//------------------------------//
// Interlude 15 - Weather Jobs 
// Story: My Family and Other Equestrians 
// by Blade Star 
//------------------------------//

    I was out as usual today, working on a couple jobs Rainbow had assigned me to. Most of what I was doing was standard maintenance duties really. Get rid of a couple small clouds here and there. Move a fresh weather pattern from Cloudsdale around the Everfree with some of the others and just generally keep humidity at the right level and watch for pressure drops. 

I’ve gotten pretty good in the last few weeks at my new job. Of course, most of the others still see me as something of a greenhorn, but I’ve proved to most of them that I can keep up with them and get a job done on time and well. Hence why I’ve occasionally been assigned to these larger group missions. Like, last week, there was this storm front. It was scheduled to bypass us by about ten miles and head on down towards southern Equestria, where the water is already starting to drop off, what with the increasing temperature and all.

Unfortunately though, when the team at Cloudsdale released it, they had set it about three degrees off course. As the front moved on, the deviation got worse, until one morning, Thunderlane, on his usual morning patrol to check for incoming patterns, spotted this huge storm front bearing down on us. 

Rainbow had had to turn out pretty much everypony to divert it, and it was a close run thing too. Still, we got away with it. And the fact that I helped out and didn’t mess up seems to have gotten most of the guys to accept me. 

This morning though, whilst we were having our normal morning meeting to pass out assignments, Rainbow gave me an unusual job. 

“Alright, Lizzie, you need to double time it over to Applejack’s place. Their family reunion thing’s coming up so they want some local clear skies over the next couple of days. Head on over there, bust up any rainclouds you see and try and set up a perimeter of, say, five miles and keep it clear. We’ll divert any major weather pattern around you, so just watch out for local stuff and anything from the Everfree. Meet up with AJ when you get there and she’ll fill you in with any other details.” 

“Got it, Rainbow,” I replied as I sat on the cloud. Rainbow, despite her position, doesn’t actually have an office. When she passes out assignments, she sets up a sort of briefing room made of clouds, with seats for everypony. With my stuff sorted, she turned to the rest of the team.

“Flitter and Cloudchaser, you two need to head out to the Everfree, ground fog is starting to build up there, see if you can get it airborne again then turn it around.” The two mares nodded. 

“Thunderlane, you and me are heading up towards Canterlot. They’ve had their sunshine for the princess’ birthday so it’s time they got a downpour. We’ll take a few rainclouds for now and hand them off to the team there.”

“Right, Dash,” he answered. With the assignments complete, Rainbow got up out of her ‘chair’ and bucked the cloud into oblivion.

“Alright. You’ve all got your assignments, so hop to it. Good hunting.” And with that, we were dismissed.   





Sweet Apple Acres isn’t that far from where Rainbow had given us our briefing. At least, the border wasn’t. Back on Earth I’d seen a few large cattle farms with a fair amount of real estate, but that apple farm put them all to shame. The place is absolutely massive, it doesn’t help that most of the orchards all look the same. My brother seems to be able to find his way around without trouble, but he’s been working there for almost a year. So, my first job was to actually find somepony. I decided to try the farmhouse first. Even if they’re working, there is usually somepony there. 

I’m by no means as fast as Rainbow is, though I do apparently have a fairly respectable wingpower rating (part of the physical I had to go through before I joined up). So I reached the farm fairly quickly. I climbed up to a higher altitude to get a better view of things. My eyesight has really shot up since I changed. I guess it’s because I’m sort of a bird now. After scanning the area for a moment, I was able to pick out the farmhouse and the various outbuildings. From up here, it looked like the centre of a wheel, with various dirt paths forming spokes away from it. 

Having spotted the house, I let my wings rest and began to slowly glide down. Hovering in place is quite tiring; it’s like jogging in place as a human. Weather Patrol has made me a pretty decent flyer, particularly with all the help Rainbow gave me when I first changed. I had, as a result, absolutely no trouble in gliding down and landing on my hooves in front of the house. 

“Hello? Anypony here?” I called as I walked onto the porch. I got no response and quickly found out, after checking around, that nopony was in at the moment. Applejack’s little sister was in school right now, and Granny Smith did go into town from time to time. I guess my brother, Applejack and Big Mac were all out in the apple orchards somewhere. 

So, it looked like I had some searching to do. 





I quickly took off from a standing start, no doubt leaving a trail of dust in my wake. I did my best to get to altitude quickly, so I could start searching. It was too early for any of the apple trees to be harvested just yet, so I doubted any of the apple orchards would be of any use. I guessed that they were all preparing for this reunion thing. From what my brother told me, the Apple family is massive, with relatives all over the place. 

I continued to sail around above the farm trying to find somepony, anypony at this point. I knew they had to be somewhere, but this farm was massive! Eventually though, my perseverance paid off. I spotted a few ponies milling about near a fenced off area of the farm. I figured it was that Fruit Bat reservation I’d heard about. As I neared, I was able to spot Blade Star, Applejack and Big Mac. But also, oddly enough, I was able to spot a butter yellow pegasus; Fluttershy was here. I began to sideslip and landed a little way behind the group. 

The three apple farmers were standing back, whilst Fluttershy seemed to be talking, presumably to one of the fruit bats. 

“Hi everypony,” I called as I landed. “Rainbow Dash sent me up, said you needed some weather work done for this reunion.” The trio promptly drew their attention from Fluttershy to look at me. Applejack greeted me warmly. 

“Well howdy there, Lizzie,” she said kindly. My brother also trotted over.

“Hey, sis. I didn’t know RD had you doing solo jobs yet,” he said, with a hint of sarcasm. I rolled my eyes. Applejack meanwhile cuffed him behind the ears, grinning. “Fluttershy just came over to help us out with the fruit bats. AJ was a mite worried that they might start takin’ food when we were all eatin’ outside. So we’re hopin’ she’ll be able to convince ‘em to wait and then we can give ‘em the leftovers.” Sensible enough. Fluttershy is not only good with animals, but she’s also a pretty good negotiator.

“So what do you want me to do for you, Applejack? Rainbow said you wanted clear skies during the reunion, but is there anything else I need to know about?” Applejack nodded. 

“There’s a couple other jobs need doin’. We’re gonna need a whole lot of water to keep everypony’s fluids up. Normally, RD uses a couple of them there rainclouds and has a little downpour.” She gestured to a bunch of nimbus clouds towards the north. They didn’t look too full, but for just filling up a few water troughs, it ought to do.

“Okay, I should be able to handle that. Just show me where you want everything and I’ll get right on it.”   





Applejack led me back towards the farmhouse. From what she told me, that would be where most of the reunion was happening. At the end of it all, they apparently all get together for one big family photo. Of course, with such a large number of ponies attending, they needed pretty much everything in spades. Above all, they needed a heck of a lot of water, which was where I came in. 

Applejack had set up a large number of water troughs; the kind used to collect rainwater. After all, nothing is purer than rainwater, pretty much all of the contaminants get left behind on the ground when the moisture evaporates. 

“Right,” Applejack said. “Now RD usually just takes a couple of rainclouds and uses them to fill all of these up. That alright?” I nodded and promptly took off.

Now, the obvious method to complete this little errand was to simply start a raincloud up. Now, to do that, you need to force the rain out, kind of like how you squeeze juice from an orange. So, any cloud for that needs to be big enough for you to stand on. The day was fairly clear, with blue skies for the most part, but after a bit of searching, I managed to find a few small clouds here and there. 

I quickly grabbed these up, steadily forming them up into one large cloud. Easy enough to move about on your own of course, but still large enough so that it would get the job done. By the time I was done, I had a sizeable dark grey cloud that would easily take my weight and undoubtedly held more than enough water to fill up all of the troughs Applejack had set out. 

I positioned my little creation over the first trough and got myself settled on top of it. I leaned over the edge to call down to Applejack.

“Okay, Applejack. I’ll start this one up now. It should have enough to fill these up.” Applejack waved up at me in response.

Taking a moment to breathe, I quickly began to jump up and down on the cloud, keeping a careful eye on its colour. Jumping on a cloud can do two things. Firstly, it can do what I wanted; trigger a steady downpour of rain, which will last until the cloud dissipates. However, if you get too rough with it, the static created by your movements can infuse the cloud with a large amount of electricity. The result is that your little raincloud can become a thundercloud. These need to be respected at the best of times, and can easily give you a nasty shock if you aren’t careful. The only warning you get of this, is that the cloud will start to darken, from a typical cloud grey, towards a much darker grey, getting close to black. 

Rainbow had taken great pains to ensure I understood this. Mainly due to the fact that when Derpy, Ponyville’s mailmare, had been temporarily roped into the Weather Patrol, she had accidentally turned a very large rain squall into a barely controllable thunderstorm. This was before we got here, but according to Rainbow, the storm had started up, shocked Derpy a few times, drifted into town and caused serious damage to the Town Hall, which got hit about a dozen times. 

So, you will forgive me if I was a little careful. Still, I’d done stuff like this a fair few times now and I knew as long as I was aware of the danger signs and kept a sharp lookout, there was nothing to fear. 'Forewarned is forearmed' as my dad says.

After a few moments jumping up and down, the cloud rumbled beneath my hooves and I heard the tell-tale sound of precipitation. Leaning over the cloud, I checked to make sure everything was going where it was supposed to. I’d look pretty stupid if I just soaked a good chunk of the field. With that done, I moved behind the cloud, ready to push it on to the next trough when this one was full. 

One by one the troughs were filled to the brim with cool, clear rainwater. I don’t care how big Applejack’s family is; they are going to have enough water to keep them going. I steadily pushed the cloud around the assembled troughs and by the time it reached the last one, it was starting to feel decidedly light and empty. I was a little concerned that I’d need to go and fetch a small cloud to finish the job, but as it turned out, just as I finished filling up the last one, it dried out. 

With no water in it, the cloud was now light as a feather and was a much whiter colour. All that remained now was to get rid of it. Hoping off, I positioned the cloud directly behind me and gave it a solid kick with my hind legs. As usual, the cloud promptly burst into nothingness. I sailed down and alighted beside Applejack. 

“There you go, Applejack. That ought to tide you over for this whole reunion, even if you had a thousand relatives coming over,” I joked, laughing a little to myself. Applejack nodded in agreement.

“It certainly will, Lizzie. Ah gotta say, y’all have really learnt quick on the whole weather work with RD.” I blushed a little at the compliment.

“Oh, it isn’t that complicated, Applejack. You put me in front of a storm front and tell me to fix it, I’d still be panicking. This is kid stuff really. But Rainbow does say I’m doing pretty well. My cutie mark I suppose.” Over the past few weeks I’ve come to accept that the odd winged heart of my rear end may actually indeed relate to my love of flying. “Anyway, is there anything else that needs doing at the moment?” Applejack shook her head.

“Not right this second, Lizzie. Just as long as the skies are all clear for the reunion. Say, since we’re done here why don’t ya stay with us for lunch before ya head back to report to Rainbow?” I pondered for a moment. I was just going to grab lunch from the café in town anyway, and Dad always told me to never turn down the prospect of free food.

“Sure, alright,” I replied happily. AJ smiled. “I’ll stick around for lunch and then I’ll do a couple sweeps around the farm to just check things out and get a lay of the land before I head back.     





When I think back to my older brother, how he was before we ended up here in Equestria, I remember him being this scrawny, tall kid who knew way too much about a show for little girls. But after just under nine months here, he’s really bulked up. Not like one of those weird body builders, or Bulk Biceps, but he looks more, well, normal. 

And I think I’ve found the reason why. When the Apples do lunch, there good food and plenty of it, it certainly gave me more of an appetite than normal. It turns out both Granny Smith and Applejack are pretty talented cooks in their own right. 

Plus, what with all the work he does, even though he’s eating way more, he’s also getting a lot more exercise than he used to. I remember he once had to fill out a form about fitness. One of the question asked how often he exercised. The lowest answer was once a week. He just scribbled out ‘a week’ and ticked the box. 

We all happily talked about the reunion that would soon be upon us. Although it did remind me that my entire family now consisted of just four people. Still, I didn’t let it get to me, besides whilst our family may be small we are all still pretty close. I mean usually at my age, people are thinking about having to move out, rent or buy a house, find their first proper job and so on. But for me, I’d moved out already and I now had a job. But I was still near to my parents and visited them as often as I could. I mean, we have stayed pretty close knit since we got here, despite all the weird stuff that has happened. I think that shows how connected we are as a family; so many large families often don’t have that same camaraderie. Though based on what was being said, the Apples were the exception that proved the rule.

After having lunch, I hung around for a little while longer just to talk and catch up with my brother. Though at all times, I kept one eye on the sky, just in case anything did happen to pop up. And eventually, I had to insist that it was time I got going. Thanking Granny Smith for the meal, I headed outside, spread my wings, and took off. 

I’ve think I’ve already made it clear just how large Sweet Apple Acres is, even by air, so I won’t go on about that. I will say though that it is one long route to fly around its perimeter. Heading out from the farmhouse in a roughly eastern direction, I continued going as the crow flies until I hit the fence line; the border of the farm. Quickly picking out a landmark, so I knew when I had completed the circuit, I turned right and began to follow the fence. 

Steadily, I worked my way around the very edge of the farm, looking for any clouds or other meteorological issues that might cause disruption for the Apples’ get together. I came across a few clouds here and there that needed clearing, but other than that, there was nothing of any consequence. After about an hour or so, I returned to the landmark I had set. I then began the second part of my inspection.

Given that the farm was so large (you could easily fit whole weather fronts inside and not notice them), Rainbow also suggested that I do a check of the interior after doing a sweep around the perimeter of the farm. This would take a fair while longer and involved heading across the farm multiple times. And as it happened, I did find a few clouds that, in theory, could take on enough water on their own to start a small downpour. So I promptly got rid of those as well. When I was finally finished, it was getting on for late afternoon, maybe early evening, so I was glad to be heading back to town to report to Rainbow. 





I opted to walk rather than fly back. Having criss crossed most of Sweet Apple Acres, my wings now felt like they were about to fall off. I landed at the edge of the farm and walked along the road back towards Ponyville. I found Rainbow, as was to be expected snoozing on a small cloud, curled up like a cat by the fire. 

“Hey, Rainbow. Rainbow Dash!” I called up to the sleeping pegasus. After a couple more attempts I got her to stir and she peered warily over the cloud at me. 

“Huh? Lizzie, that you?” she asked tiredly. Rainbow, needless to say, doesn’t like to be woken from her naps. 

“I finished up at Applejack’s for the day. I cleared all the clouds I could find and I’ve done a sweep around the farm too. Anything incoming I should know about?” Rainbow yawned before hopping down to join me on the ground.

“Nah, not really. Thunderlane and I got rid of that system we were building up for Canterlot and there’s nothing major due for a couple of weeks. Just keep an eye out for any stay clouds from the Everfree and you should be fine.” Well that was good to know; I wouldn’t have to keep sweeping around the entire perimeter of the farm, just the area that bordered the Everfree forest. 

“Alright, I’ll keep an eye on that neck of the woods. Do you still want me to come to the morning briefings or shall I just head straight over to Applejack’s?”

“Just head on over. I’ll drop by after I send the others off if anything comes up.” With that, I bid her goodbye and started to head back towards Fluttershy’s cottage and bed.