The Not so Average Life of a Fillydelphian Weather Ponyby Rain TwisterChaptersGetting Into the Swing of ThingsThings Are Getting InterestingShit Hits the FanInto the StormEpilogueGetting Into the Swing of ThingsBeep, beep, beep, beep, bee- *thunk*. “Uhg..” I slowly wake up, turning off my alarm, and have a nice, long stretch. You know, the kind that just makes you’re whole body shake like you’re having a mild seizure, yeah, that’s the best kind of stretch. “Time for Breakfast”, I say to myself. “Oatmeal sounds pretty good”. I eat my breakfast, take a shower and start to make my way out the door when I stopped. “I should grab by flight jacked just in case.” I leave my house ready for the first day at my new job. I recently moved to Fillydelphia from Cloudsdale to start a new job with the Fillydelphia Weather Crew. I had always wanted to become a weather pony, ever since getting my cutie mark by accidentally creating a small tornado, heh, wasn’t THAT a shitshow. But that a story for another time. I land on the steps in front of my new job. “Inhale, Sigh… time to start my new life.” I open the door and make my way inside. In the foyer there is a middle aged mare with a white mane, a sky blue coat, and a cutie mark of a cloud blowing in the breeze waiting for me. “I am Captain Easy Breezy, the leader of the Fillydelphian Weather Ponies. You must be Rain Twister, right?” “Yes ma’am” I say. “I’m very excited to be here!” “Great to hear, we’ve been needing a new cloud buster for a few months now. Let’s go introduce you to the rest of the team.” The Captain replies. We make our way down the hall to what appears to be a break room. Inside I see four other ponies talking with each other and drinking coffee. “Listen up team! This is Rain Twister, He’s our newest team member, I expect you all to get along and treat him like family.” The Captain announces. “I’ve got some paperwork to take care of, so I’ll leave y’all too it.” “Thanks, ma’am, I appreciate the opportunity to work here.” I say with a look of excitement. “Drop all this “ma’am” talk. You’re part of the family now, call me “Breezy”!” “I will, thanks!” I reply sheepishly. As Breezy walks out of the room one of the other ponies approaches me. She has a pretty purple mane, a light pink coat thats reminiscent of the northern lights and a cutie mark of a feather. “Hello, I am Featherfall. Captain Breezy’s Lieutenant. It’s a pleasure to meet you Rain.” “The pleasure is all mine” I say. As Featherfall returns to the table I follow her and take a seat. On the other side of the table I see a rather small mare and a stallion sitting together. The mare has a brown mane, a sandy blond coat, and a cutie mark of two crossed bolts of lightning. The stallion next to her has the same colors except flipped with a cutie mark of a storm cloud with a lightning bolt coming from the bottom. “Hi, I’m Lightningbolt and this is my brother Thunderclap, we’re twins.” The mare says excitedly. “Nice to meet you” Thunderclap adds. “Nice to meet you both, I’m looking forward to working with y’all.” I reply with a grin. “So, what all do we do here? I know I was hired to be a cloud buster, but surely that’s not the only thing I’ll be doing?” I ask. “You’d be surprised….” A grizzled looking stallion with a red mane, a yellow coat, and the sun for a cutie mark says from across the room. “That’s Solar Flare…” says Lightningbolt. “…he’s our dispatcher.” “Because of the fact that we’re a coastal city, we get a lot of wild clouds that formed over the ocean blowing in. Keeping those in check is a full time job in itself.” Solar Flare says with a groan. “That was my original job when I was hired on, but thankfully I’ve moved up in the world and don’t have to deal with that shit anymore.” “Well, it’s nice to meet you Solar Flare. If I have any questions about my job I’ll be sure to come to you.” I say respectfully. At that point we hear a whistle and Featherfall says “Well, time to get to work, Rain Twister, you’ll be working with Thunderclap today, he’ll train you on what you’re job entails.” “Sounds like you’ll be with me today.” says Thunderclap “Let’s get you into the swing of things.” A few minutes later Thunderclap and I are flying over the city. “So as Solar Flare said, cloud busting is a constant thing we have to do. It’s not difficult, but due to the sheer amount, it can be tedious and exhasuting. I’m just happy that we hired you on to take some of the load off of me. For the past couple months I’ve been basically drowning in clouds to bust due to being the only cloud buster on staff. A single pony can only do so much, you know?” Thunderclap says with a somber grin. “I’m glad I can help.” I reply. We continue our flight around the city, busting a few clouds here and there. “Hey, Rain!” Thunderclap shouts. “You see that building with the white marble columns?” he asked while pointing a hoof towards the ground. I crane my neck to search for the building he was referring to. “Yeah, I see it. Why?” I reply. Thunderclap continues, “That is City Hall, where Mayor Ties has her office. We tend to work closely with her during festivals and other events here in the city. I’m sure you’ll meet her soon.” “That’s good to know, thanks for pointing it out.” I’ve always gotten nervous when around people of that kind of authority, so hopefully the Mayor is somepony I won’t have to meet any time soon. We spend the rest of the day busting clouds around the city while Thunderclap points out various places of interest. When the sun started to set we returned to our HQ. As we entered the break room to clock out for the day Lightningbolt comes up to me. “Hey, so Featherfall and I were thinking that maybe you’d like to come to the bar with us so we all could get to know you better. What do you say?” I think to myself for a moment, trying to see if I had anything scheduled for the evening, my mind coming up blank. “Sure! I’d love to join everyone at the bar. After busting clouds all day and getting the grand tour of the city, I could really use a drink.” I say. “Excellent!” She replied with a big grin. “Meet us at the Horseshoe Lounge in an hour” I flew home and took a quick shower, threw on my flight jacket and flew out the door. After a short flight I landed outside the Horseshoe Lounge. “Wow, this place looks kinda fancy!” The whole place had an “Art Deco” aesthetic that was really pleasing to the eye. While I was admiring the Architecture of the building I hear a voice behind me. “I’m glad you made it!” I turn around to see Lightningbolt behind me wearing a red sequin dress. “Wow, she’s really cute” I think to myself. “Thanks! I’m looking forward to hanging out with everyone.” “That dress looks great on you, by the way!” I say with a blush. I’ve always been a sucker for a sequin dress. “Thanks!” she says with a smile. After a short moment of standing there awkwardly, Thunderclap and Featherfall approach us. Featherfall wearing a rather modest blue dress and Thunderclap wearing a jacket quite similar to mine. “Well, let’s get us a table” Thunderclap asserts. “So what made you decide to come out to Fillydelphia?” Lightningbolt asks. “Well, I was working at the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation for a few years in the Lower Rainbow Factory, but I really wanted to get a job that would have me outside with the wind in my mane. When I heard that you had an opening, I jumped at the chance! I’d never been to this city before and I wanted a change of scenery.” I reply while sipping on a glass of Wild Pegasus Bourbon. “What about you? I ask Lightning bolt. “Are you and your brother from here? I ask. “No, we’re originally from Trottingham.” Thunderclap replies. “We came here for the conveniences that the big city has. Plus Fillidelphia has a lot of companies that design and produce the latest tech. The radio is such a wonder of engineering!” he says wistfully. “I’ve lived my whole life here.” Featherfall says aftyer taking a drink of her wine. “I didn’t see much reason to leave.” “What about the Captain?” I ask. “Captain Breazy doesn’t really talk about her past. All we know is that she used to be in the Royal Guard in Canterlot. Every time any of us ask about it, she just says that she can’t talk about it because it’s “classified” or some shit.” Featherfall says with a frown. “She’s a good pony but sometimes when her past is brought up I can sense a….. sadness from her. Its better if you don’t ask.” She adds. “I’ll keep that in mind.” I reply. After a few hours of talking, laughing, and drinking, Thunderclap stands up. “We better go home and get some sleep. We got a long day tomorrow of getting ready for the rain cloud delivery from Cloudsdale. Good night everyone!” “Goodnight!” The rest of us reply. “Oh! One last thing before we go.” Featherfall reaches into a pocket and pulls out a patch. “For you” she says while handing it to me. “You’re now an official member of the Fillydelphian Weather Ponies. Put this on your jacket.” I take the patch from her. The patch has a blue background with a gold ring around it with a white cloud in the center with two white wings coming off either sides. “Wow! Thanks! I’ll put it on tonight when I get home.” I say with gratitude. “I’ve no doubt that you’ll do us and the city proud. Welcome to the team.” Featherfall replies. As we part ways I think to myself. “I think I’m gonna enjoy this job.” Author's Note Hi! This is my first story, please be kind, but also I would appreciate some feedback. Thanks for Reading! I plan to post a chapter every week Things Are Getting Interesting"Good morning everypony!" I say to my coworkers as I enter the break room. "Good morning Rain!" Lightningbolt replies. "I see that you sewed on the patch that Featherfall gave you last night." “Yes, I did! Thanks for noticing. Speaking of Featherfall, where is she and the Captain?" I ask while looking around the room. Lightningbolt tilts her head towards the hallway, "They're in the Captain's office discussing what part of the city needs the rain clouds first. They should be finishing up in a bit.“ “I had a lot of fun last night!" I say to Lightingbolt. I tap my hoof on the ground nervously. “I noticed that we're both off tomorrow. I was wondering if maybe you'd like to get some coffee with me in the morning, I really enjoyed talking with you last night and...” "Sure!" Lightningbolt replies blushing slightly. "I'd like that." “Ahem" Thunderclap clears his throat. "I'm still here you know!” As I open my mouth to reply, the door to the breakroom opens and in walks the Captain and Featherfall. “I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Captain Breezy says. "Thunderclap, Rain Twister, the team delivering our rain clouds will be arriving at the western edge of the city in about thirty minutes. I need you two to meet them and distribute the clouds across the southeastern side of the city. Once the rain starts, Lightningbolt and Featherfall will create a southern wind to slowly blow the storm north across the city.” “We’re on it! Thunderclap says. “We’ll make sure to have the clouds in position before noon.” Captain Breezy continues, "Good. This storm should last most of the afternoon. Once it's finished raining, join up with Lightingbolt and Featherfall to help them disperse the clouds to the north." You got it!" I say with a salute. An hour later, Thunderclap and I are in the skies above the city, moving rain clouds. "So.” Thunderclap says smugly. "Are you trying to get with my sister” His question catches me off guard. “W-what?" The word stumbles out of my mouth. "What makes you say that?" I ask, trying not to look at him. "Well, you two really hit it off last night at the lounge. Plus you asked her on a date this morning. What's a brother supposed to think?" He says. “I-It’s not like that." I stammer. "She seems like a really cool pony and I just want to get to know her better " “Hahahaha! Dude, it's cool. I'm not mad or anything." Thunderclap says with a chuckle. "You can date my sister if you want, you seem like a nice enough guy. I just want what's best for her." “You really wouldn't mind?” I ask. "I don't even know if she likas me like that.“ “Oh, she likes you.” Thunderclap says with a sly grin. “Right now, just as a friend, but I see potential there. You’ll just have to let it grow.” "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Now let's get these clouds arranged." I say, feeling sure of myself. After another hour, we finish arranging the clouds into a storm. "Alright, clouds up, ready for some wind. Take it away ladies." Thunderclap says into his radio. “On it!" Says Featherfall through the radio. "We'll meet back up with you north of town in a few hours." "See you then." Thunderclap says. Lightningbolt's Perspective: “Looks like the boys got the clouds set up and ready for us." Featherfall says. "That was fast!“ I say with a look of shock. "It's only 11 o’clock, I figured they'd be at it for another hour.“ Our shipment was a little short this time due to some issue at the factory, they assured us that the problem should be fixed soon though.” Featherfall responds with a sigh. "So…..I heard that Rain asked you out on a date this morning, what’s that about?” She asks inquisitively. “It’s not like that” I say. My cheeks turning red." We’re just two friends getting a cup of coffee!" “Mmmhmm.” Last night you two couldn’t keep your eyes off of each other, I think he likes you!” Featherfall says with a grin. “W-what? Really? It mean, he's sweet, and-and handsome, but I don't think he's all that interested in me." I stammer. "Give it a chance! It's clear that you like him and I'm certain that he likes you too." Featherfall says with a big grin. My face is burning from blushing so hard. “I admit, I have been thinking about him a lot since last night. Hell, he was even in my dreams when I finally fell asleep. Oh, what to do, what to do?!” My mind races. "So, if this is a date tomorrow, what should I do? I've never been on a date before!" Featherfall puts a hoof on my shoulder. "Just be yourself. He likes you for you." "What should we talk about" I ask. “I don't know, ask him where he grew up, or how he got his cutie mark. Something like that" Featherfall responds. "Oh, I just don't want to mess this up.." I groan. “I'm sure you'll do fine!" She replies with a sly grin. "Anyway, let's not worry about this right now, we need to get this storm blown across the city. We can talk more at my place after work if you want." Featherfall says. “Yeah, you're right, now's not the time to be worrying about this." I say while tapping both hooves on the sides of my face. "Thanks for the talk, you're a great friend, Featherfall” "No problem” She replies. Rain Twister's Perspective: Thunderclap and I met back up with Featherfall and Lightningbolt so we could disperse the storm. "Hey girls! Y’all doing alright? I ask “Y-yeah, we're good!" Lightningbolt says with a blush. "We're doing great! Featherfall says with a cheeky grin, while looking towards Lightningbolt. "We're doing juuuust, fine." Thunderclap and I look at each other with mild confusion. "Good to know." Thunderclap says. "Let's get this storm wrapped up, then we can go home.” "Sounds good! This shouldn't take long." Says Lightningbolt. We make short work of the remining clouds and head back to HQ. "Hey, Lightningbolt, um, which coffee place do you want to meet at tomorrow?" I ask. "My favorite shop is called "The Lucky Donut”. It’s on the corner of Reins Avenue and Saddle Boulevard." She replies, "Meet me there at 9 o’clock, sharp! "Sounds like a great placel I'm looking forward to it!" I say with a grin. The next morning “Sweet Celestia, I love the feeling of flying in the cool morning air!” I say to mysalf as I make my way to "The Lucky Donut". As I approach the shop, I see her waiting in front. I land a few feet away from her. "Good morning, Lightningbolt! How are you?“ "Good marring, Rain! I'm good, thanks. Just a bit tired, I had a hard time going to sleep last night." She replies. "Yeah, me too.” I say with a yawn. “Hopefully a nice cup of coffee will wake us both up." We make our way to the counter. “I'Il take a large black coffee, please." I look to Lightningbolt. "What would you like? I can pay for yours too." I say with a grin. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want you to waste vour money on me." She replies "Absolutely. I invited you out, it's only right that I cover the cost." I say, "That's something my father always taught me.“ “In that case, thank you, Rain, I’ll pay for yours next time." She says with a grin. "So what will it be today, Miss ‘bolt? The Cashier says I’ll have a large mocha, thanks." She replies with a sheepish smile. "So." Lightningbolt says as we sit at a booth. "I know we talked a little bit last night, but I'd like to know more about you.” “What would you like to know?” I ask "For starters, where did you grow up?" She asks, staring into me with her beautiful blue eyes. “Well , I was born in Manehattan and spent the first few years of my life there, but then my family moved to Cloudsdale. That's where I lived until a few weeks ago. I loved Cloudsdale, it’s a big, beautiful, shining, city in the clouds" I say reminiscently. "I even went to flight camp with Rainbow Dash! You know, the Wonderbolt? That's actually when I got my cutie mark!" "How did you get your cutie mark?" She asks with a look of awe. "Me and the other colts and fillies were playing a game where we try to make ourselves become as dizzy as possible by flying in a circle until we can't fly anymore, but I guess I don't get dizzy very easily and I ended up creating a small tornado." I say with a laugh, "The instructors didn't take too kindly to a tornado appearing in the middle of the tarmac, so I got in a little bit of trouble, but don't worry, everything turned out good in the end. I got my cutie mark during that escapade and ended up with an apprenticeship at the weather factory!“ I say with pride. “Wait, I heard about that tornado when I was at flight camp a couple years later! I can’t believe that was you!” She says with astonishment. “I had always wondered who created it, I’m glad I finally found out!” “So what about you? How did you get your cutie ma-“ I started, but was interrupted by the door to the shop opening up with a bang. We turn to see Thunderclap coming towards us with a scared look. “What's going on?” Lightningbolt asks. "We need to get to HQ immediately!" Thunderclap said with urgency. "Why? What happened?" I demand. “It’s Cloudsdale!” He replies, “There’s been an accident!” Shit Hits the FanThunderclap, Lightningbolt, and I burst through the doors into Captain Breezy’s Office. Inside we see the Captain and Featherfall frantically going over weather charts and emergency protocols. “What’s going on? What happened in Cloudsdale?” I ask Captain Breezy looks at me, barely hiding the fear in her eyes. “There was an accident at the weather factory in Cloudsdale. Some pipes had become clogged without them noticing and the backed up pressure caused an explosion that has created a hurricane.” She says, her voice trembling. “And it’s heading our way!” “Aw, shit!” Lightningbolt exclaims. “What are we gonna do?” I ask, trying to stay calm. Featherfall takes a deep breath, looks towards Breezy, then back at me. “Captain Breezy, Thunderclap, and I will take the night crew and try to slow down the storm. We’ve sent messages north to Manehattan and south to Baltimare requesting aid from their weather teams.” “Wait, we have a night crew? I ask, dumbfounded. “Sigh. Yes, we have a night crew. We were going to introduce you in a few days, but right now that is not important.” Breezy says. “Rain Twister, I need you and Lightningbolt to go tell the mayor what is going on. She’ll likely call for an evacuation of the city. If she does, I need you to help coordinate that. I give her a wing salute. “Yes, Captain. We’ll head that way now. “Alright. Featherfall, Thunderclap, It’s time for us to go.” We hear Captain Breezy say as we hurried out of the room. We make the short flight to City Hall and land outside. We trot through the large marble columns and make our way into the lobby where we see the receptionist behind a desk in the middle of the room. “We need to speak with the Mayor immediately!” Lightningbolt says, almost shouting. The mare behind the desk looks up at us with a bored expression. “She’s in a meeting. You’ll have to come back later.” She blows a bubble with her chewing gum. I reach a hoof over the desk and popped the bubble. I look straight into her shocked eyes and say, “Listen, this is an emergency, we were sent by Captain Breezy. We need to speak to the mayor NOW!” With a scared look, the receptionist reaches for her intercom and presses a button. “Mayor Ties, I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I have two members of the weather crew that need to speak to you. They claim it’s an emergency.” Over the intercom speaker we hear a voice respond. “Fine, send them in.” Lightningbolt and I make our way up the stairs to the second floor. I follow Lightningbolt since she seems to know where we’re going. After walking down a long hallway, we come upon a large oak door with shiny brass inlays. I knock. “Come in!” An agitated mare’s voice says through the door. Inside the office, there is a middle aged unicorn mare with a greying mane and an orange coat sitting behind a large wooden desk covered in paperwork and a nameplate that read “Mayor Diplomatic Ties”. The wall behind her is a giant window with a beautiful view of the city looking towards the ocean. Sitting on a chair in front of the desk is an earth pony stallion with a blue mane and a red coat wearing a police uniform. “Now, what’s SO important that you needed to interrupt my meeting with Chief Gold Star, hmm? With a shaky voice, I reply. “There was an accident in Cloudsdale, Ma’am. It unleashed a hurricane, that is, at this moment, heading this way. Captain Breezy and Lieutenant Featherfall, along with our night crew, are heading to the storm to try to slow it down. We were sent here to make you aware of the situation.” The Mayor and Chief Gold star look at us with fear in their eyes. “Are you sure this storm is heading here? Mayor Ties asks. “Yes, Ma’am.” Lightningbolt replies. “Captain Breezy has sent messages to Manehattan and Baltimare asking for the help of their weather ponies.” “What are your names?” The mayor asks. “I am Rain Twister.” I reply “And I am Lightningbolt.” My friend adds. “Rain Twister, Lightningbolt, I need you to help Chief Gold Star evacuate the city. Thank you for letting me know. Dismissed.” The mayor say authoritatively. ………………. Featherfall’s Perspective: As we fly over the countryside west of Fillydelphia we see a massive wall of dark black clouds. Lightning is striking all around it. “I’ve never seen anything like this before! What are we gonna do?” Snowflake, one of our night crew members, says with worry. “Listen up team.” Captain Breezy shouts. “We’ll start by busting the clouds in the outer layer and try to make our way into the eye of the storm. Once we make it there Featherfall, Thunderclap, and I will try to disrupt the core of the storm by busting the clouds from the inside. The rest of you will continue to work on the outside. Hopefully that will slow it down enough for reinforcements arrive.” The wind howling around us and the cacophonous sound of thunder was very disorienting. To my right I see Thunderclap, bucking the clouds and struggling to stay in the air. To my left I see Captain Breezy, doing the same, trying in vain to push towards the eye of the storm. The wind is getting so strong that my feathers are being ripped from my wings. “Captain! We need to pull back! We can’t fly in this!” I shouted to her. Captain Breezy shouts back. “We need to hold out for as long as we can, Feather! We have to….” KRA-POW!!! I watch in horror as I see her get struck by lightning, her body smoking and falling out of sight though the clouds below me. “NOOOO!!!! BREEZY!!!!!” I scream. Thunderclap sees this happen and races after Captain Breezy. I race after them, tears streaming from my eyes. Thunderclap and I burst out of the bottom of the cloud layer chasing after the unconscious pegasus, 1,000 feet from the ground, 800 feet, 500 feet, we’re almost to her. 300 feet from the ground, 200 feet, just out of reach. 150 feet, we catch her. We try to slow down but we crash into the mud. My head is spinning, as I try to get up, pain shoots from my right wing. I turn to look at it, but when I do I see that my wing is broken, I try to ignore the pain and make my way to Breezy. I put my ear to her chest. Badum….badum….badum. “She’s still alive!” I say with unbridled joy through the tears streaming down my face. I turn around to find Thunderclap laying on his back in the mud. “Thunderclap, are you alright?” “Yeah, just bruised up.” He replies with a groan. “I need you to send word back to Fillydelphia that Captain Breezy is hurt and I’m grounded. We need reinforcements.” I say through the pain. “I will, but first we need to get you two out of this rain.” He replies with a groan. ………… Rain Twister’s Perspective. I turn towards the west of the city a wall of black clouds about 30 miles away darkens the horizon. Chief Gold Star, Lightningbolt and I have successfully evacuated the western outskirts of the city and are about to start the northern and southern evacuations when I see Solar Flare flying towards us. As he lands on the street, he approaches me. “The Captain and lieutenant are out of commission and are in desperate need for reinforcements!” He says. “What happened?” I demand. “Breezy was struck by lightning and Featherfall has a broken wing.” He replies. Thunderclap took them to safety and flew back here to tell me.” “Where is he?” I ask “He’s back at HQ getting some much needed rest. He was barely able to fly back given the state of his wings. That storm must have some pretty powerful winds.” He says somberly. “The night crew are still trying to disperse the outer cloud layer.” “Thank you, Solar Flare.” I reply. I turn to address Chief Gold Star. “I need to speak to the Mayor.” “Yeah, you need to give her an update on the situation.” He replies. I make my way back to City hall and find the Mayor in her office and tell the mayor everything that Solar Flare said. The mayor puts her front hooves together, deep in thought. After a moment she turns to me and says, “There is something that I think we should do.” “What is it?” I ask “We need to use the Emergency Broadcast that is sitting in the corner over there.” She says while pointing a hoof at a table. “We need to request the pegasi of this city to volunteer to help disperse the storm. The ponies of this city are proud and would very likely aid us in dispersing this horrible storm. You need to be the one to make the announcement.” “Are you sure that I should be the one to do it?” I ask nervously. “Yes, I do. I’m just a unicorn politician, you are one of their Weather Pegasi. If you are asking for their aid, I’m sure they will come.” She says with a hopeful smile. “A-alright. Sigh. I’ll do it.” I say nervously I trot over to the table with the Emergency Broadcaster on it. I click it on, hearing the sound that signals an emergency broadcast. I take a deep breath. I begin to speak in to the microphone. “Hello, my name is Rain Twister. I am one of the several weather ponies that serve the ponies of Fillydelphia. There is a massive storm heading towards our great city and we need help to stop it. We cannot stop this storm alone. I am calling on all pegasi that are willing to fly beside me and my comrades to assist us in dispersing this storm. I also request aid from any unicorn that has weather magic to assist as well. Help us save the glorious city of Fillydelphia, my friends! Those brave ponies that wish to help, please come to the headquarters of the Fillydelphian Weather Ponies. Your city needs you. Thank you.” Mayor Ties looks at me as I click off the broadcaster. “That was an excellent speech! You made me wish that I could grow wings so that I could help too!” “Thanks!” I say with a grin. “I hope it worked” Into the StormI say my goodbyes to the Mayor and leave her office. As I get to the streets I notice that there is no pony in sight. “Good.” I say to myself. “The ponies of this sector have been evacuated.” I take off into the air and make my way to the Weather Ponies HQ. As I fly closer I start to see more and more ponies. I land outside the building in a crowd of pegasi and unicorns. In the distance the storm has reached the western outskirts of the city. Lightningbolt opens the door to let me in. “Good, you’re back!” She says with a grin. “Since you made that speech on the radio we’ve had a whole bunch of ponies come here wanting to help. “How many do we have?” I ask while looking over the crowd. “From my estimates…” She says, seemingly trying to count. “….at least 400, I think. Most of them are pegasi. Plus, the Weather Ponies from Manehattan and Baltimare arrived a few minutes ago. “That’s great news! I have a plan. Can you get me a microphone?” I ask her. “I’m on it!” After a few minutes Lightningbolt returns. “The mic is hooked up to the outdoor intercom.” She says, handing me the microphone. I take a deep breath. “Here goes nothing” I think. “Attention, ponies of Fillydelphia. I am Rain Twister. Thank you for coming at our time of need. I have a plan that will require each and every one of you.” The ponies in the crowd stop their conversations and turn to look at me. “Pegasi, I need you to fly around the storm opposite the way it is rotating, moving inwards as you go, and busting the outer layer of clouds. The counter rotations should alter the wind currents of the storm, causing it to lose much of its power and momentum. My team and I will fly over the storm and into the eye and do the same there and working our way outwards. Unicorns, I need of you to create a breeze to push against the storm and keep it from getting further into the city. Manehattan Weather crew, you’ll lead the pegasi on the outside of the storm. Baltimare Weather crew, you’ll be with me. Any questions?” I look over the crowd, everypony is standing or hovering silently. “Good! Let’s stop this storm! FOR FILLYDELPHIA! I shout. “FOR FILLYDELPHIA! The crowd replies so loud that Celestia likely heard them all the way in Canterlot. …………… Once we got the unicorns set up and their breeze blowing against the storm, I started the main bulk of the pegasi volunteers on the counter rotations. Then it was time for my team to get started. We flew up and over the storm until we found the eye. The inside of the eye was strangely calm compared to the boiling ocean of ink black storm clouds surrounding it, though there was still lightning arcing across it. “Hey ‘Bolt?” I said. “Yeah, what is it?” She replied, looking over to me. “After this is over, wanna go back to the Horseshoe lounge for dinner? I asked She looked at me with a smile. “I’d love to.” “It’s a date, then!” I say with a grin. She looks into my eyes and says, “If we make it through this, there’s something that I want to give you. Now let’s get this over with!” With renewed confidence, I led my team into the storm. Inside the storm was an absolute hellscape. The winds were strong enough to rip feathers from wings. We're having to dodge lightning left and right. Thankfully, Lightningbolt was there by my side the whole time. As a team, nothing could touch us. We flew circles around the inside of the storm, busting clouds as we went. After two hours of busting clouds, slowly the wind started to die down and the dark abyss that was the storm started to lighten up. “We’re almost there!” I shout to the rest of the team. “The Storm has started to break up!” I flew out of the eye and to the outside of the storm to find the leader of the Manehattan Weather crew. “Hey!” I yelled to get his attention. He looked to me and shouted back, “What is it? Do you need help in the eye?” “No!” I replied. “It's time to the next stage of the plan.” He led the pegasi following him to a hover around me. “Alright pegasi!” I say, getting their attention. “It’s time to start busting our way through the storm. Lightning is still a hazard so be careful. Let’s get this finished so we can all go home.” Over the next hour we were able to dispel the storm. Sadly there was some severe damage to the western outskirts and suburbs of the city. Homes and businesses destroyed from the incredible winds that the storm had created and a few fires burned where lightning had struck. Thankfully, the unicorns took care of the fires before they could spread. We had a few injuries, but thankfully nothing more serious than missing feathers, sprained wings, or magical burnout. I gathered the weather teams and the volunteers back at our HQ where Mayor Ties was waiting for us along with a crowd of cheering ponies. Mayor Ties picks up the microphone with her magic and addresses the crowd. “Ponies of Fillydelphia, I would like to thank everypony involved with saving our city from an unspeakable catastrophe. Thank you to the weather ponies from Manehattan and Baltimare for coming as quickly as you could to assist us, thank you to the volunteers who risked life and limb to save their city, and thank you to Rain Twister, one of our city’s own weather ponies, who brought them all together. Through his courage and leadership our city was saved.” She looks to me and motions with her hoof for me to come to her. “I present to you, Rain Twister, the key to the city.” “Thank you Mayor Ties. I couldn’t have done it without the bravery of everyone involved." I say with gratitude. The mayor continues. “Now, the leader of the Fillydelphian Weather ponies, Captain Breezy would like to say a few words.” Breezy limps to the mayor and takes the mic. “Thank you Mayor Ties. Again I would like to thank everypony involved in ridding us of that storm. Due to my age and my injuries caused by that storm, I hereby announce my retirement. Because of his courage and leadership in these trying times there is nopony more sutible to replace me as captain than Rain Twister.” She turns to look me in the eyes. “You have done me and the city proud, kid.” “I don’t know what to say!” I reply, shocked. “Are you sure?” “Yes, I’m sure.” She says. “I’ve been thinking of retiring for a couple of years now.” “In that case, thank you Breezy. I humbly accept the promotion.” I say, bowing. Breezy looks back to the crowd. “Three cheers For Rain Twister, Captain of the Fillydelphian Weather Ponies!” As the crowd is cheering, Lightningbolt comes up to me. “Now for me to keep my promise.” She says smiling at me. “What are you talking ab…. “I started to say. In front of everypony she leans in and kisses me. Electricity shoots down my spine, my wings pop out, and my hair stands on end. After the initial shock, I melted into her lips and returned the kiss. The cheering of the crowd got even louder in the background. Author's Note Thank you all for reading my story. Your feedback and support have been greatly appreciated! Now I can say that I have contributed to the fandom in some way. Epilogue will come soon. Epilogue30 Years Later “WOW! I can’t believe that you and granny ‘Bolt really stopped a hurricane together!” My grandson, Sunstreak, says with awe. “Yeah! Y’all are amazing!” My granddaughter, Jetstream added. “Thank you, Jetstream.” I say. “It wasn’t just us though, Sunstreak, it would’ve been impossible without everyone else there assisting us.” “Oh, don’t be modest, Rain!” Lightningbolt says with a sly grin. “Without your leadership, I don’t think anypony could’ve stopped it as quickly as we did. The city would have been destroyed!” “I suppose you’re right, ‘Bolt, thanks.” Ding, Dong…. “I’ll get the door, dear.” Lightningbolt says, moving to the front door. After a moment I see Lightningbolt and our son, Storm Chaser, enter the room. “Hey, dad! Thanks again for taking care of the kids while Starfall and I had a little date night. We really appreciate it!” My son says with a tired smile. “Oh, it’s no problem at all!” Lightningbolt chirps up. “We love having our grandfoals here to visit. I enjoy getting to cook for other ponies and your father loves telling them stories of our time on the weather crew.” “Thanks, mom.” Storm Chaser says. He turns to his two children, “Alright, my little ponies, your mother is waiting in the carriage, so get your things, it’s time to go home.” “Awww, do we have toooo?” Jetstream moans. “Yeah, we want to hear more awesome stories!” Sunstreak pleads. “You heard your father.” I say sternly. “Besides, ‘Bolt and I have some things we need to do.” “Ok.” Both kids say simultaneously. “See you in a few weeks, Grandpa Rain. Sunstreak says while giving me a hug. "I love you, Grandpa." Jetstream says while hugging me. "I love you too!" I say returning the hug. "And I love you as well, Sunstreak. You two try not to give your parents a hard time, ok?" "Yes, Grandpa!" They both say. After we say our goodbyes Lightningbolt and I watch as their carriage makes its way down the road back to Vanhoover. I walk back into the house and take a seat in my favorite chair. It’s been ten years since Lightningbolt and I both retired from the Fillydelphian Weather Ponies. The time has flashed by and I feel old age starting to creep up on me. A couple years after The Storm, Lightningbolt and I got married and a year after that, Storm Chaser was born. He was a much better colt than I was when growing up. I’m so thankful to have such a wonderful family. But here I am, getting reminiscent again. “Hey, ‘Bolt! Wanna go to the Horseshoe Lounge for dinner and some drinks?” Lightningbolt looks to me with a smile. “Sounds like fun! I’ll see if I can still fit into that red sequin dress that I know you love. Want me to call my brother to see if he wants to come too? I ponder that thought for a moment. “Hell, let’s see if we can get in touch with Featherfall too, we can make it a weather crew reunion!” I say enthusiastically. “It’s a shame that Breezy and Solar Flare both passed a few years ago. I would love to hang out with them again.” I think to myself. As we make to leave, I suddenly stop. “Wait, I forgot something.” I go back into the house and come back out a moment later. I look to Lightningbolt and say, “I figured I should grab my flight jacket, just in case.” She gives me a smile and we head out into the city.
Getting Into the Swing of ThingsBeep, beep, beep, beep, bee- *thunk*. “Uhg..” I slowly wake up, turning off my alarm, and have a nice, long stretch. You know, the kind that just makes you’re whole body shake like you’re having a mild seizure, yeah, that’s the best kind of stretch. “Time for Breakfast”, I say to myself. “Oatmeal sounds pretty good”. I eat my breakfast, take a shower and start to make my way out the door when I stopped. “I should grab by flight jacked just in case.” I leave my house ready for the first day at my new job. I recently moved to Fillydelphia from Cloudsdale to start a new job with the Fillydelphia Weather Crew. I had always wanted to become a weather pony, ever since getting my cutie mark by accidentally creating a small tornado, heh, wasn’t THAT a shitshow. But that a story for another time. I land on the steps in front of my new job. “Inhale, Sigh… time to start my new life.” I open the door and make my way inside. In the foyer there is a middle aged mare with a white mane, a sky blue coat, and a cutie mark of a cloud blowing in the breeze waiting for me. “I am Captain Easy Breezy, the leader of the Fillydelphian Weather Ponies. You must be Rain Twister, right?” “Yes ma’am” I say. “I’m very excited to be here!” “Great to hear, we’ve been needing a new cloud buster for a few months now. Let’s go introduce you to the rest of the team.” The Captain replies. We make our way down the hall to what appears to be a break room. Inside I see four other ponies talking with each other and drinking coffee. “Listen up team! This is Rain Twister, He’s our newest team member, I expect you all to get along and treat him like family.” The Captain announces. “I’ve got some paperwork to take care of, so I’ll leave y’all too it.” “Thanks, ma’am, I appreciate the opportunity to work here.” I say with a look of excitement. “Drop all this “ma’am” talk. You’re part of the family now, call me “Breezy”!” “I will, thanks!” I reply sheepishly. As Breezy walks out of the room one of the other ponies approaches me. She has a pretty purple mane, a light pink coat thats reminiscent of the northern lights and a cutie mark of a feather. “Hello, I am Featherfall. Captain Breezy’s Lieutenant. It’s a pleasure to meet you Rain.” “The pleasure is all mine” I say. As Featherfall returns to the table I follow her and take a seat. On the other side of the table I see a rather small mare and a stallion sitting together. The mare has a brown mane, a sandy blond coat, and a cutie mark of two crossed bolts of lightning. The stallion next to her has the same colors except flipped with a cutie mark of a storm cloud with a lightning bolt coming from the bottom. “Hi, I’m Lightningbolt and this is my brother Thunderclap, we’re twins.” The mare says excitedly. “Nice to meet you” Thunderclap adds. “Nice to meet you both, I’m looking forward to working with y’all.” I reply with a grin. “So, what all do we do here? I know I was hired to be a cloud buster, but surely that’s not the only thing I’ll be doing?” I ask. “You’d be surprised….” A grizzled looking stallion with a red mane, a yellow coat, and the sun for a cutie mark says from across the room. “That’s Solar Flare…” says Lightningbolt. “…he’s our dispatcher.” “Because of the fact that we’re a coastal city, we get a lot of wild clouds that formed over the ocean blowing in. Keeping those in check is a full time job in itself.” Solar Flare says with a groan. “That was my original job when I was hired on, but thankfully I’ve moved up in the world and don’t have to deal with that shit anymore.” “Well, it’s nice to meet you Solar Flare. If I have any questions about my job I’ll be sure to come to you.” I say respectfully. At that point we hear a whistle and Featherfall says “Well, time to get to work, Rain Twister, you’ll be working with Thunderclap today, he’ll train you on what you’re job entails.” “Sounds like you’ll be with me today.” says Thunderclap “Let’s get you into the swing of things.” A few minutes later Thunderclap and I are flying over the city. “So as Solar Flare said, cloud busting is a constant thing we have to do. It’s not difficult, but due to the sheer amount, it can be tedious and exhasuting. I’m just happy that we hired you on to take some of the load off of me. For the past couple months I’ve been basically drowning in clouds to bust due to being the only cloud buster on staff. A single pony can only do so much, you know?” Thunderclap says with a somber grin. “I’m glad I can help.” I reply. We continue our flight around the city, busting a few clouds here and there. “Hey, Rain!” Thunderclap shouts. “You see that building with the white marble columns?” he asked while pointing a hoof towards the ground. I crane my neck to search for the building he was referring to. “Yeah, I see it. Why?” I reply. Thunderclap continues, “That is City Hall, where Mayor Ties has her office. We tend to work closely with her during festivals and other events here in the city. I’m sure you’ll meet her soon.” “That’s good to know, thanks for pointing it out.” I’ve always gotten nervous when around people of that kind of authority, so hopefully the Mayor is somepony I won’t have to meet any time soon. We spend the rest of the day busting clouds around the city while Thunderclap points out various places of interest. When the sun started to set we returned to our HQ. As we entered the break room to clock out for the day Lightningbolt comes up to me. “Hey, so Featherfall and I were thinking that maybe you’d like to come to the bar with us so we all could get to know you better. What do you say?” I think to myself for a moment, trying to see if I had anything scheduled for the evening, my mind coming up blank. “Sure! I’d love to join everyone at the bar. After busting clouds all day and getting the grand tour of the city, I could really use a drink.” I say. “Excellent!” She replied with a big grin. “Meet us at the Horseshoe Lounge in an hour” I flew home and took a quick shower, threw on my flight jacket and flew out the door. After a short flight I landed outside the Horseshoe Lounge. “Wow, this place looks kinda fancy!” The whole place had an “Art Deco” aesthetic that was really pleasing to the eye. While I was admiring the Architecture of the building I hear a voice behind me. “I’m glad you made it!” I turn around to see Lightningbolt behind me wearing a red sequin dress. “Wow, she’s really cute” I think to myself. “Thanks! I’m looking forward to hanging out with everyone.” “That dress looks great on you, by the way!” I say with a blush. I’ve always been a sucker for a sequin dress. “Thanks!” she says with a smile. After a short moment of standing there awkwardly, Thunderclap and Featherfall approach us. Featherfall wearing a rather modest blue dress and Thunderclap wearing a jacket quite similar to mine. “Well, let’s get us a table” Thunderclap asserts. “So what made you decide to come out to Fillydelphia?” Lightningbolt asks. “Well, I was working at the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation for a few years in the Lower Rainbow Factory, but I really wanted to get a job that would have me outside with the wind in my mane. When I heard that you had an opening, I jumped at the chance! I’d never been to this city before and I wanted a change of scenery.” I reply while sipping on a glass of Wild Pegasus Bourbon. “What about you? I ask Lightning bolt. “Are you and your brother from here? I ask. “No, we’re originally from Trottingham.” Thunderclap replies. “We came here for the conveniences that the big city has. Plus Fillidelphia has a lot of companies that design and produce the latest tech. The radio is such a wonder of engineering!” he says wistfully. “I’ve lived my whole life here.” Featherfall says aftyer taking a drink of her wine. “I didn’t see much reason to leave.” “What about the Captain?” I ask. “Captain Breazy doesn’t really talk about her past. All we know is that she used to be in the Royal Guard in Canterlot. Every time any of us ask about it, she just says that she can’t talk about it because it’s “classified” or some shit.” Featherfall says with a frown. “She’s a good pony but sometimes when her past is brought up I can sense a….. sadness from her. Its better if you don’t ask.” She adds. “I’ll keep that in mind.” I reply. After a few hours of talking, laughing, and drinking, Thunderclap stands up. “We better go home and get some sleep. We got a long day tomorrow of getting ready for the rain cloud delivery from Cloudsdale. Good night everyone!” “Goodnight!” The rest of us reply. “Oh! One last thing before we go.” Featherfall reaches into a pocket and pulls out a patch. “For you” she says while handing it to me. “You’re now an official member of the Fillydelphian Weather Ponies. Put this on your jacket.” I take the patch from her. The patch has a blue background with a gold ring around it with a white cloud in the center with two white wings coming off either sides. “Wow! Thanks! I’ll put it on tonight when I get home.” I say with gratitude. “I’ve no doubt that you’ll do us and the city proud. Welcome to the team.” Featherfall replies. As we part ways I think to myself. “I think I’m gonna enjoy this job.” Author's Note Hi! This is my first story, please be kind, but also I would appreciate some feedback. Thanks for Reading! I plan to post a chapter every week
Things Are Getting Interesting"Good morning everypony!" I say to my coworkers as I enter the break room. "Good morning Rain!" Lightningbolt replies. "I see that you sewed on the patch that Featherfall gave you last night." “Yes, I did! Thanks for noticing. Speaking of Featherfall, where is she and the Captain?" I ask while looking around the room. Lightningbolt tilts her head towards the hallway, "They're in the Captain's office discussing what part of the city needs the rain clouds first. They should be finishing up in a bit.“ “I had a lot of fun last night!" I say to Lightingbolt. I tap my hoof on the ground nervously. “I noticed that we're both off tomorrow. I was wondering if maybe you'd like to get some coffee with me in the morning, I really enjoyed talking with you last night and...” "Sure!" Lightningbolt replies blushing slightly. "I'd like that." “Ahem" Thunderclap clears his throat. "I'm still here you know!” As I open my mouth to reply, the door to the breakroom opens and in walks the Captain and Featherfall. “I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Captain Breezy says. "Thunderclap, Rain Twister, the team delivering our rain clouds will be arriving at the western edge of the city in about thirty minutes. I need you two to meet them and distribute the clouds across the southeastern side of the city. Once the rain starts, Lightningbolt and Featherfall will create a southern wind to slowly blow the storm north across the city.” “We’re on it! Thunderclap says. “We’ll make sure to have the clouds in position before noon.” Captain Breezy continues, "Good. This storm should last most of the afternoon. Once it's finished raining, join up with Lightingbolt and Featherfall to help them disperse the clouds to the north." You got it!" I say with a salute. An hour later, Thunderclap and I are in the skies above the city, moving rain clouds. "So.” Thunderclap says smugly. "Are you trying to get with my sister” His question catches me off guard. “W-what?" The word stumbles out of my mouth. "What makes you say that?" I ask, trying not to look at him. "Well, you two really hit it off last night at the lounge. Plus you asked her on a date this morning. What's a brother supposed to think?" He says. “I-It’s not like that." I stammer. "She seems like a really cool pony and I just want to get to know her better " “Hahahaha! Dude, it's cool. I'm not mad or anything." Thunderclap says with a chuckle. "You can date my sister if you want, you seem like a nice enough guy. I just want what's best for her." “You really wouldn't mind?” I ask. "I don't even know if she likas me like that.“ “Oh, she likes you.” Thunderclap says with a sly grin. “Right now, just as a friend, but I see potential there. You’ll just have to let it grow.” "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Now let's get these clouds arranged." I say, feeling sure of myself. After another hour, we finish arranging the clouds into a storm. "Alright, clouds up, ready for some wind. Take it away ladies." Thunderclap says into his radio. “On it!" Says Featherfall through the radio. "We'll meet back up with you north of town in a few hours." "See you then." Thunderclap says. Lightningbolt's Perspective: “Looks like the boys got the clouds set up and ready for us." Featherfall says. "That was fast!“ I say with a look of shock. "It's only 11 o’clock, I figured they'd be at it for another hour.“ Our shipment was a little short this time due to some issue at the factory, they assured us that the problem should be fixed soon though.” Featherfall responds with a sigh. "So…..I heard that Rain asked you out on a date this morning, what’s that about?” She asks inquisitively. “It’s not like that” I say. My cheeks turning red." We’re just two friends getting a cup of coffee!" “Mmmhmm.” Last night you two couldn’t keep your eyes off of each other, I think he likes you!” Featherfall says with a grin. “W-what? Really? It mean, he's sweet, and-and handsome, but I don't think he's all that interested in me." I stammer. "Give it a chance! It's clear that you like him and I'm certain that he likes you too." Featherfall says with a big grin. My face is burning from blushing so hard. “I admit, I have been thinking about him a lot since last night. Hell, he was even in my dreams when I finally fell asleep. Oh, what to do, what to do?!” My mind races. "So, if this is a date tomorrow, what should I do? I've never been on a date before!" Featherfall puts a hoof on my shoulder. "Just be yourself. He likes you for you." "What should we talk about" I ask. “I don't know, ask him where he grew up, or how he got his cutie mark. Something like that" Featherfall responds. "Oh, I just don't want to mess this up.." I groan. “I'm sure you'll do fine!" She replies with a sly grin. "Anyway, let's not worry about this right now, we need to get this storm blown across the city. We can talk more at my place after work if you want." Featherfall says. “Yeah, you're right, now's not the time to be worrying about this." I say while tapping both hooves on the sides of my face. "Thanks for the talk, you're a great friend, Featherfall” "No problem” She replies. Rain Twister's Perspective: Thunderclap and I met back up with Featherfall and Lightningbolt so we could disperse the storm. "Hey girls! Y’all doing alright? I ask “Y-yeah, we're good!" Lightningbolt says with a blush. "We're doing great! Featherfall says with a cheeky grin, while looking towards Lightningbolt. "We're doing juuuust, fine." Thunderclap and I look at each other with mild confusion. "Good to know." Thunderclap says. "Let's get this storm wrapped up, then we can go home.” "Sounds good! This shouldn't take long." Says Lightningbolt. We make short work of the remining clouds and head back to HQ. "Hey, Lightningbolt, um, which coffee place do you want to meet at tomorrow?" I ask. "My favorite shop is called "The Lucky Donut”. It’s on the corner of Reins Avenue and Saddle Boulevard." She replies, "Meet me there at 9 o’clock, sharp! "Sounds like a great placel I'm looking forward to it!" I say with a grin. The next morning “Sweet Celestia, I love the feeling of flying in the cool morning air!” I say to mysalf as I make my way to "The Lucky Donut". As I approach the shop, I see her waiting in front. I land a few feet away from her. "Good morning, Lightningbolt! How are you?“ "Good marring, Rain! I'm good, thanks. Just a bit tired, I had a hard time going to sleep last night." She replies. "Yeah, me too.” I say with a yawn. “Hopefully a nice cup of coffee will wake us both up." We make our way to the counter. “I'Il take a large black coffee, please." I look to Lightningbolt. "What would you like? I can pay for yours too." I say with a grin. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want you to waste vour money on me." She replies "Absolutely. I invited you out, it's only right that I cover the cost." I say, "That's something my father always taught me.“ “In that case, thank you, Rain, I’ll pay for yours next time." She says with a grin. "So what will it be today, Miss ‘bolt? The Cashier says I’ll have a large mocha, thanks." She replies with a sheepish smile. "So." Lightningbolt says as we sit at a booth. "I know we talked a little bit last night, but I'd like to know more about you.” “What would you like to know?” I ask "For starters, where did you grow up?" She asks, staring into me with her beautiful blue eyes. “Well , I was born in Manehattan and spent the first few years of my life there, but then my family moved to Cloudsdale. That's where I lived until a few weeks ago. I loved Cloudsdale, it’s a big, beautiful, shining, city in the clouds" I say reminiscently. "I even went to flight camp with Rainbow Dash! You know, the Wonderbolt? That's actually when I got my cutie mark!" "How did you get your cutie mark?" She asks with a look of awe. "Me and the other colts and fillies were playing a game where we try to make ourselves become as dizzy as possible by flying in a circle until we can't fly anymore, but I guess I don't get dizzy very easily and I ended up creating a small tornado." I say with a laugh, "The instructors didn't take too kindly to a tornado appearing in the middle of the tarmac, so I got in a little bit of trouble, but don't worry, everything turned out good in the end. I got my cutie mark during that escapade and ended up with an apprenticeship at the weather factory!“ I say with pride. “Wait, I heard about that tornado when I was at flight camp a couple years later! I can’t believe that was you!” She says with astonishment. “I had always wondered who created it, I’m glad I finally found out!” “So what about you? How did you get your cutie ma-“ I started, but was interrupted by the door to the shop opening up with a bang. We turn to see Thunderclap coming towards us with a scared look. “What's going on?” Lightningbolt asks. "We need to get to HQ immediately!" Thunderclap said with urgency. "Why? What happened?" I demand. “It’s Cloudsdale!” He replies, “There’s been an accident!”
Shit Hits the FanThunderclap, Lightningbolt, and I burst through the doors into Captain Breezy’s Office. Inside we see the Captain and Featherfall frantically going over weather charts and emergency protocols. “What’s going on? What happened in Cloudsdale?” I ask Captain Breezy looks at me, barely hiding the fear in her eyes. “There was an accident at the weather factory in Cloudsdale. Some pipes had become clogged without them noticing and the backed up pressure caused an explosion that has created a hurricane.” She says, her voice trembling. “And it’s heading our way!” “Aw, shit!” Lightningbolt exclaims. “What are we gonna do?” I ask, trying to stay calm. Featherfall takes a deep breath, looks towards Breezy, then back at me. “Captain Breezy, Thunderclap, and I will take the night crew and try to slow down the storm. We’ve sent messages north to Manehattan and south to Baltimare requesting aid from their weather teams.” “Wait, we have a night crew? I ask, dumbfounded. “Sigh. Yes, we have a night crew. We were going to introduce you in a few days, but right now that is not important.” Breezy says. “Rain Twister, I need you and Lightningbolt to go tell the mayor what is going on. She’ll likely call for an evacuation of the city. If she does, I need you to help coordinate that. I give her a wing salute. “Yes, Captain. We’ll head that way now. “Alright. Featherfall, Thunderclap, It’s time for us to go.” We hear Captain Breezy say as we hurried out of the room. We make the short flight to City Hall and land outside. We trot through the large marble columns and make our way into the lobby where we see the receptionist behind a desk in the middle of the room. “We need to speak with the Mayor immediately!” Lightningbolt says, almost shouting. The mare behind the desk looks up at us with a bored expression. “She’s in a meeting. You’ll have to come back later.” She blows a bubble with her chewing gum. I reach a hoof over the desk and popped the bubble. I look straight into her shocked eyes and say, “Listen, this is an emergency, we were sent by Captain Breezy. We need to speak to the mayor NOW!” With a scared look, the receptionist reaches for her intercom and presses a button. “Mayor Ties, I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I have two members of the weather crew that need to speak to you. They claim it’s an emergency.” Over the intercom speaker we hear a voice respond. “Fine, send them in.” Lightningbolt and I make our way up the stairs to the second floor. I follow Lightningbolt since she seems to know where we’re going. After walking down a long hallway, we come upon a large oak door with shiny brass inlays. I knock. “Come in!” An agitated mare’s voice says through the door. Inside the office, there is a middle aged unicorn mare with a greying mane and an orange coat sitting behind a large wooden desk covered in paperwork and a nameplate that read “Mayor Diplomatic Ties”. The wall behind her is a giant window with a beautiful view of the city looking towards the ocean. Sitting on a chair in front of the desk is an earth pony stallion with a blue mane and a red coat wearing a police uniform. “Now, what’s SO important that you needed to interrupt my meeting with Chief Gold Star, hmm? With a shaky voice, I reply. “There was an accident in Cloudsdale, Ma’am. It unleashed a hurricane, that is, at this moment, heading this way. Captain Breezy and Lieutenant Featherfall, along with our night crew, are heading to the storm to try to slow it down. We were sent here to make you aware of the situation.” The Mayor and Chief Gold star look at us with fear in their eyes. “Are you sure this storm is heading here? Mayor Ties asks. “Yes, Ma’am.” Lightningbolt replies. “Captain Breezy has sent messages to Manehattan and Baltimare asking for the help of their weather ponies.” “What are your names?” The mayor asks. “I am Rain Twister.” I reply “And I am Lightningbolt.” My friend adds. “Rain Twister, Lightningbolt, I need you to help Chief Gold Star evacuate the city. Thank you for letting me know. Dismissed.” The mayor say authoritatively. ………………. Featherfall’s Perspective: As we fly over the countryside west of Fillydelphia we see a massive wall of dark black clouds. Lightning is striking all around it. “I’ve never seen anything like this before! What are we gonna do?” Snowflake, one of our night crew members, says with worry. “Listen up team.” Captain Breezy shouts. “We’ll start by busting the clouds in the outer layer and try to make our way into the eye of the storm. Once we make it there Featherfall, Thunderclap, and I will try to disrupt the core of the storm by busting the clouds from the inside. The rest of you will continue to work on the outside. Hopefully that will slow it down enough for reinforcements arrive.” The wind howling around us and the cacophonous sound of thunder was very disorienting. To my right I see Thunderclap, bucking the clouds and struggling to stay in the air. To my left I see Captain Breezy, doing the same, trying in vain to push towards the eye of the storm. The wind is getting so strong that my feathers are being ripped from my wings. “Captain! We need to pull back! We can’t fly in this!” I shouted to her. Captain Breezy shouts back. “We need to hold out for as long as we can, Feather! We have to….” KRA-POW!!! I watch in horror as I see her get struck by lightning, her body smoking and falling out of sight though the clouds below me. “NOOOO!!!! BREEZY!!!!!” I scream. Thunderclap sees this happen and races after Captain Breezy. I race after them, tears streaming from my eyes. Thunderclap and I burst out of the bottom of the cloud layer chasing after the unconscious pegasus, 1,000 feet from the ground, 800 feet, 500 feet, we’re almost to her. 300 feet from the ground, 200 feet, just out of reach. 150 feet, we catch her. We try to slow down but we crash into the mud. My head is spinning, as I try to get up, pain shoots from my right wing. I turn to look at it, but when I do I see that my wing is broken, I try to ignore the pain and make my way to Breezy. I put my ear to her chest. Badum….badum….badum. “She’s still alive!” I say with unbridled joy through the tears streaming down my face. I turn around to find Thunderclap laying on his back in the mud. “Thunderclap, are you alright?” “Yeah, just bruised up.” He replies with a groan. “I need you to send word back to Fillydelphia that Captain Breezy is hurt and I’m grounded. We need reinforcements.” I say through the pain. “I will, but first we need to get you two out of this rain.” He replies with a groan. ………… Rain Twister’s Perspective. I turn towards the west of the city a wall of black clouds about 30 miles away darkens the horizon. Chief Gold Star, Lightningbolt and I have successfully evacuated the western outskirts of the city and are about to start the northern and southern evacuations when I see Solar Flare flying towards us. As he lands on the street, he approaches me. “The Captain and lieutenant are out of commission and are in desperate need for reinforcements!” He says. “What happened?” I demand. “Breezy was struck by lightning and Featherfall has a broken wing.” He replies. Thunderclap took them to safety and flew back here to tell me.” “Where is he?” I ask “He’s back at HQ getting some much needed rest. He was barely able to fly back given the state of his wings. That storm must have some pretty powerful winds.” He says somberly. “The night crew are still trying to disperse the outer cloud layer.” “Thank you, Solar Flare.” I reply. I turn to address Chief Gold Star. “I need to speak to the Mayor.” “Yeah, you need to give her an update on the situation.” He replies. I make my way back to City hall and find the Mayor in her office and tell the mayor everything that Solar Flare said. The mayor puts her front hooves together, deep in thought. After a moment she turns to me and says, “There is something that I think we should do.” “What is it?” I ask “We need to use the Emergency Broadcast that is sitting in the corner over there.” She says while pointing a hoof at a table. “We need to request the pegasi of this city to volunteer to help disperse the storm. The ponies of this city are proud and would very likely aid us in dispersing this horrible storm. You need to be the one to make the announcement.” “Are you sure that I should be the one to do it?” I ask nervously. “Yes, I do. I’m just a unicorn politician, you are one of their Weather Pegasi. If you are asking for their aid, I’m sure they will come.” She says with a hopeful smile. “A-alright. Sigh. I’ll do it.” I say nervously I trot over to the table with the Emergency Broadcaster on it. I click it on, hearing the sound that signals an emergency broadcast. I take a deep breath. I begin to speak in to the microphone. “Hello, my name is Rain Twister. I am one of the several weather ponies that serve the ponies of Fillydelphia. There is a massive storm heading towards our great city and we need help to stop it. We cannot stop this storm alone. I am calling on all pegasi that are willing to fly beside me and my comrades to assist us in dispersing this storm. I also request aid from any unicorn that has weather magic to assist as well. Help us save the glorious city of Fillydelphia, my friends! Those brave ponies that wish to help, please come to the headquarters of the Fillydelphian Weather Ponies. Your city needs you. Thank you.” Mayor Ties looks at me as I click off the broadcaster. “That was an excellent speech! You made me wish that I could grow wings so that I could help too!” “Thanks!” I say with a grin. “I hope it worked”
Into the StormI say my goodbyes to the Mayor and leave her office. As I get to the streets I notice that there is no pony in sight. “Good.” I say to myself. “The ponies of this sector have been evacuated.” I take off into the air and make my way to the Weather Ponies HQ. As I fly closer I start to see more and more ponies. I land outside the building in a crowd of pegasi and unicorns. In the distance the storm has reached the western outskirts of the city. Lightningbolt opens the door to let me in. “Good, you’re back!” She says with a grin. “Since you made that speech on the radio we’ve had a whole bunch of ponies come here wanting to help. “How many do we have?” I ask while looking over the crowd. “From my estimates…” She says, seemingly trying to count. “….at least 400, I think. Most of them are pegasi. Plus, the Weather Ponies from Manehattan and Baltimare arrived a few minutes ago. “That’s great news! I have a plan. Can you get me a microphone?” I ask her. “I’m on it!” After a few minutes Lightningbolt returns. “The mic is hooked up to the outdoor intercom.” She says, handing me the microphone. I take a deep breath. “Here goes nothing” I think. “Attention, ponies of Fillydelphia. I am Rain Twister. Thank you for coming at our time of need. I have a plan that will require each and every one of you.” The ponies in the crowd stop their conversations and turn to look at me. “Pegasi, I need you to fly around the storm opposite the way it is rotating, moving inwards as you go, and busting the outer layer of clouds. The counter rotations should alter the wind currents of the storm, causing it to lose much of its power and momentum. My team and I will fly over the storm and into the eye and do the same there and working our way outwards. Unicorns, I need of you to create a breeze to push against the storm and keep it from getting further into the city. Manehattan Weather crew, you’ll lead the pegasi on the outside of the storm. Baltimare Weather crew, you’ll be with me. Any questions?” I look over the crowd, everypony is standing or hovering silently. “Good! Let’s stop this storm! FOR FILLYDELPHIA! I shout. “FOR FILLYDELPHIA! The crowd replies so loud that Celestia likely heard them all the way in Canterlot. …………… Once we got the unicorns set up and their breeze blowing against the storm, I started the main bulk of the pegasi volunteers on the counter rotations. Then it was time for my team to get started. We flew up and over the storm until we found the eye. The inside of the eye was strangely calm compared to the boiling ocean of ink black storm clouds surrounding it, though there was still lightning arcing across it. “Hey ‘Bolt?” I said. “Yeah, what is it?” She replied, looking over to me. “After this is over, wanna go back to the Horseshoe lounge for dinner? I asked She looked at me with a smile. “I’d love to.” “It’s a date, then!” I say with a grin. She looks into my eyes and says, “If we make it through this, there’s something that I want to give you. Now let’s get this over with!” With renewed confidence, I led my team into the storm. Inside the storm was an absolute hellscape. The winds were strong enough to rip feathers from wings. We're having to dodge lightning left and right. Thankfully, Lightningbolt was there by my side the whole time. As a team, nothing could touch us. We flew circles around the inside of the storm, busting clouds as we went. After two hours of busting clouds, slowly the wind started to die down and the dark abyss that was the storm started to lighten up. “We’re almost there!” I shout to the rest of the team. “The Storm has started to break up!” I flew out of the eye and to the outside of the storm to find the leader of the Manehattan Weather crew. “Hey!” I yelled to get his attention. He looked to me and shouted back, “What is it? Do you need help in the eye?” “No!” I replied. “It's time to the next stage of the plan.” He led the pegasi following him to a hover around me. “Alright pegasi!” I say, getting their attention. “It’s time to start busting our way through the storm. Lightning is still a hazard so be careful. Let’s get this finished so we can all go home.” Over the next hour we were able to dispel the storm. Sadly there was some severe damage to the western outskirts and suburbs of the city. Homes and businesses destroyed from the incredible winds that the storm had created and a few fires burned where lightning had struck. Thankfully, the unicorns took care of the fires before they could spread. We had a few injuries, but thankfully nothing more serious than missing feathers, sprained wings, or magical burnout. I gathered the weather teams and the volunteers back at our HQ where Mayor Ties was waiting for us along with a crowd of cheering ponies. Mayor Ties picks up the microphone with her magic and addresses the crowd. “Ponies of Fillydelphia, I would like to thank everypony involved with saving our city from an unspeakable catastrophe. Thank you to the weather ponies from Manehattan and Baltimare for coming as quickly as you could to assist us, thank you to the volunteers who risked life and limb to save their city, and thank you to Rain Twister, one of our city’s own weather ponies, who brought them all together. Through his courage and leadership our city was saved.” She looks to me and motions with her hoof for me to come to her. “I present to you, Rain Twister, the key to the city.” “Thank you Mayor Ties. I couldn’t have done it without the bravery of everyone involved." I say with gratitude. The mayor continues. “Now, the leader of the Fillydelphian Weather ponies, Captain Breezy would like to say a few words.” Breezy limps to the mayor and takes the mic. “Thank you Mayor Ties. Again I would like to thank everypony involved in ridding us of that storm. Due to my age and my injuries caused by that storm, I hereby announce my retirement. Because of his courage and leadership in these trying times there is nopony more sutible to replace me as captain than Rain Twister.” She turns to look me in the eyes. “You have done me and the city proud, kid.” “I don’t know what to say!” I reply, shocked. “Are you sure?” “Yes, I’m sure.” She says. “I’ve been thinking of retiring for a couple of years now.” “In that case, thank you Breezy. I humbly accept the promotion.” I say, bowing. Breezy looks back to the crowd. “Three cheers For Rain Twister, Captain of the Fillydelphian Weather Ponies!” As the crowd is cheering, Lightningbolt comes up to me. “Now for me to keep my promise.” She says smiling at me. “What are you talking ab…. “I started to say. In front of everypony she leans in and kisses me. Electricity shoots down my spine, my wings pop out, and my hair stands on end. After the initial shock, I melted into her lips and returned the kiss. The cheering of the crowd got even louder in the background. Author's Note Thank you all for reading my story. Your feedback and support have been greatly appreciated! Now I can say that I have contributed to the fandom in some way. Epilogue will come soon.
Epilogue30 Years Later “WOW! I can’t believe that you and granny ‘Bolt really stopped a hurricane together!” My grandson, Sunstreak, says with awe. “Yeah! Y’all are amazing!” My granddaughter, Jetstream added. “Thank you, Jetstream.” I say. “It wasn’t just us though, Sunstreak, it would’ve been impossible without everyone else there assisting us.” “Oh, don’t be modest, Rain!” Lightningbolt says with a sly grin. “Without your leadership, I don’t think anypony could’ve stopped it as quickly as we did. The city would have been destroyed!” “I suppose you’re right, ‘Bolt, thanks.” Ding, Dong…. “I’ll get the door, dear.” Lightningbolt says, moving to the front door. After a moment I see Lightningbolt and our son, Storm Chaser, enter the room. “Hey, dad! Thanks again for taking care of the kids while Starfall and I had a little date night. We really appreciate it!” My son says with a tired smile. “Oh, it’s no problem at all!” Lightningbolt chirps up. “We love having our grandfoals here to visit. I enjoy getting to cook for other ponies and your father loves telling them stories of our time on the weather crew.” “Thanks, mom.” Storm Chaser says. He turns to his two children, “Alright, my little ponies, your mother is waiting in the carriage, so get your things, it’s time to go home.” “Awww, do we have toooo?” Jetstream moans. “Yeah, we want to hear more awesome stories!” Sunstreak pleads. “You heard your father.” I say sternly. “Besides, ‘Bolt and I have some things we need to do.” “Ok.” Both kids say simultaneously. “See you in a few weeks, Grandpa Rain. Sunstreak says while giving me a hug. "I love you, Grandpa." Jetstream says while hugging me. "I love you too!" I say returning the hug. "And I love you as well, Sunstreak. You two try not to give your parents a hard time, ok?" "Yes, Grandpa!" They both say. After we say our goodbyes Lightningbolt and I watch as their carriage makes its way down the road back to Vanhoover. I walk back into the house and take a seat in my favorite chair. It’s been ten years since Lightningbolt and I both retired from the Fillydelphian Weather Ponies. The time has flashed by and I feel old age starting to creep up on me. A couple years after The Storm, Lightningbolt and I got married and a year after that, Storm Chaser was born. He was a much better colt than I was when growing up. I’m so thankful to have such a wonderful family. But here I am, getting reminiscent again. “Hey, ‘Bolt! Wanna go to the Horseshoe Lounge for dinner and some drinks?” Lightningbolt looks to me with a smile. “Sounds like fun! I’ll see if I can still fit into that red sequin dress that I know you love. Want me to call my brother to see if he wants to come too? I ponder that thought for a moment. “Hell, let’s see if we can get in touch with Featherfall too, we can make it a weather crew reunion!” I say enthusiastically. “It’s a shame that Breezy and Solar Flare both passed a few years ago. I would love to hang out with them again.” I think to myself. As we make to leave, I suddenly stop. “Wait, I forgot something.” I go back into the house and come back out a moment later. I look to Lightningbolt and say, “I figured I should grab my flight jacket, just in case.” She gives me a smile and we head out into the city.
