Filly the Kid was on weather watch again up on Phoenix’s Nest Mesa, waking up early for the funeral, carrying, and burying Crazy Wing had wiped her out. She felt like road apples, yawning and stretching then bouncing a pebble on her hooves to keep her mind off the fact she had 21 hours until Mirage took over for her.
She mechanically scanned the horizon out of habit. Nothing, it had been a long time since they’d had weather of any kind, it was too cold for dust storms now, and she didn’t have to worry about thunderstorms. The only thing that could really ruin Appaloosa would be a bad blizzard and they were too far from any water for that, they had seen snow every once in a while but it never stayed on the ground for more than a couple hours.
In the solitude she continued tossing the pebble and once again tried to remember what her parents were like, but she could remember nothing except incoherent voices and blurry images, she knew it should hurt her that she had lost her parents but it didn’t hurt as bad as the fact she couldn’t remember them except from what other ponies could tell her about them.
After Mr. Trench’s reminiscing it gave her a bitter and hollow sense of nostalgia for a brief past she couldn’t remember. She wondered if her parents would forgive her for missing Crazy Wing more than she missed them, and that made her angrier, why couldn’t she miss her parents?
Still kicking the stone from one hoof to another, stalling it on her wings balancing it on her nose she worked herself into a frenzy adding a few flips into the routine. It was the same situation with her parents as it was with Crazy Wing, her Father had died protecting her from a rampaging Manticore and her Mother had been put in an irreversible coma shielding her. After a month the doctors took her off life support, and Kid had been passed from family to family, none of them truly understood why such a young filly was so angry and reckless.
She hated all Equestria and the life fate had dealt her, in her downward spiral she could do nothing right even if she tried, she always found herself in the middle of any and all trouble. She couldn’t stand disappointing everypony anymore, and even though she hated them for all their annoying placating she realized she couldn’t be a burden to them anymore, she resolved to fly away and not ruin their perfect little lives.
A pegasi like her didn’t deserve to be with a loving family, she still remembered how she snuck out of Saint Hurricane’s Orphanage and Flightschool, she had learned how to fly a week earlier and she had kept it to herself getting into her regular hoof fights to confuse anypony who might notice her practicing her flying.
All of the other pegasi colts and fillies were still grounded, not only physically but mentally, Kid was the only one that seemed to be upset enough to take charge of her life, they were content to throw sand at each other and eat crayons. That was why she hated them, these colts and fillies had parents they could miss and they went on with life as though everything was peaches and cream not understanding why she was so angry because she had no parents to miss.
Nothing ticked Kid off more, she felt the smoldering bitterness return, as she remembered how she had stood on her desk after a particularly vicious round of harassment and proclaimed to her class that she would, “fly over the fence and leave their sorry blank flanks in the dust.” Needless to say she was snatched up by the teacher who thoroughly tanned her hide, which made her all the more bitter.
At least nopony had taken her seriously because the very next day she proved good on her word and “flew over the fence leaving their sorry blank flanks in the dust.” She left during the beginning of recess at a secluded spot in the wall, so nopony knew she had left until she had boarded a carriage bound for anywhere with a hooffull of stolen bits.
Life on the road was harsh but Kid quickly got used to it, every mare and stallion she came across had no idea she was a delinquent orphan living on her own. She even managed to talk her way into small jobs as opposed to her typical pick saddling which always left her feeling guilty no matter how many times she did it and how starving she was at the time she always knew it was wrong.
That was how she met Mirage, she had found herself stuck in Appaloosa and despite all the town raising around her she could find nopony that wanted to hire a two bit filly. Out of desperation she had fished her hoof into a short paint of a pegasi’s saddlebag as he was talking with Sheriff Silver Star about the upcoming weather schedule.
With the sense of a pony who has spent too much time in the wilderness the painted pegasi whirled on her catching her hoof as she attempted to bolt. She bucked at him catching him squarely in the jaw sending him staggering back a couple paces but never letting go of her hoof. “Woah there young buck, you can’t just fly off with my hard earned bits even if you’ve got a buck like a freight train.”
“Buck you, let me go!” Kid shouted squirming in the pegasi’s grip, this was the first time she had slipped up, she had misjudged the unassuming pegasus.
Looking over at Sheriff Silver Star the pegasi said, “Don’t worry sheriff, I’ll take care of this she’s too young to start a criminal record yet.”
Sheriff Silver Star turned and trotted over to his office, “Ah didn’t see uh thang Merahge.”
Dragging Kid through the dust of Mane Street the pegasus flew to his house leaving Kid no choice but to fly alongside or risk a fatal plummet from her struggling.
Once the pegasus had brought Kid inside and let her go she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to bolt with the bits he had still left in her hoof or stay and listen to what he had to say. What was so important that he had to drag her back to his Cloud Plantation to talk to her about? Going over to his ice cloud he asked her, “You look thirsty can I get you some lemonade, iced tea, sarsaparilla?”
“Don’t patronize me old stallion, you can have your bits back if you let me go!”
The pegasus laughed though not the way most other stallions did when Kid mouthed off condescending and shallow, “No no that won’t be necessary, I admire your guts kid what’s your name?”
Up until that point everypony she had known called her Filly the Kid after the notorious bandit of the old west, because her parents had died before she could claim her own name and without a cutie mark the name stuck like a cruel joke.
Standing in the home of this pegasi who seemed genuinely concerned about her not just the shallow pacification everypony else had shown her, it was the first time she felt ashamed of her infamous branding that had kept the nastier ponies away.
Glaring down at her hooves she growled her response, “Filly the Kid.”
The pegasus stared at her like she had seen other colts size her up for a fight, “You fly pretty well for a filly so young, and you’ve got a solid buck. Normally I wouldn’t ask somepony your age but would you be interested in joining my weather team?”
That sparked Kid’s interest, an opportunity like this could turn her life around it almost sounded too good to be true, “What’s the catch and what’s in it for me?”
The pegasus laughed again, “Cheeky little filly, alright here’s the catch, I don’t turn you into Sheriff Silver Star for petty theft and you get one hundred cubic acres of sky all to yourself with a salary of fifty bits a month.”
No doubt this offer was too good for Kid to pass up spitting on her hoof she offered it to her employer, “You got a deal old stallion.”
Spitting on his hoof the pegasus shook her hoof sealing the deal, “The name’s Mirage by the way, Filly the Kid.”
A freezing gust ran up Kid’s spine breaking her out of her contemplation and she shivered then whirled at the sound of hoofsteps behind her. Storm Surge pulled up her goggles and raised her hooves disarmingly, “Woah woah, take it easy.”
Kid didn’t know what to think, on the one hoof she despised the Wonderbolts and all their arrogant, pretentious, well equipped lives of ease. Still she couldn’t deny this was a Wonderbolt, any pegasus colt or filly in Equestria would kill for an opportunity to be with a Wonderbolt, the very air they flew on was sacred.
No the Wonderbolts may have been the top wings back in their hometown of Canterlot but Kid was part of her own team now, she could fly just as well as any of the Wonderbolts even without the prestige. “What can I do for you?” Kid asked as politely as she could.
Storm Surge rolled her eyes and sighed, “Spitfire sent me here to stand weather watch with you as part of this joint training we’re supposed to be doing.”
“Joint training?” Kid asked inquisitively,
“Yeah, Spitfire said something about building cohesiveness with local weather teams for advanced flying techniques or something lame like that. I just want to get out of this dustbowl and back to Canterlot.”
Kid stared back smugly, “Well that makes two of us, I don’t want you here and you don’t want to be here, I think we’ll get along just fine.”
Storm Surge smiled giving Kid a high hoof, “Agreed. So tell me about this weather watch how does a typical watch work out here?”
Kid couldn’t believe she was giving a Wonderbolt lessons on weather watch, a pegasus three years older than her no less. “Well watch usually starts at 6:00 AM and goes until 6:00 AM the next day and we take care of any weather during that time, if we need any help we let Mirage know.”
Storm Surge looked at Kid in shock, “How do you stay awake the whole time?”
“Well if I get really tired I’ll rock out to The Agony Stables, their song Scapegoat always gets me hyped.” Kid replied throwing her hoof in the air and gave a couple head bangs.
A look of disgust crossed Storm Surge’s face, “How can you listen to that noise? You can’t even understand what they’re singing.”
Kid drilled Storm Surge with a glare, “Noise? Wait don’t tell me you listen to that cultured pony music like the Octavia quartet.”
Storm Surge huffed defensively, “What’s wrong with classical? So you listen to music that gets your adrenaline flowing and I listen to music that calms me down.”
“So it sounds like I can’t knock it till I try it. Still… classical sounds to mellow for me.” Kid’s ears twitched involuntarily, what the hay was that? She scanned the horizon looking for the source of the noise that didn’t fit,
Storm Surge hadn’t noticed and was still trying to pique her interest, “You really have to try it…”
“Shush!” Kid cut her off, shoving a hoof in her mouth,
Storm Surge brushed off her flight suit clearly offended, “If you needed me to be quiet you could have just asked.”
Kid looked over with a panicked look in her eyes, “Did you hear that?”
Storm Surge stiffened and tilted her head in the direction Kid indicated, “Now that you mention it that sounds like…”
“Minotaurs?” Kid suggested sharing her worst assumption,
Storm Surge shook her head in disbelief, “Naw, couldn’t be, not this far in buffalo territory. Celestia closed the border after their raids on the Everfree settlements.”
Then they saw them, a heard of fifteen Minotaurs in full armor with spears and axes was all they could spot from their perch. Of course there might have been more, as they watched they saw the Minotaurs stalking Chief Thunderhooves daughter Little Strongheart as she was panning for gold that the pioneer ponies valued more than anything.
It didn’t look good Kid jumped up immediately ready to dive down and knock some heads together, “We’ve got to help her!”
Storm Surge looked nervously from the Minotaurs back to Kid, “Only three of us against fifteen armored Minotaurs? I don’t like those odds.”
Kid was anxious to get going, “We don’t have time to fly for help, we just have to hold out until somepony notices!”
With no time left for argument as the Minotaurs circled Little Strongheart Kid fell from the sky like an anvil, Storm Surge groaned and dove after her. “We are totally going to get trampled into glue.”