CAN_ANY_WINGED_CREATURE_STAND_ON_CLOUDS("?")

[Paranoy 105]

While watching The Cutie Mark Chronicles from sheer boredom, I noticed this peculiar detail.

 

print("stupid little avians")

birds physically interacting with clouds ("???")

 

we have only seen griffons ("Gilda") and pegasi able to interact with clouds (before the late seasons), so does this imply that ANY creature with wings can interact with clouds ("?")

 

i know the obvious answer is yes, but i'll still ask.

 

[Iforgotmybrain 8,197]

I guess so. Maybe all wings inherently have magic in them that let creatures walk on clouds?

[SharpWit 3,080]

Huh, you might have gotten me on this one. I would've said a degree of sentience/magic is required but without a doubt those ducks are in a typical cloud, not even one created for infrastructure like Rainbow Dash's house, and the scene of her descending with a very diverse flock immediately after implies they may have been hiding within the clouds as well.

We had to go over this once for Bat Ponies in a roleplay, and I, (Who was playing them ) opted for the ability to walk on clouds. Hilariously under the listed description for species under Wikipedia's official page for Equestria, someone went out of their way to say that Thestrals/Batponies are unable to walk on clouds. This is not specified for any other species and a citation is needed. The general argument for, is that bat ponies are essentially nocturnal pegasi, and are closer to the standard than say crystal ponies, which the pegasus variant would never be questioned.

I'm going to make some proposals. 

A lot of weirdness happens in season one, so this specific instance might be one of those little quirks that we ignore or I'll offer the somewhat of an overreaching alternative that because their wings are obscured we can't say with absolute certainty that those ducks aren't simply flying in place. (Ducks having the inability to hover IRL is just as valid a thing to ignore as cloud magic not actually being a thing)

Perhaps that particular cloud while not strictly of the "reinforced" variety, could very well still be one produced by the weather factory and have differing properties than those formed naturally that the local wildlife have learned to take advantage of when feeling threatened, making this use an exception and not the rule. While it's noteworthy that the Everfree Forest has it's own weather, perhaps this in part from it resisting the efforts of the pegasi along with its proximity to Ponyville, where as it would be normal for control of the weather to fade gradually as you get further from population centers. but this border is quite sudden and different from the broader rural regions of Equestria.

It is also possible that only certain means of flight have the ability to walk on clouds, such as feathered wings. This would explain why Pegasi, Gryphons, and Birds could all walk on clouds, but returning to the plausibility of Bat Ponies, I reject this. The only exception I might make for a personal basis is leaning into vampiric tendencies and giving them the ability to defy gravity to an extend by walking up vertical surfaces and along ceilings, requiring a certain degree of contact in order to do so. This would also be a cool ability for changelings with their use of tunnels within the hive and a potential affinity for caves/bug like qualities.

Spoiler

 

I can't speak much beyond season 7 as I haven't finished the series (I need to get off this 8 year hiatus, yikes!) In Season 8 Episode 25 "School Raze" Ocellus state's that she's never been able to walk on a cloud before but thanks to a spell being cast by Starlight, she's able to. We then witness Yona fall through the clouds, followed by the other non fliers, and those with wings quickly rise as to the untrustworthiness of it and to save their friends from falling to their doom. Not knowing the full context, but seeing Starlight try to reignite the spell before then falling, I think it's safe to assume that it wore off gradually, thus characters with a higher mass sunk through faster. For the record, I don't know the before and after this scene, so take anything I say for the time being regarding it with grain of salt. I apologize for my abnormal lack of thoroughness on this part.

My guess would be that changelings are unable to walk on the clouds because they're considered too distant from regular ponies/pegasi, or it's a part of their shapeshifting in not being able to take on the full abilities of whatever they're changing into. For example, In Season 5 Episode 25 "The Cutie Re-Mark" Spike proves himself to be a dragon and not a Changeling by breathing fire. This is reasonably rounded out by the fact that Changelings are the only species with an inherent ability to fly and cast magic.

I would also say that dragons aren't able to walk on clouds. This is partly due to them enjoying dips in lava. They're not only withstanding significant heat, put they're pushing through rock, which can have fluidity when molten, but is still magnitudes more viscous than water, and doesn't expand to nearly the same extent. The math could be worked out for a specified amount of basalt, but the math begins to use Greek letters and I've never been anywhere near that proficient. Anyways, cloud thin, but lava dummy thicc.

Speaking of heat, this begs the question of why Spike is using oven mitts here, and the inclusion of a thumb segment implies these were originally meant for a gryphon and imported, or are homemade.

Spoiler

Furthermore, Spike is seen falling through the clouds after stepping off the paved runway in Cloudsdale in, "The Cutie Remark" and has to be grabbed by Twilight. He is lacking wings at that point, but this shows the ability isn't inherent. Dragons also have a whole things for rocks, further tying them to the earth despite the ability to fly, and I can't imagine the clouds keeping a fully grown dragon afloat.

TL;DR There's a lot more freedom with this one as there's plenty up for debate. Notable evidence points to a no for changelings, and eh for dragons.

No time in the dungeon, but you'll need to apply for a permit.