A gagged scream was heard from the inside of a raincloud. “Get me out of here! Somepony get me out,” a childish voice pleaded. The young pegasus had been trying to push a cloud out of the way when she was sucked into it. She felt herself choking on essence and kicked feverishly. A leg broke free and poked out of the fluffy particles, but her light blue coat covering it camouflaged with the sky. After some trials, failures and squirming about the pony managed to yank her head out with a pop.
Finally unrestricted she drew cold air down to the bottom of her lungs. She found her balance on top of the trickster cloud while scouting for the older ponies. A cooperatively gust of wind brushed amber locks of hair away from her face, and the rays of sun made her mane shine like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
“Hello?” Her puzzled voice vanished into the aloofness of the empty sky before her. The other pegasi had already finished herding the clouds, apart from the few forgotten ones still scattered in the blue scape. She knew if she had been faster and better they wouldn’t have neglected her.
Prodding the cloud with her hoof she dumped down on it and comforted herself with how low the salary was anyway. It probably wouldn’t be of much help to her target, but she would take every bit she found to fill her shoebox with more than buttons and pocket fluff. When the management noticed how much time she spent around the racing tracks they had said she could help gather clouds for the next obstacle course, and that there might be a little reward. Of course she said yes. She wanted the tickets badly.
Absentmindedly she massaged the cloud. It was hard to keep tears at bay and the lump in her throat was hurting her. She had lost her way, but it didn’t matter, because she didn’t want to go home. The filly was too occupied biting her lips to notice how the particles beneath her gradually took shape. Her hooves scraped dust-balls off the cloud, little by little revealing another figure inside.
It was a somepony’s head. A new kind of energy overflowed the filly. Using her entire body she gave the cloud a shape. She was caught in a swipe of locomotion, engraving the Wonderbolt logo at the flanks with one hoof while molding its back with another. The pegasus finished by smoothening the sculpture’s surface with her brushing tail. She dried sweat off her forehead before looking down on a hoof stained with aerosol.
When she looked up again the surroundings had renewed. The troposphere became limitless. Playful wind groomed the cloud pony’s mane, making it stand on edge, looking shaggy but fierce. Then the current of air encouraged the cloud to drift forward, its legs gliding in slow motion. The young pony threw herself forward while her underdeveloped wings struggled to catch up. As she sailed in a race against the lifeless contestant the only sounds were the polishing air and her heart pounding with the knowledge that she was closer to light years beyond the Wonderbolts with every wing flap and lost feather.
She decided that a wall of fog ahead was the finish line and strained her wings to go faster. She adjusted her outstretched legs and swung back and forth, trying to find an opening past the racing cloud. Not a moment too late or early she slipped past it. Everything was a haze in her teary eyes, but fear and exhilaration kept her propelling forward.
It wasn’t time to slow down for the fog crashing towards her. She tried spreading her hind legs, but it resulted in her body spinning out of control. As the world rotated she wasn't sure who was in the lead. She slammed into something and her vision altered to white.
A tooth fell out of her wide grin, plummeting unsteadily down through clouds. The intensity of it all made the drops of blood clear as they tailed the tooth's roots. A thunderous snap followed. All of her limbs went numb and she forgot how to breathe. Her gushing tail left a static spiral of lightning. The flash of white died out. Her knees gave away and she curled up in mid-air. Still revolving she shot her legs and wings out in a release of power.
Another realm surfaced. Flying through a void she was surrounded by clouds displaying true darkness. A raindrop was crushed in the pupil of her unblinking saffron eyes, gluing her lashes together. She felt the short hide on her face gather in viscous barbs. A flawless storm surrounded her like glass ensnaring a goldfish. The cloud she had been sprinting with had followed her through the hole she left when plunging inside the hollow vapor.
She realized she was flying upside down and evoked how to breathe. An inhale of oxygen had never been so seamless and intact. With a determined wing beat she rolled over. The black space in the tempest’s clearing seemed infinite. With lightning above and thunder in her ears she continued to dash forward. The glimpses of light lingered in the air long enough for her to spot different tunnels, gaps and exits in the clouds. She was inside a maze.
The filly was showered in electricity. Quick as a scorpion's tail it glided through the trickles of sweat and rain on her coat. Her muscles couldn’t function. Her hooves were lugged in different directions, as if the northerly and southerly winds were arguing about a suicide.
The pony was blinded but felt the fall. She was equal to any raindrop or tooth. Like them she didn't think about how lost she was, the consequences of the downfall or that she couldn't move. Her body and thoughts were stunned with electrocution, but she felt a spark expanding inside. A paralyzed smile of satisfaction accompanied her lips.
The cloud pony dissolved into a mattress and tossed itself beneath her. The atoms seemed stitched together, making her bounce somewhat instead of falling through. The consistence was familiar to her skin.
A bolt of lightning and three stars were left on her scorched flank. Shivering she stacked her body parts in a snug position and gazed at the outburst of electricity. She was inside herself.