Mirror: Book I - Mind

Sunshower pumped her wings against the breeze and hauled the gray, murky, rain cloud three times her size with Cloud Chaser by her side, heading in the opposite direction of Ponyville. The two pegasi hovered above a few dozen acres of land tilled and seeded with the last of the season’s crops as they were reaching their final heights before the coming cold, and only a few more showers of rain remained before harvesting hour would come around.

The captain of the pegasi paused to gaze over the land, and took a surprising glance towards Cloud Chaser as she expelled a tuckered tuft of air from her lungs and proceeded to rest herself upon the rain cloud they had been hauling. Normally Sunshower frowned upon such misconduct, but she knew her comrade was tired and decided to let her be for a moment longer. If only that new pegasus, this miss Derpy Hooves had arrived to work, the load would’ve been easier to manage.

“Right on time, girls!” A voice cawed from below. “Take’r to the south end and we’ll get a drizzle goin’.”

It was the farmer of the land, obviously looking forward to watering his crops, to which Sunshower took her face behind the rain cloud to shield the displeasure painting her face. Being such an enormous agricultural estate it would make sense to have a division or two that specialized in crop and water management, but of course as Sunshower had come to find out, Ponyville was most notorious for having the inability to think two or three hooves ahead with their heads tucked beneath their asses all the time. Cloud Chaser finally lifted herself from the cloud and fluttered on, beckoning her captain as she took a stride across the distant wispy clouds with her eyes, longing for the sight of Cloudsdale anchored next to Canterlot mountain.

What had come upon her sights, however, was the sight of stark gray clouds building above the horizon. Sunshower pinched her eyes and watched carefully.

“Cap, we doing this or not?” Cloud Chaser questioned.

No, those aren’t clouds. Singes of ash began to enter her nose.

“Cap?” Cloud Chaser hovered by. “What’s wrong?”

“Smoke.” Sunshower hissed.

“What? Where?” Her companion shared the scary sight from afar.

“Hey, what’s the hold up?” The farmer hollered from below.

“Fire.” Sunshower warned. “There’s a fire in Ponyville!”

Well aware that the most available, portable water supply was in her very hooves, Sunshower aloud her body to move on its own and began pushing the haul towards the pillars of smoke. Cloud Chaser hesitantly pushed along side her with questions frantically escaping her mouth.

“Find Oskie and Cskie and have them bring the second rain cloud to the fire, pronto.” Sunshower commanded.

“But, this is for the farm-”

“That is an order from your superior.”

Cloud Chaser took a second more to stare at her captain, desperately glancing back towards the smoke, departing with a quick salute and bulleting herself in the direction of her comrades.

“Whatta’ ya’ think you’re doing?! Bring that back here!” The farm pony stomped an angry hoof.

The captain did not bother to respond. She fastened a rope around her waist, snugged the rain cloud and rocketed across the pasture leading into Ponyville. With the new found adrenaline pounding against her veins she found the haul to be much lighter now, but the frightening sight of the tower of smoke growing larger and thicker by the second is what instilled a deep sense of fear within the mare.

I’ve burdened myself with this responsibility now. She thought inwardly. If I fail, I bring others down with me.

Turning around the corner could have very well been enough to make her faint, but she relied upon the remaining adrenaline. Before her, ponies circled with worries and cries around greedy, rising licks of orange and red flames, almost completely engulfing the bakery known as Sugarcube Corner.

Sunshower followed her body’s motions and swung the cloud above the pillar of smoke, stomping against the sides and allowing the downpour to wash away the hot terror swallowing the pastry shop into ash. Steam bellowed in every direction and stung the eyes of those nearby, causing Sunshower to hover a length or two back to assess her situation. It was in her deepest dread that the roar of the fire persisted, and the flames within had yet to be extinguished. Cloud Chaser needed to arrive with that spare cloud, and fast.

“My husband, he’s still in there!” A desperate wail cried from below.

Sunshower closed up her wings and allowed herself to land nearby, wherein two observers clutched a puffy-eyed Mrs. Cake in a desperate attempt to console her. The captain crouched below her sights and held her face between her hooves, staining them wet with her tears.

“Look at me, ma’am.” Sunshower held her authoritative tone. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Please, you have to save them! My husband went in there to save our baby cakes, but he hasn’t come back out!”

“How long has he been gone?” Sunshower shot, looking to the other ponies.

“A few minutes, I think?” One stallion spoke shakily.

“A building that small, that’s far too long.” Another said.

Sunshower stared back at the flames once more, a gaping, fiery maw inviting her in to certain doom. The store sign above the front door pinched at the iron latch and fell to the ground with a pitiful thud amongst all the roaring, hollowing flames and the desperate cries of the ponies. Once again, that same sense of adrenaline flooded her body, and the pegasus knew what to do.

She picked up the fallen shop sign, ignored the pleading of the spectators, and braced the wooden plate in front of her as she corkscrewed and rocketed towards the second story window. Shards shattered past her face, caught in her mane and scraped her flanks. The air, as expected, became unbelievably hot, but it was so much more than she would have ever imagined. Sunshower amended herself for her smart thinking to start on the second floor to maintain her wits. It was always easier to descend rather than to ascend. She closed her wings, held her breath and slitted her eyes in search of the familiar figure of a grown stallion, or a husband, whatever those were supposed to look like.

The captain recalled what the crying wife, no, the crying mother had told her, and she shut her eyes to put her focus into her other senses. Her ears flickered in the direction of a set of tiny little cries, and so she barreled past a row of flames to come upon the top of the stairs.

There at the bottom of the flight laid a butter-yellow unconscious stallion with two little foals tucked beneath his hooves, bawling and sucking away what very little air they had left. There was a sharp splotch of red on the side of the stallion’s head, and the babies pawed at him desperately to get up, but to no avail. Sunshower’s haul it seemed had unexpectedly grown in number. The stallion was far too much of a hindrance to carry along with the children, causing the captain to prioritize the precious cargo, tucking a baby underneath each wing. Sunshower located the front door and gave it a pitiful, tired buck, only to discover that hefty, burning beams had fallen in front of it. The desperate cries of the ponies outside were all but muffled whimpers past the curtains of roaring, relentless flames.

She looked to the unbroken window resting above the ashy flower beds outside, and once again knew what she had to do.

The shards of glass showed no mercy this time, slicing past her face and gashing into her hide. One stung into her nostril whilst another wedged itself between her gritted teeth. Seconds later the bystanding ponies trotted up quickly and hoisted the survivors up onto their haunches. As Sunshower caught the sight of Mrs. Cake embracing her children with wet, worried eyes, that worried stare remained as she looked back to the captain for guidance on her husband.

Sunshower hissed and snarled with great effort, squirmed and threw herself back down to the earth, crawling towards the burning building, not even bothering to look up as she had her mind set on saving the stallion trapped inside.

The captain collided with something, pink and soft, and looked up. It was Pinkie Pie, holding the weather captain at bay as her crystal, grateful blue eyes told her every word she needed to know. You’ve done your part, you can rest now.

A single heartbeat later, Sunshower rolled to her back and stared skyward. Her teammates had already arrived with the spare cloud, pouring every last drop the dark, murky cargo had to offer, finally snuffling away the lasting flames and embers into a sizzling silence. Her vision began to fade, and all she saw was the rain. Her ears began to quell, and all she heard was the rain. Her senses all shut off one by one, and the last thing she felt was the familiar pitter and patter of rain.

Deep orange light pooled into the room between the slits of the half shaded window, complimentary flowers lying within a vase sitting upon the table next to the late afternoon scene outside. Mumbles filled her ears as the vision began to return, albeit blurry and incomprehensible. Soon enough as the white walls and the white ceiling came into view, so did the familiar voices of her weather mates, all expressing their concern and delivering their respects to a seared and bruised captain lying upon the hospital bed.

Sunshower blinked blearily and shifted her head around. “What…?” She began weakly. “What happened?”

“You flew headfirst into a burning building.” Oskie answered. “What’d you think was gonna happen?”

Cskie promptly swung a hoof upside the stallion’s head and looked back to her captain with condoling eyes. “We were all worried sick about you, captain.” She told her.

“What you did was very brave.” A distant tone entered the room, causing Sunshower’s ears to perk in response as though she might recognize the voice. When she looked up she knew she had recognized it when the sight of an earth mare pushing up an aviator’s helmet from her mane resumed her speech. “I think I speak for all of us here when I say none of us combined could have ever had the courage to do what you did today, Captain Sunshower.”

Cherry Berry stood among the pegasi, shoulder to shoulder in the sun rays shining through the window. The sight itself was nearly enough to convince Sunshower that Cherry was a real member of their team, that she belonged among them.

“You…?” The captain began to question.

“Our aviator here helped haul you to the hospital when the others were busy with Mr. Cake.” Cloud Chaser explained. “Surprisingly so, she was quicker than us.”

A grateful tinge colored the captain’s gaze, only to be replaced with the realization of a missing asset yet to enter her field of thought. “Mr. Cake…” Sunshower sat up. “Sweet Celestia, that stallion. Where is he?”

“The doctors put him in the other room-”

“Is he alright? Did he make it?” Sunshower struggled.

“Easy, cap, you’re still healing!” The ponies panicked.

The captain did not bother to respond. She strained against the sheets and broke through her crew, limping across the room as the worried pegasi wandered after her. The patient’s room door burst open, causing a nearby nurse to jolt in surprise, and Sunshower was down the hall in search of the stallion she had yet to see. Passing and peeking into one cracked door after another, she recognized the sight of egg-yolk yellow, Mr. Cake’s coat color. By the time her pegasi had caught up to her, Sunshower had already seen it all. Bandages covered the baker head to hoof, his fur was burned in so many spots rendering him almost unrecognizable, and the oxygen tank and mask fixed over his muzzle rendered for him what little hope he had left in surviving this tragedy. The stallion, of course, was unresponsive. Nopony knew when he might wake up, or if he ever would again. Sunshower took the sight like the fleeting rays of light from outside, causing her to crumple over her hooves. Her weather mates hurried to her side.

“No, no, no, this wasn’t supposed to happen.” She mumbled. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. If only I hadn’t accepted this role, if only I had stayed at the factory, if only…if only…”

“I’m here!” It was yet another voice the captain had to recognize. She didn’t even have to look up from the floor to know the very wall-eyed, bubble-flanked pegasus whom it belonged to. Derpy fluttered between a couple of doctors tucking their clipboards and a nurse pushing a cart of supplies before tumbling into the room and struggling to catch her breath. “Captain, I’m sorry I’m late, it’s just-”

“If only…” Sunshower seethed uncontrollably.

“Captain…?”

The pegasus spun around, pinned Derpy between the wall and her hoof, and unleashed all of her pain and fury upon the poor mare. “You should have been there! You should have been doing your job!”

“Captain, let off of her!” Cloud Chaser struggled to separate the two.

“When I assign you to a job you do it, no questions asked. To think that the most brainless, useless task of all could’ve very well been the most beneficial to our situation here. If you were out scouting the area like you were supposed to instead of drinking like a mule, we could’ve had everypony out of there, we could’ve stopped the fire well before it had gotten any worse. Is it so hard to ask somepony to do something when you just want them to do it? You’re proof that it is.”

“Captain, I’m sorry, I-I…” Derpy crumpled beneath her. “I don’t know what to say-”

Sunshower yanked Derpy from beneath her wing and shoved her in front of the bruised and burned Mr. Cake. The pegasus shuddered at the sight as her captain hissed into her ear.

“Take a good, long look, Derpy. Y’see that? This is your fault.”

“Captain.” Cloud Chaser began again.

“Is there anything you could say to compensate for this? Is there anything you can say right here and now that won’t convince me to strip you of your title and send you home? Then, mare up, get that head of yours outta’ your ass and SAY IT.”

“Captain, that’s enough!” Cloud Chaser stomped her hoof and flared her wings.

Sunshower broke away and came to terms with her reality, everything she had just said and everything she had just done, she stared upon her weather mate with a fretting, glistened gaze. And then, the downpour began. Derpy crumpled where she stood and pressed a forehoof over her eyes in a desperate struggle to dam the oncoming flow of tears. It was too late, the streams seeped through and rolled beneath her chin. The pegasus gritted her teeth and expelled a tiny whimper.

“I’m sorry, captain, I just-” She couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I’m sorry.”

The gray pegasus let go of a final choke before backpedaling and bumping into various ponies and objects, clumsy as she was. She was down the hall and out the door quicker than Sunshower could think to chase her, but even she knew now that there was no going back, not from anything that had happened this day.

“Where did I go wrong, Cloud Chaser?” The captain swiped a quick hoof over her eyes, staring ahead hard and straight.

“It’s over now, cap.” Chaser simply told her. “C’mon, let’s get you back to your room.”

A solemn, low hum of despair filled the room, the halls and the hearts of the weather team as they walked their captain back to her room and thought of nothing more to do but simply help her back into bed and leave with silent, dejected demeanors. Sunshower tucked herself beneath her sheets, finally giving her wounds a chance to heal, and it was only long after her team was gone and the fleeting lights of sunlight dipped beneath the horizon that she finally uttered the words beneath her breath.

“Where did I go wrong, Thunderlane?”