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I looked at Steel Strut and then looked around the room of the workshop in my Equestria dreamscape. Along Amethyst Dream and Steel Strut, four other pegasus ponies we silently staring at me

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. Suddenly this felt like I was taking one of my Weather Service exams. Joy. I glanced over Steel Strut.

"Okay. Give me a small burst at first. There's no wind in here, but I've never done cloud sculpting in such hot and humid conditions."

The blue-grey mare shrugged. "Sure. Whatever you want. Here you go!"

She cycled a quick action valve and a small cloud of steam about the size of beanbag chair floated out of the generator. Fortunately this was part of the workshop had a ceiling about 15ft high so I could fly inside it. I found it easier to cloud sculpt while flying.

Rising into the air I quickly approached mass of water vapor. I was uncertain under these environmental conditions how long the cloud would remain intact in its natural state. Once I started applying my pegasi weather talent the cloud it would remain intact far beyond what its natural state would allow. So first off I performed a slow orbit of the rising mass of steam. As I did I extended my right front leg and gently dragged my hoof against it. While performing this ritual I let my weather magic flow through into the cloud. I could feel a bond form between me and cloud. Good

Nopony had told me but I had a hunch that what Scratch might want in her performances. She probably going want more quick formed, abstract shaped objects and less finely sculpted works.

A trick almost all pegasus ponies can do it to some degree is vary how much surface tension a cloud will give them. It's what allows a pegasus to fly through a cloud one moment, and then turn around and land on the same cloud. Thrusting my front legs into the cloud as far as I could sharply pulled the cloud into two pieces while keeping my front hooves firmly placed inside them. Pirouetting in mid-air I once again felt my pegasus magic flow out of hooves and into the fragments of clouds. They almost felt like extensions of my body. As I spun in the air I stretched them into two ribbons of steam.

Because I was flying in a relatively small space, I swooped down to the floor. With both of my rear hooves I pushed off the ground. I didn't want the steam to disperse as a result of me flapping my wings too much. So instead I poured every ounce of flight magic I had, and with one large flap of my light cerulean blue wings I vaulted towards the ceiling. Halfway up I flipped over and planted my rear legs against one of the rafters in the ceiling.

I hung there for a fraction of a second as the ribbon of steam rippled up toward me. They were now twice the length of body. Still using every ounce of flight magic I could muster I gently pushed away from the rafters. My movements looked almost like I was floating in a zero gee environment. Slowly I descended using my wings to only steer and change my course. I glanced at Steel Strut.

"Give me another small burst." I said as I steered back to the steam generator. The earth pony cycled the lever and another puff of steam floated out of the machine. Passing by the cloud I extended my rear hooves through the cloud and caught the steam cloud. Like the first one I tore it into two pieces as well. I slowly orbited away from the machine stretching the two new pieces as well until they too were long ribbons of steam/cloud. Spreading my rear legs a bit I connected the new pieces of cloud to original segments. Not only were the ribbons now over 12ft long, but combining the new steam ribbon with the old one also rejuvenated and strengthened the original one.

A bit more confident that the ribbons weren't going disintegrate on me I proceeded to do a bit more daring and acrobatic maneuvers. Although once again due to the limited space of the workshop and the other ponies watching me I couldn't let myself build up too much speed. Spreading my front legs as far apart as I could I performed a series of slow barrel rolls.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Amethyst Dream smiling at me. Changing my course I flew toward her. Passing close by her I slowly orbited around the mare and encircled her ribbons of cloud. She smiled and reached out with her own front hooves tearing off the ends of stream ribbons. Then she slowly launched herself into the air as well as we both started weaving around each other in an improvised dance.

This continued for a couple more minutes until the conditions in the workshop made it impossible to maintain the clouds and they faded away. That was fine because I was utterly exhausted from pouring so much flight magic into staying airborne with only minimal wing flapping. Slowly I landed and let out a gasp.

"Woo! I hope most of Scratch's venues are larger than this because that's exhausting for a stallion my age. I feel like I just did an entire day of storm wrangling!"

This got a round of laughter from Steel Strut and the other pegasi gathered there. Except the zebra-pegasus mare who had stayed at the back of the group throughout my performance. Glancing over I saw her standing there silently watching me with the same scowl on her face that she'd had the moment I'd entered the workshop. For a second our eyes met. Then without a word she promptly turned around and walked out of the shop.

To be continued.

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Posted previously at: 2020-07-13T13:07:56 | Posted previously by: dontebell