“What, why?!” I screamed. I noticed vaguely that a couple of glasses seemed to shiver.
My saving grace from total embarrassment was that the music was loud enough to keep my voice from travelling far, although it wasn’t loud enough to keep the people around our table from turning to look at us.
Grumbling an apology, I pulled Frosty from her seat-- a little roughly I admit-- out of the club. Although we were outside, the bass from the music still occasionally made my teeth chatter.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?!” I yelled. “We were in my house for hours, and you didn’t think to tell me once?”
“Hey, don’t get mad at me,” Frosty Skies said, “I only heard about it a couple of hours before I got to your house. It was in the mail, didn’t you check yours?”
“No,” I said tapping my chin with a hoof, “I woke up almost as soon as you were flying into my house.”
“Heh,” Frosty mumbled rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof, “I’m sorry about the roof, I was in a little bit of a hurry.”
“But why would you try to keep it a secret from me? Why would I even be getting transferred in the first place?”
“Well, it’s because of...” she trailed off, looking away from me.
“Because of what?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s because of the amount of new weather ponies coming in,” Frosty said, although she still hadn’t looked me in the eyes.
“That doesn’t make any sense. They barely have any ponies for the night weather patrol. There are only two teams; yours and Sky Weaver’s.” I stated flatly. “What are you trying to hide?”
“There’s been two more teams that have been designated as night patrols.” she said quickly, looking away from me.
“Oh really? Then why haven’t any of the other ponies on our patrol heard of it?” Sighing, I put a hoof on her shoulder. “Just tell me the truth Frosty, we’re both grown mares.” I gave her an encouraging smile.
She looked at me and fidgeted under my friendly gaze. Biting her lip she looked back at the club as if it would give her the answer she desperately needed. Finally, she looked back up at me and sighed, “Okay, but could we head back to your house first?”
“Okay.” I said, smiling at her, although I was a little confused as to what was wrong with her. We took off and flew above and around some houses. Flying was usually quite calming for me, but I kept noticing Frosty Skies looking back at me nervously; she seemed like she was waiting for me to knock her out of the sky.
We landed on my balcony, or rather Frosty landed, I seemed to trip somehow and face planted into my balcony. As I got off the floor, I noticed that it was three in the morning before Frosty blocked my view of my clock. She was wearing the serious expression that she always wore whenever she was at work.
“Okay, we’re here, so why am I getting transferred?” I asked
“Because I’ve reported every time you’ve fallen asleep on the job so they decided that until you’ve learned the importance of work, you’re being transferred to a town near the Everfree forest,” she stated, her tone was unreadable, but she seemed to be having trouble looking me in the eye.
I sat and stared at her in disbelief as I tried to understand what Frosty Skies had just said. She took a nervous look to see my reaction and seemed to flinch.
“Clear, I’m sorry but I was just doing my job,” she mumbled, scraping the floor with a hoof nervously. “Please remember though, that I’m being transferred with you.”
“Why? Is this some joke? Sending me away with the pony responsible?” I stood quickly and glared at her. “And what of the rest of the team? What happens to them?”
Frosty Skies put up her hooves as she spoke quickly, “The team will be under a new supervisor that I had already been training. As for sending me with you, the weather manager said that I was the only pony who knew you well enough to be able to keep an eye on you.” Frosty had taken a couple of steps back towards the balcony looking frightened by my anger.
I took a deep breath, “There wasn’t any letter telling me of the transfer, was there?” I sighed, “Ok, so I’m getting transferred, I get that. When am I supposed to leave?”
“The manager said that you were to be ready to head out this weekend.” Frosty Skies said, “We’ll meet at the Cloudiseum tomorrow night and fly out to the town. Okay?” she asked as she turned to leave.
“Okay,” I muttered as I watched her take off into the night sky. I didn’t know exactly how to react, but blaming Frosty wasn’t going to help get me out of the transfer. As Frosty faded to a light blue dot in the sky, I realized I hadn’t asked where we were actually being transferred to. I muttered something uncharitable about the Everfree and headed off to bed.
______________________________________________________________________
“Clear Night, get up! We need to get to the cloud factory ASAP!” rang out in my ear.
“AH!” I shouted, rolling off my bed onto the floor. I jumped off the cold floor to my hooves and spun towards the voice. “Frosty! I swear to Celestia why can’t you just leave me alone for five h-,” I stopped short as I noticed the yellow pegasus standing on the other side of my bed.
“Stow it, Clear, we need every weather pony at the cloud factory. For some reason the factory is spitting out lots of lightning clouds, and we need to get them to a safe place to discharge them.” The yellow pegasus looked at me expectantly.
“Yes, sir, I mean, ma’am.” I scrambled to reply as I tried to run a quick hoof through my mane trying to get rid of any cowlicks. I rushed to the balcony and shot off in direction of the factory.
I could tell something was wrong right away because most of the sky looked like it was still night time even though it was eight in the morning on a summer day. As I got closer I saw what had to be every weather pony in Cloudsdale and even quite a few volunteers helping moving the clouds. But what worried me most was the number of burnt looking pegasi. It looked like roughly one third had been shocked by a cloud they had been moving.
I had just gotten to the edge of the dark clouds when I started smelling the ozone that the lightning was producing. About one hundred hooves in, the smell started burning my nose and I swooped to the left. Not a moment later, an arc of lightning cut through the space I had just vacated. I looked to see who had been maneuvering the cloud and noticed it was Frosty, who was giving an apologetic smile and moved the cloud away. I threw a disappointing look at the fleeing form of the cloud and proceeded to the nearest unponied cloud.
I pushed the cloud towards the edge of the dark clouds while occasionally dodging a small arc of lightning from it. When I reached the edge, I gave a quick, hard, buck, and bolted as the cloud started arcing small, but powerful lances of light. As it sputtered out and turned a dull white-grey, I started pushing it back to the factory when my nose burned again. I did a barrel roll to the left, but the lightning singed the tip of my wing causing me to twitch and fall a couple dozen feet.
“I’m so sorry, Clear,” came a familiar voice from above me, “the cloud just ran off and, well, zapped you.”
As I managed to right myself in mid-air, I turned to look at the pegasus who was apologizing. I spotted Frosty hovering above me with a now discharged cloud in her hooves. I grumbled in annoyance before shouting back, “It’s fine, it was just a little mistake.”
Frosty gave a small wave before hurrying back to the factory with her cloud. I shook my head and followed her back to hand over my cloud to the factory workers.
The factory was quite large, with multiple cloud-stacks lining the top of the building. Thankfully, it wasn’t spitting out more dark clouds and with the extra help from the volunteers, the sky was clearing of dark clouds rapidly. The clouds that were being returned were being deposited into what looked like an oversized bin. There was also a temporary medical tent standing just off to the side.
I tossed my off-white cloud into the stack of others and made my way to the medical ponies. I flopped onto the ground near the entrance and moved the flap out of the way and walked in.
“Hey doc.” I said as the flap fell back into place.
“Oh, hello there Clear Night. Looks like you caught one on the tip didn’t you?” he chuckled.
I groaned, “Come on doc, not today.” I extended my burnt wing towards him. “How bad do you think it is?”
“Well,” he mumbled placing a hoof under my wing to hold it up, “besides the most burnt feathers, you should be completely fine to fly.” He patted the top of my wing, “I could always help pull them for you.”
“Thanks doc but I can do it myself,” I deadpanned. As I left, I noticed that there were only a couple more clouds left to be discharged and returned to the factory.
While looking up, I bumped into another pony. “Gah!” I yelled rubbing my nose. “I swear to Celestia, the next pony who comes up to me with bad news is going to-,” looking down at the yellow pegasus who had been in my room. “Oh my goodness, are you okay ma’am?” I gasped in concern and hurried to help her off the cloud.
“You were going to do what to the next pony, Clear Night?” the weather manager challenged.
“Uh, nothing ma’am.” I said quickly as I moved to go around her. As I prepared to take off, I thought of something, “Excuse me ma’am.”
The weather manager looked back from the tent flap she was holding open for another pony, “What is it, Clear Night?”
I shuffled my hooves against the cloud, “I was wondering if I could talk to you about something.”
“Spit it out then, Clear.” she ushered the pony off to another before turning back to me.
“Well, it’s about my transfer. I wanted to-“
Putting a hoof on my mouth, she replied, “I made my decision. You’re going to that town, whether you like it or not.” She turned and flared her wings to take off.
“Wait! That’s not what I was going to ask. I just want to know the details, how long am I staying there, that sort of thing.”
The manager lowered her stance and turned back to me, “You mean Frosty Skies didn’t tell you?”
“Um, no ma’am, she was too busy trying to keep me from losing it to go into details.”
“Very well, but let’s go inside.” She motioned towards the factory, “I’m certain that you don’t really want to discuss this in public.”
I nodded and followed her through the set of doors. The room we entered was quite small. It was a plain room that contained two sets of doors, one that led out and one that led further into the factory. As soon as the doors closed behind her the weather manager’s face softened from its usual hard mask.
“Alright, Clear, what exactly do you want to know?”
“Well, am I really being transferred for sleeping?”
“Yes, I wouldn’t make an issue about it normally, but you’ve been sleeping on the job for the past month. A few of your teammates have complained to me about you getting away with it when they can’t.” She sighed, “Eventually I had to take some form of action and, well, this was the best that I could come up with. That is, without just firing you on the spot.”
I shuffled nervously at the thought that the rest of my weather team was so upset about this. “But Frosty Skies told me that it was because she had been reporting me every time.” I said quietly looking down at the floor.
“She had been, she also told me that she wasn’t concerned about me taking action unless the team started becoming agitated.” She put a hoof under my chin and raised my head until I met her eyes. “You didn’t really think that she wanted her best friend kicked out did you?”
Quite suddenly I felt a little foolish, “Of course not.” I smiled a little. “Ok, so how long am I supposed to stay at that town?”
“Well, I want the other ponies to forget about this fiasco, so I’ve contacted the weather manager stationed there to keep you for a couple months.”
“Months?!” I cried out.
“Calm down, Clear Night, they’ll be over before you know it. Besides, I’m sending Frosty with you, which should make it a little more manageable right?” she said, giving me a hopeful smile. I must have looked unsure because her smile faded.
“Normally, I would agree, but I’m kind of peeved that she would report me so often.” I looked at the door that led outside. “I know, I know, she’s just doing her job as the team’s foremare, but she’s my friend too.”
“Was that it or was there more?” she prompted.
I started to shake my head, “Not that I can think of right-. Actually,” I said wiping away the tear that had run down my muzzle, “where exactly are we going anyway?”
She put a hoof to her chin, “You know, I’m not quite sure. But it’s on the edge of the Everfree and is hosting the Summer Sun Celebration this year.” She raised her hoof suddenly, “That’s something, just think of it as a vacation. . . A really long vacation.”
I rolled my eyes, “Sure, let me just pack my overnight bag.”
She giggled, “That’s the Clear I know, now let’s get you back home. You must be tired considering how early I woke you up today.” She opened the door and led the way out. I took off to my house at a less frantic pace.
______________________________________________________________________
I woke up late in the day to the frantic buzzing of my alarm. I slammed a hoof down on the ‘off’ button and noticed that it was 8 PM on Saturday. I groaned and rolled out of my bed looking around.
My room was fairly well kept, probably for the fact that I only have a saddle and one or two dresses hiding in a closet. The balcony was directly across from my bed with a set of doors leading out to it. I had a nightstand with my now bruised clock and a small lamp that I almost never used standing next to me bed. The room itself was, well, white, being made of clouds. I walked over to the bathroom located off to the right of my bed to take a shower.
As I walked in, I kicked the cloud that started the shower to get it warm and went to brush my teeth. As I put my fore hooves on the sink, I noticed a note hanging on the mirror. Curiously, I took the note down and read;
Dear Clear Night,
At 10 PM tonight, you need to meet Frosty Skies at the Cloudiseum where she will accompany you to the town that you will be working at. When you arrive, I have arranged that the weather manager there to let you stay with her until you both can afford a hotel/house. She has also been told that if you display excellent work ethic consistently, that you will be eligible to transfer back to Cloudsdale.
Sincerely,
The Weather Manager
I sighed, put the note down, brushed my teeth quickly, and hopped into the shower. The warm water was extremely calming and allowed me to think even through my still groggy mind. First, I was going to be leaving tonight with Frosty Skies. I was still a little ticked off about her reporting me so many times, not to mention the burn to my feathers. Second, I was going to be staying in a town I didn’t even know the name of for two or three months. Lastly, was that I had a way home sooner, if I could show that I was a great weather pony.
Rinsing the rest of the soap out of my mane and coat, I stepped out of the shower and kicked it off. Grabbing a towel, I dried and started gathering what few things I actually did own and throwing them in a bag.
It was about 9:30 when I had finished with everything and jumped off my balcony into the warm night air. At least I won’t have to pay for my house while I’m gone, I thought. The weather company had put a policy in that any pony being transferred wouldn’t be billed until they came back or bought a new home. At which point the house would either return to the owner, or be sold to another pony.
I arrived in front of the Cloudiseum and noticed that Frosty Skies was laying on one of the benches set out in front of the entrance. “Hey.” I said walking over.
Frosty looked over at me and stood up. “Hey, ready to get going?”
“Yeah, you know where?”
“Yup.” with that, she took off with me behind her.
We flew in silence for a couple hours while flying around the edges of the Everfree. We had drawn close to Canterlot when Frosty Skies slowed down.
“You hungry? I had a friend who lived in Canterlot for a while who said there was a sweet doughnut shop that was open all night.”
Well, I wasn’t until she mentioned it. “Yeah let’s go.” With that we sped over the buildings until we came across a lit up building with a sign, “Joe’s Doughnuts” written in what appeared to be icing on an oversized doughnut. We landed at the door and walked in.
A bell just over the door rang and the pony behind the counter called out, “Welcome to Joe’s Doughnuts, where the bread is fresh and the icing perfect. What can I do you two ladies for?”
“Half a dozen chocolate glazed doughnuts please.” I said looking to Frosty who nodded.
“Coming right up, just have a seat anywhere.” He smiled as he went to bring the order.
As we sat down, “Hey Frosty, do you know who the weather manager is in this town we’re going to?”
“Not much, all I know is that she has a rainbow colored mane.”
“You would think that we would know her name, with her being a manager and all.”
“I know. Well we’ll find out soon enough, it’s just another couple hours until we get there. With the Summer Sun Celebration being held there she should be fairly busy.” Frosty said as Joe had just returned with the order.
“Oh? You’re both heading to Ponyville?” Joe asked as he set down the tray.
“Is that the town’s name?” I asked.
“Yeah, one of my regular customers is heading down there to look over the preparations tomorrow.” With that, Joe left us alone to enjoy our meal.
A few minutes later we paid our bill and left to continue our flight.
______________________________________________________________________
After a few more hours of flying, Frosty and I saw what looked like an apple farm followed by what appeared to be the town behind it.
“Alright, so we’re looking for a cloud house belonging to the rainbow-maned manager. That could take forever.” Frosty Skies complained.
I looked out over the town and pointed, “Maybe not, there don’t seem to be that many cloud houses around here.”
Frosty Skies looked to where I pointed and saw the only cloud house currently in view. “That’s helpful.” And we both flew over to the door of the house. Frosty landed in front of the door and pressed the thunder cloud that served as a doorbell while I hovered behind her. As Frosty stepped back we heard an annoyed groan from behind the door.
The door opened revealing a grey pegasus with a blonde mane and bubbles for a cutie mark, but the thing that distinguished her the most, were her eyes.
She scrunched her muzzle up and asked, “Hello?” She looked between Frosty and I or maybe just looked at both of us, and smiled.