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Brontotechnic Fireworks Spectacular
Jun. 26th, 2016 11:56 pmI'm back from our trip to see the Cloudsdale contribution to the Pan-Equestria Fireworks Festival and it was spectacular. Getting there was harder than I had planned.
We got to the train station in plenty of time yesterday morning, but when the train arrived and it was our turn to get aboard, we found out that there was only room for three more ponies! So I had to fly in. Applejack took on my saddle bags and I had to wing it all the way to the Crystal Empire. And the crowds! I haven't seen this many ponies in one place since the Equestria Games! I arrived before the train, which was fortunate. I rejoined my friends just as they stepped onto the platform at the Empire station and we waded as best we could through the throngs to the castle. There we stopped to find our rooms, to leave our bags, to have brunch, to chat with Shining Armor and Princess Cadence and to see my niece.
We learned that the Crystal Empire has expanded the stands this week at the fairgrounds. Even so, they were enough to accommodate most of the ponies in the crowd but not all. So Cloudsdale sent in extra clouds to make stands for pegasi. Thus the unicorn and earth pony spectators occupied the ground stands and the winged pony spectators had the overflow cloud stands. As a result, a good part of the fairgrounds was now looking like a stadium.
That afternoon the four of us strolled through town and around the fairgrounds, buying local treats and enjoying the festive atmosphere and activities. After supper (finding a table at a restaurant took forever, there were queues everywhere!) we went back to find a seat at the fairgrounds. There were so many ponies everywhere. Many had given up on sitting in the stands and had spread picnic blankets on the ground. Pinkie liked that idea (and she probably could have found a picnic blanket for us) but I had another idea.
There was room and a good view from the clouds, so I cast the cloudwalking spell on Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack and we walked up the cloud staircase to a spot where we could all sit together. That's where Rainbow Dash found us. Applejack had her lariat, so on Dash's recommendation we used that as a safety line, tethering ourselves together like mountain climbing ponies, in case one of us should fall into a cloud crevasse.
Away in Canterlot, Princess Celestia set the sun, and as Princess Luna's Moon rose into the evening twilight, Spike presented Cloudsdale, the city responsible for that evening's fireworks spectacle. Then, as the darkness rolled in and the stars began to twinkle, Cloudsdale's Brontotechnic Percussion Orchestra, the Blue Mare Group, drove their black thunderclouds high above the center of the field and started spinning them.
The black clouds started to come to life, flickering with lightning flashes. More blue-clad pegasi arrived with fluffy white clouds that they arranged in a regular pattern around and above the black clouds. The spinning thunderclouds began shooting lightning back and forth between them, like giant catherine wheels, cracking and rumbling to a beat. In time with a series of particularly loud booms, the pegasi minding the white clouds set off colored sparklers, causing the white clouds to glow from within and to pulse in time with the music. From the ground, more ponies launched more fireworks that burst into gigantic burning flowers of flowing color, always in time with the music.
There were three movements, the lively first movement that set the tone for this fireworks concert, a quiet second movement with roving washes of abstract fires circling the pulsing, crackling clouds, and a roaring final movement of blinding flashes, giant sparkling flowers and deafening explosions that made every hair on my body vibrate. And then it was over. The Blue Mare Group and their crew took their bows while ponies pounded the ground, rocked the stands and beat their wings in applause. That was almost as loud as Blue Mare Group performance.
After the festival, the cloud stands were lifted, flattened and shaped into accommodations for pegasus ponies! Pretty neat idea, although it was mostly used by families with foals. Many of the pegasi flew home. The clouds were pushed up high into the sky to get above swarms of glowing luna moths that had slipped into the Crystal Empire after dark. They're very pretty but they're really big. It would be hard to sleep with hundreds of those fluttering about in the dark.
The earth ponies and unicorns without reserved accommodations but also staying the night didn't have to sleep with the moths on the fairgrounds (although many did). The Crystal Empire opened their Games stadium so ponies could pitch tents there, in a mostly moth free area.
We headed back to the castle, still half deaf from the fireworks and thunderclaps. I fell asleep just about as soon as my head touched my pillow.
The next day Dash flew off early to take care of her Wonderbolt duties, but as for the rest of us, it wasn't until the afternoon that we got seats on a train back to Ponyville. I was beginning to think we'd have to stay another night. But we took turns waiting in line and eventually we got our tickets. It's good to be back home.
We got to the train station in plenty of time yesterday morning, but when the train arrived and it was our turn to get aboard, we found out that there was only room for three more ponies! So I had to fly in. Applejack took on my saddle bags and I had to wing it all the way to the Crystal Empire. And the crowds! I haven't seen this many ponies in one place since the Equestria Games! I arrived before the train, which was fortunate. I rejoined my friends just as they stepped onto the platform at the Empire station and we waded as best we could through the throngs to the castle. There we stopped to find our rooms, to leave our bags, to have brunch, to chat with Shining Armor and Princess Cadence and to see my niece.
We learned that the Crystal Empire has expanded the stands this week at the fairgrounds. Even so, they were enough to accommodate most of the ponies in the crowd but not all. So Cloudsdale sent in extra clouds to make stands for pegasi. Thus the unicorn and earth pony spectators occupied the ground stands and the winged pony spectators had the overflow cloud stands. As a result, a good part of the fairgrounds was now looking like a stadium.
That afternoon the four of us strolled through town and around the fairgrounds, buying local treats and enjoying the festive atmosphere and activities. After supper (finding a table at a restaurant took forever, there were queues everywhere!) we went back to find a seat at the fairgrounds. There were so many ponies everywhere. Many had given up on sitting in the stands and had spread picnic blankets on the ground. Pinkie liked that idea (and she probably could have found a picnic blanket for us) but I had another idea.
There was room and a good view from the clouds, so I cast the cloudwalking spell on Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack and we walked up the cloud staircase to a spot where we could all sit together. That's where Rainbow Dash found us. Applejack had her lariat, so on Dash's recommendation we used that as a safety line, tethering ourselves together like mountain climbing ponies, in case one of us should fall into a cloud crevasse.
Away in Canterlot, Princess Celestia set the sun, and as Princess Luna's Moon rose into the evening twilight, Spike presented Cloudsdale, the city responsible for that evening's fireworks spectacle. Then, as the darkness rolled in and the stars began to twinkle, Cloudsdale's Brontotechnic Percussion Orchestra, the Blue Mare Group, drove their black thunderclouds high above the center of the field and started spinning them.
The black clouds started to come to life, flickering with lightning flashes. More blue-clad pegasi arrived with fluffy white clouds that they arranged in a regular pattern around and above the black clouds. The spinning thunderclouds began shooting lightning back and forth between them, like giant catherine wheels, cracking and rumbling to a beat. In time with a series of particularly loud booms, the pegasi minding the white clouds set off colored sparklers, causing the white clouds to glow from within and to pulse in time with the music. From the ground, more ponies launched more fireworks that burst into gigantic burning flowers of flowing color, always in time with the music.
There were three movements, the lively first movement that set the tone for this fireworks concert, a quiet second movement with roving washes of abstract fires circling the pulsing, crackling clouds, and a roaring final movement of blinding flashes, giant sparkling flowers and deafening explosions that made every hair on my body vibrate. And then it was over. The Blue Mare Group and their crew took their bows while ponies pounded the ground, rocked the stands and beat their wings in applause. That was almost as loud as Blue Mare Group performance.
After the festival, the cloud stands were lifted, flattened and shaped into accommodations for pegasus ponies! Pretty neat idea, although it was mostly used by families with foals. Many of the pegasi flew home. The clouds were pushed up high into the sky to get above swarms of glowing luna moths that had slipped into the Crystal Empire after dark. They're very pretty but they're really big. It would be hard to sleep with hundreds of those fluttering about in the dark.
The earth ponies and unicorns without reserved accommodations but also staying the night didn't have to sleep with the moths on the fairgrounds (although many did). The Crystal Empire opened their Games stadium so ponies could pitch tents there, in a mostly moth free area.
We headed back to the castle, still half deaf from the fireworks and thunderclaps. I fell asleep just about as soon as my head touched my pillow.
The next day Dash flew off early to take care of her Wonderbolt duties, but as for the rest of us, it wasn't until the afternoon that we got seats on a train back to Ponyville. I was beginning to think we'd have to stay another night. But we took turns waiting in line and eventually we got our tickets. It's good to be back home.
