How the Tables Turn

Cloudchaser sat in Rainbow Dash’s office. She was packing up her things at the end of the day, getting ready to clock out, when an unfamiliar pegasus came through the door.

“We have a problem.” Cloudchaser raised an eyebrow at him, willing himself, with no luck, to remember if she had seen him before.

“Sorry if this comes across rude, but who are you?”

“I’m Crossbreeze, from the Trottingham weather service. Nopony in Trottingham has seen Sunbeam since she left to meet Rainbow. Nopony’s seen Rainbow, either.”

The color drained from Cloudchaser’s face. “Well, Sunbeam came here saying she didn’t see Rainbow, and I sent one of my weather pegasi to go back with her to see if she could find Rainbow. I’m pretty sure Sunbeam was just headed back to Trottingham, no stops. Maybe somepony – or something – intercepted them. Whatever happened, I’m getting together a search team first thing in the morning. It may take a few days to find them, but wherever they are, I promise you they will be found.”

Crossbreeze was taken aback by how straight-forward Cloudchaser has been. “It’s good to hear that you want to take action so soon. Perhaps I could donate a few helping hooves to this search?”

“It would definitely help.”

“Okay, then. Ill rally up a few pegasi to come here and join your search efforts.”

“Thank you. I have much concern for the three of them alike. I just hope they’re not in trouble, wherever they are.”

“Well, I’d better get going then. I want to send those pegasi your way ASAP. You’ll need them if you’re starting first thing in the morning.”

With that, Crossbreeze took off, no doubt on her way to Trottingham to call a meeting and assemble a search party. Cloudchaser began to wonder how any weather work was going to get done with so many pegasi off the job. She may have to go to Cloudsdale to ask to borrow a few.

In the meantime, she still had to get home and get some rest. It had been a taxing two days, and she was tired. She clocked out and slung her saddlebags over her back, taking off through the open window and shutting it behind her. She made her way home and went to her bed. However, despite how tired she was, and how long her day had been, sleep refused to take hold of her as she tossed and turned through the night.

Cloudchaser’s alarm rang out into the silence. It was unnecessary, however, because Cloudchaser was very much awake. She turned it off and proceeded downstairs to make coffee. When she reached her kitchen, she was met by a knocking at her door.

Wondering who would be there at the crack of dawn, she went to the door and answered it. She was met by Crossbreeze and five other pegasi on her doorstep.

“Hey, Cloudchaser. I went to your office and you weren't there. Everypony pointed me here, so… I…” He trailed off, taking in Cloudchaser’s sleep-deprived demeanor. There were bags under her eyes, and she looked unsteady on her hooves. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She hid a yawn behind her hoof and resumed her thoughts. “Just didn’t sleep well. You can come in if you like. We still have some time before I head to the office.” She stepped aside, and the six pegasi trotted in. “I’ll have to dig my other coffee maker out, I don’t think one pot will be enough for all of us. If you want coffee, that is.”

“If it isn’t too much trouble, coffee sounds nice.” Cloudchaser opened one of her cabinets and pulled out a coffee maker. She set it up next to the one she already had set up and brewing. When she was done, she returned to her living room, where the six pegasi were waiting for her.

“We’ll have to wait to start planning until we get to the office. That way, if any of my weather pegasi have any ideas to throw in, we won’t have already made plans. Now, I’m going to have to go to Cloudsdale and ask for backup flyers to replace the ones going with us-“

“Already taken care of.”

“Really? Thanks. Not many ponies have that kind of foresight."

“Are you sure you’re okay to be flying? You look pretty tired, and it’s pretty easy to lose focus-” It was now Crossbreeze’s turn to be cut off, as Cloudchaser retorted.

“I’ll be fine after I’ve had some coffee. Trust me, it doesn’t take much to wake my flank up. Maybe a cold shower would help, too.” A timer sounded in the kitchen. “Be right back…”

Cloudchaser made three trips to the kitchen, the first bringing back two pots of coffee, the second seven equal-sized, plain, white mugs, the third cream and lumps of sugar. The seven of them each made their coffee, using their own amounts of cream and sugar, and the six Trottingham ponies sat back, drinking their coffee in silence as Cloudchaser prepared for her day. She got some paperwork together on her desk, fifteen blank weather planners for the day, and got a quill and inkwell ready. She ate a muffin she got from Sugarcube Corner, took a cold shower to wake herself up, brushed her teeth and mane, and went outside for a quick check of the current weather.

She returned to her home office/bedroom and filled out the day planners, closing them in a briefcase and setting it aside, ready for her to grab when they left. Once there was nothing left for her to do, the seven of them took off for Ponyville’s official ‘weather office’, Sugarcube Corner.

All the weather pegasi in Ponyville were waiting for them, as well as ten Cloudsdale substitute weather pegasi. They were joined, for some odd reason, by Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts. That reason was made clear when she spoke up.

“When I heard Dash went missing, I decided to come along and help out. After all, I have some experience in running a team of professional flyers, and I owe it to my little buddy to help out.”

“So you want to captain the weather team in my absence?” Cloudchaser had to hold back a chuckle as she wondered how Rainbow would react to Spitfire referring to her as her 'little buddy'. Probably either be irritated because she felt undermined, or she would bow down and worship her. She stopped herself from laughing, but couldn't hold back a smile. Apparently Spitfire took this as enlightenment at the thought of the Wonderbolts' captian running her humble weather team.

“Sure. Anything I can do to help.”

“Okay, well, I’m not sure how much experience you have with weather-”

“I know a lot about air currents, but that’s mostly how to compensate for them during a show, not when dealing with weather itself.”

“-Okay, well I have the day planners right here.” She hoofed the briefcase over to Spitfire, who took it and opened it, looking over the topmost day planner inside. “Just make sure everypony gets one, and everything should run smoothly. Cloudsdale substitute flyers ought to know what they’re doing when it comes to weather flying, so they shouldn’t have to come to you with weather issues. Maybe an autograph here and there, but nothing you can’t handle.” She smiled as she finished off with that note of friendly banter. She gave Spitfire a salute that wasn’t exactly necessary, as she wasn’t under Spitfire’s command, but she was sure Rainbow would’ve if she had been there. Then she turned to the Ponyville weather team. Ten pegasi looked back at their substitute captain. “Now, to business. Rainbow Dash and Cloud Kicker have both gone missing, as well as Sunbeam, a pegasus from Trottingham’s weather team. We are taking time off to go look for them. They should be somewhere between Ponyville and Trottingham. We’re going to spread out, five meters between each of us, and fly in formation to cover as much ground as we can, as fast as we can. We’ll run a zigzag pattern to spread out our path a little bit. Any questions?” Flitter raised a hoof. “Yes?”

“How did CK go missing?”

“I sent her to look for Rainbow.”

“Oh.”

“Anypony else?” She waited a few seconds. Since nopony had any, she continued. “Then let’s go.” She stopped on her way out and turned to look at Spitfire. "Oh, by the way, next time you see Rainbow, tell her that her hooves look fun to mess with."