Auroras & Souls

by Blues Rider

12: Goodnight Cloudsdale

Flash Sentry had been flying for hours. He stopped off in a small pear orchard on his fly over for what must have been dinner. He was surprised to see the sun setting, but Princess Twilight must have a handle on it. He had to believe she did, for if this plan failed there would be nothing left to fight whatever it was that was happening in the Crystal Empire.

If King Sombra has returned though, he was prepared to fight. Cadence had been good to him in the past, offering him a job with part time education to get him started on his career as an aerial support private (and he had been allowed to play guitar on the job). There he first met Twilight, in the halls of the Crystal Castle.

That thought always had made him chuckle. He was a Royal Guard and would serve to protect Princess Twilight in every way possible. But he couldn’t help thinking that, for an alicorn, she was daaaaamn cute.....

He focused back to his flight path, now the moon was rising he had to keep checking back on his position.

He noticed that a breeze had started to pick up; the air was no longer flat and still.

He adjusted his wing angle to compensate and then dove to avoid some turbulence. About a mile away was the mobile city of Cloudsdale. He put his head down and soared as fast as he could in the direction if the thick, gusty clouds.

Bellow, sand had transformed the normal green grass of Equestria into a dessertous landscape. The city ahead was beautiful. Lights had just been switched on and the darkness was illuminated by soft golden glows. The underside of the white cloud left a dark blue patch in the night, but the lit cloud reflected the orange and created lovely mixtures of colour.

He landed on the landing platform of a runway and scouted down any officials who might be able to help him.

Then he realised.

All the Pegasi were still here. Even it at night Cloudsdale wasn’t totally lifeless; unlike many of the regions he had just passed over. It was investigating time.

He had briefly been assigned to the Royal Guard quarters in the Wonderbolt’s barracks in Cloudsdale as he made his transfer from the Crystal Empire to the Royal Canterlot Library. Eventually, that post had allowed him a promotion to Commander Hall Patrol in Canterlot Palace.

So he remembered the right pub to go to when in need of some Royal Guard to Royal Guard official business.., and some proper food: The Compass Star Inn. On a Thursday to Sunday when Wild Fire worked, and cooked some of the best food on the floating city.

Walking through, or rather bouncing with floating steps, over the smoothed cloud that made up the streets, Flash Sentry made his way towards the centre of Cloudsdale. This is where you want to be really because the outer rim is just made up of Weather factories and landing strips on most sides.

He did admire the city; there was a grandeur to it. The buildings were tall, but not looming, with all kinds of alternative architecture that just wasn’t possible to achieve with earth-pony materials. Some buildings had bridges connecting a couple of floors together, or staircases running up the outside. Others were tall towers which reached stunning heights. Wide platforms jutted off the edges of the tops of buildings. Some had whole floors that travelled between different buildings and a couple of buildings were floating all-together, which was okay because it was a city of pegasi.

Most buildings had entrances on the 'ground' or 'cloud' level with a second platform for entering halfway up and another platform at the top of the building. Because really a pegasus could enter a building from whichever position they so fancied.

Flash Sentry was armoured and as much as he would fly through the city, it was more convenient to just walk.

There were few pegasus around on the streets, but the city still seemed to be buzzing.

“I guess when the sun doesn’t set on time a whole city might actually notice.” He said to himself, noticing a few ponies in some of the restaurants looking out upon him. Despite his rugged look from the flight, he winked at two mares in a cafe and cantered down the street.

Once he had traversed a few side streets and main roads he found a back alley underneath a cloud bridge. The dark blue night helped shadow his entrance and when he reached the door at the end of the alley he was almost invisible in the dark. The air smelt thick with the stench of sweat, cider and smoke, and opening the door slammed his face with a wall of the pungent fragrances.

“Excuse me.” He said, tapping a Pegasus guard who was sat on the table to the right of the door. “Have you seen my shoes? I want to write a spell book.” The blue pegasus in blue armour with white trim turned to the yellow pegasus in gold armour.

“You had better just stick to flying.” He retorted and the two started at each other.

Each of them knew neither could break the stare, for they would lose if I they did. Then the blue guard shifted only to punch Flash in the shoulder. Flash blocked the incoming attack, pushing his hoof into the foreleg of the blue pony, while thrusting his left front hoof around the side of the blue pony.

The dusty, smoky air shifted around their movements. Flash had caught the guard off-guard and gave him a big hug. Then the embrace was returned and they were laughing hysterically.

“Flash bro, how are you!”

“Good bro, Corporal Flash now. How are you Blocker?”

“Oh well, Corporal, why don’t you sit and have a drink.”

“I will, but I am unfortunately here on more business.”

“The whole sun thing ey?”

“Yeah, it’s set now...” Flash took a moment to take a breath from the action.

“I noticed, yeah.” Blocker replied with exhaustion. Flash could tell he'd been on duty all day.

“...but I'm on orders from the Princess of Friendship to find..." Blocker interrupted Flash once more.

“Look before we start, lemme grab you a drink, you still on the same old stuff?”

Flash let his annoyance subside. It was only due to his urgency anyway, and in truth, he did need a break from the flight.

“Yeah sure bro, if you're getting.”

“Yeah I got this.” The blue pegasus 'Blocker' got up and made his way to the Bar. It was dark in the bar, but the low orange lighting kept the large room viewable, just not totally scanable. That was the point of this place. Everything was made of dark wood and the soft walls helped absorb sound. Bellow the noise was the sound of a jukebox that played rock and roll music non-stop, never allowing a break of more than a second between songs.

The bar was directly opposite their table, Flash kept tabs on Ward Blocker. Wild Fire noticed him from behind the bar and dropped Flash a wink. Flash gave her a smile back, raising his eyebrows in her direction. That was history from a couple of years ago.

Ward Blocker returned with two golden elixirs in two thick glass beer glasses. He balanced them on his wings outstretched, and slid them down onto the table.

“So why are you here old comrade?” he asked, his tone concerned and genuine.

“There’s a lot to cover, here is the short of it.” He thought about telling his old friend everything, but really this was not the time. “Princess Celestia has been taken and I was sent to consult Princess Twilight Sparkle. Something about the magic realms communication matrix being infiltrated with dark magic. Ponies all across Equestria were disappearing.”

He explained the rest, from being rescued, to the Crystal Empire being at the heart of it all. Then he relayed his orders.

“...a pegasus pony called Flash Magnus.”

“Never heard of anypony in the Wonderbolt guard called that.” Blocker thoughtfully replied.

“I don’t believe he’s part of the guard or Wonderbolts. She referenced a group called 'The legends' and given that Cloudsdale happened to be so far away from whatever took everypony away in Canterlot and Ponyville they said I should look here and in Saddlearabia.”

“Well luckily the Wonderbolts are currently docked with Cloudsdale in the East side, so there might be a good place to start. I can look underground and see if I’ve met anyone who knows this Flash Magnus.”

“Thanks Blocker. Meet back here later?”

“Certainly Corporal.” He accepted jokingly the command and then the two of them finished up their drinks and set off to their respective journeys.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

How confusing will this story be? I won't read it if it's too confusing.