"Everypony, sit in these seven chairs," instructed Cumulo Nimbus, "and turn them towards me."
Sassaflash, her five friends, and Lightning Dust walked over to the seven chairs Cumulo Nimbus was talking about and turned them towards him.
"You may sit down."
The seven pegasi promptly sat down in their chairs.
Cumulo Nimbus flew across the room to sit down in his chair.
"Sassaflash, you may begin with your side of the story first."
Sassaflash gulped. "Well," she began, "I was staying over to sleep at the electric division yesterday because of today's big meeting. As I was sleeping, around four o' clock a.m., I suddenly got up out of bed and I turned on the lights downstairs on the first floor of the division. There were no machines at all! The only thing left were the uniforms. I put on my uniform and I managed to glimpse a dark, black figure of a pegasus mare just before I turned off the lights again and went back upstairs to go back to sleep."
"Who do you think was the pegasus figure?" Cumulo Nimbus asked Sassaflash.
"I think this figure was none other than Lightning Dust herself," Sassaflash replied. "I mean, she already had gotten dragged out of the Wonderbolts Academy quite some time ago. She could just be jealous of my friends and me because we have such a high status here at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory!"
"Interesting story," Cumulo Nimbus replied. "Lightning Dust, you are free to make any objections."
"Well, I would never do such a thing again! I mean, I apologized to everypony afterwards, and I was looked down upon for a long time. Eventually, everypony forgot about it, just as how everypony will forget about this."
Lightning Dust looked Sassaflash square in the face.
"You and your band of thieves."
"OBJECTION!" Sassaflash shouted. "We would never do this! We love our jobs oh so very much! Besides, the Grand Gallo-"
"Stop," spoke Cumulo Nimbus. "Do you recall me telling all of you that only Lightning Dust can make any objections?"
"Yes boss," Sassaflash replied.
"Now, your friends can tell their side of the incident."
"We were not there," Medley replied.
"Oh yes you were!" Lightning Dust shot back.
"Do you have any proof?" Dizzy Twister asked.
"Now, now," spoke Cumulo Nimbus. "Since the other weather supervisors have nothing to say, I will now let Lightning Dust speak about her side of this sudden heist."
"Well," Lightning Dust began, "I was flying around yesterday morning to get my adrenaline rush for the day. I happened to fly by the Cloudsdale Weather Factory on my flight. Suddenly, I heard a huge explosion. I flew by the electric division to see what it was. In there, the electric division looked very barren, with nothing inside. Nothing, except six pegasi with cloaks of black on them. 'Stop!' I shouted, but they flew around me and out of the electric division."
"Interesting," Cumulo Nimbus replied. "Sassaflash, you and your friends are free to make any objections."
"Well, first of all," Sassaflash spoke, "your evidence is very vague. You didn't really state when any of this happened except for 'this morning'."
Sassaflash's friends nodded their heads in agreement.
"Second of all, I saw nothing but the electric division uniforms. You saw nothing at all!"
"But I was just flying!" Lightning Dust shot back.
"Lightning Dust," Cumulo Nimbus added. "Only Sassaflash and her friends are free to make any objections right now."
Lightning Dust grunted.
"Third of all," Sassaflash added, "my friends weren't even there at the time!"
"I was still sleeping!" Medley added.
"We were busy drawing clouds!" Cloudchaser and Flitter agreed.
"Stop," Cumulo Nimbus spoke with a booming voice, "We will continue this tomorrow. Go home and get some rest tonight. Tomorrow we will determine who carried out such a heist."
Lightning Dust got up out of her seat and flew across the room. She landed next to the door, looking at Sassaflash.
"This isn't over!"
Lightning Dust flew out of the building, Sassaflash and the rest of the weather supervisors following her.
Finally, Sassaflash was home. She took off her uniform as soon as she got inside.
"Probably won't be needing this anymore."
She tossed her uniform on the floor as she ran up her house's stairs. Upon reaching the second floor, Sassaflash ran into her bedroom and flopped down onto her bed. She began to weep.
However, she wasn't certain about one thing: Why would she cry about something she clearly didn't do? Why did she have to go through this pain she didn't deserve? Why, above all of these questions, did she get blamed, possibly shut out, and possibly fired and shamed when the real culprit, Lightning Dust, actually deserves this? She didn't know why Cumulo Nimbus didn't believe her. She didn't know why her fellow employees started to shame her. At least she had the support of her friends.
Sassaflash smiled as she remembered her friends. My friends, she thought, the one few ponies I can count on.
Suddenly, a few tears formed around her eyes again. Maybe she didn't deserve her job. Maybe she'd be better off working somewhere else. No, no. She loved her job, and Cumulo Nimbus would probably change his mind tomorrow. The thought of that made Sassaflash more confident than ever. Tomorrow is the day she and her friends would show Cumulo Nimbus what a big, filthy liar Lightning Dust was today and to win back the trust of everypony in the Cloudsdale Weather Factory.
"I'll show them," she spoke to herself. "I'll show them all!"
The next morning, every pegasus from every division, including Sassaflash and her friends, gathered in the large meeting hall of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. Cumulo Nimbus flew across the room and sat in his chair, facing everyone. The weather supervisors sat in their desks, arranged around Cumulo Nimbus's chair. Lightning Dust sat in a small, empty desk next to Cumulo Nimbus.
Suddenly, Cumulo Nimbus began to speak: "We are gathered here today to hold a trial of yesterday's heist. I talked to these weather supervisors alongside this other young pegasus mare, Lightning Dust. Apparently Lightning Dust is very aggressive with her opinions on the heist, being a witness."
"The weather supervisors, however, are disagreeing with Lightning's theory that they were the thieves. They are very defensive with their opinions. Both of their stories are very interesting, however. First, let's hear what Sassaflash has to say about this heist."
Sassaflash cleared her throat and began to speak. "I think I know why Lightning Dust is defensive against her theory. She is covering herself because she is afraid to get caught and framed for this heist."
"What makes you think I did it?" Lightning Dust blasted.
"You are trying to cover your tracks," Sassaflash told Lightning, "to make it look like you did nothing, to make it look like you were just an innocent witness. My friends and I think you stole the machines from the electric division, and we are sticking with our opinions."
"In my story," Sassaflash continued, "I was the witness. I saw the uniforms still intact at the division. I saw only one pegasus mare figure, and that was you, Lightning Dust. How could I see myself?"
Pegasi from the audience started to yell and argue.
"I knew it all along that she did nothing!" shouted Tea Leaf.
Everypony went silent again as Sassaflash began to speak again: "Exactly. Lightning Dust wanted to make herself look less suspicious by saying that she is a better pony now. But she isn't."
"I disagree!" disagreed Lightning Dust. "I am a better pony now, and I could prove it to all of you neighsayers!"
"How will you do that without any solid evidence, huh?" Medley asked Lightning.
"I'm leaving!" Lightning Dust suddenly shouted. "And this isn't over! NOTHING IS OVER!"
"Wait," boomed Cumulo Nimbus's voice, "since nopony else has anything to say about this event, nopony is guilty yet. You each will have exactly one month to convince other ponies that you weren't the thieves."
"What I mean is that the weather supervisors would convince ponies that they were innocent, and Lightning Dust would tell other ponies that she is innocent."
A pervasive silence filled the room.
"You may all leave now."
All of the pegasi except Cumulo Nimbus left the room, leaving Cumulo Nimbus sitting in his chair in front of a rather empty audience.
"This makes no sense."
Sassaflash and her five friends were gathered at her house.
"We'll need some kind of plan!" exclaimed Cloud Kicker.
"We can put up fliers," Medley suggested.
"Come on!" Sassaflash disagreed. "It's not like I have a lost pet or something!"
"Then how will we do this?" questioned Medley.
"We'll have to hold speeches in front of large audiences," Sassaflash spoke. "I write really good speeches. The way I was talking yesterday and today, it sounded like I was giving a speech to everypony."
"Better get started on that speech," Dizzy Twister suggested.
"Yeah," Sassaflash replied. "But first, we've gotta go to bed!"
Sassaflash grabbed a few pillows and went upstairs to her bedroom. Her loyal friends followed her there.
"I'll sleep in the bed," she told all of her friends.
Sassaflash laid the five pillows she grabbed all around the bed she was going to lay in. As her friends rested their heads on their pillows, Sassaflash climbed into her own bed.
"Good night!" she told her friends.
"Good night!" they responded.
And what a good night it was. Tomorrow was going to be a day full of speech-writing and oral practicing for Sassaflash and her friends. They had to win the trust of other ponies, otherwise they'd be guilty for nothing.