“So, you’re the new head mare, huh?”
The grey pegasus called CloudKicker eyed me over, surveying my entire body. We stood outside a small building on the edge of town, with a banner above the doorframe that read, “PoW.” I watched her expectantly as she walked around my body, inspecting every inch of me, taking note of my broken wing and my bandaged head. She gave a sort of smile that was somewhere between mischievousness and malice. In some respects I didn’t really blame her because, for reasons still unknown, I was taking her job.
“Well, you’ve got your work cut out for you, Mrs. Dash. Working weather is no easy job, and the entire town is relying on you to make sure the pond is full, and the air is the right humidity, all those little things that make life possible in the quaint town of Ponyville.” I didn’t like the tone she was using with me.
“Are you saying I can’t handle it?” I said in a harsher tone than I expected. She scoffed. I didn’t know where that came from, but some sort of instinct told me to fight back.
Remember Rainbow, you have to always stick up for yourself.
“Oh, no. I have all the faith in the world for a cripple to lead to an entire weather grid and a team of six pegasi to make sure that everything stays in top running condition. I honestly don’t get it, the ponies up at the Storm Scout base have gone completely insane.”
“Why is that, Huh? I’m sure they had their reasons!” I growled. I didn’t know why they put me in this position, but they had to know what they were doing, considering these ponies supposedly ran the weather all over Equestria.
She walked through the doorway and motioned for me to follow with a swish of her tail.
“Regardless, I hope you heal before the end of the week, ‘cause the Storm Scouts are coming around bright and early this Saturday for a status report. It doesn’t really make any sense, why are they all of the sudden so interested in each individual sectors progress that they are going to start checking on us every single month?” I shrugged, guessing that all these questions were rhetorical. Maybe she thought I knew more than she did, but I chose to keep silent. I was just glad she wasn’t taking stabs at me anymore.
“Something strange is going on, and the white saddle ponies in Canterlot are trying to hide it from us. Not only that, but apparently the old leader of the Storm Scouts has stepped down, and now leads the logistics sector of the administration. Whoever is meeting us this week, it’s going to be a new face. I heard that he has made quite a name for himself though, so it’ll probably some uptight stallion that is no fun and will criticize the hell out of us.
She led me through the small waiting room towards a staircase at the end of a long hallway. It spiraled upward to a door. We made our way into the office, and directed me very reluctantly to the desk.
“This is your office, as the head mare of the PoW, you will most likely be spending most of your time anywhere else but here, but enjoy it while it lasts. You will start your training tomorrow, and since you can’t fly, it will mostly involve you running errands around town. Once you can actually flutter around, you will start your real training.”
I took a seat behind the desk, and observed the small dark room. There was a bookshelf on the right side, and a little window with blinds, blocking all but a small amount of sun from leaking through. It felt unnatural, it made me want to run away. I sincerely hoped that I really didn’t have to spend any time here. Sleeping on a cloud in the sun sounded really appealing all of the sudden.
Cloudkicker, who was also looking around the room, turned straight towards me in an abrupt manner. She thrust a hoof at my chest.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t think this is some sort of coincidence. Whatever it is your hiding, I will find out. There’s no way the Storm Scouts get a new leader, and suddenly I’m forced out of my job by… well, by you. I’m watching you, Dash.” She gave a dramatic flair of her eyes and walked out the door backwards, tripping on the first step outside the doorway. She quickly stood up, looking flustered, and continued her backwards descent down the spiral stairwell.
I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically at her display. How could a pony be so paranoid? Still, I had to wonder if maybe there was some sort of conspiracy going on.
As the darkness of the room and the uneasy quiet started to sink in, I decided it would be best if I went out for a walk.
I decided to make my way back to Applejack’s farm, and see if she wanted to grab some lunch with me. I walked slowly, taking my time to look around the town a little bit. I breathed in deeply the smell of roses as I walked by as small flower shop. An orange mare who stood watering the plants out front gave me a generous smile and a wave as I passed by. Several other ponies gave me greetings as I passed from shop to shop. Despite the despair of not being able to fly, I still felt comfortable on the ground, where all these ponies seemed so much nicer to each other. Funny how somehow I knew that this wasn’t how it was in other places, despite my inability to remember anywhere else. It just felt right.
This town had become my home since my accident, and I felt somehow like this was where I meant to be. Ponies here didn’t have anything negative to say to one another, they didn’t have any need. Everypony seemed to know each other, and greeted each other warmly on the streets. I felt at ease, rested and happy in the small town of Ponyville.
I came up upon Applejack’s farm, and spotted her emerging from the orchard to the right of the red building. She came up to me, her coat damp with sweat. She was panting slightly, but greeted me just the same.
“Well, howdy Rainbow!”
“Hey Applejack, what’s up?”
“I’m a mite tired, why don’t ya come inside?”
I stepped inside the homely farm house, following closely behind my friend. She sat me down at the end of the table and walked into the kitchen. Applejack returned moments later with two tall glasses of frothy amber liquid. She scooted one of them towards me.
“Try it, Ah think you’ll like that. That there is the Apple Family’s famous apple cider!”
She looked awfully proud of this, so I decided it had to be something worthwhile. I took a sip, and I swear I almost fell into a coma. It was the most fantastic tasting drink in the world.
“This is… Awesome.” I said, between gasps of breath. She smirked smugly.
“Nopony has ever spit up the Apple Family Cider! Ah’ve got barrels of this stuff in the cellar. We just got the news today that Ponyville was gonna be the sight of this year’s Summer Sun Celebration! Not that you would know, with yer amnesia and all, but that’s one of the biggest events of the year, and Celestia decided to have the celebration here, in our quaint little town! And she wants our apples to cater the whole thing! C’n ya believe it?” she was beaming with excitement.
“That’s great Applejack!” I said, trying to hide my confusion. We both drank silently for a moment. After taking a particularly big gulp, Applejack cleared her throat and began to speak.
“Speakin’ of which, yer gonna have yer work cut out for ya, too. How’s the job been comin’?”
“It hasn’t. I’m pretty much stuck doing lame jobs until my wing gets fixed.” I said, nonchalantly sipping on the amber gold.
“Oh, that reminds me! Ah think you’ll be set to take off that cast at the end of next week. Perfect timin’, that would give you just about three weeks to prepare fer the ceremony!” I perked up drastically at that news.
“Really!? That’s great, I can’t wait to remember what it feels like to fly again!” I stood from the table, and took a huge swig of my drink.
Interlude
This news started the beginning of the greatest time of my life. The Summer Sun Celebration effectively changed my life forever. It was the day that I became the Element of Loyalty, and finally learned who my true friends were.
But it was the day three weeks prior that changed me into the pony I am today. I might have gone on for the rest of my days, not remembering anything from my past, were it not for one face. One moment.
The moment that made me wish I could forget everything.
I had spent a small portion of my time at work learning how to be the leader of a pegasus weather team, and the majority of my time learning how to order coffee at the local shop. Cloudkicker kept giving me really menial tasks, saying that they helped me learn discipline or something like that. In truth, I was getting tired of her attitude. All the other ponies on the team had gotten to know me quite well, and even accepted me as their leader, albeit a temporarily disabled one. I didn’t know the first thing about being in charge of a group of ponies, and I blamed that mostly on not knowing much about anything at all. One particular weather pony, Blossomforth, even went as far as to thank me for kicking Cloudkicker off her high horse, and then proceeded to call her a name that I wouldn’t repeat.
She was ridiculous, and overdramatic. It was really kind of hilarious. She kept passing me by giving me dirty looks and making a big show of displaying the fact that she was indeed, “Keeping her eye on me.” I played along, occasionally acting like I was doing something suspicious every time she came around my office, or whenever we were on the field. I even got Blossomforth in on it, and whenever Cloudkicker would come by, I would whisper something into Blossomforth’s ear, and then look around like nothing had happened.
I was still staying in Applejack’s house, sleeping on the couch, so that Applejack can actually enjoy a bed after taking care of me for so long. Fluttershy would come around often, and would tell me stories of our foalhood in the city of Cloudsdale. She remembered a story that I once told her about a filly that got her cutie mark by seeing a beautiful rainbow, and I thought it was really sweet.
Applejack said that it was only a matter of days until my wing would be fully healed. She said my body was almost to full recovery, but she couldn’t say the same about my brain.
It was hard, not knowing where I came from, or anypony from my past. I spent several nights trying in vain to remember a sliver of my life, and usually just ended up in tears of frustration and fear. I didn’t let it get to me during the day, but at the nights when my mind would wonder, I would find myself plagued with nagging feelings of dread and guilt, connected to no images or sounds. It felt like it had happened to me before, like this happened often, but I couldn’t remember why.
The day of the “monthly weather report” was upon us. It was bright and early in the morning, only a few moments before the sun rose above the horizon. I didn’t like having to wake up so early in the morning, and I deduced that I was never really a morning pony. In fact, I learned that I really enjoyed sleep, as that was often what I did during my free time.
My team stood behind me, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the most powerful weather team in Equestria. The team had taken care of the weather while their new leader was incapacitated, and had full confidence that we would pass with flying colors. Cloudkicker was convinced they were coming for some other reason.
She stood by my side, looking east at the rising sun. I yawned loudly, wishing I didn’t have huge bags under my eyes. I rubbed a hoof in each of my sockets, trying to dislodge the sleepiness from my brain.
“They call him the Wayward Scout.”
She stared out into the distance, not turning to look at me. I wasn’t even entirely sure she had actually said anything.
“Huh?” I asked.
“Sound familiar to you?”
It didn’t ring any bells. Nope, nothing relevant to my past.
She looked at me like she wasn’t convinced. What did she think was gonna happen? I noticed her mane getting progressively frizzier throughout the week, and she developed a kind of twitch. She was a pony with a problem.
“So when are they supposed to get here? I don’t want to have to wake up this early if they’re gonna show up an hour late anyway.” I questioned.
“They should be here any minute. Sunrise was when they said they would be here.”
Just as she said that, a single dark grey pony swooped down from an unbelievably high altitude, landing directly in front of me. He stood to a formal position, and nodded his head at me. He was wearing gunmetal barding that covered the entire front half of his torso. On his right foreleg was some sort of device for measuring weather.
“Greetings. Officer Smokeshade. My apologies, my team will be a little late. They got caught up taking care of a mess that somepony failed to do. They sent me ahead to relay the message of their tardiness.”
I groaned impulsively, not trying to be rude, but accidentally doing it anyway. He stood there quietly.
We waited for several more minutes. I was on the verge of passing out where I stood. Smokeshade was making conversation with Cloudkicker, who was undoubtedly badgering him about what exactly their plan was. He looked vaguely annoyed. The rest of the team was waiting patiently, but they soon became restless, shifting their weight from foot to foot. I hope this meeting will clear up why exactly I was chosen to be a leader, because so far I wasn’t very good at it.
Ah shadow covered the rising sun for a brief moment. Smokeshade perked up, and gazed to the east.
“Miss Dash, I would like to introduce to you the Storm Scouts.” Five pegasi flew in perfect unison toward us, their wings flapping in time with each other. The landed directly in front of my weather team with a loud whooping sound created by ten wings stopping the fall of five ponies right before touchdown.
The pony at the front of the group was wearing a visor, covering his eyes. His bright red coat was glowing in the rising sun. He took a step forward just as a breeze rustled his short cropped dark gray mane.
"Greetings. Wayward Scout, leader of the Storm Scouts. We..." he stopped mid sentence, and his bottom jaw became unhinged. “Rainbow?” That voice…
The pony took off his visor, and I found myself staring directly into his eyes. Words cannot describe the rush of pain that filled my skull.
I cried out in pure agony, and collapsed to the ground. My head swam with flashes of images as my brain suddenly collided with a brick wall.
I saw a filly, not wanting to go to bed because there was lightning outside. Her mother was telling her a story to tell her that everything would be okay. I saw that same filly, a little older, holding onto her dearest friend while their father stood above them, telling them that they had to stay strong. I saw a scared filly being dumped in a place she had never seen before, the only thing protecting her from torment, her brother, her friend, her protector. I saw that thing getting taken away from her, leaving her alone and scared. I saw her lose her friend, on a day that would otherwise have been celebratory. I saw the filly, now an adolescent, run away from home, and end up suffering a terrible accident. Those feelings of grief and agony suddenly came with pictures, dreams, nightmares. I saw a Storm, and I felt the thunder.
“A-Aero?” He rushed towards me. He hugged me tight, even as I started slipping out of his grasp.
“Rainbow, everything is going to be okay.” He said quietly, straining his voice.
Everything is going to be okay.
He sat by my side. I was in the hospital this time, not under the care of my friend, but in the hands of real doctors, who quite frankly I didn’t trust to take care of me as much as Applejack. Aero sat silently, trying so hard to say something, but failing. I know now why he came; I know now why Valiantwing did what he did. He wanted to give me no choice but to come home with Aero. My brain throbbed frantically, scattering my thoughts. Relearning your entire life in a matter of seconds can really do a lot to crush your spirits.
Valiantwing knew from the letter that I couldn’t remember who I was. He used that to put me into a position where I wouldn’t see this coming, and so Aero could reach me easily. He was so desperate to have me safe. He used me.
Aero looked at his hooves, shaking his head.
“Rainbow, I didn’t…”
“So this is what he wanted. He wanted force responsibility on me whether I liked it or not. He wanted me to learn what it is to have ‘real goals.’ Then he was gonna send his son to pick me up, and take his precious little mature daughter home, where they can live happy ever after and I have to go back to that horrible school.”
“Rainbow, please stop…”
“I’m not coming home Aero. I thought I made a mistake the instant I left Canterlot, but the truth was, I never belonged there. The ponies here, they treat me like an actual pony, they treat me like everypony else, they treat me like a friend. Coming back would only mean going back to the hatred of everypony in Cloudsdale, to a job in weather for the rest of my life, while Valiantwing pats me on the back and tells me I’m living the dream. But it’s not my dream.”
“Rainbow, I didn’t know, okay! He told me that it was new protocol for the Scouts to do a monthly check up on all the weather teams. I thought he was giving me something to do to keep my mind off you. I thought about you every day, I was worried sick to my stomach. I couldn’t even think about what might have happened, the thought of something horrible happening to you was too much for me to bear.” He was choking and sputtering on his words.
“My mother, she would have wanted me to do everything I can to chase my dreams. I think losing her did something to Valiantwing. He has become overprotective. He wants what he thinks is best for me, and doesn’t realize that sometimes it’s what we truly want with our hearts that is best for us. I ran away because I knew that I could achieve my dream, and Valiantwing wouldn’t let me do that.”
“…Rainbow, please. I know you can do it, I believe in you, I always have. But, I need you to come home.”
“No! I know what I want to do, and I can’t live with that stallion anymore. Go home and tell him that his little plan didn’t work.” He closed his eyes shut. His breathing was ragged, like he had a deep cut in his chest. I was sour, I was violated, I was done. I never wanted to see my father again.
“I l-loved you! I want nothing more than to see you be happy, but I want to be there for you always. You were my life; you saved me from a life on the streets, or in an orphanage.” He stood to his hooves. “I tried to give you everything I could, to repay you, but I guess that wasn’t enough. You never loved me.”
He walked to the door. Just before he made it to the threshold, he stopped and turned to look at me one more time.
“I’ll see you in a month, Miss Dash.”
I didn’t want to see Aero go. He was my best friend. But he sided with my father, and my father wanted for me a life of failure. I cried tears, not tears of sadness, but of relief. I had inside me the only family member I would ever need, the one who loved me the most. I closed my eyes, trying to return my amnesia, my desire to forget.
I was happier, in some ways. Those past few weeks had given me solace from real pain, and had left me only frustration, something that was much easier to cope with then the pain that was my life. I wanted to erase Valiantwing from my mind forever. The Storm was my life, and I finally saw the end, the Rainbow that was Ponyville.
It was the Eye of the Storm.