“I found a spell that makes temporary wings, but it was too difficult to do more than once, so I found an easier spell that lets the rest of us walk on clouds!” Twilight said, positively beaming with her accomplishment.
“And we came to cheer you to victory!” Applejack chimed.
Rainbow Dash looked to all her friends with pride and appreciation in her heart. “To be honest, I was starting to get just the teeniest tiniest bit nervous… but I feel a lot better now that you guys are here,” she said, bringing her hoof to the ground for emphasis. “Hey, we’ve got some time before the competition. Why don’t Fluttershy and I show you around Cloudsdale!?”
This was met by jubilant cheers from everypony without wings on their backs. Rarity hovered overhead, too distracted by her own self-image to pay any mind to what those ground-bound ponies were cheering about. She saw them make begin to make their way into the heart of Cloudsdale, and gave pursuit, purely in the interest of finding more ponies to flaunt her new endowments to.
As the ponies walked onward through the city, Twilight noticed something off about the pegasi they passed. Trying to be discrete, she glanced from group to group. The ones who caught her eye looked away quickly, as if her gaze was painful or distasteful. Some would turn to their partners or groups and begin making conversation with sudden concern on their face. Her worries became paramount as she even saw one buck make a frightened bolt in the opposite direction as they rounded a bend in the cloud-crafted street.
The others seemed not to notice, too content in the city around them to observe what was happening around them.
Applejack came to stride next to Twilight, addressing her strange behavior honestly and directly. “What’s the matter, sugar cube? Never seen so many pegasi in one place?”
“Uh, yeah! There’s just so many… pegasi,” she said, grinning worriedly at her orange friend.
Applejack looked at her with a “yer kinda nutty” expression, and then picked up her pace to say something to Rainbow Dash.
Pull it together Twilight; they may just be acting weird because it’s not usual for unicorns and earth ponies to be seen in Cloudsdale. The thought made some sense, but it didn’t stop her from feeling a little insecure about their strange staring and murmuring.
The group changed direction after Applejack yelled something about going to the weather factory. Rainbow lead the posse of ponies, with Fluttershy taking up the rear.
The weather factory gates came into view. Through the threshold stood a very tall formidable cloud fortress, easily twice the height as all the other buildings in the vicinity, and vastly greater in cloud coverage.
Rainbow headed straight for the gates. Two very powerful looking pegasi with very official looking uniforms stood in the doorway, staring down the group of mares that came over the crest in front of the entrance.
Twilight again took notice of an abnormality. Glancing backwards, she spotted two equally as powerful looking stallions keeping pace behind them. She gulped, now certain that they walking into some sort of trouble.
“Out of the way, boys!” Rainbow yelled confidently at the duo blocking the entrance. They didn’t move. She tried to force her way through, pushing past their hard bodies with all her mare might. They didn’t let her through.
“Hey! What’s the big deal! The weather factory should be open for visitors right now! If you two would be so kind, I would like to go inside!” she said fiercely. The stallions took walked forward, pushing Rainbow backwards.
She bumped into Pinkie Pie, who was looking the other direction. Rainbow turned to see that she and her friends had been corralled tightly together by the four uniformed ponies. Several more came from behind walls and from alleyways, surrounding them.
All were beyond confused.
“What seems to be the trouble, boys?” Rarity called from above. All eyes turned to her, those of her friends filled with panic, the guards’ filled with hard caution.
“Ma’am, I advise you to take ground immediately, lest greater consequences must be enacted to make you do so.”
Rarity made a pouty face and widened her eyes, making a very adorable and intimate glance to the pony whom she had been addressed by. He looked unamused. She harrumphed, and landed outside of the circle surrounding her friends. A questionably overweight pegasus forced her to join with her friends.
“We received reports of non-pegasus ponies disturbing the peace in the local suburbs. Section sixteen, paragraph twenty-three of the Cloudsdale book of law strictly states that only pegasi are allowed in the limits of Cloudsdale,” the one standing in front said stoically, nodding at all the other police members. They tightened their formation on the girls.
“Did we do something wrong? I was having a really fun time!” Pinkie screeched, jumping up and down in place. The guard nearest her growled menacingly, causing Pinkie’s hooves to plant firmly on the cloud floor.
“Any action against the city-state is seen as terroristic in nature. We have a warrant for your arrest. You all will be held in contempt until your trail.” Everypony gasped.
“That’s crazy!” Twilight shouted, “This seems like way too much fuss for some harmless tourism!” Each of her friends nodded. Rainbow Dash backed up until her head was parallel to Twilight’s.
“Listen, Twilight. I need you to do something, anything, to distract the guards. If you want to make it out alive, I suggest you think of something quick,” she whispered.
“What! They seriously aren’t gonna kill us, are they?” Twilight hissed.
“Just do it!” she yelled. Twilight, momentarily conflicted, thought on her hooves. With a flash of her horn, a blinding light flashed into the eyes of all the guards.
Rainbow Dash went to the nearest police pegasus and bucked him hard in the chest. He collapsed, gasping for air.
“Everypony get out of here!” Rainbow yelled at the top of her lungs. The four other mares ran for the hills
Rarity ran. She didn’t know where, she just ran. She lurked in the shadows, going from alleyway to alleyway, trying to garner as little attention as possible. Her breath was raspy from exertion and panic. After they ran, she lost sight of every one of her friends, but she didn’t concern herself with them. Rarity’s only concern was to not get caught. She rounded the corner of a dusty shop, turning through narrow passage after narrow passage, not really sure where she was heading.
Just as she passed by a dumpster, she was nearly clotheslined by a pink foreleg that outstretched from behind the trash receptor. She was pulled to the side, shrieking in fear.
“Tag! You’re it!” Rarity’s heart returned to its beating once more. It was only Pinkie Pie.
“What the hay do you think you’re doing?” Rarity asked shocked beyond belief.
“I got you! I got you! I’m not even sure if I was it… But I got you!” Pinkie said, jumping up and down in place. Rarity grabbed hold of the pink party pony, sitting her down on her haunches and giving her a hard glare.
“Do you think this some sort of game!? Our friends are in danger! Twilight and Rainbow Dash could be in serious trouble, more-so than we are right now!” she hissed, flaring her butterfly-like wings in frustration.
"Sorry, I didn't think it would be so bad. If Twilight and Dashie do go to jail, don't you think we can just get the princesses to bail them out?"
Rarity looked over the edge of the garbage bin to see if there was anypony near. “That's probably the best suggestion I've ever heard you make, Pinkie. We shall head to the balloon, I'm sure that's where the rest of us are going, granted the fact that we are all still free ponies... I sure hope Fluttershy and Applejack are alright.”
Pinkie looked at Rarity questioningly.
Rarity turned to Pinkie, thinking through a swift plan of action. “We’ll have to go find them, but we can’t go out into public with my horn and your… earth pony-ness.” She walked down the alleyway a little bit more, and spotted what she was looking for. Hanging in front of a small tinted window was a horribly dusty looking curtain. She took it with her magic and, working her designing genius, produced two robes: one for Pinkie to wear over her torso, and one that Rarity could wear, complete with a hood to hide her unicornhood.
She shivered with disgust, positively dreading that such a filthy garment should be forced to come in contact with her body. “We may look like complete slobs, but it will have to do.” She threw the other robe to Pinkie, who spun in a rapid circle so fast that she looked like a tornado. When she returned to her semi-still state, she was wearing the robe. It all happened in less than a second, leaving Rarity shocked, gawking at the earth pony who never ceased to amaze her.
“Uh, right then! Let’s get to it!” She galloped at full sprint, partly in an effort to find her friends, but more impulsively to try to get out of the disgusting damp alleyway. Pinkie skipped along, not far behind.
Applejack, not quite as clever as Rarity, walked in the middle of the street. She ducked and dodged through the huge crowd of winged ponies, trying her very best to be the pegasus she was trying to be. Not an easy task for the Element of Honesty, made especially difficult because she had duct-taped a whole bunch of shed pony feathers to her middle back. She smiled to each mare and stallion in passing, who just gave her a look like she was a complete nutjob.
Her plan seemed to be working so far, at least for the most part. She was being ridiculed, but it was better than having the enforcement called on her.
A flash of yellow passed her, accented in pink. Applejack’s gaze was met with a light blue stare. A rush of relief flowed through Applejack, suddenly recognizing the face.
“Fluttershy! Thank Celestia I found you,” she exclaimed.
“Applejack, not to be rude, but… uh, I think you are gonna need something more convincing than that,” she said, looking awkwardly at her faux pegasus attire.
“Heh, yeah, uh, I’m gonna need a coat or somethin’.”
“C’mon, I’ve got something that can fix you right up.” Fluttershy led Applejack down the street a ways, and walked into a local clothing shop. Moments later, she walked out, holding a shopping bag.
She reached into the bag, revealing an extremely pink hoodie.
Applejack blinked. “Uh… Fluttershy, ya couldn’t a grabbed somethin’ more… fittin’?” she said.
Fluttershy blushed. “It was all they had, and I think you’ll look cute in it.”
She groaned. “Fine, not like I have much of a choice anyway…”
Adorned in her fashionable attire, Applejack joined with Fluttershy once more.
“So, what’s the plan, Miss Shy?”
“Oh, well, I think we should go back to the balloon. If the others are okay, I think that would be the best place for us all to meet up,” she said quietly.
“That sounds like a good idea to me! Let’s get movin’, once we meet up with the others, we can decide what to do next.”
Neither mare knew what the status of Rainbow Dash and Twilight was. They both assumed that everypony had made the clear. They trudged on, now confident that they had a destination and a place where everything would be safe and happy.
Rainbow was in a much worse state. She had found a clearing that allowed her passage back up into the city, but she was too late. Twilight had been taken away.
Rainbow knew she couldn’t stay out in the open. She stood out too much, and they were undoubtedly searching for her for helping terrorists. What a joke.
She knew more than any of the others how much danger they really were in. The legal system in Cloudsdale didn’t make much sense; bail involved several days of humiliating trails and a lot of unnecessary paperwork, not to mention an absolutely grotesque amount of bits.
But that wasn’t what worried her the most. The sun was setting over Cloudsdale as she flew. She was heading to the balloon, hoping she could find the rest of her friends there.
She knew something, and if her assumptions were correct, Twilight might be in serious trouble unless they did something about it.
