//------------------------------//
// 8 - The Cloud Busters 
// Story: Let Byhooves be Byhooves 
// by Outlaw Quadrant 
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Swimming in the air, Rainbow wasn’t planning for that tonight.

Even so, what lay behind the thick cloud layer was thick as Pinkie Pie’s cake batter with a salty, almost bitter taste.  Rain came and went at whim while the constant flashes of light provided enough illumination to navigate as she held a round instrument.  She could’ve done without the thunder – yelling was the only way to communicate with Flying.

He was outside, waiting for her up-to-date measurements.  Using cloud bits, he had built himself a chalkboard and then pulled out a book from his saddlebag, the EWA Reference Guide.  He had a few bookmarks between the pages but nowhere around the chapter the stallion was reading.  Once he memorized enough information, he plastered onto his temporary board the notes from the ponyologist.

Glad I brought this along.

Then came the hardest part, number crunching.  It was bad enough that he needed to bolster his chest so that the amulet can provide a meager light source.  Every other minute, the stallion rubbed off a mistake or gave his makeshift board a light shove.  The massive marshmallow cloud never ceased with its constant movement through the night sky.  An expert could’ve completed his task within an hour; he was taking twice as long.

Rainbow emerged from the bubbling cotton.  “It’s the same as before!  Are you done yet?”  

“I believe so.”  Tapping on some scribbles by the board’s edge, “Have some hoof-notes right here.  I know this is all technical junk here, so let me see if I can explain it to—”

Rainbow pushed Flying aside for a look-see.  She kept nodding and mumbling to herself, ignoring the stallion’s attempts to get in a word.

Pounding her hooves together, “I got it!  I totally got it!”

“You got it?”  His head tilted sideways.  “That quickly?”

“Well, duh!  I’ve always understood your notes.  One of the benefits of having you as a friend at Camp when I needed to cram for a class.”

“Uh, huh” he replied, his forelegs crossed.  “I remember that.  Well, then.  Do tell me what’s going on, Professor Dash.”

She cleared her throat. “What we have in front of us is indeed our missing cloud jam.  It compressed and rotated on its axis contrary to the Jet Stream’s flow until it finally freed itself.  Based on the distance from the original site, this must have happened sometime within the last twenty four hours.”

Flying clapped slowly, “Bravo, Rainbow.  Good so far.  What else?”

“Based on the numbers, this formation is the seed to what we in the weather business call a Super Cloud.  It’s a superdupermega storm that has everything in big doses: rain, wind, hail, lightning, tornados, you name it!  You can have an entire weather team fight it but all they can do is to limit the damage until the storm breaks apart on its own.”  

Rainbow glanced at the bubbling formation and then faced Flying, her pupils shrinking.  

“Hey, do you know where this thing is headed, Fly-Fly?  You didn’t mention that on the board.”

He already knew the answer; even factoring in his questionable math skills made little difference.  Flying panted, something other than the altitude robbing him of air.  “It–it… sunrise, it becomes a Super Cloud at sunrise.”

“That’s not what I asked!”  She shook him.  “This thing is extremely dangerous if it goes over a—”

His eyes, a momentary glance away from her said it all.  She turned around, her body shuddering at the thought of things to come.  “No.  No, it can’t be.”

“Ponyville in the morning,” the stallion spoke in a raspy voice.  “After that, most likely Cloudsdale, Hoofington, and then at least three more towns could be in danger.  That’s if we, if… this is all my fault.”

“Huh?”

Both his hooves crashed onto the board, then his head.  “Dammit!  Dammit!  Dammit!  I should’ve seen this coming!  The ponyologist’s wonky numbers, the way it looked when I saw it, that doubt I felt, the signs were there and I missed them all!  If I just knew earlier, I could’ve—”

“Fly-Fly!”  

Rainbow yanked him off the surface and then slapped him on the cheek.

He rubbed on the strike zone, staring at a mare whose eyebrows slanted downwards.  Any second now, he would get a verbal lashing.

Instead, her face softened to that of a consoling mother.  “Don’t beat yourself up, okay?  You can’t predict these things and besides, at least we know now when we still have time to do something, right?”

Slowly, his frown faded and then his mouth curled in the other direction.  “Look at me.  I’m the one losing it and you’re the one cooling me down.”

“Hey, it’s the least I could do.  So, what options do we have?”

Eyes closing shut, “Just two.  Complete evacuation—”

“All those towns and at this hour of the night?  There’s just no way.  What’s the other?”

“Pop this cloud while it’s still a seed.”  His ears folded.  “Guess.  What’s the only way we can do it lickety-split?”

She facehoofed.  “The Cloud Burst?  Are you serious?”

He rolled his eyes at the stars as though a deity was watching from one of them.  “Very.  This is nothing like what we tried to do back in Camp, either.  That was small scale experiment.  This has to be big and even then, there’s a chance this won’t work.”

“But it is gonna work.”  She shook her hoof at the cloud, “You’ve got nothing on us!  We’re faster, stronger and smarter than before!  We’ll show you whose boss around here!”

Flying beamed at how his friend carried utter and complete confidence; he missed that part about her the most.  With a nervous laugh, though, that bravado vanished.

“We only get one shot, don’t we?  I mean, I’m not even sure I can push at this height.”

“Actually, if you press here”—Flying tapped at the middle of the amulet—“it will go to the max setting.  We can go all out but only for a few minutes before the magic runs out.  No matter what happens, we gotta head back down right away or… well, you know.”

Rainbow wiggled her right foreleg toward the ground.

Flying gulped.  “Yeah.  Something like that.  Do you need me to go over the move?”

She sighed, hooves on her sides. “That Cloud Buster’s been bugging since Weather Camp.  I’ve gone over it so many times, I know it inside and out.  Just tell me the starting point.”

“Directly across and three quarters of the way up.  Call for me when you get there, okay?”

The mare leaned forward to take off, only to stop, her head turning back his way.

“What’s wrong, Dashy?”

She pounded her chest, “We’ll get it right, this time.”

Flying watched her speed off around the massive cloud kernel until she disappeared behind its shifting mass.  Then, he added more wing flaps and ascended at least one hundred feet when a crackling sound seeped into his earlobe.

“Rainbow One in position!  Come in Flying Two!” 

Humor in a tense situation, he welcomed it with a chuckle.  “Okay, Rainbow One.  Push on the amulet.”

With a click, the amulet receded further into the socket, its glow changing color to an icy blue.  In moments, his body believed it was a cool autumn day at ground level despite being well above the highest mountain peak.  He leaned toward the gigantic cloud, ready to pounce.

“Ready, Rainbow?”

“Ready!”

A dramatic pause later, “Now!”

From opposite ends, the two ponies wriggled their way into the green and gray behemoth and then began moving around in an elongated circle.  Their wings flapped in a pattern: upstroke, vibration, down flap, quick flutter and repeat.  At first, the motions proved like pulling on a rusty level; their swimming motions proved a more reliable method of forward propulsion.  Then, the cloud material began vibrating and crumbling ever so slightly.  Their speeds ticked upward but so did the never-ending storm intense all about them.  Even with a skin-tight suit, the constant rain seeped into every nook and crevice.

Suddenly, Flying picked up a distressed yell.

“Rainbow!”  The stallion’s eyes grew wide.  “Come in!  Dashy!  Say something!”

“It’s okay,” she answered between labored breaths.  “A lightning bolt all but hit me just now.  Staying on course.”

They continued traversing the ever-shifting mass, their odd wing flaps earning them faster velocity.  Just as expected but as Flying kept his eyes glued on the constant cloud shifts, his initial optimism wavered.  Something was wrong with this picture.

“Nothing’s happening!”  Rainbow blurted out.  “This isn’t working!”

Flying bit his lip, pondering on the problem.  “Remember we had to work hard on adjustments back in Camp?  Our moves have to be in perfect synch at all times.  At least we have an advantage now with two-way communications.  I’ll call out adjustments and we’ll correct in real time, all right?”

“Got it!”

First, Flying worked on matching their speeds.  She was too fast, not a shocker but he had to bump his game up, grunting and groaning for that extra bit of wingpower.  As for the flapping pattern, his precision was that of an expensive watch compared to Rainbow’s.  She had to find that rhythm naturally rather than thinking before each action.  When she did find that harmony, the cloud suddenly developed fissures, a few long enough to peek through to the night sky.

“We’re getting there, Dashy!”

He heard a mare speaking but a rumble drowned it out, as did what sounded like bullets pelting metal.

“Repeat that, Rainbow!”

“It’s working but the storm’s getting even worse on this side of the cloud!”

Moments later, he came under a water barrage.  The goggles did nothing except provide him a view of a waterfall.  “Ugh!  All right!  We’ve weakened it enough in the outer area!  Move in closer to the center!”

Their circular path narrowed in width, and as such, Rainbow and Flying created more fissures within the super cloud seed.  Every time their progress stopped, Flying called for more adjustments, which Rainbow readily complied.  That was an easy fix; the strain on their bodies was another matter entirely.  Even with the amulet in full gleam, flying within this cloud was like an earth pony trying to run through inches of mud.  

Rainbow opened communications, only to deliver labored breathing.

Flying responded with a winced groan; his appendages throbbed with a searing burn.  “C’mon, now!  I know it’s hard but we gotta tough it out!”

Then, both their amulets flickered once.

“What does that mean?” she asked hurriedly.

He audibly gulped.  “The magic’s beginning to run out.”

With a stutter, “Already?  But we haven’t finished yet!”

He could see that for himself.  All the cracks they had created measured inches wide when they needed to be at least a foot.  The raging storm should’ve deteriorated but kept up pelting them with water and ear splitting noise.  Time was not on their side for either the amulet would lose its potency or the fissures would begin healing itself.  In fact, he noticed the furthest ones away filling up with fresh cloud material.

“We have to finish the Cloud Burst, now!” the stallion commanded.  “We won’t get a better shot!”

A long delay later, “Ten four!  I’m ready!”

“On three!  One!  Two!  Three!”

Right when the last word escaped Flying’s lips, the two weather ponies shrunk their paths even further while tilting their bodies toward the cloud’s core.  The wing motions changed to something much faster and more erratic as their velocity approached their absolute limits.  Soon, they finally saw each other through the thick mist but other than an acknowledging salute, they continued with their respective jobs.  The biting chill in the air, the aching muscles twisting and pulling and the feeling their hearts would seize up at any moment, Rainbow and Flying ignored it all. 

“Hold your speed,” Flying ordered.  “Increase wing vibration a little, Rainbow!”

“I’ll try but I can barely hold this path!”

Suddenly, a small whirlwind of light and wind erupted between the two ponies.

Rainbow’s jaw dropped.  “Oh my gosh!  There it is!  There it is!”

He shook his head “It’s too small!  We gotta expand it!”

The stallion and mare increased the width of their paths, making their newfound creation grow in girth.  The thunder then came crashing down upon them at the same pace as their hearts; communicating a complete audible sentence proved impossible.

“Bigger?” the mare bellowed.

“Yes!” 

The energy sphere expanded to the size of a house when it started wobbling on its axis.  That sudden movement caused their whole world to stop to conjure memories, bad ones.  Similar scenario, different location and much younger– it ended with the orb popping prematurely, flinging them in opposite directions, stopped only by nearby equipment and unfortunate observers standing in their path.  Their collective failure brought forth laughter, embarrassment and worst of all, a shouting matching between friends.  It was the lowest of lows but why did it all go wrong?  Maybe they just weren’t ready.  Not enough experience, not enough strength and enough confidence in themselves or their fellow partner. 

Whatever it was, fate had brought them together on this night, high up in the sky where the stakes were much higher than cool points.  They had to succeed- they must succeed.  Both Rainbow and Flying closed their eyes, their determination coming to a bubbling boil. They had something to shout at their common nemesis, this maneuver that eluded them all this time.

“I’m not letting my friend down again!”

The energy globe suddenly emitted a high-pitched whine while spinning at immeasurable speeds.  There was no more wobble but more of a slight judder from deep within the artificial sphere like an alarm clock waiting to ring.  Flying waited until the second to make the call.

“Pull away, now!”

Rainbow and Flying zoomed off in opposite directions, straight through the massive cloud lump and back out into the open skies.  As they swiveled back around, their creation ruptured with a light rivaling that of the sun in the middle of summer.  Visible ripples expanded outwards like a balloon, finding every nook and cranky on the cloud and tearing it apart with a sudden gust of wind.  Cloud chunks disintegrated as they tumbled violently from the epicenter, converting into a hazy mist that quickly consumed its surroundings.

Flying shielded his goggles from the explosion as the whooshing swells swept him like a massive ocean wave.  Fifteen seconds of tumbling later, he flapped back into a stable hovering position but in a region consumed by heavy fog.  Then, his amulet started to pulse its light non-stop.

“Rainbow,” he wheezed aloud.  “Where are you?  We… it’s gonna run out!”

He floated straight ahead, searching for a silhouette or at least a break where he could escape this murky sea and search from a better vantage point.  Then, a fizzling blue stuck out far off in the distance, the figure in a slouched position, one hoof raised halfway up.  Flying approached it at his best speed possible, noticing her flaps barely held her airborne, let alone toward him.

“Go down!  Before—”

The shining beacon finally gave out and with it, the mare whose body finally quit and went limp like a potato sack.

“Noooooooo!”

Flying swooped downwards, clasping one of her forelegs with both of his just as his amulet dimmed to black.

Not good!  I… I can’t—

His wings sputtered and his grip on Rainbow loosened.   Even without visual references, he sensed the world beginning to spin around him.

There’s no… can’t hang on!  Gotta find… cloud!

No such thing existed around him but below, salvation in the form of a few floating remnants at the fog’s edge.  Past that, however, the only other landing spot was hard unforgiving ground, their final resting place if he couldn’t hit his moving target.  He had trouble enough staying conscious, let alone controlling his jerky descent.

I promised Twi… have to save her!

He flapped his wings harder, instantly adding barbells to his eyelids.

Can’t lose it!  Little longer!


Flying rocked his body closer to his only hope, the grip on Rainbow slipping with every heartbeat.  Biting his tongue, he tried pulling her in closer but the suit’s material proved too slippery.   

No!  Won’t… make… have to try!

With the last of his strength, the grey stallion placed himself ahead of the drifting cloud while going max power toward the heavens.  

Please!  A little—


Then, all systems shut down and the two ponies came under gravity’s control.  It proved calming to him, hearing nothing, sensing nothing and barely making out the small lump that would catch them both if everything went their way.

If I… wake up—