"H--how far up is Clou--Cloudsdale?" asked Heat Wave, clenching onto his sister Spring Frost, shivering.
Rainbow Dash giggled, "Just a few more hooves and then we're there!"
The ponies and Spike were sitting inside the basket attached to the hot air balloon (except the pegasusses, who flew beside the balloon). Pinkie Pie was picking peppermint sweets from her pink mane and munching on them, Rarity was styling her mane, Twilight was reading a book on clouds, Applejack was humming to an old tune Granny Smith used to sing to her, Lemon Glacier and Fiery Rose were trying to disrupt the tune by singing a random melody, Sizzling Sunset was taking a little nap, and Heat Wave and Spring Frost were hugging each other, as they have a fear of heights. Spike tried to comfort them by sitting in between the two frightened ponies, but of course the attempt failed, as usual.
"We're here, ponies!" called out Rainbow Dash, a big smile on her face.
The siblings were astounded at the city that lied above ground. Spring Frost and Heat Wave completely forgot about their fear of heights. Instead, their eyes and mouths were widened, excited at the puffy clouds that formed as what the pegasusses call it, Cloudsdale.
"It's...it's so beautiful!" cried Absolute Zero, "Even though I'm a pegasus, I never actually lived above ground!"
Rainbow Dash turned to the neon blue pony, who was bedazzled, "So those orphanage nurses never actually let any of you siblings out? That must be tough for you ponies, I gotta say."
Arctic Lime agreed, "Yeah. We weren't allowed any form of freedom."
Rainbow Dash's eyes widened, "No FREEDOM? What sort of orphanage did you guys LIVE in? I swear one day, when I go to Manehattan, I'll go to that orphanage and complain to those nasty nurses to let those poor orphans FREE! That will teach THEM a lesson!"
Winter Sky giggled, "I'm afraid that is sort of impossible, Rainbow Dash. Those orphanage nurses are very strict, and they'll report any pony's bad behavior, even non-orphans, to the Royal Guards!"
The other ponies and Spike giggled along with Winter Sky, which made the blue pony blush a little.
Winter Sky and Arctic Lime had been told by Rainbow Dash to steer the hot air balloon wherever she goes, because if any pony who is a unicorn or an earth pony steps on the clouds, he or she would fall right through it. Rainbow Dash first led the ponies to steer the balloon to her cloud-house. The siblings were astonished at what they saw. They had never seen a bunch of clouds combined together to form a cloud palace!
"This is MY cloud-house! It's awesome, right?" bragged Rainbow Dash, a huge grin on her face.
Twilight rolled her eyes and shut her book, "Rainbow Dash, we are not here to hear you bragging about your cloud-house, we're here to show these siblings around Cloudsdale!"
Rarity nodded her head, "She's right, Rainbow Dash. These ponies, although are very BEDAZZLED at your...cloud-house...they would really appreciate it if you showed them around this Cloudsdale!"
Rainbow Dash sighed, "FINE...okay my balloon patrols! Follow me!" Winter Sky and Arctic Lime steered the hot air balloon in Rainbow Dash's direction. The siblings glanced around them, their eyes examining each and every cloud-building, all built very Greek-like (mentioned Twilight out loud whilst she was reading her book on clouds). There were many shapes and sizes of clouds, all shaped from shops, to houses, to even little gardens! Rainbow Dash took the ponies and Spike to a Greek-built cloud-building, called the Cloudosseum. Rainbow Dash tells a story on her achievement that took place in the Cloudosseum, in which she participated in the Best Young Flyer competition. Spring Frost and Heat Wave were very interested in the blue pony's story, but the others were moaning at Rainbow Dash for her to continue with the tour. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
"Geez! Can't a pony tell her adventures to these young educated ponies?" Rainbow Dash then continued to lead the balloon around Cloudsdale. Suddenly, Lemon Glacier spotted a pale yellow pegasus with long, flowing pink hair, sitting on a small fluff of cloud next to a small bird, smiling slightly.
"Who's that pony sitting over there? She looks kind of lonely!" she asked.
"Oh, her? That's Flutt--FLUTTERSHY? What are YOU doing up HERE?" Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped, as Fluttershy turned around to see a group of ponies all looking at her. She stood from the patch of cloud, and slowly flew over to them.
"Oh, hi, Rainbow Dash. I didn't expect to see you up here." Fluttershy muttered under her breath, grinning.
"Well, I didn't expect YOU either! Why are you up here, anyway?"
"Oh, well, you see, I was helping a poor little hummingbird. He broke his wing, so I came to help him."
"Don't you usually help your little animals down in Ponyville?"
"Why, yes, I do, but, you see, this hummingbird is a bit sensitive. He likes to stay up here in Cloudsdale. I don't know why, but he said that if he goes down to Ponyville, he gets a headache and won't be able to concentrate properly. Please don't tell him I told you ponies that."
Rainbow Dash nodded slightly, "Okay, then. We have new ponies that came to Ponyville just yesterday. Why don't you say...Fluttershy? Um, are you okay?"
Fluttershy had hid behind Rainbow Dash, her face (well mostly her pink hair) is just slightly poking out.
"New...new po--ponies?" she asked, shivering a little.
Rarity sighed, "Oh, Fluttershy! These ponies aren't BAD ponies, you know!"
"They---they're not?"
"Not at all, sugarcube!" replied Applejack, her cowpony hat slightly tilted to the side.
Fluttershy peeked out from behind Rainbow Dash, her hidden eyes examining each and every siblings that's staring back at her. She then sighed, and flew from Rainbow Dash and sat next to her.
"Oh, hi...new ponies." she mumbled under her breath, "Gee, there are so many of you."
Pinkie Pie took out the exact sheet of paper that had the names and pictures of the siblings. The pink pony hoofed it to Fluttershy. Fluttershy moved her long pink mane fringe to her side, revealing blue-green eyes.
'She's really pretty...' thought Arctic Lime to himself, blushing.
The pale yellow pony read the piece of paper closely, smiled, and hoofed the paper back to Pinkie Pie, who placed it inside her pink mane, grinning.
"Such lovely names..." Fluttershy mumbled quietly, smiling.
The siblings started to chortle at Fluttershy, who was looking confused.
"Thanks, Fluttershy, we kinda get that a lot!" replied Absolute Zero, still giggling.
Rainbow Dash turned to the pale yellow pony, "Say, do you wanna come with us? We're taking these new ponies here around Cloudsdale!"
Fluttershy nodded, "Sure. But I'm going to need to catch up with you guys later, if you don't mind. I'm still helping that poor hummingbird over there."
Rainbow Dash nodded as well, "Sure thing, Fluttershy! Okay, my balloon patrols, follow me!" Winter Sky and Arctic Lime followed the blue pony's orders, and started to steer the balloon away from Fluttershy, who was shyly waving to them.
Rainbow Dash showed the siblings around Cloudsdale, telling them a brief description on each and every cloud-building. The siblings glanced around them in amazement each time Twilight would say a little fact on Cloudsdale.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Twilight, you ain't the tour pony here! I AM!"
Twilight sighed, "Do what you like, Rainbow Dash."
After a few cloud sightings, Pinkie Pie noticed Fluttershy flying over calmly to them, this time her light pink hair partially covering her face, again.
"Look, ponies! It's Fluttershy!" she waved at Fluttershy, who gave a little wink back at Pinkie Pie.
"Fluttershy! You're just in time! Follow us!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, a wide grin on her face. The blue pony guided the ponies and Spike to a large patch of cloud, and ordered her balloon patrols (Winter Sky and Arctic Lime) to carefully fly the balloon to the patch of cloud.
"What are you DOING, sis? We're gonna FALL if you put us down on the cloud!" shouted Sizzling Sunset, his eyes wide open.
Rainbow Dash giggled, "No, silly! This large patch of cloud is special; nothing can fall through it!"
Sizzling Sunset looked confused, "Why's that?"
The blue pony pointed with her hoof to a large, pinkish-blue sort of cloud-building.
"You see that?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah. What cloud-building is that?" asked Fiery Rose, who's mane had been styled by Rarity.
"That, my ponies, is the Cloudsdale Rain Factory! That's where rain clouds are made!" answered Rainbow Dash, "And that, Fluttershy, is why you're right on time! Explain what you had to do! Remember?"
Fluttershy nodded, "Of course I remember. You see, I have really weak wing power," explained the pale yellow pony, putting aside her long fringe, "and Rainbow Dash here had to train me really hard because of that. All the pegasi had to make a tornado to suck all the water from some water source and transport it into the Cloudsdale Rain Factory. So then---"
Rainbow Dash yawned and interrupted, "You're making these poor ponies SLEEP! Lemme tell the story!"
Fluttershy nodded, blushing.
"Okay!" continued Rainbow Dash, "So what happened was Fluttershy made us reach the record by just putting in that EXTRA wing power! That's the end!"
The siblings wiped their mouths, obviously drooling from such an interesting story.
The 6 other ponies and Spike giggled at the siblings' hilarious foolishness.
"Come on, Rainbow Dash. Let's head down back to Ponyville, it's getting dark now!" requested Twilight.