On A Dark And Stormy Night...
The calm before the Storm
It was a dark and stormy night. A night where ponies stayed indoors. With the roar of thunder and the flash of lightning that would make any young filly or colt uneasy this was indeed another night time storm. But few ponies who ventured out on these nights claim to see the shadow of a pony flying just beneath the clouds when the lightning flashed. Ponyville seemed to be getting quite a few of those the weather teams only claiming that it was an experimental weather plan and nothing more and that if there were a pony flying beneath the clouds that the weather teams would be the first to know.
A lot of ponies were unsettled by this but after about a month or so the claims stopped and the ponies went back to their normal lives. However there was one pony built of dare-devil stunts and killer speeds who wanted to test her limits. One pony who wanted to out-fly and out maneuver every single lightning bolt using nothing but her wings and her custom flight goggles.
There was just one problem, “This storm is just not big enough!”
Three years ago…
“You’re going to do fine, stop worrying so much.” A slightly aging mare chuckled as she spoke into an opened closet. The mare was, Morning Sun, a yellow coated pegasus with a light orange mane that faded to a light red at the tips. It was more vibrant when she was younger but she kept it in good condition for a middle-aged pony… and a mother.
“But Mom, I can’t find my goggles! How can I expect to make the team if I don’t bring my goggles?” The voice of a stallion said from within the closet as stuff was being tossed out of it somehow avoiding Morning Sun in the process.
The mare just shook her head and laughed. “Well breakfast is ready for you whenever you're done.” She said as she left the room.
“Oh Mom. You really didn’t have to. I could have made myself something to eat.”
The mare stopped in her tracks and turned back to the closet. “Yeah. Something that doesn’t involve cereal, a bowl, a spoon and some milk?”
“Uh…”
“Or noodles?”
“Um…”
“Or something frozen?”
The stallion sighed just loud enough for his mother to notice. “…No...”
Morning Sun ‘hmph’-ed triumphantly. “I thought so. Now hurry up and eat something. You’re gonna be late.”
“But my goggles…” The stallion whined, stepping out of the closet to look at his mom before he was interrupted. The stallion was… quite odd looking. First off he had a black coat which in of itself was in stark contrast with everyone else, especially his mother. He also has a large, wide and opened black and grey, Mohawk-styled mane with matching tail, strong and sturdy feathered wings and bright blue eyes to boot. But what was truly odd about him was the fact that he was cover in yellow, zebra-esc, stripes all over him. His name was Stormy Night. And he is me.
“Your goggles are around your neck, Stormy.” Morning Sun left the room leaving me to find my goggles which, thanks to the help of my mother, I immediately found hanging around my neck.
I pulled on them to make sure they were actually there. “Wow. And just when I thought that that could never happen to me. Well, better go get breakfast then.” I left my room closing the door behind me.
A few seconds later the door opened back up and I walked back inside. “Woops. Almost forgot this.” I said as I grabbed a hooded cloak from the back of the back of my door leaving as soon as I threw it over my shoulder.
Now, I'm not very proud of my strips. In fact I despised them. In my early...-er years of school I was teased constantly thanks to them. Nearly every filly or colt would taunt me with mean and quite annoying phrases like “Hey look! It’s Highlight Blackbutt!” or flat-out ignored me when I asked to play with them. To say the least, I didn’t like going to school. So my Mom took me out of school and hired a tutor for me named Mrs. Hardstudy, a retired teacher who didn’t mind how I looked, so that I could finish school without having to set a single hoof in one. She had taught me for so many years that my Mom and I considered her as part of our little family. Yet my problem didn’t stay on school grounds.
Whenever Morning Sun took younger me to a park to play see noticed everything that would happen. She saw how the other mothers looked at us with shocked, worried or down right disgusted eyes and then proceeded to talk about us when they thought my Mom wouldn’t hear them. However, my Mom was always just close enough to hear them say things like, “I don’t trust that colt”, “When have you ever seen a pony with a black coat? Let alone yellow zebra stripes and pegasus wings, together”, “He looks like something out of one of my son’s comic books” and probably the worst of all “I almost feel sorry for him having to walk around looking like that.” That alone was enough to hit a nerve with Morning Sun (Yes I call her by name from time to time. She told me that she doesn't mind) but there was even more that she had to endure. Every time I walked up to another filly or colt to ask if I could play with them she would have to watch closely because every time I asked the question I would either flatly get told “No” or a pony would push or shove me and tell me to “Get lost”. Although there were instances where somepony would let me play with them, their parents would always call them over just to tell them “I don’t want you playing with that colt” and so I ultimately was kicked-out soon after I had started playing with them.
It seemed like everywhere I went I was either excluded, teased or harassed, so I spent most of his life indoors. Every day I’d wake up, do whatever school work I had for the day and sat down by the window to watch all the other fillies and colts laughing and playing in the sun. That was all I could do and Morning Sun watched me. Every single day. It tormented her to watch her son sit around the house and long to go outside and play, so on days that she didn’t have to work she would take me near the Everfree Forest and play with me herself. It was always so secluded being so near to the forest full of dangerous creatures but those creatures never seemed to leave the actual forest. Those were the only times I was ever happy in my childhood.
Now that I'm older I am finally able to start working. My Mom had spent countless hours looking for places to work that had policies against as many kinds of discriminations as possible and found that the Wonderbolts of all places had a very strict no discrimination whatsoever policy when it came to not only ponies but hiring ponies as well and when she was able to get me an interview with them we celebrated. We had even convinced Mrs. Hardstudy to stay and celebrate with us though she spent most of the time sitting in a chair clapping her hooves in congratulations. Old ponies with bad hips weren’t able to do as much standing around or walking as they used to do when they were younger.
I was the most excited of all that night. I’d finally be able to go to a place with other ponies and not get criticized. It was the only thing I had ever wanted but I wasn’t very sure that I wanted to work for the Wonderbolts. I had seen them perform on TV many times and I enjoyed watching them, I just don’t like the idea of being one of them. That and I don’t think that I could fly fast enough to make the team.
So I did a bit of research of my own and using a hooded cloak to keep ponies from noticing my strange appearance I went to a multitude of possible places to find a place for me to work and I had found one that just sung to me. I noticed that the Weather ponies were looking for someone to join their team. When I asked about their policies on discrimination they told me that they also had a strict no discrimination policy. I was so happy to hear that so I asked about the job details and they told me that they were looking for an able pegasus who was willing to work with dangerous storms in small teams. I finished off the conversation by saying that I was a pegasus willing to do the job and they agreed to give me an interview. But unfortunately, the only time that was available for an interview was at the same time as my interview with the Wonderbolts. I know that I want to work on the Weather team but my Mom had worked so hard to get me that interview with the Wonderbolts.
I hadn't come to a decision yet and I was still deciding on which one to go to on my way to Cloudsdale, where both the Wonderbolts' Headquarters and the Weather Team’s Headquarters were located. “Alright Storm, you’re not a little colt any more. It’s about time you grew up and made a decision yourself. Now, do you choose the Wonderbolts or do you choose the Weather team?” I stopped mid-flight and had forced my courage to grow just enough to not only ask myself the question but to actually come to a decision. “I choose… I choose…” I sighed before continuing. “I choose the Weather team. I just hope Mom doesn’t mind what I did. She’s already done so much for me.” And with that said I made my way towards the Weather Team’s Headquarters near the Weather Factory.
The interview wasn’t anything special. Just a few questions and a quick background check and it was done. They had given me the job right there and then telling me I was the only one who applied. Still better than nothing. I was so excited, I finally had something to do besides sit around at home doing nothing. Now I could enjoy being outdoors. Sure I'd still have to hide from passer-biers but I finally had a chance at true.
“But what will mom say when I tell her what I did?” My excitement stopped as I hit All with a hard reality. All my life I had been so loyal to her, no matter how many of her decisions were bad ones… or depressed me. “Oh. I don’t know if she’s gonna praise me or kill me! Crap! Now I don’t know whether I should even tell her!” I struggled not only to say another word but with my mind now in a mess I lost control of my wings and started to freefall. My mind was gone and I was falling unable to save myself as I murmured nonsense. Falling. Falling. Nothing was stopping me from hitting the ground which was closing in on me quickly. My mental state not suiting any better as my freefall only seemed to make it worse.
This was it. I was going to go out thanks to a mental breakdown. The ground now only a few feet away would have closed the gap between us and that would have been the end of my tale… but something caught me. And just in the nick of time as well. This story was just getting started.