Weatherpony

The afternoon sun shone down on the city of Cloudsdale, vainly trying to heat the thin air. As the name suggests, the great pegasus capital is made up entirely of cloud, formed into buildings and pillars that floated miles above the ground, but never blew away with the wind. Like any other day, pegasi of all colors flew between the many buildings, making weather and greetings friends, some of them having lived in the clouds their entire life. One pegasus in particular flew above the buildings as if his tail had caught fire.

High enough above the city to ensure not hitting anything, Caddo Lightwing flew at his top speed dodging between wild clouds. His fur made it hard to spot him against the sky, being a bluish gray, but the light gray streak his mane and tail left in the sky as he flew marked him to anypony that was watching. He wasn't trying to impress anyone with the spins and tight turns he was pulling, he was trying to build up the courage to stop in one of the higher buildings in the city. Caddo had grown up in a small backwater town barely within the boundaries of Equestria, having a small town education that only touched weather training in that "gray clouds mean rain" and with a local weatherpony that seemed to think that teaching younger pegasi to work weather might hurt his chances of getting on a bigger weather team. However, if his passing the provisional weather exam in Cloudsdale didn't mean he knew what he was about in the air, then the three gray clouds on his flank should mean something. His cutie mark literally represented storm handling. There was no way he would be turned down for a weather team of SOME kind. At least, that's what he kept telling himself as he tore through the sky feeling more and more panicked. His next turn, taken at top speed and made as tight as possible, faced him west. Seeing the sun going down was enough to finally force the pegasus to land in front of the weather office. After all, the ponies that assigned weather teams probably went home in the evening, there wasn't much time left today. And if Caddo didn't go in today it was likely he would never be able to make himself. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards the door.

The building was rather small, just big enough for a large desk buried in paperwork. The cloud walls had holes cut into them for storage, though there was no markings that should have singled out what each one held. Behind the huge pile of paper on the desk was a tan mare with a curly orange mane stubbornly trying to get the mess sorted. Caddo strode up to the desk, trying his best to appear confident. The mask might have worked if not for his voice. "Um... excuse me? Miss?"

"Whatever it is, make it quick." The mare said without hesitation. The colt visibly jumped, she had never even looked up to see him enter and he was the one startled.

"U-um... I was wonde-" He croaked, then swallowed and started over. "I was wondering if there were any weather team positions available." Now Caddo was sweating, and not just for the effort it took to make himself sound collected. As if his image wasn't already spoiled by his entry.

She looked up for a moment, a bare glimpse, and then continued shuffling pages about. "None."

"W-wait... none, in Equestria? At all?"

Sighing, the mare looked him in the eye, "No, none at'all. Weather team positions are first come first serve, and all the new ponies fresh outta the academy have snatched them all up. Try again next week, or find something else to do." Shooing him away, she buried herself back into the paperwork looking to ignore anything else the colt said.

Dazed, Caddo turned and walked towards the door. Something else? Weather is all I have... I suppose I can wait, if I can find some other way to make money in the meantime... Not really looking where he was going, he was nearly trampled by a gray mare with a blond mane burdened with several bags. "Mail call!" She chirped, dropping several letters on the cluttered desk. Before the clerk could even complain she was flying back out, nearly taking part of the door frame along in her haste. Shaking her head, the clerk started reading into the first letter as Caddo righted himself and made it through the door. Her voice followed him out, "Hold on a sec, hun. Looks like we just got an emergency weatherpony request in..."

The colt was back in front of the desk almost before she finished speaking, "I'll take it!"

Nearly a hundred miles south of Cloudsdale, Caddo awoke with the morning sun. It had been hours of paperwork before the clerk could officially send him off, checking town information and examining his provisional weather diploma, and he had only a few hours flight before it was too dark to see. Having parked himself on a lone cloud, he spent the rest of the night mulling over facts in his head before sleep finally took him. Being a slow pony to wake, Caddo took the chance to pull some of the paperwork back out; aside from being an available job for new weather ponies, the rest of it all seemed bad. A small town hundreds of miles south of Canterlot, with a community that had been there decades before becoming an official town a year ago. In that year, every pegasus that lived there had moved out. The official request had not mentioned why the entire population of pegasi had up and left over the course of the year, but the clerk and the examiners had heard rumors. Nothing bad about the town in itself, but about the region it was in. Bordering the large farm that the town was founded next to was said to be a vast expanse of swamp, where anypony that entered was lost forever. This wouldn't bother pegasi that stayed out, of course, but there was also the region's dense humidity and high natural heat, something that the regularly scheduled showers only held off for the hour or two they were there. And this in a town with no entertainment or signs of growth. All in all it was a job that only a desperate pony would take, but then Caddo was desperate. Having no real talent in anything but flying or working weather left him out of options. And if there's nothing for it, might as well get on with it. Stuffing the papers back into his saddlebags, Caddo gave the cloud he was lounging on a good kick that vaporized it. Diving down to treetop height, he leveled off and flew straight south, working hard to maintain the speed he had gained from the fall. Wind whistling in his ears, he couldn't help but laugh. Difficult, boring job or not, I still have my tricks to keep me entertained. Wooping and laughing like a madpony, he sped south at a pace that had left every pegasi in little old Manesfield in the dust.