//------------------------------//
// 2: The Wonderbolt's Shadow 
// Story: The Tempest 
// by stormy 
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Stepping back up the path, the princess's pupil could not help but hang her head; it seemed her attempt at a good deed and a proper welcome for the Cloudsdale immigrant was already falling apart. Sure, organization and keeping order was one of her greatest of talents, but with Rarity fixing up an outfit for an individual whose tastes she did not yet know, and someone eccentric like Pinkie planning a party for an introverted stranger, well... what else could do wrong? Twilight could only hope Rainbow's brother would not be utterly overwhelmed by their attempts to welcome him, just as she herself had been at her own arrival. Kicking at the dirt, she grimaced and regretted not listening to Rainbow in the first place.
Before she could inform anyone else and further the inevitable chaos, Twilight started for the little cottage in the forest where she'd known Dash to be headed before the sun had set. Even beneath the veil of the dark, the unicorn watched streaks of rainbow part the clouds over her head time and time again, back and forth between Ponyville and presumably Cloudsdale – but Twilight did not quicken her pace nor alert the pegasus. As she drew closer, the soft, warm glow of the cottage broke through the trees at the edge of the forest; even from a distance, Twilight saw nothing but cardboard boxes and empty floors from within the door left ajar. Surely, this would be the mysterious brother's new adobe, and the unicorn could not stifle the inevitable grin as she passed a number of boxes marked “Books” piled beside the front steps.
Magically clouding the batch of boxes in a soft, purple aura, Twilight lifted the books effortlessly and led them into the door as she trotted in. Dotting eyes of a matching hue about the open room, she found little more than dusty floors and boxes strewn about. Light flickered with the candles of the chandelier above her head, and when no ponies approached, she mustered up the courage to call out. “Hello?” she said, a smile dancing at her lips as she stepped delicately across the wooden floor, eyeing the staircase that ascended into darkness. “Is anyone home? My name is Twilight; I heard you were moving in tonight, so I came to introduce myself...!”
Save a creak of the board beneath her hoof, the pony was met with no response. “Must not be back from Cloudsdale yet,” she muttered to herself, shrugging as she turned back to the door. Setting the boxes of books down on the floor, her eyes dwelt on them a long moment – then, grinning, she trotted closer. Surely Rainbow's brother would not mind if she just took a peek at his collection, right? Maybe he had something she didn't – maybe he'd even let her borrow something!
Squealing a little to herself, Twilight did not hesitate to delicately pull away the tape with her magic, then pry the box's flaps apart. Pulling out book after book, she glanced over each one – Equestrian Maps and Atlases, The Wonderbolts: The Early Years, even the full Daring-Do series... in hardcover! Twilight recognized most of them as pieces of her own library, but that didn't worry her – he seemed to have similar tastes in books as both his sister and herself, and dreamily the unicorn envisioned the three discussing such fine literature over green mint tea...
What felt like a beak pecked at her head, breaking her daydream; reflexively Twilight backed up and shook it off, her magic cut by the distraction and she promptly dropped Daring-Do and the Mountain Mask to the floor in a loud clop. A small cardinal fluttered past her eyes, grabbing the box's edge in its talons before cawing quite angrily, flailing its wings and clawing at the cardboard.
“Oh,” she gasped, trying to ignore the sharp pain it had inflicted near her horn, “oh, please, calm down! I-I didn't mean to intrude, I just came to meet the stallion that was moving in here, and...”
“Cinder?” The voice behind her nearly drove her into the ceiling; Twilight spun on her heels in alarm, ears erect and tail held high. In the doorway a pegasus hovered – not Rainbow Dash, but a male of a much deeper blue. As he lowered to the ground, his light, mint-green eyes gaped back at her as she did he, and with the utmost delicacy he set the box in his hooves on the floor and landed beside it. Sinking back into his shoulders, he lowered his head and looked humbly between she and the floor, mouth agape yet seemingly unable to form a single word.
She smiled – not because the display was amusing, but because it so terribly resembled her first meeting with Fluttershy. Fortunately, that meeting had trained her well with such a predicament. “Hello,” she said, straightening herself up and nodding her head respectfully, “my name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm sorry I intruded on your house, but I wanted to be the first one to welcome you to Ponyville. I moved here myself just a few years ago.”
Instead of the stallion responding, the cardinal cawed in her ear.
Like Fluttershy, he maintained a distinct air of uneasiness; unlike Fluttershy, however, he seemed less afraid and more... well, modest. In fact, he stretched his neck so low that she suddenly realized how the princess felt every time she met with bowing subjects. Twilight would not lose hope just yet, though: Fluttershy had started chatting away the moment Spike arrived and she was able to talk about her passion – undoubtedly, Rainbow Dash's brother would react similarly.
“I noticed you have a lot of books,” Twilight attempted next, sidestepping around the box she had opened. A light blush heated her cheeks. “I was curious as to what your tastes were, so I looked in... I hope you don't mind.”
No answer. He did, however, quietly begin pushing the box he had brought in across the floor with his nose, though his eyes did not leave her as he moved.
“I-I noticed you had the whole Daring-Do collection,” she grinned. “I'm a big fan, myself. Your sister borrowed the whole collection from me – you are Rainbow Dash's brother, right?”
He seemed to motion to the bird beside her, and without a beat the cardinal fluttered over to him, beginning to peck at the packing tape that sealed the box shut. “Yeah,” he muttered, standing idly by as he waited for the bird to finish.
“Rainbow's one of my best friends,” Twilight beamed, stepping closer. He noticed, but did not move. “She's always reminded me a lot of Daring-Do. Really fortuitous and always looking for a challenge, you know? Oh, I mean, of course you know, you're her brother...” She giggled.
He did not. Instead, he looked at the floor. “Yeah.”
It was then that Twilight decided her strategy was not quite working, and with a deep breath she  squared her shoulders once more and trotted closer, extending a hoof. Clearly, she would need to just be herself. “I think I already introduced myself, but... just in case, I'm Twilight. It's nice to meet you.”
The deep blue stallion perked his ears and straightened up, staring at the hoof a moment before flattening his ears. “Stormdrift,” he said finally, tapping a hoof against hers and attempting a quick, shy smile. Their eyes connected only a few brief seconds before his averted and he backed away, immediately busying himself with directing the cardinal elsewhere to peck open a different box.
For a long moment Twilight watched him, the tenseness in the silence thickening, and she  internally sighed in relief when the tomboyish voice of Rainbow Dash filled the room. “Okay, Storm, here's the last box. I'll head back and— ...Twilight? What are you doing here?”
The unicorn spun on her hooves, knowing how goofy the grin on her face was yet finding it completely impossible to fix. “Rainbow! Hey! I was just introducing myself to your brother! Did you, uh, did you know he reads Daring-Do, too?”
“Yeah,” she scowled, “I know.”
Twilight stretched her grin perhaps a little too far. “The night's still young, Rainbow Dash. Since you're done moving Stormdrift in, why don't we go swing by the party at Sweet Apple Acres? It should only be getting started, and you both must be hungry...”
The brother and sister exchanged glances, and Stormdrift dipped his head.
“I don't think so,” Dash replied, pushing the box into the center of the room. “Besides, we still have a lot of unpacking to do. Maybe another time.”
Trotting a little closer to her friend, the unicorn adopted a mischievous smirk. “But you promised Pinkie, Dash. She was expecting you. It would be pretty disloyal not to go now, don't you think?”
Rainbow glared, evidence that she knew of Twilight's little plot, but with her brother now looking on – and with him knowing the Element of Harmony she supposedly possessed, as well as her popularity as a Wonderbolt in Ponyville, it would be more than embarrassing for her to go back on a promise and leave that as her first impression on him as to how she and Ponyville residents got along. She winkled her nose and stomped her hooves a moment, but threw her head back and groaned. “Okay, fine, we'll go to the stupid party!” Her wings extending and lifting her from the floorboards, the pegasus swept out the door with one last call: “Come on, Stormdrift, hurry up!”
Her brother, startled, hesitated a moment before trotting with a dipped head after her, picking up off the ground only at the door. Twilight raced to follow, but it was no use – Rainbow had zipped off into the night, her brother presumably in tow. Sighing, the unicorn glanced at the cardinal left behind, doused the candles with her magic, and shut the door behind her.
Troubled thoughts and images clouded her vision as she walked, her pace leisurely though the pair of pegasi had surely already arrived. Sure, Stormdrift was plenty quiet and clearly shy, but why would Rainbow so vehemently refuse to expose him to the public? Did she worry so badly for her reputation in Ponyville? What her brother was like would never affect how her friends viewed her, and Twilight could think of nothing he could possibly do that would ever bring Fleetfoot to consider booting her from the Wonderbolts. Soarin' certainly wouldn't think any differently of her, though the unicorn thought it unlikely that he and Stormdrift, let alone the rest of Rainbow's family, had never met. What was it that so possessed her to be, put frankly, not the loyal pony Twilight and her friends knew her so well to be?
Granted, Dash was more impulsive and arrogant than most, and she and her brother just seemed so... opposite. Twilight knew Rainbow Dash to be brash, courageous and occasionally a little lazy – but her brother seemed so reserved, shy and soft-spoken. Their genders, their colors... everything was different. His coat was a much deeper, evening hue of blue, and his silver-white mane and tail cropped short. His appearance lacked the vivacity and showiness of his sister, just as the dark rings beneath his eyes exposed a sullenness her bright, attentive eyes did not. The two reminded Twilight of Big Macintosh and Applejack, a brother-sister pair who acted and looked opposite – yet, like the rest of the Apple family, were “tighter than all the trees in the orchard,” as she knew Applejack might put it.
Perhaps I'll write to the princess about it, Twilight nodded. Maybe she'll have some advice on how to approach this... or she'll just be vague, like usual.
...Yes, writing to the princess would not be of much help.
Twilight was surprised to hear Rainbow's voice outside the barn as she arrived some time later. Stepping down the path once more, the unicorn saw the two blue pegasi at the side of the barn – Dash's head held high, while Storm's held low – as she seemed to be lecturing him on something, her voice barely audible over the beat of the music within the closed-door barn. Had they not even gone inside yet?
“...and don't stare at the floor the whole time, either,” the multicolor-maned pony was saying. “You're not gonna make any friends if you can't even look at them. Just stay out of the way, and if anyone talks to you, just tell them what I told you, got it?”
The unicorn furrowed her brows. “Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?!”
“Nothing!” she snapped back, abruptly moving to the barn, throwing the doors open, and trotting in. Her brother followed, his head held low, but he hesitated in the glow of the doorway.
Smiling sadly, Twilight joined him. “It's okay,” she said, nudging him encouragingly with her shoulder. “Just be yourself. Everyone will love you.”
Stormdrift glanced his gentle eyes back at her, nodding sheepishly. He moved to respond, but anything he said was easily drowned out by the excited drawling of Rarity, who trotted to them with a beaming grin and a sweater over her back – the exact mint-green shade of the stallion's eyes.
“There he is!” Rarity said, batting her eyes. “Stormdrift, right? Rainbow was just telling me about you. Here, I whipped this little thing up for you in my boutique – it's nothing, really – consider it my way of welcoming you to our little Ponyville, won't you?”
The sweater lifted from her back amidst a cloud of baby-blue magic, and the curly-haired mare pulled it up and over the stallion's head without budging. Once securely on his person, Rarity squealed, her eyes glittering: “Oh, it's perfect! Why, you look simply dazzling, if I might say so myself! It could use a little extra threading here and here... Well, anyway, I'm surprised Rainbow never told us she had such a dashing little brother!”
Ducking his head, Stormdrift attempted a smile, but it warped and wavered beneath his anxiety. Twilight noted the color in his cheeks and promptly cleared her throat. “Well! Now that he's here, we should probably introduce him to everyone else, don't you think? Seeing as Rainbow isn't going to...” Shaking her head, the unicorn eyed the light blue pegasus across the room; Dash seemed to be ignoring their presence as much as she were able, but even from afar Twilight could see the Wonderbolt forcing toothy grins and flicking nervous eyes to her brother time and time again. Perhaps it was because she was born an only child to very doting parents, but Twilight could simply not see the logic in it all.
One by one, beneath the banner that so extravagantly declared “Welcome!” and amongst the multitude of colorful balloons that dotted the barn, Stormdrift offered a weak smile and a murmur or two to those that approached. He found no offense among them: Lyra and Bon Bon wished to hear stories of Cloudsdale; Fluttershy suggested bringing Cinder to meet the birds near her home; the gentle Roseluck tucked a flower behind his ear; and Applejack nearly shoved an apple tart down his throat despite protests, making it fairly difficult to pretend he wasn't completely allergic. So many faces, so many names – he was quickly and easily overwhelmed, and when his many new “friends” found momentary distractions, Stormdrift backed away quickly to the darkest corner he could find, then crept his way along the walls and back out the door.
Grimacing, the stallion swept into the darkness and away from the door; he collapsed against one of the apple trees at the edge of the orchard, the base of the music still pounding against his ears and his stomach still nauseous from the sugar in the tart. Such festivities like these – he had hardly experienced things like it. No, the closest to a party he had ever attended was the one thrown in Cloudsdale for the new Wonderbolt recruits, when his sister had been initiated... Even then, he had hid in the corner and stared at the clock.
Mother had always done well to thrown a small something-something together for his birthday each year, but there had never been any guests. Shutting his eyes, the pegasus sank slowly to the ground, his wings sprawling as the cool earth soothed the shooting pain in his head: He hated to think of those birthday parties. He hated to see their Mother try so hard, year after year, to convince his siblings to come home, just for one night. Just one night – yet every year only been he and his mother gathered around the cake. The candles glowed such a sad light when his birthday came, like withering coals in the hearth rather than the beacons he wish they'd be, guiding his sisters home like a lighthouse on the sea.
Somewhere within that barn, someone was wondering where he went. Someone wondered why he seemed so sad, or why his sister had all but made simple conversation with him. The stallion rubbed his nose in the dirt, then cloaked his eyes with his hooves. “I'm an embarrassment,” he whispered to himself, relishing the empty, black sanctuary behind his eyelids. “This is a disaster.”
At his ear – flat against the cold earth – crunched the reddest of autumn leaves, and in that moment the stallion knew he was no longer alone. Rolling his head back, his dark-ringed green eyes gazed up into a set of brilliant blue ones, a color so vivid he imagined a world of oceans within. Attached was an augmenting, sugar-sweet smile, and a voice so high-pitched it stabbed at his headache like a dagger through the skull: “What's a disaster?”
“Oh, um,” he stammered, rolling quickly back onto his stomach and flattening his ears. “N-Nothing. I-I didn't know anyone was there.”
She blinked, pulling her head back up. “Hey, I don't know you. Who are you?” A sudden gasp. “Are you Rainbow's brother?!”
He moved to reply, but any words he might have said only emerged as a mumble; the pony had taken to bouncing in circles around him, a sunny smile dancing about her features despite Luna's moon hanging high over their heads. “I made this party just for you,” she exclaimed, her cotton-candy curls twirling and wagging as she launched up and down and into a tangent. “Well, not just for you, really, but kinda for you, you know? My good friend Twilight – Oh! Have you met Twilight?! – she said you were moving to town, and that of course means we have to throw a party, because who doesn't want a party on their first night in Ponyville?!”
He considered making argument to her logic, but the opportunity vanished the moment she took her next breath.
“Anyway, hi!” she beamed, tipping onto the edges of her hooves as she drew close enough to nearly poked her nose against his. Had she no understanding of personal space?! “I'm Pinkie Pie! Who're you?”
...The break in her incessant chatting hinted that it was his time to speak, but when he opened his mouth, on she went.
“Hey, why are you out here, anyway? The party's inside, silly!” And on and on she went, her words so quick and spirited that they jumbled together worse than that hailstorm in Cloudsdale last year. Oh... wait. That was my fault... “It's not over for a couple more hours, you know. Oh, did you try one of Applejack's tarts? I heard they were really good. This is Sweet Apple Acres, you know, and oh! Are you a Wonderbolt, too? I can't really tell them apart when they have their uniforms on – except for Dashie, of course, because she's so super-duper colorful. Oh, hey, what were we talking about again?”
Stormdrift knew better than to interject. Heaven forbid.
“Right! The party!” Pinkie nodded approvingly, then zipped to his side and forced him onto his feet. “You don't want to miss a Pinkie party, trust me!”
Stumbling, he backed out of her reach and into the trunk of the apple tree, promptly releasing a few of the fruit to the grass. “N-No,” Storm said, “I-I shouldn't go back in. I should go home.”
“What?” All joy seeped from her exuberant eyes, and the male's heart lurched that he would sap her energy just like that. “Don't you like parties?”
In the face of such disappointment, the stallion found no words. She did not yet even know his name, yet Stormdrift had ruined her impression of him just like that. He had known since the moment Cloudsdale requested his leave that Ponyville would be no different for him – he would never appeal to its folk, just as he had never fit in with the pegasi of his home. Sinking into his shoulders, the stallion glanced every which way, his ears flattened tight and heart pounding – no, not another panic attack – and without prompt nor words, his wings spread, and he was gone.