//------------------------------//
// The Test Begins 
// Story: Changeling No More 
// by Breaking News 
//------------------------------//

It was another night and it resulted in another bad cerebral visit from Drone 9417. Cloud Breaker woke up before his alarm at 6:15 a.m. He just lay awake in his fold-out couch bed for a few minutes thinking about all that would be on the line today. 

If he succeeded he’d have the weather job he’d been working toward.  If he failed it was back to the drawing board. He had no idea what Rainbow Dash would pull out for challenges during this test and it worried him. 

As the minutes passed it became more of a certainty he was not going to fall back asleep. Well if he couldn’t rest maybe there was something else he could do, before his test at the weather office there was somewhere else he wanted to visit. He rose out of bed, shook his wings to wake them up and set about getting ready over the next few minutes.

He grabbed the little apple tree seedling he bought the day before, trotted out the door, and took to the skies.

---------

The ticking grandfather clock in the Apple Family’s living room read 6:45 a.m. as Applejack walked in carrying a basket full of fresh eggs from the hen house with her mouth. The orange earth pony placed the eggs down then finally yawned, she’d already been up almost two hours doing her chores and hadn’t even gotten Apple Bloom up yet. It had been an odd night. Rainbow Dash came by late running off at the mouth about a changeling that wasn’t a changeling and some other nonsense.

Her brother Big Macintosh sat at the table after having already started some of the repairs he had planned for the day.

“You get the harness repaired on the plow?” Applejack asked.

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh replied.

For the moment the older Apple siblings could turn their attention from the daily chores to the much simpler task of making breakfast. 

“You up for an omelet this mornin’ Big Mac?” Applejack asked. “I got fresh eggs.” 

The red stallion thought for a second then responded.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac replied.

Applejack opened up the family’s cabinet and removed an onion and a few bell peppers. She reached into a drawer and removed a knife with her mouth then followed with a cutting board.  With a few precision neck movements the ingredients were diced and the knife made its way into the sink for washing later. AJ turned on the stove and continued some mild conservation with her brother.

“Did I tell you Apple Fritter found herself a stallion at the royal wedding?” Applejack said.

“Nope,” Big Mac responded.

“Cousin A.F. came to help me with the refreshments and hooked up with one of Shining Armor’s groomscolts,” Applejack said. “Earth pony name of Meadow Song I think. They’ve gone off to Los Pegasus on a whirlwind romance. I hear it almost never rains out there.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac replied.

As A.J. started cracking eggs an unexpected knock came from the farmhouse’s front door.

“You expecting anyone this time of day?” Applejack asked.

“Nope,” Big Mac replied.

“Could you get that while I cook?” Applejack asked.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac replied.

The red stallion got up and trotted over to the door. With a click of the pull-down handle he opened it revealing the odd sight of a green pegasus stallion standing on the porch holding a small apple tree seedling in his hooves. 

“Good morning I’m Cloud Breaker,” Cloud said. “The tree is for your family. May I come in briefly?”
Big Mac thought for a moment.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac responded.

“Thank you,” Cloud said as he walked in.

The two stallions made their way back to the kitchen as A.J. prepared the omelets. Big Mac spoke up to get her attention.

“Ah, A.J.,” Big Mac said.

“What is it Big Mac?” Applejack asked as she looked up, spying the second stallion and his tree. “Who’s that?”

“Um, hi Applejack,” Cloud said nervously. “I’m Cloud Breaker. I, uh, sort of used to be a…”

“Let me guess,” Applejack said. “You’re that ‘not a changeling’ fellow R.D. was over here ranting about last night aren’t you?”

“Ah, yeah I am,” Cloud responded, actually sort of glad he didn’t have to explain the last few days again.

“So what brings you here pardner?” Applejack asked. “And why are you carrying a seedling?”

“Well I was part of the changeling attack on Canterlot,” Cloud said. “During that fight you and your friends got into trying to get your Elements of Harmony I hit you.”

“Were you part of that dog pile of changelings done up like a fake me that mobbed me?” Applejack asked.

“Actually I was the Rainbow Dash copy that slugged you earlier in the fight,” Cloud said. “The real R.D. dove in and saved you.”

“Only cause I didn’t have time to whoop ya back myself,” Applejack responded.

“What?” Cloud asked.

“Nothing,” Applejack responded, with an awkward aside glance and odd facial gesture.

“Um, right,” Cloud said to change the subject. “I came by this morning to apologize for my actions toward you and your country. I’m sorry for hitting you. I’m sorry for taking part in the invasion.”

Cloud gestured to the little seedling.

“Doing a practice weather run the other day I noticed one of your trees blew down recently,” Cloud said. “I’d like to give you this little one as an apology gift.”

Applejack looked over the little seedling. It wasn't as high a quality as their home-grown trees but give it time and care and it would probably bear good fruit.  

“I don’t know if I can ever fully make up for my actions against you,” Cloud added.

“Yeah, yeah ah forgive ya,” Applejack said. “You want an omelet?”

“What?” Cloud asked.

“Holding a grudge never got anypony anywhere,” Applejack said. “The tree is a nice touch and we’ll use it but ah’d forgive you even without it, not very neighborly to turn down an apology and all that…Besides if I remember that fight correctly little fillies fight better than all dem changelings anyway.”

Cloud missed that last part. If he had heard it perhaps he wouldn't have been so concerned with further apologizing.

“Is there anything I can do to help you?” Cloud asked.

“Nothing I can think of,” Applejack responded while checking on the two cooking omelets. 

“Are you sure you don’t need help harvesting or anything?” Cloud said.

“Nothing to harvest for another four months, it’s only April,” Applejack responded. “I’m not constantly applebuckin’ despite what a certain blue pegasus may say.”

“Yeah, Rainbow can be quite brash,” Cloud said. “Seems like a solid leader for the weather department though. With any luck now I’ll be working for her. I've got an interview in about two hours.”

“She still do the part with the Ghastly Gorge?” Applejack asked. “You’d think she’d have learned her lesson after the avalanche.”

“Huh?” Cloud asked. “Avalanche?”

“You’ll find out,” Applejack said. “So you've got a job interview today huh? Well then I know I'll have to fix you an omelet and a nice glass of Apple Family brand apple juice. Fill you up right for Rainbow’s big test.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Cloud said.

“Ah insist,” Applejack responded. 

Cloud researched Applejack, he knew she was stubborn enough there was no escaping this well-balanced breakfast. He smiled, at least one thing went unexpectedly better for him today…

------

After his breakfast with the Apples Cloud dashed back to Sunny and Serenity’s home for some last minute studying before his test. Finally the clock was running down and at 8:40 a.m. he darted out the door to the weather bureau, Sunny Rays and Serenity wishing him luck for big test before departing for their own shifts. He dared not be late for this test.

For 15 minutes he waited outside the Ponyville Weather Bureau, watching as that new radar thing spun silently on the roof. Other pegasi arrived and casually flew up to the door. For just a moment he saw the reflection of Drone 9417 looking back at him with an evil smile. He shrugged it off just as Rainbow Dash arrived with Twilight Sparkle in tow. The blue pegasus had a slightly naughty, slightly happy look on her face. They were talking about something.

“Now you’ll make sure she has that by the end of the day?” Rainbow asked.

“I’ll get back to the library and send it immediately,” Twilight said as she magically hovered a scroll into her saddlebag. “I know she’ll be understanding Rainbow. She’ll be glad to help in this situation.”

On her way back the librarian walked right past Cloud. Twilight smiled as she cantered past him.

“Good luck up there,” Twilight said. 

Cloud smiled for a moment but it quickly evaporated as Rainbow walked up to him.

“Ah, you decided to show,” Rainbow said. “Very nice, this is going to be fun.”

Cloud didn’t like the sound of that. With a deep breath he readied himself for the ride to come.

“Let’s do this Rainbow,” Cloud said. “What’s first?”

“The morning briefing, it’s 9 a.m.,” Rainbow responded.

“Oh, where would you like me to stay during it?” Cloud asked. 

“Front and center big boy,” Rainbow said. “You said you’d agree to have your background revealed to the crew and we’re going to do just that. If the team is fine with that we’ll begin the test proper, if they aren’t you’re done. If you would prefer your “former occupation” not to be the public knowledge of virtually every pegasi in Ponyville you are welcome to leave right now. I’ll tell nopony your secret and you walk free. So what’s your call buggy? ”

Cloud gulped. This really was an all or nothing shot, with that out in the open he couldn’t just silently go back to Sunny and Serenity’s couch with his tail between his legs if he failed. He pondered only briefly before making his decision.

“Alright, I’ll do it,” Cloud said. “If I’m going to be part of this weather team they need to know.”

Rainbow smiled. Somehow Cloud knew that was the response she wanted no matter how this turned out.

“Alright, just let me do the talking,” Rainbow smiled slightly naughtily. “Don’t worry. I have a plan to win them over.”

Cloud just knew Rainbow had a trick up her sleeve, despite the fact she wasn’t even wearing anything with sleeves. He gulped again as the two ponies trotted inside to the briefing.

As Cloud entered the locker room he looked around and indeed most of the pegasi in town were present. Visible amongst all of them were Sunny, Serenity, Thunderlane, Blue Skies, that grey one with the funny eyes, the two purple ones with memorable manes, and that big white stallion one. Eh, Cloud really needed to learn these ponies’ names at some point. Rainbow gestured him to stand next to her.

“Alright, 9 a.m.,” Rainbow said. “Let’s get this party started. Everypony I’ve got a special briefing for you today. I know of late we’ve been short staffed and we’ve had a hard time filling those open positions. We’ll I have good news, this green stallion here is Cloud Breaker and he has applied to come aboard. You guys willing to give him a nice Ponyville welcome?”

There was a light stamping of hooves and a few mild cheers. Huh? That was a lot warmer response than he was expecting from Rainbow. For just a moment Cloud wondered if Rainbow was bluffing about outing him as some sort of secret test of character. 

“There is just one little issue with Cloud before I put him in the air,” Rainbow continued.

She wasn’t bluffing, Cloud knew this was going to suck.

“You see this pegasus wasn’t exactly a pegasus this time last week,” Rainbow continued. “Cloud Breaker here was a changeling drone who took part in the attack at Princess Cadence and Shining Armor’s wedding last weekend. He even fought me and I straight-up spanked his flank. But later he overloaded his magic, turned into a pegasus somehow in the process, and now here he is.”

There were a few gasps from the crowd at that revelation.  There was also some hostility and not all of it directed at Cloud.

“You get into the poison joke again last night?” Midnight Strike spoke up from the back. “I’ve seen him around town for about the last month. Quit with your bragging from that stupid wedding and lay off the new guy.”

The black mare’s unexpected chime in was met with a few comments to the extent of “yeah” and “she’s right.” Cloud immediately validated Rainbow’s accusation, after the past few days honesty was really starting to grow on him.

“She’s not lying,” Cloud said, followed by a few more gasps.

Rainbow had a snarky little smile as she looked over to Cloud. Then gave him a wink.

“Before you all get down on Cloud I’d like to make a few points,” Rainbow said. “First off as of right now he’s pure pegasus with a DNA check to confirm it. There’s not an ounce of changeling left in him. His hooves are clean, his heart’s beating, and his wings are ready to flap which is more than I can say for any of our other job candidates because we don’t have any. He’s also got a weather-themed cutie mark and Serenity said he’s solid in the air following a test flight out to the Everfree earlier this week.”

Rainbow’s snarky smile got a little bigger. Cloud wondered what her angle was here.

“Plus he’s not applying for any of our Ponyville positions,” Rainbow said. “Cloudy here has applied for the Jerkwater job, if he gets it none of you have to do it anymore.”

That comment was met with some mild cheering.

“We’re short staffed, we've got to take what we can get,” Rainbow continued. “Cloud’s had a shady life but he’s turning over a new leaf. If you don’t want him let me know and you can color him gone. But if you can find it in your hearts to look past his past he could be a big help to us. By a show of hooves how many of you want me to give him a shot?”

Rainbow must have made a rather persuasive argument as just over half the audience put their hooves up. Dash made one more move. 

“Oh, and if he is approved for testing the morning briefing is cancelled today for his testing,” Rainbow said.

A noticeably higher number of hooves went up at that. There were still some down but Cloud would at least be getting his shot.

“Alright the morning briefing is canceled, everyone’s assignments for the day are on the board,” Rainbow said. “Except Sassaflash, Thunderlane, Rainbowshine, and Serenity. You four report to Cloudsdale and await further orders, I have an errand for you a bit later.”

There were a few cheers at the cancellation. Serenity just looked nervous, Dash assigning him to that could not be coincidence. As Sunny left to lay out her weather plans for next week Thunderlane snapped the pink-and-blue pegasus out of his haze so the team could group up.

“Come on Pinky, let’s roll,” Thunderlane said. “It would have been nice if you’d have told us about the new guy’s changeling bit ahead of time.”

“If the guy can fly does it matter at this point?” Serenity retorted. 

“Perhaps a little,” Sassaflash said as the teal pegasus joined in. “But we gotta take what we can get. I do not want to deal with the paperwork for another 45-minute rainstorm delay.”

The trio joined up with Rainbowshine and departed. They passed Cloud on the way out.

“Good luck up there,” Serenity said.

“Watch out for the stopwatch part,” Rainbowshine said, the purple pegasus visibly shivered remembering whatever that was.

Cloud’s attention turned to Rainbow Dash as the blue pegasus hovered over to him. Something didn’t fit between her arguing last night and her actively trying to swing things in his favor here.

“Did you spin that introduction?” Cloud asked.

“Duh,” Rainbow said. “Twilight and I had a little talk after we left last night. The result was win, loss, or draw I want your result to come in the air. The penalties for your prior actions will be handled later. Now let me check something quick and the test will begin shortly. You can wait outside, I’ll be right out.”

Cloud followed his instructions. Rainbow darted across the hall after spotting a pink pony with a reddish-orange mane and wearing a pair of goggles. The pink pony was carrying a printout of some kind and other papers in a saddlebag.

“How’s the radar looking today Jetstream?” Rainbow asked. 

“Not good actually,” Jetstream said. “A lot of cloud cover came out of the Everfree headed toward Ponyville. We’re scheduled for sun today. Think we could send a team out to pop it?”

“How much is it?” Rainbow asked.

“Probably four oktas, mild but we have to deal with it,” Jetstream said.

“Alright,” Rainbow said. “Why don’t you get in the air with Sky Team 3, that’s Blossomforth, Lightning Bolt, and Star Hunter, and take care of it.  I don’t want that popped, I want it moved. You have a map and pen?”

“Yeah,” Jetstream replied as she produced the requested items from her bag. 

“Great,” Rainbow said with a slightly naughty smile.

The blue pegasus held the map with a hoof and used her mouth to make a doodle.

“Move the cloud bank here and leave it,” Rainbow said passing the map back.

Jetstream looked at the map.

“Jerkwater?” Jetstream asked.

“Yeah, we’ve got rain scheduled later anyway,” Rainbow said. “A little cloud won’t hurt that area, I hope.”

“I’m on it,” Jetstream said. “Good luck to the rookie.”

Jetstream went out to get her team while Rainbow departed. Dash trotted back into the briefing room and grabbed a stopwatch from her locker, putting it on over her head. She then flew out the door to where Cloud was waiting.

“Alright, ready to roll?” Rainbow asked. 

“As I’ll ever be,” Cloud responded, looking nervously at the stopwatch. 

“Well then off we go into the wild blue yonder,” Rainbow said.

Both pegasi took off and began a flight out of Ponyville. Rainbow was naturally in the lead with Cloud following.

“Alright, here’s how it is going to work,” Rainbow said. “I’m going to test you on speed, flight, and endurance in that order. We’ll start with a timed cloud pop, continue with a flight down a course of my choosing, and end with a larger project that should be along the lines of what you will face on the job if hired. Now for the warnings…”

Cloud perked up at that. 

“Weather is an unpredictable thing,” Rainbow said. “Even with pegasi control it can and does change rapidly and without much warning. There are risks to this job and you must be alert for anything while on duty. The sky can play tricks on you if let your attention lapse. For this reason there are going to be a few wildcards thrown into these test, just be ready, and you should be able to get through them. You got it?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Cloud said.

The two pegasi continued to fly out of downtown to a more isolated part of Ponyville over farmer’s fields filled with various crops. Above a carrot farm near Sweet Apple Acres Cloud noticed about 15 clouds positioned throughout the sky. Rainbow suddenly vectored up and Cloud followed. She stopped well above the clouds.

“Alright, you probably know what I want you to do here,” Rainbow said while gesturing down.

“Pop all the clouds?” Cloud asked.

“Yup,” Rainbow responded. “Now on your practice run Serenity said you clocked in at 47 seconds to clear the sky with a few errors. Take those out and how fast do you think you can do it? Maybe 37 seconds?”

“I can try,” Cloud said.

“Good,” Rainbow said as she took off her stopwatch and used a hoof to adjust the time. “I’m going to set this clock for 40 seconds. Your test is to fly down pop all the clouds then fly over and click the stop button on this watch, do it before the clock hits zero and you pass. Sound good?”

“Yeah, I’ll do my best,” Cloud said. 

He remembered what Rainbowshine said and looked at the stopwatch nervously. Rainbow noticed that.

“It’s just a stopwatch Cloud,” Rainbow Dash said. “It stops with just the push of a button, it’s not booby trapped or anything.”

Cloud let out a sigh of relief.

“Now on your mark,” Rainbow said.

Cloud took an aggressive pose. He hated to admit it but he had not been this ready to spring into action since he was a changeling attacking Canterlot. Dare he say it, this could be fun.

“Get set,” Rainbow said, with a slight wind-up of the hoof on which the watch rested. “GO!”

Rainbow Dash clicked the stopwatch to start the countdown then hurled it into the air as Cloud’s jaw dropped…