//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Like Any Other Day // Story: The Stone of Storms // by Wordy Notes //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash smiled and closed her eyes for a moment as she took in the warm, summer air. Summer was her favorite time of the year. The air was always soothing and fun to fly through, she didn’t have to put on a bunch of extra clothing just to go outside and best of all, it was usually cloudless so she didn’t have to do as much cloud cleaning as she usually did. “Going to go check in, see what’s going on and hopefully find a quiet place to grab some shuteye. This is going to be one sweet day.” She said to herself with a bright grin as she touched down and walked inside Ponyville’s weather management center. As she did, another pegasus stallion with a blue coat and a yellow mane walked over to her. “Hey, Rainbow, glad you made it here. I have an assignment for you.” He said. “Agh, already, Cloudline? I just got here.” Rainbow groaned and rolled her eyes. “Well, then you won’t mind going out again. You see, there’s a small farm on the outskirts of town that trades with Apple Acres and they said something about how they’ve been getting some unusual weather.” Cloudline said, showing her on the map where the farm was at. “Sure it’s not just Derpy’s fault again?” Rainbow asked with an indignant tone. “Well, she’s out sick today either way and it needs to get taken care of, so you’re up.” Cloudline smiled and patted her on the back. “Right….I’m on it.” Rainbow replied as she walked out and flew back into the air, “So much for an easy day.” ***** As Rainbow neared the area where Cloudline had showed her to go, she began to see why the ponies living there might be complaining about the weather. A nasty storm brewing up above the farm…and it was definitely no naturally occurring element as it was obviously very isolated. “Ugh…I swear, if somepony is doing this on purpose…” Rainbow grumbled to herself as she touched down on the farm. As she did, a worker pony ran over to her. “Ma’am, are you from weather management?” She asked, trotting to a stop near the multicolored Pegasus. “I am, yeah,” Rainbow said, not sounding too particularly concerned before turning her attention to the brewing storm, “We don’t have a storm scheduled for today, so I can assure you that you have our deepest apologies for this inconvenience.” She said, reciting standard procedure for weather complaints while at the same time cringing internally at how robotic she must’ve sounded. “Then what’s going on? If there wasn’t one scheduled, what is that up…” Before she could start complaining more, Rainbow looked up then a split-second later tackled her out of the way as a bolt of lightning struck the ground near where the two mares had just been standing. Rainbow whirled around and scanned the skies looking for the direction the bolt had come from. “Get inside, it’s not safe!” She ordered, which the other farm pony quickly did. Rainbow gritted her teeth and glanced across the blackening skies before she finally lost patience, “Hey! Whoever’s out there, the fun’s over! You’re going to hurt somepony if you keep this up, so you’d better come out and stop this!” “HAHAHAHAHAHA!” The sounds of laughter answered Rainbow’s orders, jarring her for a second. All of the sudden, she was greeted by a tornado flowing out from the nearby trees and in the center she noticed a shrouded figure. Rainbow readied herself for a fight as the tornado dissipated, revealing the figure to be a young pegasus with a gray coat and a white mane. However, the most noticeable aspect of his appearance was the outfit he dressed in. It was a black and maroon suit that looked patched together with the letter “S” sewn into the front. Around his eyes was a small black mask that covered them up and it even appeared he had glasses on over his mask. He began approaching Rainbow, threw his head back, and caused two tornados to appear briefly behind him, “So, you must be the weather manager known as Rainbow Dash. A pleasure to meet you, miss. I am known as…the Storm Stallion!” He laughed again and struck a pose as a tornado formed around him again, “So…what do you think? Are you trembling in….” His speech was interrupted when he stopped to notice Rainbow doubled over on the ground laughing hysterically. Storm Stallion’s determined expression disappeared and he simply stared at her, obviously shocked that instead of fearing him, the person he had challenged had the exact opposite reaction. “Oh man! Wow, that’s great, dude! You look like you just got back from a costume party or something, hahaha!” She laughed as she stood back up and shook her head, trying to regain her composure. Storm Stallion sighed and stared at her with a blank expression,”Are you finished yet?” “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” She said, facing him down again, giving off a small snort as she tried to stifle her laughter, “So, I missed it, why are you out here again?” “To show off my abilities!” He said as he extended his wings and floated into the air, using the same tone he had before, “I am the representative of the highest potential of all pegasi!” He threw both his hooves out at his sides, forming tornadoes around both of his legs, “My abilities are unparalleled, no match for the paltry talents that the Weather Patrol shows off! I am the example everypony should follow as they…” He was interrupted yet again as Rainbow charged up toward him and slammed into him, causing him to lose concentration and for the tornado to vanish. “You talk waaaaaaaay too much. Back it up if you’re gonna’ talk tough, pal!” She said, pointing a hoof at him. Storm Stallion growled before he charged straight for Rainbow, spinning around and forming wind around him. Rainbow ducked out of the way and subsequently kept slipping to the left and right, ducking past the various strikes Storm Stallion was leveling at her with his hooves, “That’s what I’m talking about! Good boy!” She chuckled. “Insolent mare!” He snarled as he drew both hooves back, forming lightning around both of them. He threw an electrified strike at her with one hoof, which Rainbow ducked out of the way of in addition to the follow-up attack of a lightning bolt, which she dodged “You’ve got some nifty little powers there!” Rainbow darted behind him and hit him in the back with a double strike from her own hooves, knocking Storm into a tree, “I’ve got to say, I’ve never met a pegasi with your talents before.” “Finally you acknowledge my power!” Storm Stallion shook off his injury and turned back to Rainbow, grinning from ear to ear, only got get knocked back by having a cloud thrown at his face. “You’re still super lame, though!” She laughed, “Now unless you want some more, you’d better take a hike,” She started spinning around and formed a tornado, “…or in this case a flight!” Rainbow tossed the tornado at him, which sucked Storm into it and sent him and the tornado flying off across the land, causing the storm forming above to vanish and the clear day to reappear. Rainbow smiled as she looked up and then yawned before flying back to the farm to let everyone know about what had happened. "Aw yeah...I'm awesome," she said to herself, "Just wooped some crazy stallion's flank." She continued, though she couldn't help but continue to think about his powers. "What I said before was true...I've never seen a pegasus use weather like that before. Hm, maybe Twilight might know more." **** Further away, Storm groaned as he stood up and stumbled out of the thick bushes he had fallen into. His outfit had gotten torn up and it was clear his glasses had gotten broken as well. He gritted his teeth in anger as he walked and slammed his hoof into a tree. “That…that mare! I can’t believe how arrogant she is! She wasn’t even taking that fight seriously; she was just toying with me!” He cursed as he continued walking through the forest in order to get his bearings. “You have great potential, but your skills could stand to be honed better.” A voice came from the trees. Storm jumped slightly as he looked to where the sound had come from only to see a black cloaked figure within the trees, “I can help you with that.” He said. Storm Stallion stared at the figure for a short time before he nodded and smirked. “Tell me what I have to do.” He said simply.