The next Saturday...
"Storm, you'll do great." said Blue, as they both walked through the city towards the Weather Factory. It was around 8:35 AM, which gave Storm twenty-five minutes to get to work on time. "I know you will."
"Thanks for believing in me babe, but I seriously don't think I'm that good." replied Storm, looking rather unsure. It had been one whole week since he joined the Cloudsdale weather team, and much to his surprise and shock, he was moved to a higher rank, on his first day no less.
"Aw, don't put yourself down like that, Stormy." she said, nuzzling his side. "You are good. I mean, if you weren't good then they wouldn't have moved you up a rank on your first day."
"Good point." he chuckled.
"Yeah, just believe in yourself." she replied. "Believe in yourself and it'll all go good."
"You sure?"
"Positive." Blue smiled. "Just try your best, Stormy, because I believe in you."
"Alright." he gave her an understanding smile. A couple of minutes later, they had arrived at the Weather Factory, and after getting a goodbye kiss from Blue, Storm walked up the stairs to the Factory building. He then walked through the revolving door and entered the building's lobby, which seemed much bigger than it was the week before. But Storm knew he eventually had to get used to the building's massive size. He looked around the lobby, and walked up to the reception desk, where the same receptionist mare from last week was sitting.
"Morning." she smiled, putting down her quill. "What can I do for you?"
"Is Tornado here today?" asked Storm.
"He sure is!" she smiled. "You must be the new guy on the cloud-manufacturing team, right?"
"Yep." he replied.
"Alright then." the receptionist said, picking up her phone and dialing Tornado's work number. "Sir, there's somepony here to see you."
Is it the new guy?
"Yep. That's him."
About time. Alright, I'll be down to get him in a few minutes.
"Alright." she smiled, hanging up the call and putting the phone down on her desk. "He'll be here in a couple of minutes. Why don't you take a seat?"
"Alright." Storm shrugged, going to sit down on a couch, right next to a water cooler.
A couple of minutes later, the doors to the elevator right next to the receptionist's desk slid open and Tornado stepped out of it. Storm gulped, watching his boss walk towards him, looking at him with threatening eyes.
"Well well well." he sneered. "I didn't expect to see you here today. In fact, I expected you to chicken out and go cry to your momma like a mare would, but instead, you showed up, and just in time too."
"Morning...sir." Storm stuttered.
"STAND UP STRAIGHT!" he shouted.
"Yes sir." replied Storm, standing up straight.
"Very good. You seem to know how to respond to basic instructions." Tornado smirked. "Now, tell me... Are you ready?"
"Ready for what?"
"That's 'Ready for what, Mr. Tornado, sir?' to you!"
"Ready for what, Mr. Tornado, sir?" asked Storm.
"For your first day as a cloud-maker, that's what." he smirked darkly. "Follow me."
Tornado then pushed open a door and motioned for Storm to follow him down a long corridor, which led to Lightning Fast's main office. However, just before they reached the door to his office, they turned right and walked down another long corridor, which led to a large, metal door. The door had a small lock on it, a type of which Storm had never seen before, which had a digital display that said "SWIPE CARD". Above the lock was a large, white warning sign, with a red border around it that read "CLOUD MANUFACTURING CHAMBER. CONTAMINATION WARNING. NO UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS." in big bold lettering. Storm gulped as he read what it said on the sign.
Tornado then pulled out a small keycard with his details printed on it in bold lettering, and swiped it in the lock. A moment later, a whirring noise sounded from above and the metal door begun to open. Another moment later, and the large, slow-moving door opened, allowing Storm and Tornado to go inside.
"Welcome to the cloud-manufacturing facility." he said, motioning for Storm to look into the department. Storm gasped as he peered through the open door; the cloud-manufacturing department was huge. In fact, Storm was sure it could be considered a building in its own right, as it was seperated from the main building of the Weather Factory by a series of corridors. He looked around in delight, and noticed several large machines standing there, including a large tube that extended out of the building itself, which looked to be slightly similar to his grandma's old gramophone horn, only except it was much, much bigger. The tube was connected to several pipes, which all in turn connected to a large tank that was being operated by two or three weather ponies. There were also several other machines which worked together to make the clouds form Storm watched on as the factory produced the very first clouds of the day, his jaws having dropped to the floor. "This, in my humble opinion, is the real weather factory."
"It looks awesome." he said, not taking his eyes off the machinery.
"It sure is." replied Tornado, looking on proudly. "Anyways...I would like to introduce you to somepony special. Somepony who you'll have to listen to and respect at all times. Am I clear, recruit?!"
"Yes, sir." gulped Storm, unsure about who the 'special somepony' that Tornado mentioned is.
"Follow me." grinned Tornado, leading him down a set of stairs, which seemed to go on forever, despite being only five stories high. They then walked through the facility, up to a large podium which stood next to a large water tank. On the podium stood a blue-white mare, wearing a hard hat. She had a white and slowly graying mane and Storm presumed she was the supervisor for this department, and she was talking to another mare who had just arrived. He could also just about make out her cutie mark, a single snow cloud with two snowflakes of an identical shape falling out of it. "Hey Snowy." Tornado smiled. She then turned around, and gave him a friendly smile, before turning back to tell the mare something. The other mare soon left, leaving them alone.
"Hey sweetheart." she smiled as well, walking off the podium and towards Tornado and Storm. The mare appeared to be close to Tornado's age, and was around two or three inches taller than him. "Is this our new recruit?"
"Yep." he chuckled heartily, causing Storm to feel somewhat awkward. "Why don't you introduce yourself, Storm?"
"Hi, ma'am." begun Storm. "My name is Stormfire."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Snowfyre. My name is Snow Cloud, but please, feel free to call me Snow. I am the supervisor for this department." she smiled, shaking his hoof. "Welcome to the cloud-manufacturing department. I'm sure you're familiar with the basics of cloud-manufacturing."
"Uh, I'm not really..." he grinned, rather awkwardly. Did she just mispronounce my name?
"What?" she raised an eyebrow. "The paperwork states you're one of the most experienced weather ponies from the Vanhoover team. So, you're telling me-"
"Sweetie, that transfer from Vanhoover is called Snowfyre." Tornado corrected her. "This kid is called Stormfire, and I'll guarantee you. He's the best weather pony we've ever seen, that is, when it comes to cloud-busting. However, when it comes to making clouds, he still has a hay of a lot of work to do."
"Oh, right. Stormfire..." she realized her mistake. "I seriously need to get my hearing checked out...Well, anyways. Welcome to the cloud-making department. Before the bell rings, which will be in about ten-fifteen minutes, I would like to show you around the building."
"Alright." he replied, but before he could walk off with Snow Cloud, he was stopped by Tornado, who leaned in to whisper in his ear.
"Hey Storm. Just remember..." begun Tornado, whispering into his ear. "You fail this, and I am kicking you off the weather team. Right off. If you're really as good as they said you were last week, then try to make a cloud. Just try..."
After being shown around the building, Storm was ready to start his first day as a cloud-maker. However, despite wanting to prove himself to Tornado, he was scared. Scared of what tasks Tornado had in store for him and whether he was going to impress him or not, but perhaps, the thing that frightened Storm most was failure. He was afraid of failing this, and afraid of what his family was going to think of him, especially his father, who Storm had to admit, had been putting a lot of pressure on him lately when it came to work. This often meant that after High Wind came back from work (he and Equinox only worked on weekdays), he often gave Storm long and somewhat boring lectures and pep talks on the 'art' of making clouds, that is, what High Wind remembered about making clouds (as he was now on the cloud-busting team). But Storm knew that these lectures, as boring and pointless as they may have seemed, would help him in succeeding as a cloud-making weather pony.
Suddenly, the annoying and ear-piercing sound of an air horn echoed through the building. Storm snapped out of his thoughts and turned to see the weather ponies gather around Snow Cloud's podium, including one of his 'acquaintances' from last week; Blue Skye. Storm stepped away from the cloud tank he was leaning on and walked up to Snow Cloud's podium and watched her come on stage.
"Good morning." she spoke into the microphone in a rather friendly voice, far friendlier than Tornado's. "I hope you're all wide awake and ready for action, as today we are expected to produce no less than seventy-five and no more than eighty-five clouds. Are you all ready?"
"Yes ma'am." the weather ponies, including Storm, replied in unison.
"That's good." she smiled. "Also, we have a new weather pony joining us here today. His name is Stormfire and he just got moved up a rank from the cloud-busting team. Why don't you come up to the front to introduce yourself, Storm?"
"Alright." he shrugged, already being used to large crowds. After making his way through the twenty-thirty weather ponies who worked in this department, he walked up the couple of steps to the podium, where Snow Cloud was standing at. She moved over to the side, allowing him to stand in front of the microphone. Storm looked over the sea of weather ponies, before clearing his throat.
"Uh, good morning." he begun. "My name is Stormfire, and I just got moved up from the cloud-busting team. And yeah."
Woo!
Go Storm!
Storm then gave the microphone back to Snow Cloud and stepped off the podium, before going to stand right in front of it.
"I would like you all to make Storm feel as welcome as possible." she said, glancing at Storm who stood just in front of the podium. "Anyways, we are running low on reserve water supplies, so I would like the Tornado Team to fly over to Lake Maresco, which is a 35-mile long flight to the southwest. However, it is within the boundaries of Ponyville County and it is rather easy to notice from above, so I don't see any reason why any of you shouldn't be able to reach it. We're expecting around 1,100 gallons of fresh water by 2:45 PM. This department's been in enough trouble over the past few weeks due to some lazy employees and some poorly made clouds. The last thing we need is for the boss to find out we didn't make the necessary amount of clouds, so get to it."
"Yes ma'am."
Tornado team? Storm thought to himself as he watched the team prepare for take-off.
"Alright." she said, taking out a remote control from underneath her hard hat and pressing a button on it. Suddenly, a loud and repetitive beeping noise sounded, and a large hatch right next to the main cloud tank slowly opened. Storm looked outside, not realizing that he was in the way of the tornado team.
"Ready."
"Set."
"Go!"
Storm turned around, and before he knew it, he was trampled over by the tornado team, all trotting out of the factory at the same time. After they all left, he groaned and got up, before dusting himself off and watching the hatch close. He then turned around to notice Tornado standing there, literally laughing his head off.
"What's so funny?" he groaned.
"Nothing, nothing, recruit." he chuckled. "You're already off to a fine start. Now, get over here." Tornado's laugh disappeared at the end of his sentence and was replaced with a deathly glare.
"Okay." Storm replied, flying over to where he was standing. "So...what are we going to be doing?"
"Well, I was hoping you could show me how to make a cloud." replied Tornado. "That is, if you can. Go ahead. I'm going to get me some coffee, and once I come back, which will be in at least five or ten minutes, I expect your cloud to be done."
"But sir, how big does it have to be?" asked Storm, shivering slightly in fright.
"Doesn't matter, recruit." he replied. "Just make a cloud...ON THE BUCKIN' DOUBLE!"
"Okayokay." replied Storm frantically, watching Tornado fly off towards the cafeteria, which was on the other side of the building, and give him one last deathly glare, before trotting off to the one of the first cloud-making machines he saw; the cloud tank. This was one of three cloud tanks in the entire buildings, and was much smaller than the other two, which stretched up to the ceiling in height, but to Storm, it still was pretty massive. It was around three or four times his size, and had at least three or four gallons of water in it, which wasn't a lot, considering that Snow Cloud had asked for over a thousand gallons of water by midday. Upon arriving at the console which operated the tank, Storm inspected it closely. There were several buttons and levers, but what stood out from the rest was a red button, at the bottom right corner of the console, which said "ACTIVATE NOW" in bold lettering.
"Here goes nothing." said Storm, taking a mental leap of faith. Once he pressed that button, there was no going back. There was no giving up and getting a new job. He gulped, and hesitantly pressed the big red button. Within seconds, the tank whirred to life and the water in it poured into a pipe going through the center of it. After that, it surged into a much larger tank, which stood right next to it. Storm backed away, and watched the tank operate.
Suddenly, the whirring of the tank stopped and a robotic voice sounded through the speaker on the control console.
User input needed.
User input needed.
User input needed.
"Well done, recruit." said a voice from behind him. Storm gasped and turned around, to see Tornado standing before him, smiling fiendishly. "I see you learned how to press a button. A bucking button! And where the buck is the cloud you promised me? Huh?"
"Sir, I didn't make one!" spat Storm.
"Bullshit! You promised me a cloud, you lazy bum! Where is it?" he growled, almost psychotically. "Do I have to whup you where the sun don't shine, recruit?! Tell me! Where the buck is the cloud?"
"I-I...I..I--"
"Don't give me that crap!" Tornado roared, loud enough for at least half the ponies in the building to hear. "You weather ponies, especially you teenage ones need discipline! Discipline! And I'm going to discipline you the military way."
"Military way?"
"Oh yes." he smirked. "I used to be a soldier, serving in the Griffon War, and I know exactly what they did to soldiers who didn't do what they were told to do by their superiors. Don't believe me?"
"Uh--uh-uh..." stuttered Storm.
"Tornado, don't do this to Stormfire." said a female voice, which belonged to Snow Cloud.
"But honey, I---"
"You what? You were going to use your old tricks you learned in the military to 'discipline'-or should I say scare him into working, weren't you?"
"No, no. I was just...forget it. I'm sorry, honey. And sorry, Storm..." he replied, turning to give Storm a quick glare, which signified that he wasn't really sorry.
"Alright." she smiled at him. "Now that's out of the way, you get back to your lessons. And Storm?" she whispered into his ear.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"If my husband is being extreme...tell me, alright?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Good." she smiled, flying off to check on the other weather ponies. "Now, enjoy your cloud-making lesson, Storm."
"So, sir..." begun Storm, turning to look at Tornado, who was glaring at him almost evilly. "What are we going to do now?"
"I'll show you how to make a proper cloud, recruit." he growled. "And after I do, I want you to make the exact same one. If you fail it, I'll kick
your flank to next year."
"O-okay." replied Storm, watching Tornado press some buttons on the console which operated the cloud tank. Suddenly, the same whirring sound from earlier resumed and Storm watched as the water begun to fill up the much larger tank. Seconds later, Tornado pulled down a lever, and Storm watched as the water in the larger cloud tank begun to evaporate, and the water vapor formed into a small, white object, which looked nothing like a cloud.
"This is a cloud ball." said Tornado. "This will be the base for our cloud."
"Got it." replied Storm.
"Good." he said, before pressing a button which opened the cloud tank. Storm watched as the cloud ball floated out of it towards him, his jaws having dropped to the floor. It then stopped, a couple of feet before Storm, and Tornado took off into the air, before flying around it at high speeds for a couple of seconds. He then stopped, and hovered away, revealing a small, fluffy cloud. "You think you can make something like this, recruit?"
"No." Storm sighed sadly.
"That's what I thought." he grinned proudly. "Well, let me show you how." he then flew back to the console. "Get over here, now."
Storm did as he was told and walked up to the console which operated the cloud tank.
"First of all, let me show you how to operate the tank." he explained. "You obviously know how to start the first part of the process, but you don't know what to do next. After you press the big red button, you pull down this lever right here..." he said, moving slightly to the left to reveal a large lever.
"Okay..." said Storm, seeming rather unsure.
"And once you do that, I want you to press the green button, which says 'EVAPORATE'." said Tornado. "It's in the top left corner."
"Alright." replied Storm.
"Memorize where everything is on the console." said Tornado. "'Cause when you need help with operating this, I'm not gonna be there. I don't usually help recruits, but you're a special case."
"Oh." sighed Storm. "Fine. I'll try and memorize it all."
"Good." replied Tornado. "Now, do what I just told you to do."
"Okay." said Storm, and pressed the red button, causing what remained of the water in the first tank to flow down the pipe. He then pulled down the lever and watched the water fill up the second tank.
"Now press the green button." said Tornado, pointing towards the green button. Storm did as Tornado told him and pressed the button, and watched the water heat up inside the tank and evaporate. A moment later, the steam cleared away, to reveal a small ball made of cloud dust hovering inside it. "Alright, that was good. Now, press the blue button underneath the green button."
Storm pressed the blue button, opening the lid of the larger cloud tank, and watched the cloud ball hover out of the tank and over to where Tornado's cloud originally was (by now, it had condensed completely and fell to the ground as rain).
"Now, I want you to take off into the air, and fly around the cloud ball as fast as you can. Also keep a steady speed. You don't want to go too fast or the cloud will NOT form. When you're done, it should look like my one did." Tornado explained. "You think you're up for it, or are you too chicken?"
"I'm up for it, boss." replied Storm, putting on his game face, and preparing himself for flight. He outstretched his wings, and flew over to where the cloud ball was, and flew around it rapidly. As he flew, he often turned to look at the cloud ball, slowly being shaped. I'm doing better at this than I thought. he thought to himself, turning to glance at the cloud ball yet again, which seemed to take the shape of a small cloud. However, Storm begun to fly faster and faster, which went against what Tornado had told him, however, he had mostly forgotten about Tornado's instructions and was instead focused on making the cloud as big as possible.
"No, stop!" shouted Tornado, watching Storm fly faster and faster around the cloud ball, which expanded and shrunk in different directions. "Please! You're gonna---"
Suddenly, the cloud exploded, launching Storm back to the platform on which Tornado was standing. Storm groaned, and got up, his body being covered with bits of cloud, before dusting himself off. He looked around to see the bits of cloud covering the walls of the building and some other weather ponies looking at him in conclusion, then glanced up at Tornado, who seemed to be on the verge of exploding in anger, and backed away in fear.
"Make...it..." said Tornado, his face slowly turning red in anger. Storm gulped and stuttered some inaudible words in fright, before backing up against the wall. "EXPLODE!"
"Sorry sir!" shouted Storm. "It was an accident! I swear!"
"Accident schmaccident! Shut the buck up you son of a mule!" yelled Tornado. "You're lucky I'm not attempting to throw you off the platform right now for what you just done! I'll bucking smash you and whup your fat, sleazy flank so hard, you'll not be able to sit down on it for a week! Now, fifty press-ups! No buts! ON THE DOUBLE! AND ONCE YOU'RE DONE, CLEAN THIS SHIT UP! NEXT TIME YOU SCREW UP LIKE THIS, I AM FIRING YOU! YOU HEAR?! FIRING YOU! F. I. R. I. N. G. YOU! Is that clear?!"
"Yes sir." sighed Storm. "I'm sorry..."
Stormfire did as he was told, and begun doing press-ups as fast as he possibly could. He had never seen Tornado so angry before, and finally realized it was his fault he was like that. What Tornado had told him before about not flying too fast finally returned to him. He sighed sadly, feeling regret for what he had done wrong, and continued doing his push ups. While Storm was doing press ups, Tornado sighed at him, also feeling somewhat remorseful after his little outburst, before turning to look at the other weather ponies, who were all wondering what the commotion was all about.
"You all." he spoke in a calm voice. "Get back to whatever you were doing. Nothing to see here."
"48...
49...
50..." said Storm, finally finishing his press-ups. He got up and stretched his muscles, before turning to look off the platform. The building itself was mostly empty, with the exception of a couple of janitors, who were all busy cleaning up the machines and preparing them for use on the afternoon shift. Storm then turned to look up at a large clock, which hanged on the wall between two pipes which connected to the hatch. The time was now 2:30 PM, and the late afternoon shift was going to begin in ten or fifteen minutes, starting with the Tornado coming back with over a thousand gallons of water. It saddened Storm knowing that he wasn't going to get to see the team in action, but he also knew that if he impressed his supervisor enough, then he might get promoted to the team. And impressing his supervisor was something he was struggling with at the moment. He wiped some sweat off his forehead and looked to see Tornado standing before him.
"Well well well..." he sneered. "You understand what you done wrong?"
"Yes, sir." replied Storm. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?" asked Tornado.
"For screwing up the cloud." replied Storm. "I forgot about what you told me about flying at a steady speed..."
"Oh you forgot, did you?" asked Tornado. "We have standards to maintain here, you know?! If we didn't have these standards, we'd be long gone!"
"What do you mean...sir?"
"We were the top producing weather factory in Equestria for three years in a row, before we were overtaken by the damn factory in Vanhoover. And then by Manehattan! And then by Los Pegasus! You wanna know why?! Because of ponies like you! Because of ponies like you who screw everything up, we have lost twenty employees in the last four or five years. Twenty of our best weather ponies were replaced with schmucks like you and Blue Skye. The city government even threatened to shut us down once and move operations back to our original factory in the Whitetail Woods, because apparently, we weren't performing well as a business! Do you have any idea how much jobs that would send down the shitter?"
"Yes..." replied Storm. "Sir, I'll do better next weekend. I promise."
"You better." growled Tornado. "Otherwise you're off this team and stuck cleaning restrooms."
"Yes sir..."
"Go home Storm. I want to see you here next weekend."
"Yes sir."
A couple of hours later...
"Tornado, why are you treating Stormfire like that?" asked Snow Cloud, who was in bed along with Tornado.
"Snow, please..."
"No, Tornado. Just tell me. What did he do wrong?"
"Nothing nothing..."
"So, he messed up something. Big deal." she said, turning to face him. "If he messed up something, then he can fix it. That's no reason for you to treat him like garbage."
"I know honey, I know..." he sighed. "I guess I still haven't grown used to society after the war. I'm still a lieutenant at heart, used to leading my platoon across the fields of the Griffon lands and keeping them safe...and that's what I'll probably remain for the rest of my life. That war still hasn't gotten out of my system, and it doesn't look like it ever will."
"I know, Tornado..." she nuzzled him gently. "But times have changed. The war's been over for almost seven years... and it's best to adapt and 'get with the times' as our eldest, Water Spout would say."
"I guess so, honey." he smiled at her, stroking her mane gently, before putting on a more serious and somewhat sadder expression, which did not go unnoticed by Snow. "But I can't forget what happened...what I saw take place...the ponies I've lost along the way... As much as I want to, I can't."