As The Clouds Pass Us By

It's not normal, thinking like this. Usually being here doesn't clog up happy, carefree minds. Being here doesn't cost them a journey to the life they never thought they had. But here, Rainbow Dash is trapped in her sky, which once bore her a free flowing mind of epic proportions. She used to be able to complete the impossible: shooting through loops of powerful energy and expanding them through her wingtips. Bursts of rainbow-colored magic shocked the airscape, shaking it constantly with no breaks in-between. The wind gusts tore any flyer's perfect, slow flight into a turbulent thunderstorm of color and disaster.

Now she was trapped in her mind while the humidity rose, temperatures soared, and her wings stung. Nothing felt normal. Even on her cloud, the one she calls her thinkin' place, Rainbow Dash had not found solace. The formidable white puff gave refuge for her back, but nothing else. She tried to imagine something great: pulling off a rainboom, breaking another speed record, or even winning the Running of the Leaves against Applejack, but none of that helped the stinging in her wings, which made her want to itch them like crazy. She couldn't move to itch them though, since her mind was not at ease.

The thought that troubled her most was more of a mental picture. She had imagined a few clouds drifting to the south, where the Everfree Forest brews the most potentially ground-breaking thunderstorms. It was a common thought that she dreaded, since Ponyville only had a select few weatherponies to deal with the Everfree's storms. She knows what these storms can do. Some become twisters, shredding the trees and shrubbery that dots the landscape. Others produce the thunder and lightning that the ground needs, but sometimes they produce more than what it needs, burning the landscape to a black char. Some even produce wind storms that uproot hopes and dreams with what seems like a constant gust of wind, but even that only lasts for a few seconds before the gust dissipates into the muck.

But these clouds did not become those black riding thunder-punchers. They sat alone in company, circling a zone called the Ever Free, a mystical place where the magic of the Everfree Forest is apparently center. Rainbow Dash did not believe in this all too much; there was no evidence to prove that magic in that forest can have a focal point whatsoever. Besides, she didn't really care how and where they specifically happened; all she knew was the storms that she and her team didn't start began somewhere around there and floated over to Ponyville if they wanted to cause a ruckus.

Until, today, that is.

Rainbow Dash used to love flying around and popping those dastardly devils. She had a record of ten seconds flat when she popped those suckers. It wasn't a surprise to her, she knew she could do it, and she could do it faster if she wanted to. But in reality, ten seconds was enough. She didn't want to overdo it, after all, spraining a wing or tearing a tendon to just break eight seconds was not in her best interest, especially doing that when managing the weather.

But when those clouds swirled together, forming a massive anvil that dedicated a funnel to the graves below, she knew her mind needed to know how those clouds passed her by, how they passed Ponyville—us, me, you, her—by.

She sighed. The weather hadn't changed much. A cloud passed her by. It was grey. Another cloud passed that one. It was grey too. In the grey mesh was a larger cloud. It was grey. The ground below was covered in shadows of the cluster, and the humidity was continuing to rise.

The itch in Rainbow Dash's wing is still bugging her immensely to the point where her brow twitches like a certain fashion-driven friend of hers. That pony does not like it when a stitch is not done properly. But let's face it, it's kind of her fault. That's what happens when a pegasus wears a tight dress: holes and popped stitches.

Rainbow Dash laughed at the mental depiction. A welcome distraction. It makes her breathe in a bit more air, which filtered through her system and rushed out with a fresh new look. It made her feel better, stronger, a little less worried that an itch was terrorizing her wings, but once the laughter subsided, her eyes flickered to the matter at hoof.

There were more clouds drifting to the center. Much darker, grayer, and more villainous in form.

She raised a brow at the situation. Did they want to spite her for not being in the factory to make them look all white and fluffy like the one she was laying on? Were they outcasts just floating in the breeze, or was there a magic draw to them that made them go to the center? Will it be another repeat, where Ponyville would be torn to shreds?

The questions ran rapid. Was it her fault that she wanted to just watch? Was it her fault that her mind was rampant with the oncoming storm? Was it wrong to imagine that this thunderstorm would end her right there, right now, ending what could've been a life full of loyalty to her friends, to her life, to her land, to her career, to her—

Rainbow Dash gasped. The grey clouds had became one giant black anvil. It was an anvil that burned from the ashes of a hammer striking the metal of a newly crafted sword. But this anvil was stronger, and inside its core was a yellow glow that swirled in the thicket of the black cloud. It was a thunderstorm alright, it was happening again.

Rainbow Dash, frozen at the sight, watched the cloud drift. And as it drifted, fierce rumbles came from the monster. They echoed loudly and each one sent pulses of fear down her spine. Her wings continued to itch, but not for the same reason. Before it was due to a troubled mind, but now the itch was due to a nightmare, a predication, and a calling all at once.

Standing on all fours, Rainbow Dash was perched, gazing at the devilish foe. But she hadn't moved an inch. The itch still wore through her body, the heat bore down on her coat, and her mind was still running rampant with her thoughts. She wanted to move, but all she heard were those tender replies:

Did they want to spite her for not making them look all white and fluffy like the factory new one she was laying on?

They do. She felt them. They were angry at her, wondering why they were being treated this way. They were not bad, they were just excess. They did not want to be excess, so they retreated to the Ever-Free, where they can be one giant cloud. Maybe she could spread them thin, make them a whole unit that could stand as one beautiful white puff to keep others cool without blocking the sun.

Were they outcasts just floating in the breeze, or was there a magic draw to them that made them go to the center? Will it be another repeat, where Ponyville would be torn to shreds?

Yet again, she thought about them being excess, but an excess she did not know how to deal with.  It was black, angry, and full of differing voices calling out to her, challenging her to destroy them before they wreaked havoc on her loving friends.

She remembered the first twister. It was enough. It destroyed the town with wind gusts that she couldn't even stop.

But could this be another repeat? Maybe the cloud was fibbing.

Was it her fault that she wanted to watch?

It could be—couldn't. It can, it can't.

It was. The dark cloud was floating closer to town…

…and all she does is watch.

Was it her fault that her mind was as rampant as the oncoming storm?

Rainbow Dash frowned. Yes, she was. It's her mind and hers alone. So the blame is hers, not her friends nor her co-workers. None of them were here to see this monster develop! It's her responsibility. She was the only one to stop this monster. Without her to possibly stop this storm, there wouldn't be friends, acquaintances, co-workers—the whole town would be minced-meat: branches would be snapped, houses would be demolished, families would be torn; Rainbow Dash could not imagine that. She can't. She wouldn't.

But it will become reality if she let it.

So she doesn't. Rainbow Dash sprung to action and—

Was it wrong to imagine that this thunderstorm would end her right there, right now?

She took a pause. A small, lapsing breath of pained air whistled through her airways. The aching pressure on her chest was released. Her wings fell to her sides. Her nostrils were still flared, her brow twitched rapidly, and her eyes were full of water. She won't admit it—tears are there, but she's too strong for that—so she didn't as the tears fell into her fluffy white cloud.

She sighed. A breather. A timeout. Thirty seconds passed by, and so did a few more clouds. They were grey and scary, which made Rainbow Dash squirm in her spot.

Would they remember her as a failure?

Her eyes widened. Never would she be a failure. She did not fail at all. She was the best in Equestria!

But she had failed before. Multiple times. Multiple apologies followed. Wing hugs, laughter, joy—would it be all the same after this?

No.

The second the word settled in her mind, her wings had snapped in full, and her hooves were scrambling off the cloud to fight the demon she had found.

And there she fought.

One, two, three, four; they dropped like flies. Five, six, seven, eight; the black muck began to dissipate. Nine—the hammerhead fell to the ground, another cloud—ten, eleven, twelve, her mind wandered to another patch. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen—she already passed the ten second mark—sixteen—a clap of thunder shook her body—seventeen, eighteen—hooves quake too—nineteen, twenty—she fell on the last one, number twenty-one. He's smiling at her, asking for her to hold him close. He looked like her pad, which floated aimlessly without a care in the world. but he's a dark grey while her pad was white as snow. Rainbow Dash stared at him, glaring, seething, furious that something like him would not only mimic the pad that she was grateful, but also want to demolish the place she called home.

Loyalty settled in. She would not let her friends perish to a couple of storm clouds. It was her job to keep them safe, be with them, hang out with them; it was not anyone else's job neither.  Co-workers? Yes, they are there too to protect the town, but they did not hang out with her friends like she did.

She smiled before spreading cloud number twenty-one thin. The face that smiled at her disappeared.

Rainbow Dash sighed with relief. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and fluttered to her cloud pad again. Landing on the white puff she loved, she laid her back on its plush. The itch in her wing had stopped, her mind was at ease, and the temperatures lowered to an awesome low. But something still wasn't right, there were shouts from below.

So she turned and rested her eyes to the town below. They waved up at her with happy smiles on their faces.

She sighed. Nothing was wrong. Everything was right.

"Today was awesome."

The remaining clouds changed faces. They didn't pass by us no more.