in the air.
Luna sniffed, shifted her head around with a curious look, and asked, “What are these clouds made of again?”
Celestia, recognizing the smell of cotton candy almost instantly as it was, looked at her sister perplexed. “How could you forget this is cotton candy; these clouds were created by Discord and have been raining sweets on us back in Canterlot. They’ve been like this since Discord took over Equestria.”
Luna gasped at the realization and looked around back, “I cannot believe that these are those same clouds, but at the very least, they gave us sustenance during our imprisonment.”
The former Night Princess quickly took a few bites of the clouds as they continued onward, Celestia choosing to abstain.
They trotted across the bouncy pink clouds for a few minutes before eventually coming upon a massive wall of stacked ice cream bars.
The sight left Luna with a furious, twitching eye. “What is that dastardly spirit’s obsession with sugary treats? Does he even enjoy these sorts of things?”
Celestia opted to just press on. “I find it best not to question it, sister. Chaos doesn’t have to make sense, as he’d say.”
The two approached the wall and spotted what appeared to be the gate, along with another interesting sight.
A green-coated pegasus with a blonde mane was sleeping behind a pedestal, lazing back and snoring soundly. The two princesses looked at each other and then shrugged as Princess Celestia came forward and whispered, “Um, hello?”
The pegasus woke up with a yawn as he stretched his limbs and then snapped. “Who dares wake me from my na-”
Upon seeing the two princesses, his eyes grew wide. “Woah clowns!? Where the heck did you come from? I don't remember inviting any clowns?”
Luna stomped a hoof and snapped, “We are the princesses, you fool!”
The guard looked a bit closer at the pair before his eyes widened, and he almost immediately bowed. “You really are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!?”
The two alicorns let out sighs of relief, seeing they were recognized by their former authority.
Celestia then asked, “Yes, we are the former rulers of Equestria, and what is your name?”
The green pegasus quickly got back to his hooves and smoothed back his mane, trying to look more professional. “Oh, me? My name is Zephyr Breeze, the guardian of Cloudtopia and Keeper of the Gate.” His hoove gestured to the gate in question. “But enough about that. So, since you two aren’t technically rulers anymore, how about you stick around and we get to know each other better?”
The alicorn was taken aback by the stallion's attempt to flirt with her and was about to say something back. Still, Luna quickly came forward and asked, “Yes, we are the former princesses who have come to find a pegasus in Cloudesdale if this land is still called that.”
Seeing neither princess was in the mood, Zephyr nodded quickly with a yawn.“Well, we renamed the city to Cloudtopia, but yeah, this was Cloudesdale.”
Celestia's eyes lit up at the confirmation, though she was still left perplexed, “Cloudtopia? Why did you rename it?”
Zephyr shrugged his shoulders. “Not totally sure, to be honest. I wasn’t paying attention then, but hey, the name’s pretty sweet regardless, am I right?”
Neither Luna nor Celestia were sure how to respond as Zephyr continued to ramble.
“Cloudtopia is the best city in all of Equestria, with tons of food, everypony just sleeps all day, and there’s no work! So how about you and I go somewhere private, sweet cheeks.”
Celestia reared her head, gagging at the pet name, and was about to say something quite vulgar, but Luna quickly stepped in. “Listen, you oaf, my sister and I are on urgent business to find a particular pegasus named Rainbow Dash. Would you happen to know her by chance?”
The pegasus yawned. “Dash….Dash, uh, give me a minute.” With the speed of a turtle, he pulled out a massive book and quickly started looking through its pages. The sight only served to further irritate the two princesses, with only the shout of a mare getting them to calm themselves.
“Zephyr!”
The stallion squeaked as orange-coated pegasus flew down and gave him a rather annoyed glare as she continued. “Did I not tell you to inform me if and when somepony approaches the gate? It’s literally your only job.”
Zephyr immediately shrunk under the former Wonderbolt’s angry gaze, sweating at being yelled at.”
“Yeah, but they caught me on my na- I mean break.”
Spitfire rubbed her head, having long accepted such behavior was simply unavoidable with said stallion. “Just go lie down, and I’ll take care of orientation, okay?”
“Fine, guess another nap wouldn’t hurt,” Zephyr yawned as he stretched his limbs, then flew over and threw himself onto some of the clouds. The orange-coated mare turned towards the alicorns and bowed, “I apologize for my subordinate; he can be quite the hoofful.”
Celestia’s anger subsided, happy to be speaking to a more competent pony for a change.``Well, thankfully, it was only a minor distraction. Though, who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”
The mare bent her head and gave a tired yet somewhat relieved look. “It’s Spitfire, your grace.”
The former princess went wide-eyed, recognizing the previous captain of the Wonderbolts. More surprising, said Pony was famous for being harsh and rather loud, especially with insubordinate soldiers. Yet, this tired, soft-spoken mare was nothing like how she was before.
Luna quickly strode up to Spitfire with her own questions. “I don’t mean to be rude, Spitfire, but is it wise to have this Zephyr keep guard of your city? He does not seem reliable?”
Spitfire nodded along tiredly as she yawned. “Oh, I understand how it looks. Despite how he appears, Zephyr is one of the more reliable pegasi here. Most of them, even some of my former Wonderbolts, are lazier than he is most of the time, and I’m not too worried about security. Nothing’s come to threaten the city since Discord first appeared.”
Celestia gave a sigh of relief and replied, “Well, that’s good to hear.” However, internally, she felt concerned about the apparently rampant lethargy among the Pegasi.
“We need assistance,” Luna spoke firmly, keeping things on track. “We’re looking for a pegasu-”
“Rainbow Dash, I heard.” Spitfire flew over, and pulled out a small book she started flipping through. “Here it is, Rainbow Dash, age twenty, gender female, occupation formerly employed as weather manager for Ponyville, cutie mark unknown.”
Shutting the small tome, she guided the pair towards the gate. “It shouldn’t be too tough to find her, though I recommend we stick together to simplify it. Come on in.”
With a simple push of a nearby button, the massive gates opened up, allowing Spitfire to lead them through the outer wall. However, they were barely a few feet in before another stallion flew over and saluted, “Morning, Spitfire.”
“Morning Soarin. Are you doing well?”
“Yeah, just a bit tired, but aren’t we all?” The stallion yawned with visible bags under his eyes, yet still kept up a bright smile.
“Well, if you need to take a nap, go ahead. Also, did you bring some snacks in case you get hungry?”
Soarin laughed, taking out a saddle bag filled with apple pies. “Yup, I'm all set!”
“That’s good. I have to escort the former princesses to their suites and help them locate a specific pegasus. Just keep an eye out for anypony else and try to keep Zephyr from screwing around too much, okay?”
“Got it!” Soarin yawned as he looked at the princesses, quickly wide-eyed, and cried. “Wait, they’re still alive!?”
The two alicorns eyed each other curiously at the statement. “Sister, do you recall any mention or rumor about our demise?” Luna asked, genuinely curious.
Celestia, in turn, shook her head in the negative. “No, I certainly would’ve remembered that.”
Fearing he might’ve offended the two, Soarin immediately bowed, practically shoving his head into the cloud he was standing on. “Please forgive my ignorance. It’s a true pleasure to have you here. You both will be safe here in Cloudtopia for as long as you like!”
Both alicorns gave each other sheepish looks, having forgotten all the clout their names once carried.
“No need for formalities, please; we are both in a hurry,” Celestia spoke calmly to the stallion, who thankfully pulled his head back up and headed to the gate after a gesture from Spitfire.
Spitfire, yawning again, nodded and gestured with her hoof. “Right, we should try to stay on topic. Though, it seems like you two got caught up with some Chaos Magic yourselves?”
Both of the princesses looked over their attire, and then Celestia sighed, “Sadly, we have been Discord’s playthings for the past year.”
Spitfire groaned, still glaring somewhat at the sticky and sweet clouds they were standing on. “Sorry to hear it. My team and I would’ve come to help, but everything went completely nuts when Discord showed up, and we struggled to keep the city together.”
The fiery mare’s expression briefly seemed to age considerably as she recalled prior events before shaking them off and trying to look professional. “Come on, I'll show you where you’ll be staying. I imagine you two would like to rest briefly after how far you had to come.”
Luna and Celestia considered protesting, but they also wished to recover, if only for a little bit, before continuing on their quest.
The duo followed Spitfire through the city and were astounded by what they saw; the place looked amazing!
The land was covered in massive mansions and fountains bubbling with a frothy pink liquid, some brown, others a creamy white, others a fizzy black.
Curious, Celestia trotted over, took a drink, and squeaked as it tasted like a strawberry milkshake. Luna tried the black fizzy liquid spouting from the fountain, took a sip, and then cried, “What is this? It's so sweet!?”
Celestia took a sip and said, “Oh, that's cola. It's a new beverage made by ponies while you were imprisoned, sister.”
Luna took another sip. “Well, it is good. And this tingling sensation on my tongue, it’s positively wonderful. However, it could use something else. Maybe mix it with vanilla or cherry?”
“Yes, that would help balance the flavor.” Celestia chimed back, having had similar thoughts in the past. The thought made her smile slightly despite exhaustion and being somewhat pressed for time.
She couldn’t help but appreciate Luna trying out new, bizarre experiences, especially given that Luna had only returned from her banishment relatively recently and then spent much of her time freed in Discord’s cage.
Moving on from the fountains, the pair soon came upon fields of pastries, cakes, pies, cupcakes, and doughnuts. Despite the two having lived off the sweets for a year, both practically drooled at the sight and continued upon seeing mountains of ice cream where foals played, rolling down them like they were snow slopes as they threw ice cream balls at each other.
“Seems my assessment of Discord’s sweet obsession was accurate if a bit downplayed.” Luna couldn’t help but marvel at the fantastical scene before her. “Yet, I still can’t help but wonder why this specifically?”
The pair pondered this as they moved further onwards, eventually coming upon a mass of dark clouds, but they cast a velvet blue light. They looked around to see pegasi lazing about, casually chomping away at clouds and sleeping, not doing much else.
Finding her charges curious, Spitfire opted to fill in some of the blanks. “This is the town square where pegasi can relax and enjoy themselves. We mostly just nap.”
Luna’s eyes narrowed at the sight of the drowsy ponies. “Forgive me, sister, but I don’t recall Pegasi being so lethargic when I was last here. Was this common in more recent years?”
Celestia shook in the negative. “No, Pegasi was arguably the most active of the three tribes today. I suspect Discord has a hand in this.”
The Princess of the Sun flew up to the velvet blue clouds, sniffed and found it gave off a strange hint of Lavender. “Spitfire. Are these clouds making you all so sleepy?”
Spitfire shrugged, “Wish I knew; unfortunately, most of the weather ponies are too tired to analyze them. For now, best just to avoid them while you can.”
Annoyed, Luna fluttered over the sleeping pegasi as she whispered to Celestia, “I have to admit, dear sister, your hypotheses that those clouds might cause this sleepiness might be true. We must make sure to stay clear of them, or we'll fall to the same fate.”
“Agreed. We best be on our guard. This land almost seems designed to tempt us into complacency. We can’t allow it to get us.”
Careful to avoid the blue clouds, the group continued forward, passing more sleeping pegasi or the occasional one snacking on something sweet. This was practically all they saw for several minutes.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but what do you do all day?” Celestia asked, hoping to glean more information.
As they walked, Spitfire shrugged, then said, “Sleep, Eat, and play mostly; the clouds generate themselves, and the weather factory has been running on its own, so there’s no need for us to do anything, really. Especially since we know picking a fight with Discord won’t accomplish anything.”
Despite the somewhat comfortable-sounding situation, Spitfire sounded almost defeated, lacking any of the…well fire she should’ve had.
The trio continued on, eventually coming up to a mansion made of cotton candy clouds. Spitfire quickly pulled out some keys…which appeared to be made of gummies, and handed them to the pair. “Here you are! This one is brand new; they sort of just spawn out of nowhere and are fully furnished. So you shouldn’t have any problem relaxing for a bit.”
Luna bowed her head. “Thank you for showing us our accommodations, but we must be on our way soon; you did say you would help us find Rainbow Dash.”
Spitfire took a pause to yawn before nodding.“No need for that; it's an honor to serve you. I will find Rainbow Dash and inform you of her location. Just stay here until I can, okay?”
“That works for us, thank you.” Celestia responded, deciding not to waste more time arguing or going on a wild goose chase.
Spitfire nodded and left as the two former princesses entered the parlor. They saw a banquet of sweets spread out, along with smaller fountains like the ones in the town square.
One of the rooms was opened, revealing two rather large and lavish cloud beds made up for them.
Both sisters fought the urge to lay down for a nap and opted to try some of the provided treats. Celestia drank a cup of strawberry milkshake while Luna drank some cola.
“Tis yet another strange situation we find ourselves in, dear sister,” Luna spoke, a bit of soda around her lips. “We search for another Element Bearer, and now, instead of finding them ourselves, we merely wait and lounge about, enjoying sweets. It feels…wrong given all we’ve seen.”
Celestia didn’t answer initially; instead, she poured herself a cup of cola before adding some of her milkshakes to it. “Sister, what are you doing?”
“Oh, this is what ponies call an ice cream float! After we saw the soda fountain, I’d been dying to try it.”
Her concoction created, Celestia took a swing and immediately squealed with delight. “Oh, I haven’t had one of these in years, and it’s as delightful as always.”
While Luna did look intrigued by the drink, she couldn’t ignore her previous point. “Sister, is it really acceptable for us to dabble in mixing treats while Discord continues to sow chaos through the country?”
Celestia took another sip before putting down her treat. “Luna, something I learned in the thousand years you were gone, and I was forced to rule alone is that burning yourself out to accomplish something harms you and everypony around you. We must be patient and conserve our energy in the best ways possible.”
The Princess of the Sun held the drink to her sister, straw tip pointed at her snout. “So, let’s enjoy this moment of reprieve while we can so that we are ready for the next challenge we face.”
Luna, hesitant, took a sip of the straw as her eyes lit up. “That is so good!”
“Yes, ponies have become quite inventive with their foods over the past thousand years. Maybe I can show you more of the delicacies you missed when everything returns to normal.”
“That would be lovely.” Luna took another sip before her face lost some of its luster. “Do you believe things will truly be returned to normal? I must admit, I have my doubts from time to time.”
“We must keep faith with Twilight’s plan. If things do work out, we might not even remember any of this, so we might as well enjoy the simple pleasures while they last.”
Satisfied for the moment, Luna clinked her glass against Celestia’s. “Yes, I agree. If Twilight alters the timeline, this will all be nothing more than a bad dream.”
Celestia sucked down some of her drink; then her eyes lit up at the sweet-tasting liquid. “Well, it wasn’t all bad.”
After finishing her drink, Celestia’s eyes drifted to the bedroom, and an idea formed in her head.
“Since we’ll probably forget this anyway, are you opposed to a little…horseplay?”
Luna, taking a quick moment to finish her own drink, groaned at her sister’s joke. “Terrible pun aside…what did you have in mind?”
Roughly an hour later, Spitfire found herself repeatedly knocking on the door to the sister’s house, but there was no answer.
“Are they asleep? Wouldn’t surprise me if they were, but they did say this was urgent.” Opening the door and heading inside, Spitfire saw the empty glasses and some half-eaten snacks before noticing a small trail of crumbs and sugar leading to one of the bedrooms.
“Huh, maybe they did take a nap.” Spitfire quickly approached the door and opened it up…only to be met with the sight of both Princesses happily hopping up and down on the bed, giggling like a pair of young foals.
The laughter was short, though, as the pair heard her entrance. They immediately stopped bouncing, leaving an awkward silence to hang in the room.
“Uh, I can come another time if you're busy.”Spitfire said almost robotically, unsure how to respond to what she saw.
The two jumped down and adjusted their clown attire, and Celestia quickly replied, “No, we are ready. Please continue with your report; you found Rainbow Dash, I assume?”
Spitfire nodded. “I found her napping in the Cider Fountain.”
“The Cider Fountain?”
“Yeah, it’s not far. Just take a left; she doesn’t do much but nap, so good luck getting her to help out with anything. As for me, I really need some sleep.” She then flew over to one of the beds and plopped on it, and it wasn’t long until she was snoring.
The princesses painedly glanced at the former Wonderbolt with pity before heading out the door.
Flying up, they looked over a valley of pink clouds to see the weather factory.
It was now a massive building field with smokestacks and various odd gears protruding from it. It was maybe double the size of what it was before Discord’s takeover. More surprisingly, It bounced up and down as if it was alive, as massive pink clouds were jutting out from the smoke stacks along with the weird purple clouds.
Celestia said, “It's a bit ominous but mesmerizing simultaneously.”
Luna nodded. “Truly, it is wondrous how everything is beautiful, like the Everfree Forest and Manehattan, but there’s that feeling that there’s some darkness hidden behind such wonder.”
Both agreed that no matter how picturesque everything seemed, there was something hiding just below the surface, and it frightened them.
Picking up the pace a little, they continued to the cider fountain. As described, a blue-coated pegasus with a shortcut rainbow mane and tail was lying on a pool ring floating around in a fountain spouting cider.
Unsure if she was even awake Celestia flapped over and nudged her gently.“Rainbow Dash?”
The pegasus groaned, waving a hoof in her face. “Don’t worry, Mom, I got the clouds.”
Princess Celestia's eye twitched, and then she shouted, “Rainbow Dash!”
Despite the raised voice, Dash simply rolled over in her tub.“Mom, I know I'll put red before orange; my mane is literally a rainbow.”
Now more than annoyed, Celestia took a deep breath before screaming with all the might she could.
“RAINBOW DASH, WAKE UP!”
Celestia’s voice boomed through the area, shaking the fountain and the clouds around. Yet, even with that, Rainbow Dash simply yawned, streched out like a housecat and returned to her position in the tub. “Uh…lunchtime?”
“How can she sleep through the Royal Canterlot Voice?” Celestia shouted as she pulled at her mane, looking about ready to resort to full-blown violence. Luna, however, quickly stepped in front of her. “Sister, please calm yourself.”
Having a moment to cool off, Celestia quickly readjusted her mane and nodded in thanks.
“Right, thank you, Luna. This is proving more difficult than I hoped…perhaps something is making her act this way. Luna, any chance you could perhaps enter her dreams? We may have better luck there.”
Luna eyed the sleeping mare with a hint of trepidation.“I'll try, though I can’t guarantee it’ll work given how long it’s been since I did it.”
The duo pulled Dash’s float in and lifted it from the fountain before Luna took a spot next to the still-sleeping mare.
“Whelp, here goes.” Luna focused magic into her horn, allowing a bubble to appear above Rainbow’s head. With a nod to her sister, Luna jumped into the bubble and Dash’s dream, leaving her sister standing alone, only able to watch on.
The former Princess slowly opened her eyes upon entering, finding herself in a factory filled to the brim with dials and switches. Whistles went off, and rainbows shot out randomly.
It was quite a chaotic scene.
Thankfully Luna didn’t need to search long as Rainbow Dash flew past her, flying all over, trying to manage the systems.
Her target in sight, Luna slowly approached the mare. “Rainbow Dash?”
She turned and cried, “Oh, know! Nightmare Moon! I'm sorry, I was trying to get your special sleep clouds, but they’re too volatile! The cloud-producing machines aren’t meant to hold so much strain!”
Luna blinked a few times, not really understanding what she was saying. “Rainbow, listen, I’m not Nightmare Moon! That…that wasn’t me! My name is Princess Luna.”
Rainbow gave a laugh as she stretched the back of her mane, now able to see the difference with the Princess. “Pr…princess Luna…yeah uh, I knew that!”
Luna smirked, then looked around the factory with a face of confusion. “What are you doing here?”
“I uh…um was going over the cloud dispersal but noticed the rainbow gauge fluctuating and becoming volatile! I tried to stop it, but I, uh…oh, forget it. I don’t know what the buck I'm doing.”
Dash practically sank onto the floor as Luna simply observed the chaotic mess before her. “I see…Rainbow Dash, did you always want to work in a Weather Factory?”
Dash gave an indignant huff while kicking a nearby machine, looking less than thrilled. “Not like I have a choice. I'm the worst flier ever, and I needed a job.”
Luna paused, remembering some of the stories Twilight told her about Rainbow Dash. She talked about her dreams to be a Wonderbolt and how she even performed a legendary Rainboom—a stark contrast from what this Rainbow was telling her.
“And, why do you think you're the worst flier ever?”
Rainbow paused, then took out a remote and flicked a massive screen. Luna watched as it showed Rainbow Dash constantly trying to race and ending up crashing.
Dash somberly stared at the ground as the memories played. “Every time I tried to race somepony or tried to improve, I just crashed into something or somepony else, again and again! All the time! Forget being a Wonderbolt, I couldn’t even be a regular weather pony.”
She flicked it off and carelessly tossed the remote over her shoulder. “So I took up a job with my parents at the Weather Factory and have been here ever since. Whether I like it or not.”
Luna eyed the mare with pity, saddened that a pony supposedly known for her never say die attitude had been broken down. “Rainbow Dash, you’re being too hard on yourself. This failure is no fault of your own but outside forces.”
The pegasus chuckled mirthlessly, eyeing Luna with a hollow smirk. “Easy for you to say. No offense, but you’re a princess; what do you know about failure?”
Her question caused Luna’s brow to twitch, feeling a switch flip in her head as she spread her wings and storm clouds formed behind her. “Did you forget I used to be Nightmare Moon! And almost threw Equestria into an eternal darkness under my rule! I let my jealousy of my sister cloud my judgment and turned myself into a tyrant! Then I allowed that monster Discord to turn me into a clown and became his toy for amusement. What do I know of failure?”
Luna paused, seeing Dash practically glued to a nearby wall out of fear, causing Luna to calm herself.
The clouds behind the princess started to vanish as her face was replaced with a look of shame. “My entire life as of late has been nothing but failure.”
Looking rather surprised by the speech, Dash slowly removed herself from the wall, looking a bit sheepish and unsure how to respond. “Wow, when you put it that way, I guess we’re both kind of screw-ups huh?”
Luna laughed a little at the comment and nodded.“Yes, I suppose that’s an apt description. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t change our situation. And we can start by helping us to save Equestria from Discord.”
“Me!? Why me? I'm nopony. I don’t even have my cutie mark!”
Indeed, a quick glance revealed that despite being an adult, Dash was a Blank Flank.
However, Luna, recalling Twilight’s recalling of events, picked up the previously thrown remote and rewound the tape to when she was a filly, stopping at a particular race against two young stallions. “Dash tell me, do you remember this particular day?”
Rainbow squinted and nodded. “Yeah, I was going to race against some bullies who’d been mean to my friend Fluttershy, but then this unicorn came over and talked to them.”
“A pink unicorn?”
Again Rainbow Dash nodded.“Yeah, this weird pink unicorn mare came out of nowhere, talked to them, and got them to leave Fluttershy alone. It was a little weird, but I only was gonna race them 'cause they were bugging her, so it wasn’t a big deal.”
Luna felt her jaw clench as she played the footage and saw the mare she’d spoken to not long ago interfere with past events. Knowing how things had turned out because of this act of arrogance almost made Luna lose her cool, even in spite of having met the mare herself.
For now, there were more pressing matters. She then asked, “Rainbow Dash, listen, this is not what was supposed to happen. Your timeline was altered. You were supposed to race those bullies and unleash a Sonic Rainboom, which would have earned your cutie mark.”
“Seriously!?” Looking utterly floored and even a little excited at the idea.
“Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. And it’s why you must come with me; you are one of the ponies destined to save all of Equestria.”
Despite the brief excitement of the speech, Rainbow Dash still looked hesitant to accept. “I want to, I really do! I just…I don’t know if I have the confidence…”
Luna then threw her wings out as the dream distorted to them. She stood on a puffy white cloud over a clear blue sky. A few miles away was the finish line.
“Why don’t we race?”
“Why?” Dash’s eyes seemed to zero in on the finish line, a small spark visible in her eyes.
“Just to prove yourself, come on!” Luna jumped off the cloud and flew off, and Rainbow Dash hesitated momentarily. Yet as she saw Luna continue towards the goal…something inside her stirred.
With another glance at the screen showing her past failures, Dash sneered at the sight before unfurling her wings and taking off like a rocket. “Ready or not, Princess, 'cause here I come!”
Luna scoffed as she pressed herself, yet in a matter of seconds, the two were neck and neck. The sudden change left Luna impressed at Dash's raw speed. She truly did have the potential.
However, there was a problem. Speed of this level wasn’t going to be enough and it wasn’t the real issue anyway. No, it was the Rainboom that was needed, and it required something more drastic.
Recalling again what Twilight told her of the event, she had an idea. Using her dream magic, she conjured a small bolt of lightning. Naturally, being dream-based it wouldn’t actually hurt her, but that wasn’t the point.
With a simple thought, the projectile collided with her, and she started to fall letting her wings go limp.
Rainbow Dash paused mid-flight at the sight of the injured royal. “Princess!”
She heard Rainbow cry, and then there was a crack and a loud boom! She saw the Rainboom, like a beautiful aura of color spreading out in a halo, as Rainbow approached her. A massive rainbow streak came off her as she caught Luna before she hit the ground.
“That was awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed, flying out of the apple cider. Luna appeared with a bit of a fright, yet smiled at the sigh of the blue-coated pegasus flying about laughing.
Dash, finally coming down from her adrenaline high, noticed the two alicorns below her. She rubbed her eyes and asked out loud, " Am I still dreaming?”
Celestia shook her head, “No,” the Princess smiled happily as she looked up at the Element of Loyalty.“You are not Rainbow Dash. I am happy to see you are awake.”
Rainbow Dash looked around as she bounced on the pink clouds and nodded, “Yeah, this is Cloudtopia, alright.”
Luna slowly rose and yawned, flexing her wings. “While I’m happy we’ve resolved this matter, we can’t afford to stay ideal. This sleeping curse is quite potent. I still desire nothing more to rest, but we must be on our way.”
Noting their drooping eyes, Dash quickly returned to the ground. “Well, to be fair, these sleeping clouds are not fully Discord’s fault. When you were Nightmare Moon, you entrusted the weather ponies to try to create sleep clouds to use to put rebellions down and make it easier to infiltrate ponies’ dreams. But then Discord's magic made them bigger and uncontrollable, and now they are probably mixed with his cotton candy clouds.”
Luna’s eyes quickly shrunk as her angry sister loomed over her. “Luna…WHY DIDN’T YOU INFORM ME OF THAT DETAIL!?”
“I…I told you before I don’t remember much from being Nightmare Moon, but I swear I didn’t know.” Luna shrunk back a little, feeling like a little foal under her sister’s gaze.
Celestia took a few deep breaths to calm herself and focus. “Apologies. Regardless, we have no time to waste; we need your help, Rainbow Dash.”
“Yeah, you mentioned that before; what exactly do you need my help with?”
Luna replied, holding up a small bottle of liquid. “We need to go to the Weather Factory and spread this disenchanting water to help disperse the Chaos Magic that's affecting Manehattan and the Everfree Forest. Can you help us?”
The pegasus paused as she said, “Sure, shouldn’t be too much of a problem. However, getting the factory working again will take a lot of horsepower, if you know what I mean. Maybe I can get some of the other pegasi to help.”
Rainbow flew up onto a cloud standing above the crowd as she cleared her throat. “Listen Up, everypony!”
Many of the pegasi groggily looked her way as Rainbow Dash continued. “I get you guys wanna sleep all day; believe me, a part of me loves a good nap, but the Princesses of Equestria have returned!”
Dash threw a hoof to show Celestia and Luna standing behind her. “Right now, they need our help to go and save Equestria. I've been sitting up here long enough, and so have all of you! I get it. It's safe and comfortable up here, but this isn’t living! If we want Cloudsdale back, we must help spread this disenchanting water the Princesses brought!”
Most of the pegasi just blankly looked at them, and some nodded off to sleep. Rainbow sighed, “Yeah, sorry, Princess. I don’t think these ponies are gonna be much help.”
Surprisingly, however, Spitfire flew over and nudged her. “Hey, you can count me in. I'm sick of this place.”
While the Wonderbolt’s presence was somewhat encouraging, looking around the dozens of pegasi just falling back to sleep, Luna felt a pang of guilt as she whispered. “This is all my fault.”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Nah, not really. Yeah, Nightmare Moon did make those clouds, but the truth is, ever since Cloudsdale turned into this, most of the pegasi here are just too scared to leave. During the first few weeks, everypony was frantic, and those who left Cloudsdale to find friends and family never returned. After a while, I guess we just got too comfortable.”
Celestia trotted over to Rainbow and put a gentlehoof around her shoulder. “You did your best; no pony is blaming you for being afraid; it’s a rational way to feel. And we’ll take anypony who wishes to help.”.
“Oh, if you need help getting the weather factory, then we’ll help too!”
Rainbow groaned as a middle-aged Pegasi couple flew over that looked similar to Rainbow Dash. The mare yawned and bowed. “Name’s Windy Whistles!”
The stallion bowed,” And I’m Bow Hothoof; you already met our daughter Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash flew up, waved her hooves, and exclaimed, “What? No, we don’t need my parents! We can do this on our own! I can help them figure things out!”
The two laughed as Windy replied, “Rainbow, you’re number one in a lot of things, but it's probably best if we tag along.”
“Yeah, we can all use the escape from this place; I can only eat so much Ice Cream and sleep all day; it's crazy to say I miss going to the old weather factory.” Bow looked almost nauseous at the sight of the cotton candy clouds, earning a giggle from his wife.
Windy flew over and nuzzled Rainbow Dash. “Oh, we’re so proud of you helping the princesses!”
“Mom, cut it out!”
This went on for some time as Luna blinked, looking rather confused. Celestia smiled and let out a laugh, “Well, I thank you all for your assistance. Now, let's move on. Hopefully, we can recruit a few more on the way.”
The alicorns and the other pegasi all flew together towards the Weather Factory, hoping that with some effort, things would finally start to work out.