Chapters Chewing on a tasty sapphire, Spike opened the door to the Ponyville library and stepped inside. He immediately stopped and gasped, the half-eaten gem falling from his mouth. The interior of the library was filled with a terrible mess. Books lay scattered across the floor, piled on the tables, and shoved haphazardly onto shelves all out of order. Spike looked on in horror at the disorganized mess, which he knew he would end up cleaning himself.
A trio of books, bathed in a bright purple aura, floated through the air towards the lone pony in the center of the room. The lavender pony watched the books fly past her one at a time, reading each title as it passed. She let out a frustrated groan.
"No, no NO!" Twilight Sparkle said, flinging the books away with her telekinesis, "Where is it? I know it was here last week!"
Spike cleared his throat, looking around the room uncertainly, "Uhm, Twilight? What's going on?"
Twilight jumped when she heard her name, "Spike! Uh..." she looked around the room sheepishly, "I'm looking for a particular book. I guess I got a little out of hand."
"A little?" Spike looked around the room.
"Maybe a lot."
"What are you looking for?" Spike said, picking up a nearby book and studying the title.
"'A Beginner's Guide to Aerodynamics', and I know I saw it here just a few days ago."
"What do you need a book like that for?" Spike asked.
Twilight grinned with excitement, "I'm doing a special report for the Princess on Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom! She said the Wonderbolts want to better understand how it works so they can try to replicate it. Oooh, isn't it so exciting?"
Spike watched Twilight bounce in place for a few seconds before clearing his throat again, "Well, 'A Beginner's Guide to Aerodynamics' has been checked out."
"Checked out?" Twilight stopped bouncing, her eyes laying down and the corners of her mouth turning down.
"This is a library, Twilight," Spike said.
"Who would check out a book on aerodynamics?"
"Some orange pegasus filly. A friend of Rarity's sister, I think."
"Ooh, this is a disaster Spike! How can I finish my report on the sonic rainboom without that book? I knew I should have studied aerodynamics before."
"You could always try asking Rainbow Dash about it," Spike said, turning and closing the door, "Now, let's start picking up this mess."
As soon as Spike pushed the door closed, it burst open again. Sent sailing through the air, Spike managed to glimpse a flash of pink speeding through the doorway. He landed heavily on a pile of books, getting the wind knocked out of him. Looking up, he saw Pinkie Pie standing next to Twilight. Pinkie turned this way and that, seemingly trying to take in the entire room at one.
"Oooh, what are you doing?" Pinkie Pie asked, with a huge gasp, "Are you playing a game?"
Twilight's eyes narrowed, "Pinkie-"
"What are the rules?" Pinkie asked, picking up a book and throwing it at a nearby pile, "Are we supposed to see who can make the biggest pile? Oh, oh! Or are we trying to tear the piles down?"
Pinkie Pie bounced around the room, throwing books and stacking books and pulling books out of the bottom of stacks to throw them. Twilight grumbled under her breath, then took a few steps towards her friend.
"Pinkie pie-" Twilight started to say, but she was cut off again by the excitable pink pony.
"You know, Twilight, this isn't a very fun game," Pinkie said, as though explaining to a filly, "Maybe you should stick to Go Fish."
Sighing, Twilight gave in, "You're right Pinkie, I will."
Before Twilight could say more, Pinkie Pie leaped up with an excited shout, "Ooh, yay! I love Go Fish! We should play right now!"
Twilight looked around that the mess she had made, "I don't really have time-" she was cut off again.
"Do you have any books?" Pinkie asked, "I know you do, because we're in a library! Yay! Do I win?"
"Pinkie Pie, is there some reason you came to see me? I really don't have time right now-"
"Oh, of course you don't have time, silly!" Pinkie Pie said, "You need to go help Rainbow Dash with that big huge ugly storm brewing over Cloudsdale!"
Twilight stopped and blinked, "What?"
"Oh yeah, didn't I tell you?"
"No, you didn't tell me! What's happening to Cloudsdale?"
"Nopony knows! There's a big storm over Cloudsdale, and all the pegasuseses are trying to blow it away, but they can't! Even the Wonderbolts are helping! Isn't that great, Rainbow Dash gets to work with the Wonderbolts, I bet she's so excited! Do you think she's excited? Do you? Huh huh huh?"
"Pinkie Pie, focus!" Twilight said, shouting over her friend, "What about all of the ponies that live in Cloudsdale? Are they ok?"
Pinkie Pie looked pensive for a moment, "I don't know, I didn't think to ask. Do you think the storm could be dangerous?"
"I don't know. Rainbow Dash is one of the best weatherponies I know. If she can't get this storm under control, it has to be something unnatural. And an unnatural weather pattern is unpredictable. Unpredictable! Anything could happen!"
"Oooh, do you think we'll get more chocolate rain?" Pinkie asked, her eyes growing wide and a broad smile on her face.
Twilight narrowed her eyes again, "...let's just get to Cloudsdale and see what we can do to help."
"Ok, let's go!" Pinkie Pie said, bouncing towards the door.
"Just a minute, Pinkie, I need to find a book that might help us with this situation," Twilight scanned the books laying around near her.
Pinkie stopped bouncing and looked back at Twilight, "What was it called?"
"It is called 'Weird Weather and Sinister Storms: a Guide to Magical and Unnatural Weather Patterns in Equestria' and I know it's here somewhere."
Pinkie Pie buried her face in a pile of books, coming back out with a thick volume clamped in her mouth, "Here it is!" she shouted excitedly, tossing the book to Twilight.
Twilight caught the book with her magic, staring at the cover with widened eyes, "How did you- nevermind, I won't ask. Let's find the others and go!"
Twilight dashed out of the room, kicking up a few books in her wake. Pinkie Pie bounced out happily behind her, humming to herself. Spike clambered out of the pile of books he had landed in, looking around with a sigh.
"I suppose it was too much to hope for Twilight to stay and help clean up," he said, picking up a book and placing it on a nearby shelf.
***
Scootaloo sat in the shade of a large tree near the edge of the playground. The orange filly was currently sitting alone. She brushed her purple mane out of her eyes and looked across the playground. School had just let out, and many of the other fillies were still hanging around. Her own two friends, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, were chasing each other around the swingset in an impromptu game of tag.
Scootaloo was not in the mood to play, but she had told her friends that she was tired instead of admitting she was upset. Just because she was having a bad day did not mean her friends had to as well. She sighed.
Either Sweetie Belle or Applebloom must have seen the sad expression on her face, because the next thing Scootaloo knew both of her friends were standing next to her.
"What's wrong Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Y'all ain't really tired, are ya?" Applebloom said, narrowing her eyes.
Scootaloo shuffled her hooves awkwardly, staring at the ground, "It's nothing, guys."
"If it were nothin', you wouldn't be sitting here all by yerself, lookin' all sad," Applebloom said.
"Yeah," Sweetie Belle said, "Something is wrong. You can tell us, we're your friends."
"It's just, uh," Scootaloo trailed off, mumbling something inaudible.
"What was that?" Applebloom asked.
"I just, I, uhm," Scootaloo trailed off again.
"Stop sounding like Fluttershy," Sweetie Belle said, poking Scootaloo on the top of her head.
Scootaloo took a deep breath and said, all in a rush, "I can't fly."
Scootaloo looked away from her friends, her cheeks growing warm. She had never admitted to her friends that she could not fly. She could feel the eyes of the two fillies on her, staring, judging.
"Well of course ya can't," Applebloom said, "Ya think we didn't notice?"
Scootaloo was confused, "What?"
Sweetie Belle laughed, but it wasn't the harsh laugh that Scootaloo had feared.
"We know you can't fly," Sweetie Belle said, "We are your best friends after all."
Applebloom put a comforting hoof on her friend's shoulder, "Don't feel too bad about it, ah can't fly either."
"You aren't a pegasus," Sweetie Belle said, narrowing her eyes, "You aren't supposed to fly."
"I could if I wanted to!"
"You could probably fly better than I can," Scootaloo sighed. She lay on the ground, her legs tucked underneath her, her eyes staring downward but unseeing. She refused to cry in front of her friends, no matter how badly she wanted to.
Sweetie Belle took a step towards Scootaloo and patted her on the back. The gesture did not comfort the orange filly very much, but Scootaloo forced a smile anyways, although she could not keep the sadness from her eyes.
Then Sweetie Belle's face light up with inspiration, "I know!" the young filly shouted in excitement, "We can help you learn how to fly!"
"Really?" Scootaloo asked, leaping to her feet and grinning broadly in genuine happiness, "You'd really help me learn how to fly?"
"Of course we would," Applebloom said, "Yer our friend, what're friends for?"
"We'd be glad to help you, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said.
Scootaloo bounced with happiness, "You guys are the best friends ever. With your help, I bet I'll be flying by the end of the week!"
"Oh, and one more thing Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said with a wry smile.
"What's that?" Scootaloo asked.
Sweetie Belle reached out and touched Scootaloo lightly on the shoulder, "Tag, you're it!"
Scootaloo chased after her two friends, who ran away laughing. Scootaloo laughed too, her heart light with joy. This was the best day ever. The only thing better would be flying with Rainbow Dash herself.
***
Flying with Rainbow Dash would be a difficult prospect at the moment. The cyan mare was currently fighting her way through a heavy headwind, her powerful wings struggling against the harsh weather. She was exploring the edge of the unnatural storm around Cloudsdale, searching for any signs of its origin.
Thick back clouds roiled to her left. Flashes of light danced among the clouds, fueling the occasional rumble of thunder. She had flown all the way around the storm, and it completely surrounded Cloudsdale. It was like some sort of inland hurricane, except hurricans were not supposed to have so much lightning.
"Ow!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she flew through a pocket of hail. She had been dealing with tiny chunks of ice all afternoon, carried this far out by the unnaturally strong winds of the storm. She rubbed at the stinging in her face, turning and angling down towards a large gathering of ponies on the ground.
The camp had sprung up very quickly. Sturdy tents, secured with extra ropes against the wind, housed several hundred ponies. At first it had been for refugees from Cloudsdale, but the refugees had been evacuated to Canterlot. Now Princess Celestia was using it as a base of operations for the emergency response teams.
Rainbow Dash zoomed above the camp, heading for the large pavilion near the center of the camp. She could see the glowing, colorful mane of Princess Celestia flowing underneath the the thick pavilion. Next to the leader of Equestria stood a smaller lavender pony, the Princess's student, and Rainbow's friend, Twilight Sparkle.
Rainbow Dash landed heavily next to the pavilion, the strong wind nearly unbalancing her, and walked up to the Princess.
"We may need to move the camp soon, if this storm keeps getting bigger," Rainbow Dash said, shaking to get the ice and water of the storm out of her coat and mane.
"I hope it does not come to that, Rainbow Dash," Celestia said, looking up the table in the center of the pavilion. There was a piece of thick parchment on the table, currently weighed down by several large rocks, "What do you have to report?"
Rainbow Dash's heart caught in her throat. An actual report to the actual princess who actually ruled all of Equestria. She privately admitted to being a little nervous. She stood a little straighter, trying to put a more official tone into her voice while reporting to the princess, "The storm surrounds all of Cloudsdale, as we already knew. It's rotating much like a hurricane, but other than that it's nature is unlike any hurricane I've ever seen.
"Lightning is very frequent in this storm. Entering the storm itself would be very dangerous. I had a few close calls just flying around the edges of the storm. The winds are very strong and the rains are very heavy, with some sleet and hail mixed in. Any attempt to enter the storm should be approached with the utmost caution."
Twilight Sparkle chuckled, leaning towards the princess with a grin, "If Rainbow Dash is recommending caution, it must be incredibly dangerous."
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash said, dropping her official tone, "I just don't want anypony to get hurt! It's not like I'm scared or something."
Princess Celestia smiled and said in a calming tone, "I understand, Ms. Dash. It is very commendable to worry about the safety of your fellow ponies. Please continue."
"Yes, of course Princess Celestia," Rainbow Dash said, clearing her throat and resuming her previous tone, "In addition to the dangers within the storm, it seems to be growing, although at an increasingly slow pace. It spread out over all of Cloudsdale in only a few hours, and several more miles after that through the night. Since last night, however, it has only spread a few dozen feet."
"Is it going to stop spreading?" Celestia asked.
Rainbow Dash shrugged, "No way to be sure. It might stop, or it might just keep expanding slower until it's over."
"And when will it be over?"
Rainbow Dash hesitated, unsure of what to say, "Well... I don't really know. In the time I studied it, the storm didn't get any weaker. In fact, it may have gotten stronger."
"Stronger?"
"Yes Princess," Rainbow Dash nodded, "I can't be sure, but if the strength of the storm changed at all while I was out there, it grew stronger, not weaker."
The princess thought about this for a moment, "Well then, we will need to act quickly if we are going to send anypony into the storm."
"No offense, princess, but I don't think that's a good idea," Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head, "This is a powerful storm. Our best bet is to just keep everypony away until we figure out how to stop it."
Celestia nodded, "Unfortunately, we do not have that option. I have been looking over the lists of refugees that were evacuated, and at least fifty pegasi are unaccounted for."
"Fifty?" Rainbow Dash said, her ears laying down on her head.
"Yes. We can only assume that many of them are still trapped inside of Cloudsdale, with no way out of the storm."
"Rainbow, you said this storm is like a hurricane, right?" Twilight asked.
"Uh, yeah, I did."
"Hurricanes have a big clear spot in the middle of them," Twilight said, excited, "The 'eye of the storm', as they say."
"Yeah, that's right," the cyan pegasus nodded in agreement, then frowned, "But we'd still have to get through the storm to mount a rescue operation."
"Why not fly over?" Twilight Sparkle suggested.
Rainbow Dash shook her head, "The storm goes too high. I've never seen anything like it, but the storm goes way up into the sky. Even above the clouds, there is still frequent lightning to contend with. And that high up, the air gets so thin that it's hard to breath. A rescue operation requires hard flying, and without enough air pegasi just can't fly that hard."
Twilight's face fell, "Oh."
Celestia stepped forward, "Our highest priority is to save those ponies. We must act quickly. Rainbow Dash, I've had Spitfire of the Wonderbolts organizing a rescue flight, she's been preparing to go once we determine the best way to enter the storm. I want you to coordinate with her and get the rescue going as soon as possible."
Rainbow Dash's heart fluttered at the idea of working closely with the Wonderbolts, but her concern for the trapped ponies overshadowed her excitement.
Twilight Sparkle nodded, "Do you have any ideas on how to enter the storm, Rainbow?"
Rainbow Dash thought for a moment, until inspiration struck her. It would be dangerous, but with the Wonderbolts helping out she could pull it off.
"Well, the hardest part will be getting through the outer edges of the storm. The winds are most intense there, almost like a wall of air that pushes everything out. Beyond that it's just a really bad storm."
"And you have an idea on how to get through that outer wind?" Celestia asked.
Rainbow Dash nodded, "Of course. Me. If I can get the Wonderbolts to coordinate the other pegasi, they can form a funnel of wind to protect themselves as they pass through the storm."
"And breaking into the storm itself?" Twilight asked.
"Easy. I'll lead the way, and as we approach the storm, I'll blast it open with a sonic rainboom," Rainbow Dash was confident that a sonic rainboom could suppress the winds long enough for a team of fliers to get through.
"That sounds very dangerous," Twilight said, "Are you sure you're up to it?"
Rainbow, ignoring the creeping feeling of doubt that threatened to well up inside her, struck a confident pose, "Did you forget who you're talking to, Twilight? I'm the best flier in Equestria. I can handle it!"
"Even so, I think I should do some research, see if I can dig up any information about similar storms that could help us. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."
"Worrying about your friend's safety is an excellent virtue," Princess Celestia said, "But we simply don't have the time. The storm is growing stronger, and any rescue attempt will only be harder the longer we wait."
"But princess..." Twilight started to say, but she was cut off by Celestia.
"But nothing, Twilight Sparkle," Celestia turned to Rainbow Dash, "Your plan has my approval. Go coordinate with Spitfire and get off the ground at the earliest possible time."
Twilight Sparkle stamped her hooves in frustration.
"And you, Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said, turning to her student, "I want you to head to the Canterlot library and research everything you can about unusual weather patterns, especially weather that pegasi could not control. Rescuing the trapped ponies is only the beginning, we still need a way to stop this storm for good."
"Yes Princess Celestia," Twilight Sparkle said, bowing.
"Can do, Princess," Rainbow Dash gave the princess a quick salute before flying off through the camp, searching for the Wonderbolts and the rest of the rescue team. Saving fifty ponies and working with the Wonderbolts? This was going to be so awesome!
She kept telling herself that the fear welling up inside her was concern for the trapped ponies. She even managed to convince herself it was true.
Rainbow Dash was growing impatient. Over an hour had passed since her meeting with Celestia, and the rescue party still was not ready to go. She looked at her hoof, remembered that she did not own a watch, then let out a frustrated groan.
"Come on everypony, we need to get moving," she said.
A flutter of golden feathers caught her eye. The captain of the Wonderbolts landed next to Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes. Rainbow Dash stared for a moment. Spitfire looked entirely different without her Wonderbolts uniform on, her golden coat was usually hidden by the deep blue fabric. Rainbow Dash had rarely seen her out of uniform.
"Rainbow, we need to have everypony organized before we go," Spitfire said, with the tone one uses to explain the obvious to a small filly, "This rescue will require flying in a tight formation, with all of us working together. We're almost ready, but if we try to rush it we'll just get ourselves hurt and won't be able to help anypony."
Rainbow scratched the ground with her hoof, her cheeks growing warm, "I know, I know. I'm just impatient. There are ponies trapped inside Cloudsdale that need our help, and every second counts!"
"I understand," Spitfire smiled, "We'll be ready soon, just be prepared to do your part. This whole plan hangs on you."
"Yes ma'am!" Rainbow said, snapping a quick salute, "You can count on me!"
Spitfire returned to Soarin and the other Wonderbolts, who were directing a group of several dozen pegasi in formation flying. Rainbow Dash busied herself stretching her wings, mentally preparing for the task ahead.
Doing a sonic rainboom was no easy task, she knew that first hoof. What is more, this storm presented less than ideal conditions. Rainbow tried to ignore the nervous thoughts in the back of her mind, but they crept up on her.
"What if I can't do it?" she thought, "What if the wind is too strong, or the rain is too thick? What if the storm throws me off?"
"No, that won't happen," she shook her head, clearing the thoughts, "I'm just nervous. It's ok to be nervous, it doesn't mean I'll do badly."
She thought about that for a moment. She remembered being nervous before, "I was nervous before the Best Young Flier competition, and I nearly blew my whole routine!"
She paled at this thought, crouching low and quivering in place. The roaring crowds, the staring eyes. Everypony watching, waiting for her, counting on her. It had been too much, she had nearly snapped. She had made mistakes, her nerves distracting her from the task at hoof. It could happen again. It would happen again.
Then she remembered more. A piercing scream, the sight of her friend plummeting, wingless. A rush of speed, the wind in her mane. An explosion of color and sound. She stood up straight, calming her shaking limbs, her face glowing with a confident smile.
"Sure, I got nervous, and I made mistakes," she said to herself, "But when it really counted, when somepony was depending on me, I pulled through. And I'll do it again."
"I'm glad to see you're ready," Spitfires voice said form behind her.
Rainbow Dash jumped, spinning around to face the Wonderbolt she had not realized was there. Spitfire was grinning, not unkindly. She reached out and put a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder.
"Come on kid," she said, "We're ready to go, don't keep us waiting."
With that, Spitfire flew off to join the group of pegasi hovering nearby.
"Kid? Keep you waiting?" Rainbow Dash said, trying to process whether it was an insult or a challenge. She decided it was the latter, and shot into the air, "Why, I'm the best flier in Equestria. If anypony is going to be kept waiting, it's me!"
With that she led the way towards the roiling storm clouds. Dozens of sets of wings beat behind her. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw the pegasi falling into formation. Spitfire flew in the lead, and the others spread out behind her in a cone shape. The other Wonderbolts were spaced out along the formation, working to keep everypony in place.
The beating wings, working together, formed a funnel wind around the formation. It looked almost like a sideways tornado, Rainbow saw. The strong barrier of moving air would deflect the storm's wind and rain, protecting the pegasi inside. All they needed was an opening to break into the storm.
Rainbow Dash smiled. She flew up as they approached the storm, high above and slightly behind the formation of pegasi. She would need the extra distance to build up speed without leaving them behind. She waited a moment, counting seconds. The timing had to be perfect.
When the time was right she dove towards the storm, plummeting down. She pumped her wings, to gain speed and to steady herself against the strong crosswind. Her mane flowed in the wind, soon blowing straight back as her speed overpowered the crosswind. She felt the air resist her, hold her back. With a grunt of effort, she pumped her wings harder, pushing herself forward and gaining speed.
She passed the formation of pegasi. Seconds later she reached the edge of the storm, the crosswind tripling in strength in the space of a few feet. She was not ready for the sudden change of windspeed and nearly lost control, but with a quick flap of her wings she steadied herself and gained the last bit of speed she needed.
A flash of rainbow light exploded behind her. She knew there was a thundering boom involved as well, but at this speed the sound of it could not catch her. She grinned over her shoulder, watching the clouds part behind her, blown away by the force of her sonic rainboom. The formation of pegasi flowed into the gap in the clouds, slipping into the storm before it could reform.
Rainbow slowed. She needed to join with the formation before the storm blew her away. As the bright rainbow trail that was following her faded, she finally heard the loud boom she had caused, echoing among the clouds. Her wings were tired, but with a few strong strokes she had fallen into place right behind Spitfire.
"Good work, Rainbow Dash!" the Wonderbolt captain shouted through the noise of the storm.
Rainbow blushed, looking away from the mare she idolized, "Aw, it was nothing. Just doing my part."
Spitfire pointed ahead, "We aren't that far from the eye. We should be able to get there in a few minutes at this speed."
"Good!" Rainbow said, "My wings could use a break."
Rainbow looked over the formation. The other Wonderbolts were working hard to keep everypony in line, but between the strong winds and the inexperienced fliers the formation was getting ragged. She could see several weak spots in the barrier they were making.
Soarin, one of the Wonderbolts, came flying up from near the rear of the formation. He was panting from exertion, droplets of sweat blowing off of his face as he flew. His wide eyes told Rainbow Dash that something had gone wrong. What he said when he reached the front confirmed this.
"Spitfire! Several ponies have been cut off by the storm," he said, "They can't get back to us through the wind."
Spitfire's eyes grew as wide as Soarin's, then she turned and looked at Rainbow, "Dash," she said, "Go see if you can help those lost ponies."
"I'm on it!" Rainbow said, and with a quick flip she was flying towards the back of the formation.
She could see several ponies struggling in the storm, about forty feet away from the formation. They were pushing hard against the wind, but were slowly falling behind the rest of the pegasi. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Rainbow Dash dove into the storm and worked her way through it to the struggling pegasi.
"Having some trouble?" she asked, coming up along side the small group.
"Just a little bit," one of the pegasi said, grinning sheepishly, "Care to help?"
"No problem!" Rainbow said, "Flap your wings in time with each other, and stay in my wake. We'll get you back."
Rainbow's wings were tired. Doing a sonic rainboom in these conditions had taken a lot out of her. She pumped her wings, setting her face in a look of grim determination. The small group of pegasi fell into place behind her, flapping their wings in time as Rainbow had instructed. They made steady progress, closing on the larger group of pegasi, but it was slow going. Rainbow's flight muscles burned, each flap of her wings took more effort than the one before. Soon she was panting from the exertion, her sore wings shaking with the strain.
"We're so close," she said to herself, "I can do this."
Her left wing twinged cramped up. She screamed with pain, and instinctively stopped flapping. No longer propelling herself through the storm, she plummeted at the mercy of the winds. She looked longingly at the relative safety of the pegasi formation, but with her wing injured and her momentum gone she would not be able to catch up to them. She saw the pegasi she had gone to rescue rejoining the group, with worried looks on their faces as they looked through the storm at her. She saw Spitfire screaming something, but could not hear what. Then the storm whipped her away, and she could not see the other pegasi at all anymore.
***
Twilight Sparkle had found her way to her favorite spot in the Canterlot Library. The back hallway, where she could pace back and forth for hours without getting in anypony's way. During her years in Canterlot she had paced this hallway more times than she could count. She had lost track at three thousand four hundred seventeen, when she was still just a filly.
Pacing this hallway had always been her solution to worry. It gave her time to think, time to process things. Big test coming up? Pace. Accidentally set her room on fire? Pace. Turned Celestia's coat bright pink? Pace. And cry, that one had involved crying as well. But whenever something was troubling her, a few solitary hours of pacing in the back of the library had calmed her down.
Solitary being the operative word.
"Come on, Twilight," Spike said, "Calm down."
"I can't calm down!" she shouted, "Rainbow Dash is diving into that storm as we speak, with no idea what she's heading into. If only I'd been able to find something before she left."
"I'm sure she'll be fine."
Twilight stopped in the middle of the hallway, looking back at Spike, "But what if she's not fine? What if something happens to her in that storm? Something that could have been avoided if she'd just had more information!"
"Well pacing back and forth isn't going to help us find anything," Spike said.
"It's too late now, Rainbow Dash has already left! We can't do anything to help her."
Twilight sat down heavily, thoughts of Rainbow Dash hurt or worse flickering through her mind. Her muscles tensed, and she twitched slightly. She had never been so stressed out. Except maybe that time when she was nearly tardy. Her ears perked up when she heard the sound of approaching hoofsteps.
"Twilight?" Rarity called, coming out from among the bookshelves with a dusty volume, "What about this one?"
Twilight leaped towards her friend, grabbing the book in midair and starting to read before she landed. Her eyes caught the title and she frowned.
"Oh, it's 'Weird Weather and Sinister Storms: A history of magical and unnatural weather patterns in Equestria'" she said, "I had this one in Ponyville, it didn't have anything useful in it."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Rarity said, her ears drooping, "I suppose we'll have to keep looking then."
"Yeah."
Rarity looked around, "You are looking, aren't you? Or have you spent this entire time pacing back and forth?"
Twilight felt her cheeks grow warm, and knew she was blushing, "I, uhm..."
"I thought there was a lead you wanted to follow up on?"
"There was a reference that Starswirl the Bearded made," Twilight said, not looking her friend in the eye, "But it didn't seem to be going anywhere."
"Didn't seem to be going anywhere?" Rarity asked.
"Nothing seems to be going anywhere!" Twilight shouted.
Twilight stamped her hooves in frustration, taking the book Rarity had brought and throwing it down the hallway. Rarity stood quietly for a moment while Twilight breathed heavily.
"Twilight, dear, you really need to calm down," Rarity said.
"Calm? Calm? How can I be calm at a time like this?" Twilight was screaming at her friend, "There's a great big storm hanging over Cloudsdale and nopony knows how to do anything about it! And-" Twilight could not finish her last sentence.
"And Rainbow Dash, one of your best friends, is right in the middle of it," Rarity said for her.
Twilight hung her head low, "And I can't do anything to help her. I'm so worried."
"She's your friend, Twilight. Of course you're worried," Rarity's voice was gentle, reassuring, "But you're wrong. You can help her. You can find out if any other storms like this have happened before, and how to stop them."
Twilight felt some of the weight lift from her mind. The feeling of helplessness that had been following her around all day was vanishing.
"You're right!" Twilight said, "We need to find a solution. We can find a solution!"
"That's the spirit."
Twilight's ears twitched at the sound of pattering dragon feet. Looking around, she saw that Spike was no longer sitting where he had been for the last hour. Instead, he was running along the hallway, frantically waving a book.
"Twilight! Rarity! I've found it!" he said with excitement.
"You've found what, Spike?" Twilight asked.
"The book that Starswirl the Bearded referenced!"
Twilight gasped, and noticed that Rarity did the same next to her. Twilight smiled and took the book from Spike.
"Oh Spike, how did you ever find this?" she asked.
Spike grinned sheepishly, "It was in the old archives. I used to go down there and read to pass the time, whenever you came up here to pace."
"The old archives? Nopony has organized those in years," Twilight said, "Spike, if you hadn't remembered this book was down there, we never would have found it!"
"Aw, it was nothing," Spike said, looking down and scratching the floor with his foot.
Twilight had already buried her snout in the book, her eyes racing over the words. She grinned as she read. The information in this book was the best way to help Rainbow Dash. She hoped it was not already too late.
Spitfire's wings hurt. Leading the formation in this storm, even for a few minutes, was very tiring. The other pegasi were starting to wear down as well, and for a moment her heart hung heavy in her chest. The would not make it to the center of the storm.
Then she caught sight of a glimmer of light ahead. Not more lightning, this light was too steady. Sunlight, piercing through the eye at the center of the storm. They were less than a minute away.
"We're almost there everypony!" she shouted. Her wings felt renewed, hopeful energy flowed through her. She increased her pace, checking behind to make sure the other pegasi could keep up. The closeness of the eye had invigorated them as well, and they matched her speed.
Gusts of wind threatened to blow them off course. Forked tongues of lightning cut through the air all around the formation of pegasi, rocking them with booming thunder. Even in formation, with their own wind barrier protecting them, the pegasi were buffeted by the ferocity of the storm.
Intense winds turned and pushed directly against Spitfire. Even with her swift and powerful wings she had difficulty moving forward against the strong headwind, but with one last burst of effort she broke out into the eye of the storm.
The air here was unnaturally calm. A few feet behind her the storm raged in all its power and ferocity, but here the air barely moved at all. Stretched out below her lay most of Cloudsdale, standing tall just as it had her entire life. Only the edges of the city were within the storm, the huge eye was nearly as large as the city.
Spitfire turned and did a quick headcount as the other pegasi came out of the storm. She sighed in relief, the rescue team were all accounted for. Well, all except one. She sighed again, in sadness this time. She flew over to the group of pegasi.
"Hey Soarin," she said, drawing the attention of her fellow Wonderbolt.
Soarin flew up to her, "What's up?"
"Have you seen Rainbow Dash at all since she got blown away?"
The pegasus shook his head slowly, "No sign of her. I had the others keeping an eye out."
"Feathers!" Spitfire swore, "I hope she's ok."
"She could have landed, found some shelter," Soarin suggested.
Spitfire glanced at the raging storm, "Maybe."
Spitfire shook her head, clearing her thoughts. Rainbow Dash was one of the best fliers in Equestria, if anypony could make it through that storm alone, it would be Dash. In the meantime, they had other concerns here in Cloudsdale. She could not get sidetracked over one pony when fifty others were hanging in the balance.
"We still have a mission to perform," she said, "Let's get down into the city."
Soarin did not say anything, he just fell into place behind her as she dove towards the city. She sent him a silent thanks for that. Rainbow Dash was not one of her Wonderbolts, but the young mare had often surprised and impressed Spitfire with her exuberance. The loss would weigh heavily on Spitfire if Rainbow Dash did not survive the storm.
***
Scootaloo sat alone in the clubhouse after school, waiting for her friends. She was excited. School was canceled tomorrow, due to the emergency in Cloudsdale. Miss Cheerilee had said that the storm could reach ponyville by nightfall the next day, and that everypony should stay home, but with Rarity and Applejack both away from Ponyville the Cutie Mark Crusader's had found it easy to sneak out.
"And anyway," Scootaloo said to herself, "We'll be home long before nightfall tomorrow. We'll be fine."
She was to excited about spending the day with her friends to worry much about some storm in the distance. Storms had never scared her. After all, Rainbow Dash worked with storms all the time. Scootaloo could not be afraid of anything involving her idol, it was all too awesome.
She was in the middle of daydreaming about flying with Rainbow Dash when her friends arrived. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom bounced into their clubhouse, broad smiles on their faces. Scootaloo let the daydream slip from her mind, jumping up and smiling with her friends.
"Hi Sweetie Belle! Hi Applebloom!" she said, her excitement leaking into her voice.
"Hi Scootaloo!" the other two fillies said in unision.
"So, what do we have planned to get out cutie marks today?" Scootaloo asked.
Applebloom's face twisted in confusion, "Don't ya remember?"
"What?"
"We talked about this earlier," Sweetie Belle said, "We're going to help you learn how to fly."
"Oh, right," Scootaloo said. She was torn between excitement and sadness now. It was so awesome of her friends to help her out, but at the same time she worried that she would just disappoint them, like she had disappointed herself so many times before.
Sweetie Belle pushed her playfully, "Cheer up. And come outside, there's no room for flying in here."
Sweetie Belle ran out of the clubhouse, with Applebloom close behind her. Scootaloo weighed her options for a moment, worrying and hoping at the same time. She decided to let hope win out and, with a huge smile on her face, followed her friends through the door.
When she got outside Scootaloo felt a weight on her head. Applebloom was shoving flight goggles over her eyes. They were old and worn, and Scootaloo wondered where her friends had found such a thing, but it made her feel more prepared for what she was about to do.
"Do ya like 'em?" Applebloom asked, then went on without waiting for an answer, "We borrowed them from Fluttershy's cottage. She never uses them anyway, and we'll put them back before she even notices they're gone."
"They're awesome!" Scootaloo said, adjusting the goggles, "Ok, so how do we start?"
Her friends exchanged a confused glance before Sweetie Belle spoke up, "Well... uhm, I guess we should start by seeing what you can do already. We need to see what we're working with."
"Oh, yeah," Scootaloo said, looking away so her friends would not see her embarrassed expression, "Are you sure?"
"We are," Sweetie Belle said. Applebloom nodded agreement.
"Ok, but don't laugh."
Scootaloo flapped her wings. They buzzed rapidly on her back faster than the eye could follow. Her back arched, and she could feel her wings pulling upward, but her hooves remained planted firmly on the ground. She strained herself, grunting with the effort, but soon she had to stop and collapsed to the ground.
"This is pointless, I'll never fly," she said, holding back the tears that threatened to pour from her eyes.
"Nonsense!" Sweetie Belle said, an unusual tone of authority in her voice, "We can work with this."
"Yeah, we'll have y'all up and flying in no time," Applebloom said.
"Do you really think so?" Scootaloo asked, hope peeking into her heart again.
"We know so," Sweetie Belle said, "You'll be flying in ten seconds flat."
Scootaloo smiled at the reference to her idol Rainbow Dash. Sweetie Belle always knew how to cheer her up. Letting her former excitement flood into her again, she jumped up and smiling, bouncing in place.
"So what are we gonna do, then?" she asked.
"Well," Sweetie Belle said, looking around, "Your biggest problem is that your body is too heavy for your wings. We need to fix that."
"How?" Scootaloo asked. She looked over her shoulder, fluttering her wings. How could they make her wings stronger?
"Balloons!" Sweetie Belle said, squeaking.
"Balloons?" Scootaloo said doubtfully, "I don't think... that doesn't sound like a good idea."
"It's a great idea!" Sweetie Belle insisted, putting on her broadest smile, "Here, you and Applebloom start blowing up these balloons. I'll make a harness to hold them all."
Still doubting the idea, Scootaloo set herself to blowing up the balloons. Between her and Applebloom they had done nearly a dozen by the time Sweetie Belle finished her harness.
Scootaloo soon found herself wrapped in ropes, with a dozen balloons hanging off of her. The balloons sagged to the ground, coming to rest on the grass. She sighed, she was so bad at flying that even balloons would not float when attached to her.
Sweetie Belle also sighed, her ears hanging low, "Hmmm, this isn't working."
"I noticed," Scootaloo said, "These balloons aren't very floaty."
Scootaloo twisted, grabbing the ropes with her teeth and yanking them away. She tossed the tangle of ropes and balloons down with more force than was strictly necessary, then she stomped on the balloons, popping them.
"Stupid balloons!" Scootaloo shouted.
"I may have made a miscalculation. But I have another solution, bigger wings!"
"Bigger wings?" Scootaloo asked.
"Ah don't think we have time to wait for her wings to grow out," Applebloom said.
Sweetie Belle shook her head, "No no no, we make her some wings out of wood and cloth."
"Would that even work?" Applebloom asked.
Sweetie Belle pulled a book out of the pile of materials sitting nearby. Scootaloo saw the title on the cover, 'A Beginner's Guide to Aerodynamics'.
"Hey!" Scootaloo said, stamping her hoof, "That's mine!"
"I just borrowed it to help you," Sweetie Belle said, "Anyway, according to this book you need to generate more lift. And constructed wings can generate lift."
"That... could work," Scootaloo admitted, still upset about the book. She had been reading that book every night before bed, dreaming about flying.
Applebloom interrupted her thoughts, "It'll take all night to make wings like that."
"You're right," Sweetie Belle said, "We couldn't test them until tomorrow."
"And it won't be safe tomorrow, because of the storm," Scootaloo said, her head hanging low again.
"We'll be fine in the morning," Sweetie Belle said.
Sweetie Belle's suggestion sounded reasonable, as far as Scootaloo could tell. It was true that ponies could build things with wings that would fly, so why not build wings to carry a pegasus? And they would have plenty of time in the morning to test things before the storm blew in. She smiled.
"Sounds like a plan!" Scootaloo said.
"Oh, I know what else we could do!" Applebloom said, smiling.
"What?" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle said together.
"We can ask an older pegasus for help! I'm sure Rainbow Dash would-"
"No!" Scootaloo shouted, cutting off her friend.
"Why not? Rainbow Dash is the best flier in Ponyville, ah'm sure she could help."
Scootaloo tried to think of an excuse quickly, "Because, uhm, she's gone off to Cloudsdale to help with the storm! She couldn't help now."
Scootaloo sighed in relief when her friends accepted the excuse. She did not want Rainbow Dash to find out she could not fly yet. Scootaloo knew that the cyan mare would not say anything, not out loud. She was too cool for that. But Rainbow Dash would think it. She would think Scootaloo was a pathetic little filly, uncool. Lame. Scootaloo could not stand to have Rainbow Dash think her lame.
"Well, I guess we should meet back here in the morning," Sweetie Belle said.
"Yeah, I gotta get back to the farm anyway," Applebloom said, "Big Mac needs help with the chores tonight, with Applejack out of town."
Scootaloo watched her friends run off towards their homes, then looked up at the dark clouds over Cloudsdale in the distance, "Someday, Rainbow Dash. Someday I'll fly up there just like you do. Then you'll think I'm cool."
***
Rainbow Dash had always felt at home in the sky. Her powerful wings and acrobatic skills made her the most awesome thing in the sky. It was her home, her domain, and she had always felt the most comfortable with her hooves off of solid ground.
Until now. At the mercy of the storm's strong winds, with lightning flashing all around her, she was terrified. She had never felt so small, so helpless, in her sky. She tried to flap her wings, but succeeded only in sending another spike of pain shooting through herself.
Rainbow Dash looked down. The winds had been blowing her around for a while now, but she was steadily growing closer to the ground. She was falling slowly enough, but the wind was pushing her sideways so quickly that an impact with the ground would be very dangerous. Maybe even deadly.
"Spitfire!" she screamed into the storm. She did not have any hope for an answer. The other pegasi were long gone. For their sakes, she hoped they stayed gone. Nopony was safe in this storm.
Rainbow stretched her hurting wing. It was not broken, she knew, but she suspected that she had strained a flight muscle. As much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, Rainbow knew that what she really needed right now was to spend a day or two grounded, so that her wing would have time to heal.
"The only way I'm getting to the ground right now is not going to be pretty," she said to herself. Her voice sounded shaky to her. She tried to steady it.
"Rainbow Dash," a steady voice said in the storm.
"That's better," she said, then her eyes widened, "Wait a minute, that wasn't me!"
"Rainbow Dash," a faint voice in the storm, slipping through the winds and the rain.
"Who's there?" Rainbow called into the storm, "Help me!"
The voice came again, closer this time, "Rainbow Dash."
"Who is that? Where are you?"
"I am everywhere, Rainbow Dash," the voice said from right next to her. Rainbow twisted and turned in the storm, but she could not see anypony nearby.
"What? Where?"
"I am all around you."
"Who are you?" Rainbow Dash asked, her heart in her throat.
"I am the winds and the rains," the voice said, "The lightning and the thunder. I am drought and flood, fog and cloud."
Rainbow Dash's mind, already tumbling from fear and disorientation, could not process this, "What? Look, I don't know who you are, but I need your help. I can't fly and I don't know how to find Cloudsdale from here. Please, help me."
The voice laughed a cruel laugh, "You shall not have my help, little pegasus, but I shall have yours."
"What? What help can I possibly offer? What could I give when I'm lost and helpless?" Rainbow Dash was rather annoyed with this voice now.
"Yourself," the voice said simply.
The winds picked up strength. Bursts of lightning exploded the air around Rainbow Dash. Thunder boomed and rain drove into her painfully. Through the intensifying storm Rainbow Dash could see a vague shape, nothing more than a tuft of cloud that was impossibly holding together in the storm.
"Wait, what?" Rainbow asked, her former terror redoubling now.
"I require a form. Give me yours."
Rainbow shook her head, "No way. This pony doesn't lend herself out."
The voice laughed again, "I did not say lend. I said give."
"Leave me alone!" Rainbow Dash screamed, flapping her wings frantically. She did not even notice the pain of her injured muscles. The figure drifted closer through the storm, growing more substantial as it approached. Rainbow could not escape it, so she turned to face it.
"Fine," Rainbow Dash said, "You wanna do this the hard way? Let's do it the hard way!"
She flew directly at the figure, plunging into it. It was not a cloud, but something similar, like a cloud that was not quite there. It felt strange, but it gave way under her hooves and that was all that Rainbow Dash cared about. She tore apart the not-cloud. The figure withdrew.
Rainbow found herself upwind of the figure, and she dove towards it again. The wind pushed her forward now, giving her a boost of speed.
"And speed is what I need," Rainbow said, gritting her teeth against the pain in her wing as she pushed herself. Almost there.
For the second time that day there was an explosion of light and sound, just as Rainbow Dash caught up to the figure again. The figure was blasted apart, dissipating into the storm, and Rainbow found herself in a clear space in the storm. The wind and rain had been pushed away by the force of the sonic rainboom.
The storm closed in again, and Rainbow Dash could see the figure coming again. She struck a defiant pose.
"Didn't you get the message?" she said, "Leave me alone!"
"Very impressive," the voice said, "I did not think the pegasi still had that ability. Especially not one injured such as you."
"I'm the best flier in Equestria!" Rainbow Dash boasted, "It'll take more than a little storm to slow me down."
"I am far more than a little storm, and I will see the punishment carried out," the voice said. The figure stretched out, surrounding Rainbow Dash. She looked around for an opening, but every escape route closed. As the figure wrapped around Rainbow Dash, she felt some sort of force enveloping her. A yellowish glow surrounded her now, pressing against her, holding her still.
As her body was held in place, Rainbow felt something pushing against her mind. The yellow energy flowed into her, filling her. Her mind filled with thoughts of anger, vengeance. The flow of winds, the course of storms, filled her mind. A great presence pressed on her consciousness.
She screamed. Her mind was being pushed away, she was losing control of her body. She could not even remember her own name now, and she clung to the memories of her friends like a drowning pony clinging to a life raft. But even those memories were being pushed away.
Rainbow pushed against the presence. She refused to let the memories of her friends be pushed away. The presence pushed harder. Rainbow felt herself slipping away. She pressed her hooves against her head, shaking herself, trying to force the presence out. Each time she tried to fight back, the strange presence in her mind pressed harder.
Her hooves shot straight out to her sides. Rainbow Dash tried to bend her legs, but they would not respond. Then they went limp, waggling wildly in the fierce winds. Fear flooded her mind, and the presence took advantage of the distraction. She felt less and less of herself. Soon she could barely even tell that she existed.
Rainbow Dash's limp body tumbled through the storm, the only sign of life a keening, wailing scream that went on and on.
Spitfire collapsed into a cloud bank. Her entire body was worn out. She looked around and saw that the rest of the rescue party had landed around her. All were resting, regaining strength for a few minutes. After much difficulty they had finally reached the center of Cloudsdale, and she felt that they deserved a rest.
Still, they were here for a reason. After a few moments she pushed herself up onto her hooves, forcing her legs to remain steady even though they wanted to shake. She sighed, giving herself a few more seconds before inhaling deeply and speaking to her fellow pegasi.
"Ok everypony," she said, getting the attention of all the pegasi around her, "We came here for a reason. Break up into teams and begin searching around Cloudsdale for the lost ponies. When you find somepony, bring them here."
The gathered pegasi nodded and murmured agreement. They quickly split up into groups of three or four and began flying off into the city. Spitfire stayed in the center of the city to organize the refugees.
The next couple of hours involved teams bringing in dozens of pegasi, shaken refugees who kept staring at the storm with apprehension. Spitfire spent her time calming the refugees and preparing them for the flight out. Eventually, when a large crowd of refugees had gathered, she flagged down Soarin.
"Hey, how are we doing?" Spitfire asked, "I haven't seen the teams bring anypony back in a while."
Soarin frowned, "There are still three ponies that haven't been brought in."
"Any idea where they are?"
"They were hiding out in a building on the edge of town," Soarin said, pointing, "They went inside when the storm started getting bad, and nopony has heard from them since."
"Ok, let's see if we can get to them," Spitfire turned to a pair of her Wonderbolts nearby, "Rapidfire, stay here and keep getting these ponies ready. Fleetfoot, you and Soarin come with me."
Spitfire took off in the indicated direction. Looking back, she saw Soarin and Fleetfoot exchange an uncertain glance before following. That worried her, they had never doubted her orders before, even when doing the most dangerous of tricks. Still, as long as they followed her orders she would be happy.
Reaching the edge of the storm, Spitfire peered through the thick clouds and rain. She could see several buildings, some damaged by the storm, some still intact. She was not sure which one the missing ponies were supposed to be in. Soarin and Fleetfoot caught up while she looked.
"Soarin," Spitfire said, "Which one of these buildings were they in?"
Soarin pointed to a two story building with a very steep roof, "That one, with the pointy roof."
Spitfire dove into the storm, her two Wonderbolts close behind. Her wings burned with the exertion of driving through the wind again. They made slow progress, but reached the pointy-roofed building soon enough. Spitfire flew in through a second floor window. Inside the walls of the building, even with the open window, the winds were much lower. As Soarin and Fleetfoot landed behind her, Spitfire looked around the room.
"Hello?" she called out, "Is anypony here?"
"We've come to help!" Soarin shouted.
Fleetfoot elbowed Soarin with a grin, "I think they can figure that out on their own."
Soarin's cheeks flushed red, and Spitfire turned to stare at the two, "Stay focused guys," she said, then stuck her head through the open doorway that led out of the room, "Hello?"
A soft voice called from the distance, "Hello?"
"Hello!" Spitfire shouted, jumping up in excitement, "We've come to get you out, is anypony hurt?"
Hoofsteps clattered up stairs somewhere nearby. After a moment, a light blue pegasus with a brown mane appeared in the doorway. Two other pegasi stood in the hallway behind her.
"Oh thank goodness!" the blue pegasus said, "We've been so worried! The storm just kept getting stronger and stronger and the walls started cracking and we thought the whole building was going to come down-"
"Are you all ok?" Spitfire asked, cutting off the stream of words from the excitable pegasus.
"Wait, you said the walls are cracking?" Fleetfoot asked.
"Oh yes!" the blue pegasus bounced, "There's a great big crack in the windward wall on the first floor. We noticed it this morning, and it's been getting bigger and bigger!"
Spitfire did not even stop to think, "Then we'd better get going. Are you three the only ponies here? Can you all fly?"
"We're the only ponies here. I'm Deep Blue, by the way. Is everypony else ok? Oooh, this is a terrible storm, just terrible. I only came to Cloudsdale to visit my brother, and now I don't even know where he is. Is he ok? Please tell me he's ok!"
Spitfire tried to calm the excitable pony, "Try not to worry. As far as I know, you three are the only ponies unaccounted for. I'm sure your brother is fine."
Deep Blue immediately lost all semblance of worry, and bounced cheerfully, "Oh, goody. I'm sure glad to hear he's ok!"
"Right..." Spitfire was not sure how seriously to take Deep Blue, "Well then, we need to get out of here before-"
Spitfire's sentence was cut off by a loud rumbling noise in the floor below. Debris could be heard crashing around in the rooms below. Spitfire's mane blew in the strong wind that came up the stairs.
"Before that happens!" Spitfire said, then she turned to the three pegasi that had been hiding in the building, "You three stay close to us, we'll get you through the storm."
Spitfire jumped out through the window, with the others close behind. She and her Wonderbolts took up positions around the three refugees. They made even slower progress this time. Spitfire was not sure if the three refugees were slowing them down, or if the storm was blowing even harder now. Eventually, they worked their way back into the eye of the storm. Spitfire turned to the others.
"I'm glad we got you out of there in time," she said, "Sorry about your house."
Deep Blue smiled, "Oh, it wasn't my house," she said, bouncing cheerfully away among the clouds.
Spitfire watched the odd blue pegasus bounce towards the center of town, where the crowd of refugees was gathered. She turned to the other four pegasi.
"Okay then, let's go see how Rapidfire is doing, we need to get out of here as soon as possible."
She let Soarin, Fleetfoot, and the other two refugees lead the way. She hung back, staring at the wall of the storm behind them, worry about how they would get back through.
***
Rarity placed a brightly burning candle on the table next to Twilight. Twilight nodded a thank you, not taking her eyes off of the book in front of her. Evening had fallen now, and her eyes were strained from hours of reading. The candle would help immensely in the dimming light of evening.
She had nearly finished the book, anyway. It was very informative. Several times the temptation to run off and tell some important fact to Princess Celestia had been nearly overwhelming, but she knew the importance of being thorough.
What was more, she was hoping further reading would help her make more sense of the book. Several passages were entirely unclear. Finishing the last few pages did nothing to clear these troublesome spots up. She groaned in frustration, pushing the book away.
Rarity started from a light doze, "What? What's wrong Twilight?"
"This book doesn't make sense."
"Whatever do you mean?" Rarity asked.
Twilight flipped through the pages, finding a specific passage and pointing at it, "Like right here. It walks about ponies having problems with the weather. Droughts and floods that ruin crops and destroy whole towns! And the pegasi are just as helpless as everypony else! Why can't they control these weather patterns?"
"Isn't that what we're trying to find out?"
"Yes, it is!" Twilight said, "And this book isn't explaining why. It just goes on and on about weather that pegasi couldn't control, and doesn't give any clue about why or how they solved the problem."
"Does it say what started the problem?" Rarity asked, "Maybe we can figure out a solution from there."
Twilight scanned the page again, "No, it doesn't. That's what doesn't make any sense. It makes no mention of the problem starting, as if the pegasi never could control the weather. It's ridiculous!"
"Maybe you should take a break, Twilight," Rarity said, placing a gentle hoof on her friend's shoulder, "You've been working hard all afternoon. Let's get something to eat."
"There's no time! According to the book, these problems were happening all over. However it gets started, it looks like it will spread all over Equestria!"
Rarity sighed, "Twilight, you'll be no good to us frustrated and half-starved. You need to rest so you'll be able to think clearly."
Twilight hated to admit it, but maybe Rarity was right. She sighed, looking away from her friend. She wanted to figure this out, but she was rather tired. Maybe a break would help her think more clearly.
"Ok," Twilight said, "I have been feeling pretty frazzled. Maybe a dinner break would do me good."
"Excellent. I'll go find Spike, and we can all go out and get some solid food in us."
A few minutes later, Twilight found herself following an excited Spike to Pony Joe's doughnut shop. Twilight knew how much Spike loved to visit that doughnut shop, so she had agreed to have their meal there. She inhaled deeply as they entered the store, savoring the delicious scent of donuts.
"Well hello," Pony Joe said, "It's been a while since I've seen you ponies in here."
"Hello Joe, how have you been?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, I've been doing good. Lots of ponies buying donuts, can't complain. What can I get for you?"
"I'll take a raspberry jelly," Twilight said.
Rarity smiled, "I'll have a chocolate glazed, please."
"And I'll have three frosted sprinkles!" Spike said.
"Spike," Twilight said with a warning growl.
"Oh all right," Spike said, "Just one frosted sprinkle."
"Coming right up!" Pony Joe said with a smile.
A few moments later, and a few bits poorer, Twilight was carrying a tray of donuts to an empty corner table. Rarity and Spike sat with her, and all three eagerly ate their donuts.
"I'm still confused by that book," Twilight said between bites.
Rarity carefully finished chewing her mouthful of doughnut before responding, "Twilight, we're on break. We shouldn't be talking about this right now."
"This is important!"
"I understand that, dear, I just think you're pushing yourself too hard."
The bell over the front door rang, and Princess Celestia walked in. The tall alicorn looked around until she spotted Twilight Sparkle, ignoring the reverent bows of the other customers in the shop.
"Twilight Sparkle, I was looking for you in the library," Celestia said.
Twilight jumped, her eyes wide, "P-princess Celestia! I'm so sorry, we'll get right back to work!"
Twilight tried to jump out of her seat, but Rarity's hoof restrained her.
"We're taking a much-needed break," Rarity said, forcing Twilight to sit back down, "Twilight has been working herself hard all afternoon and she needs to rest."
"Yes, I know how she can overwork herself," Celestia said with a slight smile, "I was just wondering if you've made any progress yet?"
"Not much, Princess," Twilight admitted, "We found the book that Starswirl the Bearded referenced, but it doesn't make any sense."
"What doesn't make sense about it?"
"It's just wrong," Twilight said, "It has ponies acting and thinking in ways that they shouldn't. I mean, unless..."
"Unless what?" Celestia asked.
"...unless..." Twilight said slowly, her mind racing, and idea slowly taking form, "I need to get to the library!"
Twilight galloped back to the library. She could hear the others following behind her, their hoofsteps echoing her own. She saw the guards snapping to attention when they saw Celestia running behind her, and they opened the doors for her, bowing as they did. She made her way back down to the library and leaped onto the table with the book she had been reading earlier.
She flipped through the pages, muttering inaudibly under her breath. The book was very long, an she had failed to cross-reference a number of passages that might be relevant to each other. But she needed to check them to be sure. As she read, her lips turned up in a smile. The more she read, the broader her smile grew.
"Have you found something?" Rarity asked after several minutes.
Twilight nodded, "I've got it."
"You have?" Celestia asked.
"Yes," Twilight said, nodding again, "I've figured out why the pegasi in this book didn't think it strange when they couldn't control the weather."
Rarity smacked her hoof into her face, "Uhm, Twilight... forgive me but aren't we supposed to be finding a solution to the storm over Cloudsdale?"
"Right, and we have."
"I'm afraid I don't follow," Rarity said.
"It's all right here, I just didn't realize it because it's spread out across the book," Twilight said, "The pegasi in this book aren't worried about controlling the weather because, when this book was written, the pegasi couldn't control the weather!"
"What?" Rarity said, her eyes wide, "I thought the pegasi always could control the weather."
"So did I, that's why I was so confused," Twilight turned to Celestia, "What about you, Princess?"
"In my long years I have never known a time when the pegasi could not control the weather," Celestia said, "Although long ago, when I was young, I heard rumors of legends of a time when the pegasi had no control over the weather. I never paid any heed to the rumors, though. What makes you think our present troubles are related?"
"The book isn't entirely clear on this point, but it seems as if the pegasi learned to control the weather from a powerful weather spirit named Ponawk," Twilight said, scanning the book quickly, "Apparently she wanted the pegasi to thrive and be happy. But wherever Ponawk went storms would follow that the pegasi could not control. And if she was angry, the storms would grow more powerful."
Princess Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, "Are you saying this storm is caused by some sort of ancient weather spirit?"
"I don't want to believe it," Twilight said, "But it's the only answer that makes sense of all the information we have. The storm around Cloudsdale perfectly fits the description of the storm that follows Ponawk."
"How can we be sure this is true?" Celestia asked.
Twilight was unsure how the other ponies would react to her next suggestion, "Well, I've been thinking about it, and I think the best way would be to try to talk to her."
"She sounds very powerful," Celestia said, "If we're going to try to communicate, we should proceed with caution."
Twilight nodded, "A lot of caution. According to this book, the storm around her grows stronger as she gets more angry. If the storm around Cloudsdale is any indication, she is very angry."
"Very well then, we will spend this evening preparing and attempt to verify Ponawk's presence in the morning. If she is there, we need to discover why she is so angry and how to convince her to leave.
Twilight cleared her throat with some trepidation, sending an apologetic look at Rarity and Spike, "Could you two excuse us? I'd like to ask Princess Celestia something."
"Of course, Twilight," Rarity said, leading Spike out of the room. Twilight watched them go before turning back to Celestia.
Celestia looked down at her curiously, "What is it, Twilight Sparkle?"
"I was thinking," she said, pausing until Celestia nodded for her to continue, "Ponawk is very powerful. We might need to be prepared for the worst case scenario."
"Indeed," Celestia nodded, "I will arrange to have the Elements of Harmony brought with us tomorrow."
"And one more thing."
"Yes?"
Twilight checked to make sure no one was eavesdropping, "I didn't want to worry Rarity and Spike. The book also says that Ponawk is an ethereal form, and to access her full power she needs a body. She can possess a pony and use its body as her own."
"And you think she will do this?"
"She has to to access her full power," Twilight said, "Princess... Rainbow Dash is in that storm. She's one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Ponawk may be able to see that. If she possesses Rainbow Dash..."
"Then the Elements are useless to us," Celestia finished for her, nodding, "We'll have to be very careful."
"I hope Rainbow Dash is ok," Twilight said, "I'm so worried."
"She'll be fine, Twilight," Celestia said, smiling, "We'll make sure of it."
Scootaloo regarded the stiff wings with a baleful glare. Skeptical was not a strong enough word to describe her feelings for the poorly built construct of wood and cloth. She could see chunks of dried glue that had oozed out from between the frail looking sticks of wood, and loose stitches holding flaps of cloth together.
"Well, what do you think?" Sweetie Belle asked, a proud smile on her face.
"It's... uhm..." Scootaloo tried to think of a compliment, "It looks exciting?"
Exciting was the nicest word she could think of for plummeting to the earth.
"I knew you'd like it!" Sweetie Belle said, her voice squeaking in excitement, "Look! I even drew a picture of us on it!"
Scootaloo had wondered what that colorful splotch was supposed to be. She forced a grin. She knew Sweetie Belle was trying, but even her daredevil attitude had second thoughts about jumping from a high place with this thing strapped to her.
Applebloom trotted into the clubhouse, "We'd better try this quick. Ah think the storm's coming in sooner than Miss Cheerilee said."
"Come on Scootaloo! Let's go," Sweetie Belle said.
Reluctantly, Scootaloo followed her friends outside. She had to turn sideways to fit through the doorway, sidestepped awkwardly. Sweetie Belle was dancing in anticipation outside.
As soon as she was through the door, Scootaloo felt the wind catching on her false wings. She stumbled down the stairs outside the clubhouse, half walking and half thrown by the strong winds of the closing storm. When she reached the ground, Sweetie Belle pounced on her, checking that all the straps were tight and secure.
"You're ready to go!" Sweetie Belle said when she was done.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Scootaloo said, uncertainly. A strong gust of wind howled through the apple orchard, and Scootaloo felt herself being lifted off of her hooves.
Sweetie Belle jumped up, squeaking excitedly, "It's working! It's working!"
Scootaloo smiled too, a genuine smile this time. Without even trying, she was leaving the ground. Her heart raced, her excitement growing to match Sweetie Belle's. She was so happy, she failed to notice the insistent creaking of overstressed wood. But the loud snapping caught her attention.
The false wings collapsed around her, wood and glue giving way under her weight. The wooden frame snapped, the seams in the cloth ripped apart. The debris was caught up by the wind and carried away, leaving a few loose bits hanging off of the straps around Scootaloo.
Sweetie Belle's face dropped, her eyes falling flat against her head and her eyes glittering with tears that threatened to fall, "Oh, I guess I should have used more glue."
"An maybe some nails," Applebloom said, "And stronger wood, and better cloth, and-"
Applebloom was cut off by Scootaloo's hoof in her mouth, "It's ok Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo said, "It wouldn't have been safe to test with this storm coming in, anyway. We can make a new pair of wings, and I'll help you build it stronger."
"I'll help too!" Applebloom said, after yanking her face away from Scootaloo's hoof.
"I'm not sure it was a good idea anyway," Sweetie Belle said, scuffing the ground with her hoof, "I mean, we want to help Scootaloo learn to fly on her own. I don't think false wings would help her."
"Maybe you're right," Scootaloo said, "Still, it felt so awesome when my hooves came off of the ground! I was in the air! Really in the air!"
Sweetie Belle smiled, "We'll think of something to help you get there again."
Thunder rolled across the orchard, rumbling past the three friends and rattling them badly. All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders flattened themselves against the ground. Big, dark clouds were stretching above them, moving across the sky at an incredible pace. As they watched, the clouds opened up and a torrential rain poured down on them. The rain was so thick that their manes and coats were instantly soaked.
"We should get inside," Applebloom said.
"What!?" Sweetie Belle shouted her question over the roaring wind.
"I said we should get inside!" Applebloom pointed to the clubhouse. The three friends galloped into the small structure, quickly closing the shutters and huddling together in the middle of the single room.
After a few moments Scootaloo pulled away from her friends and plopped down on the floor, sulking. It was still early in the day, and now with the storm blowing in they would have no time to try more ideas to help her fly.
"Maybe it's a sign," Scootaloo said, "Maybe we should stop trying."
Scootaloo buried her face in her hooves, muffling a frustrated groan. She was never going to fly, and she knew it. Rainbow Dash would never like her or respect her. A pegasus that could not fly, she was pathetic.
"Well that's just silly," Applebloom said, "Come on everypony, let's play a game to take our minds off of the storm."
Thunder boomed again, and the wind roared louder against the thin walls of their clubhouse. The three friends huddled together in the middle of the room again, quivering fearfully and holding each other tightly
"I don't think I'll be able to take my mind off of the storm at all," Sweetie Belle said with a tremor in her voice.
"Yeah, not if it's going to keep reminding us that it's out there," Scootaloo said.
"Waiting for us," Applebloom added.
"Hungry for us."
Sweetie Belle jumped up with something close to her earlier excitement, "Oh, I know! We can be Cutie Mark Crusaders Storm Watchers!"
Scootaloo winced as another wave of thunder rolled across the clubhouse, "I don't think being storm watchers is such a good idea.
"I agree," Applebloom said.
"Maybe we should go home," Sweetie Belle said, "I don't think a treehouse is a very safe place to be during a storm."
Applebloom went to the door, cracking it open to peek outside. The wind caught the door, blasting it wide open and throwing Applebloom across the small room. She hit the wall and fell heavily to the ground, dazed.
Scootaloo, struggling against the wind, reached the door and tried to push it closed. She strained, he eyes squeezed shut with the effort. She felt Sweetie Belle and Applebloom join her, and together the three friends shoved the door closed. Scootaloo felt for the latch and closed it, securing the door.
"On second thought, maybe we should wait for the storm to die down a little," Sweetie Belle said.
Thunder boomed again, and the three found themselves huddling together in the middle of the room again. They stayed that way for a long time.
***
Rainbow Dash wanted to cry.
It was an uncomfortable feeling for her, a feeling she did not have much experience with. The very idea of crying upset her, the thought of not only letting herself be so weak, but also letting others see her weakness, was something that shook her to the core. She was strong and brave, and she wanted everypony to know it.
She took some small comfort in the thought that her friends would not think less of her for crying. They were good friends, Rainbow knew, and she also knew it was silly to think herself weak. Everypony needed to cry sometimes. She kept telling herself that it did not make her weak. She almost convinced herself it was true.
Rainbow Dash could not cry. As much as she wanted to, she could not force her body to weep. No tears would come, no sobs would wrack her body. Not because she would not let herself cry, quite the opposite. She desperately wanted to cry, and had tried with all of her will to make herself do so. But her body refused to cooperate.
She stared out of eyes that were no longer her own. Floating in the eye of the storm, her eyes swept around to take in the remains of Cloudsdale. She could feel the muscles in her neck tense as her head turned. She could feel her eyes rotate in their sockets. She watched her sightline sweep from left to right. And she had absolutely no power to control it.
She thought back to all the times she had choked back tears, had forced herself to maintain her strong outer shell. Now that outer shell had been stolen from her, taken over by a malevolent creature of storms and rage. All that remained of Rainbow Dash was the weak little pony within, the little filly who had cried herself to sleep the night before Summer Flight Camp, the scared pony that had nearly broken down in tears at the Best Young Fliers competition. The weakling who lived in constant terror of failure, always afraid that someone would see through the shell to the fear within.
And she had failed, in the most important thing of all. She had let down her friends. Summer Flight Camp, the Best Young Fliers competition, the only thing on the line there was her pride, her hopes, her dreams. If she had failed, it would have hurt, but it would have only hurt her. But this new failure, this would hurt all of her friends.
They would need the Elements of Harmony to stop a being this strong, and they would need Rainbow Dash to use the Elements. But Rainbow Dash was no longer Rainbow Dash. Her body was gone, and she was now just a frightened presence pushed to the edges of her own mind.
She wanted to cry so very badly.
Ponawk finished observing the storm and turned her attention inward. Rainbow Dash could feel the alien presence probing her thoughts, reading her memories. It hurt. Not just the pain of failure, with each memory Ponawk delved into Rainbow felt a shock of burning pain flow through her mind, so intense it was nearly physical. Her screams of anguish were silent, and her face remained perfectly calm, except for a slight upturning of her lips. Ponawk smiled.
You surprise me , Ponawk thought, Most ponies completely lose themselves when I take over. You have an impressive will.
Why why why why? , what remained of Rainbow babbled incoherently, Please make it stop! It hurts so much please help me!
Pathetic, so much potential and yet still so weak , Ponawk thought, Perhaps it will comfort you to know that this will not last much longer. You've hung on for a very long time, but they all fade in the end. Even now you are slipping away.
Rainbow could not summon the mental effort to form another coherent conscious thought. She felt Ponawk probing her mind again, and felt memories of her friends being ripped away for careful study. Ponawk was learning. With each memory, the weather spirit learned a little more about Rainbow Dash. She learned how the cyan pegasus would act and react, how she interacted with her friends. Ponawk examined every interaction Rainbow had had with her five friends.
Rainbow tried to resist. She tried to hold the memories away from Ponawk, but the weather spirit yanked the memories away at will. Rainbow's best efforts had little effect, and the best she could do was pick which memory went next. One by one she fed her more cherished memories to the undeniable will of Ponawk, each one continuing her pain, each one coming back stained, tainted by the touch of another mind.
This seemed to go on for an eternity, and all the while Rainbow screamed and sobbed silently, not even a hint of fear or pain in her physical eyes. Eventually the pain stopped, when Ponawk finished with her memories. Rainbow watched the world shift around her as Ponawk looked around. Her lips curved up again when she spotted a small group of Ponies emerging from the storm far, far below Cloudsdale. They were surrounded by a brilliant purple shield, which collapsed as soon as the group was clear of the storm.
Ponawk leaped off of the cloud, plummeting in a mad dive for the group of ponies. She put on a look of desperation, covered poorly with a mask of bravado. As they approached the ground, Rainbow Dash found that she recognized the figures below. Her fellow Elements of Harmony, her friends, and two majestic alicorns. They were looking all around, until one of the spotted the pegasus and pointed up, with all of the others following the pointed hoof with their gaze. Seven sets of eyes watched Rainbow Dash land hard on the grassy ground, breathing heavily and glancing nervously towards the sky.
"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked, taking a cautious step forward.
"Thank Celestia you guys came!" Rainbow Dash heard and felt herself say, "That crazy weather spirit has been chasing me all over the place! I tried to get away, but the storm is too strong- I mean, I overworked myself earlier and I need a rest before I can fly though that storm again."
Applejack stepped forward now. The strength of Ponawk's uncertainty was so great that Rainbow Dash could feel it. Applejack, the Element of Honesty, was the greatest danger to Ponawk's plan. If anypony could spot the lie, it would be this one.
"Are ya sure you're all right?" Applejack asked, eying her friend suspiciously, "From what we know of this Ponawk, she can take over a pony's body and make 'em do whatever she wants. How do we know you ain't her?"
Not a trace of Ponawk's nervousness showed as she struck a smug pose and said, "I'm the Element of Loyalty. It'll take more than some grumpy old weather spirit to turn me against my friends."
Rainbow Dash wished with all of her heart that that was true. This was a crucial moment, she sensed. If her friends discovered the truth, they might be able to save her. She had to signal them somehow. She bent all of her will towards moving her mouth, to making words form and flow and inform her friends of the danger they were in. She poured every drop of her friendship and loyalty into the effort.
Applejack nodded, then smiled, "Well, we're glad you're safe! We need to get out of here before Ponawk shows up."
"Good idea," Rainbow Dash found herself saying, "We can regroup in Ponyville, and Twilight can figure out a plan to save us."
Rainbow Dash redoubled her efforts to give some sort of signal to her friends. She stopped trying to talk, and instead tried to scream. To cry out, or even just cry. To make tears run down her cheeks. To blink. Her body refused to respond.
She felt her mind tiring. Little pieces slipping away. For a moment she forgot why she was trying to blink, until her the faces of her friends reminded her. Rainbow felt her mind growing weaker. She was fading, just as Ponawk had said would happen. She watched as her friends all smiled, accepted the false Rainbow Dash into their group. She watched as Celestia offered to maintain the shield spell for the walk out, and Twilight thanked Celestia for the chance to rest. She watched herself enter the storm with her friends, the raging winds held at bay, for the moment, by the princess's shield.
All the while, she felt Ponawk's growing excitement, her growing surety that even the Elements of Harmony would be powerless against the storms. Rainbow Dash felt the weather spirit's joy, and underneath that the slight feeling of a powerful anger being satisfied.
Rainbow Dash wanted to cry.
Scootaloo wanted to cry.
She was beginning to think she would never learn to fly. Everything the crusaders tried to help her fly eventually failed. Most of their ideas had immediately failed. She would never fly. Rainbow Dash would never respect her.
Having long since given up on going outside, the three crusaders had decided to stay in the clubhouse and coach Scootaloo on wing strengthening exercises. Which meant that Applebloom suggested it, Sweetie Belle agreed to it, and Scootaloo was too nice to tell her friends to stop trying. They had eventually grown bored, although not as quickly as the orange filly could have hoped.
Now Scootaloo sat alone in one corner of the room, reading a book and occasionally stealing a glance and Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. The other two fillies were absorbed in a game of checkers, with Applebloom pressing a slight advantage. They had asked Scootaloo to play, but she refused to join them. She wanted to be alone for a bit.
Scootaloo looked down at the book in her hooves. The title read, 'A Beginner's Guide to Aerodynamics', and she had hoped it would help her learn to fly. The book turned out to be full of information on how wind flowed over wings and how mane styles could effect flight speed, but it seemed empty of information on how to actually get airborne. She had held out hope that something useful could be found in the pages of this book, but with only one chapter left she had begun to despair.
Her eyes brightened when she saw a diagram on the first page of the last chapter. It showed a single wing, with arrows depicting the flow of air around the wing. It was similar to earlier diagrams, but in this one the wing was mid-flap. She read on, fascinated.
The book described how flapping in a certain way would catch more air, and generate more lift. Reading the book and studying the diagrams, Scootaloo got a good idea of the sort of motion the book was describing.
She looked over at her friends. They were starting a new game of checkers now, arguing over who got to go first. Completely distracted. Just how Scootaloo wanted. If she failed this time, at least nopony would be watching.
Slowly, watching her friends carefully, Scootaloo unfurled her wings. She flapped them once, twice, three times, stretching them a bit before giving an earnest try. Then she tried flapping with the new technique the book had taught her.
She felt the air push against her wings, harder than it usually did. The book was right, this really did push more air around! Scootaloo smiled, flapping several times. She felt her weight lift from her hooves, until they just barely touched the floor. She closed her eyes, reveling in the sensation of lift as she flapped even harder, her wings pulling down and pushing her body up. Eventually, after a few moments of flapping, she felt her hooves lift entirely off of the ground.
She hung in the air. The strain of holding herself up was exhausting, and she could feel her wings quickly tiring, but for a moment she was floating above the floor, not a single hoof touching anything but air. It was an exhilarating feeling. Her heart thudded in her tiny chest, racing from more than just the strain of the exercise. Her smile broadened, and she gave one last mighty flap before letting herself fall back to the ground.
She landed with a small thud, panting heavily from exertion. Openning her eyes, Scootaloo saw Applebloom and Sweetie Belle staring at her, slow smiles spreading across their faces. Her two friends took a step towards her, then another, then again, smiles growing wider all the while. Scootaloor stepped back.
"Hey, come on guys, there's no need to overreact," Scootaloo said, sensing what was coming and trying to hide her own excitement.
"You were flying Scootaloo!" Applebloom said.
Sweetie Belle nodded, "We saw you!"
"It was just a bit of hovering," Scootaloo said, waving her hoof nonchalantly, "Nothing to get excited about."
But her friends did not listen. Before she could blink, Scootaloo felt two warm bodies press up against either side of her. For a moment she resisted the group hug, but soon she relented joined her friends in the scream of excitement.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER FLIGHT COACHES YAY!"
"Did you get your cutie mark Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked.
Scootaloo looked at her flank and frowned, "No, nothing. What about you two?"
"Nope."
"No."
"I finally learned how to fly with your help," Scootaloo said, her ears lowering, "and none of us even got our cutie mark."
"Aw, it's ok Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said, putting a comforting hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder, "Rainbow Dash didn't get her cutie mark until long after she learned to fly."
Applebloom nodded, "Yeah! And who ever heard of a flight coach who couldn't fly?"
"Yeah, I guess," Scootaloo frowned for a moment longer, then hopped up, once again excited, "I can't believe I can finally fly!"
"I bet you can't wait to see Rainbow Dash. She'll be real impressed," Applebloom said.
Sweetie Belle nodded, "Yeah, she loves flying. You'll be able to spend a lot more time with her now that you can fly!"
"I guess," Scootaloo looked around the room, avoiding eye contact with her friends.
Sweetie Belle looked at the shutters, shaking in place from the storm outside, "I just hope they get home soon."
Scootaloo hoped they would not be home soon. She needed more time, time to practice and get better. Rainbow Dash would never be impressed by a pegasus that could barely hover. Struggling to fly was decidedly not cool. All of the excitement she had felt just seconds ago evaporated when Scootaloo realized that barely hovering was just as bad as not flying at all.
***
The wishes of fillies are not always granted. Rainbow Dash was heading back to Ponyville, flying through the storms at great speed alongside two pegasi-pulled chariots carrying her earthbound friends and the two princesses. Fluttershy, much to everypony's surprise, had elected to fly herself rather than add her weight to the already strained pegasi pulling the chariots.
Rainbow Dash herself noticed very little of this. She felt Ponawk willing the magical storm around Cloudsdale to stay in place, meaning they eventually passed into regular stormclouds. The wind and rain here were strong, but not unnaturally so. They group had been able to let the shield spell drop, and it was then that the chariots were called to speed their journey.
Rainbow huddled in the deep recesses of her mind, curled around the remnants of her personal identity. Despair had set in long ago, rooting deeply in her mind and sprouting a conviction that she would never be free. Her will to fight was quickly fading, and a desire to give in and let herself fade away seeped into the edges of her thoughts. She no longer tried to resist that feeling, instead resigned to slowly watching, waiting for the inevitable moment when her urge to surrender would overpower her urge to resist, and she would be no more.
They landed at Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow Dash remembered hearing Applejack say something about checking on her family, and Rarity saying Sweetie Belle was supposed to be here as well. It had been agree that Sweet Apple Acres was as good a place as any for the group to plan and recuperate.
Rainbow Dash lost the thread of events for a while. Her mind forgot how to pay attention to her senses while it fought against the inroads of surrender flowing through it. Eventually, though, her will to resist proved the stronger. For the moment. She saw that they were now inside, and Applejack looked very upset.
"What do you mean you haven't seen them in hours?" Applejack shouted at a cowering Big Mac.
"They went out before the storm got bad, and they ain't been back since," Big Mac said.
"Why ain't you out looking for them?"
"Applejack," Twilight said with a consoling tone, "It's likely they got caught in town when the storm hit. They're probably safe and sound with someone in Ponyville."
"And what if they ain't?" Applejack asked, "What if they got caught out in their club house? They spend half of their time out there! In a tree! That ain't no safe place to be in a storm like this!"
Rainbow Dash felt her lips move and heard her own voice say, "Why don't we go look?"
"Say what, sugarcube?"
"The two of use can go out to their clubhouse and take a look while the others start planning," Rainbow Dash heard herself say, "Neither of us are much for planning anyway. We can go make sure they're safe."
Rainbow Dash felt the vague hints of a plan from the roiling mind of Ponawk. The elements could still be a threat, especially with both princesses present. But a small accident, a tree falling over on Applejack, and all the others would rush over to help the dependable earth pony. Distracted, they would not notice until too late that the others were falling around them. By the time they got over the surprise, too few would be left standing to put up any effective resistance.
She could feel Ponawk deciding whether the sun princess was the biggest threat, or the elements of Harmony minus one. The weather spirit could not be sure, but what finally decided it was that Celestia might survive a sudden surprise attack. Twilight Sparkle would be the first target.
With Applejack's nodding agreement, Rainbow Dash saw herself start heading for the door.
***
"Guys, the storm is getting worse," Sweetie Belle said.
Scootaloo let herself drop to the floor. With the encouragement of her friends, she had tried hovering several more times. It was easier once she got used to it, but she still could do little more than go up a bit.
"We really shouldn't be in this tree," Applebloom said, "I think we should make a run for the house."
"It's dangerous out there," Scootaloo said.
Applebloom gestured around the treehouse, "It's dangerous in here, too. The house has strong walls and a lightning rod, we'll be safe if we can just get to there."
"Well, nothing else for it but to run," Scootaloo said. The others nodded, and Scootaloo took a hold of the door handle.
"When I say go," Applebloom said, "One... Two... Three... GO!"
Scootaloo flung the door open and ran out of the clubhouse. The wind howled past her, whipping her mane around into her face. The driving rain pelted her coat and forced her to squeeze her eyes nearly shut. Keeping an eye on her two friends, Scootaloo led the way towards the Apple family farmhouse.
They made slow progress, and more than once found themselves wandering the wrong way. What was normally a ten minute stroll became an arduous thirty minutes, and all three fillies were soaked through by the time they reached the door to the farmhouse.
As they approached the door it was flung open. Glowing light shone outwards, and Scootaloo saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash preparing to step outside. The earth pony's eyes went wide when she caught sight of the three fillies.
"Applebloom!" Applejack said, pulling her sister inside.
Rarity ran up to the door from further inside, grabbing her little sister too, "Sweetie Belle! Thank goodness you're all right."
Scootaloo looked hopefully at Rainbow Dash, but the cyan mare simply turned and walked back inside. Head down, Scootaloo followed her inside. The other two fillies were being doted on by their sisters, but nopony paid attention to the orange filly.
Suddenly Scootaloo found herself buried in a towel. Twilight Sparkle, apparently, had noticed her. The vigorous application of the rough towel left Scootaloo feeling very damp, but much drier than she had been moments ago.
"Thanks," Scootaloo said.
She looked to Rainbow Dash again, but the older pegasus did not seem to notice her at all. Scootaloo thought back to the moment when the door had first opened. Applejack had immediately smiled, but the look on Rainbow Dash's face had been entirely blank.
Scootaloo tried to subtly catch Rainbow Dash's attention by walking in front of her, but failed to get any reaction. It was as if Rainbow Dash did not even recognize her.
The older ponies were talking about something, and Scootaloo was vaguely aware of both princesses being present, but at the moment she mostly felt anger at Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo had just spent several days building up to the biggest achievement of her life, nearly giving up forever, just to impressed Rainbow Dash. And the cyan pegasus did not even recognize her.
Scootaloo tried to convince herself that Rainbow Dash was just distracted. A lot had happened in the last few days, and Rainbow probably had a lot on her mind. Scootaloo knew one thing that would be sure to catch the older pegasi's attention.
She sidled up to Rainbow Dash, who was sitting on the sidelines of the conversation and only paying half attention, "So... I learned how to fly today," she said. She looked all around the room, anywhere but at Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo had just told her hero that she had just now learned to fly. It was a big risk, in her mind.
"What? Oh, that's neat, I guess," Rainbow Dash said.
Scootaloo felt her heart stop. Her life's biggest accomplishment so far, dismissed so casually by the only pony whose opinion mattered. Rainbow Dash did not care about her. Rainbow Dash had never cared about her. Rainbow Dash barely even knew she existed. The older pegasi probably did not even know Scootaloo's name.
Tears welling up in her eyes, Scootaloo stood in front of Rainbow Dash and glared at her hero, a rumbling rage building up deep inside her chest. For the first time, Rainbow Dash actually focused on the orange filly.
"What's my name?" Scootaloo asked.
"What?" Rainbow Dash said, looking around the room in confusion.
"You don't care about me!" Scootaloo shouted, "You never cared about me!"
"Listen, kid, I-" Rainbow Dash smiled awkwardly at the other ponies in the room.
"YOU CAN'T EVEN TELL ME MY NAME!" Scootaloo screamed, "YOU HATE ME! AND I HATE YOU TOO!"
***
As soon as the door opened and Rainbow Dash saw the little orange filly, a plan formed in her mind. A glimmer of a wish, too weak to be called hope, pushed back the dark tide of despair that had been washing over her for hours.
Everything Ponawk knew about Rainbow Dash came from Rainbow's own memories. She could still feel the taint on many of her most precious memories, the imprint of that malicious will looking through her private thoughts.
But she could also feel many of her memories that were clean of Ponawk's imprint. Including every memory she had of the little filly that was her biggest fan. Ponawk did not know who this little orange filly was, and did not know that she should know.
Ponawk ignored the filly, and Rainbow Dash felt hope, real hope, for the first time since Ponawk had entered her body.
Come on, notice it, Rainbow thought, deep down in her most guarded of thoughts, please.
Everypony continued with the business at hand. The fillies were dried off and conversation turned back to the problem of the storm. Ponawk paid rapt attention to every word that was spoken, but put on a show of not paying much attention at all. Rainbow Dash saw the orange filly walk in front of her, obvious trying to catch her attention, but Ponawk failed to react in any way.
Come on, that little filly spends half her waking hours following me around, Rainbow thought, Somepony has to notice that I'm ignoring her.
But everypony was too busy worrying about the storm, and trying to find a solution. None of them noticed anything unusual about Rainbow Dash. She began to despair again. If nopony noticed that she did not recognize her favorite filly, then it would not matter that Ponawk had never bothered to inspect those memories.
Then a feathered orange figure popped up right in front of her. Rainbow Dash's mind leaped for joy that the filly, at least, had noticed something was wrong. Then her heart sank at the sight of the tear-filled eyes that confronted her.
"What's my name?" the little filly demanded.
Rainbow Dash felt Ponawk force back a rising panic. She would have laughed if she could. But any desire to laugh was quickly crushed when Ponawk turned her attention inward. Rainbow immediately felt Ponawk searching for information about the orange filly.
No! Rainbow though, a mental shout at the weather spirit, That's mine! My memory!
Ponawk pushed hard, and agony returned to Rainbow Dash. Her screams echoed through her mind but nowhere else. All she wanted was for the pain to stop, and for an instant her resolve wavered and she nearly gave up the memories to Ponawk.
"You don't care about my!" she heard Scootaloo shouting, from somewhere far away, "You never cared about me!"
Nononono! Rainbow Dash's resolve returned, and she hid her thoughts from Ponawk, I care about you kid! I'm doing this for you. For you!
For her. That little filly that followed her around everywhere. The hope in those wide eyes whenever Rainbow Dash looked at her, the excitement at every compliment, every offer of time spent together. Rainbow Dash clung to it. It kept her going. That little filly was her biggest fan, the one pony who would always be there to cheer her on while she practiced, to shout encouragement at her whenever Rainbow felt like a trick might be too hard, too complicated. That little filly followed Rainbow Dash with an undying loyalty that deserved to be repaid in kind.
Loyalty
The word reverberated in her mind. The pain lessened for a moment, as if Ponawk had been staggered by the thought.
I am the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash thought, clinging to her feelings of loyalty towards the little filly. It would be a betrayal to let this evil mind touch her memories of the filly.
I am Loyalty, the pain doubled, tripled. She screamed, feeling her mind burning away. She wrapped herself around those few precious memories, the only hope she had. She must protect those memories above all else.
Ponawk pushed and prodded, burning away everything around those memories, isolating them, closing in. Rainbow Dash felt her grip loosen, she felt herself fading away, Ponawk drawing closer to those last few memories.
"YOU CAN'T EVEN TELL ME MY NAME!" Scootaloo was screaming, from so very far away, "YOU HATE ME! AND I HATE YOU TOO!"
I don't hate you, Rainbow Dash thought, her mind spinning wildly.
I.
The word had nearly lost all meaning. Rainbow Dash had come close to losing her sense of self, but the filly's heart-wrenching cries had pulled Rainbow back from the precipice of disaster. She clung to the memories of the orange filly, guarding them desperately against the agonizing pressure that shot through her mind as the weather spirit bore down. Ponawk poured every ounce of her mental might into breaking Rainbow Dash, shattering the remnants of her mind and slipping into those essential memories.
Her consciousness slipping, Rainbow Dash saw Twilight approaching.
"Yes, what's her name, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked.
A new hope lit in Rainbow's mind, and she grounded herself in it.
"Does it really matter?" Rainbow heard herself saying.
"It's really not that important right now, Twilight," princess Celestia said, turning back to the group.
Please please please, Rainbow thought, Please make this stop! It hurts! Oh it hurts you can stop it save me Twilight!
"I think it's important," Twilight said, "Rainbow Dash, that little filly follows you around all the time. You talk about her constantly. She's practically a sister to her. You know her name. Tell us what it is."
"I, uh... I agree with Celestia," Rainbow's mouth said, "We really have more important things to talk about right now."
"The book Spike found said that Ponawk had the power to possess ponies," Twilight said, "If you were really Rainbow Dash, then you would know who Scootaloo is. Which means you must really be Ponawk."
Rainbow Dash rejoiced. Hope surged and with it so did she, pushing back the weather spirit and clinging fiercely to what remained of herself.
"Very clever, Ms. Sparkle," she heard herself say, "But it will do you little good."
"We can stop you now," Applejack said.
Ponawk just laughed, "Do you really think you're strong enough to stop me?"
"My sister and I will bring you down," Luna said, taking a fighting stance.
"And we have the Elements of Harmony on our side," Rarity said.
"Even the princesses are no match for me," Ponawk said, "And you're missing one of the Elements, Loyalty."
Oh no no no! Rainbow Dash thought, I'm here! I'm right here! GETMEOUT!
Twilight smiled, "You're wrong, we have loyalty right here with us."
Ponawk chuckled, "This body? This is not your friend, not anymore. Rainbow Dash is gone, I erased her."
Don't believe her.
"I don't believe you," Twilight said, "You know too much. How Rainbow acts, who all of us are, everything. You could only know that by learning it from Rainbow Dash."
"Oh, I kept her memories around, of course. I knew I'd need them to fool you."
Twilight's smiled turned into a broad grin, "Liar. You knew so much, but you did not know Scootaloo. If you had all of Dash's memories, you would have known about her favorite little filly. But you didn't. That proves that Rainbow Dash is still there, still resisting you. That she's still loyal to her friends."
Yes! Yes! Yes!
"And that means that we have all six Elements of Harmony," Twilight said. The other four ponies had already slipped on their necklaces, and Celestia was slipping Twilight's tiara over the lavender unicorn's mane. Rainbow Dash watched with glee as her own necklace was lifted by a purple aura and shoved around her neck.
Rainbow Dash instantly felt herself flooding back. She flowed outwards, driving Ponawk back and filling her mind with herself. The unpleasant taint on her memories faded and washed away. She felt Ponawk's fear and anger as the weather spirit was forced to flee. Rainbow Dash stretched out her wings, reveling in her newfound control of her own body.
***
Scootaloo was not entirely sure what had just happened. One moment she had been angry, shouting at Rainbow Dash. Then Twilight started arguing with Rainbow Dash. From what Scootaloo understood, something had taken over Rainbow Dash's body, and that's why the older pegasus had been ignoring her. Then the Elements of Harmony were brought out, and there was a bright flash of light, and everything was really confusing. But Scootaloo learned one really important thing from all of this.
Rainbow Dash talks about me to her friends, Scootaloo thought, the bright light of Harmony still fading, She notices me! She likes me!
Soon after it became clear that the Elements of Harmony had driven out whatever had been in Rainbow Dash. Everypony started to celebrate, even the two princesses, but Scootaloo ignored them. She focused instead on throwing her hooves around Rainbow Dash, and burying her face in the mare's soft chest. Her heart fluttered when she felt Rainbow Dash returning the hug, and she smiled happily.
"Uh, hey everypony," Applejack said. Scootaloo looked up and saw that Applejack was looking through the window with an expression similar to fear, "Maybe we shouldn't celebrate just yet."
Scootaloo followed Rainbow Dash to the window and looked at the sky outside. Vast stretches of sky were already completely clear of clouds, but it took her a moment to see why. All of the clouds were being drawn towards one part of the sky, spiraling inward towards a bright golden figure.
"I don't think Ponawk is ready to give up yet," Rainbow Dash said. She reached a hoof around Scootaloo and gave the filly a light hug, "Don't worry Scoots, we'll take care of this."
The others all nodded, and began to run out through the door. The last to leave, Rarity turned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"And you three, stay right here in this house until we get back," Rarity said, before galloping through the door.
Scootaloo stayed inside for about ten seconds. Big Mac was busy scolding Applebloom for playing in a tree house during a lightning storm, and failed to notice the orange filly sneaking out through the back door. Sweetie Belle was far more perceptive, or perhaps just knew her friend better, and followed close behind Scootaloo.
"Maybe we should stay inside," Sweetie Belle said, looking back towards the door.
"No way. Rainbow Dash is out here, this is where I want to be!"
Scootaloo kept walking, rounding the corner of the house. The older ponies came into view, and so did the massive storm cloud that Ponawk had drawn to herself. The dark cloud was nearly black, thick and smokey, lit within by intermittent flashes of lightning. The setting sun shone brightly on one side of the cloud, making it glow red.
Both princesses were already in the air, circling the storm cloud and inspecting it. Luna stared intently into the depths of the cloud, her eyes darting around and taking in every detail. But Celestia's eyes stayed focused on the very heart of the cloud, the glowing center where Ponawk had hidden herself away. Scootaloo imagined that if looks could kill, Celestia would have already beaten Ponawk.
And then Celestia's smouldering glare burst into roaring flame. Real flame, roiling and hot, that flew out from Celestia and burned into the clouds. Lightning answered, spiraling back along the line of flame towards Celestia, but the sun princess was no longer there.
The battle had begun, Scootaloo knew, and she sat back in awe at the spectacle. She had watched Rainbow Dash perform many amazing flight tricks, but the cyan pegasus had nothing on the two princesses, who combined flight and magic in a dizzying dance.
Celestia and Luna spiraled and dove, twisted and teleported, first here, then there, and everywhere all at once. Flashes of lightning and gusts of wind shot out, but always where they had been. The princesses responded with their own magic, gouts of flame and blasting light flew from Celestia's horn. Shrieking streams of darkness and terror poured out of Luna. Their attacks sank into the clouds and were slapped away by the mystical winds of Ponawk's storm.
With a flash of color, Scootaloo saw Rainbow Dash join the fight. She cheered her mentor on, jumping up and shaking a hoof. Rainbow, skilled as she was at flight, could not dodge as well as the princesses. She was quickly tossed back by a gust of wind, and Scootaloo's heart skipped a beat until she saw Rainbow Dash recover, hovering in midair for a moment before flying down to the five other ponies watching from below.
Rainbow Dash and her friends gathered together, and Twilight closed her eyes in concentration. After a moment, the Elements of Harmony lit up, and Scootaloo squinted against the bright light. A beam of rainbow energy shot upwards, slamming into the clouds around Ponawk and blasting them away.
The clouds were nearly all destroyed by the time the rainbow beam spent itself, but immediately the storm began to reform. Lightning blasted outward in all directions, keeping Celestia and Luna away while Ponawk rebuilt her defenses, until the stalemate was restored.
Scootaloo frowned, "The Elements of Harmony didn't work."
"They couldn't get through the clouds," Sweetie Belle said, "Nothing can."
"Something has to," Scootaloo said, "Or else they don't have a chance!"
The Elements of Harmony were unleashed again, with no greater success. They simply did not have enough power to penetrate Ponawk's defenses and hurt the weather spirit. Scootaloo watched as Rainbow Dash spoke to her friends. They seemed to be arguing, and Twilight even held Rainbow Dash in place with her telekinesis. Eventually, the others appeared to concede Rainbow's point, and Twilight let her go. Rainbow Dash took off, heading straight for Ponawk.
Scootaloo stood up and shouted, "No! Rainbow Dash, it's too dangerous don't go near her!" Scootaloo did not realize she was running until Sweetie Belle pulled her back.
"Don't go, Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle said, "You'll get hurt!"
"She'll get hurt, too."
Scootaloo could only watch as Rainbow Dash zoomed towards the clouds around Ponawk. Twilight was concentrating again, but Scootaloo doubted that the Elements of Harmony would work any better this time than they had before.
It was not until the last second that Scootaloo realized Rainbow Dash's plan. She had never seen Rainbow Dash fly so fast before, except when Rainbow was practicing for the Best Young Fliers competition. Praticing for the...
"Sonic rainboom?" Scootaloo said, and at the same instant a flash of bright rainbow light burst out from Rainbow Dash. The rainboom blew away the clouds surrounding Ponawk, and Scootaloo saw another burst of rainbow energy following directly behind Rainbow Dash. Twilight had used the Elements of Harmony again.
Stripped of her defenses and caught off guard, Ponawk was hit with the full force of the Elements of Harmony. A sphere of rainbow light wrapped around the weather spirit, and after a second Scootaloo realized that Rainbow Dash was caught inside the sphere as well. All alone with a powerful and angry Ponawk.
Scootaloo swallowed the lump of fear rising in her throat, "Come on Rainbow Dash, you can make it out of there."
***
No feeling in the world could compare to the explosive joy of a successful sonic rainboom. Rainbow Dash reveled in it, until she remembered why she had done the rainboom in the first place.
Looking around, Rainbow Dash saw an endless fields of flowing rainbow energy. She stood up and, looking down, saw that she was standing on a roiling mass of rainbow. Her eyes told her the rainbows were in constant motion, but her hooves told her she stood on solid ground. The inconsistency made her dizzy. She felt like laying down, but worried that this would only worsen the problem.
"Where am I?" Rainbow Dash asked out loud.
"Nowhere," a voice said. Rainbow Dash spun around in place to find the source of the voice.
Ponawk lay nearby, her golden form no longer glowing, but rather dull. Rainbow Dash approached with caution, prodding the weather spirit with a hoof. Ponawk winced and groaned, obviously in pain.
"Nowhere?" Rainbow asked.
"Or somewhere," Ponawk said, dragging herself into an upright position, "It is hard to define."
"Well that makes a lot of sense," Rainbow Dash said, snorting.
Ponawk hung her head, "What do you care? You have won. Holding off both alicorns and the Elements of Harmony, and then being hit by the Elements... it was too much even for me. I'm at your mercy, for the moment."
"For the moment?"
"If you wait too long, I will recover. So please, end it quickly."
Rainbow Dash was not sure what to do. On the one hoof, Ponawk had nearly destroyed Equestria. She had wrecked Cloudsdale, injured dozens of ponies, and was well on her way to wiping Equestria off of the map. It had taken both princesses, the Elements of Harmony, and a sonic rainboom to slow the weather spirit down, and there was no guarantee they would ever be able to pull it off again if Ponawk was allowed to recover.
On the other hoof, Rainbow Dash did not think she had it in her to kill the helpless being standing unsteadily before her. She thought back to Scootaloo, whose friendship had given Rainbow Dash the strength to hold out when the end seemed close, inevitable. Dash knew that she would never be able to look the little filly in the eye again after killing a helpless creature, even one that had tried to do terrible things.
"Why couldn't Celestia be here?" Rainbow wondered aloud, "I've never been good at making hard choices."
"What is so hard about the choice?" Ponawk asked, "Your kind have been my enemy since you started this. Surely you knew it would come to this sooner or later."
"What? We didn't start this!" Rainbow Dash said, taken aback, "You started it when you put that huge storm over Cloudsdale."
Ponawk took a step forward, getting in Rainbow Dash's face, "Oh ha ha, very funny. I knew the pegasi were evil, but I never thought you were cruel too!"
"Evil? What are you talking about?"
"I teach you to control the weather, and how do you use that power? Selfishly!" Ponawk was nearly screaming now, "You heartless ponies only care about yourselves! You never worry about what you're doing to the rest of the world!"
Rainbow Dash was not sure how to respond, "Wait, what are we doing to the rest of the world?"
"Don't try to plead ignorance!" Ponawk said, "I taught you how the weather works when I taught you how to control it. The cycle of water, the patterns of winds, the effects of mountains and plains, rivers and oceans. You know what you have done!"
"No, I don't," Rainbow Dash said, "I don't know what you're talking about at all. Mountains and rivers and stuff don't have any effect on the weather."
Ponawk blinked, apparently confused, then looked at Rainbow Dash with suspicion, "Are you really so ignorant? Have you really forgotten so much of what I taught you? How can I know you aren't lying to protect yourself?"
"Protect myself from what? You said yourself that we've won, you're at my mercy," Rainbow Dash said, "And besides, you never taught me anything. You haven't taught the pegasi anything in thousands of years, since before even Princess Celestia. We didn't even know you existed! I learned how to control the weather from an instructor at Weatherpony Training Camp."
Ponawk thought about this.
Rainbow Dash continued, "And you spent all that time in my head, reading my thoughts and memories," Rainbow could not help but shudder from the fresh memory, "Didn't you notice that I knew nothing about any of this stuff you're talking about?"
"This is true, though I did not think about it at the time," Ponawk said, "But how can this be? My most important teachings lost, while the most dangerous teachings live on? Why?"
Rainbow Dash shrugged, "I don't know. We've never even thought about it. What are we doing that's so bad, anyway?"
"What are you-" Ponawk chocked on her shock, "What do you know of the lands outside of Equestria?"
"Not much. There's a griffin kingdom, some diamond dogs and dragons. Why?"
"They do not have pegasi, do they?"
"Well... no."
"Who controls their weather, then?"
"I don't know," Rainbow Dash said, uncomfortable with where the conversation was going.
"But how do they have weather with no one to control it?"
"I... look, are you saying we're supposed to control the weather for the whole world?" Rainbow Dash asked, "Because there aren't nearly enough pegasi to do that all the time."
"No, fool!" Ponawk shouted, "The problem is too much control!"
"What?"
"You keep your weather here so neat, so orderly. Scheduled rainstorms, sunny days, clear nights. And what does it all add up to? Disruption! Equestria is such a small nation, but the knot of disruption it makes in the world's weather patterns radiate outwards."
"Disruption? What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I mean droughts! Floods! Hurricanes and tornadoes year round!" Ponawk lunged forward, shouting so aggressively that Rainbow Dash took and involuntary step back, "Storms that last for weeks, heat waves that desiccate whole forests! The world's weather is thrown into chaos by your small-minded insistence on order!"
Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide as the full realization hit her, "What? We had no idea!"
"Because you forgot! I taught you these things, warned you of these dangers. I taught the pegasi how to control the weather so they could survive, and even thrive, but I warned you that if you abused your power I would return. And now I have!"
"We didn't know. We didn't know we were hurting anypony!"
"Does that make them any less hurt?"
"No," Rainbow Dash stared at her hooves. The rainbow patterns roiled below, blurred by the tears in her eyes, "No, it doesn't."
"For more than a thousand years the world around you has suffered, and you never noticed. I was close to setting things right, until you and your friends came along and beat me down."
"You were hurting Equestria. We thought... we didn't know why you were doing it. If you had just explained to us, we wouldn't have stopped you."
"Oh really?" Ponawk said, "You'd let me cover Equestria in a century of storms? Just like that?"
"A century?" Rainbow Dash gulped, "Would it really take that long?"
"The weather of the entire world needs to be reset, and all of the problems are radiating out from here."
"But you control the weather. Can't you just, I don't know, make the weather be right?"
Ponawk glared, and Rainbow Dash shrank away, "I am powerful, but I cannot be everywhere. Only from here can one being fix all of the problems you have caused."
Rainbow Dash thought about this, "But what if there were more than one person working on it?"
"What do you mean?"
"There are thousands of pegasi," Rainbow Dash said, "If we helped you, couldn't we fix the world's weather much faster?"
"And by that you mean, couldn't you save Equestria from one hundred years of constant storm."
"Yes," Rainbow Dash said, "I won't lie to you, I don't want to see my home destroyed. But it would help you too, wouldn't it?"
"You are the reason there is any problem to fix!" Ponawk said.
"Because we didn't know what we were doing!" Rainbow said. She tried to think of something, some way to convince Ponawk that the pegasi did not mean to cause any harm, did not even know they were doing so. What would Twilight say? Rainbow Dash looked up at Ponawk, "We... we were like fillies. You gave us a toy, and we ran around smacking it into things because we didn't know it could hurt anything. And now that everything is broken we... we should help clean it up."
Ponawk fixed Rainbow Dash with a considering glare, "And you think all the other pegasi will feel the same as you?"
"I know they will, once they understand what's happening," Rainbow Dash said, "And princess Celestia will surely want to help."
"If they don't destroy me first."
"What? Why would they do that?"
"Because this place is coming to an end," Ponawk said, and Rainbow Dash saw that the colorful rainbows that had surrounded the entire conversation were indeed fading.
"What's happening?"
"Powerful magic forged this place, but it is not permanent," Ponawk said, "soon it will end, and we will be cast back to where we came from. I will still be weakened, and your friends will still consider me their enemy."
"You just need to explain to them-"
"As if they will listen. You only listened because you saw that I was no threat, for the moment. And your princess Celestia will not lose her resolve when she sees a chance at victory."
"Then I'll tell them!"
"If you're even conscious. If they trust that I'm not twisting your mind again."
Rainbow Dash did not know what to say to that, and before she could think of a response there was a rush of wind, and she felt herself falling.
***
Scootaloo felt the world explode around her. The deep, thunderous boom rattled through her chest and the bright light hurt her eyes even through closed eyelids. Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom had mixed with the magic of the Elements of Harmony, Scootaloo had seen the sphere of rainbow energy form and hang in the sky for an instant, and then it had exploded outward with ferocious force.
Blinking, Scootaloo found her vision returning after a few seconds. She saw a dull golden figure falling alongside a ruffled cyan pegasus. The golden figure jerked away and flew away, two alicorns in close pursuit, but the pegasus landed heavily only a dark cloud and remained motionless.
Scootaloo ran. She heard an indistinct shout from Sweetie Belle behind her, but the unicorn filly was too slow to stop her this time. Ponawk was already battling the alicorn sisters again, and doing much worse than before, but Scootaloo only had eyes for that dark cloud with a single cyan wing hanging limply over the side.
"Rainbow Dash!" she screamed, trying to attract the older pegasi's attention, "Rainbow Dash, are you ok?"
Scootaloo was vaguely aware of Twilight Sparkle and four other ponies slowly dragging themselves to their feet, knocked flat by the explosion. They had been much closer than the little filly, and all of them seemed dazed. Scootaloo ran past, until she was just under the cloud with Rainbow Dash on it.
She looked up and yelled, "Rainbow Dash!"
There was no response. The cloud was too high up to tell if Rainbow Dash was even conscious. Scootaloo looked around and saw that Rainbow's friends were all still staggering to their feet, trying to get their bearings. Both alicorns were still dueling with Ponawk, slowly wearing the weather spirit down. Nopony else was nearby.
Scootaloo looked back up to the cloud. Rainbow Dash needed help, needed her, and Scootaloo would not disappoint her hero. She took a deep breath and began to flap her little wings. She grabbed the air with each flap, pulling her wings down, pushing against the air. For a moment nothing happened, but then her wings caught the air and she felt her hooves lift off of the ground.
She kept flapping, rising straight up towards the cloud. Her wings quickly grew tired, burning from movement they were not used to. Her breath became ragged, and each time her wings rose it took all of her willpower to bring them back down again, to grab the air and pull herself higher.
She looked up and saw that she was nearly halfway to the cloud. She looked down and saw the ground far below. Her heart thudded in her chest, racing from fear that she would fall before she reached the cloud. Her wings screamed protest with every flap, burning with exhaustion each time she moved them.
Scootaloo squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on forcing her wings to move, to flow up and down, catch the air, pull her up. It hurt, worse than any pain the little filly had felt before. Her small wings struggled to move her heavy body, each flap harder than the one before until she was sure she could not flap again. And then she forced herself to flap again.
Soon, an eternity later, her hoof bumped against the underside of the cloud. She grabbed the edge, hauling herself up onto the soft platform and collapsing next to Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo lay there for several minutes, panting heavily and massaging her wings, before she looked up at the older pegasus.
Rainbow Dash was breathing, which Scootaloo took as a good sign. The cyan mare was bruised, her feathers ruffled and uneaven. Scootaloo prodded her with a hoof, and the only response was a small groan.
Scootaloo pounced onto Rainbow Dash, shaking her frantically, "Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Wake up!" she shouted, "Please, wake up!"
Rainbow Dash groaned again, slowly opening one eye, "Scoots, what are you doing?"
"Trying to wake you up!" Scootaloo said, smiling at her now conscious hero, "You fell so far, and Ponawk is still fighting with the princesses, and nopony came to see if you were ok."
"Ponawk?" Rainbow Dash asked, "Wait, are they still fighting?"
"Yeah, but don't worry, the princesses are winning now," Scootaloo's smile faded as she saw fear overtake Rainbow's face.
"Oh no!" Rainbow Dash said, "I've got to warn them!"
Scootaloo tried to ask what Rainbow Dash was talking about, but Rainbow Dash took off towards the three combatants at a close approximation of full speed. Scootaloo peered over the edge of the cloud, and quickly decided to rest a while before trying to get back down.
***
Rainbow Dash raced through the air as quickly as her tired wings would carry her. She could see the two alicorns fighting with Ponawk ahead, and the weather spirit was quickly wearing down. Celestia was relentless, firing powerful spells and raw energy down at the weakened Ponawk.
Dash redoubled her efforts, putting every last drop of energy into her wings. The distance closed quickly. As Rainbow approached, she saw princess Celestia charging up a powerful spell. Her horn glowed brightly, brighter than Twilight's hard while fighting the Ursa Minor. There was not much time.
"WAIT!" Rainbow Dash screamed, throwing herself between Celestia and Ponawk, "Princess Celestia, wait!"
"Move, Rainbow Dash!" Celestia said, aiming her spell, "This ends now!"
"Wait.. don't..." Rainbow Dash said, gasping for breath after he wreckless charge across the sky.
"Move, or I will assume Ponawk has taken your mind again."
"I..." Rainbow Dash panicked, knowing she could not survive an attack from the princess who raised the sun every day, "Twilight! When the... changelings. When they attack, Twilight warned us... but you didn't believe her. You were wrong then... maybe... maybe you're wrong now."
Celestia continued to charge her spell, but Luna flew forward with an uncertain look on her face, "We are defending our home, Rainbow Dash," Luna said, "I do not know what Ponawk has done to trick you, but she attacked us first with her storm over Cloudsdale."
"No, that's not it at all," Rainbow Dash was finally catching her breath, "We, the pegasi... we abused our power. She taught us how to control the weather, but we've been doing too much."
Even Celestia began to look intrigued.
"All the order we've brought to the weather in Equestria, it's been disrupting the weather everywhere else. Droughts and floods, and stuff like that."
"Is this true?" Celestia asked.
"I... I think so?" Rainbow Dash said, "It's what Ponawk told me."
"And why do you trust her?" Luna asked.
"Because I had to," Rainbow Dash said, "She was helpless, powerless, after being hit by the sonic rainboom and the Elements of Harmony. I just... I couldn't bring myself to hurt her, weak and alone. I couldn't do it."
Celestia looked at Rainbow Dash, then shifted her gaze to Ponawk. The weather spirit was panting, barely able to keep herself aloft, looking at the white alicorn with desperate eyes. Celestia let her spell drop, and smiled wearily.
"I do not blame you, Rainbow Dash," she said, "Killing is a hard thing to do, and nopony should ever have to make that choice."
"She said we could help," Rainbow Dash said, "With fixing the weather, I mean. She said that with the pegasi's help she wouldn't have to destroy Equestria to repair the damage."
"Even if Equestria were not endangered, we would offer our help in this," Celestia said, "If we really have done harm to the others of this world, it is our responsibility to help undue the damage we caused."
"Does that mean we don't have to fight anymore?" Rainbow Dash asked, as Ponawk flew up on tired wings.
"It does," Celestia said.
"And does that mean we can rebuild Cloudsdale, it won't be destroyed?"
"It does," Ponawk said.
"All right!" Rainbow Dash said.
"It also means you have an awful lot of work to do," Celestia said, "Once you've recovered from your injuried."
"I'm the best weather pegasus in Equestria," Rainbow Dash said smugly, "Of course I'm going to be doing all the work."
"After you have recovered," Celestia said, firmly.
All four slowly lowered themselves to the ground. Rainbow Dash limped off towards her friends while Luna and Celestia began planning with Ponawk.
After all was said and done, Rainbow Dash thought it had been a pretty good week.