Ponywatching

by ThunderTempest


Prompt #339-Unexpected Discoveries

Twilight hopped out of her balloon, and landed softly on the cloud they had pulled up next to. A dark thunderhead was brewing nearby, so they wouldn’t be here long. Pinkie Pie followed shortly after, and Rainbow Dash hovered over both of them as Twilight rummaged in her bag. Finding what she was after, she pulled a wide piece of parchment out and rolled it out, holding it magically in front of her. She stared at it for a few minutes, before rolling it back up and turned to the others.

“Right. We’re lost,” She stated, “I have absolutely no idea where in Equestria we are, and we’re certainly not near those Old Featherwing Ruins.”

Rainbow Dash turned to face Pinkie, her mouth set in a hard line, “I told you we were going in the wrong direction when you said to turn south by ten degrees.”

“But my Pinkie Sense was tingling, and it was getting stronger in this direction!” defended the pink party pony.

“Your Pinkie Sense is not a reliable source of navigational information!” shot back Rainbow. As the two’s argument escalated, Twilight looked at the cloud bank nearby, which seemed to be...parting?

“Girls,” she said, attempting to interrupt the argument.

“Well maybe you shouldn’t eat so much sugar all the time!”

“Girls.”

“And you shouldn’t be such a grumpy-frowny-meany pony!”

“GIRLS!” yelled Twilight, attracting both of their attentions. Twilight pointed towards the parting cloudbank.

“What the heck is that?” muttered Rainbow Dash, as a city became visible from their cloudborne position.

“I have no idea,” replied Twilight, “But I want to go over there and have a look. Let’s get back into the balloon.” The three ponies piled back into the purple balloon, and floated over to the mysterious city. As they landed, and Twilight secured the balloon, they looked around in wonder. The city itself was not at all like the elegant structure of Cloudsdale. No, this was far more simple and blocky, almost militaristic in its construction. The clouds around them were dark and grey, instead of the peaceful white of Cloudsdale.

“Who’d be mad enough to build a city inside a thunderhead?” called Rainbow Dash, as she flew ahead of the others, “Every pegasus knows that it’s supposed to be impossible!”

-time-

Twilight was studying the cloud arch at the entrance to the city. It was in old Equestrian, but she managed to get a translation quickly enough.

“Let’s see, it says ‘Welcome to Pegasopalis’. This is the possibly the first cloud construction from the unification of the Three Tribes. Pinkie, you’re a genius!” Twilight exclaimed, “Or just very lucky,” she added under her breath. Pinkie, however, just looked confused.

“But I don’t get it, Twilight. My Pinkie sense told me that something was going to fall.” Just then, there was an ominous rumble.

“Oh no,” said Twilight, “we’ve gotta get out of here! Come on, back to the balloon!”

The three ponies watched from a distance as the cloud city crashed into the ground and dissipated.

“So much history, all lost,” sobbed Twilight.

“Yeah yeah, Twilight. But we still have a bigger problem,” said Rainbow, “We’re still LOST!”