The Life and Times of Paper Power.
Growing up in Ponyville wasn't the easiest thing I had to do. Then again, it wasn't the hardest thing either. I never really was socially inclined, so that put me at a large disadvantage toward making friends. I would more-so rather stare at the clouds than want to socialize with any of my classmates. Being a Pegasus, you'd probably think that would be instinctive, to stare at the clouds, but that wasn't the reason as to why I found the clouds so interesting.
Sometimes during recess one, sometimes more, of my classmates would walk over to me and ask what I was doing. I tried my best to explain that I could see the inner potential that the clouds held back, and that the clouds held shapes that were invisible to most everypony else. I also tried to explain the shapes that I saw within the clouds themselves. Shapes ranging from basic circles, and squares; to elaborate creatures, such as dragons, and other large beasts. They would then either reply with "Okay," or a more common "I don't see it," but every so often, I'd get an "Oh, I see it now," but I knew they were lying.
Once, in a rare occasion, I saw a creature I couldn't recognize. Describing said creature is rather difficult since it's such a rare shape, but from what I can remember is that if it could walk it didn't look as though it could walk on all four of its limbs. I was so alarmed by this shape that I looked away quickly after viewing it for maybe two seconds. A few months after I learned to fly properly, I decided to try and shape the first cloud I saw. I spent all of three minutes studying the nearest cloud from all directions, gaining an idea of how the finished shape would look.
After what seemed like hours I was completed with my first ever cloud shape, a sphere. I backed away from my creation to see how well I made it look, only to see it gone in the blink of an eye. It didn't take long for the remaining specs of cloud to disappear, I also noticed a faint spectrum trail where my sphere once was. My eyes followed that spectrum trail to a cyan colored filly with a rainbow mane. I was angry to say the least, but I didn't tell her that she just destroyed my first piece off work, because of my lack of social abilities.
Every attempt after that incident lead to the same result as the first time I shaped the clouds, but that didn't stop me from trying to complete what I saw in the clouds. With every shape I made, I was getting better, and faster at shaping the clouds. Even with the increased speed, I still couldn't stop that cyan filly from destroying my creations. On a cloudless summer day, I decided, that since no clouds were reported to come in, to ask my mom for a large amount of parchment. She thought that it was for messaging practice, but I had other ideas in mind for the parchment.
I figured that a simple piece of parchment was very similar to a cloud, both, in my eyes, are a blank canvas waiting to be painted. I studied the first piece of parchment, to an extent that would bore most any other pony, trying to gain an idea of what to turn the parchment into. Using my hooves, and my wings to make the folds, hooves for the crude folds, and wings for the more intricate details, I was able to create a crane from the single piece of parchment. I was so happy I did a back-flip right then, and there, almost crashing through the ceiling during the apex. I flew so fast downstairs that I might have broken the fastest indoor flight speed record to show my mom the crane I made with the parchment.
She was so proud of the piece of work that I just did, so she placed it in our display cabinet in our living room. Once she closed the cabinet, she gave me a second look-over, and notified me to look at my flank. I turned my attention to my flank to see that I finally received my cutie mark, an representation of the crane I just folded. Feeling completely overjoyed by this memorable occasion, I ran outside and flew around Ponyville as fast as I could, nearly breaking the sound barrier in the process. After landing back in front of my house, I felt like passing out, either from the extreme amount of happiness I felt, or the adrenaline overdose I was experiencing from my flight.
Even with finding who I was meant to be in the world, I only saved the parchment folding for cloudless, or rainy days when I can't go outside and shape the clouds. If there were enough clouds in the immediate area, then I would combine them into one very large cloud to make the larger beasts that I saw in the clouds. Every-so-often I would get a bystander watching me shape the clouds into the different forms they held back. Apparently, my speed hadn't died down, because when I was finished with the piece I was making they said that they couldn't see me spinning around the cloud, because of how fast I was flying. With their remarks in mind, I decided to try and puppet the creatures that I bring forth from the clouds.
Learning how to puppet a cloud was a lot harder than what you'd believe it to be. I had to watch the animal that I wanted to puppet for extensive periods of time to learn how they move naturally. Though, after years of research, I was able to puppet the clouds like the animals I shaped them to be flawlessly. Passersby would see the shapes moving, and think that it was a unicorn forcing the animals into the sky with magic. Sometimes I would have to stop my performance, because of terrified screams from some of the ponies on the ground.
I decided to then ask Mayor Mare if she would allow my performances to be publicly known to avoid more fear throughout the town. She accepted my terms with the thought that I would also serve as entertainment for the young fillies and colts for when they get done with school. About a week after our meeting Mayor Mare made the word public, saying that I would use my skills to entertain the young ones after school hours. With the town settled about the mysterious flying animals, I decided to think up some performances that the fillies and colts would like. In times where I couldn't think of any performances, I would ask them what they would like to see the clouds do.