War of the Weather

A Storm over Appleloosa

“Hm, the birds are flying awfully low today.”

Sheriff Silverstar was gazing at the clouds as he often did while taking routine walks about the little town of Appleloosa. It was still quite early in the morning, so early in fact that the sun hadn’t begun to rise. But its red hints could be seen peeking out over the eastern horizon. Making the clouds glow red. But this wasn’t a leisure stroll. The sheriff and a small contingent headed out of town just before dawn, pulling wood laden wagons towards the towns only wheat farm which sat out roughly ten miles from their train station.

“You know, it sure was nice of the Buffalo tribe to tell us about this ole water hole over yonder.” said Braeburn as he pulled himself up to the front of the little caravan to keep pace with his superior.

“I mean, we used up most of our prime growing land to the orchards and for a while I thought the rest of our food would need to be brought in by rail.”

“You’re right.” said Silverstar with a nod. “Those Buffalo have been mighty kind to us since we’ve arrived here. I’m still trying to think up a way to repay them.” After the initial incident regarding the apple trees and the stampeding grounds was settled, the two sides kept to their own for several months. Then Little Strongheart took it upon herself to help the pony settlers by taking them out into the wilderness to find a good place to build a bigger farm. There was a river to the west but it was too far away, but as luck would have it a natural underground water source was closer.

“You should be able to grow plenty of food here.” She had said when they located the well. The ponies were ecstatic and she was pleased to have brought them good fortune.  Now the crops were growing fine and soon it would be harvest time. A little more hammering on the grain silo was the only thing standing in their way.

“Alright folks let’s get a move on finishing this tower before the day warms up! If we work hard we can get all of the grain inside before evening.” Silverstar and the farmer delegated the work between adding the last side to the grain silo and gathering the wheat in the fields. The work went smoothly and just as Silverstar predicted everything was finished by evening. But unlike what he had predicted, the day was nowhere near as warm as it usually would be by this time.

“What’s botherin you, sheriff?” asked a shale grey pony with drooping bangs had been picking up on the sheriff’s mood since they reached the farm.

“It’s nothing but...” Silverstar sniffed and rubbed his snout  with his hoof. “It looks like rain.”

“Rain?” The other pony sniffed the air but couldn’t pick up on anything but tilled dirt, wood, and wheat. The smells he’d grown so used to as he grew up in the little town. “Sorry sir but I don’t smell nothin. And the sky looks plenty clear to me. Not an angry  cloud in the sky.”

“It’s not anything I can see actually, Spur. Just my knees. They’re starting to feel achy. Always do when rain is on the way.”

“Or maybe its just a sign of your age!” said Braeburn coming from around a small barn, expressing his habit of tilting an ear into somepony else's conversation.

The older pony leered purposefully down at him.. “Braeburn...” The leer caused the yellow pony to falter and chuckle slightly. “Right, uh,” he scuttled away to pick up a hammer. “Back to work!”

Spur watched him leave, briefly puzzled. “But the work is already fin-uh, know what, nevermind.”

A few minutes later after the farmer pony took time to inspect the grain storage space and deemed it complete, everyone whooped and ye-hawed in celebration.

“Time to pack her in, fellas!” said a pony named Ironstone as he re-hitched himself to the much lighter cart. “Get back home just in time for supper!” They crossed the plain, relaxed by the breeze. It was the middle of summer yet any one of them could have sworn they were skipping through a pleasant breezy autumn spell. With luck the whole day would be like this.

“ A lots getting done. The apple harvestin is probably well over halfway before we get back.” stated Braeburn. “So it’s a good thing it didn’t rain.” His mood was bright and everyone agreed but the sheriff pony could only sigh. He was pulling a cart too despite the prevalent pain in his knee. He could ignore it for now since the cart had no weight.

“You may call me crazy but my knee never lies. Rains gotta be on its way, mark my words.”

“Oh my head...”

“Are you still not able to rest, little one?”

“No, my head is throbbing since yesterday! Sleep is impossible.”

Little Strongheart lay still on the ground in the quiet dark of the pointed teepee. with half lidded eyes full of tiredness. For the past two days a mysterious headache had plagued her to the point that it barred her even from sleep.  And the one time she did nod off a bad dream kicked her back into the waking world like she was an unwanted intruder. It was the middle of the day and the herd had decided to plant itself someplace far west of the Appleloosian mountains and Macintosh Hills. Just a little north of the Palomino Desert. The young buffalo could get something fresh to drink from the nearby river if she needed to. Unfortunately for Chief Thunderhooves and worry of one of the tribe’s caretakers, Wigwam, Strongheart didn’t want to go near it.

“I don’t want to go near the river, it reminds me too much of my dream.” she pleaded.

“Tell us about this dream you had.” Thunderhooves insisted. Strongheart nodded and told them what she could remember. It was pretty brief.

“Well, my friends and I were playing in a large river, there was no danger and it was a clear day.  I saw a pretty stone near the bottom and dove for it and when I came back up the sky was covered in dark clouds. I didn’t understand how they could have appeared so suddenly. Then the clouds parted and from them showed a face. It was...white. Just white but I could see the eyes and mouth well.” Strongheart squinted and fidgeted a little. “It was a great sky god, just like the ones grandmother talked about in her stories. It was looking right at me, and it smiled. But it wasn’t a...kind smile.”

The adults glanced discreetly at each other. They knew exactly what stories the child was talking about but it was too early to point a hoof at any real conclusion.

“Please continue.” Wigwam urged.

“I was frightened by this sky god but I couldn’t get out of the river in time. It brought its hand down, all the way down and touched me on my forehead with a long cold f-finger.” She shuddered harshly as if she were experiencing the shock of being dumped in a barrel of ice water. Wigwam reached a hoof around to console her but it was only a brief reaction.

“When it touched me I just froze up and I sank to the bottom of river. Something about me felt strange but I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t even look at my legs because my head was stuck as it was, looking upward toward the sky.”

“And...and then.” Strongheart stammered.

“Yes, go on.” Thunderhooves urged her, hoping that explaining the dream would help her go to sleep.

“And then the river froze over.  The ice was so thick that it blotted out the light and I couldn’t see the sky or what had happened to my friends.” The little buffalo was trying to stay firm but it was clear from her wavering voice that retelling this dream had a bad effect.  “And I was trapped under the water forever.”

“Everything is okay, little one. It was only a dream. I’ve heard stories about this creature you spoke of and I know that it is in a place where it can do you no harm.” said Wigwam.  The old buffalo just wanted to bring comfort. “I’ll make medicine for you to take. A stronger dose should put you right to sleep.”

Little Strongheart grimaced. “Blagh! That stuff tastes like its made from toad slime!” Then she sighed. “Wish I was in Appleloosa right now. Know what they say, an apple a day...”

Wigwam couldn’t help but smile sympathetically, she knew it wasn’t just the taste of the medicine that bothered the little buffalo, she was also missing a few new friends she had made back at the pony settlement.

“When we stampede back that way I’ll make sure to look into apple flavored medicine.” Little Strongheart seemed cheered by the sentiment. Before the medicine buffalo could give her the foul tasting stuff, another buffalo rushed into the tent looking urgently at Chief Thunderhooves.

“Chief, you need to come out and see this. Its the sky! The sky is going completely dark!”

“What?” they all rushed out of the tent to see everything around them covered by shadow. Immediately they looked up to see the clouds swirling, still light on the out edge leading into dark blue and gray and finally black at its center. The clouds rolled and seemed to boil as if spewing from the nostrils of a great dragon.

“The sky was perfectly clear just minutes ago.”

“What’s happening?”

“Those clouds look really nasty.”

The chief squinted his eyes as the wind picked up, throwing dust and sand in in his face. He needed to think fast and get his people away from this unnatural storm before it was too late. He wasn’t even sure what it was but it clearly wasn’t benevolent. The obvious answer was to run, the next question was run where? In the middle of airy dry scrubland there was no place to hide.

“Chief!” Little Strongheart was shouting now, she had to over the whipping winds that were now creating a dust storm.

“Chief, we have to go east! The ponies are in danger!”

For a moment, the Appleloosa settlers crossed the chief’s mind. They were not his first priority but he quickly realized that east was probably their best bet to escape whatever this mysterious storm was about to unleash. The Macintosh Hills had caves deep enough to shelter his tribe and the settler ponies if the situation called for it, and they sat on high ground if they needed to escape a flood. A thread of lightning flashed across the sky followed closely by low rumbling lightning. East it was, there was no time to think otherwise.

“What did you say? Appleloosa is what?”

“You mean you didn’t hear about it?.” Thunderlane asked while touching down on the fluffy white cloud next to Rainbow Dash. It was a clear day over ponyville with not many clouds in the sky, making the day seem hotter than usual. But clouds were always cool to the touch so a sweltering pegasus who wanted to escape the heat could always nest herself inside of one and be comfortable for an entire afternoon.

 “Where were you when the report came out? It was just this morning.”

Rainbow Dash had been escaping the heat and didn’t feel like explaining herself. “Uh, someone’s cat got stuck in a tree and asked me to get it out.”

“You were asleep again weren’t you.”

“It’s none of your business what I was doing, Thunderlane.” her stare was of ice. When he did not pursue the argument she continued her inquiry. “Anyway what did this report say about Appleloosa getting flooded?”

“Appleloosa isn’t the only place. Manehattan got 10 feet of snow and Baltimare’s got a fog so thick, everyone is literally trapped inside their houses. It’s insane,  we’re in the middle of summer!”

“What about the ponies who lived there? Did they get out okay?” she asked.

Thunderlane nodded. “Yeah looks like they all made it out just before the storm broke. Apparently a herd of buffalo saw it first and hauled tail back  to warn them. They all took shelter in the hills.  Lucky for them, the water didn’t rise that far.”

Rainbow Dash internally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well something’s definitely up. Maybe a new recruit is tripping up big time in the weather factory.” she said.

“I couldn’t be so bad as to cause this much trouble.” Thunderlane replied. It was true that mistakes could be made, the occasional stray lightning bolt or a getaway raincloud dumping water on a poor pony’s parade. But nothing to this degree was possible. Making enough weather for all of Equstria was a structured and systematic business with enough fail safes to keep mess ups like this to an absolute minimum.

“The higher ups say this isn’t an inside mistake, something else is causing this.”

Dash frowned. “Well that can’t be good. But we’re the ones who have to get to the bottom of this.”

Thunderlane smirked and lifted off the ground. “Sure thing. It’s a good thing I found you, otherwise you might have missed the meeting. Lets go!”

They made it to the Cloudsdale town hall, a massive white building made of cloud and column, just as the pony in the center of the crowd finished ordering everyone to be quiet and listen to what she had to say. Thunderlane landed along the outside edge of the crowd but Rainbow Dash soared overhead, landing at the front.  Spitfire seemed to be the one dealing out orders.

“Alright everypony listen up! I’m gonna be brief because we haven’t a lot of time to waste.” When the murmuring finished, Spitfire began.

“Forty-eight hours ago we received our first distress message from Dodge Junction. We sent a response party, but by the time they arrived the entire town had been flooded up the the roof tops. Fortunately, everyone had successfully evacuated to nearby caves. Not even an hour after the response team escorted them to the nearest town did we start to get distress messages from all over Equestria.”

Small ripples of talk floated to the surface among the pegasi. It couldn’t be helped.

“I was going to Manehattan to visit my mother but I got a telegram from her just yesterday. She says the snow is so high ponies have to leave home through the attic.”

“It’s so hard to see in Baltimare, it’s like you can’t even see your hooves on the sidewalk.”

“It’s worse than that, It’s like trying to walk around with clouds on the ground. Works up here just fine, but not down there.”

“All the shops are going to close down.”

“And the schools?”

“This mess going to reach Ponyville?”

“Order!” Spitfire’s tone was so commanding that the silence was immediate.

“This is no time to lose focus! The princesses have already been notified of these instances and have lent the services of the royal guard, but that isn’t enough. As pegasi and residence of Cloudsdale, weather is our business. So it is our job to investigate this issue and get to the bottom of it. Stay if you want to volunteer. We’ll need plenty not only to help out in places where there has been extensive damage but also to find the source of these occurrences.

“We’ll put you into teams with instructions on where to go. You go investigate, then fly back and report your findings. Just don’t stray too close to anything dangerous. When you’ve returned, the guard and the Wonderbolts will handle the rest.”

As it turned out there were more than enough volunteers eager to provide damage control across Equestria and take expeditions out to locations where these strange weather phenomenon occurred. For expeditions the groups naturally were smaller. Rainbow Dash volunteered for the later category immediately out of curiosity and her natural sense of adventure. When the crowd dispersed, Spitfire looked over expectantly. "Ah, Rainbow Dash! Just the mare I was hoping to see!"

“Hey Thunderlane it looks like we’ll be heading out together. And you too, Cloudchaser!” Rainbow Dash was pleased to know she would be flying out with two ponies from the Wonderbolt academy. They all knew the ins and outs of each other’s flying ability fairly well. And she knew their limits. She wouldn't have to worry about tiring them out on the way to their destination.

“And you’ve got quite a trip ahead of you. The Cyrstal Mountains. Train is an option or you can fly straight there. I’m sure Rainbow Dash would prefer the later option.” said Spitfire while handing the three pegasi saddle bags of supplies. They weren’t heavy laden for survival purposes as that would obviously make flying more difficult, but one could never be certain and it was always best to be prepared.  Dash turned to her two flight companions.

“I’ll leave it to you two to decide. I don’t care either way how we get there as long as we get there.”

“Oh how nice, the great Rainbow Dash is considering our feelings, Thunder.” she said with a kidding eye roll.

“Hey we’re in the academy just like you, don’t worry about us,we can keep pace.” Said Thunderlane before flinching and adding timorously, ”As long as you don’t plan on flying at mach three or something.”

Rainbow Dash knocked Thunderlane’s shoulder playfully with her hoof before galloping to the take off lane.

“Don’t worry about me flying too fast, you know mach two is my limit except in emergencies!”

“In that case I’d rather take the scenic route!”

Before Dash could reach the end of the platform and fly away, Spitfire came in front of them quick as a flash, stopping the trio of pegasi short. The look on her face was clear, what she said next would be serious.

“If you spot anything strange, keep your team out of any trouble if you can help it. Remember this, Rainbow Dash, I gave you that badge for a reason.  And as it turns out all three of you made the top marks in training last month.” Thunderlane and Cloudchaser were grinning, they were never complimented while at the academy, especially from ‘the’ Captain Spitfire herself. It was something of which to feel pride.

“Attention cadets!” Spitfire dropped the pretense and her students fell in line, faces stern and stiff, as their instructor paced purposefully back and forth.

“I’m going to consider this your first official mission for the Wonderbolts. As you are aware these anomalies are serious business. So far there have been no casualties or seriously injured but that train of luck can only roll along so far. It’s up to us pegasi to get to the bottom of this before these apparently random incidents take a much more nefarious turn.”  She paused a moment before resuming.

“I’m sure you all heard about what happened to Appaloosa.”  Indeed they had, and it had already sunk into everyone the gravity of the situation.  The very fact that Spitfire had said ‘what happened to’ instead of something more benign like ‘what happened in’ Appaloosa was enough to send chills.  In its current state, one could argue the little tumbleweed town no longer existed.

“Well we can’t afford to let that happen again! Do you understand me, cadets?”

“Yes Sir!”

“Then do me proud, get out there and be the best scouts you can be! For the good of Equestria!”

“Sir,Yes Sir!” And with a strong sturdy salute the three pegasi disappeared into the clouds at speed, flying towards the Crystal Empire.

It was approximately a three day trip to the empire. From there they would meet a guide who would take them up the mountain. At this time of year the pathway was generally harmless despite a few harmless snow flurries. What mattered more was avoiding the cold which was why the guide pony would have to lead them through a network of meticulously dug tunnels to reach the peak.

In the name of good sense, the trio of ponies eventually decided to travel by train but by the end of the second day they began to feel cramped, and unboarded at the only checkpoint  between Ponyville and their destination, enjoying the fair summer weather in the air, making sport of keeping pace with the train for the rest of their journey.

“You know it feels pretty nice right now. It almost makes me forget about all of these weird weather situations.” said Cloudchaser lightly as she glided listlessly several hundred feet above the chugging train.

“It’d be hard to believe if not for all the distress telegrams, everything feels fine in Ponyville. Maybe a little hotter than usual but thats just because there are less clouds out today, I bet.” replied Thunderlane as he fell in level with his sister.

“I told you Rumble had a dream about snowballs the other day didn’t I? “

“Uh oh, did he?”

“Yep! Just like last year, and the year before that, both were pretty hot summers, but this one can’t be much worse.”

“Yeah,” replied Cloudchaser “Maybe Ponyville won’t be affected by all of this weird stuff.”

By that time Rainbow Dash had slowed down a little, just enough to hear the last bits of the conversation, curious, she drifted in close. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Nothing much, basically what everypony is trying to figure out, where we’re going especially.” said Thunderlane.

Dash thought for a moment. “Are you talking about those disappearances from two weeks ago?” News had reached Cloudsdale and the local papers mere days ago. Fifteen Pegasi had traveled up into mountains for thrills, but only two came back down, hurt, weary, and delirious. They were still in the hospital, a little battered but otherwise safe and stable. Unfortunately when authorities asked for details on the whereabouts of their friends, the two frost whipped pegasi couldn’t give any useful information. It had all been a blur to them.

“Maybe whatever happened up there has something to do with what’s going on now.” said Thunderlane.

“Just two weeks ago a bunch of ponies go missing and now a weird string of weather related incidents start popping up before anyone can even look and see what might have happened? Suspicious.”

“It’s a coincidence.” stated Rainbow Dash.

Cloudchaser performed a quick twirl in the air. “Not if it was a windigo.” Rainbow Dash looked at the other mare crossly.

“Are you serious?”

“Hey anything could live up in those mountains! And if you ask me it’s ridiculous that they were up there in the first place.”

“Windigoes couldn’t cause all of this trouble.” Rainbow Dash said with an air of finality. “But hopefully we’ll learn something useful when we get there.”

They made it to the crystal kingdom in good time, the train pulled into the station at seven o’clock that afternoon. Rainbow Dash and her friends flew in two hours prior.

“Well here we are!” Dash brought up her hoof up across their view as if presenting a magnificent treasure. “The Crystal Empire!”

Cloudchaser actually had to blink a few times.  This place was no Ponyville, she’d give it that.  Not that there was anything wrong but she was used to wood, hay, grass and dirt.  This place sparkled, she realized, from at least a mile out and now everywhere she looked a piece of wall or a bit of the very street they walked on seemed to glitter or sparkle just out of the corner of her eye. All of the buildings looked like they were cut out of giant shimmering precious stone though they were opaque not translucent, everything had a faint glow as if a soft light were being allowed to pass through.

“Wow, everything sure is...shiny!” she said, still blinking to adjust her senses.

“Yeah, the shinier the better. I think they take pride in that.” replied Dash as she lead them down the main thoroughfare.  She knew from past visits that they hadn’t landed far from a shopping district.

“Anyway lets get going, we gotta meet our guide at the library, don’t want to keep her waiting!”

“Waiting...two hours ahead of schedule?” asked Thunderlane. Rainbow Dash checked mid step and laughed at her mistake.

“Oh, heh, right. Well uh, how about I give you guys a tour?”

She was tall. With spindly legs and wind swept hair. Her mane and coat were as gray as an angry storm cloud with eyes that instead seemed to reflect the cool blue of a cloudy afternoon. Unconsciously Rainbow Dash possessed a habit of judging other ponies based on her first impression of their physical status and apparent capability. To her, the pony didn’t look like the type who could climb a ladder under her own power let alone up a mountain pass. But the vest she wore was indeed issued from Cloudsdale, showing that she was the one to take them up into the Crystal Mountains, and in retrospect who was she to judge? For all she knew this pony could actually be an expert veteran at outdoor survival.

“Hi My name is Breezy Shell, and you must be Rainbow Dash?”