The Winter Breeze

by Terranaut

Chapter 6: Onyx-One-Seven

"Oh, and thanks for finding my key! I've been looking all over for that stupid thing." Blank and confused expressions ensued.

"Well, I guess I can safely assume I've got a lot of explaining to do," said Direct matter-of-factly.
Twilight attempted to process this new information. "How... how do you know this place?"

Direct smiled. "Know it? This place is my home. That's how I know it."

"You... live here? In this place?!" Twilight attempted to fathom.

Direct looked hurt. He gestured towards a small arrangement in the corner of the room, consisting of a sleeping bag, a lantern, some books, and a cooler. He raised his eyebrows at her so as to be certain she believed him.

"But... but..." Twilight stared back and forth between the sleeping bag and Direct. "I thought you were a traveler who lived in the jungle!"

"Meh... Call it a day job."

"Then... what is this place? Did you build it?" Twilight inquired, trying her best to piece this mystery together.

Direct shook his head. "No, I didn't build it. Come on, listen to yourself. I discovered this place about a year ago, whilst escaping a tragic life and a monster of a rainstorm."

Twilight sat for a moment in thought, before a shrill alarm sounded. One of the screens began pulsating in bright red with a picture of two clouds with lightning coming out of them moving towards one another.

Direct winced. "Ooh, hang on a sec. Gotta re-calibrate the cloud trajectories. Be back in a jiffy!" With that, he zipped over to the control panel and hit a few buttons and switches, while trying to make out the text displayed on a small screen in the corner.

"Agh, why does the stupid system insist on putting all the important info on the tiny little screen in the corner? Aha!" He pressed one last key definitively, and the screens began cycling through a bunch of diagrams with clouds and dotted lines. Eventually, all the screens went sky blue, and the alarm stopped.

"Phew! See? No problem," Direct said, relieved.

Twilight looked a bit frazzled. "What was that?!"

"That, my purple friend, was a misplaced thundercloud."

"Wait, so this station is for observing weather?"

Direct shook his head. "No, it controls the weather."

"What?" Twilight and Rainbow said simultaneously.

"You can't be serious! Everyone knows the Pegasi control the weather! It's common knowledge," Twilight declared.

Direct sighed. "Twilight, I'm going to share with you a secret I've known for a very long time." The two ponies leaned towards Direct in anticipation.

"The Pegasi have been incapable of controlling the weather for many decades. Somewhere along the way, they simply lost the ability."

Rainbow became defensive. "What? No we didn't! We do it every day!"

"No, you don't. You move clouds around and kick them. I do all the special effects," Direct explained.

"Twilight, are you listening to this guy? He's off his rocker!"

"Listen to me, Rainbow Dash. Pegasi can still move clouds. However, without me, you could kick a cloud all day and nothing would happen. This machine makes lightning, thunder, rain, you name it. Whenever a Pegasus kicks a cloud somewhere in Equestria, this machine springs into action and supplies the satisfying bolt of lightning, or that shower of rain; pretty much anything that has to do with weather. It's all just a big act to make you Pegasi think you can still control the weather."

"But... but I don't... You mean..." Rainbow felt belittled.

"You, on the other hand, are special, Rainbow. You have a gift," Direct said, pointing a hoof at her. "For some reason, you can still control weather. You seem to be the last living Pegasus capable of creating weather. That's why Triaxi's troops are giving you such a hard time."

As Rainbow took the information in, Twilight spoke up. "Triaxi? Who is that?"

Direct scoffed in disgust. "Triaxi... He's the head of the WCA. You Pegasi are the actors in his big show and you don't even know it."

Twilight looked flustered at the barrage of new information. Rainbow took this opportunity to speak up. "So wait, what is the 'WCA'?"

"Weather Control Agency. It's a workforce of ponies like me, who man the workstations to keep the weather in check. This here is station Onyx-1-7."

"You mean there are others?" Twilight was baffled that so many of these stations could go unnoticed.

"Yes, hundreds of workstations identical to this one, scattered across the Equestria," Direct said, staring vacantly at the blue screens.

Both ponies spent a moment to take it all in. Twilight noticed she had been subconsciously tossing the vault key around during Direct's story. She stared blankly at the tag attached to it.

"I've been wondering... What does 'DML' actually stand for?"

Direct grinned. "Oh, that? That's my initials! Direct Minute Literal."

"Ohh..." Twilight replied, a little bummed that there wasn't more to that mystery. In any case, at least now she knew. What a strange name, she thought to herself. Her thought, however, was interrupted by another alarm going off. The commotion of flashing lights and bright red screens returned.

"Oh, there it goes again. Again." Direct ran up to the control panel, the others following suit. Direct gave a screen a strange look before saying, "That... That's not a cloud."

Rainbow frowned. "Then what is it...?"

Direct squinted at the small screen in the corner. "It looks like a..." His eyes widened.

"Get down! Brace for impact!" he shouted, flipping levers wildly. He dove on the ground next to Twilight and Rainbow and covered his head.

BOOM

A colossal wave of heat and pressure thundered down the entry shaft. After that, nothing.

Author's Note:

The only reason I'm stopping you from pulling the trigger of the gun pointed at my head is so I can finish the story. I can't apologize enough for that big gap in updates. I mainly attribute it to school nearing its end with exams and all that, but I also have to admit that I temporarily lost interest in writing. Fortunately, I'm back on track and this story should be back in place for due completion. Enjoy!