Test Flight
Cloud Breaker’s long night of studying eventually led as many cram sessions do to him falling asleep literally mid-sentence reading about wind patterns. He had been almost deliberately trying to avoid falling asleep because he knew who might get at him if he did.
As the green pegasus slept his head lay on the coffee table just off to the side from his book. He was seemingly awoken from his slumber when a holey black hoof came down in front of him.
“Huh, what,” Cloud said groggily.
He looked up to again find a familiar changeling looking down at him.
“Still at it, eh Cloudy boy,” Drone 9417 said. “When will you learn, you can’t do this. It takes more than a few dirty old books to make a phony pony into something he’s not.”
“I’m not trying to become captain of the Wonderbolts,” Cloud responded. “I’m just trying to get something going with my new life.”
“New life, new life,” Drone 9417 said. “You don’t have a new life. You just have one life and all you did was screw it up by your own doing.”
“Everybody makes mistakes,” Cloud said.
“Most beings’ mistakes don’t end with permanently altered DNA,” Drone 9417 said. “You massively messed up the job you were literally born to do. And yet somehow that has inspired you to have a go at something changelings like yourself cannot physically do.”
“It may not be what I was born to do but maybe it’s what I’m MEANT to do,” Cloud said. “I won’t know until I try.”
“Go ahead and try,” Drone 9417 responded. “The Swarm is still waiting for when you come to your senses.”
-----------
Suddenly Cloud woke up; his head was indeed on the coffee table next to his book. Despite the nightmare he actually had a little bit of confidence, he felt he might have actually won that argument with himself. But disputes with that little changeling voice in the back of his head would have to wait for later; he still had to prepare for his test flight.
Cloud trotted into the kitchen to find a plate with a cold waffle and a note on it. He looked up at the clock and noticed it read 9:41 a.m. That explained the lack of Sunny and Serenity; both would be at work by now. His attention turned to the note.
“Cloud, long night huh? Pop by the office at 2 p.m. for your run. I’ll go through the preparations to get you in the sky once you arrive. Have some breakfast and get back to those books, Serenity.”
“If you say so Serenity,” Cloud jokingly said to himself as he eyed the waffle.
A quick meal later and he dug back into that book on wind patterns. He read to himself.
“The Equestrian environment does not naturally have wind in most locations except during storm conditions. Normally it must be produced by pegasi in flight. To produce wind angle your wings and use your body’s inherent weather abilities to grab the air and pull. The wind produced will be roughly 10 percent of your airspeed velocity; wind should not exceed 50 units under normal circumstances although currents adjusted by storms often can.”
As he continued to read the topics continued into more severe weather.
“The funnel cloud is a rotating column of wind that can be used for moving clouds to higher points in the atmosphere or breaking them if at higher speed. It is to be deliberately used only under very strictly monitored and controlled situations. The only difference between a funnel cloud and the more dangerous tornado is a connection with the ground. Use extreme caution in their formation; they are hard to break up. Strategies for breaking them out including letting them spin themselves out, altering currents to reduce conditions favoring them, or a directly flying into it to create counter rotation that can be used for braking purposes.”
Cloud could only wonder why anypony would deliberately create a tornado but he supposed it could make sense under the right circumstances. He closed the book and used the next hour to carefully fill out his weather pony job application then took a small break for lunch. After a simple sandwich made from leftovers in the fridge Cloud went back to the books. He was going to be ready.
-----------
It was five minutes before 2 p.m. when Cloud Breaker hovered into the Ponyville Weather Bureau, he dared not be late for this project. He had his saddlebags on, holding a vital folder containing his job application. Sunny Rays was in the lobby waiting for him.
“Well, well Mr. Sleep-pony decided to get up after all,” Sunny joked.
“Yeah, yeah,” Cloud said. “I was up studying probably a little longer than I should have been.”
Cloud turned his attention to his application.
“Where should I submit my paperwork?” Cloud asked as he turned his head around and used his teeth to remove it from the bag.
“I can take that to Rainbow while Serenity takes you up,” Sunny said. “I’m usually in the office plotting out patterns instead of the sky… unless we need an extra set of hooves.”
“So where’s Serenity?” Cloud asked.
“He’s in the locker room,” Sunny said. “Good luck up there Cloud.”
“Thanks Sunny,” Cloud said as he trotted off into the locker room.
The locker room wasn’t nearly as packed as it was for the briefing. With most ponies off on maneuvers or working in the offices there were only four present and the purple mare with a yellow mane and purple eyes walked out immediately for an assignment. That left only three stallions; Serenity, Thunderlane, and a different fellow with a blue coat and a yellow mane and eyes. They were just finishing a conversation about sports.
“I’m taking Rumble to see the Canterlot Crusaders hoofball game this weekend, I thought he deserved a little treat for how well he did with our tornado work last month,” Thunderlane said. “He did a good job under tough circumstances and helped me clear my feather flu afterward.”
“You are going to have a great time,” the blue one said. “Who are the Crusaders playing this week? We need a win badly to stay in contention.”
“They’ve the Detrot Manticores this week,” Serenity noted.
“Ah, good,” the blue one responded. “Detrot never wins.”
Serenity caught a glimpse of his green roommate.
“Ah, Cloud Breaker, you made it,” Serenity said. “These are my coworkers Thunderlane and Blue Skies. Guys, this is Cloud. He’s a rookie going for the Jerkwater job I’m going to take up on an Everfree run today.”
“Well welcome aboard Cloud Breaker,” Thunderlane said.
“Thank you,” Cloud responded. “It’s an honor to meet you guys.”
“I love getting some fresh blood in the office,” Blue Skies said. “Good luck up there, Celestia knows we need another set of hooves around here. I already made one trip to Jerkwater this week and I don’t want to make another one.”
“I’m going to get him set up,” Serenity said. “Catch you colts later.”
“We still on for euchre this week?” Thunderlane asked as he and Blue Skies left. “I should have time.”
“We’ll see,” Serenity said .
As the blue and black stallions left the room the pink and green ones trotted over to Serenity’s locker. He opened the door, like Thunderlane’s Cloud noticed the interior was decorated with pictures and personal effects, a lot of them were of him and Sunny. Serenity quickly looked over his locker.
“Mind if I leave my saddlebag here?” Cloud asked.
“That’s not a problem,” Serenity said as Cloud took them off.
“Here we are,” he said as he removed a box.
Serenity opened the case but didn’t discuss its contents at first.
“Now I’m going to take you up on some Everfree work,” Serenity said. “Just some cloud popping and practice. Don’t do any hot dogging and just to make sure everypony knows what we’re doing I’ve got these.”
Serenity pulled out four high-visibility yellow hoofbands from the box.
“Put one of these on each hoof,” he said.
“Why?” Cloud asked as he did just that.
“They’re rookie indicators,” Serenity said. “It gives all the ponies below a warning you don’t fully know what you are doing.”
Cloud shot him a ‘Seriously’ look. Serenity gave a slightly naughty smile back at him, then grabbed a stop watch out of the locker, placed the box and the saddlebag in, and closed it.
“Nature of the business Cloudy,” Serenity said. “Now let’s get flying.”
The two pegasi hovered out of the locker room, down the hall, and out the door. When they were clear of the building both shot into the sky for a cruise to the edge of the Everfree. As the two took a direct route to the mysterious woods both passed over Sweet Apple Acres, Cloud noticed a tree blown down by wind. Maybe he could work with that for making it amends with Applejack…
-----------
A few moments later the duo arrived at the border between the farmer fields of outer Ponyville and the mysterious Everfree Forest. The massive wooded area made little sense by any sort of Equestrian laws of nature but the bizarre naturally occurring weather was the perfect place for weather pony practice runs that didn’t interfere with their regular schedules. And indeed today there were about 15 clouds floating in a direction out of the forest and into the Ponyville skies that would need to be eliminated.
Cloud gulped. He had to pull this off if he wanted any chance at the job. As he and Serenity flew up to the site he briefly glanced back as his cutie mark, a black pony kicking a cloud. When he created his ‘Cloud’ disguise as a changeling the symbol was an afterthought he just made to look weather related, he never thought he’d have to use it. He hoped it had some real magic to it now, maybe his flank didn’t blank for a reason when he changed.
Serenity spotted a rather fluffy cloud of size. He gestured a hoof toward that cloud.
“Alright, we’ll start small,” Serenity said. “How much cloud walking have you done?”
“I did espionage in Cloudsdale before but changelings use the cloud walking spell for that,” Cloud responded. “I’ve never done it naturally per se.”
“Okay we’ll start there,” Serenity said. “Take a loop and come in for a landing on that cloud. Bank your wings to slow down and you should land softly. It’s a bit bouncy but you’ll be fine.”
“Got it,” Cloud said.
Cloud gave it a kick and sped around. He took aim as flew toward the cloud and tried to bank his wings to slow down… It didn’t work. He banked them too much and came in too low and was about to smash into the side of the cloud. Serenity saw what was happening and started barking corrections.
“Wing Power! Power! Power!” Serenity shouted. “Go around!”
Cloud gave it his all and pulled up at the last moment. His hooves caught the edge and broke off some powdery bits of the cloud but he cleared it. For a moment Cloud thought he’d blown it until he heard what the pink pegasus immediately ordered him to do.
“Try again!” Serenity shouted. “No blood, no foul.”
Cloud sped around again. He banked his wings a little less this time and made another run at the cloud. This time he was right on the money and landed softly on the cloud. The bouncy nature tipped him over on his back but he quickly got back up and shook that off. Serenity hovered over to his green friend.
“Alright, that’s a little better but not perfect,” Serenity said. “Try it again.”
“Huh?” Cloud asked.
“You still crashed on landing,” Serenity said. “Let’s do it again. Third time is the charm.”
Cloud Breaker shrugged and took off again. His third attempt to land on it was perfect and uneventful.
“How’s that?” Cloud asked.
“Now we’re cooking,” Serenity said as he landed alongside Cloud. “As you can see clouds have a bouncy texture to them. Even if you land on them right they can kick back a little if you don’t pay attention.”
“It’s a fun feeling though,” Cloud noted with a fun little jump. “No wonder I’ve seen so many pegasi catching a nap on these things, they are kind of comfy.”
“That they are,” Serenity said with a smile. “But we’re not up here to sleep, we’re here to get you prepared.”
Serenity looked over and spotted a rather dark cloud floating out of the Everfree. The colorization told him exactly what he needed, that’s one had some precipitation in it.
“Next lesson, cloud moving,” Serenity said with a smile. “Fly over and get the gray one then bring it back here. Just fly behind and push it, very simple.”
Cloud took a deep breath then took off. He zipped around, came up behind the cloud, and slowed down. At a snail’s pace the former changeling bumped up against the cloud then poured on the wing flapping. Just as Serenity said the cloud was easy to push and easy to turn. He flew the cloud right over to him with ease. Serenity took off and hovered next to the cloud.
“Alright, that was good,” Serenity said. “Now we’re going to learn how to open the faucet. This baby’s got some rain in it. The secret to turning it is simply this!”
Serenity bucked the cloud with back legs. Instantly the cloud opened up and rain began to pour out of it. Cloud watched attentively as Serenity bucked it again and the rain instantly stopped, his raindrop cutie mark very clearly wasn’t just for show.
“I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t my favorite part of the job,” Serenity said with a smile. “There’s nothing more serene than a good rain, I love positioning and creating showers.”
Cloud could tell Serenity took pride in his work.
“Alright, now you try it,” Serenity said. “Give it a hard kick, don’t worry about breaking it. Clouds won’t pop when they still have water in them.”
Cloud did as he was told. He turned about and gave the raincloud the hardest buck he could. Immediately the rain started again, as the water fell the raincloud’s color started to go from gray to white.
“Not bad,” Serenity said. “Now while this one drains out let’s learn how to pop one.”
Serenity again looked across the sky to pick a new target. He noticed a soft white one; that would do.
“This is our last lesson of the day, ready for some cloud breaking Cloud Breaker?” Serenity asked.
Cloud actually chuckled a bit at the pun. It had only truly been his name for about three and a half days now so it was a new one to him.
“What do I have to do boss?” Cloud asked.
“See that puffy little cloud over there?” Serenity asked.
Cloud nodded in acknowledgement.
“Buck it hard,” Serenity instructed
“What?” Cloud asked in shock.
“Hit the cloud forcefully,” Serenity said. “You can do it with a buck, a punch, or whatever you need. Focus on popping the cloud and you will. It’s not a hard maneuver.”
“Oh, that’s what you meant,” Cloud said. “Got it. Here I go.”
Cloud took aim at the puffy white one in question. With some heavy flaps the green pegasus darted across the sky. He connected with the cloud front hooves first and it exploded into water vapor on impact. Cloud looked back after he pulled off, breaking that cloud was straight up thrilling.
“Wow,” Cloud said. “THAT WAS AWESOME!”
As he flew back to Serenity he noticed the more senior pegasus smiling. He was far from perfect but overall this test flight hadn’t gone to bad. Serenity then threw in a little twist.
“I got one more challenge for you,” Serenity said.
“I thought you said that was the last lesson?” Cloud asked.
“It was the last lesson, this is a fun little challenge,” Serenity said. “We’ve got about 14 clouds left here including that rain cloud which is now dried out. How fast can you clear the sky?”
“Huh?” Cloud asked.
“Simple test, break all the clouds,” Serenity said. “I brought the stopwatch for a reason. I want to see how fast you can do it.”
“You are serious aren’t you?” Cloud asked.
“Yup,” Serenity said, positioning the stopwatch with his hooves.
Cloud gulped again and readied himself.
“Alright, let’s do this,” Cloud said.
“Get ready, get set,” Serenity said. “GO!”
Serenity hit the button and Cloud jetted into action. He dipped, dived, and looped through the sky as fast as he could, popping every cloud he met on the way. The large one he practiced landing on only halfway broke when he hit it forcing him to come around again and hurting his time. He zoomed back toward Serenity, took out the now dry raincloud, and finished. Serenity clicked the timer.
“47 seconds,” Serenity said. “Not too shabby for a newbie but not on pace either. The average weather pegasus can do it in about 22 seconds, Rainbow Dash can do it in 10 “flat” but that’s a big reason she’s got a manager position.”
“So did I do well?” Cloud asked.
“You are raw without a doubt,” Serenity said. “But that is nothing we can’t work with. You’re probably capable of doing this regularly. You’ll need a lot of practice but you’ve got a little skill so assumedly your studying paid off a bit. Once you’re home hit the books again, perhaps you just might pull this off.”
Cloud beamed with pride, he still had work to do but his initial test had still gone about as well as he could have hoped.
-----------
Back at the office Sunny was heading back to her office with one detour. Her destination was the fanciest third story office in the building. The door was oddly colorful and the nameplate showed why; “Rainbow Dash: Ponyville Weather Manager.”
She could hear a rubber bouncing sound as she knocked on the door.
“It’s open,” came an unmistakable voice from the other side.
Sunny opened the door. Rainbow sat at her desk bouncing a ball against the wall.
“Sunny Rays!” Rainbow said in a welcoming tone. “Please tell me we’ve got surprise orders for a storm or something. It’s way too quiet out there today. I’m going up the walls waiting for some action.”
“No dice today Rainbow, we don’t have any storms scheduled today or tomorrow,” Sunny said. “Actually I do have something for you though it’s a job application for Cloud Breaker.”
“Yeah, that green dude, he seems pretty cool,” Rainbow said.
Sunny used her wings to pass the paperwork to Rainbow who immediately started looking it over.
“Why’s he putting in for Jerkwater when we’ve got three open spots in Ponyville proper?” Rainbow asked.
Sunny answered as best as she could.
“I think he’s nervous about his abilities,” Sunny said, she knew that was mainly accurate.
“I can see why,” Rainbow said. “He’s got no references and no prior weather experience. What’s his cutie mark?”
“A pony kicking a cloud,” Sunny responded.
“Sounds weather themed there,” Rainbow noted. “Any idea how he earned it?”
“I don’t know,” Sunny said.
Rainbow looked over the paperwork again. He had a weather themed name and a weather cutie mark… And he didn’t try a career in weather? It didn’t make a lot of sense… But she needed that position filled and he was the first applicant in several months. Perhaps Sunny knew more.
“What do you think of this colt Sunny?” Rainbow asked. “Is he trustworthy?”
Sunny wished she hadn’t asked that.
“He’s working at it a lot but I wouldn’t take him completely on blind faith,” Sunny responded, part of her wished she could have seen how his flight went.
“Would you hire him?” Rainbow asked.
“I’d give him a chance to prove himself,” Sunny said. “He’s a friend of mine, I can’t really judge that.”
“Very well,” Rainbow said. “Tell him I want to talk to him Thursday. He’s in the running.”
Sunny smiled as she walked out the door, Cloud was on the fast track to getting himself where he wanted to be.
As the door closed Rainbow took another look at the application. She was halfway tempted to just approve it and get him in the air but something didn’t seem right. She tucked the paperwork under her wing and opened her window.
“I need a background check on this stallion.”
A blue streak with a rainbow contrail shot out the window into the skies over Ponyville. Rainbow knew just the mare to turn to for one.
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"...because he knew who might get at him if did."
I'm sorry. What exactly are you saying right there?
2823892
Earlier in the fic he had a nightmare where his old changeling self confronted him, he was afraid it could happen again and indeed it does immediately thereafter.
I got that typo corrected and thanks for the help.
"This is HQ calling Fighter Seven. Come in Fighter Seven. Over."
"This Fighter Seven. What is it HQ? Over."
"We got fifteen enemy aircraft headed to our position, we need you to intercept and eliminate them ASAP. Over.
"Roger that HQ, moving in to strike. Over."
No blood, no foul. No pain, no game. No head, yo dead.
BEHOLD! THE NOOB BRACERS!
All of the above are the things that came to my mind almost the moment I read those.
But to be a bit more helpful.
Ohhhhhhhhh, so close.
I totally agree with your question. "Agreement" should be acknowledgement.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. You do well for not having a proofreader. Keep it up!
Considering how thorough Twilight is, I'm guessing she'll be the one doing the background check.
One thing is certain, Cloud honesty about being a former changeling should work in his favor.
I love this story.... eat update must, must eat update, AH UPDATE EAT ME!!!!
2825464
I wonder if I've actually written myself against a wall there. Twilight might see that as a great chance for study but I just can't see any way Rainbow doesn't hit the roof when/if she finds out.
2824483
I actually want to do a scene with radio chatter someday in one of these. I had like three fic ideas that haven't come to frutation that used that concept (USAF dogfight against Lightning Dust or car chase in EqG world). Don't know if either of those fics will ever happen though, I'm not starting any other fics until this one is done.
2828825
Well I'm glad you are enjoying the fic. Here's hoping the future chapters continue your enjoyment.
2839943 Or the future chapters enjoy me?!?!
I can help proofread. I've seen many mistakes so far, but they arent bad enough to mess with the flow of the words. If you want to take me up on my offer, send me a message
I'm almost certain he'll ask Pinkie Pie. she knows everyone in ponyville.
"per se"
4364251
Thank you, I've fixed it.