A Visit to Cloudsdale
*Joshua’s P.O.V.*
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
“Joshua, could you get that please?” Mommy asked.
“Okay, Mommy,” I said.
It was a few days after my day of tickles from my friends, Mommy’s friends, and Dinky. I stayed in the library to calm down from that. Nyx and I were working on schoolwork while Spike was cleaning. I just finished when the door knocked. I opened it and saw Rainbow Dash standing there.
“Hi, Rainbow!” I said.
“Hey, buddy,” she said giving my head a noogie, “You’re just the human I wanted to see.”
“Aren’t I the only human in Equestria?” I asked. Rainbow chuckled.
“Good point,” she said, “I was wondering if you’d like to visit Cloudsdale with me.”
“The city of pegasi?” I asked.
“Sure,” Rainbow said, “Twilight told me you had an interest in it. So, do you wanna come with?”
“Yeah, let me just ask Mommy first, okay?” I said. Rainbow nodded her head. I then went upstairs to Mommy’s room. She was reading another book, trying to find something. Nyx was in the room too, still working on her homework. “Hey Mommy?” I said to her. She looked up at me.
“Who was at the door?” she asked.
“Rainbow Dash,” I said.
“Rainbow?” Mom asked confused, “She usually just flies through the window. Well, what did she want?”
“She wants to take me to see Cloudsdale,” I said, “Can I go Mommy?”
“Only if you’ve finished your homework,” she said.
“I did, Mommy,” I said.
“Okay then,” she said standing up, “Let me just put the cloud-walking spell on you and then you can go.” She walked over to me, activated her magic, and wrapped me up in her aura. I felt the magic going through my feet as the spell was being put on them. After a minute, the magic stopped. Mommy then walked up to me and pulled me in for a hug. “Now you listen to Rainbow Dash and stay close to her, okay?” she said to me.
“Yes, Mommy,” I said hugging her back, “I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetie,” Mommy said kissing my forehead, “Have fun!” We let go of each other, and I went downstairs.
“Bye, Nyx!” I said to my big sister.
“Bye, Joshua!” Nyx said waving to me.
“Have him home in time for dinner, Rainbow!” Mommy called to Rainbow Dash.
“I will, Twi!” Rainbow said to Mommy, “Climb on, dude.” She lowered herself down and I climbed up onto her back. I wrapped my arms around her neck, and she began flying up.
A few minutes later...
“Wow,” I said quietly.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Rainbow asked me.
When we made it to Cloudsdale, I was amazed at what I saw. There were a lot of clouds shaped together to make buildings and some rainbow waterfalls. There were also lots of pegasi flying around too.
“It is Rainbow,” I said, “And you were born here?”
“Yep, me and Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, “First I’ll take you to the weather factory where they make Equestria’s weather. Next we’ll head to my parents’ house for lunch. Then, we'll go to the Cloudosseum where they hold competitions. Finally, we’ll go to the history museum, and I’ll show you a section of one of the most famous pegasi in history.”
“Okay,” I said.
After Rainbow landed, I slowly got off her back. My feet touched the cloudy ground of Cloudsdale and didn’t fall through. Keeping close to Rainbow, I walked with her through Cloudsdale. I could see a lot more pegasi up close than from far away now.
“Hey Joshua!”
That voice sounded familiar. I looked up and saw one of my classmates, Rumble, waving down at me. He was flying with an older, black pegasus with a light bluish gray striped mane and tail, gold eyes, and a gray cloud with a lightning bolt for a cutie mark.
“Hi Rumble!” I said waving at him, “Who’s that with you?”
“This is my older brother, Thunderlane,” he said pointing a hoof at the black pegasus. Thunderlane waved at me, and I waved back. “What are you doing here?”
“Rainbow’s showing me around Cloudsdale,” I said.
“Cool!” Rumble said, “Thunderlane and I were visiting our parents. We’re heading back towards Ponyville now.”
Just then, Thunderlane coughed. I saw Rainbow looking at him seriously.
“Better make sure that’s not feather flu again, Thunderlane,” she said.
“Oh, uh, look at the time, Rumble!” Thunderlane said quickly, “We’ve gotta head home now! See ya around!”
Thunderlane quickly flew off.
“Hey bro!” Rumble said, “Wait up! I’ll see you later, Joshua!” He then flew off after Thunderlane.
“What was that about?” I asked looking back at Rainbow.
“Thunderlane has a tendency to slack off on his weather duties,” Rainbow said, “He’s part of Ponyville’s weather team, which I’m the captain of. Well, let’s head to the weather factory.”
Rainbow placed me on her back again and started flying over a hill of clouds. When we reached the top, I saw all different kinds of weather things, like ice, thunder clouds, normal clouds, and rainbows. Before we went inside, Rainbow gave me a small white coat and a white hard hat, while she put one on herself. It was one of the rules to wear these before going in. First, she showed me where the snowflakes were made. It got colder when we entered.
“Brr,” I said shivering a little, “It’s cold in here.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said looking at me, “It needs to be cold. Otherwise all these snowflakes will melt.” She then placed a wing around me and pulled me closer to her. It warmed me up a little bit. She then looked back at all the pegasi making the snowflakes. “Each one is hoofmade. It’s a really delicate operation.”
Rainbow walked me over to get a closer look at them. They were really beautiful. Each one was also different. No two snowflakes are the same.
“Wow,” I said, “This is so cool.”
“Twilight told me that you said the weather handles itself where you came from, right?” Rainbow asked me.
“Yeah,” I said, “But seeing the weather being made before it happens is amazing.”
After looking at the snowflakes a little more, Rainbow took me to another part of the weather factory. It had rainbow colored waterfalls and pools filled with rainbows.
"This is where they make the rainbows," she said.
"Make rainbows?" I asked.
"Yep," she replied. I knelt down in front of one of the pools and looked at it. I was about to put my hand in it, but Rainbow put a hoof on my hand to stop me.
"I wouldn't taste it if I were you," she said.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Ask your mom when I get you home, okay?"
I nodded, but was still confused. We then moved to another room. There, purple spouts pointing up were making clouds.
"Is there where they make clouds?" I asked. Rainbow nodded. "What about the storm clouds, the ones with lightning?" I asked.
"That's a part of the factory where we have to wear additional gear to view it," Rainbow said leading me to doorway where some other pieces of clothing hung. After giving some to me, putting some on herself, and putting on goggles over our eyes, we went inside. The pegasi inside were wearing the additional gear like me and Rainbow. They were also standing around a really big machine that had a big ball on top of it.
"What's this?" I asked Rainbow.
"That's the lightning generator," she said, "Each cloud is picked carefully by one of these pegasi, and it's then taken to this machine. From there, it's put in that slot where it travels through a tube until it's under the lightning generator. Then the magic happens."
One pegasi placed a white cloud in the slot Rainbow pointed at, and it went through the tube. When it was under the lightning generator ball, a lever was pushed down and everypony stepped back. Lightning started shooting out of the ball and around the room. It came kinda close to us. One bolt hit the ground in front of my feet. I yelped and jumped back a bit, but Rainbow put a hoof on my shoulder and rubbed.
"Relax, buddy," she said, "You're fine. You won't get electrocuted from a lightning bolt while wearing this protective gear."
I felt a little better and continued watching the ball make the white cloud into a grey storm cloud. It was very cool.
Later, after we returned the clothes we had to wear, Rainbow and I left the weather factory. She said our next stop was lunch with her parents. I was on Rainbow's back when we came to a small house made out of differently shaped clouds. There was also a mailbox with two symbols on it: a blue star with blue, red, and yellow stripes behind it and a blue lightning bolt. Rainbow knocked at the door, and it was opened by a purple-blue pegasus stallion with a rainbow mane and tail like Rainbow's, only shorter, gold eyes, and the star mark from the mailbox for a cutie mark. He smiled when he saw Rainbow.
"Dashie!" he said wrapping his forelegs around Rainbow's neck.
"Hey, Dad," Rainbow said hugging him back.
Rainbow's dad had his eyes closed while hugging her, so he didn't see me. When they let go of each other, Rainbow's Dad stepped back.
"What brings you by?" he asked.
"I figured I'd drop by and have lunch with you and Mom today, plus I've got someone for you two to meet," she said. She then turned to the side and showed me to him. "Dad, this is Joshua. My friend Twilight adopted him a little less than a year ago. Joshua, this is my dad, Rainbow Prism. Now you know where I got my mane tail from."
"Hello," I said.
"Nice to meet ya, son," Rainbow Prism said patting my back, "Why don't you both come on in?" He then walked into the house with me and Rainbow Dash following. Inside, I could smell food being cooked.
"Who was at the door, Prism?" said a voice like Rainbow Dash's but a little lower than her's.
"It's Rainbow Dash, honey," Prism said, "And she's brought someone else along with her."
When I got off Dash's back, a pink pegasus mare came from a doorway. She had a blue mane and tail that was messy like Rainbow Dash's, purple eyes, and the blue lightning bolt I saw on the mailbox for a cutie mark.
"Hey Mom," Dash said to the mare.
"Rainbow Dash!" the mare said wrapping one hoof around her neck and giving her a noogie with the other, "How's our Wonderbolt-to-be been?" she asked after she finished noogying Dash.
"I've been doing alright," Dash said, "And like Dad said, I've brought someone along for you to meet." She then placed a hoof around my shoulders. "Mom, this is Joshua. He was adopted by my friend Twilight. Joshua, this is my mom, Firefly."
"Hi, it's nice to meet you," I said to her.
"Nice to meet you to, little guy," Firefly said mussing my hair. Looks like Rainbow got her attitude from her mom. "Why don't we head on into the kitchen and have lunch. We can get to know each other while we eat."
Firefly placed a hoof around my back and led the three of us into the kitchen. After we all sat down, we started talking with each other. I told Rainbow Prism and Firefly where I came from and what happened. They were sad to hear that. Then they told me about where they worked in Cloudsdale. Rainbow Blitz worked at the weather factory in the afternoons, while Firefly worked as a cloud sculptor, which means she shaped clouds into works of art. She showed me some of her works after we finished. They were amazing.
After that, Dash showed me her bedroom. There were Wonderbolt posters everywhere, trading cards, and small figures of them too.
"Wow, Rainbow Dash," I said, "This is a lot of Wonderbolt stuff. Do you know any of them."
"Sure do," she said, "I'm on pretty good terms with the captain of the team, Spitfire, and her wing pony, Soarin. I'm definitely going to bring you to one of their performances one of these days. Then you'll get see how awesome they are."
"That sounds like fun, Rainbow," I said.
Later after saying goodbye to her parents, Rainbow took me to a big arena.
"Welcome to the Cloudosseum, Joshua," she said, "This is where Cloudsdale holds their competitions. In fact, I won one a few years ago here."
"Really?" I asked.
"Yep," she said, "It was the Best Young Fliers Competition. First prize was a full day with the Wonderbolts. I won after saving Rarity and some of the Wonderbolts and performing the Sonic Rainboom for the first time since I was a filly."
"How was Rarity in trouble while you were saving her?" I asked.
"Well, your mom and the rest of our friends were thinking up a way to come to Cloudsdale to cheer me on," Rainbow explained, "So she performed a spell that gave Rarity some pretty cool like butterfly wings. It was too tough to do again, so she found the cloud-walking spell to put on herself and the others. Rarity entered the competition, but she got too close to the sun, and her wings burned up. She started falling, and some of the Wonderbolts flew after her to save her, but she kept waving her legs about and accidentally knocked them out. I was about to enter the final phase of my performance when I saw what was going on. So I rushed after them as fast as I could, and then BOOM! I pulled off the Sonic Rainboom and managed to save Rarity and the Wonderbolts."
"Wow, that's amazing, Rainbow," I said.
"Too bad I was knocked out to not witness it," said a voice behind me. I turned around and saw a yellow pegasus mare with an orange and yellow fiery mane and tail, orange eyes, and orange flames for a cutie mark.
"Hey there, Spitfire," Rainbow said, "How's it hanging?"
"Pretty good, Rainbow Dash," Spitfire replied. She then looked at me. "Who's this?"
"This is Joshua," Rainbow said introducing me, "He was adopted by my friend Twilight as a son. Joshua, meet the captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire."
"Hi," I said, "It's nice to meet you, Spitfire."
"Nice to meet you as well, dude," Spitfire said, "Rainbow been showing you around Cloudsdale?"
"Yeah, she showed me the weather factory first, then I met her parents, and now she's showing me this place," I said it's been a lot of fun."
"Glad to hear it," Spitfire said, "The other Wonderbolts and I are proud to call this place home. Well, I need to head back. We've got another training session coming up."
"See ya around," Rainbow said as Spitfire flew away, "Well, only one more place left to show you, the Cloudsdale History Museum." I then got back on Rainbow's back and we flew towards a building with pillars standing up in the front. Rainbow and I entered the building. Inside, there were pictures of a lot of pegasi, even pictures of the ponies Rainbow and Fluttershy played in the Hearth's Warming Pageant.
"Hey, Joshua," Rainbow said when we stopped walking, "Look at this." I looked in front of me and saw a big room that had pictures and other things about the pony I learned about on my first day at school.
"Hey!" I said, "This is all about Snowdrop!"
"Yep," Rainbow said, "Learned about her in school?" I nodded. "Well, I'm sure this will help you learn more about her."
It sure did. It showed things I already knew about her, like how she made the first snowflake, how her ears could hear almost everything around her, and her cutie mark. The new things I learned was that she was one of Luna's best friends before Luna became Nightmare Moon, and that she started the snowflake making part of the weather factory when she was older.
"Wow," I said, "Snowdrop is even more amazing than I thought. I wonder if Princess Luna knows anything more?"
"I'm sure she does," Rainbow said, "Maybe you could ask her next time you see her." Rainbow then looked out the window. "Well, buddy, it's about time to head back. It's getting late." I looked out the window and saw the sun starting to set.
"Okay," I said climbing onto Rainbow's back, "Thanks for bringing me here today, Rainbow. I had a lot of fun with you."
"No problem, kid," she said mussing my hair, "I was glad to bring you."
She then flapped her wings, and we flew back to the library.
*Twilight’s P.O.V.*
While Rainbow Dash was showing Joshua around Cloudsdale, I was busying myself with a very special surprise to give to Joshua on his birthday. Hopefully, I would have it ready in time. I prepared my horn and began charging for a while. Finally, when I had enough power, I released the spell. When the spell finished, I looked down at myself, and smiled in accomplishment.
"Perfect!" I said to myself, "Now to get my friends and Joshua's friends prepared for this. I hope he'll like this." I then changed myself back to normal. After i did that, I heard the door open. I looked back and saw Joshua and Rainbow standing there.
"Hi, Mommy!" Joshua said running up to hug me.
"Hey, Joshua," I said hugging him back, "How was Cloudsdale?"
"It was really cool!" he said letting go of the hug, "I saw where they make weather, met Rainbow's mom and dad, saw the Cloudosseum, met Spitfire, and I learned a lot more about Snowdrop at the history museum!"
"Sounds like you two had a lot of fun," I said smiling, then looking at Rainbow Dash, "Thanks for looking after him, Rainbow."
"No prob, Twi," she said, "I gotta head home now and check on Tank. See ya around!" She then rushed off.
"Mommy?" Joshua spoke up.
"Yes, Joshua?" I said looking at him.
"When we were at the weather factory where they make the rainbows, Rainbow said I shouldn't taste it," he said, "I asked her why, but she said to ask you."
"Hang on," I said, "Let me show you." I then lit my horn and a moving picture screen showed up.
"Oh," Joshua said giggling when the memory finished, "Poor Pinkie."
"That's why Rainbow didn't want you tasting that liquid rainbow," I said to him.