Chapters It was a bright and sunny day over Ponyville, all except for one particular corner. Rainbow Dash, the main weather pony within the small town, had gathered a large collection of dark gray clouds over an unused section of a nearby creek. She had to be careful and vigilant to keep the angry clouds under control. Rainbow Dash had planned to spread the dark clouds over Ponyville just after sunset so they could make it rain over the town during the night. The cloud pile itself was large; larger than a barn and even that was after the clouds had been compressed as much as they safely could be. Rainbow Dash hovered around the clouds, inspecting them for any imperfections. Ponyville and its various crop fields will need the water and she had no intention to disappoint anypony tonight.
After her thorough inspection, Rainbow Dash nodded to herself in quiet satisfaction and floated up, gently landing on the very top of the clouds. She held her hoof to her brow as she looked outward to the horizon, scanning left and right for any airborne threats to her precious clouds. The sky's were open and clear. Her clouds were safe and Rainbow Dash was....
Bored.
Rainbow Dash relaxed her muscles as she abandoned her guard stance and laid down on the clouds. The next second, she rolled over onto her back and let out a depressing sigh. Rainbow Dash lifted one forehoof directly upwards while the other forehoof waved around for a few seconds as her brain to calculate which way was north and directed towards it. She tilted her head around, studying the shadows made by her awkwardly placed hooves before dropping her head back in disappointment.
Rainbow Dash grunted to herself and gently knocked on her temple, "Three, maybe three and a half more hours before nightfall," She mumbled to herself, "I don't think this 'proactive' thing really works out for me." After a final grunt, Rainbow Dash just laid there on her back staring at the blank blue sky. It only took seconds before she got bored of that too. She turned her head to the side, hoping the sight of a colored horizon might be a slight improvement.
But after a few seconds, she began to notice something. There was a spot in the sky; something a little brighter than the rest. Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes, but whatever it was too far away to make out. However, the bright little spot in the sky was growing. In fact, it was growing quite fast, which means that thing was flying very fast and possibly towards herself and the cloud.
Upon realization, Rainbow Dash felt a burst of energy as her entire body sprung into action. Something was coming, but it was still too small to make out exactly what. She hovered between herself and the cloud pile, staring into the distant blue dot. After a few seconds of futile observation, Rainbow Dash could only see that the blue dot was still getting slightly bigger, and whatever it was, it was still getting closer.
"Oh no you don't," Rainbow Dash whispered to herself as she thrust herself forward in flight, accelerating to meet the mysterious blue dot. As she flew towards it herself, her suspicions about the flying object became further evident as the blue dot started growing even faster. But what was it? It could be a very large object, very far away. Could just be somepony in Mainhatten trying to inflate the world's biggest balloon, or could it be...
...a pony?!
Rainbow Dash only saw it for a split second; it was just long enough for her brain to process the image, but not long enough for her to get out of the way. Rainbow Dash and the other pony collided in the air. The impact was hard, very hard. It drove Rainbow Dash immediately backwards and she fell into a rapid decent. The other pony, and everything else, turned to a blur in Rainbow Dash's eyes. The impact send her spiraling out of control, rolling and falling at great speeds. Instinct opened Rainbow Dash's wings, trying desperately to catch as much air as possible and slow herself down.
Until she blacked out.
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Rainbow Dash awoke with a throbbing head and pulled herself up. She groaned to herself quietly and but a hoof to her aching head. She kept her eyes shut as she focused on the pain, trying to mentally numb the pain or otherwise waiting for it to dissipate. It wasn't until a familiar voice called out to her did Rainbow Dash take a real look at her surroundings.
"Rainbow Dash, are you all right," called out the familiar voice. It was Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow Dash could tell it was her before she opened her eyes to see the purple alicorn. Twilight was obviously worried about Rainbow Dash.
"I'll live," replied Rainbow Dash. She tried to pull herself off the ground, but her hoof slipped. As it turned out, Rainbow Dash was in a small crater, no doubt caused by the crash landing. Twilight quickly surrounded Rainbow Dash with a light purple aura and used levitation magic to pull her out.
"What happed," Twilight asked.
Rainbow Dash only let out another groan before somepony else suddenly came along.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The ecstatic mare called out. "I'm so sorry Rainbow Dash; it's my fault." This new mare trotted up to Rainbow Dash quickly; her ears were folded down and her face leaked with genuine apology. "I'm really, really, really sorry." she added. The mare had a light blue coat, not unlike Rainbow Dash's own. Her mane and tail were wild and unkempt. They were mainly purple, but included more light blue contrast. Her body was average build for a mare, and her eyes were purple as well.
"It's ok, I-"
"Wait a minute - what just happened - what are you saying sorry for?" Twilight exclaimed, unintentionally interrupting Rainbow Dash.
"Sorry, I was flying really, really fast, and I guess I... kinda just... flew into Rainbow Dash in midair." The mare rubbed a hoof behind her head, trying in vain to hide how embarrassed she was.
Twilight was confused, "But how did you fly to begin with; you're a unicorn."
"Wha...?" Rainbow Dash took a better look at the mare. Twilight was right; the mare had a horn, but no wings. How did she get airborne to begin with?
"Oh, you know, magic." The mare replied. She suddenly started to sound a bit cheerful, a complete contrast to just seconds ago.
"Must be a powerful levitation spell." Twilight commented.
"Actually, it's a form of pyromancy."
Author's Note
Don't expect fast updates. Work is understaffed and I've been getting plenty of hours lately.
Anyway, I hope it's peaked your interest, or at least entertained you for a minute.
"Pyromancy?" Rainbow Dash asked, "Like, fire magic? How do you use that to fly?"
The mare giggled to herself, "Pyromancy isn't all about just spitting fire like a dragon. Each pyromantic unicorn usually specializes at a doing a certain magical thing to fire. Oh, let me just show you," The mare's horn glowed as she spawned an orb of orange fire and levitated it between the three ponies. "Most of the time," the mare started to explain, "fire will spit out light, heat, and a bit of wind in every direction, but..."
The mare's horn began to glow brighter as she exerted more magic on the fiery orb. At first, the orb seemed to grow petals on all sides. For a moment, the orbed turned onto a beautiful flower made from fire, but the peddles folded in. The glowing flower seemed to bloom in reverse; the peddles folded till the met near to top, and the flower itself began to dim as well. The mare continued, "If I compress all that energy so it all flies out of just one small point," The mare tilted the tip of the folded flower so as to point it at Rainbow Dash. Warm wind could be seen spitting out of the flower at great speeds; it blew Rainbow Dash's mane into a frenzy until the mare pointed the flower's top at Twilight and gave her the same demonstration. "I can pull a lot of thrust out of the fire," The mare concluded. The fire was then extinguished, ending the demonstration.
Rainbow Dash's mane turned to normal instantly, but Twilight's mane fared far worse. The sudden surge of warm air made her mane curl in random directions. Twilight was either unfaltered or entirely careless to her mane. Instead, her ears turned forward in genuine interest towards the mare, "Wow," she wondered, "I didn't know pyromancers could do something like that."
"What, you thought all I could do was burn things?"
"No, no, I didn't mean it like that!" Twilight seemed a little embarrassed by her honest response, "I just-"
The mare waved a careless hoof, "Don't worry 'bout it," she said, "There's all kinds of weird stuff somepony can do with fire. I know this one stallion, Ryot, he likes to drink the stuff. I mean, he literally can somehow... put fire...in a bottle - and drinks it! Don't ask me how; I don't really get his explanations."
"That's great n' all, but who're you what're you doin' makin' creators in my yard?" Another pony had jumped into the conversation. Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and the mare all turned to view the new arrival. It was Applejack, the farmer. The dark patches on her orange coat and dirt in her blonde mane indicated she was near the end of a long day's work. She seemed irritated and unwilling to put up with shenanigans this evening.
"Oh, Applejack," Twilight started, "This is, umm..." Twilight turned to the mare, "I'm sorry, what was your name?"
"I'm Cimber!" the mare gleefully responded.
"Cimber?" The other ponies collectively asked.
"Yeah, you know, like 'Cinder' and 'Ember'." Cimber smiled, taking a little pride in her name.
"Ok then, " continued Twilight. "Everypony, this is Cimber. Cimber, this is Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and I'm-"
"Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Cimber interrupted, "I know who you guys are, everypony does. I mean, you guys only helped save all of Equestria multiple times." She was smiling at first, but it dropped after a short moment as Cimber realized something. She turned to Applejack, and her ears lowered again, "Sorry 'bout messing up your yard."
Applejack wasn't angry in the slightest, "It's alright. I'd be a hypocrite to really complain'. I tear up this dirt 'bout every day. Just gotta' knock some of this dirt back into place an' it be good as new. Applejack began to kick the displaced dirt back into the small crater.
"Oh, let me help," called out Cimber. She quickly trotted over and helped Applejack kick the dirt. Rainbow Dash and Twilight joined; the crater was filled in within seconds.
Author's Note
I think I'm going to try and do short, frequent updates this time. If anypony has a problem with that, let me know.
Hope you enjoyed.
After filling the crater, the four ponies were left in awkward silence, each unsure of what to say next. After a few long, almost painful seconds, Cimber finally broke the silence. She nervously ran a hoof through her main. "Well, that's one way to ruin a first impression," she uncomfortably mentioned, "It was nice meeting you guys... I guess."
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight all mumbled their agreement. Twilight then stuck out her hoof, "Well, it was nice meeting you Cimber."
Cimber shook hooves with Twilight, "Yeah, you too. Well, I guess I should be on my way. Sorry 'bout the mess. Really." With that, Cimber cloaked herself in a thin flame and flew away in a slight rush, driven partially by embarrassment of the situation.
Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash watched Cimber fly a way for a few seconds before turning to each other.
"Speakin' of which," Applejack replied, "I still need'ta make sure the cattle an' pigs are ready for tonight."
Twilight turned to Applejack, "Oh, do you need any help with that?" she asked.
"Well, if you wanna', I'd appreciate it."
= = = = = = = = = = = =
The rest of the evening continued and end without incident or event. The sun had just set, the moon had recently risen, and Ponyville's weather team had just rolled out the large carpet of dark, wet clouds for the night's storm with minimal electrical shocks.
As part of the weather team, Rainbow Dash worked hard to bring the storm and now that the task is done, she lazily glided her way home. Her house was build in the sky and floated well above the layer of storm clouds. Unlike the businesses and homes below, Rainbow Dash's house was warm and dry.
But as Rainbow Dash landed on her doorstep, her impact caused the most unusual sound in the usually soft and quite cloud. It was a raspy, low pitched moan, much like a snore.
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash lifted one of her fore hooves in surprise. "Clouds don't snore," she thought out loud, but just as she thought, another snore could be heard.
Without the wind in her ears, Rainbow Dash could more clearly tell where the sound was originating from; it was above her, and fairly close. She flapped her wings and slowly ascended past the columns supporting the few floors. Every few seconds, the snore could be heard again, each time getting a little louder and clearer as Rainbow Dash got close to whoever or whatever might apparently be sleeping nearby.
Rainbow Dash was perplexed, "Cimber, is that you?" she asked.
The pony tossed as she awoke. As Rainbow Dash got a better look, the pony was definitely Cimber. The tired pony asked as she rubbed a hoof in her eyes as she asked, "Huh? W...what is it?"
"What're you doing here?"
"What?" Cimber asked again, clearly still in a drowsy haze.
Rainbow dash repeated herself, this time with more volume and assertion, "I said, what are you doing here?"
Cimber finally opened her eyes and looked at Rainbow Dash, but still lay comfortably on the cloud, "Well, uuh..." she started to ask, "What're you doin' here?"
"Me, I live here!"
"You...oh!" Cimber's eyes widened and her attention spiked up as her realized the situation she was in, She sprung to her hooves, "Oh, shoot!!" She exclaimed as blush began to form on her cheeks, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know this was your place."
"It's not that bad," Rainbow Dash remained calm despite Cimber's calamity. "It's just... what're you doing here?"
Cimber dropped her head and apologized again, "Sorry. I didn't have to work tomorrow so I figured there was no rush to get back home and I'd just stay in Ponyville for the night. Problem is, I don't really own a place here an' I left all my money back home. So, no biggy, I didn't need a fancy hotel or anythin', but then I heard about the storm planned for tonight, so I had to find a place above the storm. So I found this spot. I assumed somepony already lived here; I just hoped they wouldn't notice me. Guess I was wrong."
Rainbow Dash became a little concerned, "Well, why didn't you ask for help?"
Cimber lifted her head, "Pfft, I ain't gonna' bother somepony with my little problems. 'specially you since I already caused enough trouble." Cimber began to turn around, "Anyway, sorry for trespassing. I find some other place to crash."
Cimber started to glow and float above the ground, intent on flying away. However, Rainbow Dash quickly flew in front of Cimber, spreading her hooves and intercepting Cimber before she could get far. "I didn't say you had to leave." Rainbow dash said, "Why don't you stay at my place for the night."
Cimber was extremely surprised by the request, "You... you sure?" she asked.
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash became excited, "It'd be like a sleepover. It's gonna' be awesome!"
Cimber still seemed unsure, "Well... if you insist."
"Yeah I insist!" Rainbow Dash pulled Cimber by the hooves, dragging her to the front door.
Rainbow Dash opened the front door and exclaimed, "El cas'a me de cas'e, or however it goes." She quickly ran inside, turned on the lights and coaxed Cimber to come in.
At first, Cimber flinched at the sudden light and raised a hoof to shade her unadjusted eyes. After a second of hesitation, she stepped inside and lowered her hoof. Cimber slowly looked around the house, her eyes widened and an overwhelming sense of awe washed over her face.
Author's Note
Sorry my dedication and spelling skills have been...well... complete shit.
As always, I hope you enjoyed... somehow...
"Wow," Cimber barely whispered, "This is a nice place." She stood there in awe of the home; careful to observe every detail as if they were to soon disappear.
Rainbow Dash rubbed a hoof in her mane, "Aww, it's not that great."
"Are you kidding me, it's awesome!"
"Well... thanks."
Pleased to be in the spotlight, Rainbow Dash gave Cimber a quick tour of her house. It was made up of three floors, each room was surrounded by one large circular wall and accessed by stairs positions along the walls. The first floor was a living room of sorts. Various posters hung everywhere, but there large TV and the accompanying red couch dominated attention. The second floor was small kitchen and a dining room. The third floor was Rainbow Dash personal bedroom. More posters could be found here, most of them featuring the Wonderbolts, and a large stack of books sat next to the cloud themed bed.
The next few hours, Cimber and Rainbow Dash grew closer as friends. They drank soda and littered the floor with the empty bottles as they played video games together. Hours flew by while having fun, the sleepover lead deep into night, but neither mare was ready for sleep. At one instance, Cimber gazed out the window to view the beautiful night sky. She noticed the moon was directly above them, and it gave her an idea.
Cimber smirked, "Hey Dash, I bet I can fly higher than you."
"I don't know. I am the best flyer in Ponyville, and I don't want to embarrass you."
"Don't worry Rainbow Dash, nopony is around to see you lose."
Rainbow Dash quickly flew into Cimber's face, almost poking her chest with a hoof, "Your on!" she exclaimed.
Each pony quickly flew to the roof of the house, racing each other before the race even began. They stretched and trotted in place, ready for the friendly competition.
"Ok, ground rules," Rainbow Dash started, "We just keep going up no matter what. The first pony to have their vertical velocity drop to zero while the other pony is above them, loses."
Neither pony could wait much longer, Cimber's only reply was to start a count down, "Ready?"
"Set?"
"GO!!"
Instantly and simultaneously, they both leaped from the cloud beneath their feet, racing to escape gravity's merciless grip. They flew higher and higher, each trying desperately to outdo the other. As one mare would make a pass, the other would find newfound determination and push even harder. The seconds grew into minutes as the world below them turned to a miniscule scale, and Rainbow Dash began to run out of energy.
Rainbow Dash's muscles burned and her wings begged for rest. How high had they flown by now? Miles? It didn't matter; Rainbow Dash burned onward, determined not to lose even the most trivial of contests. Still, even her willpower could not stretch her body's limits indefinitely. Cimber and her ball of flame passed Rainbow Dash again, but this time, Rainbow Dash continued to decelerate. Her wings slowed; they grew stiff, numb, and unresponsive. Rainbow Dash had lost, but worse of all, she began to stall. She hadn't even the breath to scream.
Rainbow Dash reached out with her hoofs, as if to try and latch on to the air above her, but she found no grip. Gravity tugged on its leash, mercilessly pulling Rainbow Dash back down. But as she began to fall, helpless to do anything else, she suddenly stopped mid-air.
Without hesitation or warning, Cimber rocketed upward with Rainbow Dash firmly in her grip. She flew high and higher, faster and faster, unaffected by the same limitations Rainbow Dash had to fight. But where is she going?The only thing above them now...
...is the moon.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
They landed on the grey, dusty soil without incident. Rainbow Dash wobbled on her feet, but found composure quick enough. Cimber, on the other hoof, didn't appear the least bit exhausted, as if she was ready to fly like that a dozen more times.
Rainbow Dash took a quick scan of the new world they entered. The ground below them was barely saturated with navy blue, dusty and dry, like scales of the land. Shadows bent at odd angles, repeating and overlapping each other due to light spawning from both the sun and reflected from the world above them. As she looked up, Rainbow Dash noticed in place of clouds were blankets of dark violet haze and beyond that, a sea of uncountable stars, glittering in the sky in animated beauty. She slowly turned to Cimber," Why...Why are we on the moon?"
Cimber was more excited than her friend to be here, "'Cause I wanted to show you somethin'!"
"Like what?" Rainbow Dash was confused and slightly irritated, "a view of the planet?!" She flung a hoof the giant blue and green marble above them.
"Not really," Cimber slower turned towards Equestria, staring blankly, mesmerized by the sight, "but it is kinda' pretty."
Rainbow Dash began to stare as well," Yeah...I guess it is," she slowly replied, "Funny, I don't remember it like this. Guess I didn't have time to take a good look last time."
"You been here before?" Cimber asked quizzically.
"Oh yeah, a while ago. Nightmare Moon came back and possessed one of my friends, Rarity. She then tried to lead an army of darkness from here to attack Equestria. Me and the rest of my friends came here to stop Nightmare Moon, but back then, we had princess Celestia's help and I could swear the moon was a lot closer back then."
"Oh... So that's why that's there."
"Wait a minute, what're you talking about."
Cimber shook her head gleefully, "Nuh-uuh, that's part of the thing I wanted to show you.
Author's Note
Short chapters, because I don't know when's the next time I get a good chance to type.
(Note to self: lookup drawing tutorials and make a better title picture.)
Anyway, hope you enjoyed!
