Two weeks later...
The days since Storm had started his training course had passed mostly without a hitch, and before he knew it, it was the Wednesday of his second week at the weather factory, after which Clear would make the life-altering decision regarding whether he would be able to join or not. With each passing day, his training slowly became more and more physically strenuous, but considering that physical activity was something Storm enjoyed, especially if it involved flying, it didn't put too much pressure on him, despite Clear's warnings stating otherwise. So far, contrary to what Clear had stated before he begun, he had found the training process a somewhat enjoyable experience, one which was at times challenging, yet at the same time fun, especially the team-building exercises he had to take part in with some other trainees, which enabled him to meet some friendly ponies he would potentially work with if they each passed the course and managed to get accepted into the factory. Over the past several days, he had also become good friends with Lilli, Clear's daughter, who often hung out with him during lunch breaks or whenever he wasn't busy, as well as introducing the stallion to numerous weather ponies she called her friends. In addition to this, Storm was paid whilst taking part in the training course, albeit at a much lower rate than more established and accomplished weather ponies who had worked there longer were paid, receiving 250 bits at the end of each week compared to the 500-600, maybe 700 plus others got. The amount he was paid each week wasn't very much, but it was still something, enabling Storm to buy groceries at the supermarket two blocks away from his apartment, as well as allowing him to start raising money for the long flight or train journey back to Cloudsdale. The idea of being able to see his family after several months of exchanging letters with them was certainly a strange one for Storm, especially considering that he would also see his stepfather, a pony to whom he has grown estranged over the past couple of weeks...
"No, Storm." he held his head in his hooves, before shifting his gaze upwards to look out of the window of his kitchen at the street fourteen stories below. "He's out of your life... at least for now, just don't think about him. If it wasn't for High Wind, you'd be training to join the Guard right now. He's the one who ruined your life...you just can't simply forgive him after all he had done to you. You can't... You aren't meant to be here."
And yet, the more Storm pondered over the possibility of seeing his family again, especially his stepdad, the more he felt as though he may have been too harsh on the stallion. After all, whilst the two may have had a rocky and oftentimes volatile relationship as of late, and at present were over two thousand miles away from each other on opposite sides of the country, they were still family, and for Storm, his family was one of the most important things in his life. Despite his many shortcomings and his seldom stable relationship with his stepson, the fact that he was the pony who brought Storm and his mother to Equestria was enough to make Storm hate High Wind less, although it was safe to admit that he would probably never truly forgive High after he transferred him to a different weather factory in a whole other part of the country.
But then again, what's not to say that High Wind will have changed over the next couple of months? After all, his mom, in all her wisdom once told him that 'time heals all wounds', and maybe this would be the case with himself and High after he returns home. Storm at least hoped so, but deep down inside he feared for the worst.
"Ugh." Storm groaned, as his train of thought switched tracks from his planned visit to Cloudsdale to his presently-ongoing training. Having completed a large majority of his physical training, most of which was easy enough and involved refining his flight skills as well as testing his physical strength, Storm was allowed by Clear, who figured the experience would come in handy for him , to take part in the factory's weather patrol team, which as of right now was at its busiest, for good reason. As the remnants of a rather intense hurricane moved northwards across the Western Ocean, Vanhoover often found itself bearing the brunt of some severe thunderstorms throughout the course of the second week of Storm's training, which brought high winds, lightning and torrential rain to the city and the suburban towns and villages which surrounded it, sometimes resulting in local manholes overflowing with sewage and sections of street being flooded with ankle deep water as a result, as well as trees being knocked onto power lines by the high winds. On more than one occasion, a tornado watch was actually issued for several parts of town by the city's Local Weather Administration as a wall cloud was spotted by trained storm chasers in a forest fifteen miles south east of downtown Vanhoover, but luckily, the tornado it spawned was not strong enough to cause any real damage and dissipated within mere minutes of forming, only uprooting a small section of the large expanse of woodland which surrounded parts of the city. During the weekend, Storm was able to fly with the team of weather ponies tasked with monitoring the path and the duration of these thunderstorms, which was something he could only have dreamt of doing, even back in Cloudsdale, despite here being under the constant observation of several higher ranking weather ponies whilst flying, all who would report back to Clear on Storm's performance. Starting from today, however, he would be tasked with doing something he did for a while back in Cloudsdale, before being moved to the cloud manufacturing department shortly after joining; cloud busting. The weather patrol in Vanhoover covered three counties which surrounded the main city-county that was Vanhoover, as well as the city itself, and was involved in everything to do with thunderstorms, regardless of whether or not they were created naturally or by weather ponies, and while flying with these ponies, he was able to amass a great wealth of new information which would come in handy as a junior storm maker. As he walked onto the balcony of his apartment, being greeted by the fresh, warm air upon stepping out onto the small concrete platform suspended over a hundred feet above ground level, with nothing but a thick, wingtip-high pane of glass keeping him from falling off the edge onto the street below, he observed the bustling city before him, the visible few of it's many intersections and streets filled to the brim with buses, taxis and carriages. He glanced upwards from the small strip mall right in front of the apartment complex, home to a small movie theater, a video store and a Nipponese restaurant which he begun to frequent immediately after arriving in Vanhoover, past several buildings, some of which were several stories taller than his own apartment complex, fixing his gaze onto a large bank of cumulonimbus clouds building up at least twenty miles away, signalling the arrival of today's thunderstorm.
Walking back into the apartment, Storm turned on the old television set in the living room and attempted to tune in to the local news station, KVHV 3, just to be sure of the weather forecast despite having been told of it at work.
"...as you all may know, over the past few days, we have been bearing the brunt of this huge system of supercell thunderstorms which are all pouring into Vanhoover bay from the Western Ocean, all of which are remnants of a Category 3 hurricane out there at sea." explained the weather mare on the television screen, a kiwi green unicorn mare with an auburn mane wearing a pink dress, who stood in front of a computer generated map of Equish Coltumbia projected onto the wall behind her, subdivided into what seemed to be around twenty-twenty five counties, all of which had their county seats labeled on the map. She then begun gesturing towards around five weather systems, displayed on the map according to the amount of rainfall carried in each part of the storm. "As Equestrian naming conventions do not allow for the naming of a hurricane until it impacts land with sufficient energy and force, our hurricane out there at sea was never named and dissipated within about a week of forming, although preliminary observations suggested it may impact the Haywaiian Islands."
"Thunderstorms will be moderate to severe in nature and precipitation is anticipated to be very heavy, leading to possible localized flooding, but according to some of the top members of the Vanhoover weather team tasked with monitoring these storms, they pose little to no risk of tornadoes. In spite of this continuous succession of thunderstorms, carried up here by the West Equestrian Current, temperatures will remain high and the weather will clear up over the weekend as a large swath of high pressure from further inland moves here. Right now, temperatures in Vanhoover are a warm 82 degrees, but as today's storm passes over, expect them to plummet to around 60."
"That's a relief." Storm remarked as he continued watching the news report on TV, despite knowing he didn't have much time left before he started work. "It must be warmer here than it is in Cloudsdale right now."
"Rainfall will be moderate to severe but won't last very long, possibly around twenty-thirty minutes, whilst wind speeds are expected to hit 50 miles an hour, speeds which are high enough to knock a flying Pegasus off course."
"Should be fun..." Storm groaned before he flipped the remote, allowing the television set to turn off and cool down. He stood up off the couch he sat on, and gazed around the living room, which was considerably darker than it was five minutes earlier when he turned on the weather. He turned towards the open balcony door through which a gust of wind entered the apartment, before turning to look out of the window. The sky was now enshrouded in dark gray cloud, which was borderline black closer to the horizon. Although patches of blue sky could be visible to his east and west, the brewing, towering behemoth of a thundercloud easily stole the show.
"Time to go to work." Storm's stomach churned violently as a rumble of thunder echoed through the air, bouncing off the many surrounding buildings before making its way into Storm's ears.
By the looks and sounds of it, today's storm had arrived.
"Stormfire, keep up!" yelled the muffled voice of the weather patrol captain, who having been educated in weather from an early age was tasked by Clear with keeping Storm and two other trainees safe, as well as leading the main cloud-busting group through the thunderstorm as one member of the team surveyed the storm, something Storm was unfamiliar with as he had never did it back in Cloudsdale. Leading the group through the storm which raged in the skies above Vanhoover, the captain of the patrol team, a stallion by the name of Microburst, was obviously a pony who knew his stuff, being the leader of a team of highly trained weather ponies whose main duties were cleaning skies by busting through clouds, which was something Storm used to do for a while back in Cloudsdale before quickly being relegated to the cloud manufacturing department of the factory. As Storm, wearing an orange helmet with a plastic visor over his eyes and a built-in microphone used to communicate with the others attempted to follow the group, raindrops lashed at him from virtually every direction there was, carried in part by strong gusts of fifty miles an hour, and lightning crackled across the dark gray sky, striking the spires and lightning rods on the roofs of Vanhoover's tallest landmarks as forks whilst punctuated by loud bangs of thunder which rang in Storm's ears. Finding it hard to stay on course without raindrops being blown onto his face seemingly every second or the constant crashing of thunder claps echoing in his ears, Storm realized that this storm, out of all the ones he had flown through was easily one of the worst, a possible super-cell thunderstorm minus the tornado-forming wall cloud which often developed naturally in these storms. A mixture of rainwater and sweat trickled down his face as he charged through the air hundreds of feet above Vanhoover's busy financial district, glancing down several times at the streets beneath him, which were jammed with ponies pulling carriages as they desperately tried to get home. His body overflowing with adrenaline which surged through his veins, he felt like flying faster in order to catch up with the rest of the group, but deep inside he knew that the faster he was to fly, the more of a chance he'll have of getting struck by lightning, which had happened several times in the past, especially whilst he was still learning how to fly. Knowing the risks of flying in severe weather, especially the idea of being knocked out of control by the high winds and spiraling towards a building as a result, as well as receiving second and or third degree burns on his wings from lightning strikes, which was something he had experienced a couple times before after being struck by lightning, he decided to maintain a constant speed of just below 50 miles an hour, which was what he considered his speed limit. "You don't want to be caught out in this weather! The faster we destroy the storm cloud, the quicker we get back!"
"I'm right behind you..." Storm wheezed into the microphone he had built into his helmet as his burst of speed begun to wear off, his heart beating wildly within his chest, before a large bolt of lightning suddenly erupted before him, striking the Vanhoover bay beneath him and lighting up the murky water in that area, before it quickly vanished and was replaced by the roaring of thunder. "WOAH!"
"What did I tell you, recruit?! Keep the buck up, and take a good look around you! If you do, you might just get home in one piece."
"That was terrifying." Storm panted as his heart beat slowed down. "Honestly."
"Is this your first time flying in a storm?" asked Microburst, slowing down for Storm.
"Nope." Storm shook his head as he caught up with the stallion. "It's just that I don't remember flying through something this...violent before."
"Well, I can tell you is that storms in Equish Coltumbia are known to be pretty rough, yet at the same time rarer than in other parts of the country, such as the midwest, which is where I'd assume you're from judging by your accent." responded Microburst, before a lightning bolt lit up the sky behind them, seemingly on cue. "Our thunderstorms are generally more severe than the summer thunderstorms you experience in the midwestern and central provinces of Equestria, but we don't get nearly as many tornadoes forming as you guys usually do. Just to know what we're dealing with exactly, we survey our storms first before we bust them. Everything is measured, from maximum windspeed and cloud rotation, to precipitation and air temperature differences before and during the storm, and based on these measurements, we classify our storm as being either Class A, or single-cell, Class B, or multi-cell, or C, aka super-cell. From what I can tell, this is most definitely either a strong single-cell or a very weak super-cell. Familiar with these terms, recruit?"
"Mostly." Storm admitted.
"Well then. Fortunately, our storms, like most thundershowers, generally last around half an hour before either moving away or dying out. That is, unless the thunderstorm is a supercell, in which case, they can last for hours and cover a 20 mile radius, hence why we need to clean this bastard up before it causes flooding or any wind damage. What did you do here before? 'Cuz I don't think I've met you before."
"Well, for the first couple of days, Clear merely monitored my physical state by subjecting me to all kinds of tests, most of were pretty easy. From the weekend onwards, however, she decided to move me to the main weather team, where Polaris taught me how to identify potential tornado-forming storms and distinguish them from the rest." explained Storm. "And right now, it looks like I'm here."
"Makes sense, alright." smirked Microburst. "You know, Polaris was in the Air Force, before he was honorably discharged, and Clear...well, she's been here as far as I can recall."
"He was in the Air Force?"
"Yep." grinned Microburst. "He served two tours in the Griffon Empire during the war."
"Impressive." Storm smiled. "I find the military very fascinating."
"You know, Clear gave me a copy of your records from... Cloudsdale? I must say, based on what they told us about your flight skills, I'm actually surprised you aren't in the Air Force yourself."
"Really?" gasped Storm. "You think?"
"Yeah." replied Microburst. "But then again, here at Vanhoover we're always looking for future weather ponies."
"That's nice." Storm joked. "Well, what's the plan?"
"Well, right now we're gonna have to get through this cloud before we start anything." chuckled Microburst. "Then, after I brief your teammates, I'm either going to have somepony monitor you or I'm gonna do it myself. I'm really interested in seeing what you can do, Stormfire. Have you done this before in...Cloudsdale?"
"Kinda, at least for a while." Storm shrugged. "Although I was moved to a different department pretty quickly, so I'm not as experienced as I should be."
"I think we're almost out of the storm, boss!" shouted a weather pony from just up ahead of them as the gray sky begun to grow lighter and lighter towards the distance. The rain seemed to ease up a bit, and the wind seemed to grow calmer as well as the skies lightened into a shade of blue.
"Once we exit the storm cell, I'd like you all to stop flying." ordered Microburst through his microphone. "Then you will all be briefed."
Upon flying out of the thunderstorm, the clouds quickly broke and Storm and the other weather ponies were immediately greeted by a beautiful blue sky, as well as a seemingly-instant rise in temperature, which wasn't much at all but it was still noticeable. The howling winds also virtually ceased in an instant, and at a safe enough distance from the cloud, Storm gazed back in mid-flight at the towering cumulonimbus, the top of which appeared to spread out into the shape of an anvil as it touched the boundary of the lower atmosphere. The weather ponies, kept in mid-air by the constant flapping of their wings came to a halt and gathered around Microburst in a semi-circle formation, awaiting his orders.
"Alright." begun Microburst, looking at the group of weather ponies in front of and around him, including Storm, who hovered to his left. "So, now that we've surveyed the storm, I'd like to see our results."
"Here you go, boss."
"Ah, well then..." he begun, as he gazed down at the tiny, hoofheld device he had just been handed by the weather pony tasked with surveying the storm. "it turns out that today's storm is in fact merely a strong, Class A-rated single-cell thunderstorm, in the early stages of dissipating. According to these readings, no rotation was observed within the cloud amongst other things, but precipitation levels were high, therefore we should get rid of this cloud ASAP before it causes any flooding, which is unlikely might I add but still possible. No need for us to issue any weather warnings like some of you may have done earlier during the week, as this storm is dissipating as I mentioned earlier. All you gotta do is just simply clean this storm up, which would take you about an hour and a half, depending on how fast you fly, and by the time you're done, it'll probably be around three. Please remember that this is a team effort, so I'd like you all to work together whilst busting the storm, not like what happened last time, where some asshole refused to do his job because somepony else took his part of the cloud. Remember, we may be strong as individuals, but we're even stronger as a team. If somepony takes your part of the cloud, just find another, untouched area and clean there. How far have we traveled, Atlas?"
"Roughly about 12 miles off the coast of Vanhoover, heading towards the southwest."
"Perfect." grinned Microburst. "Okay then, before we start, I'd just like to introduce you to a new member of the weather team. His name is Stormfire and I'd like all of you to make him feel as welcome as possible."
"Hi Stormfire!"
"Nice to meet you!"
"Hi guys." Storm smiled at the other weather ponies, the vast majority of which were mares who ogled him constantly and giggled amongst themselves as they became especially fixated on his large, muscular wings.
"Anyways." Microburst suddenly butted in. "Time to clean this sucker up. All of you, get into formation. Storm, you stick with me; I want to see what you can do."
"You got it, sir." Storm nodded, though with a hint of uncertainty in his voice as he wondered how this was going to play out.
Without a moment to spare, the weather ponies quickly got into formation, with Storm staying close to Microburst, who oversaw the operation, and with his blessings, the group quickly made a beeline towards the storm cloud, which towered just less than a mile in front of them as it slowly moved eastwards towards the coast. Not thinking twice, Storm followed the group himself, beads of sweat trickling down his face as he flew into the storm cloud, which cast its shadow on the ocean below. Immediately after entering the storm, the blue sky quickly morphed into a shade of dark gray, and they were greeted by thunder and lightning, as well as by violent torrents of rain lashing at them from seemingly every direction there was, carried by increasingly strong gusts of wind. Storm found it hard to concentrate as the raindrops slammed against his visor and could tell that the others felt the same way, watching as the weather ponies who flew next to him pushed through small sections of the cloud, which faded away into the surrounding air upon impact, whilst also attempting to withstand the elements.
"Storm, don't just fly there!" yelled Microburst from his left, having just caught up with him. "Do something useful!"
"Like what?"
"Fly through the bucking cloud!"
"Okay!"
"If you don't know what to do, just observe what your teammates are doing."
"Sure." Storm nodded, before turning to face his right, watching as a mare pushed apart a section of cloud with her hooves, which also faded away into her surroundings. "Looks easy enough!"
"Well then, try it!"
"Okay!" Storm suddenly flew upwards. His hooves outstretched, he pushed through a large section of cloud and spread it apart, causing small sections of it to disappear. "Told you it was easy!"
"Well then, help the others!" replied Microburst from at least twenty feet below. "We want this cloud erased from existence by three!"
"What's the time right now?"
"1:58! Like I said, you better hurry the buck up!"
"Okay!" responded Storm, before suddenly banking towards the right and up into another part of the cloud, one which surprisingly enough was completely vacant, allowing him to clean as much of the sky as he possibly could. With a cunning smirk on his face, he flew right through the masses of condensed water vapor, which vanished almost instantly upon impact, and within five minutes, a large patch of blue sky could be visible. Letting out a surprised gasp upon noticing just how much of the surrounding cloud had dissipated, he flew through more of it, adrenaline flowing through his veins and arteries like surging floodwaters as what he learned during the few cloud busting sessions he partook in, as well as what High Wind had taught him before returned to him. What felt like a few minutes later, the remaining clouds in that section of sky broke, enabling sunlight to seep in from outside. "So," begun Storm, grinning proudly at his doing. "What do you think?"
"Impressive." smiled Microburst. "How long ago did you last take part in cloud busting exercises?"
"I don't know." Storm shrugged, facing downwards at the choppy, yet decidedly calmer ocean water below. "Probably a good few years ago, and even then I didn't really do much. I guess it just came naturally for me."
"Makes sense alright." Microburst wiped the sweat off his forehead with his hoof, before pulling it out from beneath his visor. "You're still good though, I can tell you that."
"Thanks." Storm smiled. "I honestly didn't think I had it in me. What should I do now?"
"Just continue with what you were doing." replied Microburst. "I'll be keeping an eye on your progress, alright?"
"Sure."
That having been said, Storm quickly returned to cloud-busting. Being under the constant watch of Microburst, he helped some of his fellow team members with cloud-busting, and his efforts quickly gained their recognition and approval, though in spite of this, Storm, being ever the perfectionist, still felt he could do even slightly better. Yet, the faster he flew, the more exhausted he became, and soon enough, he found himself struggling to get the job done, however, he persisted, and by 2:50 PM, much of the storm had virtually vanished from existence. By 2:55, the remaining section of cumulus cloud left over from the main storm was also no more, enabling the weather ponies to return to the factory.
"Good work, everypony." Microburst smiled at his team, all of whom panted heavily after flying at what appeared to be the speed of a bullet ripping through the air, Storm included, as they hovered above the ocean, gazing at the sparse assembly of clouds in the distance, the massive, ten mile-wide cumulonimbus cloud being virtually nonexistent. "Especially you Storm."
"You think?" Storm turned to face him.
"Definitely. How long ago did you last take part in a cloud-busting exercise again?"
"Probably a few years ago." Storm replied. "I can't really say for sure, but what I can say is that I didn't really do much."
"Well then, maybe with Clear's permission, I can have you take part in some more cloud-busting exercises." Microburst proposed. "What would you say?"
"Sounds fun enough."
About half an hour after fully erasing the thunderstorm from existence, the team of weather ponies returned to the weather factory, which overlooked the city dramatically, just in time for their lunch break. Upon landing, the team took a long, good look at the mostly clear sky over Vanhoover, the sunlight reflecting off distant glass buildings in the core of the city twelve miles away, and congratulated each other on their efforts, including Storm, who felt he did a pretty good job himself in spite of the fact that he had not taken part in such an exercise for a few years.
After drying off, the team, as well as the recruits who were interning on it entered the cafeteria, which was emptier than Storm had originally anticipated it to be.
Having bought himself just a cheese sandwich as well as a can of pop from the canteen, instead of sitting next to his teammates, Storm sat next to some other recruits, most of whom were transfers themselves from other parts of the country.
"Hey Storm." smiled one of the recruits, a Unicorn stallion from San Prancisco by the name of Golden Gait, who was on Storm's team for the team-building exercises.
"Hey guys." Storm returned the smile as he placed his tray onto the table. "Holy shit, that was amazing."
"I know, right?" grinned Flashblade, a Pegasus stallion from Albuquerquhay, New Marexico who specialized in cloud-busting himself. "I'd do that again a million times over."
"Same." replied another Pegasus stallion by the name of Red Blizzard, a transfer from Coltlumbus who apart from specializing in winter weather was also on Storm's team during the exercises. "I can't wait for us to do those simulations again."
"What simulations?" asked Storm as he took a bite out of his sandwich.
"Didn't Clear tell you?"
"Some of us have already done them before." Golden replied, before taking a bite into his sandwich. "Basically, what happens is you are subjected to various extreme weather scenarios, including blizzards, heavy rainstorms and hurricane-force winds, weather conditions which get worse with every simulation. The reason why we take part in those tests is for them to monitor how accustomed our bodies are to different types of severe weather, how well we react to changes in our surroundings."
"Ooh." Storm smirked, his interest piqued. "Tell me more."
"Sorry man, but you'll just have to find out for yourself." Red Blizzard replied. "Believe me, they're most definitely worth every second of your time."
"When do they take place?" asked Storm.
"From what I've heard, there's a couple taking place tomorrow through to Friday." Flashblade replied, before biting into his pizza slice. "Then again, Clear should've told you in advance."
"Is she the one that's organizing them?"
"Yep." replied Golden Gait. "Maybe she's just busy lately."
"Yeah, probably." replied Storm, clicking open his can of pop. "That may explain why I haven't seen much of her lately."
"Any plans for today, dude?" asked Flashblade.
"Not really." Storm shrugged. "Probably gonna fly back home after eating lunch."
"Ah."
"Hey guys." Red begun, pointing towards a pair of mares walking between the tables. "Look who it is."
"Huh?" Storm asked, turning back to see who it was, before one of the mares noticed him and waved in his direction. "Lilli? What about her?"
"I think she has the hots for you, dog." Golden Gait replied.
"How can you be so sure, Gold?"
"Isn't it obvious from the way she looks at you?" Red Blizzard asked, watching as Storm gazed in her direction.
"Huh?" Storm asked, fixating his gaze onto Lilli, who smiled a friendly smile, which he returned as she sat down at her table. "Oh."
"I think you guys really suit each other." smirked Red Blizzard.
"That's ridiculous." Storm scoffed, turning away from her. "I already have a marefriend back home in Cloudsdale."
"Really?" Gold asked. "What's her name?"
"Blue Night."
"Really pretty name." Flashblade commented.
"Yeah, she sounds like a blast."
"Yeah." replied Storm. "She's amazing, honestly. I really wish she could have come with me, but that wasn't, and still isn't possible."
"All I can tell you is that you should give Lilli a chance." replied Flashblade. "I knew a dude who used to date her, and they were inseparable. Lilli is like, the nicest mare in Vanhoover, man."
"I appreciate your concern, but honestly, I can't give up on Blue." Storm sighed.
"Who says you have to give up on her?" asked Red Blizzard. "You can keep this relationship a secret."
"I don't know, honestly. It just doesn't feel right, me cheating on her. Y'know."
"Take your time, dude." Golden replied. "It doesn't have to be instant. You can still take the time to get to know her."
"The company would do you well." Blizzard proposed. "I mean, you are on your own, am I right?"
"Yeah..." Storm replied. "I still don't know what to say though. I really miss Blue, you guys."