Blown Away

“You want us to what?” Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief. Spitfire rolled her eyes and pointed Rainbow’s face towards the laundry room.

“You heard what I said. I’m going to go supervise the obstacle courses. When I get back, you better be finished,” Spitfire replied, walking out the door. Twilight emerged from the laundry room with a hamper full of dirty Wonderbolt uniforms.

“Might as well get started,” Twilight said, taking the clothes outside. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, grabbing a pile of laundry and following her out. “Mind helping me with the first batch? I’m still kind of new to this,” Twilight said.

“Okay, I’m only going to show you this once, so watch closely. First, you lay all the outfits flat out on the cloud. Make sure it’s a white, solid cloud. You don’t want to use those wispy ones,” Rainbow Dash took some time to spread the clothes out as Twilight nodded.

“Now bring a storm cloud over and jump on it lightly,” Rainbow said, pulling over a nearby storm cloud. She bounced up and down on top of it, causing a heavy downpour over the clothes.

“Last, we dry them off with some wind,” Rainbow Dash said, pushing the storm cloud away so the sun could shine on the laundry. She began flapping her wings at a very fast pace. A current blew over the clothes, drying them in the sunlight. The clothes looked much cleaner now. “Got it? Good. I’ll go get another batch.”

Twilight laid the clothes out on a nearby cloud, taking care to spread them flat. She flew off to get a raincloud, then stopped and turned back to the clothes. “Darn it…” she muttered as she returned to the cloud, spreading the clothes out so that they were equal distance apart from each other. She took another look at the cloud and began to beat on the sides, shaping it into a perfect circle.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash asked, dumping a pile of clothes on Twilight’s cloud and ruining her organization. Twilight winced.

“Sorry, force of habit,” she said as Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I’ll go get the raincloud then.” She selected a smaller raincloud and pushed it over, casting a shadow over the dirty laundry.

“Whoa there, careful!” Rainbow Dash said, pushing the cloud away. “That one’s got some lightning in it.” She kicked it with her hind legs and a bolt of lightning came out, vaporizing a nearby cloud and making Twilight jump. “There, now you can use it,” she said as she pushed it back in place above the laundry.

Twilight stepped gingerly on the storm cloud. Her hooves sank into the cold, wet material, sending a chill up her spine. She started to jump up and down, frowning as nothing came out. “Use more force,” Rainbow Dash called over her shoulder, tending to her own pile of laundry. Twilight’s frown deepened as she stomped harder and harder on the cloud to no effect.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot out, missing Twilight’s tail by a hair and causing her to jump in surprise. Her injured side burned as adrenaline coursed through her body and her horn activated on its own, firing a bright purple beam of light into the center of the small storm cloud.

The cloud turned white as a torrent of water gushed out, nearly washing the laundry away. “That was awesome!” Rainbow Dash said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anypony do that before!” She pulled up a nearby storm cloud. “Do it again!”

Twilight struggled, focusing on her horn, but all she could do was move the cloud around with her standard telekinesis. “Sorry, I think it was an accident,” Twilight said. “The lightning kind of startled me.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, turning back to her laundry. “Oh okay then, that’s alright. Hey why don’t you go stomp out the rain on the storm cloud above my clothes? I’ll take care of drying the pile you drenched, since you’re probably too injured to blow dry them properly.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t like Rainbow Dash to give up so easily. “Sure, I’ll go do that then,” she said, flying over to the storm cloud. It was a much larger one than the one she had chosen. She daintily positioned herself above it, ready to step down when…

BANG! A bolt of lightning struck directly behind her, barely missing the tips of her wings. Twilight’s horn lit up, firing a bolt of energy into the sky, where it was absorbed by several rainclouds. She turned around to see Rainbow Dash with another storm cloud, presumably the one that had caused the lightning bolt.

“Rainbow!” she said angrily. “Why did you do that?”

“Being in danger activates your flight magic,” Rainbow Dash said, grinning widely. “I’m sure with enough training, you’ll learn to control it on your own. But for now…” She bucked the stormcloud she was carrying, destroying it and sending a bolt of lightning down next to Twilight.

Twilight squeaked and ducked as her horn lit up again, deflecting the lightning bolt into a nearby storm cloud. “See?” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight’s legs were shaking.

“Stop it, Rainbow!” she said as she brushed the bits of cloud off of herself. “What if you hit me?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve been doing this for long enough that I know how to aim,” Rainbow Dash said. “Remember last Nightmare Night?” she asked. Twilight glared at her. “Besides, look how pretty those are!” Rainbow Dash pointed at the clouds Twilight had accidentally struck. They had turned a soft violet color and glowed faintly.

“I don’t care! Just stop it!” Twilight shouted, stomping a hoof. The purple clouds spun around and fired lightning. “Huh?” she turned around, noticing the clouds.

“Wow...Could you do that again?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Sure, I’ll do that again,” Twilight said, smiling evilly. She pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash. The clouds glided over and fired their lightning, striking directly beside her as Rainbow yelped.

“Hey, what’s all the fuss about? That laundry better be done!” Spitfire shouted as she came over. Twilight shook her head, clearing her thoughts. The storm clouds returned to their normal gray state.

“Sorry, just a couple stray bolts left in the clouds,” Rainbow said. “We’re almost done.” She waited until Spitfire’s back was turned, and whispered to Twilight. “If you still want to practice with me, we could meet at my house.”

Twilight nodded. “Alright, but nothing illegal this time, promise?”

Rainbow sighed. “Really, Twilight? You’re really doing this?” Twilight stared at her. “Oh alright! Fine, I promise.”