//------------------------------//
// Chapter Two 
// Story: Stormy Skies 
// by ShadowKick 
//------------------------------//

	Rainbow Dash was growing impatient. Over an hour had passed since her meeting with Celestia, and the rescue party still was not ready to go. She looked at her hoof, remembered that she did not own a watch, then let out a frustrated groan.

"Come on everypony, we need to get moving," she said.

A flutter of golden feathers caught her eye. The captain of the Wonderbolts landed next to Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes. Rainbow Dash stared for a moment. Spitfire looked entirely different without her Wonderbolts uniform on, her golden coat was usually hidden by the deep blue fabric. Rainbow Dash had rarely seen her out of uniform.

"Rainbow, we need to have everypony organized before we go," Spitfire said, with the tone one uses to explain the obvious to a small filly, "This rescue will require flying in a tight formation, with all of us working together. We're almost ready, but if we try to rush it we'll just get ourselves hurt and won't be able to help anypony."

Rainbow scratched the ground with her hoof, her cheeks growing warm, "I know, I know. I'm just impatient. There are ponies trapped inside Cloudsdale that need our help, and every second counts!"

"I understand," Spitfire smiled, "We'll be ready soon, just be prepared to do your part. This whole plan hangs on you."

"Yes ma'am!" Rainbow said, snapping a quick salute, "You can count on me!"

Spitfire returned to Soarin and the other Wonderbolts, who were directing a group of several dozen pegasi in formation flying. Rainbow Dash busied herself stretching her wings, mentally preparing for the task ahead.

Doing a sonic rainboom was no easy task, she knew that first hoof. What is more, this storm presented less than ideal conditions. Rainbow tried to ignore the nervous thoughts in the back of her mind, but they crept up on her.

"What if I can't do it?" she thought, "What if the wind is too strong, or the rain is too thick? What if the storm throws me off?"

"No, that won't happen," she shook her head, clearing the thoughts, "I'm just nervous. It's ok to be nervous, it doesn't mean I'll do badly."

She thought about that for a moment. She remembered being nervous before, "I was nervous before the Best Young Flier competition, and I nearly blew my whole routine!"

She paled at this thought, crouching low and quivering in place. The roaring crowds, the staring eyes. Everypony watching, waiting for her, counting on her. It had been too much, she had nearly snapped. She had made mistakes, her nerves distracting her from the task at hoof. It could happen again. It would happen again.

Then she remembered more. A piercing scream, the sight of her friend plummeting, wingless. A rush of speed, the wind in her mane. An explosion of color and sound. She stood up straight, calming her shaking limbs, her face glowing with a confident smile.

"Sure, I got nervous, and I made mistakes," she said to herself, "But when it really counted, when somepony was depending on me, I pulled through. And I'll do it again."

"I'm glad to see you're ready," Spitfires voice said form behind her.

Rainbow Dash jumped, spinning around to face the Wonderbolt she had not realized was there. Spitfire was grinning, not unkindly. She reached out and put a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder.

"Come on kid," she said, "We're ready to go, don't keep us waiting."

With that, Spitfire flew off to join the group of pegasi hovering nearby.

"Kid? Keep you waiting?" Rainbow Dash said, trying to process whether it was an insult or a challenge. She decided it was the latter, and shot into the air, "Why, I'm the best flier in Equestria. If anypony is going to be kept waiting, it's me!"

With that she led the way towards the roiling storm clouds. Dozens of sets of wings beat behind her. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw the pegasi falling into formation. Spitfire flew in the lead, and the others spread out behind her in a cone shape. The other Wonderbolts were spaced out along the formation, working to keep everypony in place.

The beating wings, working together, formed a funnel wind around the formation. It looked almost like a sideways tornado, Rainbow saw. The strong barrier of moving air would deflect the storm's wind and rain, protecting the pegasi inside. All they needed was an opening to break into the storm.

Rainbow Dash smiled. She flew up as they approached the storm, high above and slightly behind the formation of pegasi. She would need the extra distance to build up speed without leaving them behind. She waited a moment, counting seconds. The timing had to be perfect.

When the time was right she dove towards the storm, plummeting down. She pumped her wings, to gain speed and to steady herself against the strong crosswind. Her mane flowed in the wind, soon blowing straight back as her speed overpowered the crosswind. She felt the air resist her, hold her back. With a grunt of effort, she pumped her wings harder, pushing herself forward and gaining speed.

She passed the formation of pegasi. Seconds later she reached the edge of the storm, the crosswind tripling in strength in the space of a few feet. She was not ready for the sudden change of windspeed and nearly lost control, but with a quick flap of her wings she steadied herself and gained the last bit of speed she needed.

A flash of rainbow light exploded behind her. She knew there was a thundering boom involved as well, but at this speed the sound of it could not catch her. She grinned over her shoulder, watching the clouds part behind her, blown away by the force of her sonic rainboom. The formation of pegasi flowed into the gap in the clouds, slipping into the storm before it could reform.

Rainbow slowed. She needed to join with the formation before the storm blew her away. As the bright rainbow trail that was following her faded, she finally heard the loud boom she had caused, echoing among the clouds. Her wings were tired, but with a few strong strokes she had fallen into place right behind Spitfire.

"Good work, Rainbow Dash!" the Wonderbolt captain shouted through the noise of the storm.

Rainbow blushed, looking away from the mare she idolized, "Aw, it was nothing. Just doing my part."

Spitfire pointed ahead, "We aren't that far from the eye. We should be able to get there in a few minutes at this speed."

"Good!" Rainbow said, "My wings could use a break."

Rainbow looked over the formation. The other Wonderbolts were working hard to keep everypony in line, but between the strong winds and the inexperienced fliers the formation was getting ragged. She could see several weak spots in the barrier they were making.

Soarin, one of the Wonderbolts, came flying up from near the rear of the formation. He was panting from exertion, droplets of sweat blowing off of his face as he flew. His wide eyes told Rainbow Dash that something had gone wrong. What he said when he reached the front confirmed this.

"Spitfire! Several ponies have been cut off by the storm," he said, "They can't get back to us through the wind."

Spitfire's eyes grew as wide as Soarin's, then she turned and looked at Rainbow, "Dash," she said, "Go see if you can help those lost ponies."

"I'm on it!" Rainbow said, and with a quick flip she was flying towards the back of the formation.

She could see several ponies struggling in the storm, about forty feet away from the formation. They were pushing hard against the wind, but were slowly falling behind the rest of the pegasi. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Rainbow Dash dove into the storm and worked her way through it to the struggling pegasi.

"Having some trouble?" she asked, coming up along side the small group.

"Just a little bit," one of the pegasi said, grinning sheepishly, "Care to help?"

"No problem!" Rainbow said, "Flap your wings in time with each other, and stay in my wake. We'll get you back."

Rainbow's wings were tired. Doing a sonic rainboom in these conditions had taken a lot out of her. She pumped her wings, setting her face in a look of grim determination. The small group of pegasi fell into place behind her, flapping their wings in time as Rainbow had instructed. They made steady progress, closing on the larger group of pegasi, but it was slow going. Rainbow's flight muscles burned, each flap of her wings took more effort than the one before. Soon she was panting from the exertion, her sore wings shaking with the strain.

"We're so close," she said to herself, "I can do this."

Her left wing twinged cramped up. She screamed with pain, and instinctively stopped flapping. No longer propelling herself through the storm, she plummeted at the mercy of the winds. She looked longingly at the relative safety of the pegasi formation, but with her wing injured and her momentum gone she would not be able to catch up to them. She saw the pegasi she had gone to rescue rejoining the group, with worried looks on their faces as they looked through the storm at her. She saw Spitfire screaming something, but could not hear what. Then the storm whipped her away, and she could not see the other pegasi at all anymore.


***


Twilight Sparkle had found her way to her favorite spot in the Canterlot Library. The back hallway, where she could pace back and forth for hours without getting in anypony's way. During her years in Canterlot she had paced this hallway more times than she could count. She had lost track at three thousand four hundred seventeen, when she was still just a filly.

Pacing this hallway had always been her solution to worry. It gave her time to think, time to process things. Big test coming up? Pace. Accidentally set her room on fire? Pace. Turned Celestia's coat bright pink? Pace. And cry, that one had involved crying as well. But whenever something was troubling her, a few solitary hours of pacing in the back of the library had calmed her down.

Solitary being the operative word.

"Come on, Twilight," Spike said, "Calm down."

"I can't calm down!" she shouted, "Rainbow Dash is diving into that storm as we speak, with no idea what she's heading into. If only I'd been able to find something before she left."

"I'm sure she'll be fine."

Twilight stopped in the middle of the hallway, looking back at Spike, "But what if she's not fine? What if something happens to her in that storm? Something that could have been avoided if she'd just had more information!"

"Well pacing back and forth isn't going to help us find anything," Spike said.

"It's too late now, Rainbow Dash has already left! We can't do anything to help her."

Twilight sat down heavily, thoughts of Rainbow Dash hurt or worse flickering through her mind. Her muscles tensed, and she twitched slightly. She had never been so stressed out. Except maybe that time when she was nearly tardy. Her ears perked up when she heard the sound of approaching hoofsteps.

"Twilight?" Rarity called, coming out from among the bookshelves with a dusty volume, "What about this one?"

Twilight leaped towards her friend, grabbing the book in midair and starting to read before she landed. Her eyes caught the title and she frowned.

"Oh, it's 'Weird Weather and Sinister Storms: A history of magical and unnatural weather patterns in Equestria'" she said, "I had this one in Ponyville, it didn't have anything useful in it."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rarity said, her ears drooping, "I suppose we'll have to keep looking then."

"Yeah."

Rarity looked around, "You are looking, aren't you? Or have you spent this entire time pacing back and forth?"

Twilight felt her cheeks grow warm, and knew she was blushing, "I, uhm..."

"I thought there was a lead you wanted to follow up on?"

"There was a reference that Starswirl the Bearded made," Twilight said, not looking her friend in the eye, "But it didn't seem to be going anywhere."

"Didn't seem to be going anywhere?" Rarity asked.

"Nothing seems to be going anywhere!" Twilight shouted.

Twilight stamped her hooves in frustration, taking the book Rarity had brought and throwing it down the hallway. Rarity stood quietly for a moment while Twilight breathed heavily.

"Twilight, dear, you really need to calm down," Rarity said.

"Calm? Calm? How can I be calm at a time like this?" Twilight was screaming at her friend, "There's a great big storm hanging over Cloudsdale and nopony knows how to do anything about it! And-" Twilight could not finish her last sentence.

"And Rainbow Dash, one of your best friends, is right in the middle of it," Rarity said for her.

Twilight hung her head low, "And I can't do anything to help her. I'm so worried."

"She's your friend, Twilight. Of course you're worried," Rarity's voice was gentle, reassuring, "But you're wrong. You can help her. You can find out if any other storms like this have happened before, and how to stop them."

Twilight felt some of the weight lift from her mind. The feeling of helplessness that had been following her around all day was vanishing.

"You're right!" Twilight said, "We need to find a solution. We can find a solution!"

"That's the spirit."

Twilight's ears twitched at the sound of pattering dragon feet. Looking around, she saw that Spike was no longer sitting where he had been for the last hour. Instead, he was running along the hallway, frantically waving a book.

"Twilight! Rarity! I've found it!" he said with excitement.

"You've found what, Spike?" Twilight asked.

"The book that Starswirl the Bearded referenced!"

Twilight gasped, and noticed that Rarity did the same next to her. Twilight smiled and took the book from Spike.

"Oh Spike, how did you ever find this?" she asked.

Spike grinned sheepishly, "It was in the old archives. I used to go down there and read to pass the time, whenever you came up here to pace."

"The old archives? Nopony has organized those in years," Twilight said, "Spike, if you hadn't remembered this book was down there, we never would have found it!"

"Aw, it was nothing," Spike said, looking down and scratching the floor with his foot.

Twilight had already buried her snout in the book, her eyes racing over the words. She grinned as she read. The information in this book was the best way to help Rainbow Dash. She hoped it was not already too late.