//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: A Gathering Storm // by BritBrony //------------------------------// “Sure, why don’t you get airborne, I’ll join you in a moment,” said Storm Shadow, scanning the skies. Rainbow’s face darkened in anger and embarrassment.  The introduction of her team had hardly gone as smoothly as she had hoped, and her desire to get started and show what they could do had been met by a surprisingly indifferent response from Storm Shadow.  She turned her back on the Storm Chaser and struggled to prevent herself from grinding her teeth in annoyance. “LET’S GO!” she shouted, somewhat unnecessarily.   She leapt into the air followed closely by her squad.  “Form Up!” Storm Shadow shook her head and looked around towards Cloudsdale, glistening on the horizon.  Was that...? The big white pegasus banked over the field, reading the winds as he usually did, before dropping to the ground a few lengths away from her with a final beat of his wings, blowing dust across her face.  She paused to blink her eyes clear before trotting forward.  Grabbing the stallion’s neck in a hug, she nuzzled his neck affectionately. “Hi, Dad.” “Hey, Stormy,” he replied, his hoof pulling her close. “Welcome to Ponyville,” said Storm Shadow, disentangling herself and stepping back. “Well, it’s not the first time I’ve been here,” said Cirrostratus, looking around.  “How’s your first assignment going?” The look on his daughter’s face told him more than he needed to know. “This is going to be tricky, dad,” she said. “We’ve got a small, inexperienced team, insufficient water supplies on the ground, no suitable weather patterns and a very tight timeline.” “Well, I might be able to help out with a few of those,” said Cirrostratus, reaching into his saddlebag for a sheaf of papers with one wing.  “We’ve got a nice juicy Cat 3 just beyond Trotterton.  It’s not quite heading this way, but with a few tweaks we can have it here in a couple of days.” “A couple of days!  Dad, that’s too soon!  I’ve only just met the team, and so far I’ve not had my socks knocked off, if you know that I mean.” Cirrostratus raised an eyebrow and passed the papers over.  On top was a manila envelope addressed to Storm Shadow.   With an extended tip feather, she tore open the flap and retrieved the papers inside. “A week!?  They’re giving us a week?” “Sorry, sweetheart.  I spoke to Thunderhead after I got your letter.  The Lift is scheduled for the end of the week.  You’ve got to top up the reservoirs, organise and train, and then lift in seven days.  Can you do it?” Storm Shadow bit her lip as she re-read Thunderhead’s instructions, which mirrored what her father was telling her. “It’s not so much whether I can do it,” she replied, looking up at the formation of ponies above and at Rainbow Dash in particular.  “It’s whether she can.” The pair spoke a short while longer, with Storm Shadow making several requests of her father before he took off, bound for Cloudsdale.  She paused a few moments more, watching the Ponyville pegasi practice some more close formation work.  Even from this distance, Storm Shadow could hear Rainbow’s instructions to her squad, combined with hoof-signals, as they twisted around each other. This is not going to be easy, she thought to herself as she extended her wings and took to the sky.  As Rainbow saw Storm Shadow climbing to meet them, she grabbed her whistle and blew, pointing off to some low clouds nearby.  The squad alighted on the clouds for a breather. “Take five, everypony,” said Dash, as Storm Shadow landed next to her.  “Was that the Doc?” she asked, slightly hurt that he had not said hello. “Yeah,” replied Storm Shadow, “Don’t worry, he’ll be back tomorrow.” “He will?” “I asked that he be assigned to the Dawn Patrol for this sector for the next few days.” “Awesome,” replied Rainbow.  She looked around at the grey mare.  “Everything OK?  Aren’t you happy to be working with your Dad?” Storm Shadow grimaced.  “I’ll tell you later.  In the meantime, are you ready?” Rainbow looked around at her squad.  “I guess we’ll have to be.”  She raised her voice to speak to the others. “OK, Storm is going to lead the formation.  Everyone else, you know what you’re doing.” Storm Shadow lowered her flight goggles over her eyes, walked to the edge of the cloud and looked around at the squad.  They opened their wings as she did, and then she stepped forward. The thrill.  The air blasting through her mane, her tail.  The ground, rushing up to meet her– She snapped her wings fully open and pulled up.  A quick glance behind showed the squad forming up with her.  Rainbow settled in behind and to her left, with Blossomforth and Derpy beyond.  Behind and to the right, forming the other leg of the vee, were Thunderlane and Star Hunter. “OK, guys,” called Storm Shadow into the slipstream, “Let’s play!” With that, she snap-rolled to the left and dived back towards the athletics field.  A low pass with a sharp right turn set them headed towards the town square, barely skimming the rooftops.  Extending her right foreleg and pointing it back over at Thunderlane, she shouted into the slipstream “Echelon Right!” She could sense the motion as the ponies on her left side repositioned to form a diagonal line; a quick glance confirmed the formation before she veered right of the town hall spire and began a spiral climb centred on the building, forcing Derpy, out at the end of the formation, into a wider turn.  Two circuits of the town hall drew the attention of many of the ponies in the square, who paused in their daily activities as they watched the impromptu display overhead, and put the pegasi a good few hundred lengths above the town. “Line!” called Storm Shadow, pointing both forehooves directly back, beneath her body.  Another glance, this time beneath her and between her rear legs showed the goggled face of Thunderlane almost touching her tail as it whipped around in her slipstream.  She was very tempted to show off her next trick right now, but he wasn’t that annoying. She turned the formation towards the Solar Glory Dam and increased her speed.  Pointing both forelegs down, she called “Ladder!” and started to climb. The formation became another diagonal line, this time vertically, with Storm Shadow at the front, the highest pony, and each pegasus below and behind the one ahead, down to Derpy, who was able to rest a little as she kept the original altitude. The dam was visible ahead, built above a small waterfall that dropped the river outflow down onto the valley floor where Ponyville was built.  Following the path of the river, Storm Shadow began a gentle climb, remembering that the entire formation had a lowest point that also needed to be clear of the dam’s top.  As the pegasi flew over the top of the grey concrete span, Storm Shadow could feel the increase in humidity from the water evaporating from the reservoir. Perfect. “Vee!” she called, bringing her forelegs out to point back to the rear on each side of her body, and paused as Rainbow came back into the original position behind and to the left, followed closely by Blossomforth and Derpy; a quick glance on the other side showed Thunderlane and Star Hunter settle in. Storm Shadow nodded and turned to look at Rainbow Dash. “Your team is pretty good, Rainbow!” The team captain blushed a little. “How’s your ‘Tails and Trails’?” Rainbow visibly gulped at the question, and Storm Shadow didn’t wait for a verbal response, turning back to face forward.  She closed her eyes, feeling the air as it curved over her hindquarters, adjusting her rear legs, trying to trigger the – yeah, there it was.  She looked back again to see the contrail forming over her rear legs as she flew, the curving airflow forcing the water vapour in the air to condense into a white cloud. Of course, just about any pegasi with a little talent for cloud manipulation could generate a contrail, but only a few could go one better.  Storm Shadow was one of those ponies.  A quick adjustment of her legs and the contrail turned from white to the near-black of stormclouds; a moment later and she struck her rear hooves against each other, the steel shoes sparking and sending lightning crawling through the water vapour. A quick glance to the left and right showed a full set of contrails from the team, ranging in shades from Blossomforth’s almost pure white through to Storm Shadow’s almost pure black, with literally every colour in between, courtesy of Rainbow Dash. Most promising on the actual cloud contrail front, though, was Thunderlane.  Storm Shadow took a moment to observe his contrail, noting that it was almost as dark as her own. “Rainbow Dash!” she shouted, turning her head towards the weather captain.  “Take the formation lead!” Rainbow nodded her understanding as Storm Shadow turned her head to the other side to inform the stallions before pulling up a little, allowing the new flight leader to settle in to position at the tip of the vee, still streaming their contrails.  Rainbow took the formation into a gentle left turn back towards the town. From the new position a few lengths above the formation, Storm Shadow looked again at Thunderlane’s trail before diving down closer, until her nose was above his tail, just a few hoofs behind his flapping wings. “Thunderlane!” she shouted into the windblast.  His ears swivelled round toward her, but his eyes remained forward, looking at the sky ahead and the formation leader.  Storm Shadow smiled; just right for a wingpony. “Strike your hind hooves!” she shouted.  Beneath her, his hind legs twitched and with a clang, he tried to strike one shoe off the other.  She barrel rolled to the left, sliding through Rainbow Dash’s multi-hued contrail and allowing her flightpath to bring her around and underneath him, her back to the ground.  She settled into the new position and paused; the formation’s turn had ended and they had begun to climb steeply.  Storm Shadow adjusted her position slightly, sighting in on Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane in order to hold the correct position, then took another deep breath. “AGAIN!” His flightpath wobbled a little as his head dipped, clearly surprised to find her changing positions around him so fast, but he quickly recovered.  Again the hooves struck, small sparks visible, but didn’t catch.  The climb had finished, and the formation eased gently over the top to begin a dive. “BRING YOUR HOCKS TOGETHER A LITTLE AND TRY AGAIN!” she shouted into the slipstream.  She watched as he adjusted his hind legs a little and struck his hooves once more, this time sending tendrils of lightning crawling across his dark contrail.  The unusual sensation on his tail hair brought his head down, looking back along his belly, his eyes wide to see the mare flying pretty much upside-down beneath his hind legs, close enough to touch.  More amazing, though, was the lightning now illuminating the interior of his now noticeably darker contrail. “AWESOME!” he shouted. Storm Shadow took a second to look up and saw nothing but ground ahead. “EYES FRONT!” she screamed in response, snap-rolling away from the formation, pulling ‘g’s as Rainbow brought the team through their own steep pull-out.  Storm Shadow rolled into a horizontal loop and bled off the extra speed, looking for the formation.  Thunderlane was clearly late in his pull-out, apparently bottoming out a solid fifty lengths below the rest of the pegasi before climbing to retake his place.  Even from a quarter mile away, Storm Shadow could see the vemon on Rainbow Dash’s face as she stared at the errant wingpony.  With a hoof gesture, she gently banked the formation over to land in an open field by the side of the meandering river. Storm Shadow landed less than a minute behind the team, with Rainbow Dash’s screaming audible from a hundred lengths up.  The cyan pony was berating Thunderlane, his head bowed low in shame as the rest of the team looked on. “NEVER TAKE YOUR EYES OFF YOUR FORMATION LEAD IN A LOW ALTITUDE DIVE!  WHAT THE HAY WERE YOU THINKING?” Storm Shadow trotted up to the shouting flight leader, who held up a hoof in her direction while she finished the dressing down. “YOU DO THAT AGAIN AND WE’LL BE HOSING WHAT’S LEFT OF YOU OFF THE TERRAIN!” With that, Rainbow Dash turned angrily towards Storm Shadow.  Her voice was slightly quieter but no less filled with anger. “And what in Celestia’s name did you think you were doing up there?” “I-“ started Storm Shadow, before pausing awkwardly.  The truth was, Rainbow was right to be angry, the time to be teaching ponies how to skyspark was not while practicing high-speed, low-level formation work.  She looked away, embarrassed at herself.  When she looked back, Rainbow Dash had closed the distance between them and was starting into her eyes from a few hoofs away. “Nopony,” she hissed, “and I mean nopony in my flight takes unnecessary risks and endangers any member of my team!  I don’t care if you’re a Storm Chaser, I don’t care if you’re the Doc’s daughter, if you do something like that again I’ll buck you halfway into next week!” Storm Shadow held her gaze for a few seconds before nodding, satisfied, and replying. “Good.”     The flight back to town was subdued, and as the formation reached the centre, Rainbow Dash had dismissed the team for lunch, deliberately turning her back on Storm Shadow and flying away without a further word. Guess I deserved that thought Storm Shadow to herself.  She looked around at the scattering weather team and realised that she had an opportunity. “Hey, Derpy, wait!” Derpy turned as Storm Shadow fluttered to a gentle landing beside her. “Hi, Miss Shadow!” said Derpy, a look of nervousness crossing her face. The two ponies stared awkwardly at each other for a few seconds before trying to speak at the same time. “I wa-“ “Tha-“ “After you,” said Storm Shadow. “Thanks for not giving the game away,” said Derpy, “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw you.  For a second I thought you might have come looking for me.” Storm Shadow shook her head.  “I had no idea you were down here.  But...” “But what?” “But now that I have run in to you again...” Storm Shadow smiled. Derpy rolled her eyes – in opposite directions – and smiled back.  “I was going to get some lunch.  Why don’t you join me?” The two pegasi stopped long enough to grab a couple of sandwiches to go from a shop near the schoolhouse before settling on a bench in the park next to the schoolyard. “So, you were giving Convectus quite the lesson back at the university,” said Storm Shadow, trying to prompt the mailmare. Derpy swallowed the bite of sandwich she had been chewing and pulled her attention away from the children playing in the schoolyard. “You know the doctor?” A nod.  “Yeah, I studied under her.  I’ve never seen anypony correct her about thermal transfers before.” “I wasn’t trying to correct her,” said Derpy, blushing again.  Storm Shadow found it rather endearing.  “I just... had some ideas I wanted to talk about.” “About advanced thermal transfer coefficients?” “Oh, you know the field?” asked Derpy, brightening up.  “You see, I’ve long suspected that, when an arbitrary cloud of mass M-c and a moisture density of rho-c meets a...” Storm Shadow listened on open-mouthed for a few minutes as Derpy excitedly chattered at her. “You see?” she asked, finally. “Derpy, I have a Masters Degree in Advanced Weather Management, specialising in Extreme Weather Events.  I’m not a dumb pony, you understand, but—” “Yes?” asked Derpy, nervously. “I understood maybe one word in five, there.  No wonder you knocked Convectus’ socks off.” Derpy sighed and sat back, glumly regarding her sandwich.  Storm Shadow reached out and placed a forehoof on her shoulder, reassuringly. “What’s wrong?  I meant that as a compliment!” “I know, but it just underlines what I’ve always known.  I’m different, always different.  If it’s not my eye, or my absent-mindedness, or my clumsiness, now there’s this.” “The others, they don’t know, do they?” asked Storm Shadow. “I think a couple of my friends suspect that there’s more to me,” replied Derpy, trailing off again. “More than a clumsy, dizzy blonde with a muffin fixation, you mean?” Derpy started and looked around, staring into Storm Shadow’s eyes for the third time in two days, the hurt disappearing as quickly as it had arisen as she saw the warmth and compassion there. “I have a certain reputation in this town, and I must admit, I’ve not done much to correct it.” “There’s nothing wrong with being who you are, Derpy.  Why go up to the university now?  Has something changed?” Derpy smiled again and took another bite of her sandwich, chewing slowly.  She swallowed, apparently having come to a decision. “That’s one of my reasons,” she said, gesturing with a hoof towards the schoolyard.  Storm Shadow looked around, following the leg towards the children, in particular a group of young foals playing together.  “The unicorn in the middle is mine, her name is Dinky.” Storm Shadow looked back again in surprise at Derpy.  “I didn’t know you had a kid,” she said. “Two.  Dinky is my youngest,” said Derpy in response.  “Her sister is at high school on the other side of town.” Storm Shadow was even more surprised – she hadn’t pegged Derpy as being much more than a year or two older than her. “She’s young but she’s way ahead of her friends,” continued Derpy, “I don’t want her growing up ashamed of who she is and what she can do, the way I did.  I need to set a good example, and I can’t do that if people think I’m a fool.” She paused for a few moments. “Would you like to meet her?” asked Derpy, getting up and trotting towards the fence without waiting for Storm Shadow’s response. “Uh, well...” To Storm Shadow’s surprise, Derpy stopped at the fence rather than flying over it, waving her wings to attract the lilac unicorn foal’s attention.  Clearly not the kind of mom who hovers over her children, thought Storm Shadow.  She reflected further.  Literally, in her case. “Mommy!” cried out Dinky, running over to the fence to greet her mother. “Hello, muffin,” said Derpy, leaning down to nuzzle the top of Dinky’s head. The little unicorn turned and fixed Storm Shadow with an impressive glare, at least coming from a foal. “You’re tall,” she stated, matter-of-factly. “Um,” said Storm Shadow, “Yes.” “I don’t know you.” “No.” “Do you know my mommy?” “Uh, well...” The glare intensified. Derpy watched the exchange, suppressing a laugh. “So, talking to foals not part of your Chaser training, I take it?” she said.  Turning back to her daughter, she continued.  “Dinky, this is Miss Shadow, she’s... my friend.” Storm Shadow looked around in surprise at Derpy, then back to the foal, who was now beaming up at her with a huge smile and puppy eyes. “Hello Miss Shadow!  I’m Dinky!” “Hello, Dinky, it’s nice to meet you.” “Why don’t you go back and play with your friends, muffin,” said Derpy.  “I’ll see you tonight, OK?” “OK!” said Dinky, as Derpy nuzzled the top of her head again, barely avoiding Dinky’s horn as she turned to run back to her waiting friends.  “Bye, mom!  Bye, Miss Shadow!” Derpy waited until Dinky had reached her friends and turned to wave, returning the gesture before dragging herself away from the fence. “We should probably head back to meet up with the others,” she said, “It’s been nearly an hour.” Storm Shadow nodded and jumped into the air, unfurling her wings and starting a slow climbout.  Derpy was beside her a few moments later, deliberately holding a respectable distance away. “More formation training this afternoon?” she asked nervously. Storm Shadow shook her head.  She’d seen some unsteadiness from the wall-eyed pegasus during formation manoeuvres that morning – nothing too problematic, but noticeable to the trained eye.  “Nope, I’ll be working with each pony one-on-one to assess your specialties.  Rainbow will work with the rest of the team on lightning management drills.” Storm Shadow looked down at the athletics field where the team were reassembling. “Let’s just hope it goes a little more smoothly than this morning.”