Back home for a bit (Patreon)

So after four amazing days in Canterlot my household boarded the train back to Ponyville in my Equestria dreamscape. Service to the Crown Day had been an amazing experience but now our focus was on another important upcoming event, the Best Young Fliers Competition.

     The competition was less than a week away so we went through the process of unpacking with the knowledge that within just a few days we’d packing once again. At least the trip to Cloudsdale would not be for as long or require all the formal gear of our last trip. Still the mares wanted to make certain that they had the right selection garments and accessories for the event.

    The other detail was just getting there. Unlike Canterlot there are no railroads running to Cloudsdale. However we had learned that an airship that now routinely flew between Canterlot and Cloudsdale. Of greater interest they had agreed to make a stop in Ponyville to pick up ponies from the immediate area. This eliminated another train trip to Canterlot. The tickets were not cheap but we’d booked passage several months ago securing three of limited seat slots. RD and Fluttershy were just flying there and the rest of Mane Six were taking sky chariots that Twilight arranged for them.

    An added benefit, in my eyes, was the fact airship line put a severe restriction on much luggage ponies could bring onboard. This meant Petina couldn’t just pack everything in her dressers, which is what it felt like she’d done for Service to the Crown Day.

    However there was an even greater challenge facing my household. Cloudsdale had few if any areas that were set up for ground walkers, a pegasus term for unicorns and earth ponies. Petina had considered asking Twilight if she’d cast a cloud-walking spell on her and Carousel, but in the end she decided that this made an excellent opportunity and reason her to learn the spell herself!

    Now Petina has made some real progress with her magic lessons and now had a decent selection of spells at her disposal, but this spell was a step up from anything she’d done before. So for the last few weeks Petina has been practicing the spell with varying degrees of success. However right before we’d left for Canterlot the little white mare had had a string of successful spell castings. Still she had me making little clouds in the kitchen so her and Carousel could practice sitting on them.

    So with hurdle conquered it was a simply a matter of packing in a few days and heading off to the competition. Because Dash and I were taking so many days off for we were on the weather schedule almost everyday that we were back so other team members could get some well-earned down time.

     So I had a few days a relatively mundane work and then another short vacation/trip. Dash was back to her covert practicing for the competition, but even she was dialing it back a bit. The last thing she wanted to do was injured herself right before the big show.

    Overall it looked like I had a pretty laid back week in front of me. I was wrong.

To be continued.