How the Tables Turn

Spitfire sat behind the desk in Rainbow Dash’s office. She had to admit, Rainbow Dash was a very organized mare. Either that, or Cloudchaser had done some organizing for her.

As Cloudchaser herself had promised, the day was uneventful and incident-free. Everything ran smoothly thanks to Cloudchaser’s orders, and the occasional inspection showed Spitfire that, at least to her untrained eye, everything was done right and done well. The Ponyville weather team knew what they were doing.

She checked the clock and noticed that it had been a half hour since her last check-up. She got up and took to the skies, flying out the window and around the perimeter of Ponyville, looking inward for any sign of a problem. After about a minute of flying, however, Spitfire had heard her name being called.

“Captain Spitfire!”

Ranking Captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire at first naturally assumed that this was a fan calling to her. She reached to her wing, ready to dismember a feather in case she needed to sign something, but when she turned around, it was not a fan she was looking at, but rather a Ponyville weather flyer, one of the few who had stayed behind.

“Is there a problem?”

“Yes. We have clouds coming in from the Everfree Forest. Now, if you want, I can handle this for you, but I can’t give orders, since you’re the Captain…”

“What’s so bad about weather from the Everfree Forest?”

The Pegasus looked taken aback for a second, but seemed to remember that this was not a pro weather flyer. “The Everfree Forest tends to have much wilder weather than Ponyville. I imagine if it’s a storm coming from there, it would be powerful enough to do damage to buildings and houses at the very least. Stronger Everfree storms have leveled houses.”

“What would Rainbow Dash have you do?” She felt strange, having those words come across her lips. She always expected Rainbow would be saying things of that nature about her, since she idolized her. Now, here she was, treading on Rainbow’s territory and wondering what Rainbow would do if she were here.

“She’d go out and see what we’re dealing with. I think it would be a better idea to send a trained eye, though. That would work better for knowing how many ponies we need out there.”

“Do you know how to deal with Everfree storms?”

“Yes.”

“Then I appoint you temporary Lieutenant until Rainbow or Cloudchaser gets back. You’d know how to deal with this type of thing better than I do.”

“The weather team generally doesn’t appoint Lieutenants, but I get the message. I’ll see what needs to be done. In the meantime, sit tight and try not to worry about it.” With that, the Pegasus took off towards the distant tree line.

Spitfire returned to her inspection, but now she had her mind occupied.

I imagine if it’s a storm coming from there, it would be powerful enough to do damage to buildings and houses at the very least. Stronger Everfree storms have leveled houses.

She wondered how Rainbow could work with that kind of pressure over her head. She had no idea how important the weather team was to Ponyville; without it, if a storm came from the Everfree, lives could be lost. If Spitfire screwed something up, sent a pony in the wrong direction, did anything at all to cause problems, there could be blood on her hooves.

There was no point worrying about it now, though. Why worry about lives being lost when she didn’t even know what she was dealing with yet?

She finished her rounds, deciding that all was well, and returned to her office, where the Pegasus from before was waiting for her.

“Well?”

“Well… I’ve seen worse, but I’ve seen better, too.”

“How bad is it?”

“It’s a hailstorm, and a pretty nasty one, too. Ponyville structures aren’t built for that kind of strain. There will definitely be moderate damage at the least if we don’t break it up before it reaches the city.”

Spitfire’s hooves felt cold as ice. She managed to keep her wings from quivering - just barely – as the stallion before her kept speaking.

“However, like I said, I’ve seen worse. It’ll definitely be difficult to break up, and we’ll need everypony out there, but I’m sure we can do it. Even so, I’m starting the sirens. That’ll get everypony into shelter in case we don’t stop it.” He seemed to notice Spitfire’s unease, even though she did nothing to show it. Perhaps he was just anticipating it, which was a possibility, considering the way he spoke. “Fear won’t help us. Just keep a level head and everything will be fine. Got that?” Spitfire nodded. “We can stop this. I know we can. I’m only starting the sirens as a precaution. We shouldn’t need them.” With that, he took off, most likely to start the sirens. Spitfire collapsed to her haunches.

“I wasn’t expecting this. I’m not ready for this. I don’t even know what I’m doing.” She felt her respect for Rainbow Dash grow a hundredfold as she wondered how she could possibly keep a level head when lives were at stake.

The whole weather team hovered before the storm front, staring at the ice pouring out of the clouds. At the front hovered the Pegasus that had warned Spitfire about the storm. The world around them was darkened by the thick cloud cover. There were sirens in the distance, almost drowned out by the hail cascading to the ground in sheets, putting holes in the leaves and leaving the trees dented and the bark chipped.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen.” The Pegasus had to shout over the deafening hail and wind all around them. “We’re gonna fly in formation of a ten meter spread. When we reach the clouds, we spread our wings and glide. Our wings should tear up clouds on their own.” The Pegasus stopped shouting, staved off by the crashing of the thunder from a bolt of lightning just a few feet away from them. Spitfire began trembling, and it wasn’t all because of the cold. At least she wasn’t in command for now. When the rumbling came to a halt, he picked up as if nothing had interrupted him. “When we reach the end of the storm, we’ll meet up and make sure everypony made it through.” Spitfire whimpered, which was thankfully hidden by the volume of the storm. “If so, well move five meters over and start again. We’ll make as many passes as we have to. It should only take five or six. Worst case scenario, we only push the clouds, and then we have to start up with a new tactic.”

“No, worst case scenario, somepony gets struck by lightning, and we have to get Flight for Life out here in the middle of a wild hailstorm. They might not even come because it’s either too risky or the odds won’t be in their favor.”

Spitfire felt as though the pony who had just spoken had signed her death certificate.

The Pegasus stallion just rolled his eyes. “You know what I meant. Is everypony ready to go?” A multitude of ‘Yes, sir’s seemed to satisfy him. “Alright, move out!”

They spread out, putting ten meter between each of them. Spitfire was third from the right side, set between two strange ponies that had both come from Trottingham.

“Ready?” The stallion sounded like a hoofball quarterback during a kickoff. “Go!”