A Cherished Storm

Chapter One: Another Day In Ponyville

The sun shone bright in a cloudless, deep-blue sky. The wind blew calmly in the air, brushing everypony out and about with spring's cool and refreshing touch. The leaves on trees blew gently in the breeze, but held firm to their branches; that is, until a certain pony flew by at near-sonic speeds, pulling away half of the leaves and leading them away from their homes with harsh winds.

Rainbow Dash flew past freshly-budded trees, swerving in between them as if they were part of an obstacle course. The wind blew in her face, stinging her eyes. But she didn't care, this was what she did, and she did it well. A smile formed on her face as she approached another tree, much larger than the previous dozen she had passed. This tree was a much greater obstacle, like a mountain among smaller hills, and it was just waiting to be climbed, asking to be dominated. Rainbow Dash flew forward faster, as if in response to the tree's plea. She eyed an opening in the tree's defenses; a small hole, about her size, that she could fit through. It would be difficult to pull off at her speed and angle, though. That just added to the fun. And it'll be a lot more impressive! She thought as she picked up more speed.

She heard faint calls of her name coming from somewhere behind her; she ignored them and kept on course to the mountainous tree ahead of her. Her eyes stung and her vision blurred slightly around the edges, but she could see well enough to know she would reach the tree within a few seconds. Her smile widened, teeth bare. She narrowed her eyes at the pony-sized gap in the tree's branches. Okay, time to do this!

Within feet of the tree's trunk, Rainbow Dash turned herself sharply to the right, and slightly upward, turning her body to barely scrape the edge of a branch with the tip of her left wing. She gasped suddenly as she closed in on a previously-unseen limb protruding from the web of twigs and leaves. She put on a look of determination as she acted quickly to avoid the fast-approaching branch, pointing herself slightly above it, drawing back her wings and throwing out her forelegs and hind legs to either end of her to reduce her size. She closed her eyes as she past the obstacle, only opening them when she realized there was no pain from a collision. She had made it!

She quickly returned to her flying stance and spun around the tree, brushing away the leaves and sending them scattering in a tornado of vibrant color. Hah! Couldn't stop me, could ya tree? She smiled at the tree as it wept away its leaves from her actions. She looked back over in the direction she had come; three figures were on a hilltop watching her, one of them hovering in the air beside the other two. She put on a triumphant smile and flew toward them.

As she drew closer to the figures, she noticed one of them jumping up and down in excitement. Rainbow Dash was amused by how easy the filly was to impress. Hah, that wasn't even my best!

“That was amazing, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said excitedly, continuing to jump up and down. Tank nodded at her.

Fluttershy looked at her and then nodded toward Rainbow Dash, smiling, “Oh yes, you are really good at flying...” She looked down to the ground, shuffling the grass slightly with one of her hooves, “ but I don't think I can fly that well...”

Rainbow Dash sighed slightly, looking at the nervous mare in front of her, “Look, I'll go for another round, okay? Just... take some notes or something.” With that, she took off to continue demonstrating her techniques.

“So, Applejack!” Pinkie Pie asked, hopping alongside said pony, “You bringing any delicious apple goodies for tomorrow's party?”

Applejack looked at the frolicking pink pony beside her with a raised eyebrow, “Didn't ya have a party yesterday?”

“Yup! And had one this morning for Gummy, too!”

“Fer Gummy?” Applejack asked.

“Yup! I thought the little guy grew his first tooth!” Pinkie said excitedly.

“You... thought? Did the little fella grow one or not?” Applejack asked.

“Nope, it was a false alarm.”

Applejack stopped, “And... ya still had a party?”

“Why not?” Pinkie asked, stopping only long enough to look at her before hopping forward again excitedly. “So, you bringing any sweet apple treats for the party?”

Applejack shrugged and walked along side her pink friend again, “I suppose I could...”

“Great!” Pinkie exclaimed, cutting Applejack off, “What ya gonna bring? Huh? Huh? Huh? Oh! How about those delicious apple pies that you sometimes bake? Oh! And maybe caramel apples? Oh yeah, and how about... Um... What's that?” Pinkie pointed off in the distance.

A speck came at them in the distance, growing quickly to reveal a blue pony with a mane of many colors: Rainbow Dash. She flew at high speeds, gliding just feet off the ground, occasionally making corkscrewing motions to vary her flight pattern. She approached the two halted ponies with a grin on her face. With room still to spare, she lifted herself away from the ground, going into a giant loop that met back at the ground by Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

“Coming through!” she said as she passed the two ponies, a dust cloud erupting from the ground and following the blue pegasus. When the dust cleared, Applejack and Pinkie Pie saw that Rainbow Dash was already a good distance away, and circling back around high up in the air.

Applejack felt the top of her head and noticed that her hat had been blown off by the wind. She looked around, spotting it on the ground on the side of the dirt path. She walked over and picked it up by the brim with her teeth, swinging it back onto her head.

“Uh.. What the hay's she doin'?” Applejack asked herself, slightly annoyed.

“She's flying, you silly filly,” Pinkie answered happily.

“Yeah.. I can see that.”

“You can?” Pinkie asked, confused, “Then why'd you ask?”

Applejack sighed and saw Rainbow landing by other ponies in the neighboring field, “Never mind that, let's go an' see what's goin' on over there that has her flyin' 'round where she could hurt somepony.”

Rainbow Dash hovered above Fluttershy and Scootaloo, with Tank by her side. Fluttershy picked at the ground nervously with her hoof, and Scootaloo watched her curiously, waiting for her answer to Rainbow's question.

Rainbow Dash looked quietly at the other pegasus until she finally had enough of her silence, “So... did you see how I did any of that?”

Fluttershy looked up slightly from the ground where she was digging at, “Oh yes, I um.. I saw you flying.”

Rainbow Dash landed on the ground and walked over to her, “Okay, you saw me flying. That's a start.. But did you see how I flew?”

Fluttershy nodded slowly, “Yes, I um.. I think so.”

Rainbow Dash hovered in the air and crossed her hooves, “Okay, then show me.”

Fluttershy looked at the three around her before flapping her wings rapidly, raising herself a few feet off the ground before falling back down to solid land.

“Oh, please!” Rainbow Dash cried out, “Don't tell me that all you saw was my wings flapping!” Upon seeing Fluttershy's gaze fall back down to the ground, she sighed. “Look, sorry for yelling at ya.. It's been a long day...” she apologized for the outburst. “But.. you need to pay more attention to detail. Flying isn't about just flapping your wings; sure that's part of it, but the main thing to practice is your balance. If you're flying at high speeds, you're more likely to crash if you don't maintain a good balance."

“What's goin' on over here that has ya flyin' 'round all over the place?” Applejack asked, coming up behind Rainbow Dash and interrupting her explanation.

“Yeah, what's got you doing all sorts of neat tricks, Dashie?” Pinkie asked, coming up behind Applejack.

Rainbow turned to the approaching ponies, “Oh, hey again... Sorry about earlier; I may have gotten a bit too close to the path there...”

“I'd say,” Applejack said, “Nearly blew me off my hooves; ya managed to get my hat, at least.”

Rainbow looked at Applejack's hat and shrugged, “Eh, it looks fine to me. Anyway, I'm trying to teach Fluttershy here how to be a better flier.”

Pinkie looked at Fluttershy, “I thought you knew how to fly!” she gasped, “Did you forget? Did something happen to you? Are you hurt?!”

“Whoa there, sugarcube, settle down now,” Applejack said, calming Pinkie down, “She knows how ta fly,” she said, more to Rainbow than Pinkie.

“Yeah, she knows how to fly..” Rainbow agreed, “But does she know how to fly well? Let's face it, if you put her in a race against anypony, she'd be left in the dust! Even Tank here could probably beat her in a race.”

“Now that's just bein' unfair ta her,” Applejack scolded, “I'm sure she could beat a flyin' turtle in a race...” She looked at Tank, “Uh... no offense.”

Rainbow laughed, “Not if she doesn't learn to fly properly,” she turned her attention toward Fluttershy, “Now, you need to learn to keep balance while in mid-flight. If you need to turn, tilt yourself in the direction you want to go, like this!” she spread her wings and tilted slightly in one direction, “Now, depending on how sharp of a turn you want to make, you'll tilt your body more or less than this.

“If you feel you're going too fast, and you're losing control of your flight, just stay calm and slow down. Simple as that!” she finished.

Fluttershy blinked at her, “Um... okay. If you say so.”

“It's simple, don't worry!” Rainbow Dash said, lowering back down to the ground, “Now, go give it a try.”

Fluttershy looked at everypony slowly, before finally bowing her head in defeat, “I... I don't think I can,” she whispered.

Rainbow sighed heavily and moved behind her, pushing her up into the air, “Don't keep doubting yourself! If you just do what I told ya, you'll be fine!”

Fluttershy looked at everypony nervously again, but this time nodded her head and put on a worried look of determination, “Okay, I'll... I'll do my best.”

Everypony nodded at her before she took off into the air, slowly, to mimic what she had seen Rainbow do several times that day.

Applejack walked up behind Rainbow Dash, a worried look in her eyes, “Somethin' tells me this is gonna end badly.”

Rainbow just looked at her with a grin and shrugged, “If she remembers what I told her, everything's gonna be fine.” She looked up at the fading speck of Fluttershy. She'll do fine... I think..

“Oh, no!”

Rainbow turned to see Pinkie glancing back at her own tail, with Applejack observing it as well. Rainbow observed closer and noticed it twitching. Pinkie Sense? A twitching tail means...

Pinkie gasped, “Things are gonna start falling!” she said, finishing Rainbow's thought. She ducked her head under her hooves and started to look around rapidly, in a vain attempt to protect herself.

Rainbow looked back at Fluttershy, who was now just a tiny speck high up in the sky, grin fully wiped from her face. Okay... This could be bad.

The floor of the library was littered with books of all sizes and colors. Piles upon piles lay sorted amongst the scattered, unsorted books that carpeted the wooden floor. By the front door, two large piles of books, all brand-new, sat neatly and ready to be placed. They were the only organized things in the whole place. All-in-all, the library was a terrible mess.

Twilight Sparkle stepped between each of the books, careful not to step on any of them. She carefully dodged a pile of books, setting her sight on a pile at the other end of the room. After dodging a few more piles and an assortment of scattered, colorful books, she made it to her destination.

The book on top of the pile read The Dangers In Everfree Forest. Twilight used her magic to lift it up for examination, “Hmm... This should go on the References shelf,” she looked back the way she came and sighed, “Over there...”

Twilight shrugged as a grin spread across her face. Her horn glowed with magic as she lifted books from their places on the floor. She began sorting through each of the books, placing them on the correct shelves, “History... Fiction... Magic... Another reference book... And this one's a non-fiction...” It was quicker, but still slow. “I wish Spike were here to help out..” she put on a smile at the thought, “But I'm sure he's happy helping Rarity, so I'll just have to do this by myself.”

Rarity had recently gotten a large amount of orders from nobles in Canterlot for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala, and she was worried that she could not finish them in time. She had explained the day before that she was extremely excited for the amount of work she had, since it would be great for her business and, in turn, her reputation; but she was going to have a tough time actually fulfilling all of the orders in the time allotted.

Spike's eyes had lit up at the opportunity to help Rarity, and had asked if he could take the day off to help her. Twilight had thought about it only for a moment before agreeing to let him help his crush. She knew how much it would mean to him, and it would be a great help to Rarity, so it didn't bug her too much that she would be reorganizing the books in the library all by herself. She didn't even think Spike realized that today was the day for work, but she wasn't about to diminish his excitement for that.

Twilight started on another pile of books, this time a pile of the new arrivals. She levitated the top book and read out the title, “History Of The Tribes: Origins,” she flipped through a few pages in the book before closing it, “Okay, one for the 'History' section... Sound like an interesting read, though!”

After a time, her motions became more mechanical, and her thoughts went to other places. She thought about whether or not Spike would be enough to help Rarity get through the dozens of orders of dresses she had to craft, since the Grand Galloping Gala was in only two weeks. Oh yeah, it is really soon! She smiled as she thought about the tickets she had gotten from the Princess in secret the month before. "One more week and I'll surprise the girls with their tickets. I think they'll be surprised! Spike, too... It was hard enough to keep them hidden from him... Oh gosh... I don't even know if I'll have time to go myself..."

After a while, Twilight snapped back to reality, noticing that she only had one more pile of books by the door, ready to sort. She blinked at the sight and breathed a sigh of relief. “Finally, almost done...”

She sorted through the books just as easily as the others, stopping every now and then to skim through a few of them. Finally, one book remained on the now-clean floor. She picked it up with her magic to observe it and laughed softly to herself, “Daring Do and the Sea Serpent Shrine. I think Rainbow will like this one,” she shrugged and placed it on the “Fiction” shelf with the other Daring Do books.

“All done!” she said happily, walking over to the table in the center of the room to sit down and rest. She crossed her hooves on the table and laid her head down, closed her eyes, and breathed in a deep sigh of relief.

A faint noise sounded outside. Twilight opened her eyes and looked around, “Hmm?” The sound grew louder and more distinct, “Wait... that sounds like screaming... Is that Fluttershy?” It got louder... and closer... and more distinct. It was Fluttershy. “Oh, no...”

Fluttershy's screaming stopped, replaced with a loud crashing sound as the library shook violently. Twilight panicked, looking around at all the shelves as books began to topple from their places back onto the floor. All it took was that initial crash, the vibration from hundreds of books hitting the floor provided the rest of the motion needed to create a domino effect.

When all was still and quiet again, Twilight looked on at the new mess, eyes wide with shock. Every book that she had spent hours sorting and placing was now on the floor.

Twilight groaned at the sight, a tear forming in her eye, “Not again!”

Outside the massive library tree, Fluttershy lay sprawled on the ground. A bare patch of wood showed on the trunk where she had crash-landed, the bark surrounding her.

Fluttershy attempted to rise, but fell back down from dizziness. She took a deep breath and looked around at the bark surrounding her, and up at the tree to notice the bare spot that the bark originated from; the landing had been anything but soft. She heard voices and looked away from the tree, noticing the spectating ponies coming her way, with Rainbow Dash in the lead as if it were a race; Applejack followed not far behind.

Rainbow was first to arrive, “Are you alright?” she asked in a worried voice.

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow and nodded her head slowly, “Yes... I think I'm fine...”

Rainbow saw the look in Fluttershy's still-spinning eyes and suppressed a laugh, “That's... good to... hear!”

Applejack caught up quickly and looked at Rainbow angrily, “Rainbow! There ain't no reason ta be laughin'.”

Rainbow burst out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer, “Are you serious? Did you see how many spins she did?” she wiped her now-watering eyes as she tried to regain control of herself.

Applejack shook her head and ignored her, checking on Fluttershy, “You okay there, sugarcube?”

Fluttershy sat herself up a little straighter, “Yes... I'm fine, just a little dizzy...” she overheard Rainbow mutter something about her spinning and didn't think anything of it.

“Did anyone see how fast she flew?” Scootaloo asked aloud.

Pinkie nodded a few times, “Yeah, she almost flew as fast as Dashie!”

Rainbow Dash cut in, “I could have thought she was me... At least, until the point where she had to turn up...” she grinned, “After that she looked like Fluttershy, spinning out of control, and crashing into Twilight's house.”

Scootaloo walked over to Fluttershy, who was still sitting on the ground, with Applejack still checking to see if she was alright, “So uh... How did you lose control?”

Rainbow walked up behind her, a knowledgeable smile painted across her face, “I think I can answer that,” she said, walking over to Fluttershy, who was looking back at her like a student ready to learn. Rainbow cleared her throat, “I spotted three problems: One, there was a problem with your positioning,” she spread her wings, tilting them up to show the correct positions, “If your have your wings like this, then you're not gonna plummet into the ground... You might wanna remember to start pulling up before hitting the ground.”

Fluttershy had her wings spread out, mimicking what Rainbow was showing her, “Okay...”

Rainbow nodded, “Yup, like that. The second problem I saw was when you lost control. As I said before, if you lose control, you should calm down and try to slow down enough to regain your balance... I, uh, think you forgot to do that.”

Rainbow looked at Applejack, who was looking at her with eyes that said, 'I think she knows that.' Rainbow grinned, “And the third problem I spotted...” she paused for dramatic effect, the other ponies leaning forward, awaiting Rainbow's analysis. She grinned widely, “... is that that was in the way!” she pointed at Twilight's library tree and started laughing again. Applejack sighed.

The front door of the house opened up, revealing a mildly-annoyed, messy-maned Twilight Sparkle. She looked to the side of the tree, and noticed the ponies gathered around a bare patch of the trunk. She sighed and walked to them, noticing Fluttershy on the ground behind them. “What happened? Are you okay, Fluttershy?”

Pinkie Pie attempted to answer for her, “She was flying very fast!”

Scootaloo continued, “She lost control!”

Rainbow Dash finished, “She crashed.”

Fluttershy looked down at the ground and sighed, “I-I'm sorry. I'm terrible at flying...”

Rainbow shrugged, “Eh, don't sweat it! It takes a lot of practice, and a lot of patience. Keep practicing and someday you'll almost be as good as me!”

Pinkie jumped in, excitedly, “Oh, oh! When that happens, we can throw you a 'Better-Flier-Fluttershy' party!” she hopped around the ponies, naming off a list of supplies they'd need. She gasped suddenly, “Should we have a 'Pre-Better-Flier-Fluttershy' party, too?”

Twilight smiled slightly at that, “I think that would be fun..” the smile faded slightly, “Anyway, tell me how that turns out! I need to go clean up the mess inside now...”

Applejack helped Fluttershy stand up and the two ponies walked over to Twilight. “We're all willin' ta help ya clean up the mess. It's our fault, anyway.”

Twilight's smile returned, “Thanks! I would really appreciate it.”

Rainbow backed away from the group slowly, hoping to go unnoticed.

“And where do ya think yer goin'?” Applejack asked.

Rainbow chuckled nervously, “Oh... Uh, I forgot that today was, um, Cloud-Cleanup Day!”

Applejack raised an eyebrow and looked around the sky, “I don't see any clouds.”

Rainbow launched into the air quickly and formed a rain cloud above them, returning to her place by the ponies almost as quickly as she had left, pretending nothing had ever happened, “Oh, would you look at that!” she laughed nervously, “There's one right there! It'd be a shame if it rained on a day that was supposed to be sunny... I wouldn't be doing my job and keeping the clouds clear!” she smiled innocently at the other ponies.

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Oh, it's fine, Rainbow. Don't worry about it. I know how important your job is to you!” she smiled and turned around, as if ready to walk back inside, “The rest of us will clean up the books. Some of them looked like they were in pretty bad shape... I even think I saw a ripped page in one of the Daring Do books...”

Rainbow gasped aloud and dashed into the air, rivaling Fluttershy's earlier speeds, and spun around the cloud she had formed. It disappeared behind a wall of colors, and, by the time she was finished, the cloud had disappeared. She flew down by Twilight and chuckled lightly, “What cloud? I don't see any clouds!”

She turned Twilight around and began to push her into the house, “Come on, let's go. I'd love to help you clean up!”

The rest of the ponies followed, laughing.

Spike held the thread in his right claw as steady as he could manage, squinting his eyes at it and the needle he held in his other claw. All concentration was drawn to those two objects. He eased the thread closer to the needle, aiming for the tiny loop at the end. Sweat began to drip down the sides of his face as the thread inched closer to its destination. Closer and closer it came, until... “Oh, darn it!” he missed.

He sighed. He had been trying this for the past half hour, and that was the closest he had gotten. He dropped his arms, “Why is it so hard to thread a needle?” he asked, annoyed with the objects.

Rarity was standing by a counter, working on another dress; the third of the day, Spike thought. She turned her head to acknowledge the baby dragon, “Oh, Spike. Keep trying, dear. You'll get it soon!” she said, in an attempt to encourage him, “Just try to keep your hooves... uh, claws steady when threading the needle.”

Spike nodded his head and steadied, ready to prove himself to Rarity. He brought the needle and thread up to head level, only an inch away from his face, and narrowed his eyes so that only those two objects were in his view. He slowly brought the thread closer to the needle, stopping when his claw shook to re-steady. He checked the positioning of the thread in comparison to the loop on the needle and nodded his head slowly. The thread came closer and closer, until... “Yes!” he yelled out in celebration, the needle successfully threaded in one claw.

He jumped up and down, excited by his accomplishment, and accidentally stepped on the spool of thread laying right beside him. He slipped and fell down hard on his back and gasped. He dropped the needle and thread! He searched the ground around him frantically and found the fallen objects... sitting beside one another... undone. He groaned out loud and dropped his head in defeat.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom walked into the room, discussing new ideas for them to gain their cutie marks.

Apple Bloom sighed out loud, “Why do we have ta do all the plannin' by ourselves? Scootaloo should be here helpin' us, instead of cheerin' on Rainbow Dash,” she vented, “I mean, all she's doin' is teachin' Fluttershy how ta fly...”

“Fly better, you mean. Fluttershy already knows how to fly,” Sweetie Belle corrected.

“Whatever. I still think she should be helpin' us. I mean, we're not gonna get our cutie marks any quicker with her not helpin' us.”

Sweetie Belle shrugged, “You know how much she looks up to Rainbow Dash. I don't think we'd be able to convince her either way.”

Rarity turned her head away from her work to look at the two fillies, “Oh, yes, I would be there, too, cheering on Fluttershy, if it were not for all these orders,” she turned her head to look at her work again, “I mean, honestly! I don't think I'll be done for another week!”

Apple Bloom turned to look back at Sweetie Belle, “I say we go an' find Scootaloo! If she can't be here to help us come up with ways to get our cutie marks, then we can be there!”

Sweetie Belle nodded her head, “Good idea. Let's go!”

As they began to walk out, they continued their discussion of plots to gain their cutie marks.

“Oh, I know! We could try flyin'. Just need to borrow Scootaloo's helmet and find a cannon..” Apple Bloom suggested.

Sweetie Belle slapped her leg lightly with the side of her hoof, “Are you crazy? Where would we even get a cannon?”

“Well,” Apple Bloom began, “I think Pinkie Pie would have somethin' like that.. And if not, we could make...” her voice faded behind the sound of a closing door.

Rarity sighed and smiled at their continuing attempts to find their cutie marks. She laughed softly, “One day they will learn...”

She looked over at Spike, who was attempting to thread the needle once again. She noticed the concentration on his face as he stared solely at that needle. The thread came closer and closer, until... “Hooray!” Rarity yelled out, cheering for him.

Spike looked over at her, not realizing she was watching, and blushed. He looked down at the threaded needle, as if he didn't realize what he had done, and then cheered along with her.

Rarity smiled at him, “Good job, Spike! I knew you would pull through!”

He stopped his cheering after a second, looking down and feeling his stomach, “Oh, no...”

He spat out a rolled piece of parchment in a spread of green flame, catching it in mid-air. He blinked at his hand, holding the parchment and not the threaded needle. He looked down at the ground and saw the thread and needle, laying beside one another undone, and sighed in defeat. He opened the parchment to read it silently, his eyes skimming through the words on the paper. He lowered the letter and looked at Rarity, who was looking at him curiously, “I have to go, Rarity. I'm sorry I can't help more... But I think Twilight will want to see this.”

Rarity nodded at him, “That's quite alright, Spike. I really do appreciate your help.”

Spike nodded at her, with a wide smile on his face, before bowing, “You are very welcome, milady!” He turned to face the entrance and walked out.

Rarity looked at the door as it closed behind him, then down at the separated needle and thread on the floor. She shrugged and turned back to her work. She continued stitching the green dress she had been working on with her sewing machine, activated by her magic. She sighed, “Well, back to work.”