Jane

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One spell in particular caught her eye:

Sands of time, I bid thee stop

Turn yourself about

Restore to them their youth

As though a fresh new sprout

It was pretty clear to her what the spell would do: it was an age spell. Of course, she was an alicorn now, and while even the most powerful of unicorns struggled with age spells, they should be more than possible for alicorn; especially for the Princess of Magic!

"Fluttershy, are you still here?" she called out.

Spike was in Canterlot on royal business and the pegasus pony had come by to check up on Owlowicious and PeeWee in the dragon's absence. Twilight smiled to herself as she thought about how cute Fluttershy would be as a young filly. The spell on the next page seemed to be a counter spell, so it should be safe to try it out. It belonged to Star Swirl the Bearded: Father of the amniomorphic spell and the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era. Surely nothing could possibly go wrong.

Still clutching the scrolls in her magic grasp, she made her way into the front room of the library. She was surprised to find waiting for her an unfamiliar pegasus, and an equally strange Griffon.

"Oh, um, hello," she said, placing the ancient scroll on the table in the centre of the room. "Welcome to Ponyville Library. Can I help you two at all?"

Cherry Berry hardly took note of the - fourth? Fifth? She had lost count - pegasus who came and went. He was going on about some race in Cloudsdale that was of little consequence to her. She was too busy trying to imagine not spending Thursday evenings with Mamie Marmalade baking pies, cakes and cookies, or rainy summer afternoons in Cherryetta's kitchen stewing the cherries to make the pie filling, then sitting down with her family for dessert. It always tasted better to her when she had helped make it.

"Never had pie?" she repeated, still a bit awed. "Boy, you gotta fix that problem of yours, and quickly too. You are coming to my house, and I am going to get you some pie. I would say the best darn cherry pie you've ever tasted, but since you've never had any before, that's going to be a given."

"Pie? Where? I love pie!"

Chibsy turned. One of the pegasi had left (she still wasn't keeping track), and now this stallion wanted to know where the pie was. The pink mare shot him a quizzical look. "Weren't you after Granny Smith's pie over at Sweet Apple?" she asks him, "or are you after cherry pie now?"

At that instant, as if to illustrate Whirligig's point, a young pegasus filly on the playground tumbled from the top of the jungle gym. Though she flapped her tiny wings, they did nothing to break her fall and she landed with a soft thud on the cloud below. Neither the filly nor her mother even blinked at the fall - she just got up and kept on playing.

"See? Anywhere else in Equestria she would have at the very least a bruise or a skinned knee. But here, there's not a scratch on her. And that's just the city itself; the ponies who live here are all rather lovely. Of course, there's a lot of competition, what with the Wonderbolts academy nearby and several other flight camps and weather camps. The Cloudsdale weather team is often considered one of the best teams in Equestria. But it's all in good fun most of the time."

Whirligig was about to go off on another tangent about her friends and the various things they liked to do together in and around the beautiful clouded city, when Razor suddenly shouted [colour=#FF0000]"Glimmer, where are you?"[/colour]

[colour=#EE82EE]"Here I am!"[/colour] came the reply when the young Griffon Whirligig had seen earlier on the playground tackled her brother playfully.

"N'aww, Razor, your sister is adorable!" Whirligig exclaims when the young griffon approaches the group. She bends down to the little one. "Hello there, little bird! My name is Whirligig. You just made quite the entrance! That's a very pretty bow you're wearing; where did you get that from?"

"Of course, that's a great idea!," she told him. "We should go and drop our things off in a hotel so that we can explore the city more freely. That would make sense! Let's see if we can find a nice-looking one that won't be too expensive?"

She looked around as they moved away from the train station, Whirligig in the air a few centimetres above the ground. She was, of course, wearing her saddlebags and she was using her tail to clutch her small valise. The blue mare was still taking in the hustle and bustle of the metropolis, though now she wasn't doing so verbally. She tried to guess which ponies were locals and which ones were tourists like her. Perhaps the locals were the ones who knew where they were going, and weren't looking around them quite so much, while the tourists were taking their time. Despite the name of the town, there were more than just Pegasi living there; there were unicorns and earth ponies, too. There was an earth pony waitressing inside that restaurant and a unicorn over there was...being beaten with a purse by an elderly mare?

Before Whirligig could say anything to her companion, the mare took off in the opposite direction, still grumbling at the unicorn. He, on the other hoof, began trotting in their direction. Whether this was the direction of his destination or he just wanted to get away from the grouchy old mare, Whirligig wasn't sure.

"Did you see that old mare, Flashbomb? How rude! I don't think that Unicorn was doing anything but minding his own business and she just started whacking him around with that bag of hers. That's absolutely terrible! Oh, I do hope he isn't hurt too badly! Some purses are heavy - if she had any books in her bag she could have done some serious damage. I once got hit in the face with a book bag when I was still in school. It was only an accident of course, and Skybright really was sorry about it, but it still hurt a lot. Let's see if the bluebird is okay."

The unicorn was white, with a red and blue mane and dark blue eyes that weren't looking around curiously at his surroundings, but were instead rather focussed on the road ahead. He looked tired, but was moving ahead with an air of purpose, and Whirligig had an inkling that this pony was a local. When he got close to them, she tried to make eye contact and smile at him as brightly as she could.

"Hey, are you okay there bluebird? What was that old mare so upset about? I do hope her bag didn't hurt you too much - she looked really upset." she said to him.

She paused, looking around. Minyara and the white one were shouting introductions and discussing sweet apple acres, and the sopping-wet pegasus was trying to shake whatever water was left on his coat and dry in the sun.

"Sweet Apple Acres apple pie is good. I just baked some Cherry Pie last night, you're welcome to try some of that as well, if you like," she said to Cloud. "I'm actually needing to be getting home anyways. I have guests coming over for dinner tonight."

One evening, she was at a restaurant with some of her friends as a result of Eastra being back from University in Canterlot for her mid-semester break. She and some friends had been talking about their travels, and Merry Ray mentioned Las Pegasus.

"I've never been to Las Pegasus before," Whirligig had said.

Her friends stared at her, dumbfounded.

"You, the travelling pony who adores clouded cities, have never been to Las Pegasus?" Merry Day exclaimed.

"No," Whirligig replied, taking another sip of her cocktail. "Why? Is it really actually amazing?"

"Yes!" three ponies answered at the same time. "You have to go!"

Whirligig shrugged. "Alright, I'll go have a look. I'm free next weekend; does anypony want to go with me?"

"I'll be back in Canterlot then."

"Dizzy and I are going to Ponyville."

"Sorry, I have to work weekends."

"Would love to, but I have to babysit my little sisters."

"Great, you girls are awesome," Whirligig replied sarcastically. "Come on you guys, it won't be any fun on my own! I travel solo enough as it is."

But Whirligig still wanted to go. She had heard about the city and seen black-and-white photographs. She resolved to ask her brother to go with her, and was on her way to the post office with a letter inviting him along when she collided with a familiar yellow-maned weather pony. She recognized this pony as Flashbomb, a newcomer to Cloudsdale she had befriended a few days prior. When asked what her hurry was, she explained, in her usual fashion, much more than the pony needed to know. The conversation had ended with her inviting him to accompany her to Las Pegasus. Unlike her friends from earlier, he accepted the invitation.

Plans were made, a route was decided on (fly down to Ponyville, then grab an overnight train from there. It was a long trip, after all), saddlebags were packed, and within a few days, the two ponies were headed south, on their way to Las Pegasus.

"This is so exciting, Flashbomb! I've heard so much about Las Pegasus and I can't believe I've never been." Whirligig could barely sit down or contain her excitement. The train ride had been rather long and boring, but finally the engine rounded a bend along the southern tip of the Everfree Forest, and the city that was part cloud, part mountain came into view. Within due time, the train pulled into the mountainside station and the two Cloudsdaleites disembarked from the carriage, Whirligig chattering away ceaselessly.

"Wow, this place is amazing! Did you see that rainbowfall from the train? It was just like the ones we have in Cloudsdale! And that big casino with all the neon lights. That looks like a huge shopping centre over that way. And look, over there! Unicorns and earth ponies walking on clouds! Oh, this place really is magical! I'm so glad you agreed to come with me, Flashbomb, even though we've only just met. It wouldn't have been quite as much fun all by myself! Oh, I'm so excited I don't even know where to look first! What about you? Where do you want to go? You decide what we should do first!"

It was a bit of a disappointment and certainly not a good note to start off on, but as the town of Ponyville came into view she put concerns about her mother behind her when she saw all the mares slowly making their way to town hall. The weather ponies in this particular town had a shining reputation, and Whirligig admired their work; indeed, there wasn't a stray cloud in the sky. The warmth of Celestia's sun on her back lifted her spirits further, so that when she finally came to a halt in the town square, she was positively giddy. Her hooves barely touched the ground before she was in the air again, choosing to fly close to the ground rather than walk along it. In this manner she made her way towards the tall, round brown building that was Ponyville's Town Hall and the venue for the first annual Equestria Girls Convention.

She entered the building - the big ballroom was beautifully decorated. There were snack tables piled high with goodies and fruit drinks, and a spa area set up to one side. A small queue was forming near the registration table, so Whirligig fluttered over to them. She smiled widely at the green pegasus who seemed to be in charge of registration and introduced herself. "Good morning, bluebird. Or greenbird, I should say. Wow, you've done a great job getting everything organized - this room looks amazing. I can only begin to imagine all the work you put in to get this party started. My name's Whirligig!"

She threw a few things together: a currycomb, a toothbrush and toothpaste, what little make-up she owned, a bathrobe and nightcap, some bath soap and a towel. She struggled to think of anything else she might need for the weekend. What did mares do when they were all together? Gossip and read magazines about the latest fashion trends in Canterlot? Cherry Berry didn't care much for those sorts of activities. Actually, she didn't have a clue in the world as to what she could expect from the convention.

She slipped her green saddlebags over her shoulder to rest on her back and let herself out of the small house two-story house she was renting on a Ponyville side street. She locked the door behind her and set off for town hall.

She could see ponies coming from all directions into the town. A blue unicorn trotted into the building, followed by a pony she recognized from the spa, though she had a hard time remembering which of the twins was which. A red-maned pegasus made a rather rough landing in the square in front of the hall before flying though the door. When she looked back she saw a number of ponies approaching from the direction of the train station.

She smiled. It was only a small smile, and rather uncharacteristic, but it was a smile. In spite of herself, she was actually looking forward to this weekend and getting the chance to meet other mares. She climbed the steps of town hall, noting the sign welcoming her and urging to register, and entered the decorated ballroom. There were only a handful of ponies there at the moment, but she knew it wouldn't be long before a queue would form as more guests arrived. She took her place behind the chattering pegasus and waited for her turn to come.

"That does sound like a bit of a bummer, though I don't think it'd be much different here. I don't know if I'd like it much in Canterlot. I mean, it's a nice city to visit, but I wouldn't really want to live there. I wouldn't really want to live anywhere other than here, actually - I love Cloudsdale, it's been my home for my entire life, and I like it that way. It's sad, a lot of my friends are leaving. My brother moved to Trottingham, my friend Skybright to Fillydelphia. I have a cousin in Ponyville and another friend is at University in Canterlot. Everypony seems to be in a hurry to get out of this place..." she trailed off.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to bore you. I'm usually more optimistic than this and I really have no reason to complain. I have everything I need and I'm well on track to achieving my goals. Anyways, have you had a tour of the town? I could show you around if you like. I work at the factory, and there's plenty of shops, restaurants and bars in town. There may be a flight show on at the Cloudeseum tonight; not the Wonderbolts, probably a lesser-known group. You could inquire about jobs there. Cloudsdale is a multi-layered city, so it's kinda easy to get lost. My name is Whirligig, by the way. What's yours?"

"The factory does have some security, but I'm fairly sure they're all hired through an agency of some sort. You could check out the Cloudeseum - they bring Celebs in all the time from around Equestria and I'm sure security agents are needed there. See, our main industry is, of course, the weather, and there's not much of that that needs guarding. We do have some royal guard ponies around town, though it doesn't sound like that's really what you're looking for..." she trailed off, noticing his cutie mark for the first time.

"Or maybe it is?" she gestured vaguely at his cutie mark, a questioning expression on her face. "What's that about, Bluebird? What's your special talent?"

Ooof!

She came into contact with something solid and instinctively flapped her wings to steady herself. It was a pony; a Stallion, and a very good-looking one at that. He was tall and sturdy, with a deep blue pelt and a ragged-looking grey mane. And he had piercing blue eyes that Whirligig met awkwardly. She instantly felt frazzled and embarrassed.

"Oh, I'm so, so very sorry I didn't see you there. I was on my way home from work and just so happy to be out of the dingy factory and I wasn't watching where I was going. I-I suppose I'll get out of your way now." She fluttered awkwardly to the side to let the stallion pass.

She stopped, looking around at her new friends with expectant eyes.