//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Stormy Skies // Story: Broken Accords // by Somber //------------------------------// Broken Accords Chapter 1: Stormy Skies. By Somber Being a weather pony in Ponyville wasn’t all that exciting. Okay. Make that unexciting. Strike that. Boring. Boring would definitely describe it, but it didn’t really express what she felt sitting in the back row of seats in Ponyville’s weather office. De-exciting? But it wasn’t precisely enough. Anti-exciting! That’s the ticket. Every last little bit of exciting was sucked out of it by the mare at the front of the room before the chalkboard. Rainbow Dash struck the chalkboard with her hoof, poking at the grid that lay over a map of Ponyville with her hoof. “Okay! So I’m going to take care of the skies here, here, here, here here here, here, annnnd here. Over here too!” She said, gesturing to more than half the map. The cyan pegasus grinned at the rest of the assembled pegasi as they sat attentively on their benches. “Should take me about ten seconds, as usual. Then I’ll be off with my friends, if anypony needs me.” She began to point at others. “Flitter. Cloudchaser. You two can go scatter this low pressure system coming in from the east. Thunderlane. Bulk Biceps. We need some heavy duty cloud busting for the latest weather front from Cloudsdale. Blossomforth? Make sure they get over to Ponyville by noon so that Dew Drop, Sprinkle, and Starlight can sculpt them into these designs for Silver Bow’s cutecinera.” Dew Drop, a tiny blue pegasus mare sitting next to the aquamarine Sprinkle, waved her hoof. “Oooh! Oooh! Can we make a cloud bow shooting cloud arrows at a cloud target?” “Sure. Go nuts.” Rainbow Dash smiled with a dismissive wave of her hoof. The trio gave a squee of delight and started whispering ideas. “Can I make a lightning bow that shoots lighting arrows?” the mare in the back muttered a tad louder than she’d intended, getting a lot of looks from the assembled pegasi. Rainbow Dash scowled at her from the front of the room, and the mare in the back crossed her hooves and hushed up. The sooner this was over with the sooner they’d both be happy. Rainbow Dash pushed on. “Cloudsdale seems to be getting a little ahead of schedule. They’re sending waaaaay more clouds than what’s on the report," she said, brandishing a clipboard with a wing. "So Stormy, I want you to snag the excess and drag them over towards Appleloosa before kicking them loose, just like last week.” She leveled her gaze at the charcoal pegasus mare with the brilliant lightning striped mane. “Is that clear, Stormy Skies?” Stormy ran through her selections of witty repartee and answered, “Whatever.” It was a short list. “I can do that,” wheezed a red mare. “I don’t mind the flight to…” The mare broke off in a fit of coughing, and everypony leaned a little bit away from her, shielding their muzzles with their wings. Rainbow Dash wore an expression of wary sympathy. “No offense, Rosewing, but you’re probably best going home. If that’s feather flu, you’re better off in bed. Seriously, don't mess around with that. And like I said, no offense, but I am not spending a week sick. The Wonderbolt reserve tryouts are this weekend and I’m not missing them again.” “But I-“ the red mare said, looking stricken. “It’s a big job.” “That’s okay. I have no intention of letting Stormy go off by herself,” Rainbow Dash said firmly. Stormy rolled her brilliant yellow eyes and sighed. “Surprise surprise.” “She can go with,” Rainbow Dash began, sweeping a wing across the few unassigned ponies remaining, pausing for a moment on a gray colt intern, Derpy, who eagerly grinned back, and finally settling on a prim white pegasus pony. “You! New girl. You just transferred in from Cloudsdale, right? Mmmmm….” Rainbow screwed up her face as she furrowed her brows. “Mmmmoonlight?” “Misty Morning,” the mare corrected with a nervous smile. “I just got to Ponyville two days ago. I would have been here yesterday, but some pink earth pony insisted on throwing me a party.” “Yeaaaaah. That’s Pinkie. She does that. A lot. You get used to it around here.” Rainbow Dash flew over to the white pegasus, her mane a pale green with slightly darker streaks of blue. Unlike Stormy, Misty’s mane spilled like a wintergreen waterfall about her shoulders. She belonged at a Canterlot garden party, not weather busting. Rainbow Dash gestured to Stormy with a warm smile. “Misty Morning? Stormy Skies. Stormy’s been in Ponyville for longer than I have so she should keep you from getting lost.” Stormy eyed the pale, delicate mare and gave a wave of her wing. “Hey,” she said as nonchalantly as she could. The dark gray pegasus ran a hoof through her short erect yellow mane. Rainbow Dash’s flat gaze said volumes in return about Stormy’s ‘hey’. She then regarded Misty. “Anyway, you work with Stormy and get those extra clouds out of here and over the desert. I’ve never seen a desert upset about a little extra rain. Hopefully those feather-heads in the Weatherworks can get the shipments settled.” “Don’t hold your breath,” Stormy muttered. “Yeah, tell me about it. I-“ Rainbow Dash began, then glared sourly at the charcoal gray mare. The cyan pegasus turned on hoof and trotted away. “Rumble. Derpy. I think I know what you can do during the party.” Stormy sighed. That actually went far better than usual for her association with Rainbow Dash. She regarded the nervous, pale mare. Not much of a partner. Not that it was her call, regardless. “So. Misty Morning?” The pale mare gave a little nod and a nervous smile. “Let’s go. The sooner we dump these clouds in the desert, the sooner we can get off shift." The pair headed for the door when Rainbow called out. “One sec, Moony Meadows!” “Misty Morning,” the white pegasus replied softly. “Right. Sorry,” Rainbow Dash said and then narrowed her eyes at Stormy Skies. “One last thing. Keep your eye on Miss Stormy Skies here. If she gets her hooves on some lightning, I want you to tell me. If she picks up excessive static electricity, I want to know. If she-” “I get it. No lightning!” Stormy Skies snapped sharply. The office suddenly became very quiet as every pony on the weather team stared at her in shock and disapproval. “Um, okay,” Misty replied warily, her pale jade eyes moving from Stormy and back, before dropping to her hooves. Rainbow Dash and Stormy held a tense gaze for several seconds, then Stormy turned away first, trotting for the door. “I’ll wait for you outside.” She trotted out on to the small cloud that held the weather office. She moved to the far side of the landing to wait. That way, she could avoid all the awkward expressions and conversations nopony really wanted to have. When her partner emerged along with Rainbow Dash, Stormy contemplated the perfect white boring clouds on the horizon. She waited for the loud swoop announcing Rainbow’s departure before glancing back at the hesitant white mare. “Sorry. Office drama.” “I gathered as much,” she replied delicately, watching Stormy warily but trying for a smile. “So. Where are we going, again?” Stormy accepted the olive branch and nodded to the north, and together they took to the skies. "It's not far," she said, and noticed Misty Morning glancing back at the weather team headquarters. "Oh, hey, don't sweat it. Once everypony on the team knows you, it'll be smooth flying." Storm knew this air; the updraft from Ponyville Square and Sugarcube Corner lifting her higher while she avoided the cold air over Ponyville pond. "Rainbow's not the best manager, but she does care about her fliers." "And you?" she asked with a worried frown. "Oh, that's a whole 'nother story," Stormy Skies sighed. To her credit, for all their clashes, Rainbow still hadn't fired her or forced a transfer. Once they both had enough altitude, they started their way towards the thick bank of clouds drifting towards Ponyville. Thunderlane and Bulk Biceps were ahead and above, and Stormy wasn’t in any mood to flock. Instead she moved more to the side while behind them a blue blur whipped through the air and did the work of ten ponies. “So. Ponyville is… nice,” Misty said in a tentative voice inviting conversation. When Stormy didn’t answer, she went on. “It’s certainly… interesting…” The charcoal pegasus sighed and said evenly, “You don’t have to pretend to be nice, Misty. I know you probably didn’t want to fly with me for your first job in Ponyville. Soon as we’re done, I’ll talk to Dash and get you partnered back up with Rosewing. She’s a nice mare. She at least ignores me when we work.” “Well, I have to admit, I am a little curious how you blew up Ponyville… twice,” Misty said with a weak smile. Stormy Skies sighed and rolled her eyes. “I didn’t blow it all up. Just a few buildings here and there. It was… a little accident with some lightning.” She glanced back at her flank. The strident yellow forked lightning bolt spread across her flank like a fan from a black thundercloud on her hip. “Story of my life, really.” She caught the smile on Misty’s lips and added with a roll of her eyes, “And not a story I’m telling right now. I’d need a whole lot of apple cider in me before I go into the gory details.” “Alright,” she said easily, as if she said it often, pulling her eyes away and lowering them to the ground below. Stormy Skies watched her fly quietly for several seconds. “So what’s your story, new girl?” She glanced back at Misty’s flank. Her cutie mark was almost invisible: three wavy horizontal lines that she supposed were fog or cloud. “Are you a condensation specialist? Cloud sculptor?” She blinked back in bafflement and then smiled a little. “Oh no. Nothing like that. I’m just a weatherpony.” Stormy gawked, staring at her in confusion. Just a weatherpony? Might as well say a unicorn was just a horn head. Misty looked away after a few seconds. “I just… it’s a job. I mean, managing weather is what most pegasi do, right?” Storm stared at her and then gave a wide grin. “Yeah! Everypony just dreams of kicking clouds around.” The sarcasm passed right over her feathers. “Miss Rainbow Dash seemed eager to do so,” Misty replied with that soft, passive smile. Stormy had to bite back at least a half dozen retorts in ten seconds. It wasn’t easy, they were all trying to crawl out her mouth at once, scrambling to be first in line. Still, she didn’t know Misty. She might be the kind of mare who ran to the boss and told her everything she said for a wing up to a better position. “Dash is a racer. She doesn’t want to bust clouds for a living. She wants to tear across the skies. It just so happens that skill corresponds with keeping ninty percent of Ponyville clear. She only needs the rest of us when she doesn’t need the skies empty, or she’s got training, or her friends need her.” Try not to sound too envious, Stormy admonished herself. “In any case, she’s the fastest flier in Ponyville and best friends with Princess Twilight so… yeah.” “Lots of history between you two?” Misty asked with a sympathetic smile. “I dunno. People say we’re too much alike.” She rolled her eyes at that theory. “I have interests other than weather and she has other interests. I like to slack off when I’m bored. She takes naps like they’re going out of style. I have an attitude. She has an attitude. The only difference is she was never blamed for blowing up Ponyville. Twice.” Stormy knitted her brows and glanced skyward. “Sorry. Guess it is an issue for me.” “Could be worse,” Misty replied, fumbling through the air as they hit a little gust of turbulence. “Whoa… okay! Steady… whew…” “Not top of the flyers team, are you?” Stormy said with a teasing smile. Misty flushed. “Hey, don’t worry about it. We don’t get much call for crazy weather flying out in Ponyville… ever.” She added flatly. “Just don’t let Rainbow Dash know.” “Why?” Misty said with a worried frown. “She won’t think less of me, will she?” “Pfft,” Stormy snorted. “No. She’ll tell you it's just fine if you’re not the best flier ever. Then she’ll tell you how she’s the best flyer ever. But it’s totally cool if you’re not. But have you heard about her newest maneuver she’s made up for the wonderbolts?” “You have Wonderbolt issues too?” Misty asked, looking a little worried now. “Hey. If you’re going to have issues, don’t settle for gales, go for hurricanes. Least everyone notices you,” Stormy said with a shrug. “Yes. I can understand that,” Misty murmured as they approached the bank of clouds. “Oh?” Stormy said, glancing over at the pale mare with a grin. “Do tell?” Misty flushed. “Oh, there’s not very much too tell, really. But I was curious… you seem to be quite fond of lightning. Don’t you find it…um… scary?” she asked as her ears folded back. “What, are you kidding? Scary? Lightning’s awesome!” Stormy Skies said with a grin. “You’re flying along and then all of a sudden, kerzap! Boom! Your life changes like that!” She snapped her tail. “I love the stuff!” Then she slumped. “Too bad Ponyville only ever gets D Class lightning.” She blew a raspberry. “D Class?” Misty asked with a baffled look. Stormy laughed, rolling her eyes. “What, did you sleep through weather front studies?” Misty flushed and lowered her eyes and Stormy’s laugh faded away. “You mean you really don’t know?” The pale pegasus turned away and Stormy coughed. It wasn’t often she knew more about something than most ponies. “Okay. Remedial lightning. It was pretty much the only part I stayed awake for too. I mean snow. It’s cold. It’s white. So what if all my snowflakes looked the same? There’s a bajillion of them, right?” Misty’s eyes returned to Stormy with a small smile and she cleared her throat. “Okay. So there’s four types of lighting… well, there’s five, but you’ll never see that one. And I refuse to call static sparks lightning!” Stormy said with a snort. “Sure, you might blacken a rump with a well timed kick but other than that-“ “So D Class is the… weakest?” Misty Morning asked with a small smile. Stormy tried to kick her brain back into position. “Yeah. Essentially it’s a byproduct of cloud formation. The cloud forges have their own magic, and the residue charges the clouds. Normally they brush it out and it crystalizes in type D lightning. Nothing fancy. I mean, I’ve been struck by D type bolts and didn’t do much but muss my mane,” Stormy said with a cocky grin. Misty gave a little tremble. Great, Stormy thought, she’ll be an anti-volt nut. “And above that? C?” “Right. If we have a real big order, the D Class bolts get all glommed together. C class is serious. You can really hurt a pony if you’re not careful. Light a building on fire. It’s more severe and restricted.” She rubbed her mane. “B class is even bigger. If someone at the Weatherworks is negligent enough to let a B Class bolt form in the static collector… well… they won’t be working there anymore. B Class gets hauled out to the Appleloosian desert for destruction.” She sighed and amended, “By highly trained and experienced lightning specialists who aren’t me, I should add.” Stormy glowered at the indignity of it all. “Ah.” Misty said delicately, then went on, “Then A Class must be the biggest?” “Pretty much. It’s the biggest you’ll ever see, if you ever see it, which I hope you don’t. Class A is weaponized lightning. It has to be specially built and only the best fliers and lightning bolt specialists can deploy it… which is why they’ll almost never ever use it. It’s unstable too. A hard sneeze can make it go off.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “They tried using it on Discord, but all he did was suck it into a weird little can and thanked us for the recharge.” Stormy pouted. “Stupid cheating magic.” Misty gave a weak laugh, turning her eyes to the ground. “Yeah. Stupid cheating magic… heh…” She glanced at her. “You don’t like unicorns?” Stormy rolled her eyes, “Oh, I guess I like them more than my parents do. They actually live in Cloudsdale, you know? The horn heads aren’t that bad in Ponyville. Not nearly as stuck up as those Canterlot unicorns. Just stay away from Rarity. She’ll try and dress you up in outfits that’ll drop your wingpower to zero.” She gave a little frown, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “Actually… aside from Rarity, no. I guess I don’t have any issues with them.” Stormy looked at her in bafflement. “Why?” “Oh! No reason,” she said lightly, laughing and getting a skeptically arched eyebrow in return. “O… kay…” Stormy said as they approached the clouds. She had her own embarrassing secrets. Maybe Misty was one of those freaky arcanosexuals or something. Best to focus on work. These looming clouds weren’t the nice bite sized ones they were supposed to be. They were huge, raw, fluffy things. Clouds that shouldn’t have even been allowed out of the Weatherworks. “Honestly, does anyone there even read our quality reports? Ugh.” “They’re big,” Misty said with a swallow. “They’re clouds,” she countered flatly. “Do they have a new manager or something in the factory? We’ve been getting these beasts off and on for the last six months. Seriously,” she said as she gestured with both her hooves. “How did anypony think this thing was ready for the skies? I’m no cloud sculptor but even I know that!” “So what do we do?” Misty asked nervously. Okay, this was getting sad. “Uh… duh?” she said, and then snapped her wings for some altitude, snapped them again into a flip, and snapped a third time to dive. She pierced through the thick cloud like a carving knife, tearing it into two jagged chunks. “You go ahead and give them a push out west. A few good strong flaps should get them moving the right way.” Pegasi worked well as teams. There were stories going all the way back to ancient Pegapopolis with teams of pegasi doing great works together, whether it was fighting back a griffon horde or raiding an earth pony settlement for food or storming a unicorn castle for loot. So for most of the morning, Stormy split and Misty… well… Stormy wasn’t exactly sure what the mare was doing. The smaller chunks weren’t really going that far that fast. She wasn’t using her hooves at all. Just fluttering her wings at them or something. Sure, they moved, but they should have been moving faster. Stormy wished Rosewing were here. Yeah, sure, they weren’t wingmates, but they worked. After a few hours, they’d gotten half the clouds busted up and bobbing off in a generally westerly direction. “Okay. Time to switch,” Stormy said with a sigh. They’d just drift back south if Stormy didn’t get them moving. “You bust some of these up and I’ll gust these little ones out of here. Should take me ten minutes, tops.” “Oh… ah… kay…” Misty Morning said weakly, staring up at the large clouds. Stormy Skies set to gusting the clouds away from Ponyville. Off in the distance, she could see Bulk and Thunderlane doing similar work beating the clouds into more manageable forms. Most ponies thought pegasi just kicked clouds; they couldn’t understand the subtle work that came with making weather. Blasting a cloud to vapor wasn’t too hard for a pony like Rainbow Dash, but some clouds needed massaging to make them pliable, lighter, or heavier. Personally, cloud work made her want to scream, but there wasn’t much on weather duty that didn’t. When she checked back, she saw Misty delicately tapping at the cloud with a hoof. “I swear she must have specialized in snow.” “Hey Stormy,” rasped Rosewing as the red mare flopped down on a cloud, sneezing a wad of snot towards… Sweet Apple Acres below. “Rosie? What are you doing here? You should be in bed. You look awful,” Stormy said, trying not to wince as the red mare sneezed again. “I didn’t think it was fair Rainbow stuck you here with a noobie,” Rosewing said with a wan smile, her orange eyes darting around as she sweated. “I was thinking I could push some of those bigger ones out west and save you some time.” That’s new. Rosewing hadn’t been a jerk to Stormy; she hadn’t been nice either. What gives? “Oh, that’s cool of you, Rose, but Misty’s going to have to learn cloudwork if she’s going to make it on the weather team. She’s doing okay… kinda…” Stormy looked over at the mare as she tried to chip at a dark cloud with a hoof; one that normally Stormy and Rose would have have just shoved out west. Trying to bust a dark one that big would take forever. Those were little things you learned on the job, which to break, beat, and blow. “Anyway, you go home. Odds are Bulk and Lane will join us as soon as they’re done prepping the clouds.” Rosewing’s eyes widened as she watched Misty, before she bowed over in another fit of coughing. Then she croaked, “No, I gotta help you out with that big one there at least.” She pointed at the dark cloud. “Let's stop her messing around with it and get it out of here. I’ll buy you both an apple cider tonight.” Huh. Rosewing had never offered that before either. “Well, okay,” Stormy Skies said as the pair made their way towards the large dark cloud. It definitely wasn’t to code. Twice as big and ten times as heavy as it should be. Somepony simply had to be screwing these orders up. Either that, or Dash had ticked off someone in management; that wouldn’t be a first. “Hey, Misty, stop rubbing your hoof against it. We’re just gonna push that sucker out of here.” “No, I think I got it,” Misty said as she hovered before it. “Sweet kid but she don’t got it,” Stormy Skies laughed. Rosewing wasn’t. “Hey, you featherbrain! Don’t mess around with something that big. Just get out of the way,” the red pony shouted as she flew towards Misty. Woah woah woah! “Hey, don’t call her that. I know you feel horrible, but go home. Don’t take it out on her,” Stormy said, getting in Rosewing’s path. The red mare shoved against her hard. “Hey! What’s with you?” Suddenly there was a flash, an immense ripping noise like a thousand bolts of cloth tearing in two, and then a deep rumble that trembled down to the tips of Stormy’s hooves. The charcoal mare whirled around and stared at the sight of the cloud now split top to bottom. There in the middle, like a hot carrot in a bun, flickered a vein of chaotic blue and yellow. It almost appeared like one of those gems that earth ponies were nuts over, but this crystal danced with energy. Lightning… and not just lightning. B Class lightning… maybe even A. Such a beautiful sight would bring a tear to Stormy’s eye… If Misty hadn’t been a few feet away from it. “Don’t move,” Stormy said, fighting to make herself heard but also to not set the bolt off. Stormy knew lightning. “If you don’t disturb its electromagical field it won’t harm you.” That was a lie, but compared to what the bolt would do if it went off… “Grab the cloud. Don’t flap your wings. Don’t drop.” Misty hooked her hooves into the side of the cloud. The electrical field made her mane and tail dance. “Rosie, go to Ponyville. Tell Dash and Twilight Sparkle. Quick.” Much as it galled her, unicorn magic was the safest way to get her away from there. Instead, two hooves slammed hard against the back of her head, hard enough to make her flip over. Thankfully, Stormy had a thicker skull than most ponies as she whirled around to face her. “Rosewing? What are you do-“ What the red pegasus did was slam both her rear hooves into Stormy’s face. Stormy flipped end over end again and smacked right into another cloud, blood coming out her nose. Rosewing dashed in once, twice, three times… her hooves smashing into Stormy with each strike. What was going on… what… she stared into the eyes of a mare she’d worked with for more than a year and saw a cold determination she’d only seen on the bad side of the clouds back in Cloudsdale. No laughing assault this… She’s trying to kill me, Stormy realized in a daze, and got her wings out of the clouds, raising her wings to shield the next flurry of kicks. Rosewing wasn’t much bigger than Stormy, but she was fighting a lot better! Only the feather flu seemed to be slowing her down. Stormy folded her wings tight and let gravity drop her down as Rosewing streaked in a fourth time. The side of the cloud exploded outward, filling the space around them with mist. The smart thing would be to go for help. Get Bulk Biceps and Thunderlane. Heck, Rainbow Dash would be great too! Right now, Stormy would happily have the assistance of a Wonderbolt cadet level flyer. If she did though, Misty was a goner. Class A lightning could stop a heart just with just an errant filament of energy. She had to get Misty away! Stormy made her way towards the dark cloud, keeping an eye out for red. She saw it in the corner of her eye; the one that wasn’t swelling shut. Rosewing dove down, hooves aimed at Stormy’s neck. Stormy rolled away, the red mare swishing past. “What is your deal?” Stormy asked desperately, trying to get close enough to help Misty. The mare looked as if she were about to wet herself. That would be bad. “Look, if I pissed you off or something then I’m sorry! Whatever it is we can talk about it after she’s safe.” Rosewing smile frosted Stormy’s feathers. “Personally, I like you, Stormy. You never ask questions. You two just have bad luck is all,” Rosewing said evenly, then coughed. “Damn flu. I’m going to have to make something up about why you two are gone. Passing gang of griffons, maybe.” Stormy had known Rosewing for a long time. They’d gone to school together. She was about as close to a friend as Stormy got, but looking into Rosewing’s green eyes, Stormy realized she didn’t know this mare at all. Stormy slowly moved back as Rosewing advanced, the two of them slowly orbiting the dark cloud with the lightning bolt. It was humming; a sign of instability. The bigger the bolt, the longer the delay, but the bigger the boom. As she came around, she saw Misty’s terrified eye staring back at her. To her credit, she hadn’t moved, but that wouldn’t keep her safe much longer. This bolt was going to strike, but where could she go? Stormy could probably get away, but what about Misty? She glanced at the glowing crystalized energy. The flickers were starting to synchronize. When they did… could she kick the bolt? Yeah, right. Only Equestria’s finest bolt specialists could pull that off! What if… Oh… that… might work. “I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m not just going to let you kill us,” Stormy said, keeping her voice low. She glanced over and met Misty’s eye. “You should just let go of it. Drop your problem.” The white mare’s eyes widened, but she gave a little nod. “We’ve worked too long and hard on this. Sorry, Stormy.” She dove straight towards Stormy. Didn’t look like Rosewing had paid close attention during her lightning management. The charcoal mare spun around, wrapping her hooves around Misty’s torso just as Rosewing dove straight in. Misty released the cloud, and with Stormy clinging to her back, the pair fell away. “Oh no you don’t!” Rosewing shouted hoarsely next to the wildly flickering bolt of unstable energy, and dove after them. As they dropped, Stormy winced, dropping towards the apple orchards below. “Why are we spinning around?” Misty asked weakly. "Cause!" was all Story said. Come on, Stormy thought, looking back at Rosewing. There were three places you didn’t want to be when lightning went off. Third was above it. Second was around it. First… Maybe it was her lightning cutie mark, or the adrenaline pumping through her, but when Stormy looked back, she saw the rolling waves of energy synchronize in one powerful pulse running up and down the jagged crystalline structure, and with one final downward surge, it exploded out the tip of the bolt. The length exploded in an instant, the bolt snaking and forking its way down to the surface. Stormy nearly tore her feathers off as she pumped sideways, pulling along the screaming Misty Morning as the lightning sought the earth. One powerful, central bolt snaked back and forth as it sought the ground while a dozen fingers spread out in a fan. Rosewing wasn’t so lucky. Time returned with the explosion of thunder that knocked them wildly through the air. The hammer blow silenced Misty and they tumbled down. Stormy tried to say that Misty needed to spread her wings and increase her drag, but all she heard was a faint keening squeal in her ears and as dazzling zigzags burned in her vision. She barely felt her impact with a tree, nor falling from branch to branch before crumpling in a heap at the base. Sitting on her singed and smoking tail, body bruised and battered, Stormy stared at the hole in the sky where the lightning bolt had gone off. Say what you will, Class A lightning was awesome. Unfortunately, from the multiple plumes of smoke rising from the orchard… not to mention one prominent column from where… where Applejack’s barn should have been… woooo… world spinning… “No! Pull yourself together,” Stormy groaned as she tried to pull herself to her hooves, blinking away the sparkles in her vision as she looked around for a wintergreen maned mare. Her whole body felt numb, but that probably wouldn’t last long. “Misty? Misty?” she shouted as she staggered amid the trees. Smoke wasn’t making things any easier as she searched, and she coughed as she smelled a sweet reek. Then she spotted what was cooking. Her hide had been flash cooked like a bad steak, and what remained of her wings were blackened pinions. All of her limbs were bent at odd angles, frozen in place from the voltage. The sockets were empty; the extreme heat had likely flash boiled her eyes. “Misty… no… no…” Stormy had held onto her! Two ponies should have spread out the charge more, and they hadn’t been under the main bolt! They… An apple fell on her head. She looked up, seeing a faint green and blue tail and two hind legs stuck in the tree directly above her. Stormy’s ears didn’t quite pick up her word. Something about ‘oh no’, and then Misty Morning fell on Stormy’s head too. That was about the time Ponyville arrived. Not everypony, but it certainly seemed like it. There were the Apples trying to put fires out. Princess Twilight teleported in and, with Fluttershy’s help, evacuated the animals who were trapped inside the ruined barn. Rainbow Dash and the rest of the weather team were searching the clouds for any other bolts of that magnitude. Then the prismatically maned pegasus found Stormy and Misty and asked the question that Stormy knew was coming. “What did you do?” Of course neither Stormy nor Misty was in any condition to answer. They were badly beaten up by the fall and both had thin, forking burns from where the lightning had passed over them. Misty was nearly unconscious when she was taken away, going into shock and whispering over and over again about how she was sorry. Stormy Skies, though, wasn’t going to the hospital. A pair of gold armored pegasi pushed their way past the crowd and looked down at her. “Miss Stormy Skies. You’re coming with us,” they said in a voice she knew only too well. “Great,” she muttered, “Here we go again.”