The air north of Ponyville was still awash with chatter and exclamations, even an hour after the combined cyclones had been dissipated. Rainbow Dash's ears twitched to the voices as she sat on a hilltop overlooking several teams of weather fliers gathered in a tight circle around Stu Leaves and his wingmates.
Despite the congratulatory remarks and hoof-bumps, Stu Leaves fidgeted with unease. His eyes darted around, as if looking for an opportunity to escape from the rambunctious, ecstatic crowd.
Rainbow's eyes were trained on him the whole time. She didn't budge an inch; she could barely move, really. The numbness had grown so intense, magnified from the ordeal she had thrown her body through just sixty or eighty minutes ago.
"Rainbow!" A familiar voice sputtered from behind. "Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow glanced over her shoulder.
With pitter-pattering hooves, Twilight Sparkle galloped up to the top of the hill. Spike sat on her back while Trixie came up the rear, panting.
"Rainbow! There you are! Omigosh...!" Twilight skidded to a stop, breathless. "I just heard what happened! Is everypony okay?"
"Heh... yeah. It's all cool." Rainbow bore a tired smirk. "No sweat."
"No sweat?!" Spike's facial scales stretched into a grimace. "We're hearing that Ponyville was nearly leveled to the ground by a runaway tornado!"
"Trixie... would not... have liked that..." The other unicorn wheezed. Her sweat glistened in the afternoon light. "Trixie has grown... use to this... st-stupid town... unnngh..." Fwomp! She collapsed in a tired, fuzzy pile.
"The... uh..." Rainbow gulped. "The Cloudsdale Weather Commission is going over what happened," she said. "Looks like one of the officials was asleep on the job, or else they wouldn't have had two tornadoes rotating in the same direction being conjured so close to one another."
"Never mind how it started!" Twilight's eyes blinked brightly. "I can't get over how they got stopped! Everypony in town is saying that your team overtook the cyclones and ended them before a single house could be destroyed!"
"We were pretty quick to outfly the things, yeah." Rainbow pointed into the crowd with a limp limb. "But if you wanna talk to the real hero, he's standing right there in the middle of everypony."
Twilight and Spike squinted.
"Who?" Spike blinked. "Stu?! Seriously?"
"Go ask him yourself, doubting dragon," Rainbow said with a sly grin.
"Don't mind if we do." Twilight shuffled down the hill. Ponies saw her, instantly recognized Celestia's apprentice, and opened a path for her to reach the stallion. "Hey! Mr. Leaves!"
Stu looked over. His ears perked, and he looked relieved to be in the presence of an extended friend. "Twilight!" He gulped. "I... uh... I-I'm sorry for the riot here..."
"You call this a riot, Mr. Leaves?" Twilight bore a dumb smile. "More like a celebration! Is it true? Did you stop the tornado?"
Before Stu could respond—
"Oh, it's true, alright!" Sharp Quill said with a smile.
"He wrestled the thing to oblivion!" Thunderlane interjected. "Let's hear it for the conquering hero!"
"Hooraaaaay!"
"Yaaaay!"
"Uhhhh... look... everypony, please..." Stu gulped. "I... I really need to get out of here."
"Why, dude?" Spike shrugged. "What's the big hurry? You kicked a tornado's butt today and saved an entire town! Soak it up!"
"I just..." Stu shuddered. "I have someplace to be. Please."
"I think the Mayor would like to hear about what's happened here!" Twilight said with a smile.
"For Celestia's sake... I-I was just lucky!" Stu pointed up the hill. "If you really, really want to thank somepony, thank Rainbow Dash. She rallied everypony together and had us fly into the tornado to begin with!"
"Yeah, but you took it down, bro!" Spike pumped his claw in the air. "Didn't you?"
"Rainbow deserves to share in the spotlight too." Twilight turned around and gazed uphill. "Hey, Rainbow! If it's all okay with you, I think we should go tell the Mayor about this in person!" She blinked. "...Rainbow?"
The hilltop was barren.
The front door to Rainbow Dash's cloud home teetered open.
With a tiny grunt, Rainbow nudged her way inside, head first.
She moved through the power of her wings alone. Her legs dangled beneath her.
On a teetering path, she made her way to the bathroom. There, a jug of Zecora's special brew lingered. She attempted grasping the bottle and opening it, but she could barely get the lid to budge. About two minutes in, she gave up with a groan.
On a zig-zagged path, she hovered into her bedroom, levitated above her mattress...
...and simply dropped.
Th-Thwump!
"Eeeeeeeeeeeuuuu-yeahhhhhhhhhhh..." Dead tired, Rainbow Dash shimmied herself like a snake until she was half-buried in comfy, warm blankets. Her extremities tingled, and the numbness morphed into immediate slumber. A flicker of the day's chaotic, emotional images fizzled briefly through her mind, and she was out for the count.