Equestrian Tales of the Mirror Realm: A day on the Job

“If you ever happen to come across a kelpie during flood season, turn around immediately. Even if it means flying right into a storm of rank six. Staying dry is not worth it. Trust me.” – Gale Breaker, second Lt. of the southern Cloud Patrol Unit

The sun shone warmly on her nose, tickling the young pegasus mare with its rays. Starlight slowly awoke from her slumber and squinted as the light struck her eyes. “Is it morning already?“

“Actually, it’s the middle of the afternoon,” Rain Chaser informed her as he set down another hay bale right next to her.

“Afternoon?” Starlight yelled and jumped off the haystack. Her black wings immediately unfurled, even though she only wanted to land right in front of the grey pegasus male. “Why didn’t you wake me earlier?”

“I didn’t want to encur the wrath of the captain of Calmhale’s Cloud Patroul,” the grey-furred farmer snapped back at her. “Maybe you should just learn to get up by yourself! Or do you need me to hold your hoof for that too?”

She took a step back. “Why are you so angry?” she carefully asked.

“Oh, I don’t know! Maybe it has something to do with you being where you shouldn’t be!”

“You offered to let me crash at your barn, I only did what you allowed me to do!”

“Well, maybe if you didn’t take thigs so literal, we wouldn’t be having this conversation!”

Starlight paused for a moment, another comment on the tip of her tongue. Then, she looked up at the massive hole in the roof where she had entered shortly after midnight. “Oh. That.” Starlight uncomfortably started to move her hoof in circles on the ground , then turned her head away from him, unable to look the other pegasus in the eye. “I… I’m sorry. Yesterday was… Well I was pretty out of it.”

“That’s one way to describe the state you were in when you smashed through my roof!” Rain Chasers feathers rustled as he moved his huge grey wings to point at the hole. “And don’t think you’ll get away with an apology, it’s not that simple! You’ll be fixing that!”

Starlight groaned and shook her head. “Alright, alright! Now can I please go and take care of my own duties?”

Rain Chaser snorted and stepped aside, checking the condition of the hay she had been resting on. “It’s all wet! Well go on then, don’t let me keep you from flying around doing nothing whatsoever!”

She could hear the sarcasm in his voice and it hit her as if it were one of his wings. Still, she pulled herself together and resisted the urge to answer unpleasantly in kind, and instead flapped her wings. She quickly gained speed in the abundance of space the barn offered, and shot straight out of the hole in the roof. She could feel the wind brushing through her silver mane and her mood began to improove a little.

Rain Chaser wasn’t all bad. True, he was rather easily irritated, but he was also very generous. Even though his words had been harsh he didn’t usually  mean them. Unlike the other ponies, he was almost pleasant.

These past couple of months all Starlight had been trying to do was to get the residents of Calmhale to accept her as an irremovable part of the local Cloud Patroul Unit. Sadly they didn’t even show her the courtesy of ignoring her.

From the very first moment she had realized, these ponies did not want here here. She was just another amateur to them, someone who had messed up her job once, was therefore reassigned to Calmhale, and would mess up again.

But Starlight was determined to prove them wrong. When she came here, she had also been determined to turn the slackers on the CPU into the best weather guard their empire had ever seen. But due to Calmhale being not even a days walk from New Camelot, the capitol and residence of the almighty ruler, Princess Aurora, they had not gotten a single bad storm. Ergo she had not found any opportunity to train the other five pegasi in the unit.

She sighed heavily and readjusted her wing position, giving her flight path a wide berth so she could have an eye on the actual village while she flew.

Six pegasi, she thought, including herself in her calculations. Six of us to cover, what, threehundred square kilometers and possibly prevent a storm? Not nearly enough. When she had requested assistance a few weeks back, she had expected to receive an answer in the next few days, maybe even along with reinforcements for their Weather Blockade Department. Instead she had gotten nothing.

I didn’t even include New Camelot's air space into my calculations. We just don’t have enough! And what am I supposed to do with this bunch of lazy turkey-winged goofballs? I’m surprised Calmhale has not been wiped out during the flood season yet! But then again, it’s right on the princess’s doorstep. She probably doesn’t even have to leave the palace in order to protect this stupid village!

Noise from the streets of Calmhale disrupted her train of thought. It came from the town square, near the town hall, which was essentially a big white building with a clock and a belltower. Everything looked fine on first glance, only that someone had decided to nail the doors shut. Those damn Kelpies! Of course they were behind it. Noone else than Goldie and his twin sister Silvie would do such a thing. The two black kelpies just stood there, looking at the outraged villagers, not seeming to understand why nopony laughed about their petty prank.

For a moment she considered just ignoring whatever was going on down there, let the locals handle it themselves as they had done in the past, while she would soar high into the vast azure skies. Then, with a heavy heart, she remembered her decision to make a good impression. Quelling arguments was just another part of being a member of the Cloud Patroul Unit, so she tilted her wings downwards and prepared to enter her daily battle for acceptance.