A False Home

Cloudburst flew through the air over Ponyville, heading towards a sizable pillar of cloud. He had been called out to do, as usual, just what his name said. Bursting clouds was the one thing he could consider himself adept at, and among the pegasi of Ponyville, there was no equal to his skill at separating the giant puffs of water vapor. Apparently, a large number of clouds in the Everfree Forest had somehow joined, causing a monstrously large natural fortress of cloud. The clouds had drifted far too close to Ponyville, and from what some pegasi had seen, the insides of the cloud were a great roiling mess. This meant that the clouds were a potential storm, hidden by a seemingly calm cloud shell. His job, alongside several skilled weather ponies, was to gain dominance over the huge mass by separating it into harmlessly smaller clouds. The ponies on the ground had already been warned that there was a high probability of a heavy rainstorm, due to the stormy nature of the cloud's insides. Cloudburst led his team to the outskirts of the town, near to where the cloudy monolith bathed the surface of the world in shadow. He then looked at the cloud as it silently crept closer to the town, thinking about what to tell his team to avoid as much injury as possible, and still get the job done well. He then said "Alright, take a slight rest now. The cloud looks dangerous, and even the slightest starting exhaustion can cause injury when dealing with clouds like these. You all know our plan for splitting this thing, right?" Most of his team nodded, though one of them, a blue mare by the name of Sonic Rain, seemed too busy looking at the cloud to listen.

Cloudburst looked at the mare, who continued to gaze at the seemingly calm monstrosity over them. Grinning, he winked at the other pegasi, and creeped up behind her, then clapped his forehooves together, startling her. Sonic jumped six feet into the air without the aid of her wings, and fluttered around, calming herself. After a few seconds of her startled act, she glided to the ground, and looked at the other pegasi, embarrassed. Sonic then apologized with "Um, sorry. What were we talking about?" The other pegasi stopped laughing and giggling, and looked to Cloudburst, waiting for his explanation. He said "Alright, let's go over the plan, in case we missed anything the first time. The cloud's exterior structure is similar to how it was a few hours ago, so the plan should still work. Sonic Rain, you will attempt to separate that large pillar from the south face of the main cloud." The pegasus mare nodded, and Cloudburst turned to address another pegasus. He gave all of his team instructions, and they flew towards the cloud.

When they were near enough to the cloud to hear the low rumbles and the high-pitched screaming of wind, they split off into their respective positions of assault. Most of the pegasi split off to remove the largest limbs on the cloud, but six of them remained with him, in order to aid him in the assault on the most difficult part of the cloud, the rumbling, roiling body of it. They began first by confining and compressing the cloud, in order to prevent it from flying in random directions while they smashed and separated the interior into smaller chunks. When the cloud was at half the original size, the calm shell around it suddenly shattered, exposing the writhing mass of stormy matter inside. Suddenly, several jolts of lightning struck out of the cloud, shocking two of his team's pegasi. They plummeted to the ground, and two more of his team went to go and rescue them. His squad of six was now that of two, and as he was flying around the cloud with his remaining teammate, desperately trying to contain the huge, chaotic mass.

He roared for the other members of the weather team to help with keeping the storm away from the main part of Ponyville, for attempting to destroy the swirling, destructive force of the sky. He doubted they had heard him, but he saw one of the pegasi that he had sent to lope off one of the limbs heading towards him. He yelled as loud as he could "You! Head back to Ponyville, Cloudsdale, or wherever we can find reinforcements. We won't be able to hold this thing back for much lo-" He suddenly stopped his yelling, which immediately turned into a scream of pain, for one of the lightning bolts of the storm had struck him. He plummeted to the ground, and his vision faded to red within seconds. His last memory was that of himself landing on a light, fluffy surface, upon which he lost consciousness entirely.

Cloudburst woke to find himself on a soft surface, but not nearly as soft as the one he had passed out on. He opened his eyes to see a pale gray surface. His eyes swiveled in their sockets to see the rest of whatever room he was confined in, and a quick observation showed that it seemed to be a hospital room. He moved his neck to get a better view of his surroundings, and felt a tight soreness on his back, as if he had been sunbathing for far too long. He then tried to move the thin white sheets that were covering him, and a nurse in the corner noticed. She hurried over, put it back on him, and said "Sir, you're rather severely burned right now, stay in bed until we can get you healed, alright?" Cloudburst nodded, thinking

Burns, huh? that explains a lot. How did I get burned, though? I don't remember going into a fire- oh. I must have gotten hit by lightning while I was working on that cloud...

He sat up, ignoring the nurse's protests, in order to inspect his back. It was slightly charred, only slightly worse than a severe sunburn would be. Oh, except that it was a lot more blackened. He flexed his wings, testing how his muscles would react to the burning. It stung, but not overly so. He folded his wings again, and finally submitted to the nurse's frantic attempts to get him back in his bed. The nurse then called in another, and she rolled him onto his belly as the other nurse spread a thick paste onto his back. It chilled the burned skin, and Cloudburst sighed with relief as the second nurse slathered the painkilling gel over his back and wings. The second nurse said something to the first one, and she left the room. She second nurse then spoke to Cloudburst, saying "The paste we put on your back should help with your burn, given a reasonable amount of time. Stay in bed for another day, and you will be let out of the hospital. However," she said, levitating a quill and paper, writing something, "You will not be able to use your wings for a few days. Even after that time is up, you shouldn't fly quickly or for any long distance for a few days." She then left the curtained area, and went to check on the other patients.

Cloudburst laid there, wondering what he would do for the remainder of the day. Thinking about what had happened, he wondered if his team was okay. Two of them had been hit by lightning in the same way he was, and they would no doubt be in the hospital. He was slightly irritated at the way that he could not see out of the window, to see if the storm was gone. Judging by the loud cracks of thunder, it was not. The clouds that must have been blocking the sky made it impossible to tell what time it was by the light, so he had no idea how long he had been out. He continued to lay on his bed, wondering about what would happen to him now that he had failed so thoroughly at destroying the storm. He would probably be demoted from head of cloud-breaking, if he didn't lose his job entirely. He had misjudged the storm, thinking it would hold its shape when they compressed it. He had put two of his teammates in danger, and possibly more. There would be no mercy from that. Depressed, he laid in the bed, brooding over what he would do after he was released from the hospital.

Suddenly, the curtain surrounding his bed opened, shattering his dark train of thought. He looked at the intruder, and was surprised to see a member of one of his team. It was Sonic Rain, the blue mare he had startled before they had left for the disastrous storm-busting attempt. She looked at him, taking note of his burned back and wings. Then she said "What happened to you? I got called back from the storm, and I was told you were in the hospital. Did you get hit by lightning or something?" Cloudburst then said "I think so, I was ordering one of the other pegasi to get reinforcements when it happened." She nodded, then replied with "That explains a lot. Why else would we suddenly have a work force three times larger than we started with? They are taking care of the cloud now, I think it is finally giving in." She walked to the window, and looked out, nodding as she did. "Did you know that they had to forcibly restrain Rainbow Dash from joining in and helping? She's still in the hospital after her most recent crash. I mean, she's the Element of Loyalty and all, but trying to join in to such a dangerous venture while she is still badly injured is kinda ridiculous" she said. Cloudburst chuckled slightly, but then asked the question that had been on his mind for the past half hour; "What do you think I'm going to do? I put my team in danger, two of them at least got hit by potentially lethal bolts of lightning, and I even had to call in backup. I don't even know if this has ever happened before, but I'm pretty sure that the consequences of this won't be good."

She looked at him for a few seconds, then said "I'm not sure. I guess you can really just hope for the best. However, the reason for my being here is not to talk about your job situation. One of the pegasi that came in with the reinforcements gave me this to give you. I don't know what it contains, but it looks official." She then took a scroll made of rich paper out of her saddlebags, and gave it to him. "Okay, I'll be going. They still need my help with the storm." She said, then left the room. The nurse came back in and took her place. The nurse then said "It's almost sunset, you need to sleep soon." Cloudburst was about to protest, but then he realized just how tired he was. He nodded in response to the nurse, and she reapplied the paste for his burns. She then left again, and he laid his mind to rest, trying to sleep. A few minutes later, he succeeded.

Cloudburst woke up, and opened his eyes to see a much, much brighter room than he had fallen asleep in yesterday. They must have finished clearing away the storm, he realized. He looked around, and his body moved much easier than it had yesterday. His burns must have healed as well. Those nurses really did work magic, and not just the ones that were unicorns. The nurse must have heard his bed creak, for she entered the room. She then said "Oh, good you're awake. How are your wings feeling? Not too sore?" He sat up and flexed his wings, finding them to be feeling fine, if a little cramped. "They are fine," he said, folding them to his side again. "Good, would you like to be let out now? Your wings and back look healed enough," she said, to which Cloudburst nodded. The nurse then helped him out of bed, and he stood beside it. He then picked up his few belongings, as the nurse reminded him "Now, make sure you don't use your wings for a few days, at the very least three. Here's the scroll your friend gave you, I found it on the floor near your bed." She then gave him the important-looking document, and he thanked her. The nurse then guided him out of the hospital, because unlike some pegasi, he was only very rarely in the hospital.

When outside, he thanked her and the rest of the hospital staff, and left for his home. The sky was now blue and cloudless, with no sign that the cloudy monstrosity had ever been there. He walked towards his ground-based home, for he had liked how solid materials looked in contrast to clouds. Now was an example of a time when he was glad for it, he would be unable to go to his own home if it wasn't grounded. As he walked to his home, he saw small remnants of the storm's damage. A fallen tree there, a broken window over there, and even some poor cat that was meowing from the school's bell tower. When he reached his home in the west side of Ponyville, he hurried to his table. There we placed the scroll Sonic Rain had given him, and he read it with increasingly widening eyes. It read

Greetings, Cloudburst.

You have been summoned for a private audience with Princess Celestia, for reasons that shall remain undisclosed. Please come to Canterlot Castle as soon as possible, for the matter you have been summoned to is urgent. Do not take this message lightly, the subject at hand is extremely important.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia