//------------------------------// // Chapter Three // Story: Stormy Skies // by ShadowKick //------------------------------// Spitfire's wings hurt. Leading the formation in this storm, even for a few minutes, was very tiring. The other pegasi were starting to wear down as well, and for a moment her heart hung heavy in her chest. The would not make it to the center of the storm. Then she caught sight of a glimmer of light ahead. Not more lightning, this light was too steady. Sunlight, piercing through the eye at the center of the storm. They were less than a minute away. "We're almost there everypony!" she shouted. Her wings felt renewed, hopeful energy flowed through her. She increased her pace, checking behind to make sure the other pegasi could keep up. The closeness of the eye had invigorated them as well, and they matched her speed. Gusts of wind threatened to blow them off course. Forked tongues of lightning cut through the air all around the formation of pegasi, rocking them with booming thunder. Even in formation, with their own wind barrier protecting them, the pegasi were buffeted by the ferocity of the storm. Intense winds turned and pushed directly against Spitfire. Even with her swift and powerful wings she had difficulty moving forward against the strong headwind, but with one last burst of effort she broke out into the eye of the storm. The air here was unnaturally calm. A few feet behind her the storm raged in all its power and ferocity, but here the air barely moved at all. Stretched out below her lay most of Cloudsdale, standing tall just as it had her entire life. Only the edges of the city were within the storm, the huge eye was nearly as large as the city. Spitfire turned and did a quick headcount as the other pegasi came out of the storm. She sighed in relief, the rescue team were all accounted for. Well, all except one. She sighed again, in sadness this time. She flew over to the group of pegasi. "Hey Soarin," she said, drawing the attention of her fellow Wonderbolt. Soarin flew up to her, "What's up?" "Have you seen Rainbow Dash at all since she got blown away?" The pegasus shook his head slowly, "No sign of her. I had the others keeping an eye out." "Feathers!" Spitfire swore, "I hope she's ok." "She could have landed, found some shelter," Soarin suggested. Spitfire glanced at the raging storm, "Maybe." Spitfire shook her head, clearing her thoughts. Rainbow Dash was one of the best fliers in Equestria, if anypony could make it through that storm alone, it would be Dash. In the meantime, they had other concerns here in Cloudsdale. She could not get sidetracked over one pony when fifty others were hanging in the balance. "We still have a mission to perform," she said, "Let's get down into the city." Soarin did not say anything, he just fell into place behind her as she dove towards the city. She sent him a silent thanks for that. Rainbow Dash was not one of her Wonderbolts, but the young mare had often surprised and impressed Spitfire with her exuberance. The loss would weigh heavily on Spitfire if Rainbow Dash did not survive the storm. *** Scootaloo sat alone in the clubhouse after school, waiting for her friends. She was excited. School was canceled tomorrow, due to the emergency in Cloudsdale. Miss Cheerilee had said that the storm could reach ponyville by nightfall the next day, and that everypony should stay home, but with Rarity and Applejack both away from Ponyville the Cutie Mark Crusader's had found it easy to sneak out. "And anyway," Scootaloo said to herself, "We'll be home long before nightfall tomorrow. We'll be fine." She was to excited about spending the day with her friends to worry much about some storm in the distance. Storms had never scared her. After all, Rainbow Dash worked with storms all the time. Scootaloo could not be afraid of anything involving her idol, it was all too awesome. She was in the middle of daydreaming about flying with Rainbow Dash when her friends arrived. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom bounced into their clubhouse, broad smiles on their faces. Scootaloo let the daydream slip from her mind, jumping up and smiling with her friends. "Hi Sweetie Belle! Hi Applebloom!" she said, her excitement leaking into her voice. "Hi Scootaloo!" the other two fillies said in unision. "So, what do we have planned to get out cutie marks today?" Scootaloo asked. Applebloom's face twisted in confusion, "Don't ya remember?" "What?" "We talked about this earlier," Sweetie Belle said, "We're going to help you learn how to fly." "Oh, right," Scootaloo said. She was torn between excitement and sadness now. It was so awesome of her friends to help her out, but at the same time she worried that she would just disappoint them, like she had disappointed herself so many times before. Sweetie Belle pushed her playfully, "Cheer up. And come outside, there's no room for flying in here." Sweetie Belle ran out of the clubhouse, with Applebloom close behind her. Scootaloo weighed her options for a moment, worrying and hoping at the same time. She decided to let hope win out and, with a huge smile on her face, followed her friends through the door. When she got outside Scootaloo felt a weight on her head. Applebloom was shoving flight goggles over her eyes. They were old and worn, and Scootaloo wondered where her friends had found such a thing, but it made her feel more prepared for what she was about to do. "Do ya like 'em?" Applebloom asked, then went on without waiting for an answer, "We borrowed them from Fluttershy's cottage. She never uses them anyway, and we'll put them back before she even notices they're gone." "They're awesome!" Scootaloo said, adjusting the goggles, "Ok, so how do we start?" Her friends exchanged a confused glance before Sweetie Belle spoke up, "Well... uhm, I guess we should start by seeing what you can do already. We need to see what we're working with." "Oh, yeah," Scootaloo said, looking away so her friends would not see her embarrassed expression, "Are you sure?" "We are," Sweetie Belle said. Applebloom nodded agreement. "Ok, but don't laugh." Scootaloo flapped her wings. They buzzed rapidly on her back faster than the eye could follow. Her back arched, and she could feel her wings pulling upward, but her hooves remained planted firmly on the ground. She strained herself, grunting with the effort, but soon she had to stop and collapsed to the ground. "This is pointless, I'll never fly," she said, holding back the tears that threatened to pour from her eyes. "Nonsense!" Sweetie Belle said, an unusual tone of authority in her voice, "We can work with this." "Yeah, we'll have y'all up and flying in no time," Applebloom said. "Do you really think so?" Scootaloo asked, hope peeking into her heart again. "We know so," Sweetie Belle said, "You'll be flying in ten seconds flat." Scootaloo smiled at the reference to her idol Rainbow Dash. Sweetie Belle always knew how to cheer her up. Letting her former excitement flood into her again, she jumped up and smiling, bouncing in place. "So what are we gonna do, then?" she asked. "Well," Sweetie Belle said, looking around, "Your biggest problem is that your body is too heavy for your wings. We need to fix that." "How?" Scootaloo asked. She looked over her shoulder, fluttering her wings. How could they make her wings stronger? "Balloons!" Sweetie Belle said, squeaking. "Balloons?" Scootaloo said doubtfully, "I don't think... that doesn't sound like a good idea." "It's a great idea!" Sweetie Belle insisted, putting on her broadest smile, "Here, you and Applebloom start blowing up these balloons. I'll make a harness to hold them all." Still doubting the idea, Scootaloo set herself to blowing up the balloons. Between her and Applebloom they had done nearly a dozen by the time Sweetie Belle finished her harness. Scootaloo soon found herself wrapped in ropes, with a dozen balloons hanging off of her. The balloons sagged to the ground, coming to rest on the grass. She sighed, she was so bad at flying that even balloons would not float when attached to her. Sweetie Belle also sighed, her ears hanging low, "Hmmm, this isn't working." "I noticed," Scootaloo said, "These balloons aren't very floaty." Scootaloo twisted, grabbing the ropes with her teeth and yanking them away. She tossed the tangle of ropes and balloons down with more force than was strictly necessary, then she stomped on the balloons, popping them. "Stupid balloons!" Scootaloo shouted. "I may have made a miscalculation. But I have another solution, bigger wings!" "Bigger wings?" Scootaloo asked. "Ah don't think we have time to wait for her wings to grow out," Applebloom said. Sweetie Belle shook her head, "No no no, we make her some wings out of wood and cloth." "Would that even work?" Applebloom asked. Sweetie Belle pulled a book out of the pile of materials sitting nearby. Scootaloo saw the title on the cover, 'A Beginner's Guide to Aerodynamics'. "Hey!" Scootaloo said, stamping her hoof, "That's mine!" "I just borrowed it to help you," Sweetie Belle said, "Anyway, according to this book you need to generate more lift. And constructed wings can generate lift." "That... could work," Scootaloo admitted, still upset about the book. She had been reading that book every night before bed, dreaming about flying. Applebloom interrupted her thoughts, "It'll take all night to make wings like that." "You're right," Sweetie Belle said, "We couldn't test them until tomorrow." "And it won't be safe tomorrow, because of the storm," Scootaloo said, her head hanging low again. "We'll be fine in the morning," Sweetie Belle said. Sweetie Belle's suggestion sounded reasonable, as far as Scootaloo could tell. It was true that ponies could build things with wings that would fly, so why not build wings to carry a pegasus? And they would have plenty of time in the morning to test things before the storm blew in. She smiled. "Sounds like a plan!" Scootaloo said. "Oh, I know what else we could do!" Applebloom said, smiling. "What?" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle said together. "We can ask an older pegasus for help! I'm sure Rainbow Dash would-" "No!" Scootaloo shouted, cutting off her friend. "Why not? Rainbow Dash is the best flier in Ponyville, ah'm sure she could help." Scootaloo tried to think of an excuse quickly, "Because, uhm, she's gone off to Cloudsdale to help with the storm! She couldn't help now." Scootaloo sighed in relief when her friends accepted the excuse. She did not want Rainbow Dash to find out she could not fly yet. Scootaloo knew that the cyan mare would not say anything, not out loud. She was too cool for that. But Rainbow Dash would think it. She would think Scootaloo was a pathetic little filly, uncool. Lame. Scootaloo could not stand to have Rainbow Dash think her lame. "Well, I guess we should meet back here in the morning," Sweetie Belle said. "Yeah, I gotta get back to the farm anyway," Applebloom said, "Big Mac needs help with the chores tonight, with Applejack out of town." Scootaloo watched her friends run off towards their homes, then looked up at the dark clouds over Cloudsdale in the distance, "Someday, Rainbow Dash. Someday I'll fly up there just like you do. Then you'll think I'm cool." *** Rainbow Dash had always felt at home in the sky. Her powerful wings and acrobatic skills made her the most awesome thing in the sky. It was her home, her domain, and she had always felt the most comfortable with her hooves off of solid ground. Until now. At the mercy of the storm's strong winds, with lightning flashing all around her, she was terrified. She had never felt so small, so helpless, in her sky. She tried to flap her wings, but succeeded only in sending another spike of pain shooting through herself. Rainbow Dash looked down. The winds had been blowing her around for a while now, but she was steadily growing closer to the ground. She was falling slowly enough, but the wind was pushing her sideways so quickly that an impact with the ground would be very dangerous. Maybe even deadly. "Spitfire!" she screamed into the storm. She did not have any hope for an answer. The other pegasi were long gone. For their sakes, she hoped they stayed gone. Nopony was safe in this storm. Rainbow stretched her hurting wing. It was not broken, she knew, but she suspected that she had strained a flight muscle. As much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, Rainbow knew that what she really needed right now was to spend a day or two grounded, so that her wing would have time to heal. "The only way I'm getting to the ground right now is not going to be pretty," she said to herself. Her voice sounded shaky to her. She tried to steady it. "Rainbow Dash," a steady voice said in the storm. "That's better," she said, then her eyes widened, "Wait a minute, that wasn't me!" "Rainbow Dash," a faint voice in the storm, slipping through the winds and the rain. "Who's there?" Rainbow called into the storm, "Help me!" The voice came again, closer this time, "Rainbow Dash." "Who is that? Where are you?" "I am everywhere, Rainbow Dash," the voice said from right next to her. Rainbow twisted and turned in the storm, but she could not see anypony nearby. "What? Where?" "I am all around you." "Who are you?" Rainbow Dash asked, her heart in her throat. "I am the winds and the rains," the voice said, "The lightning and the thunder. I am drought and flood, fog and cloud." Rainbow Dash's mind, already tumbling from fear and disorientation, could not process this, "What? Look, I don't know who you are, but I need your help. I can't fly and I don't know how to find Cloudsdale from here. Please, help me." The voice laughed a cruel laugh, "You shall not have my help, little pegasus, but I shall have yours." "What? What help can I possibly offer? What could I give when I'm lost and helpless?" Rainbow Dash was rather annoyed with this voice now. "Yourself," the voice said simply. The winds picked up strength. Bursts of lightning exploded the air around Rainbow Dash. Thunder boomed and rain drove into her painfully. Through the intensifying storm Rainbow Dash could see a vague shape, nothing more than a tuft of cloud that was impossibly holding together in the storm. "Wait, what?" Rainbow asked, her former terror redoubling now. "I require a form. Give me yours." Rainbow shook her head, "No way. This pony doesn't lend herself out." The voice laughed again, "I did not say lend. I said give." "Leave me alone!" Rainbow Dash screamed, flapping her wings frantically. She did not even notice the pain of her injured muscles. The figure drifted closer through the storm, growing more substantial as it approached. Rainbow could not escape it, so she turned to face it. "Fine," Rainbow Dash said, "You wanna do this the hard way? Let's do it the hard way!" She flew directly at the figure, plunging into it. It was not a cloud, but something similar, like a cloud that was not quite there. It felt strange, but it gave way under her hooves and that was all that Rainbow Dash cared about. She tore apart the not-cloud. The figure withdrew. Rainbow found herself upwind of the figure, and she dove towards it again. The wind pushed her forward now, giving her a boost of speed. "And speed is what I need," Rainbow said, gritting her teeth against the pain in her wing as she pushed herself. Almost there. For the second time that day there was an explosion of light and sound, just as Rainbow Dash caught up to the figure again. The figure was blasted apart, dissipating into the storm, and Rainbow found herself in a clear space in the storm. The wind and rain had been pushed away by the force of the sonic rainboom. The storm closed in again, and Rainbow Dash could see the figure coming again. She struck a defiant pose. "Didn't you get the message?" she said, "Leave me alone!" "Very impressive," the voice said, "I did not think the pegasi still had that ability. Especially not one injured such as you." "I'm the best flier in Equestria!" Rainbow Dash boasted, "It'll take more than a little storm to slow me down." "I am far more than a little storm, and I will see the punishment carried out," the voice said. The figure stretched out, surrounding Rainbow Dash. She looked around for an opening, but every escape route closed. As the figure wrapped around Rainbow Dash, she felt some sort of force enveloping her. A yellowish glow surrounded her now, pressing against her, holding her still. As her body was held in place, Rainbow felt something pushing against her mind. The yellow energy flowed into her, filling her. Her mind filled with thoughts of anger, vengeance. The flow of winds, the course of storms, filled her mind. A great presence pressed on her consciousness. She screamed. Her mind was being pushed away, she was losing control of her body. She could not even remember her own name now, and she clung to the memories of her friends like a drowning pony clinging to a life raft. But even those memories were being pushed away. Rainbow pushed against the presence. She refused to let the memories of her friends be pushed away. The presence pushed harder. Rainbow felt herself slipping away. She pressed her hooves against her head, shaking herself, trying to force the presence out. Each time she tried to fight back, the strange presence in her mind pressed harder. Her hooves shot straight out to her sides. Rainbow Dash tried to bend her legs, but they would not respond. Then they went limp, waggling wildly in the fierce winds. Fear flooded her mind, and the presence took advantage of the distraction. She felt less and less of herself. Soon she could barely even tell that she existed. Rainbow Dash's limp body tumbled through the storm, the only sign of life a keening, wailing scream that went on and on.