There were places in Equestria that were, to put it mildly, unnatural. The Everfree and other forests, huge wastelands and vast lakes. All places where the plants sprawled themselves over the land, the animals savaged each other and monsters waited in the darkness. In these places the seasons twisted and the weather could change at the drop of a feather. Pegasi knew these places and learnt to react to the chaos that surrounded them.
Ferrum mountain was not one of these places. Really Spitfire wasn't surprised the pegasi here hadn't been capable of dealing with the storm raging around them.
And what a storm it was, for the last six days it had raged in peaks of the mountains, for six days everything the pegasi had sent at it had been rebounded by gale force winds and driving rains. Huge cumulonimbus had towered far above even the mountains and avalanches had even torn down the west face of the mountain. Even from here Spitfire could hear the thunder so loudly that it drowned out her thoughts.
Which was why everypony was surprised that the storm hadn't left the mountain. Despite growing in size so fast on the first day that some had worried that it would swallow the world by weeks end, the storm had suddenly halted at the edge of the mountain. Even the rain was sucked back into the maelstrom before it got far, so Spitfire's mane wasn't even wet mere meters from the dark wall of clouds that marked the storm.
She turned away from the storm to the others she'd picked out for this job. Celestia had given her free choice of all pegasi in Equestria but really who had they expected her to choose? The Wonderbolts stared at the storm in varying degrees of awe and annoyance (well except Fleetfoot, but from the look on her face the sound was impressive enough). When Spitfire first tried to catch their attention the wind drowned her out, she tried again with the same result. After about a minute she remembered the amplifier one of the unicorns had rigged up for her and, with some difficulty, succeeded in raising the device to her mouth and pressing the switch. The other Wonderbolts showed amazing speed in slamming their hooves over their ears as the machine screeched with magical feedback.
“SORRY, sorry!” Spitfire fumbled with the device, trying frantically to turn the thing off before finally hurling the cursed item off the cloud and in to the storm. She cupped her hooves around her mouth and yelled instead, undignified yes but at least it wouldn't cost their ears. “Okay Wonderbolts! It's pretty obvious that we're dealing with some pretty serious magic here. And for those of us that don't understand this is-” She checked the notes she'd hidden behind her wing, “A type 7 unexplained meteor- okay can't read that- that doesn't make sense- I'm pretty sure I don't speak that language...” She trailed of mumbling, before catching her train of thought again, “Well, whatever this thing is we're here to break it up. Now it may look impressive, but just remember we're the Wonderbolts, and nobody breaks stuff like us!”
The cheer that went up from her team was just audible over the wind and thunder but it was enough to make Spitfire smile.
Yeah they probably only heard half that speech but she thought they got the gist of it.
After a few minutes more of yelling right next to the others ears she was pretty sure that everypony had got the plan and that they were ready.
Well as ready as a pony could be to fly into a gigantic storm of death.
Spitfire shook her wings and, without any other signal, they were off. The Wonderbolts leapt off their clouds in unison, half surging down towards the base of the storm while Spitfire and the others dove straight towards it.
The wind whipped through Spitfire's mane, the storm howled ahead of her, she heard Surprise give a whoop as she hit the cloudbank and was swallowed into it somewhere below her. Then Misty swerved up and plunged into the storm above her. Spitfire flattened her wings to her sides and closed her eyes and, a second later, the storm wrapped around her as well.
Spinning, ducking, weaving. A corkscrew of lightening reached out from her left and she dodged. A great dark cloud wall split at a kick, only to reform a second later. She sped through the rain under a sky so dark she struggled to believe it was still day.
There wasn't time to think. The storm tossed her forwards and back and all around the thunder rolled and roared like a chorus of dragons. Somewhere nearby she heard somepony yell, then a peal of laughter that could only have been Surprise.
Then a gust of wind threw her aside and span her until all sense of direction was lost. The storm hadn't seemed this powerful from outside, or this big. In here the clouds just went on and on, it felt like the storm was bigger than the whole world.
Spitfire shook her head to clear her thoughts. Since when had she been a poet? She struck a hoof out at a cloud to her side, let the wind sweep her through it kicking out as she went. She fought the wind back, throwing herself into it, corkscrewing and flailing to clear as much of the cloud as possible.
Somepony whizzed passed her, dragging a trail of dark clouds and lightening behind them as they darted through the storm. She heard Surprise again, this time above her. The clouds still weren't clearing though. It seemed like every time they broke a cloud another appeared.
They were only going to break this one from its heart. Spitfire gritted her teeth and plunged further into the maelstrom.
Even pegasi foals knew that the center of most storms was its weakest point, that if that point was destroyed a storm would break up and drift away. It was simple cloud theory.
Getting there however was anything but simple. The wind grew in strength and, even with her strength, Spitfire found herself being tossed like a doll by the storm's strength. She must have got turned around at least ten times, thrown off course a dozen more, but she could tell that every blow she did here was making more of a difference; clouds no longer reappeared quite so quickly and when they did they were markedly smaller. At one point a towering cumulonimbus was even torn apart by the wind after she'd split it.
It took hours, she no longer had the slightest clue where the others were, but Spitfire refused to give in. Finally the wind abated and the rain above her fell down as opposed to sideways. Spitfire grinned spiraling upwards. She added a twist, spinning the water out of her mane in a way that formed a shining rainbow all the way around her. She'd always loved putting on a show. As she climbed higher the others spotted her, Soarin darted out from a cloud bank near the north face. Doc span lazily up from somewhere on the edge of the storm, his white mane ruffled, complaining angrily about wind speeds. Spitfire didn't see where Surprise came from but suddenly the white pegasus was above her, twirling and whooping.
“Okay guys!” Spitfire yelled, happy that her voice could be heard now the wind had dropped, “One more blow and we call this one finished, right in the middle!” She slowed and the others reached her level, they weren't all there but that hardly mattered, they had enough. “Lets break this one together.”
She shot down, the others following, wings spread wide, hooves outstretched, aiming straight for the center of the- now much smaller- storm. They drew level, each choosing a point in the storm that would cause the most damage to the system.
Then suddenly they were plunging through clouds again, the storm ripping apart behind them and tearing in front of them, four of them together and more following. Diving straight down into the clouds.
Spitfire laughed, she span and corkscrewed into the dark, kicking small lightening bolts away and feeling the wind on her mane. Then the storm passed and suddenly all was calm.
For a second Spitfire wanted to yell with triumph, then she saw what was ahead of her. Her mouth fell open and the words left her mind.
The other Wonderbolts were a second behind Spitfire, still it was enough, for as they sped through the cloud the storm suddenly collapsed, the center followed by the outer layers, just like planned. Unlike the plan however, instead of slowly drifting outwards like any other would the storm suddenly, rapidly sucked inwards. The Wonderbolts were caught off guard, most too surprised to even fight the winds. Regardless the winds were too strong to fight, stronger even than the ones that they had met when the maelstrom was at full power.
Even Equestria's best fliers could do nothing but wait as the collapsing hurricane dragged them towards the center and towards the sight that had so shocked their commander.
***
Fluttershy rolled over in her bed and tried to keep her eyes shut. The storm outside was like none she'd ever heard before, the thunder roared and even the sound of the rain on her roof was incredible. It had started at sunset and since then she'd been totally unable to sleep. It wasn't that she was scared, really she wasn't. It was just so loud. And it was making all her animals so restless as well. She'd already had to bring the chickens in to stop them- and her- from worrying. She'd spent the last few hours finding animals, not that it was that hard; she'd lived on the edge of the Everfree a long time so most animals knew where to look when they needed a warm, dry home.
Now her house was packed to the rafters with every bird, squirrel and bunny she could find. From downstairs she could hear crickets chirping as well. Somehow the sound managed to be louder than even the storm. She'd brought the bugs in too after some consideration, she wouldn't want the poor dears to get wet either, something there size could drown.
Not that you're safe in here though, part of her pointed out, rain like this can burst river banks. Like the one last year that left you waking up knee deep in water. That was why she'd finally moved her bed upstairs, it was all very well leaving the higher rooms of the house for the birds and sleeping with the rest of your animal friends as near to the ground as you could but there was definitely something to be said for keeping your bed somewhere nice and dry.
The thunder rolled again, shaking the pony out of her thoughts and she buried herself in her blankets, pulling a pillow over her head to block out the noise and waiting for her animals to calm down.
Finally she gave up on sleep, pulling herself from her bed she hastily pulled on a bathrobe and headed downstairs. About halfway down a flash of lightening startled her and she proceeded to go the rest of way, much faster than she had wanted to, on her rump.
Disentangling herself from the furniture, Fluttershy looked around her house. Hundreds of gleaming animal eyes peeked out from behind table legs, from under chairs and atop dressers. A few of the eyes followed her across the room as she moved but the vast majority of the animals were either asleep or distracted by the storm. Fluttershy took some time to check over the sleeping creatures. After making sure everything in the main room was alright Fluttershy crossed into kitchen to find something to eat. Cowering from things had a tendency to give the yellow pony an appetite. After the whole dragon fiasco she'd practically emptied her fridge.
The lightening still flashed at her windows but in the kitchen the lightening was somewhat muffled. After finding some food Fluttershy was feeling better, less on edge. She set herself out a meal and was just sitting down to eat when she saw a small mouse perched on her table. She smiled and passed a lettuce leaf to the mouse.
“What's the matter little guy, can't you sleep either?” The mouse chittered stopping to gnaw on the leaf for a few seconds, “Yes I know, I can't really sleep outside my home either. It must be hard for you.” The mouse squeaked and snuggled into Fluttershy's fur for a second. Fluttershy smiled and, curling a wing around the small rodent, she began to sing.
She sung until the mouse had fallen asleep and by this point her own eyelids were drooping.
She wasn't sure how long she had slept for but when she woke up the storm was even louder than before. The wind whipped around the house as if it were trying to rip it up and carry it off. Fluttershy remembered her mother reading her a story like that when she was young. How she wished being brave was as simple as asking a unicorn for courage, maybe she could ask Twilight next time she saw her (just in case).
Fluttershy was shaken out of her thoughts though by a bone-rattling crash from outside her house. She was out the door before she'd even finished working out all the horrible things that could be out there, it could be a manticore, or a windigo, or Princess Luna. Twilight had told her the princess was better now but... well the ruler of the night still scared Fluttershy ridged.
As the rain swept into her house Fluttershy's worst fears were laid to rest. If something, whatever was out there was a giant monsterous-ethereal-goddess-of-the-moon-come-to-kill-all-ponies-ever then she'd have been able to see it from the door despite the rain.
Unless it was invisible!
A small groan from the ground beside her made Fluttershy jump, if some monster could get so close to her without her seeing then-
“Sorry.” The pegasus said bumping into Fluttershy as she tried to get to her feet, “Sorry, it's the rain.” The pegasus tripped again and this time fell right into Fluttershy knocking both of them back.
Fluttershy stumbled but, amazing herself, didn't fall. It didn't take a genius to see that the poor filly in front of her was suffering because of the rain and, taking the pegasus gently under her wing Flutershy led her quickly into the house.
On getting inside the filly shook herself dry. Looking at her properly now Fluttershy saw a small blue pegasus, maybe a year or two younger than her with a windswept, dripping white mane and a cutie mark of green curves which met in the middle in a strange oval. Fluttershy didn't know what a mark like that could mean but knew better than to question other ponies cutie marks. After all how did pink butterflies have anything to do with caring for small birds and other animals?
As the filly turned her head however Fluttershy noticed something else about her guest, the strap had been the same colour as the mane it went over but seeing her face the goggles were obvious, big green things with lenses that totally obscured the other ponies eyes. She didn't have that much time to worry about it though because at that point the filly opened her mouth and-
Fluttershy rammed her hooves over her ears and cowered on the floor as a piercing wall of sound filled the room. It was no good though, the horrific ringing wormed passed her hooves and filled her head, sending the animals she'd brought in safely out of the rain scattering before whatever it was. The chaos lasted about ten seconds all told, the filly standing in the center of it totally unphased, her head tilted to one side with one ear twitching slightly.
Just as Fluttershy was begging to Celestia for deliverance from whatever banshee she had brought into her house the blue pegasi closed her mouth and the noise stopped.
“Sorry about that.” She said cheerfully to the air just above Fluttershy's head, “The rain doesn't let me do that and its a bit vital.” She shook her head again, clearing the last of the water, before reaching up to the goggles she wore, “I mean dear Celestia, that was mad, I've been flying blind for hours- well flying deaf- and then boom!” She mimed an explosion with her free front hoof, “Suddenly everything just explodes and I'm thrown all over the place- hey, could you help me with this.” Fluttershy nodded, getting to her feet and going to help the filly who seemed to be struggling with the goggles, “Lucky I crashed right into your house really, I mean with weather like this I could've been anywhere. Name's Echo by the way, Echo Fleetfoot- um are you okay?”
Fluttershy wasn't listening anymore though, the goggles had come off about half way through the other ponies story and now Fluttershy could see why they'd looked so odd. The filly's eyes were a brilliant shade of green but the blank stare and milky sheen over them left no doubt. The pegasus infront of her was clearly blind.
And still talking, “Oh of course it's this isn't it?” Echo sounded annoyed the tone snapped Fluttershy out of her trance.
“Oh, I'm sorry.” She paused and decided to clarify, “I'm really, really sorry I had no idea you were...” She trailed off and a horrible thought occurred to her, “And I almost left you out in the rain, I'm so, so sorry. Here,” She took the other pony gently by the leg, “Come on, I'll just find you something to eat and then we can try and get you home and-”
Echo shrugged her off, “Look, thanks but I really don't need-”
Fluttershy tried to take her hoof again, “I don't want you to hurt yourself. I mean I thought you were a monster, and I'm really sorry about that. I mean your just a little filly who got lost in the rain and you must be so scared-”
Echo almost knocked her off her feet this time she pushed her off so hard, “I was not scared! And I don't need help!” She was off at a run before Fluttershy could stop her, grazing her shoulder on a wall she stopped and made that noise again, before cautiously slipping through the door leaving Fluttershy standing on her own in the main room of her house.
She listened to the ringing and the yells of the animals elsewhere in her house, finally she plucked up the courage to call after the filly, “Urm sorry.” A little louder after a second, “I'm sorry!”
***
The last stray cloud burst apart as Rainbow Dash drifted lazily through it. She laughed turning to the other pegasus that was on her shift.
“Ha, how was that?”
The dark grey pegasus lounging on the cloud behind her checked a stopwatch, “Hmm, more like 10.3.”
Rainbow Dash glared at her teammate, “If you're going to act like that you can take the next shift.”
Thunderlane smiled and, without even bothering to sit up, motioned to the cloudless sky, “Nope, we've got a clear day scheduled and you just cleared the whole sky.” He stretched and yawned, “So I'll just be going.”
Rainbow Dash's glare intensified, “Why you- You knew I'd do that.” She lunged at him breaking the cloud underneath him, Thunderlane however leapt off with speed most would never think him capable of.
“See you later Rainbow Dash.” He laughed speeding off.
“On no you don't!” Rainbow was after him in a second, even with his head start there was no way that the other pegasus was getting away from her. She zipped after him, adding in a little zigzag just for show. Thunderlane shot away straight as an arrow.
At the last possible moment before she caught Thunderlane, Rainbow Dash shot up and past him. Thunderlane slowed for a second, breathing a sigh of relief.
Then with a crack the heavens opened above his head, drenching him in seconds. Dash laughed, “There you go. That's a cloud. You're a weather pony. Get clearing!”
Thunderlane grumbled, pulling himself out from under the cloud. “Do you actually try to make more work for me Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow laughed even harder at that, “Thunderlane if I ever manage to get an honest days work out of you I will die a happy mare!”
Even Thunderlane smiled at that, “If you ever manage that Rainbow I'll give you a medal myself.” He draped himself across the cloud and gave it a quick kick to stop the rain, “If you need me I'll be here sleeping.”
Rainbow Dash shook her head and made a big show of tutting in disapproval, but she left smiling.
Drifting on a warm breeze a few feet above Ponyville Rainbow Dash paused, Thunderlane was right, with actual effort she had managed to complete an entire days work in under a minute. So what was somepony as awesome as her to do with a full day?
She was just trying to choose between sleep and finding Pinkie to go pranking when a familiar voice met her ears.
“Now- no um not there- just a little to the left, um. Careful there's a stone there.” Fluttershy sounded flustered as always, probably herding some animal through town. Dash smiled, well she'd been looking for something to do, she might as well see what she could do to help her friend.
Twisting down over the road however Rainbow saw something very different to what she'd expected. Instead of ducklings or fluffy baby rabbits Fluttershy led another pegasus gently by the wing. They didn't seem to be doing too well, right now the two had stopped and appeared to be arguing, Fluttershy trying to hold the other pegasus back while they tried to continue. Rainbow flew closer to hear what they were saying.
“Oh, no you need to be more careful, you almost tripped there. Please if you'd just let me.”
The other girl sighed, “I told you I can do this myself. Here listen-”
Fluttershy backed away from the other girl, clearly scared, “No please don-”
Rainbow knew danger when she saw it, soaring down to hit the second pegasus before they- well did whatever they were going to do to Fluttershy that terrified her so much.
About halfway down a sound like nothing she'd ever heard before struck her ears, almost knocking her out of the sky as it wormed through her head. She kept on course as best she could though. There was no way she could miss, the filly wasn't even looking her way.
And at the last second her target rolled out the way.
Rainbow Dash had to pull up as fast as she could to avoid diving face first into the ground.
Pulling herself up from the foot of the tree she'd collided with Rainbow Dash got the first good look at her opponent, her jaw almost hit the floor.
“Wait you're-”
The filly smiled raising one of her hooves in Rainbow's general direction, “Echo Fleetfoot, pleased to meet you.”
Rainbow shook her head, “You're kidding right, Fleetfoot of the Wonderbolts here in Ponyville. I'm one of your biggest fans, you're almost as awesome as Spitfire.”
“Well that's a great advertisement.” Echo laughed, “Still it's always great to be recognised. Maybe next time though you should be a little more careful about your first impression.”
Rainbow looked down, the ground between her and the Wonderbolt was pitted and grooved where Dash's hooves had struck it and her coat was covered in dust. “Heh, sorry about that.” She smiled again, this time a little nervously, before remembering a little more about the particular Wonderbolt standing infront of her, “You dodged me.”
Echo adjusted her goggles and smiled, “Yep.” She seemed to have expected Rainbow to say that.
“How did you know I was there.”
“I heard you.” On seeing the look on Rainbow's face she explained, “You make about as much noise as a rampaging Ursa.”
Rainbow blushed, “I thought you were going to attack my friend.”
Echo looked back at Fluttershy, who had been standing next to her the whole time staring at the two and gently trying to coax Echo onwards. “I think your friend is scared of me. She hasn't even told me her name since I crashed into her house- it's a little complicated.”
“Don't worry about Fluttershy, she's just nervous around new people.” She turned to Fluttershy, “Come on I'll help. You'll go faster if I help.”
No sooner had Fluttershy nodded than Rainbow Dash shot into the air, “Hey Echo I'll race you! I've never had the chance to beat a Wonderbolt before.”
Echo laughed and launched after her, making that ringing noise yet again. Yelling quick thank yous back to Fluttershy, the two racing pegasi were over the horizon in a second. The yellow mare lapsed into silence for a moment on being left alone then turned back towards her home. There were countless little critters she'd let in for the night that still needed help after the storm.
***
Dash had always said that Fleetfoot was fast but it was hard to appreciate just how fast she was when just watching her perform. Every turn she made the blue pegasus was there, every time she accelerated the other pegasus drew level, every dive the Wonderbolt matched even when Rainbow Dash was scared that she might crash.
Rainbow hadn't had a race like this in years, the wind rushing past her, her mane in her eyes. Just her, her opponent and the wide open sky.
They flew faster and faster, spinning and twirling until neither were sure which way was up. Speeding through the sky until their wings ached and they could fly no more.
It was pure luck that they wound up at Sweet Apple Acres, but both pegasi were glad of it. The trees made comfortable resting places and they could sit in the branches and talk about flight shows Rainbow had seen, most of them Wonderbolts performances.
“And then there was that time in the Featherside Pegasus derby where Surprise was at the back of the group and then- whoosh- suddenly she's puts on this burst of speed and moves right up into third and-” Rainbow mimed her amazement so wildly that she almost fell out of the tree.
Echo laughed at her tale, “Yeah, I was there you know.”
Rainbow nodded, “You should have been in the stands though. It was incredible! Everypony was cheering. I'd never seen anything like it!”
“Well she's called Surprise for a reason.” Echo smiled, making that little ringing yell of hers before plucking an apple off of the tree infront of her, “Her races were never going to be boring.” She took a bite, “Still she's a nightmare to practice with. She disappears for days at a time before performances then comes out of nowhere at the last minute just when you're starting to panic. Once, in Cloudsdale, she turned up a minute late wearing a whale hat on her head. I didn't think you could even buy those in Cloudsdale!”
Rainbow smiled, “I saw that. Ah, Spitfire's speech at the end was hilarious, she looked like she was going to kill Surprise the second they got off stage.”
“I think she tried to- You must be a really big fan to remember that.”
“Not really, it was a pretty memorable event.”
“Yes,” Echo shrugged, “But it wasn't a very big performance. A fly past really- and to go all the way to Cloudsdale.” She finished her apple and tossed the core away, “You're sure you're not one of those weirdos who follows us Wonderbolts everywhere?”
Rainbow Dash blushed, before she could think of a response however a voice from the base of the tree called to her.
“Rainbow Dash! Hey, Rainbow!” Rainbow Dash looked down to see Applejack glaring up at her, “What in tarnation d'ya think ya doing?” The apple farmer hollered, “Ain't ya supposed t' be on weather duty. Why in Equestria are ya in one a mah trees?”
The weather pony glanced down at her friend, “Why shouldn't I be in your tree? I'm done with work for today. It was set to be a clear day today and look! There isn't a cloud in the sky.”
Applejack gave an annoyed grunt and turned her back on the tree, “Oh yeah, what d'ya call that then?” She gave the tree one almighty buck, shaking Rainbow Dash off her perch and into flight.
Whatever retort the pegasus was about to make died on her lips as Rainbow caught a glimpse of the sky.
Spreading out far above them, growing quicker than Rainbow Dash had ever seen, huge black storm clouds unfurled. Already they had reached the Everfree and were beginning to block out the sun on the outskirts of the town. Thunder rolled and lightening crashed above the trees as the clouds grew darker and darker above the town.
Rainbow's first thought was of Fluttershy, stuck in her house next to the Everfree, the poor mare would be right under the storm already. And then she noticed the tiny speck zipping in and out of the storm and another panicked thought came to her.
“Oh Celestia, Thunderlane!”