Chapter 2: Picking the Best Leader
Rainbow Dash flew down towards Ponyville the following next morning. She was tired, but knew she'd get plenty of sleep once she had picked out a proper pegasus to be in charge of the Ponyville Weather Team, leaving her to be a full time Wonderbolt and that alone. Well except for when the map at Twilight's castle calls on her for an adventure, whenever that will be.
As she flew over the town though, she could see a crowd of ponies down below looking around one shop.
"Must be having a sale today," she thought to herself.
She had seen many ponies line up outside of stores before when there was a big sale, or something was to released. She chuckled, thinking back to when the Daring Do book 'The Volcano of Destiny' came out, she'd spent all day outside the book store waiting for it to open so she could get one of the first copies.
However, it wasn't a sale that had brought the ponies there. Instead, it had more a less to do with a damaged lock, and reports of what sounded like ponies being punched and kicked in the middle of the night.
"Are you sure you didn't see who did this?" asked one of the Ponyville police officers.
"I'm quite sure," said Plumsweet, a local pegasus in Ponyville. "I was just sleeping when all the sudden, I heard a scream, followed by a thumping sound and by the time I got to the window, the two ponies were knocked down and the attacker had gone."
"Huh. Well that's not alot to go on. Thank you anyways Miss Plumsweet, you may go."
Plumsweet extended her wings and took off into the sky.
The police chief; Silver Badge looked to the officer, "you know, this sounds awfully familar, like this kind of thing has happened once or twice around Equestria. I'm going to send a few letters to our contacts in other towns and cities, and see if any of them have anything that might help us find out who did this last night."
"Very good Sir, but if I may say Sir, I think this pony did us a favour. These two were going to rob the place."
"Perhaps, but why not stick around to tell us what they did? Something in this Applesauce smells funny, and I don't like it."
Rainbow Dash soon reached the field where many of the pegasus ponies could found talking to one another, some were boasting that they could take on Rainbow's old job with great ease. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash had her whistle and blew it loud and long to get their attention, "alright ponies listen up!" she called out loud. They all stopped talking and looked to her, "Ponyville needs a lead weather pony, and as shown last night, not every pony is up to the task of being in charge."
Thunderlane was there too, and hearing that, he looked down with a shamed look on his face.
"I know Thunderlane tried his best, but a Tornado is not the best solution to the problem. That's why you are all here, I will decide on which of you has what it takes to lead a team, know what kind of weather to bring in without thinking for too long, and know when it is the time for a twister. Also, speed helps too. That's why we're starting today off with a race around the track."
"Uh, why do we need to have a race?" asked Flitter.
"To see who can jump into action when something unusual happens, that's why."
Flitter and four other pegasus ponies got onto the track and prepared themselves for the race ahead. Rainbow Dash had a stop watch on hoof, so she could time them all.
"Remember, speed helps. Now go!" and she blew on the whistle.
The ponies took off within seconds, and started racing around the track. Some were very fast, but others were not as fast. Rainbow could only shake her head, "This might be harder than I thought," she thought only to herself.
She watched the races for quite a while, and each time, wrote down different numbers for each pegasus.
As the sun began rising over Ponyville, the pegasi gathered around Rainbow Dash, "you all did good in your races, many of you being fast, but the rest...well, I say good effort, but it's not enough to be leader of the team."
"Oh nuts and shoes," groaned Thunderlane, "guess I'm not getting the job back."
"Sorry Thunderlane, but don't worry, you're still a weather pony no matter what."
That cheered Thunderlane up right away.
"The top five ponies who made it to the top of the list, and has the best chance to become leader are as follows; Flitter, Blossomforth, Plumsweet, Helia and Cloud Chaser. You five ponies, step forward." They all did and saluted Rainbow Dash, all the while trying to keep from cheering right away. "Congrats Ponies, you five did great, but there are still tests to be performed before I can give the mayor my report on who is perfect for the job of leader. Now, I have to go to Wonderbolt Headquarters, but make sure you come back later today for the next stage of your tests."
"Yes Ma'am!" they all saluted.
"Good." Then a smirk came to Rainbow Dash's face, "okay, now you can cheer."
And they did, they cheered loudly and even high-hooved each other. Rainbow smiled and took off for Wonderbolts Headquarters.
When she arrived, she found Spitfire talking with a police officer. Spitfire also had some papers and gave them to the officer. He thanked her for the papers, then flew away.
"What was that all about?" Rainbow asked. "You're not in trouble with the police are you?" she asked with a sly grin.
"Of course not," giggled Spitfire. "No, that officer just wanted some records of past crime waves in Cloudsdale."
"Crime waves? I don't remember hearing anything about crime waves in Cloudsdale. I often fly into the town, and nopony ever mentioned it to me before."
"Well they didn't really last too long, and the criminals were actually stopped by an unknown pony."
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, "an unknown pony?"
"Yeah, from what witnesses say, a pony in some kind of costume knocked these criminals down before they can commit their crimes, then disappear into the night."
"Geez, that sounds like something from a Power Ponies comic book."
"I know, but it's all true. However, we're not here to talk about crime waves or heroes in the middle of the night, we have training to do, so..." she paused and shouted; "GET INTO YOUR UNIFORM!"
"Yes Ma'am, on it!"
Rainbow hurried off to the locker room. In ten seconds flat, she was in her uniform and joining the rest of the Wonderbolts outside. One of them looked nervous, and that pony was the reserve to take Fleetfoot's place while she was out.
"You nervous?" Rainbow whispered.
"What do you think? My legs are shaking, and my knees are banging into each other."
Rainbow looked down. Sure enough, the ponies' legs were shaking, and her knees were banging aganist each other.
"Okay uh, what's your name?"
"Lightning Strike."
"Lightning Strike, almost sounds like..." she shook her head, "anyways, listen to me Lightning Strike, you need to calm yourself down. After all, this is just a practise run, and if you make mistakes, you can learn from them and become a better wonderbolt. Okay? Now take in deep breaths and calm yourself down."
Lightning Strike took Rainbow's advice, took in breaths and did her best to calm herself down. It worked as her legs stopped shaking.
"Thanks Ms..."
"Rainbow Dash."
"Well thanks, Rainbow Dash."
Spitfire came over, "alright Lightning Strike, I know you're new here, so we'll take it easy with you until you can get all the moves down perfectly. Now, please join Soarin' over there and we'll send you two up first."
"Ma'am, yes Ma'am," Lighting Strike saluted. She trotted over towards Soarin', and within seconds, the two had taken off into the sky.
Spitfire looked to Rainbow Dash, "good pep talk by the way." She looked back to the two ponies in the sky, and called out instructions to them.
The day went by rather quickly, and happily Lightning Strike learned everything quickly. She was doing just as well, if not better than Rainbow Dash, though Rainbow would never admit it.
"At least one Lightning knows better than to create dangerous weather," Rainbow thought to herself.
She was of course thinking about the other Lightning she knew; 'Lightning Dust'. Rainbow often wondered what had happened to that pony, but soon her thoughts were moved aside as she was flying back towards the race track. The five pegasus ponies were all there, waiting for her. Also waiting there was Scootaloo. She had heard Rainbow Dash was doing trail runs for lead weather pony for Ponyville, and wanted to see this for herself.
"Sorry I'm late ponies," Rainbow panted, "training went on for a while. Now, we're going to move onto the next phase of testing; know what weather to bring in."
Plumsweet raised a hoof, "but doesn't Cloudsdale usually give us schedules on weather patterns?"
"Sometimes, but there are times when Ponyville needs weather that isn't on the schedule, like say if there is a heat wave, or ponies have had enough rain, or if a pony sleeps when there's a small need for rain." She rubbed the back of her head nervously, remembering more than a few times when she slept when she was suppose to bring in the weather. "Now I will quiz you, and if you can give me a correct answer, you'll move onto the next stage of your testing."
"And what would that be?" asked Flitter.
"You'll find out when we get there. Now let's get onto the questions."
The five ponies listened as Rainbow Dash gave them all different scenerios of different weather patterns, and asked what should they do. A few times they got wrong answers, but for the most part, they were giving out good answers. In the end, only Plumsweet failed the test.
"You gave some good answers, but I'm afraid they're not what we're looking for. Sorry," said Rainbow Dash.
"That's okay, I had fun trying anyways."
The other four pegasi at least got over ninty percent, so they moved onto the next phase of the test, which took place in the sky. Not wanting her biggest fan, and sister by choice to miss out on the fun, Rainbow brought Scootaloo up to a cloud where she could see everything.
"This is so awesome," Scootaloo smiled, but she didn't say it too loudly as she didn't want to distrub Rainbow Dash.
"Okay ponies, you four are very good at speed, and you got many of the questions I asked correct. Now I want to see how well you would do in actual weather conditions. Since we have plenty of clouds up here, we'll use those to recreate a real weather problem. I want to see how you will handle it. Only the pony who can act on the fly will get the job of leader of Ponyville's weather team."
Rainbow flew over towards the first cloud, "okay Blossomforth, pretend this is a Everfree Cloud with lightning strikes shooting out everywhere, and it's heading for town hall, what do you do? Think fast." And she bucked it hard.
Blossomforth watched it come her way, and pretending it was an Everfree cloud, she charged at it and bucked it, making it disappear.
"How was that?"
Rainbow shook her head, "incorrect Blossomforth. If that had been a real Everfree cloud, it would've shocked you and you'd be falling from the sky." Blossomforth flew back to her original spot, "okay Helia, you're up. Think of this cloud as a Tornado out of control and heading straight for Ponyville, what do you do?" And she bucked the cloud.
Helia thought it over quickly, and charged at it. She flew around it, going as fast as she could until the cloud disappeared.
"Correct Helia. If that had been a real twister, you would've made it smaller and eventually disappear, but I saw you slowing down towards the end. Don't slow down until it's completely out."
Helia nodded and flew back into her original spot.
The tests went on for quite a while, and before long it was down to just two ponies; Flitter and Cloud Chaser. Rainbow thanked Helia and Blossomforth for trying, then turned her attention back to the two pegasi.
"You both surprised me today, you passed every single test I gave you, and you acted quickly in those fake situations I made up. I guess now there's only one thing left to do. Have one more race."
"Another race?" asked Flitter in surprise, "but Rainbow, we're both a little tired, we need our rest."
Rainbow shook her head, "a true leader has to work no matter if she or he are tired, and must be able to act within seconds. So, down onto the track and let's see who has what it takes."
They flew down towards the track, and Rainbow Dash brought down plenty of clouds, along with the one Scootaloo was on.
"Why do you need the clouds Rainbow Dash?" she asked curiously.
"I need them to see if they can think on the fly while racing and being tired," she whispered to her young friend. "Whoever succeeds will be in charge of the Ponyville weather team."
Scootaloo nodded and jumped down from the cloud.
"On your marks, get set...and go!" Rainbow shouted. Flitter and Cloud Chaser took off instantly. But they barely made it round the first corner before Rainbow Dash threw a cloud into their path. Cloud Chaser flew ahead and smacked it to nothing. "Impressive," Rainbow thought to herself. She did it again on the next corner, and this time Flitter got it. "Next cloud's a storm cloud, so think fast!"
Of course it wasn't really storm cloud, but still the ponies treated it like a storm cloud, and Flitter made it float away from where they were.
"Not bad."
"This is so cool," cheered Scootaloo.
After much flying around and attacking clouds, and giving responses to Rainbow's questions, a winner was finally decided. It was Cloud Chaser.
"Good work Cloud Chaser, you are definetly what Ponyville is looking for in a leader. You will come with me to the Mayor's office and we'll let her know right away."
"Thanks...Rainbow Dash," he panted.
Rainbow walked over towards Flitter, "you gave it your best shot, you should be proud of yourself."
"Thank you Rainbow."
"Tell you what, if Cloud Chaser ever comes down with the flu or some other illness, you can lead as back-up leader, how's that?"
"Sounds good to me."
They delivered the news to the mayor, who gave her approval. Once that was done, and Cloud Chaser and Flitter went home, Rainbow walked with Scootaloo back to her place.
"That was truely awesome," smiled Scootaloo. "I only wish my wings were strong enough to get me off the ground, then maybe I could've tried out for the job."
"You'd have to be a little older than you are now Scoot," said Rainbow, "But who knows, maybe one day, you'll get that chance."
"Do you think so?"
"I don't think so, I know so. One day, you'll not only be an awesome Cutie Mark Crusader, but a great weather pony. Heck, you might be better than me...almost."
Scootaloo smiled, even when she heard the 'Almost' bit. It was good enough for her.
As they walked along though, they could hear voices in the distance. At first, they thought nothing of it as they usually hear ponies working into the night. It was the next sound they heard that changed everything. There was the sound of glass smashing.
"That's not a sound we normally hear in Ponyville," said Scootaloo.
"No it isn't," said Rainbow Dash. "Either a pony dropped glass by mistake, or we got trouble in town."
Without thinking for a second, Rainbow Dash flew over to where she heard the sound. Scootaloo followed, mostly due to the fact she didn't want to be alone in the streets. They soon reached a street corner and looked around in horror. They could see ponies robbing from a jewelry store.
"Oh you're not robbing from my town," Rainbow said quietly.
She was about to fly over towards them, when she felt some pony grab onto her tail and pull her back. Rainbow rolled her eyes, ponies had a habit of pulling on her tail.
"You can't go after them, they're criminals."
"Oh please Scootaloo, I've faced alot worse, believe me. Sombra, Tirek, Starlight Glimmer when she was evil, and even that evil Zebra; Braze. These guys are nothing compared to them."
"But still..."
But Scootaloo was cut off when she and Rainbow Dash heard a criminal shout; "oh no, it's him again!"
Both pegasi looked and gasped. Standing on the rooftop of a nearby building was a pegasi pony with wings extended, and just like Spitfire said earlier, the pony had a costume on that ressambled that of a super hero. The pony had a big grey floppy hat, a purple jump suit with a mask covering up the entire face, a green scraf wrapped around it's neck and had a belt around it's waist. It actually looked very familar.
"Isn't that the Mysterious Mare Do Well?" Scootaloo asked in surprise.
"It can't be, besides that's not a Mare, that's a Stallion," Rainbow whispered.
The criminals looked to the masked pony in fear, except for one. He stormed up to the front of the group, "you don't scare me, you're just a silly pony playing dress up, so why don't you go home and stay out of our business?!"
The masked pony looked down and said; "this is my business."
He jumped down, and within seconds, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash watched as the pony smacked the criminals down, one by one until they were all out cold. Once he was done, he tied them up and placed the sacks of stolen goods back into the store. As he walked out, he spotted Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo looking around the corner.
"Should we run?" Scootaloo asked worringly.
But they had no need to do that. The pony just tipped his hat, and with wings extended, took off into the night sky.
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo stayed for a few seconds after he left, then left for Scootaloo's home. They were quiet as they left, they couldn't believe what they had seen. Rainbow was sure though that her friends were not going to believe her when she told them.