//------------------------------// // Hurricane Fluttershy // Story: The MMC-verse // by Persona22 //------------------------------// Rarity galloped all around Ponyville, holding a stack of fliers in a saddlebag and giving one to each pegasus she encountered on her way using her magic. “Attention all pegasi! Meeting tonight at the library!” Rarity passed next to Cloudchaser and Flitter, floating a flier for each one of them with her magic as she did so. “Every pegasus of age to handle weather, regardless of experience, needs to attend!” Rarity saw Fluttershy, carrying a box of pastries, and Rainbow Dash, carrying a bag of an assortment of vegetables, walking down the street. She galloped towards them. “Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash!” Rarity called out to her friends. “Rarity? What’s up?” asked Rainbow Dash. A little worried at seeing Rarity so worked up. “Hello Rarity!” waved Fluttershy with one of her wings, “Beautiful weather we're having. I love a sunny spring day. The birds chirpin’ and the flowers bloomin’.” Said the happy-go-lucky pegasus. “Thank you. But I don’t have time to talk about my handiwork, darlin’” replied Rarity, “I received a very important message from Cloudsdale today, and it is of utmost importance that every pegasus pony in the age range to qualify for weather duty in Ponyville comes to this meeting tonight.” Rarity’s horn glowed and two fliers floated out of her saddlebags, she moved one to Fluttershy and the other to Rainbow Dash. “The details will be discussed in the meeting. Tonight at the town library. I’ll be expecting you.” said Rarity as she galloped away. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash read the flier that Rarity gave them. It didn’t say much, only the hour that the meeting was to take place, that it was going to take place in the library, and that it was for some official weather business so only pegasi that weren’t too old or too young was asked to attend. The two pegasi looked at each other, both wondering silently what could be so important that Rarity was calling up any pegasus that could handle weather. Even two with such little experience as the two of them in the matter. ======================================= That night, at the library, Rarity was at the door welcoming each and every pegasus that came to the meeting. Next to her Spike was holding a list with the names of every pegasus in Ponyville that was supposed to show up at the meeting which Rarity had provided him with earlier, and was doing a checkmark next to the name of each pegasus as they showed up. “That’s Flitter and Cloudchaser, that’s Thunderlane, that’s Blossomforth, that’s Silverspeed…” said Rarity to Spike as each pegasus walked into the library. “Gee, Rarity, you are amazing for remembering the names of every pegasus in Ponyville.” said Spike, looking up at Rarity in love and admiration, as he did a checkmark next to the name of the pegasus ponies Rarity mentioned. “Why thank you, Spike. But as the weather captain of Ponyville, it is my job to know such things, darlin’.” replied the white unicorn with the rainbow lightning cutie mark. She then looked inside the library, “So, is anypony missing Spike?” asked Rarity. Spike looked at the list, “Just Fluttershy.” replied the purple dragon. “I’m here!” said Fluttershy, as she walked towards the library. “I’m sorry I’m late, Rarity,” said the yellow pegasus with the three balloons cutie mark, “But the Cakes needed some help to put Pound and Pumpkin to bed, Pumpkin doesn’t get magic surges so often now, but Pound still tends to fly around if nopony is watching him.” “Oh, don’t worry about it Fluttershy, just go right in and find a seat.” said Rarity with a smile. Fluttershy walked in and Rarity followed her. “As soon as everypony is ready, turn off the lights and start the movie. Okay, Spike?” Spike nodded his head in the affirmative, “You got it Rarity.” Fluttershy happily made her way through the crowd of ponies in the library, looking around, until she finally saw the cyan pegasus with the three pink butterflies for a cutie mark that was her foalhood friend. “Rainbow Dash, there you are!” said Fluttershy as she trotted over to stand next to Rainbow Dash. “Oh, heh… Hi Fluttershy.” said Rainbow Dash, uneasy. Fluttershy immediately noticed that her friend was feeling nervous, “What’s wrong Rainbow Dash?” “It’s just this meeting… what could it be that Rarity of all ponies needs all the pegasi in Ponyville to do something?” replied Rainbow Dash, looking away from Fluttershy to hide her nervousness, and failing, “You know I haven’t handled anything related to weather since flight camp!” “I have the perfect solution for your problem.” said Fluttershy. “Oh, yeah? And what is… it?” Rainbow Dash turned to look at Fluttershy, and was stunned at what she saw. Fluttershy was wearing a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses with attached eyebrows, a large plastic nose and a bushy moustache. “Feeling better?” asked the yellow pegasus. Rainbow Dash giggled, then laughed, then laughed some more. “Yes, Fluttershy, I’m feeling better. Thank you, you’re a good friend.” “Always a pleasure.” replied Fluttershy. Just then, the lights came out and a big white screen was unfurled on the front of the library. A film projector was turned on and a film started. The narrator of the film started talking, as images showed what he was narrating over some old sounding music “Every living thing depends on the life-giving nourishment of rainwater, and it is up to Cloudsdale to provide rain-filled clouds to every corner of Equestria. But how, one pony might ask, does Cloudsdale gather all this extra water? Tornado power! That's right, Pegasi-driven tornado power. A team of Pegasi combine their wing power to create a jumbo tornado, powerful enough to pull water out of the local reservoir and funnel it all the way up to Cloudsdale. Remember, Pegasi, your jumbo tornado must reach a minimum of 800 wing power to lift that water up to Cloudsdale. So, the next time you're wondering ‘Where does all that extra rainwater come from?’, just remem-” The narrator and music come suddenly to a halt as the film stops. Every pony in the library turns to look at the projector on the back, where Spike was operating it. The purple dragon has one of the film rolls unfurled and wrapped around him, “Heh heh… Hum… Intermission?” said Spike. “Okay, everypony, I’m pretty sure that by now you can all guess what this meeting is about.” said Rarity as she walked up front of the crowd of pegasus, and on a small platform that had been set up for the occasion, so that every pony in the library was able to see her. “This morning I received a very important message from Cloudsdale’s central weather office. The message said that this year, Ponyville’s highland reservoir was chosen as a source of the rainwater they need for all of Equestria.” Rarity paced around the platform, looking very serious as she did. “This is, by far, the most important task the Ponyville weather team has been given since I became its captain, and by Celestia’s mane, I am not going to fail at it. This is so important that officials from Cloudsdale are going to come to Ponyville to oversee the water transfer and record our top tornado windspeed.” Rarity stopped pacing and turned to look at all the pegasi in the library, “That is why I am going to make sure that everything goes on without any unexpected problems. So I want each and every one of you to show up tomorrow at the oval running track, to measure the wingpower of every pegasus in Ponyville and make sure that it is enough to reach the 800 wingpower necessary to make the giant tornado.” Rainbow Dash raised a hoof, “Hum, Rarity?” Rarity looked at the rainbow maned pegasus, “Yes, Rainbow Dash?” “Hum, I’ve seen you make a tornado before. Do you really need us to help you with it?” asked the cyan pegasus, a little nervous once again. “Well, yes, I am capable of making a tornado just like a pegasus, Rainbow Dash, but even I have limits. There is no way I could make a tornado with the equivalence of 800 wingpower all by myself.” replied Rarity, very seriously. “Any other questions?” A black stallion coughed among the crowd of ponies. Rarity immediately turned to look, “Thunderlane? Better get that coughing checked out. I’m going to need each and every one of you to be on top condition!” “YEAH!” came an excited yell from a muscular white pegasus. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, Bulk Biceps,” said Rarity, “But this is going to require more than just enthusiasm to work out. To make this tornado, I’m going to need each and every one of you to be strong.” “Yeah!” said every pegasus in the library, excitedly. Rarity continued, “I’m going to need each and every one of you to be fast!” “Yeah!” said every pegasus in the library again. Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened wide in worry, “*GULP* Did… did she just say fast?” She crouched down and placed her forehooves over her head, “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no…” Fluttershy again noticed that her friend was worried, “Rainbow Dash?” “I… I have to go!” Rainbow Dash turned around and galloped out of the library. Among the cheering cries of the rest of the pegasi. Fluttershy was startled by this reaction, and could only watch as Rainbow Dash ran away. ==================================== The pegasi of Ponyville were at Ponyville’s track and field court, Twilight and Spike were setting up a strange looking fan-like device at the side of the track. “So, what exactly does this machine do?” asked Cloudchaser. Flitter standing next to her. “This is an anemometer.” explained Twilight. “It measures your accelerative velocity and translates it into wingpower, thus gauging your cumulative H2O anti-gravitational potential. Any other questions?” “Yeah.” said Flitter, then turned to look at Spike. “What exactly does this machine do?” “It tells you how fast you’re flying and how strong your wings are.” explained the baby dragon. “Ohhh… Okay…” said Flitter and Cloudchaser in unison. Twilight frowned. On the other side of the track, Rainbow Dash was looking around nervously, and Fluttershy standing next to her. “What’s wrong Rainbow Dash?” asked the yellow pegasus, “You have been on edge since you left your cottage this morning.” “Me? Oh, I’m fine. Really, just fine!” said Rainbow Dash with a demeanor that showed that she was not fine at all, “Why would I be worried? This is just flying! Yeah, I fly all the time. Flying, flying, flying, its what pegasus ponies do.” Rainbow Dash said anxiously, “Wait a minute, did I feed Tank before I left? I don’t think I fed Tank before I left! I have to go back to my cottage!” Rainbow Dash turned around and was ready to gallop away, but instead just fell to the ground as something pulled from her tail. “WHOA!” said the cyan pegasus as she fell down. Fluttershy lifted her hoof from the ground, where she had been stepping on Rainbow Dash’s tail. “Okay Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy as she calmly walked over to stand in front of the fallen Rainbow Dash, “What’s going on? You have been like this since the meeting at the library.” Rainbow Dash stood back up, and sighed in defeat, “Okay Fluttershy… it’s just that… I can’t fly fast!” Fluttershy blinked in confusion, “Huh? What are you talking about Rainbow Dash? I am pretty sure I have seen you flying fast several times.” Rainbow Dash looked devastated, “Do you remember flight camp? Do you remember what the other colts and fillies called me?” It broke Fluttershy’s heart to see her friend like that, especially because she knew exactly what she meant, “Rainbow Crash?” replied the yellow pegasus. “That’s right! Rainbow CRASH. It’s not that I CAN’T fly fast… it’s just that I suck at it!” explained the rainbow maned pegasus. “Every time I fly fast, I always lose control and crash someplace.” Fluttershy smiled at Rainbow Dash, a caring smile, no mockery could be found in the pegasus’ smile, “Oh, Rainbow Dash. Ponies can sometimes be mean when they are young, I got mocked all the time at flight camp. Every time I failed at something every filly and colt would start singing a song… ‘Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly’ and they would laugh at me. But I didn’t let that bother me! I just grinned and bared it, and laughed it off. Sometimes that’s all you can do, because you can’t let those memories ruin your life.” Fluttershy was almost going to remind Rainbow Dash of the time she saved her from falling during that fateful race when they were fillies, but decided not to since she wasn’t sure it was the best thing to say at the time. Sure, Rainbow Dash had saved her, but she had lost control in the dive (knocking both of them down in the process) which didn’t help the whole “Rainbow Crash” thing... Rainbow Dash felt bad since she did remember that Fluttershy did get mocked even more than she did at Flightcamp, and still managed to go through life with a smile, regardless of what others thought of her. And she was so kind that she would put the happiness of other ponies before her own. “You’re right Fluttershy… but it’s not just that. It’s this whole tornado business. It seems to be very important to Rarity, and I don’t want to be the one that messes it up for her! What if I lose control midflight and I crash and I mess up the tornado?” Before Fluttershy could reply, the sound of a whistle made everypony on the track and field court go quiet, and turn at its source. Rarity was walking towards the crowd of pegasi, she was wearing a whistle around her neck and a hat that read ‘Weather Captain’ on the front. “Okay everypony, this is how we are going to do this.” explained the white unicorn, “You are going to take turns, and one by one you are going to fly as fast as you can next to that anemometer that Twilight did the favor of brining over for this test. As it measures your wingpower, Spike is going to write it down. And now… Huh?” Rarity was interrupted as she felt something pulling down at her tail. Rarity turned around to see a small white pegasus colt looking up at her. “Rumble?” asked the white unicorn, “What are you doing here? You’re too young for tornado duty.” She then looked up and around, “And where is your brother? Where is Thunderlane?” “He told me to come here and say that he can’t make it, Miss Rarity.” said the colt, “He told me to tell you that he went to the Doctor this morning, to get his coughing checked like you said, and the Doctor said that he had the feather flu. He won’t recover in time for the day of the tornado.” “What!?” said a worried Rarity. “No, this can’t be! He’s one of the best fliers in Ponyville! I really needed him…” Rarity noticed that Rumble was startled by her sudden outburst, and forced herself to calm down, “I’m sorry about that, Rumble. Thank you for coming to tell me this and tell your brother that I’m sorry he’s sick and hope he gets better soon.” Rumble nodded, “Okay Miss Rarity, goodbye.” He turned around and left. “Okay Rarity,” she said to herself, “Calm down, I am sure that we’re still going to have enough ponies to reach the 800 wingpower minimum. Yes, that’s the spirit!” She then turned to look at the rest of the pegasi, “Okay, everypony, let’s get started. Cloud Kicker, you go first.” “Okay.” said a pale blue pegasus with an amber mane as she stepped up to the starting line of the track and field court. Cloud Kicker flapped her wings and flew as fast as she could, passing next to the anemometer. The device registered her wingpower, “5.5 wingpower.” said Twilight as she looked at the anemometer’s meter, and Spike wrote down the result next to Cloud Kicker’s name on the list. “Very good, Cloud Kicker. Helia, you are next.” said Rarity. One by one each peagasus walked up to the starting line, and each one flew as fast as they could next to the anemometer without incident. Well, except for Blossomforth coughing and Rarity asking her to go straight to the Doctor and getting that checked out right after the white pegasus tested her wingpower with the anemometer. As each pegasus tested his or her wingpower, Rainbow Dash looked nervously as her turn was going to come up sooner or later. Finally it happened, “Rainbow Dash, it’s your turn.” said Rarity. “Wish me luck, Fluttershy.” said the cyan pegasus as she nervously walked over to the start line and flapped her wings as she flew towards the anemometer… very slowly. “Come on Rainbow Dash! I know you can do better than that!” said Rarity from the other side. “*GULP* Here goes…” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings faster, and she soon reached a very high speed. She flew next to the anemometer, raising a gust of wind, “16.5 wingpower!” said an enthusiastic Twilight. “I can’t stop! Whoa!” Rainbow Dash passed the end of the track and field track, she tried to turn but went into an uncontrolled spin and finally crashed against a tree. Some pegasi looked dumbfounded at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash stood up, cleaned the dust off her mane, and looked at the other pegasi, blushing and feeling very embarrassed. “Hey everypony! Now it’s my turn!” Fluttershy caught the attention of everyone as she stepped over to the starting line, before Rarity even called her up, and flew as fast as she could. But then she seemed to trip on something, which was odd since she was in midflight (almost like if she did it on purpose). She rolled around on the ground, until she finally fell down and slid all the way up to the finish line and next to the anemometer. “Heh heh heh… oops?” she said as she looked up, her face covered in dirt. Every pegasus immediately forgot about Rainbow crashing against the tree, and started laughing at what happened with Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus stood up and laughed too, and without anypony noticing she looked over at Rainbow Dash and winked an eye. Rainbow Dash understood, Fluttershy had just done a little slapstick comedy at her own expense to save Rainbow Dash from her embarrassing crash landing. Fluttershy was such a kind and good friend, Rainbow Dash felt so lucky to have her. Again the sound of Rarity’s whistle broke the moment. “Okay everypony. Let’s take a little break before we continue.” the white unicorn walked over to Rainbow Dash, she had noticed something; the above average, very high wingpower that Rainbow Dash had made before she lost control and crashed. By now Fluttershy had gotten up and was also next to Rainbow Dash to check on her friend. “Are you okay Rainbow Dash?” asked Rarity. “What? Oh, yeah. I’m fine, thanks.” replied the rainbow maned pegasus. “Great! I’ll be looking forward to having your excellent score of 16.5 wingpower in the giant tornado.” said the white unicorn. Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened wide. “What? The tornado? Oh, you know what? Now that I’m really feeling that fall, I think I hurt my wing.” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really?” Rainbow Dash moved her wing a little and made a wincing face, “Ouch! It really hurts. And I was SO looking forward of helping with the tornado. Oh! Woe is me!” Rarity’s horn glowed under her hat, and a small raincloud appeared behind Rainbow Dash, and a lighting bolt struck down, doing a loud sound. “WOAH!” Rainbow Dash was scared from the loud sound of the thunder and leaped in the air, flying. “Hurt wing, huh?” said Rarity. Rainbow Dash blushed in embarrassment and landed back down. “You know, Rarity, I think that…” started Fluttershy. “No, Fluttershy, stop covering up for Rainbow Dash.” said the white unicorn to the yellow pegasus, then turned again to look at the cyan pegasus, “Rainbow Dash, from the numbers of everypony I’m pretty sure we can reach the required 800 wingpower for the tornado. But I want to make sure this works perfectly, and I’m going to need all the wingpower I can get for that. So, please, tell me what’s wrong.” Rainbow Dash looked down, then at Fluttershy, then at Rarity, “Look, Rarity, you are my friend and I want to help you… but I can’t do this! If I try and fly at the tornado, I’m going to lose control and ruin everything! I’m going to crash.” she looked down, “Because I’m Rainbow Crash…” Rarity suddenly understood what was going on, “Is this because of that stupid nickname the other colts and fillies had for you at Flightcamp?” “It’s not that, Rarity. I want to help you, I really do, but I don’t think me taking part in that tornado is really the best idea.” said Rainbow Dash, looking up back at Rarity. “So practice. You have time until the day of the tornado. I’m not saying you practice every flight movement in Equestria, just practice doing a tornado.” replied Rarity. Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head with her hoof, feeling uneasy, “I don’t know…” “Come on Rainbow Dash!” exclaimed Rarity, “So you got mocked when you were a filly. You can’t let that run your entire life! You have to step up and prove that they were wrong about you, about what they thought of you!” “So, that’s what this is about, isn’t it Rarity?” asked Fluttershy. Rarity, surprised at Fluttershy’s question, turned to look at the yellow pegasus, “What? What do you mean Fluttershy?” Fluttershy smiled, a peaceful, friendly smile. “Everypony has issues from their foalhood, Rarity, and we all cope with them differently. Rainbow Dash got mocked because she always crashed, I got laughed at because I could hardly fly, and I remember the stories of how some of the pegasi treated you in Cloudsdale, a unicorn filly that could control the weather with magic, how they tripped you, or said that you should go back to the ground where you belonged…” Rarity looked away. “Is that why you are taking this so seriously Rarity? It’s more than just providing the rainwater to Cloudsdale, isn’t it. You want to prove to all those pegasi that mistreated you when you were younger that you are a good weather pony.” “I don’t think its just random chance that I’m repeatedly left being the only pony on staff of the weather of Ponyville more than once. Other members being pulled away to other tasks, even if they don’t want to by the higher ups at Cloudsdale. There are several days and I’m left as the only pony on duty, but I keep at it, always making the best day I can possibly can, for everypony in Ponyville.” said Rarity. “And your skies ARE beautiful Rarity,” commented Fluttershy, wanting to make her friend smile again, “We know it, you know it, everypony in Ponyville knows it! So what if a bunch of old opinionated pegasus in Cloudsdale thinks that a pegasus should be in charge of the weather instead of a unicorn. Just forget about them, and enjoy your work like you always do. You have been treating this tornado thing like some sort of chore or military drill… that’s not how you do things Rarity.” Rarity again turned to look at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, “Thank you Fluttershy… and you are right. I don’t usually treat weather duty like some sort of chore, but this is different.” explained the weather unicorn, “I always get the feeling that they WANT me to fail, that they do things PURPOSELY so I would fail. Tornado duty is something that is usually given to big cities with a big weather team, like Fillydelphia. A small town like Ponyville could get it, but it’s the exception, not the norm. Remember that I said at the meeting yesterday that officials from Cloudsdale are going to come to Ponyville to oversee the water transfer and record our top tornado windspeed?” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash nodded. Rarity continued, “Well, there will be two officials. One is going to be Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, who is going to be in charge of recording the tornado’s windspeed. Normally it would have been just her, but the other official, who requested to come especially to Ponyville to oversee everything goes smoothly, is Gray Cloud.” “Gray Cloud? Why does that name sounds familiar?” asked Rainbow Dash out loud. “Wasn’t he one of the weather teachers in Flightcamp? One of the really strict ones?” commented Fluttershy. “Oh, yeah! That’s right. He could be a real jerk.” added Rainbow Dash. “He was one of my teachers in Cloudsdale. He never said it out loud, but it was clear that he was unhappy with the idea of a unicorn weather pony. He would sometimes give me the hardest tests, ones that he was sure I would not pass. But I passed them anyway, and ended up a better weather pony afterwards. Now he’s one of the high officials of the central weather department in Cloudsale. And I’m pretty sure the only reason he wants to be here on the day of the tornado is just so he can see me fail at it.” “You are not going to fail Rarity.” reassured Fluttershy, “It’s not just you, just look at those ponies behind you.” Rarity did, she saw all the pegasi in Ponyville talking and stretching for the wingpower test. The ones that had already taken the test were helping doing stretches to the ones that hadn’t taken the test yet. “They are here because they know you are a great weather pony, and a great weather captain. They are here because they support you and respect you, Rarity. As a weather captain AND as a pony.” finished Fluttershy. “You are right. Thank you Fluttershy.” said the unicorn, then looked at Rainbow Dash, “But I still believe that Rainbow Dash shouldn’t let what happened when she was younger run her life now. I am not going to force her to perform tornado duty if she really believes she is unfit for it. But I still think all she needs is to practice.” “Thank you Rarity, you are a good friend.” said Rainbow Dash, “I’ll… I’ll think about it, okay?” “Okay Rainbow Dash. Now why don’t you go back to your cottage. Twilight already recorded your wingpower, and I wouldn’t want to keep you from taking care of your animal friends.” said Rarity. Rainbow Dash nodded and took to the air in the direction of her cottage next to the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy was about to leave too, but Rarity stopped her. “You stay here Fluttershy. We still need to record your wingpower, you fell down before you passed the anemometer that time. So get back in line with the others, and remember, no falling down.” said Rarity as she walked away and towards the rest. “Awww… but I’m so good at it!” replied Fluttershy in a mock fake-unhappy tone which made Rarity giggle. ======================================== Rainbow Dash walked into her cottage and closed the door behind her. Once inside, she lowered her head and let out a sigh. The rainbow maned pegasus saw Tank standing right in front of her, staring at her with his usual calm demeanor. “Hi there Tank, was it busy here while I was gone?” said Rainbow Dash. Tank blinked slowly. “Me? Oh, I’m fine, just fine. Yeah, nothing to worry about.” said Rainbow Dash nervously. Tank blinked slowly. “That obvious, huh?” said Rainbow Dash, “Yeah, I didn’t do that well. I mean, I think I got a pretty nice speed, but I lost control and crashed… like always.” Tank blinked slowly. “Oh, yeah. Rarity was really supporting and understanding.” said Rainbow Dash, “She said that I don’t have to take part in the tornado if I don’t want to.” Tank blinked slowly. “Of course! It’s not that I DON’T want to, it’s just that I KNOW that I’m going to screw it up! It was like that at flight camp, and it’s like that now… if I fly too fast, I end up crashing.” said Rainbow Dash. Tank blinked slowly. “Of course I don’t want to just be afraid of flying fast for the rest of my life! That’s not it at all!” replied Rainbow Dash. “You think I LIKE feeling completely insecure the moment I start flapping my wings a little faster than usual?” Tank blinked slowly. “Hey! Don’t get that tone with me, mister!” said Rainbow Dash angrily. Tank blinked slowly. Rainbow Dash calmed down, “You’re right… I’m sorry I yelled at you Tank. But, what do you suggest?” Tank blinked slowly. “Yeah, Rarity said the same thing… I guess I could practice in making a tornado without crashing…” said Rainbow Dash, then took a deep breath and a determined look on her face. “Okay. Let’s do this!” Tank blinked slowly. A few minutes later, Rainbow Dash was outside of her cottage with Tank and the rest of the animals that she took care of. “Okay guys. I’m going to try and make a small tornado on my own.” said the cyan pegasus looking at her animal friends, “You guys keep an eye on me, and make sure I don’t hurt myself when I crash.” Tank blinked slowly, Rainbow Dash turned to look at the turtle. “You’re right Tank. I meant IF. If I crash.” she said with a confident smile. Rainbow Dash took to the air, she looked worried but then shook her head and became more determined. The cyan pegasus started going faster and faster as she flew in a round pattern. Slowly but surely she built up speed until she was getting closer to enough speed for an individual tornado. Finally, she reached the needed speed as a small tornado formed. “Hey. This isn’t so bad! I’m doing it! I’m totally doing it!” said Rainbow Dash happily. But it didn’t last long, a second later the small tornado got out of control, spiraling Rainbow Dash out of control and she crashed on the ground, getting a face full of grass and dirt. The tornado dissipated after a moment. Rainbow Dash got up, spitting out a mouthful of grass, “*cough* Owww…” she rubbed her forehead with one hoof as Tank walked over to her. The turtle blinked slowly. “Yes Tank, I’m okay. Just a Little dizzy.” said Rainbow Dash, “But I’m not giving up! This will be the end of Rainbow ‘Crash’ forever!” again Rainbow Dash took to the air and attempted to do a small tornado again. And crashed on the ground a moment later, again. “I just hope I have enough time to improve before the day of the tornado comes.” said the cyan pegasus, lying upside down with her back against the tree. Tank standing next to her. Rainbow Dash kept practicing, and crashing, until finally the day of the tornado came. ================================ It was the day the Ponyville weather team had to create the giant tornado to provide rainwater for Cloudsdale. Rarity, along with every pegasus fit for weather duty had gathered at the Ponyville’s highland water reservoir. Twilight and Spike were also there, next to a giant anemometer that Spitfire was going to use to record Ponyville’s weather team tornado speed. Every member of the Ponyville weather team were wearing safety goggles, except for Rarity. Sweetie Belle had wanted to come to see the tornado and cheer on her sister. But Rarity had convinced her little sister that the tornado was going to be very powerful and that it wasn’t safe for a filly to be there. Sad, but understanding, Sweetie Belle had remained at home, after Rarity had promised that she would tell her everything that happened with as much details as possible. Rarity looked up as two pegasi arrived soon. One was Spitfire, wearing her Wonderbolts uniform. The other was an older, big and burly stallion, he had a dark gray coat and silver mane, his cutie mark was a raincloud. “Hello, I am Rarity, captain of Ponyville’s weather team.” said the white unicorn as she walked over to the two newcomers. “Oh, so you’re Rairty, the unicorn that controls the weather? Nice to meet you, I’m Spitfire. I’ve heard a lot about you.” said Spitfire, as she shook Rarity’s hoof. Rarity smiled at that, “Oh my, why thank you, Miss Spitfire. It’s nice to meet you too.” “Please, just Spitfire is fine.” replied the leader of the Wonderbolts. The dark gray stallion stepped up, his face was stern and his eyes were harsh, “Hello, Miss Rarity. So, we meet again.” Rarity looked at him, trying to ignore the judgmental stare the stallion was giving her as he towered over her, “Yes we do, Gray Cloud.” “That is Mr. Cloud to you, Miss Rarity.” corrected the Stallion harshly, “You may be the weather captain here, but as an official representative from Cloudsdale I still outrank you.” Rarity kept herself in check. The nerve of him! He hadn’t changed a bit since he was her teacher at Cloudsdale when she was learning to handle weather. She was sure that he wouldn’t talk to her like that if she had a pair of wings on her back instead of a horn on her forehead. “Yes, Mr. Cloud. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful.” Rarity finally replied. “So, that is your team? It looks rather small, you do know that you will need at least 800 wingpower to get the water to Cloudsdale’s weather factory, right Miss Rarity?” said Gray Cloud as he looked at the pegasi of Ponyville doing warm up exercises next to the water reservoir. Was he treating her for a fool!? Rarity thought as she still kept herself in check, starting an argument right here would benefit nopony, “Yes, Mr. Cloud. I did all the research on tornadoes since I learned of Ponyville’s weather team assignment, and I also took the time to measure the wingpower of all the pegasi in Ponyville fit for tornado duty to make sure we’ll reach the 800 minimum.” she replied. Rarity knew that Ponyville’s weather team total was 832.5 wingpower after the measurement of everypony’s wing power with Twilight’s anemomenter. Even if Rainbow Dash wasn’t going to participate, the 800 minimum would still be reached. “Yes, well, we’ll see. So, is your team ready to begin, Miss Rarity?” asked Grey Cloud in a condescending manner. Now even Spitfire was looking at Gray Cloud, taken aback by the harshness of how the stallion was treating Ponyville’s weather captain. “Yes, we are.” said Rarity, her teeth clenched but still keeping herself in check from lashing out at Grey Cloud. “Now, if you’ll both excuse me, I have to go.” the white unicorn mare turned around and walked over to Twilight and Spike next to the giant anemometer. “The nerve of that stallion, who does he think he is?” said Rarity when she was out of earshot from the dark gray stallion. “So, Spike, Twilight? Are all the pegasi here?” Twilight and Spike had been talking with each other worriedly before Rarity came, and when they saw her they stopped talking and turned to address her, “Well, Rarity, there seems to be a problem.” said Twilight. Rarity looked worried, “A problem? What problem?” “Well, as you know Thunderlane had feather flu, and now he’s at the Ponyville Hospital.” said Twilight. “Spike was checking how many pegasi showed up, and, well, there were several others that didn’t came.” Spike showed Rarity the name list they had made for the day, and there were eight pegasi that were absent. “We asked around and it turns out that they are all the the Ponyville Hospital, and all of them have the feather flu.” said Spike. “What!?” Rarity exclaimed, now she was really worried. “But how!?” “Well, apparently Blossomforth caught it from Thunderlane the day of the meeting at the library, and then the other pegasi caught it from Blossomforth the day that everypony was getting their wingpower measured.” replied Twilight. Rarity’s eyes went wide. It was all her fault! Sure, Thunderlane didn’t even know he had the feather flu when the meeting at the library took place. But she had been the one who arranged that meeting, and the one that had everypony go to the sports track to get their wingpower measured. If she hadn’t been treating the whole tornado business like some sort of military drill, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Or maybe it would, but that wasn’t the point. This ponies were her weather team, she was their weather captain, her responsibility! Rarity looked at Twilight and Spike, “Are they going to be okay?” asked the white unicorn. “Yes, they just need plenty of bed rest.” replied Twilight, “But there is something else… you see, with those eight ponies at the Hospital… well…” Rarity put a hoof over her mouth, “Twilight… please don’t tell me that we don’t have enough pegasi to reach the 800 wingpower minimum.” Twilight gave Rarity a nervous smile, “Okay, I won’t tell you that.” Rarity’s eyes went wide. Of all the things that could have happened! THIS WAS THE! WORST! POSSIBLE! THING! Just then Rarity heard hoofsteps coming over to her from behind her. “Is there something wrong, Miss Rarity?” the white unicorn heard Gray Cloud say behind her. Rarity turned around, keeping her nervousness in check, “Yes, everything is fine! We’ll have that water up at Cloudsdale in no time!” replied Rarity, then turned around again and trotted over to the rest of the weather team. Okay, so maybe there wasn’t enough wingpower from the pegasi to reach the 800 minimum. But maybe she could make it up for it with her magic! She could start up the tornado with her magic and help the rest of the pegasi reach the 800 minimum! Yes! That had to work, It just HAD to. She just hoped she had enough in her to compensate for all the missing pegasi… “Okay, everypony!” said Rarity as she addressed the pegasi that had showed up for weather duty. Fluttershy was among them, but not Rainbow Dash. “Are you all ready!?” said the white unicorn. The pegasi gave a cheer. “Great! Now, a small change of plans. When the horn sounds, I will first start up the tornado with my magic, and then the rest of you take off and join it. Okay? Good! Now let’s give it our all!” said Rarity. Again all the pegasi gave a cheer, louder this time. Rarity looked at Twilight and Spike and pointed with her hoof. Seeing Rarity’s signal, Twilight tapped the big anemometer, as Spitfire stood next to it to record the top tornado speed for the Cloudsdale record’s archive. Spike, meanwhile, took a deep breath and blew into the big horn next to the anemometer. At the sound of the horn, Rarity stood firmly on the ground and her horn started to glow. Soon a small tornado formed over the water, about as big as the tornado a single well trained pegasus would make. As soon as the small tornado was at full speed, the rest of the pegasi of Ponyville flew up and around it, joining the tornado and getting it bigger and bigger with each passing second. “Rarity will be able to do it! I’m sure she will!” yelled Spike over the loud noise of the tornado. “I sure hope so!” yelled Twilight as she looked at the giant anemometer, “150 wingpower… 250 wingpower… 500 wingpower!” Twilight grabbed the anemometer with her hooves, the wind was so strong. The water inside the reservoir started to churn and being lifted by the massive tornado. The pegasi were going even faster, Rarity’s horn glowed even more as she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. “They are going to make it! They are going to make it!” cheered Spike, as she hanged over the anemometer to keep himself from being blown away. “750 wingpower!” yelled Twilight. “Twilight!” Twilight turned to look at the pony that had called out to her, it was Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus was struggling to stay on the ground and not being flown away by the wind from the gigantic tornado. “Rainbow Dash? What are you doing down here and not up there?” asked Twilight. “I had been training all this days, but I wasn’t able to fly too fast without losing control and crashing!” replied Rainbow Dash, yelling over the noise of the wind, “So I figured that if I couldn’t help Rarity with the tornado, at least I could offer moral support!” “She could sure use it!” replied Twilight, “Eight pegasi are sick with the feather flu over at Ponyville Hospital!” “What!? That’s terrible!” said Rainbow Dash. Suddenly, the pegasi inside the tornado just couldn’t keep up anymore, they had been flying as fast as their wings would take them, but it just wasn’t enough. Rarity was sweating buckets, and finally her horn stopped glowing as she just couldn’t keep up with her magic. With that the tornado finally went out of control and all the pegasi went flying around, falling down in various places. Rarity looked around, she had the mother of all hornaches, but she was more concerned from seeing all the pegasi standing up wearily from the impact of the various crashes. She sighed with relief when she saw that nopony was hurt. Fluttershy had fallen right in front of the giant anemometer, she picked herself up, and looked around dizzily. “Fluttershy! Are you okay?” Rainbow Dash rushed next to her friend. “Oh, Rainbow Dash.” said Fluttershy, her eyes spinning, “I’m fine. Absolutely fine. Say… since when there’s three of you?” the yellow pegasus fell back down. Rarity also walked over to the giant anemometer with Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Spitfire next to the big machine. “It seems that everypony is okay, thank Celestia.” commented Rarity. “You were very close to the 800 wingpower minimum… I’m sorry, Rarity.” said Twilight. “But… they can try again!” exclaimed Spike, not liking to see Rarity fail at something. “Why? She already pushed her team to the limit already.” replied Twilight. “But…” Spike started. “No, Twilight’s right Spike.” said Rarity, looking down, “We were lucky this time, but if the tornado breaks apart again, somepony could get hurt. It’s just not safe to try again like this.” “Well, well, well… it seems like you failed, Miss Rarity.” came the voice of Gray Cloud, as he approached the group. A smug smile on his face. “It’s just like I thought, never send a unicorn to do a pegasus’ job.” Rarity looked away, the worst part about it was that she really didn’t have a way to refute that after what had happened. “You can be sure that I’ll write about this performance in your next annual evaluation, Miss Rarity.” said Gray Cloud, then he turned to look at Spitfire, “Miss Spitfire, get back to Cloudsdale and get your crew to come here since they are the backup team in the case the Ponyville weather team failed.” “Wait a minute Gray Cloud,” said Spitfire, “Why don’t we let her try again?” said the leader of the Wonderbolts. Rarity was surprised that Spitfire had come at her defense, “Spitfire… thank you for your confidence. But I am afraid there really is nothing else we can do.” “Yes you can, Rarity.” everypony turned to look at Rainbow Dash when she said that. “Because this time I am going to be part of that tornado.” Rainbow Dash grabbed a pair of safety goggles, a very determined look on her face. Rarity was both surprised and joyful at Rainbow Dash’s statement, “Are you sure?” “Yes.” said the rainbow maned pony, “What kind of friend would I be if I leave you alone when you need me?” said the bearer of the Element of Loyalty. “And you are?” asked a skeptical Gray Cloud. “Name’s Rainbow Dash.” replied the cyan pegasus. “Rainbow Dash… Rainbow Dash…” said Gray Cloud deep in thought, “Oh yeah! I remember you from flight camp all those years ago. I was an instructor. You are that filly with the record of most crashes!” Rainbow Dash glared at the stallion. Fluttershy, who had already recovered, placed a hoof on her safety goggles as she looked at Gray Cloud. “Wow… my scouter readings say that your grumpiness level it’s off the chart… its over 9000!” Everypony laughed at Fluttershy’s joke at Gray Cloud's expense, as the dark gray stallion glared at the yellow pegasus. “Okay, fine! Try to do the tornado again. But I’m warning you, if anypony gets injured, I’ll make sure that you’ll never handle the weather anywhere ever again!” said Gray Cloud pointing a hoof at Rarity, then he turned around and walked away once again. “Thank you for that Fluttershy,” said Rarity to the happy-go-lucky pegasus with a smile, then she turned to look at Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow Dash, are you really sure about this?” “I’ll do it if you want me to Rarity… I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been practicing this last few days… but I kept crashing every time. If you still want my help, I’ll do it.” “If we fail again the tornado will collapse and everypony will crash anyway.” commented Rarity, “So I’m willing to take a chance that we might fail if you are in the tornado over failing because you aren’t in it.” Rainbow Dash nodded and put on her safety goggles. “But the risk is not mine to take. It’s everypony’s. And I will do it if they want to. I’m not going to force them, that’s not how I do things.” said Rarity, looking at Fluttershy, remembering what the yellow pegasus had told her the day everypony had measured their individual wingpower at the track and field court. Fluttershy smiled and nodded. Rarity turned to look at the pegasi of Ponyville, that by now had already picked themselves up and cleaned the dust off. “Okay everpony… I want to thank you all for your effort. We have one more chance to try and make this tornado happen. And I know that it might be dangerous if you all lose control again. So, it is up to you. Do we pack up and go home? Or do we try again?” “Are you kidding, Rarity!?” yelled one of the pegasus, “Of course we’re going to try again!” “If we’re going down, we’re going down flying!” yelled another. “You’re the best weather captain we could possibly have!” said another pegasus. “We are not going to fail you this time Rarity!” said another one. “YEAH!” yelled Bulk Biceps. “Rarity! Rarity! Rarity! Rarity!” cheered all the pegasi in unison. Rarity could feel tears forming in her eyes, but she kept herself from crying. “Thank you everypony! Now let’s make this happen!” The pegasi cheered. As every pegasus was walking to get into position, Rarity whispered something in Fluttershy’s ear. “Fluttershy, I know that Rainbow Dash is going to be nervous up there. Can I count on you to help her keep calm?” Fluttershy did a small salute, “Aye aye, captain.” then she took to the air. Rarity giggled. Then made another signal at Twilight and Spike. Again Twilight tapped the anemometer, and Spike blew on the big horn. Rarity’s horn glowed again as she started up the tornado. Pretty soon the rest of the pegasi flew inside it, including Rainbow Dash. Twilight looked at the anemometer, “Okay, here we go… 100 wingpower! 200 wingpower! 500 wingpower!” The tornado kept getting bigger and bigger, the water in the reservoir started to churn and raise, little by little. “600 wingpower! 750 wingpower!” yelled Twilight. “Didn’t they fell apart right after this!?” asked Spike. “Yes! The readings are stuck at 790 wingpower! They are so close!” yelled Twilight. “I’m too nervous to look!” yelled Spike. Rarity could see the water trying to funnel trough. Her horn ached like never before in her life, but she bit down and endured it. She had to put more of her magic into it! She had to! Rarity pumped more and more of her magic into the tornado, reaching and then surpassing her limit. It hurt, a lot. Rarity screamed in pain as the ache in her horn went down her spine. But she didn’t stop! Her horn kept glowing! Inside the tornado the pegasi were giving everything they could, all of them were at their limit. Rainbow Dash was going fast but she was too afraid, and too nervous to go any faster than what she was going. Fluttershy looked around, seeing all the ponies around her doing their best, she knew that if the tornado didn’t reach 800 wingpower soon, they were going to collapse, because she was ready to collapse too. Then she saw Rarity screaming in pain outside the tornado, and knew that they needed to do something soon. “Come on everypony!” yelled Fluttershy as she flew in between the different pegasi, “You know what you have to do when life gets you down!?” Fluttershy started to sing, “Just keep flying, just keep flying, just keep flying, flying flying!” Fluttershy kept encouraging everypony, and was again next to Rainbow Dash, “So what are we going to do!? Fly, fly, fly. Just keep flying, just keep flying! Come on, all together now!” “Just keep flying! Just keep flying!” said all the pegasi inside the tornado. “Just keep flying! Just keep flying!” Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash, “Come on Rainbow Dash! I know you’re faster than this!” “But… but I might crash!” said Rainbow Dash. “You wont know unless you try, Rainbow Dash!” encouraged Fluttershy, “Do it for Equestria! Do it for Rarity! But most importantly, do it for yourself!” again Fluttershy flew away from Rainbow Dash and kept everypony encouraged to keep their wings flapping. Rainbow Dash looked around herself, she saw Fluttershy trying her best to keep the morale of everypony up, even if she knew that the yellow pegasus was having the hardest time of everypony else flying as fast as she was. She saw all the pegasi in Ponyville pushing their wings to their limits, doing everything they could and then some to keep the tornado going. And she saw Rarity outside the Tornado, her features twisted in unbearable pain as she pushed the limits of her magic to the max, and kept on going. A look of determination on her face, Rainbow Dash started flapping her wings faster and faster. “Look! It’s moving!” said Twilight, “797… 798… 799… 800 wingpower!” “She did it!” yelled Spike. “They all did it!” yelled Spitfire. Grey Cloud’s jaw dropped. The anemometer started to beep as the tornado reached the 800 wingpower mark. As the tornado reached the 800 wingpower mark, the water in the reservoir suddenly flew up and across the sky, reaching Cloudsdale’s weather factory’s rain water deposit. The tornado dissipated and everypony landed. Rarity collapsed on the ground. Fluttershy, Twilight and Spike rushed towards the white unicorn mare. “Rarity! Are you okay? Say something!” The mare slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the two ponies and one baby dragon looking down at her in worry, “Did… did it work?” she asked. “It worked. You did it Rarity!” said Spike. Rarity got up and looked around, all the pegasi stomped their hooves on the ground in joy as they cheered. Spitfire walked over to Rarity, “Well, Rarity. Your team didn’t set any great records, but they showed a lot of guts. I have to congratulate you on a job well done.” “And me too,” said Gray Cloud as he walked over to Rarity, “I may be an old fashioned pegasus, Miss Rarity, but even I can admit when I was wrong. You are a good weather captain, even if you aren’t a pegasus.” “Thank you.” said Rarity, surprised at Gray Cloud's change in attitude, “I may be a unicorn, but I am also a weather pony. And I’m very proud of being one.” she extended her hoof towards Gray Cloud, “I learned from Equestria’s finest, after all.” Gray Cloud also smiled and shook Rarity’s hoof, “And I’ll make sure to write that down in your next annual report.” then he looked around, “I should also talk with that mare, Rainbow Dash, she sure has improved a lot since I last saw her flying as a filly.” “Hey, where IS Rainbow Dash?” asked Twilight as she looked around. “Over here!” They all turned to where they heard Rainbow Dash’s voice. The cyan pegasus was stuck in a tree trunk, she had crashed and made a hole right through it. “Guess it’s still too early to celebrate my flying skills?” Rainbow Dash started to laugh and was soon joined by everypony else. ======================================= Later, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were writing a letter to Princess Celestia together. “Dear Princess Celestia, it’s a harsh truth to bare, but sometimes little colts and fillies get teased and bullied by their classmates.” said Rainbow Dash as Spike wrote it down. “But the important thing is that you shouldn’t let your past be the reason why you don’t enjoy your present.” said Fluttershy. “And most importantly, never let those memories make you doubt your true worth and skills.” said Rarity. “If you just keep your head high,” said Fluttershy. “Do your best.” said Rarity. “And believe in yourself,” said Rainbow Dash. “Anything is possible.” said the three mares. Spike rolled the scroll and blew fire at it to send it to the Princess. In the distance, Cloudsdale’s raincloud maker section of the weather factory was chugging as the rainclouds were coming out of it.