The final leg (Patreon)

It took a couple hours to completely secure the Sky Shad in my Equestria dreamscape. Once that was completed RD dismissed all but the night weather crew for the day. Then she headed home to finish packing for Cloudsdale. She and Fluttershy planned to fly up tonight  and then crash for the evening at the REWS Hostel.

      I went home and finished packing to. We would only be staying two nights but still the mares of my cottage had turned the whole task into some ritual as serious as a nuclear arms disarmament summit. Rarity no doubt would've approved as they assessed every item with excruciating detail. For me I was done packing in about ten minutes; then I excused myself and started on dinner.

       Part of the problem was the fact that the Equestria Airship Carrier Service or EACS was putting a hard limit on how much weight each pony could bring aboard in the form of luggage. They had even gone to the trouble to erect a field around the scales to assure nopony was trying to levitate their bags while they were weigh them so they'd appear to weigh less.

      Finally around ten o' clock our household got to bed. Which was good since the Sky Shad was departing tomorrow at 7am so we had to be at the clearing about the time Celestia would be performing her ritual of raising the sun.

      So as Celestia's Great Orb rose in the dawn sky I found myself standing in the middle of field with a herd of ponies waiting to board the great silver airship. Breakfast for us had been leftover coffee cake from the day before and iced coffee. I had doused all of the fires in our cottage the night before for safety reasons so I had done no cooking this morning. Cogs said she'd bring in our mail and keep an eye on our place while we were gone but I didn't want her to have to keep an eye on the water heater while we were away. Besides it would've used up fuel for no good reason.

      Now Carousel is a morning person/pony like me so she was happily humming to herself as stood in line to board. Petina is not a morning person and so she stood there bleary-eyed and occasionally gave Celestia's fiery sphere the evil eye. This was way earlier than she liked to be up! In line with us was the remainder of the Mane Six.

      Finally we were able to present our tickets, load our luggage and board the great airship. Fortunately all the seats had good views and Carousel was particularly excited for the trip to start. Petina found a seat and promptly went back to sleep. The crew already had the boilers running and as the last passengers boarded they brought up the steam and engaged the drive unit. Slowly at first they fed power into the propulsion system and the great four-bladed propellers began to spin. Outside a team of weather ponies stood by once again providing favorable winds to assist in the launching of the giant airship. Finally the crew was satisfied that all systems were in ship shape and we felt the Sky Shad separate from the mooring tower. Slowly the great silver vessel rose into the morning sky when it got to an altitude of roughly 500ft they increased the power and we began to move forward in slowly stately fashion.

      Gradually picking up speed the airship made one circuit of Ponyville as it slowly gained altitude; then it turned east and headed toward Cloudsdale. Slowly the vessel gained altitude until it finally reached a cruising height of 9,000ft. Below us Equestria spread out before our eyes, and for most ponies onboard it was their first time flying. The passenger cabin was full of oohs and ahhs as the stewards pointed out various towns and features. Below one could see ponies gathering in town and village squares to watch the great leviathan pass overhead. Along the way great formations of pegasi would occasionally rise up to fly alongside the giant for awhile, and although the Sky Shad had a landing platform on top of the envelope for this flight pegasi were not allow disembark or board while the airship was inflight. This meant I was stuck onboard for the duration of the journey. Bleah.

      Accommodations were rather spartan aboard the airship since weight was a of great concern. Fortunately the Sky Shad used a non-flammable lifting gas so at least one did not have worry about fire so much. Still the crew did everything in their power to make certain ponies were comfortable and entertained as the airship slowly droned across Equestria's skies at about 50Kts. Around one in the afternoon a flight officer came back and informed us that the Sky Shad was preparing to maneuver to put us on a path for Cloudsdale. The ship would be gaining a bit more altitude and we might encounter a bit of turbulence as we turned into the wind for our final approach.

      At about three Cloudsdale slowly came into view in the hazy distance. It hung in the air like some gigantic mirage. Throughout the cabin they were squeals and shouts of excitement at the sight of the grandest of pegasi cities. Even I found the sight of it spell-binding and I had already visited it a few weeks before. It was amusing to watch even Petina stare at it with unvarnished excitement. Carousel was bouncing like filly in her seat. I started to wonder how the airship would moor when the First Officer came back and made an announcement.

      “If I may have everypony's attention please. We will be arriving in Cloudsdale in about thirty minutes. The Sky Shad will be docking at upper southwest part of the city. Cloudsdale will be using the same virga linkage they use to hold the city together to secure us to the city. It is a stable, reliable, and proven method that has held Cloudsdale together for centuries.”

      The officer paused before continuing. “However during the docking we ask all unicorns to refrain from casting any spells to assure there is no disruption in the process. The Sky Shad has structural cloud incorporated into its airframe in numerous spots and this is what the virga linkage will be interacting with. Once we've docked you will allowed to disembark. However all non-pegasi ponies will have a cloud walking spell cast on them by a unicorn assigned to the Royal Equestrian Weather Service. This spell is good for 60 hours.”

      “The Sky Shad departs in two days time so you have a cushion. Even if you are a unicorn and know the cloud walking spell the City of Cloudsdale insists you have an authorized unicorn cast the spell on you. The spell is free of charge and is part of your fare. Once you've had the spell cast you will be allowed to board sky-chariots and head off to whatever housing arrangements you've made for the duration of your stay in Cloudsdale. If for any reason you fail to board the Sky Shad and we depart without you please contact any city employee and the will back certain your spell gets recast so you can make arrangements to get yourself ground side.”

     Then the pegasi officer bowed. “Now let be the first to say. Welcome to Cloudsdale!”

To be continued.