Whatever Happened to Captain Cloudsdale?

by Tumbleweed

Chapter 3

Spike belched an envelope.

"Oh, great!" Twilight Sparkle caught the message with her telekinesis before it could touch the dragon's claws. "I've been waiting for this!"

"What is it?" Fluttershy said, looking up from a history book.

"It's Captain Cloudsdale's dossier." The unicorn said. She laid it out on her desk, and opened it up (ignoring the large 'CLASSIFIED' stamp in red ink on the cover). No sooner had her eyes skimmed the documents, Twilight furrowed her brow. "Well, that's interesting." she said.

"What's interesting?" Pinkie Pie appeared over Twilight's shoulder, "Does it say what Captain Cloudsale's favorite ice cream flavor is? Because that'd be super awesome to know for when I throw him a 'welcome to ponyville' party! Oooh, it could even be a masquerade sort of thing and we could all wear masks so he'd fit right in! Do you still have that one mask Princess Celstia sent you?"

"Er, no." Twilight said.

"Please, darling," Rarity said as she peered over Twilight's other shoulder, "I bet it'll be something far...juicier. Perhaps the good Captain Cloudsdale had a pretty filly-friend? They'd keep that on file, wouldn't they? Especially if she kept on getting kidnapped, as I understand was the style at the time-"

"Why would you even care about that?" Pinkie Pie tilted her head to peek at Rarity. "Unless you liiiiike Captain Cloudsdale?"

"Of course not." Rarity huffed. "I don't have to be interested in a pony to appreciate the occasional...tidbit. Gossip's a vice of mine, I fear."

"Oh!" Pinkie Pie said, "I get it! Vices are fun!"

"You're both wrong." Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes. "Look here-" she pointed her hoof at one of the many stamps on the age-worn dossier.

"His real name is Mia?" Pinkie Pie gasped. "Ohmygosh, Captain Cloudsdale is really a girl? That explains why there isn't a filly-friend listed! I mean, things were probably way more old fashioned back then, not like they are now-"

"No." Twilight Sparkle facehooved. "It's not a name, it's an acronym. M.I.A. means 'missing in action.' Captain Cloudsdale was never formally declared dead- they never found a body. They made the declaration just a few days before the Treaty of Trottingham was signed."

"Oh wow! So that means he's like, really old, right? But how's he still flying around and kicking tornadoes and stuff?"

"I don't know." Twilight said, "But, there are...possibilities. For example, he could've gotten caught up in a temporal teleporation spell- they're theoretically POSSIBLE, but only under very certain circumstances. Some sort of stasis seems more likely. A cockatrice, maybe? But if that's the case, I have to wonder who would've used the stone-to-flesh potion on him..." Twilight frowned. "We just need more information. Maybe Rainbow Dash and Applejack will be able to tell us something once they get back."

"But just when shall they return?" Rarity asked.

"Ooooooh," Pinkie Pie grinned. "I'd say about...a minute."

Twilight peered at the pink pony. "Let me guess, your tail's twitching?"

"Nope!" Pinkie Pie said, "I just looked out the window."

"Gang way!" Rainbow Dash said as she flew into the library, scattering books and papers with each beat of her wings. "Emergency here!" Twilight Sparkle and company looked up as the pegasus burst in, carrying Applejack. Rainbow Dash slowed to a halt and gently (for her, at least) put Applejack on the floor. Applejack pushed herself away from the pegasus as soon as her hooves touched the floor, and limped away indignantly, favoring her acid-burned leg.

Rarity gasped in shock once she got a good look at the two new ponies. "Applejack, what did you do?"

"Welp, didn't have any bandages handy, so I tore a chunk offa my cape-"

"Not to the costume, to your leg!"

"'m fine." Applejack said, and pulled her hoof closer to her chest.

"Acid spit!" Rainbow Dash said. "Totally gross."

"What? You've been fighting wyverns?" Twilight Sparkle said, "Why? How?"

"No time to explain- I gotta go back and save this Captain Cloudsdale guy!"

"Wait!" Twilight said. Purple light flashed and she teleported to the window and slammed it closed before Rainbow Dash could build up speed. "We need to think this through- and work together. I've been doing research- I even got Captain Cloudsdale's dossier express-Spiked from Celestia, but it's raising more questions than it's answering." Twilight shook her head. "What did you learn from Captain Cloudsdale?"

"Not much- he said he was trying to find something- well, somePONY, and then we found a wyvern and it drooled acid all over Applejack."

"'m fine." Applejack grumbled. "Thing barely grazed me!"

"That's it?" Pinkie Pie said.

"Oh! I think Captain Cloudsdale's got a crush on Applejack, too." Rainbow Dash said.

"What?" Rarity's ears perked up reflexively at the mention of gossip

"I know, right?" Rainbow Dash said, "But don't worry Applejack. I told him that your face was all messed up and gnarly underneath the mask, so that way he won't try any kissy stuff."

"What." Applejack said.

"Oooooh, clever!" Pinkie Pie's eyes went wide. "It's like a test of character! If he's really a good hearted superhero, he won't care what Applejack looks like! So that way you know it'll be true love since he doesn't care that you're all uglified and hideous!"

"I ain't uglified!" Applejack said.

"Bonus!" Pinkie Pie said. "It'll end happily ever after!"

"Your face is lovely enough, Applejack, but right now your leg isn't." Rarity said, biting at her lower lip, "Now stop complaining so we can get you to the hospital. And don't try to charge off when nobody's looking, either! I'll keep an eye on you personally if need be."

"Rarity's right." Twilight Sparkle nodded. "As for the rest of us, we'll go after Captain Clousdale together."

"But, um-" Fluttershy spoke up, "how are we going to find him? The Everfree forest is a big place, and he's just one pony, and wyverns only live in the deepest, darkest, scariest places they can find." The yellow pegasus shivered preemptively.

"That, I can deal with. Here." Twilight Sparkle took a shred of red cloth out of Captain Clousdale's dossier. "This is a scrap from one of Captain Cloudsdale's old uniforms. It should be attuned enough to his auric resonance in order for me to magically establish a sympathetic link, which I can then use in a basic geolocation cantrip-"

"Say what?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head.

"I get it! Twilight Sparkle's a bloodhound! Only with magic and stuff. And no sad droopy face."

"That's...a simple way of putting it, but yes." Twilight said.

"Neat!" Pinkie Pie grinned. "But there's just one problem!"

"What's that?" The purple unicorn asked.

"What if Captain Cloudsdale's naked?"

---

Soon enough, three Mare Do Well's (Pinkie Pie had insisted they dress appropriately) and an armored Rainbow Dash made their bold way into the Everfree forest. Every now and again, Twilight Sparkle took off her hat and put a little more power into the spell, tracing Captain Cloudsdale's path. Sure enough, the spell led them into the deeper, darker, scarier, parts of the Everfree forest.

Grasping, jagged branches pulled at capes, tails, and manes- forcing both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to stay grounded (much to the latter's chagrin).

"Stick together, girls." Twilight Sparkle said. "We're getting closer. I can feel it."

"More like smell it, right?" Pinkie Pie said.

"...no." Twilight Sparkle said. "I told you, the bloodhound thing was just a metaphor-"

"No, really. Can't you smell that?" Pinkie Pie took in a deep breath, and immediately started coughing through her mask. "It's nasty. Like rotten eggs!"

The other ponies, perhaps against their better judgement, sniffed the air as well. It was a good thing most of them were masked, concealing whatever shades of green they might have turned.

"Oh, gross!" Rainbow Dash said, and held one hoof over her nose. "Was somebody eating cabbage before we left?"

"Don't be so childish, Rainbow Dash." Twilight Sparkle's scolding might've held more weight if she wasn't covering her nose, giving herself a more nasal tone. "That smell isn't from any of us- it's probably from a wyvern's acid- they use their saliva to burn away wood and dirt and stone when they dig out their lairs."

"Like this one?" Fluttershy said. She pushed some bushes out of the way and pointed to a large hole in the ground. It was hardly as imposing or impressive as a dragon's mountaintop lair, but the acidic stench made it even more unpleasant.

"Good work, Fluttershy." Twilight Sparkle said. She pulsed her magics again, and nodded. "If my spell's working, and I don't see why it wouldn't, Captain Cloudsdale's somewhere in there."

"I hope he's okay." Fluttershy murmured, "I mean, I wouldn't want to go down there. Um, actually, now that I think of it, I really don't want to go down there." Her usual quaver contrasted with her dashing superhero attire. "Do we have to go down there?"

"What do you think?" Rainbow Dash's loud outfit, on the other hoof, fit her tone perfectly.