Storm Shadow trotted along the corridor, quickly reading the nameplates on the office doors as she went along to ensure that she was heading in the right direction. A quick turn to the right at the next intersection... yeah, this was the corridor. She trotted along another few lengths, her wings folded against her sides, hooves sinking slightly into the cloud that made up the floor.
She paused for a second to take the opportunity to peek out of the tall windows on her right. Above Canterlot Mountain, the rainclouds were being assembled for the afternoon’s showers. She started off again, this time at a walking pace, and shook her head a little at the placement. Should be stacking a couple of Nimbostratus on top there, she thought, Talk about inefficient.
She looked back at the doors and came to a hasty stop as she realised she’d reached the door she was looking for. A quick glance through the window showed the office was empty, but with a gentle knock, she pushed the door all the way open.
“Doctor Thunderhead? Are you there?”
The office resolutely refused to reply.
With a frown, Storm Shadow looked up and down the empty corridor, slightly nonplussed.
Ms Shadow, the message at her desk had read when she arrived for work that morning. Please see me immediately in my office, Dr Thunderhead.
The University of Cloudsdale was a big place, specialising in all manner of weather production and control. If Thunderhead wasn’t in his office, she could spend half the morning looking for him.
Hearing a faint voice from further down the corridor, Storm Shadow began walking towards the noise. She paused outside the ajar door of one of the briefing rooms and cocked a grey ear to try to identify the voices.
“But what about the underlying thermal stresses? Surely-”
That was definitely Dr Convectus, one of Storm Shadow's old professors. Perhaps she would know where to find Thunderhead.
“Don’t worry about that,” another voice cut off the teacher. “You’re thinking too linearly. Don’t get tied up with Neighvier-Stokes, you need to think outside the box a little. Here, watch the Delta-T-“
Storm Shadow frowned to herself; she couldn’t think of anyone who knew more about Advanced Thermal Management than Convectus. There was the sound of chalk scratching rapidly across a chalkboard.
“By Celestia!” came the shocked gasp from Convectus, “You can’t be serious!”
The scratching continued.
“I’d never considered...” By now, Convectus’ voice had dropped to a reverent whisper. “You must publish this! It’ll revolutionize weather control techniques for Type II Thermal Inversion situations...”
There was a ting noise caused by a piece of chalk being spat out and bouncing off the floor.
“No!” said the unfamiliar voice, “You know what I said when I first came to you. This has to be anonymous, I have to stay incognito.”
Storm Shadow realised with a guilty start that she had been standing there for at least half a minute, eavesdropping. She tapped the open door and leaned inside, cursing her own curiosity and nosiness but still anxious to see who was talking to her old teacher.
Inside the briefing room, the knock seemed to catch the occupants by surprise. Convectus span around, the familiar orange pegasus mare ruffling her feathers a little as she turned. The other occupant of the room was a grey pegasus, a few shades darker than her own coat, with a blonde mane and tail. She looked up at the interruption, surprise in her golden eyes. Storm Shadow realised she must be gawping as the grey pony’s eyes drifted in different directions, one fixing her with a stare and the other apparently trying to look behind her at whatever had caught Storm Shadow’s attention.
Caught unprepared, the unfamiliar mare hesitated a moment before remembering the chalkboard behind her, covered in symbols written in curved mouthwriting. She quickly stretched a hind leg and kicked the board, causing it to rotate around the hinges to show the other side, hiding her recent work. The effect was slightly spoiled, however, by the fact that the other side was full of similar symbols in the same neat, curving mouthwriting.
“Storm Shadow,” said Convectus, drawing her attention back, "Uh, this is-"
The grey mare cut her off quickly
“Just the mailmare!” she said, grabbing a pair of saddlebags from a nearby table with one wing and slinging them over her back with a practiced motion, making a rapid break for the door. “Just delivering some mail!”
She gave a slightly desperate grin as she focussed her eyes on Storm Shadow.
“See you next time, Professor!” she called out as she slid past a slack-jawed Storm Shadow. Storm Shadow turned to watch the grey flank, adorned by a cluster of bubbles, disappear rapidly around the corner in the corridor, followed by the flowing blonde tail. It may have been her imagination, but she thought she heard a gentle, whispered curse echo for a second.
“Oh, Muffins!”
“Is there something I can help you with, Miss Shadow?”
Storm Shadow turned back to the briefing room. She recognised the acid tone in the voice.
“I- I’m sorry to interrupt, Dr Convectus,” stammered Storm Shadow, feeling like a schoolfilly again, “I was looking for Dr Thunderhead? I got a message and it’s my first assignment and I’m sorry-”
While her grey coat and silver mane were closer to those of her mother than her father, Storm Shadow had inherited his height and gangly limbs, which made her subsequent head bow of shame all the more obvious. Convectus’ angry visage softened a little and she waved a hoof and sighed.
“Never mind, Miss Shadow,” she replied, “I think he’s down in the conference room. Come along.”
The two began to walk along the corridor towards the conference room. After several awkward moments of silence, Convectus turned to Storm Shadow, craning her neck to look up at the younger mare towering a full head’s height above her.
“I trust I can rely on your discretion about what you just saw, Miss Shadow?”
“Discretion, professor?” asked Storm Shadow, puzzled.
“That you won’t speak about what you just saw. At least, not for now.”
Storm Shadow bit her lip before speaking again
“I’m not sure what I saw, or that anyone would believe me.”
“Miss Shadow, I was there and I’m not sure I would believe you.”
The flight to Ponyville was rather short, normally a benefit but in this case a little annoying, as Storm Shadow was still wrestling with her instructions and trying to figure the best way to complete her assignment as she approached the town.
Telling herself that she needed to learn the lay of the land as much as she needed to procrastinate, she performed a long, slow circle around the town, overflying the outlying farms in a gradually tightening spiral as she scanned the clouds for her target. She paid particular attention to the Everfree Forest, which was surprisingly close to the edge of town. Everfree was one of the few places in Equestria where there was no control over the weather; the proximity to a controlled area – and one with a town and extensive agriculture, at that – couldn’t make weather control easy around here. Just because Ponyville was a small district and an even smaller town didn’t mean that being the Weather Team Captain would be an easy job.
She had just about reached a tall circular structure at the centre of town as she reached her decision on the best way to proceed.
A graceful four point landing outside the building – the town hall, unsurprisingly – and a quick conversation with a passerby gave her a vector towards the town library, apparently built inside a hollowed out old tree. She found herself looking up at the structure a few minutes later. She’d been all over Equestria in her youth, but this was a new one even on her.
Steeling herself, she knocked on the door, mentally preparing her introduction. First impressions last and all that, after all.
The door opened and she opened her mouth, only to close it in confusion, as there was nopony there.
“Hi, can I help you?”
Storm Shadow looked down and jumped back a step in surprise. A small purple and green dragon had opened the door and was looking up at her, expectantly.
“Uh-” said Storm Shadow. “Well, you’re not Rainbow Dash.”
The dragon froze and stared up at her, eyes widening and slit pupils contracting. “Oh, no. She found out, didn’t she?”
“Pardo-”
“No, no, no!” said the dragon, not listening or even noticing Storm Shadow’s confused look. “It wasn’t my fault, Twilight insisted! It wasn’t me!”
“I don’t understa-”
The dragon stared up at Storm Shadow and started backing away fearfully.
“I gave back the necklace! It’s not my fault! She didn’t have to send a hitpony after me!”
“Hitpony?” asked Storm Shadow, incredulous.
The reptile’s nerve broke and he ran screaming back into the library, out of sight.
The pegasus blinked, not entirely sure she believed what she had just seen.
“Spike? What the hay is going on?”
The new voice was female and coming from inside the library. A second later, a lilac face peered around the still-open door. It was topped with a straight purple mane, parted near a pair of lighter coloured stripes by a unicorn’s horn.
“What’s this about a hitpony? What’s going on here? Can I help you?”
Storm Shadow blinked again and looked at the unicorn.
“Well, right species, but wrong tribe,” she said, half to herself. “I suppose that’s progress.”
“Excuse me?”
Storm Shadow shook her head and tried again. “I’m sorry, I was looking for a pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash. I was told that I could find her here at the library.”
“Oh,” said the unicorn, coming out from around the door now that she was fairly sure there wasn’t a risk of being caught in a crossfire. “Are you a friend of Rainbow’s?”
Storm Shadow opened her mouth to answer, but paused, unsure herself of the answer. “Our parents were friends,” she temporised. “I’ve only met her a few times.”
The unicorn seemed to take this as a positive answer.
“Well, come on in. I’m Twilight Sparkle, the librarian. I’m actually expecting Rainbow to drop by this morning. Would you like to wait for her here?”
Storm Shadow blinked. She hadn’t expected the local librarian to be the Element of Freaking Magic.
“Thanks,” she managed to say without stammering. “I’m Storm Shadow, I’m here from the Royal Equestrian Weather Service.”
“Really? Well, come on in, I’ll have Spike make us some tea, if you like.”
Storm Shadow stepped inside the tree and looked around. The library was surprisingly brightly lit by several high windows. “That would be great, thanks. Uh, about your... friend?”
“My assistant, Spike. Yes, I’m sorry about that,” replied Twilight. She raised her voice, obviously to ensure she could be heard deeper inside the structure, “I’m afraid he’s been reading a little too much from the Esponyage section.”
A few minutes later, and entirely not expected when she got up that morning, Storm Shadow found herself sat in the Library’s kitchen, enjoying a cup of tea with a surprisingly approachable minor celebrity. The building doubled as a home for Twilight Sparkle and her assistant, who had been coaxed out of his hiding place under the stairs to lend his fire-breathing talents to heating a kettle of water for a perfect cup of tea. After completing his pyromantic duties, he joined the two mares at the kitchen table and sat sullenly watching Storm Shadow closely in case she suddenly broke out with a lethal case of dragon-bucking.
“So, Spike,” she said, casually. “You’re a dragon.”
“Well spotted,” he said sarcastically, “Was it the scales that gave it away?”
“You work in a library.”
Spike rolled his eyes and waved his curious forelegs – arms, she was pretty sure they were called – over his head, indicating the building they were sat in.
“It’s the books, right? Or maybe the sign outside?”
“You breathe fire?”
The dragon waved his claw again, this time at the kettle, and regarded her as if she was a drooling idiot.
Storm Shadow took a moment to structure her next statement.
“You’re a dragon. You breathe fire. You’re a librarian’s assistant. You work in a large wood structure filled with flammable materials. And did I mention that you breathe fire?”
This time when Spike left it was more “storming off in a huff” than “running away screaming”.
“I’m sorry,” said Storm Shadow with a smile, lifting her cup for another sip of the admittedly rather good tea. “I couldn’t resist.”
Twilight waved her hoof in response, trying her best to stifle her giggles at the look on his face. “Don’t worry, he’ll get over it.”
She tilted her head a little, as if considering whether or not to continue.
“Is that a Trottingham accent I hear?”
Storm Shadow swallowed her mouthful of tea and nodded.
“We moved around a lot when I was growing up,” she said, “Baltimare, Trottingham, Whinnypeg and now Cloudsdale. I picked up a few inflections from here and there. Trottingham was where I went to primary school, though.”
“So, what brings you to Ponyville, if you don’t mind me asking? Are you here on business or is a personal visit?”
“Mostly business,” replied Storm Shadow, “I’m with the Special Meteorology Bureau, attached to the University of Cloudsdale.”
“Special Meteorology Bureau?” asked Twilight Sparkle, “I don’t think I’ve heard of that one.”
“Well, as the name suggests we work on, well, special cases. Major weather events, severe storms, tornados, hurricanes, that sort of thing.”
Twilight looked surprised and leaned forward. “Hurricanes? But Equestria hasn’t had a hurricane in over four hundred years!”
Storm Shadow smiled indulgently and took another sip of tea. “You’re welcome.”
“Wow,” said Twilight, sitting back.
“Most of my work isn’t anywhere near that interesting, we spend most of our time dealing with very minor weather patterns so they don’t get a chance to develop. The ultimate goal is to stop major events before they happen, although it usually ends up that we mitigate rather than eliminate problems,” explained Storm Shadow. She motioned towards Twilight’s horn.
“We’ve even got a pilot program with the Royal University of Canterlot’s Magical Prognostication Department. The unicorns there are looking into scrying and other ways to look into the future to identify problematic weather systems so we can target them more effectively.”
Twilight nodded in understanding. “I had no idea pegasi did that sort of thing, but I suppose it makes sense.”
She was cut off from further thoughts when they heard the front door open and somepony enter.
“Twlt! ‘M bk!”
“Back here, Rainbow,” replied Twilight loudly.
A few seconds later, the cyan pegasus pony trotted into the kitchen, a book clutched in her mouth. Her eyes widened when she saw the stranger, and hurriedly grabbed the book with her right wing, trying to hide it underneath.
“Daring Do and the Alicorn’s Shadow,” said Storm Shadow, twisting her head a little to read the title poking out from under the blue feathers.
“Uh, yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, slightly embarrassed.
“I preferred Daring Do and the Platinum Crown,” replied Storm Shadow, “but Alicorn was pretty good, too.”
Rainbow Dash lit up at the prospect of meeting a fellow fan, and placed the book down on the table.
“Yeah, I thought it was awesome! Twilight’s been lending me her copies so I can read the whole series.”
She paused for a moment, looking up at Storm Shadow and cocking her head to one side.
“Have we met? You look kinda familiar.”
“Several times. I’m Storm Shadow. But you might remember me as-“
“’Tormy!” exclaimed Rainbow, her eyes widening. “It’s been a long time!”
Storm Shadow smiled and held out her hoof for Rainbow to shake.
“’Tormy?” asked Twilight Sparkle, puzzled.
“She was young,” explained Storm Shadow, “She couldn’t pronounce ‘Stormy’.”
Rainbow Dash grinned, bashfully. “Oh, hey, I went to see your dad last month,” she said, gracefully trying to change to subject. “I brought him down to meet my friends. You remember Cirrostratus, right, Twi?”
“Ooh, the Professor from Cloudsdale? Yes, he was fascinating to talk to. I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you were related.”
Storm Shadow smiled. “He did mention that you had called by. What about your father, Rainbow, have you been to see him yet?”
Rainbow Dash dipped her head, ignoring Twilight’s raised eyebrows.
“I’m not sure I’m ready for that just yet,” she said, kicking her hoof absentmindedly on the kitchen floor. “Anyway, what brings you to Ponyville? I’m sure it’s not to talk about family.”
Storm Shadow nodded. “Yeah, it’s business. I’m with the Special Meteorology Bureau, and I’m here to talk to you.”
“Wow, you’re a Chaser?” said Rainbow Dash. “I suppose that’s not so surprising, given the stormcloud-and-lightning-bolt cutie mark.”
Twilight raised a hoof. “Uh, Chaser?”
“Unofficial nickname for the Bureau, sometimes they call us ‘Storm Chasers’ or just ‘Chasers’,” explained Storm Shadow before she muttered to herself. “Better than 'Sambas', I suppose.”
“Sorry?”
“Never mind,” said Storm Shadow, quickly. “So, Rainbow Dash, we need to talk about a special project. Where’s your office?”
“Ah,” said Rainbow. “There’s a little problem with the office, the repairs aren’t complete yet.”
“Repairs?”
“Yeah, we had a little accident with the mailmare,” said Rainbow evasively. “It’s a long story. We could head up to my place?”
Twilight brightened up. “Hey, you can talk here if you like, I don’t mind. Um. I’d be interested in hearing more about your special project, if you’re allowed to tell me.”
Rainbow shrugged and looked back to Storm Shadow. “Fine by me.”
Storm Shadow raised her eyebrows in surprise – most unicorns didn’t care much about the nuts-and-bolts of the weather, only whether or not it was going to rain. “Well, nothing we do is secret. In fact at some point, we’ll need to make public service announcements about this.”
“Excellent. Why don’t we use the table in the main library? I’ll put some more tea on.” With that, Twilight ushered the two pegasi out of the kitchen and headed over to the stove, apparently deciding to use a more conventional approach to heating water this time.
“The tea will be ready in just a second,” said Twilight, trotting into the library. “Now, let’s see...”
Rainbow Dash gently shoed Storm Shadow out of the way with a wing as several books, the golden coloured bust of Eponymous the Well-Named and it’s heavyweight pedestal were lit with a purple magical aura and levitated off the main table in the centre of the library to find themselves new homes on the shelves around the walls.
“That should do it,” said Twilight to herself, before heading back to the kitchen to see to the now-whistling kettle.
“Your friend is incredible,” commented Storm Shadow as she wandered over to the table, “so welcoming and, well, friendly.”
“You should have seen her when she first arrived in Ponyville,” said Rainbow Dash, “she’s made some great strides.”
Further discussion was ended by Twilight trotting back into the room magically levitating a tray with a teapot, cups and a plate with several sandwiches on it. She set it down on the table and the others gathered around.
“This is so exciting!” she said, “Do you mind if I take notes?”
Rainbow Dash facehooved and looked at Storm Shadow, who was trying in vain to suppress a smile.
“Let’s get started. Ms Sparkle, feel free to record anything you wish unless we ask you otherwise. Rainbow, let’s start with a simple briefing. Tell me about your district.”
Rainbow nodded.
“Let’s start with the lay of the land. Twilight, do you have a map of the valley?”
The unicorn nodded and levitated a large roll of paper from one of the shelves up onto the table. It unrolled, wrapped in the same lavender glow, revealing a detailed map of the valley in which Ponyville lay.
“OK,” began Rainbow, pointing out the features as she talked. “Ponyville District borders against Canterlot Mountain District, The Everfree Uncontrolled Zone and Manehatten District on the other side of Dragon Mountain.”
Storm Shadow looked over the map carefully, orienting herself mentally with what she saw on the approach to the town. She listened as Rainbow Dash continued.
“Cloudsdale is our primary large-scale weather supplier, but we also manage the edge of Everfree, either deflecting incoming clouds or harvesting them for additional moisture when necessary.”
“I didn’t know that,” said Twilight, looking up from the scroll where she was furiously scribbling notes.
“The moist air from beyond the forest itself hits the Everfree Hills and pushes upover, where a lot of the water condenses out as clouds. Most pass south of the town over here and dump their rain into the watershed formed by the upper valley, that’s why the hydro dam was built up in the hills here.”
Twilight blinked and looked again at her friend as she finished motioning over the map with her hooves.
“And you call me an egghead,” she pointed out with a smile.
“You are an egghead, Twi,” said Rainbow Dash, “I need to know this stuff for my job. You learn stuff for fun.”
Storm Shadow smiled. “You mentioned the dam. What are the other major water features?”
The cyan pegasus returned her attention to the map.
“The river is one of the tributaries of the River Arion, but the Solar Glory Hydropower Dam was built in the upper valley forming a reservoir here. The river isn’t really navigable this far up, but follow it all the way down and you’ll end up at Baltimare on the Horseshoe Bay. We have a couple of smaller drinking- and irrigation- water reservoirs scattered around – Applevale, Meadowgreen and the big one is Highland.”
“How much water do you have on hoof?”
Rainbow thought back to that morning’s weather patrol, trying to estimate how much water there had been in the reservoirs. “About usual for this time of year, I’d guess. Maybe half in each of the small reservoirs, Solar Glory is at about thirty, maybe forty percent. It’s been a dry summer.”
Storm Shadow digested this for a moment, nodding her head.
“So, that’s Ponyville,” said Rainbow, looking over at her. “What brings you down here?”
Storm Shadow looked up at Rainbow, staring into her rose-coloured eyes. “We’re going to need a Tornado Lift.”
The surprise and pain in Rainbow’s eyes were suppressed quickly, but they there.
Twilight looked up from her notes again. “A Tornado Lift? What’s that?”
Rainbow broke her gaze away from the grey pony who was there to judge her and looked down at the map. “A Tornado Lift is what killed my mother.”