//------------------------------//
// Prologue  
// Story: Believing in Something that is True 
// by Nightglimmer22 
//------------------------------//

Chapter edited by: Brickbrock24




Rriiiiiiiiiinggggggg!

Nightglimmer slowly opened her eyes. A radiant sunbeam shone through her window and illuminated her turquoise-painted room. Her eyes eventually settled on the alarm clock that had shattered the silence of the early morning. It rested on a night table beside Glimmer’s bed along with a half empty glass of water. She turned her body to face the it. Seven o'clock, it read.
She reached out and slammed the button on top of the clock. She had at least an hour before she had to catch her train. Nightglimmer began to remember the night before when her father was trying to persuade her to become a worker of the skies. Glimmer knew that she would have to take on the responsibility for her father's favored work.

"Your mother would be so proud if she knew what you were to become!" he told her. Thunder Skies had said it in tone that would hopefully encourage Glimmer to be curious about his work and become his successor.
"Yeah... I know." The remembrance of her mother saddened Glimmer, for long ago CloudDancer had died. Nightglimmer couldn't bare to meet eye contact with her father.
"Hmm," He grunted, taking notice that the mention of CloudDancer made his daughter feel blue. He then asked, "Did I ever tell you the story of how I met CloudDancer?"
"No," Glimmer told him, “Can you tell me?” Glimmer always wanted to know and now was her big chance to find out.
"Well, I was a young colt training to become a weather pony," he began, "Back then, I had lived in a small town called Dodge City. I knew much about the weather team and Cloudsdale. As you may know, not all pegasi lived in Cloudsdale. It was a big step for me when your grandfather, Easyglider, arranged a trip to Cloudsdale." Thunder Skies stopped for a moment to remember the next part of the story,  "Weeks later, I was on a trip to Cloudsdale. I sent letters to Easyglider every night tell him about my discoveries. I had gotten a job opportunity as a Cloud Keeper. Eventually, I became a leader of the weather team."
"Uh... What does this have to you meeting Mom?" Glimmer asked when once again her father stopped. To be frank, she really didn’t care about the jibber-jabber spluttering out ThunderSkies’ mouth.
"Oh, right, I was just getting to that," he said as he cleared his throat, "I was leading a team back to the other squads when we were ambushed by a group of pegasi wearing dark colored flight suits. He held them at bay until my team couldn't endure any longer. Let me tell you, Glimmer, that battle really did a number to my body. I had never felt so much pain before. It looked like the end for us, but then we saw them coming."
"Who?" Glimmer asked enthusiastically. The story had become a lot more interesting.
"A group of amazing fighters wearing light colored flight suits. They fought off the dark suited bandits and helped my team get to safety at the weather factory. After that, I never saw them again. Weeks after the incident, I met the most beautiful mare while walking on the streets. Her name was CloudDancer. When I first laid eyes on her, I felt like had seen her somewhere before. But I knew that wasn't the case. We started dating and found that we had much in common. Then, two years later, we moved to Manehatten. Of course, I never quit the weather team. But now that I have retired, it’s your turn, Nightglimmer!"
Wow, cool... Glimmer was in deep thought, thinking about the story of when her father and mother first met.
"I bet you’ll have tons of fun there. I sure did. That's where I met most of my friends, such as Rainbow Blaze." Thunder Skies said, trying to change the subject after seeing his daughter's facial expression,  "He's now the manager of the Weather factory, I hope you’ll get meet him.”
"Yeah, alright," Nightglimmer saw the expression on her father's face. He wanted her to be happy, but it would mean so much him if she followed in his hoof-steps. She couldn't fake her love and excitement for the factory for much longer.
After a long and boring conversation about the subject and persistent persuading from her father, NightGlimmer finally gave in. Thunder Skies signed a form for NightGlimmer to attend the next semester in Cloudsdale.
Nightglimmer peeked around the corner of her father's study room later that night and saw her father sitting at his desk writing a letter. Thunder Skies was writing so fast that Glimmer was worried that he might accidentally set the paper on fire. Glimmer assumed he was probably writing to tell the manager of the factory about the “wonderful” news that his daughter “eagerly wanted” to attend.
What was his name? thought NightGlimmer, Rainbow Blizzard? Nah. Rainbow Strike? No, that's not it. Rainbow Crunchies? No, no! That’s the name of a breakfast cereal! Nightglimmer racked her brain trying to remember the manager's name. It would be important to remember his name, after all.
"Hmmm..." She wondered aloud, then tightly closing her mouth realizing that she didn't want her father to find out that she was spying on him.
Rainbow Blaze! She suddenly remembered.
Thunder Skies continued to scribble at a thousand miles an hour. Eventually, Nightglimmer saw her father roll up the scroll and throw it into the fire that was next to the desk. Nightglimmer had seen her father send scrolls a million times. He even let her send a few when her mother was on business trips. The scroll turned into a cloud of green vapor and floated out the open window in the study.
Thunder Skies turned around to sat back in his chair. He was deep in thought for a moment when a cloud of green vapor suddenly flew in front of him. Seconds later, it turned into a scroll. Thunder Skies opened the scroll and read it, then took a little piece of paper from it. Glimmer realized that it was the permission slip that she had to sign in order to go to the weather factory. There was no way around it. She had to, it would break her father’s heart if she didn’t.
Nightglimmer's biggest dream was to become a Wonderbolt. She wasn’t the only one with this dream, just about every pegasus she knew also dreamed about flying with the best of the best. She always knew that she was a good flier. Her father, Thunder Skies, thought that as well. That's why he wanted Nightglimmer to become a part of the Weather Team in CloudsDale. But, of course, they had their differences. The young pegasus wanted to be a well known flier of the Wonderbolts; while her father just wanted her to, well, make clouds.

Nightglimmer woke up to somepony shaking her. she could feel that whoever was shaking her was pretty excited.
"Wake up! You’re going to miss the train, Glimmer!" Thunder Skies shouted. He was not going to to let his daughter be tardy.
Glimmer realized that she dozed off after she had turned her alarm clock off. This time, it read: seven-fifty
"Breakfast is on the table, you’d better pick up the pace!" With that being said, he trotted out of the room.
Glimmer got out of bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She had already packed the day before, so all she had to do was get ready for the train ride. Minutes later, Glimmer went to the kitchen and saw a breakfast of eggs and juice. The permission slip that she had signed the night before was on the table next to her breakfast. She picked it up and put it in her saddle bag, which was hanging on the chair beside her. She wolfed down the eggs in about thirty seconds and washed it down with the juice. Glimmer flew out the door with her father, saddle bag and other luggage to the train station just in time.
"So, I guess there's no time for a race?" ThunderSkies asked with a bit of laughter in his voice.
"Heh heh, there's always time," Glimmer answered, spreading her wings.
Zooming past all of the ponies like two living bullets, Glimmer and her father raced until they got to very edge of the city. When Glimmer was a little filly, she and her father loved to race whenever they went somewhere. It was like their fun little game. Stopping at the train station, the two pegasi said their farewells.
"Good luck, Glimmer, I'll miss you!" said Thunderskies.
"Thanks, Daddy! I'll see you for the holidays!" said Glimmer. She tried to hide the sadness from her face with a fake smile as she boarded the train to Cloudsdale.

The sound of the trains whistle brought NightGlimmer back from her daydream. When the train stopped, Glimmer gathered  her belongings and trotted onto the platform. She walked down the steps of the station, which were were made of soft puffy clouds. She had forgotten what it was like to walk on clouds since she had lived in buildings and walked streets for so long. The cloud houses lined the streets and the streets themselves were buzzing with pegasi. The Weather Factory was just a few miles ahead. Glimmer started to fly toward it. As she did, her heart began to race with apprehension. What if there's a test and she failed it? What would she tell her father when she was sent home with her tail between her legs? Glimmer kept thinking these pessimistic questions. She wasn’t paying attention and bumped into one of the pegasi flying around.
"Oh, sorry!" Glimmer said, looking up to see startled purple eyes staring back at her. The pony was staring back at her like something was wrong with her. She wasn't much bigger than Glimmer and probably not much older. her mane was combed down down past her face and the color of the sea with bits of light blue dye around the tips of her hair bangs. Her pelt was a light turquoise color. Glimmer took a quick peek at the mare's cutie mark to saw that it was a dark blue horse-shoe that was halfway surrounded by a curved lightning bolt.
A few seconds passed before the mare shook her head to snap herself back to reality,
"Oh, uh...no worries," she said with a smile, "I’ve never seen your face before Are you new here?
"Yeah,” said Glimmer,  “My name is Nightglimmer. I came here from Manehatten."
"My name is Sunshower," The pony responded.
After a good long conversation with Sunshower, Glimmer realized that they shared a lot in common. They both wanted to become Wonderbolts. The two pegasi smiled at each other and began to fly toward the factory building, They opened the big doors to see the center of the big opening where a Pegasus was calling for attention to the group of new workers.
"Greetings, everypony! My name is Rainbow Blaze and I am the manager of the Weather Factory," The rainbow-maned Pegasus announced to the crowd. Glimmer suddenly remembered that her father was a friend of this pony, "I bet you have many questions about our wonderful facility! I mean, who wouldn’t? Don't worry, Openskies and  Blueberry Punch can give you a hoof. Please follow Openskies if you are new today! Old workers who are coming back for the new season should follow Blueberry Punch!" Glimmer looked to where the Pegasus is pointing. She looked around and realized that Sunshower had disappeared. Glimmer shrugged and went to join the group following the pegasus named Openskies, a dark turquoise stallion with a dark blue mane.
"Hello, everypony! My name is Openskies and I am going to be your trainer and tour guide.” he addressed to his group. “I will show you the basic places of the weather factory. Keep in mind, everypony, that tomorrow you will be tested with three different flying tasks. These tasks determine which assignment will be best for you."
Oh, that's not so bad. It’s just a few little tests, Glimmer thought as she followed a group of new workers who were being guided by Openskies.
Glimmer then realized that her new friend wasn't in the group. Glimmer walked up to Openskies and asked,
"Hey, do you where a mare named Sunshower is?"
"I'm afraid not, recruit. As far as I’m aware, there is no Sunshower. Now, please, hold all questions until the end of the tour, okay?"
Glimmer nodded and backed away slowly.
That's weird, she thought, I figured everypony would know everypony around here.
Glimmer watched Openskies as he talked. After a some time, the tour started walking down a long hall that had lights hanging from the cloud ceiling. They passed a big door that had a wind symbol on it. Openskies stopped and starting talking again,
"This is the wind room. This is where we create the wind that will travel all across Equestria. This wind helps Canterlot make energy for factories."
Glimmer looked around hoping she wasn't the only pony there who was amazed by this. It turned out that, yeah, she pretty much was. They continued to walk through the hall. The next door had a cloud symbol on it. But this time the group didn't stop.
"That room is where we make the clouds. Some of you pegasi might become Cloud Keeper," Openskies told them, "Once the clouds are created, we fill them with snow or rain and bring them to the different towns."
During the next few minutes, the tour guide showed his group the last rooms at the end of the hall, which included the Thunder and Lighting Room,  the Snowflake Room, and the Rainbow Room. The group eventually looped back to the center room where they first started. The room was now full of chairs and a podium where some pegasi were talking. The group separated and started to fill up the seats. Once everypony was sitting, the pegasus at the podium began to speak,
"Tomorrow your abilities will be tested with three tasks. I hope Openskies already told you about this. If he didn’t, well, now you know! Please find Openskies again. He will now show you to your rooms."
After Glimmer found Openskies again, the group of new workers went down another hall, opposite of the hall they had walked down earlier. But before they went to the dorms, the group stopped at the cafeteria for dinner. The large group walked in and saw many big tables lined up next to each other. Far in the back of the room was a buffet table with dishes of food on it. The group scrambled over to the line.
Glimmer waited in line as the smell of spaghetti and meatballs teased her stomach and made it growl like a savage animal. It had been a long day and now it was time for Glimmer to pay up.
Once Glimmer got her food, she noticed a big table that had a sign that said "New workers" on it. Glimmer grabbed a seat and began to scarf down her meal. She didn’t really try to have a conversation with the other new workers sitting at the table.
After about a half an hour, Openskies came into the cafeteria and ushered the group to their beds.
"This is where you will be sleeping tonight. Don’t stay up too late! You’ll need all of your energy tomorrow!" Openskies said as the group started to pass rows of doors that all lined up next to each other. There were at least one hundred or so new workers, so Openskies split the large group into smaller ones. Thankfully, Openskies put Cloudkicker, a pony she had met while she was taking a tour and had became friends with, in the same dorm that Glimmer was assigned. Together, they walked inside the dorm room. Bunk beds covered most of the space. It was big enough for at least ten ponies. All of the pegasi suddenly scattered to grab a bunk. Glimmer trotted over to a bunk with Cloudkicker.
"Top or bottom?" she asked instantly.
"Um..." Glimmer thought aloud.
"Top! I call top! Dibs on the top!" Cloudkicker called out before Glimmer could answer. The next thing Glimmer knew, he friend had made herself comfortable on the top bunk.
Glimmer didn't care. She was exhausted from her long day and really wanted some shut eye. Glimmer looked around and saw that some of the other ponies were buzzing with excitement about tomorrow. She jumped onto the bottom bunk and fell asleep.