This story is a sequel to Mi Amore Influenza
Over the course of a week in the City-State of Cloudsdale, a frustrated Mi Amore Cadenza makes a series of bad choices that kind of make her into a monster.
Also, she becomes a dragon at some point.
(A continuation of the Cadance of Cloudsdale cycle.)
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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you're back!
Wearing your emotions on your sleeve isn't for the faint of heart, Cady.
Oh, sweet child. This is Cloudsdale. Everypony is in the water business. Or in a conspiracy of some sort...
After a four year absence, Skywriter is back to Fimfiction.net? And with a multi-part story? Excellent! It's a bright spot here in the autumn of fimfiction.net.
(Loved that musical number bit.)
Right for all the wrong reasons...
I adore how the musical number keeps going and starts reflecting Cadance's insecurities. Also, pitch-perfect filk.
No, no, that's a completely different song.
Why do I get the feeling you've been sitting on this line for, at minimum, seven years?
We don't have proof that Shining Harmer is Cadance. We also don't have proof that she isn't.
Wasn't expecting acknowledgement of that particular meme. (And frankly, I have no idea how it even came about...)
I do love the matching Twilight-based compliments.
Oh, that never bodes well...
Always wonderful to see more from you. Looking forward to more, especially seeing what the short description entails. (And also Cadance realizing that volunteer work may be personally fulfilling, but it doesn't exactly help her financial situation.)
SKYWRITER BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE BANGERS!
shining armor slowly and politely picking orange seeds out of his mouth as he goes along with her Making Her Own Way is so... you have a real skill for giving characters stuff to do in conversations that thematically lines up what they're talking about, i already raved about the one breakfast scene but it's a recurring thing.
wow, this is a real cellar door both textually and materially. feels good to say AND what good is a banister that isn't eminently slidable
armor's whole Suffering Assistant bit works so well with cadence. i'm so glad he gets a chance to be reluctantly swept up by a musical number
I've never liked musical numbers in prose but you managed to make it funny, tonally concordant, plot-relevant, AND lyrically not-stilted. even the interjections feel natural and definitely like something you'd see in a voiced musical number!
god you're funny.
poor cady ;_;
sighhh i love them
*looks directly into the camera*
excited by the Foreshadowing at the end. i love that you said right in the synopsis Yeah She's Gonna Get Turned Into A Dragon. why? let's find out
great to have you posting again! updates are defs shaping up to be a highlight of my week
Lt Armor took that much better than most would at that.
Musical number shenanigans, one of the most truly Equestrian things of all~
"Perhaps we're going about this the wrong way, Lieutenant. They solicit employment in the Acta and on the wireless, do they not?"
"I believe they do, Princess. Shall I switch on the wireless?"
==========
They say you should be happy in your work. But they never say what you should be depressed in, now do they?
Welcome... to Cloudsdale.
It's that time again; the third Saturday of every moon. As part of Cloudsdale Community Radio's civic obligations, we devote a certain amount of our airtime to attempting to match able-winged mares and stallions with those offering them fine remunerative employment, for the good of all.
At the risk of waxing overly nostalgic, dear listeners, I couldn't be more pleased we're taking part in this. I remember my first job hunt, fresh out of school as a young colt. The hours spent pouring over the want-ads in the Acta. Knocking on doors. Filling out applications. The blindfolds. The ritualistic chanting. Waking up in Vanhoover with no clear idea of how you got there. And of course the interviews.
It wasn't fun, but it built character. We here at Cloudsdale Community Radio are happy to help pay it forward.
So! Let's see what we have here...
Oh, speaking of young colts looking for their first job... "Wanted: Acta Diurna deliverypony. No experience required; will train. Must be able to comfortably lift and fly for extended periods while bearing up to three stone in weight. Illiteracy preferred. Lack of vocabulary preferred. Must be comfortable with completing all deliveries in the window between 5.00 and 5.05 in the AM. If the person reading this ad to you thinks you've got what it takes, they should direct you to inquire at the offices of the Acta, which can be recognized by our logo."
What an opportunity! Folks, I wasn't always a wireless host, you know. Newly graduated with a degree in Town Crying... don't laugh, they told me it was a major with a solid future ahead of it!... I took any position I could get my hands on, and I, too, delivered papers for the Acta for a time. Oh, they were suspicious of me, to be sure. Called me "a reader" and "knower of words" and "an accident waiting to happen." It was a different time! But I kept my head down and made my deliveries and was careful to never, ever form sentences out of what I saw scrawled on the walls at the depot or the printers office, and in time I won their respect. I'm pleased to be able to pass such an offer on to the next generation!
What next... ah. "Wanted: specialist in disposing of unused industrial additives. Five years experience required in hazardous materiel handling and disposal. Must have a demonstrated ability to not, quote, 'just dump it over the side and let the Hegemony deal with it,' unquote. Pay: generous and in cold, hard bits. Working conditions: what are you, a cop?"
A solid mid-level position for those whose career is on the rise!
Moving on... and our next solicitation is from our friends at the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation. "Wanted: Quality Control Specialist for piezeoelectric sky golems. Job description: don't worry about it! Experience: don't worry about it! Training: Don't worry about it! Educational requirements: Don't worry about it! Pay: Don't worry about it! Commute: We really can't stress enough how much you don't need to worry about it."
You know, there's so much stress and concern in job-hunting these days. Isn't it wonderful that our friends at the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation have instead taken all the worry out of it?
And finally... let's see here. "Wanted: Herald. Job description: midwifing the glorious new world to come. No experience required, but a certification in gibbering is preferred. Nights only. Applicants who are very weird about the moon will be preferred."
You know, I just don't get these "new economy" jobs, friends, I truly don't. But you can't deny they're a growth industry, and it sounds like the sky is the limit with this one!
And that's all we have for this month, listeners. Coming up next: five decades of being crushed between the gears of the weather-industrial complex, followed by an all-too-brief retirement once your wings give out. Hope you all enjoy it!
==========
"I'm not sure any of these are suitable, Princess."
"I think we should give that last one a chance, Lieutenant. I lettered in gibbering in high school."
~~~fin~~~
This is the sixth part of Welcome to Cloudsdale. The previous part may be found here.
The Welcome to Cloudsdale masterpost may be found here.
11787208
I am so very fond of this little sub-story.
11786814
Why not both?
So nice to be back in this world. For the record, I'm rooting for Shining Armor.
11787822
Spoiler alert I ship them
I need to re-read the parts of the saga I’ve read to catch up with the parts I haven’t. I anticipate a delightful time.
Also, looking forward to one of my favorite authors telling us a transformation story. I’d somehow forgotten that G1 of MLP started with one!
11788215
Great! Here's hoping the previous entries hold up.
11787325
Both? Both is
gooddubious.11787171
Singing along with strangers is the most harmonious thing to do!
11787092
The upcoming weeks will test his patience, I'm afraid.
11786955
11786833
(whistles innocently)
11786821
Thanks! I aim to stick around for a while this time.
11786814
Georg, are you implying that there might be corruption inherent in a banana republic that literally controls precipitation? That seems far-fetched.
11786810
An unseen hazard of musicals!
11786804
Yep!
Gah… the melody is in my head! I will be hearing it in my sleep!
The new lyrics were delightful, regardless, and it’s such a treat to be back in Cloudsdale with this couple. I love your Cadance and especially her interactions with children, so there was nothing but delight to be had at this story. Now bring on the intrigue….
Words cannot describe how excited I am to read this
Update: Perfection
11788837
Intrigue incoming, I hope!
11788949
Glad to hear!
M E T A
11789485
Whatever do you mean? It is a perfectly appropriate line to deliver in this extremely engineered context.
Welcome back, indeed; thanks for writing! :D
11792323
Thanks for reading!
It is a precious blend of everyday worries and interactions, character work, and decisively more fantastical concepts and problems. Magnificent
You know, kinda like in the show!
11792554
Hey, thanks!
I'm a relative latecomer to the fandom, so this is the first Cadance of Cloudsdale piece I'm reading as it's published; I wasn't expecting how much it made me look forward to Saturdays.
I was going to wonder why Equestria has emoticons when it doesn't have texting or internet, but it turns out emoticons predate both those things, potentially by several centuries depending on what you count.
Missed this detail on first read-through, but it sticks out a lot more in the context of what Cadance is about to do. It's not just an impulsive decision - she's got to be considering something along those lines, at least subconsciously, from the beginning.
Master of deescalation, Cady is not.
We know from "Mi Amore Influenza" that there's at least some automation of the process (Champagne has a job keeping a pipe from jamming, which requires little active effort); I get the sense Cadance has an outdated/idealized view of how it works, even if there's no Pegasus Device per se.
We know from "A Lot to Think About" that this basically ends up happening, so clearly Fever is a well-informed source with a good understanding of local politics, and her explanation of the water problem is perfectly trustworthy.
I really like this depiction of Cadance's power - it makes sense both why she thinks it's a reasonable thing to do (she's just reminding them of feelings they already have), and why it's still pretty horrifying from an outside perspective (at the end of the day, she's still brute force shutting down the protest with mind-control magic).
Great use of double meanings here.
Kind of a devastating line; Shining's been a big proponent of the 'princesses are ponies too' line of thought, so this has to represent just a tremendous loss of trust in Cadance's character by those standards.
Another great double meaning, this one presumably not intended by Cadance.
A lack of simpatico was just established a few lines ago; Cadance really has trouble with disapproval.
Looking forward to seeing how this meeting goes - at least for the moment, Portolan and Cadance seem pretty aligned, given their shared desire to limit Celestia's influence, even if in a broader sense they're in competition. I bet she's pretty happy to have somepony suppressing dissent for her in a way that she can honestly disclaim all responsibility for.
Hold up.
Oh. Oh.
<3
And now I believe I understand the "make her into a monster" part of the description. And why the Poison Joke will be going for dracomorphosis. (One wonders what it would do to Celestia...)
The thought occurs that Celestia did not think through all of the implications of sending a young alicorn to a semi-independent city-state.
Indeed, the thought occurs that Celestia has left much unconsidered on the topic of Cloudsdale. I'm still not sure whether or not H. E. Smiles actually exists. (There's also the question of just what manner of growing pains Twilight will have to deal with down the line...)
In any case, time to see just what ripples that love bomb caused. I can't imagine this will be pleasant in the near future. I only hope it will help teach Cadance that unpleasantness is, in fact, sometimes necessary.
Such a shame defenestration probably won't work in Cloudsdale. It would be the appropriate response for barging into sovereign territory.
Also, even in proper historical context, fasces are a somewhat loaded symbol. Even if they're on the Lincoln Memorial, and the congressional Sergeant at Arms carries one.
11792834
It is my hope that by merely describing them and not referring to them by name that I can sidestep some of the more symbolically anvilicious elements of this particular historical artifact.
11792600
Thanks! Glad to have you along, and I appreciate your readership!
11792615
I was wondering when people would start catching that.
11792615
I kinda of get what Celestia is doing. She could smother Cadence, or let her spread her wings. She is currently close enough and has enough back ups for Cadance that if she falls any issues can be caught and fixed in her wake.
Well, most things. Cadence is immature and her thinking small, which I think this story will help illustrate soon enough.
Should have tried more fire on the Bahamoot. XD
11793584
That sounds like criminal talk. You're not a criminal, are you?
I am if I need to be.
11792877
Even short of the modern context, fasces are literal expressions of state officials' monopoly of violence. Either to beat with the rods, or decapitate with the axe. And invading ambassadorial territory with lictors seems damn close to a tacit declaration of hostilities.
11787208
Whoo! I was so worried you wouldn't keep these up!
11796530
To my excessive delight, they continue!
""It's Canterlot!" say."
""It's Canterlot!" I say."?
"I assure you I would be the one of the first"
"I assure you I would be one of the first"?
Well, some interesting plot developments to go withe character stuff here! :)
I am currently pretty tired (in the low-on-sleep sense, not a bored-with-this-story sense, to be clear), but I enjoyed this anyway; thanks for writing. :)
11797485
Thanks for the notes. We can't squash all of the buglets, though we try.
It's wonderful to see Cady get to
not be existentially tormentedenjoy herself for a change, yet this only makes me worry that she's being set up for greater troubles down the line. Don't become a stooge for corporate PR, Cady, nothing good can come of it.There is, of course, absolutely no way this can go wrong.
11798521
How did you guess that next week's chapter reads "And then everything was good forever, the end"?