To Cloudsdale
Chapter 13: To Cloudsdale
"Fluttershy?" The yellow mare looked up. Having left the library, along with everypony else, Fluttershy had been in the process of heading home. But the voice of Rainbow Dash caused her to look up at her friend .
"Oh! Is something wrong Rainbow?" asked Fluttershy, seeing a rather nervous look on her oldest friend's face.
"Um well..." Rainbow's eyes darted from side to side as she scratched the back of her head. Fluttershy's look of concern dissolved into a frown. Rainbow Dash getting evasive was never a good sign.
With a sigh, the sky blue pegasus forged on. "You know that whole thing with Cloudsdale?" Fluttershy nodded. "When I go the day after tomorrow, I was wondering if I could bring Dawn with me."
Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut, expecting a thorough scolding from Fluttershy for wanting to put her son in harm's way. But to her surprise, no such lambasting seemed forthcoming. Slowly, Rainbow opened her cerise eyes to see that Fluttershy was now wearing a fearful expression, her teal eyes quivering.
"Are things really that bad?" asked Fluttershy.
"Yeah," said Rainbow, letting herself descend to the ground. "I'll be honest Fluttershy. I'm scared. Hay! I'm flat out terrified. You have no idea what it was like to come out of my house after being laid out for three days with Wing Exhaustion, only to find out that I was this close to being arrested for a crime I didn't commit. And to make things worse, I find out that Ponyville and Cloudsdale nearly started the first Equestrian Civil War...all because of me."
Tears collected in the corners of Rainbow's eyes as she spoke, her voice cracking with emotion. "I'm afraid Fluttershy. I'm scared to think about what might have happened to me if Storm Front hadn't been there to keep those Cloudsdale goons from taking me away. But what scares me even more is that my friends and so many other ponies in this town could have been hurt because they were protecting me."
Lowering her gaze, Rainbow continued. "I'm afraid of what I'm going to find up there in Cloudsdale. I just want someone there, someone who I know will have my back, somepony I can really depend on if things go bad. Having Storm Front with me will help, but I'd feel even better if I had Dawn with me too."
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, Rainbow felt a gentle hoof under chin, lifting her head back up. She found Fluttershy's teal eyes meeting her gaze, a small, yet encouraging smile on Fluttershy's face. Fluttershy pulled Rainbow into a gentle embrace. Sniffling, Rainbow buried her muzzle into her friend's pink mane. For a moment, they simply stayed like that, saying nothing. Finally, Fluttershy pulled back and once again looked Rainbow in the eyes.
"Rainbow Dash. You are one of the strongest ponies I know. There's nothing wrong with being afraid. Thank you for telling me that."
"And Dawn?"
Fluttershy's smile widened. "If Dawn agrees to it, then he can go with you."
"Thanks," said Rainbow, the two of them finally breaking the embrace. Looking away, Rainbow rubbed the back of her head again. "I kinda figured you'd be harder to convince."
Fluttershy giggled slightly. "I guess that would be my right as Dawn's mother. But given that I know perfectly well how strong he is, I know better than to think that he needs me to protect him this way."
"Really?"
"Yes. He saved me twice after all. As his mother, what he needs from me is a place to return to, where he can feel secure and wanted. That's what he needs from me, not some sort of overbearing protection."
Rainbow let out a grateful sigh. "Thank you Fluttershy. I guess I'd better go find him an ask."
"Dawn should be over at the old quarry with Scootaloo. He said they were going to practice there this afternoon."
Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise at the notion. At one point, the quarry had been infested with diamond dogs, who had made an effort to kidnap Rarity to force her to find gems for them. Fortunately, the pests had vacated the place rather than risk being exposed to her whining again. It had also been the scene of the climactic showdown between Dawn, Storm Front, and Red River. She knew that Dawn and Scootaloo normally held their practices in the park. She wondered what had made him choose the quarry.
"What are we doing here?" asked Scootaloo as she settled onto the ground next to Dawn. Now that his feathers had grown back, Dawn was able to actually work with Scootaloo in the air to aid her in refining her flight. Under his more direct tutelage, she had improved immensely in the past week or so.
The ebony colt eyed the rock-strewn expanse before them. The quarry was rarely used, except by Rarity, who went there to find the gems she needed for her dresses. It was a fair way from Ponyville and of little interest to anypony besides Rarity. Here, he didn't have to worry about anyone getting hurt.
"You've been working on your techniques quite a lot," explained Dawn, "And you've made considerable progress in mastering the First Form. I figure that you are ready to take the next step."
"Really!" exclaimed the excited filly, giving Dawn her most hopeful look.
Dawn nodded. In truth, she had progressed much faster than he had expected. As he and Red River had surmised, practicing the First Form over and over again until the movements became second nature to her had proved to be an ideal means of meditation in motion. Knowing it well enough that she no longer had to concentrate on correcting her movements or focus on the sequence of motions meant that Scootaloo was now able to loose herself in the repetitive activity, which left her free to listen to the voice of her own body.
The results had been quite apparent. Though she wasn't aware of it, Dawn had occasionally dropped by to observe Scootaloo's solo practices. When she was in his presence, she tended to tense up and focus too much on making sure that she was moving precisely as Dawn had taught her to. However, on her own, when she wasn't aware of his gaze, Scootaloo showed the true fruits of her dedicated training.
It amused Dawn to no end that, for a filly who once teasingly compared his practice to a dance, Scootaloo's own version of the First Form was even more dancelike than his. She often seemed to skip or glide where the form called for a step. She flowed with perfect grace and poise from one technique to another. The colt had to admit that it was a beautiful sight, one that he had trouble taking his eyes off of.
"Starting today, we will begin practicing using your magic," explained Dawn, "This will give you an understanding on how the techniques you learned previously actually function."
"Cool!" exclaimed Scootaloo, her wings buzzing with excitement.
"I need to remind you that you are not to try this anywhere but here. I don't have any objections to you coming out here on your own to practice, but you should not be trying these exercises anywhere where ponies or their property can get damaged."
Scootaloo nodded eagerly. Dawn took a step to clear the line of fire and began to give his instructions. "Start first with the Forward Wing Strike."
Taking the ready stance, Scootaloo stilled herself, holding her wings partially extended. Taking a deep breath, she turned her senses inwards, feeling the magic flowing within her body. Inhaling, she began to direct it through her wings. Then, in a single motion, she lunged forward, sweeping her wings out in front of her until the tips of her furthest primaries extended past the tip of her nose. As she did so, she let her breath out in a forceful exhale, releasing her magic.
The results were dramatic, to say the least. Scootaloo's ears were flooded with a dull roar as her magic moved the air ahead of her, generating a powerful gust of wind that swept a curtain of dust before it, picking up rocks, some mere pebbles, others the size of hoofballs, and tossing them like leaves. The secondary effects of the move were a bit more problematic. Scootaloo was immediately made aware of the differences between practicing the physical motion and executing the actual technique.
As she had done during the countless practices in the past, Scootaloo had made sure to lunge forward as she thrust out with her wings. However, that alone nearly proved insufficient. The recoil of her move had kept her forehooves from touching the ground. Had she not done the lunge, the orange filly had no doubt that she would have thrown herself over backwards. I need to put the weight of my entire body behind this, she realized. Another complication suggested itself to her immediately.
"Not bad," commented Dawn, observing the results, "An excellent first attempt. I trust you have already noticed some things that you are going to have to change if you want to avoid hurting yourself."
Scootaloo nodded fervently. "Something's bugging me though. This is meant to be used in the air, right?"
"Correct."
"I can do it now because I'm pushing against the ground to keep from being catapulted," Scootaloo pointed out, "But what do I do in the air?"
Dawn smiled slightly. "You remember the third exercise I taught you? Have you been practicing it?"
"Uh..." Scootaloo looked down at her hooves with uncertainty before kicking off of the ground without extending her wings. At the apex of her jump, she kicked out again. Dawn felt a surge of moving air, but the results were too scattered to extend Scootaloo's jump. Instead, she merely delayed her fall by a few seconds before dropping straight back to the ground. "Not as much as I should have," she admitted.
Shaking his head and smiling ruefully, Dawn suppressed a chuckle. "Then you should practice it more. That exercise is the key to developing the stability you need to use your techniques in the air."
Leaping skyward, Dawn snapped his wings open and surged upwards. After flying a few meters up, he came to a hovering halt before executing the Forward Wing Strike. As he did, his hooves kicked out behind him. Scootaloo's ears picked up the telltale roar of wind. Her eyes were also able to pick up the tiny distortions in the air as the difference in air density bent the light of the sun slightly. Even though his technique was as strong as Scootaloo's, stronger perhaps, he had not slipped backwards even an inch.
Dawn dropped back to the ground and turned to address Scootaloo. "That is what the completed form looks like.
"Something else you need to work on is your timing. You released your magic a little early, resulting in the wind you generated scattering across a wider area."
"How's that a problem?" asked Scootaloo.
"Scattering your magic dilutes its effects. You need to time your release just as your wings are fully extending forwards in order to concentrate the force of your blow to its maximum. Observe..." Dawn stepped up next to Scootaloo and executed the Forward Wing Strike.
His movements were practically identical to Scootaloo's, but the results were as different as night and day. Where Scootaloo's effort had raised a cloud of dust, Dawn's strike tore a trench through the ground itself. Where Scootaloo's attack had picked up and thrown several rocks of varying sizes, Dawn’s had smashed them to powder. The destructive force was incredible.
"Wow," gasped Scootaloo, her purple mane dancing in the breeze Dawn had created. Seeing him in action reminded her that the Gale King went beyond just creating powerful gusts of wind. It actually transformed the air itself into a tool of destruction just as potent as any of the ancient weapons they had read about in Cheerilee's history lessons.
"Do not underestimate the power that the air is capable of," said Dawn, "Tornado-force winds can punch a wooden beam through solid stone. Harnessing that kind of force is what it means to wield the Gale King."
Scootaloo nodded slowly and silently.
"Now then," said Dawn, "I want you to give me ten repetitions of the Forward Wing Strike. Remember what you need to do in order to maintain your balance. Also remember to control your timing to increase the focus of its effect."
It seemed simple, but Scootaloo quickly realized that following through with the task Dawn had given her was a lot more difficult than she had thought. While her magic reserves had grown considerably from where she had started, through practicing her flying, Scootaloo found that repeating the Forward Wing Strike was trying in a whole different way. She still had to perfectly execute the required motions. When she didn't, the technique's recoil jarred her bones, her hind legs in particular. By the time she had reached three, Scootaloo's hips and knees ached fiercely. In addition to that, the strain on her wings was equally severe. The process of using them to move so much air at once made them feel much heavier than they were, making every motion a chore in and of itself. The muscles throughout her body strained against the tension created by the technique.
On her seventh try, Scootaloo faltered on the forward lunge and ended up blowing herself onto her back. For a moment, she laid there, dazed by the impact. She half expected a scolding from Dawn as he moved into her field of view, his black head and silver mane cutting out a portion of the sky.
"Are you alright?" he asked gently.
With a groan, Scootaloo sat up and began checking herself for injuries. Aside from the stinging along her back, she felt fine. "Yeah."
Reaching out, Dawn grasped her hoof and carefully pulled Scootaloo back into a standing position. "Can you keep going?" Scootaloo gave him a slow nod. "Then try to continue. Only three more left."
The final three repetitions were arduous. Scootaloo had to work on her timing to try and focus the effect of her strike. But at the same time, she couldn't forget to put her strength behind the forward lunge, lest she end up staring at the sky again. She had thought that the constant practice she had put in on a daily basis would make things easier. But the effect of using her magic made the movements she usually went through seem strange and unfamiliar.
With a final surge, Scootaloo completed the tenth repetition. The effect of her strike was confined to a narrower space than when she had started. Her efforts had also excavated a shallow trench in front of her. How much was because of the improvement of her technique and how much was because of the nine previous repetitions was unknown to her.
Panting hard, Scootaloo struggled to keep standing. The muscles of her entire body burned, her wings and hind legs especially. She felt no serious drain on her magic, but the physical effects were another matter entirely.
"Well done," said Dawn calmly, "You've no doubt noticed that using the Forward Wing Strike for real is a different experience."
"No..." wheezed Scootaloo between gasping breaths, "...Kidding."
Dawn waited patiently for Scootaloo to regain some degree of control over her breath again. "Your body is unused to the physical strain of the techniques. You may want to add some basic strength training to your regiment to improve your muscles. You are also going to need to practice infusing magic into your strikes as well. For now, stick with the Forward Wing Strike. We'll add the other ones in later lessons and work your way up.
Scootaloo winced. Now she had even more things to add to her regular practice sessions. Between them and her lessons with Dawn, she had less and less time for crusading. She still got to hang out with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom after school. But lately, she seemed to lack the energy to try and carry out most of the ideas she could come up with for potential cutie marks. Still, she wouldn't trade in the lessons for anything in the world. Scootaloo genuinely enjoyed what she got to learn from Dawn, one of the reasons she continued to practice diligently, even though it seemed a chore for her. And besides, it wasn't as though she was the only one who had less time than usual on her hooves.
Apple Bloom was spending more and more time with her family on the farm. Having finally gotten strong enough to help with the harvesting meant that Apple Bloom had to take on more responsibilities with things like applebucking. On top of that, Sweetie Belle's magic was finally starting to come in, which meant that she had to spend time with her parents or Rarity, getting tutored in its usage. Even though they still found time to meet up after school and over the weekends (often with Dawn and Rumble tagging along) it seemed that their crusading was quickly becoming a thing of the past.
Scootaloo's train of thought was interrupted by the rushing noise and fluttering wings of an approaching pegasus. Looking up, she saw Rainbow Dash swoop down for a landing. "Hey Rainbow Dash!" she exclaimed, bounding over to greet her idol, "What's up!"
"Hey squirt," said Rainbow with a smile. She reached out and ruffled Scootaloo's mane before wrapping her hoof around the filly's shoulders and pulling her in for a hug. "It sounds like you've been working hard." She wrinkled her nose as she caught a whiff of the odor of sweat and grime coming from Scootaloo's body. "Smells like it too."
"Heh heh," laughed Scootaloo as she pulled away, her cheeks reddening.
Chuckling, Rainbow pulled Scootaloo in for another hug before letting her go. "Hey, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. You should smell me after my practice sessions. Anyway, I need to talk to Dawn. Mind if I borrow him for a moment?"
Scootaloo blinked in surprise before nodding. "Sure." She cast an uncertain glance in the colt's direction.
"We were about finished anyway," said Dawn, "Go through five repetitions of the First Form and we'll call it a day."
"Okay." Scootaloo trotted off a short distance and took her starting position. Dawn kept his eyes on her, following her movements even as he listened to Rainbow Dash explain the situation.
"So," he said after she was done, "You want me and Storm Front along as....muscle?"
"Um..." Rainbow scratched her head, looking nervously at the ground, "I guess."
"Considering the kerfuffle over that storm you set up, I can understand," said Dawn, nodding, "And my mother gave her approval for this?"
"Yeah," replied Rainbow.
"Then I see no reason not to go with you."
Rainbow let out a sigh of relief, her body sagging slightly as the tension left her. "Thanks," she said, giving Dawn a relieved smile.
Two days later saw Dawn, Rainbow, and Storm Front prepared to leave town. Rainbow's five friends were there to see them off, along with Red River.
Fluttershy traded gentle nuzzles with Dawn. "Be careful," she whispered to him, "Come home safe."
"I will," he answered.
"Try to avoid causing too much of a commotion," said Red River with an amused grin, slapping Storm Front across the withers.
"I make no promises," replied the pegasus stallion, giving his friend and partner an irritated look.
"Remember Rainbow, you just need to find out what's going on up there," said Twilight nervously, "Please don't do anything rash."
"I'm not planning to Twi," replied Rainbow with a nervous smile. Turning, she addressed her two traveling companions. "Lets head out guys."
"Wait!"
The assembled ponies turned to see and orange and purple blur come plummeting out of the sky, straight at Dawn. Without the slightest hesitation, he turned, using his wing to create an air cushion to slow Scootaloo's descent. Turning back to face the filly as she touched down, Dawn wasn't sure whether or not he was going to admonish her for her reckless behavior or simply laugh at her straightforwardness. It was clear that she had been fully aware that he would catch her when she dove at him.
As it was, Scootaloo didn't give him a chance to decide. Her hooves had only barely touched the ground before she launched herself at Dawn, catching him in a tackle and knocking him over onto his back. Surprised and winded, Dawn's draconic eyes blinked in surprise as they met Scootaloo's.
"You idiot!" she barked, "You can't just leave like that without saying anything to me. If something happens to you, who's going to finish teaching me?" She practically dropped down on top of him, hugging the colt tightly. Dawn's body went rigid in surprise. After a moment, he finally found the wherewithal to return the gesture and wrapped his own arms around her.
"I will be coming back," he told her softly, "Don't neglect your practice while I'm away." He pointedly ignored Rainbow Dash's sniggering.
"Some day," said Scootaloo, holding him tighter, "Some day I won't have to stay behind. Some day I'll be able to come with you."
"You will," promised Dawn, before gently pushing her off of him so he could get back up.
He slowly turned away from Scootaloo, giving her one last stoic look over his shoulder before trotting over to join the other two travelers. "Let's go."
“Wait!” Rainbow froze, a grimace of irritation flashing across her face at yet another interruption to their departure. Turning around, she was surprised to see a pair of pegasi approaching. She hadn’t been expecting anypony from the Weather Team to see her and her companions off.
“Flitter? Cloud Chaser?”
The two mares skidded to a stop. Cloud Chaser grinned cheerfully at Rainbow. “Sorry, but my sister here wanted to say something to your escort.” She prodded Flitter gently in the side. “Come on sis, out with it already.”
Flitter hesitated and averted her gaze in a bashful display that would have done Fluttershy proud. Then, she finally turned to Storm Front, the tiniest blush on her cheeks. “Please be careful,” she said softly.
Storm Front dipped his head in acknowledgment. “I will,” he said, his voice equally soft.
Rainbow blinked and looked back and forth between the two, her confusion mounting. When the hay did this start happening? she wondered. She remembered that Flitter had been partnering up with Storm for weather work lately and wondered if that had something to do with it. It looked pretty one-sided on Flitter’s part at the moment. But at least Storm wasn’t trying to simply ignore her.
She glanced left, glanced right, left again. Safe? No more interruptions? Okay! Let’s do this.
"Bye guys!" shouted Rainbow with a wave as the three pegasi took to the skies.
Abruptly, Pinkie Pie jumped forward, shouting at the top of her lungs. "I've got the biggest 'Welcome Back!!!' party planned for when you guys get back here so don't you dare make me miss it!"
"It's a promise Pinkie," shouted Rainbow before turning and setting out. Soon, the three were lost in the distance.
In the absence of her friend and favorite pranking buddy, Pinkie visibly wilted, like she was a balloon that someone had let the air out of. "Be careful Dashie."
Normally, Rainbow Dash would have chafed under the prospect of taking so long to reach Cloudsdale. With her speed, she could easily be there in less than two hours. However, not wanting to shake her escort meant that she had to fly at a speed that Dawn, the slowest member of their formation, could maintain for the duration of the trip. That meant stretching out the trip to over four hours, possibly as long as five if the colt needed to take a break. However, Rainbow did not regret bringing him along for an instant. Nor did she, for once, actually feel bad about having to slow down.
If anything, Rainbow was more than happy to take her time getting to Cloudsdale. It was much easier to deal with the idea that the city had been taken by pegasus supremacists when it was an abstract problem, dealt with at a distance. But going there herself meant confronting the problem directly. She knew some of the ponies that worked in the weather factory. What if they had ended up going over and siding with the tribalists? Would she end up as their enemy? Just the thought made Rainbow's stomach churn with anxiety.
Glancing over, she saw Dawn soaring just to the right and slightly behind her. His cruising speed would have been respectable for the average adult pegasus, quite the accomplishment given his young age. The thing she truly found herself marveling at was the way in which he flew. Rainbow knew that the methods he had taught Scootaloo were completely different from the way pegasi were normally taught. She had also watched him race with Rumble over a month ago. But today marked the first time she had ever bothered to get an up-close look at how Dawn flew.
Had she not known the speed they were flying at herself, Rainbow would have sworn that Dawn was flying in slow motion. His wing strokes were paced and even, gliding slowly upwards before sweeping sharply downwards. He hardly seemed to be working hard enough to be flying at their current speed. But then again, that seemed to lay at the heart of everything Dawn did. Efficiency trumped raw power. A quick glance at her own wings, flapping with much greater frequency, confirmed that. She briefly wondered how hard it would have been to perform a Sonic Rainboom if she used Dawn's flying style, or if it was even possible.
Such questions were purely academic in any case. The distraction Dawn offered was ultimately trumped by the crisis they currently faced. Part of Rainbow Dash wanted to never make it to Cloudsdale. But the presence of the two ponies behind her gave her the strength to continue on.
The hours passed much more quickly than Rainbow would have liked. Now the white city in the sky loomed before the three pegasi. Already, she could see the shapes of other winged ponies flitting about their business. It looked no different than any other time Rainbow had seen it. However, this only compounded her anxiety. It was hard to see how so much of the trouble for her friends was coming from this city when it looked so...normal.
"How should we go about this?" asked Storm Front as the two of them glided into a landing on a convenient cloud hovering outside the city limits.
"The first thing we need to do is check the weather factory and find out what the hay is going on there," said Rainbow, giving the facility that composed nearly a full eighth of the city on its own a determined glare, "What bugs me is that, if they aren't using it to make weather for the distribution zone, then what are they using it for? There's no way something, or so many things, could have broken down for so long. They have to be using it for something."
"Should the two of us go?" asked Dawn, giving Storm Front a sidelong look, "You tend to stand out in a crowd with that mane and tail of yours. It would be easy for anypony to find you."
"If they were looking for me," said Rainbow, a plan forming in her mind, "But they probably aren't expecting me to just drop by for a visit. If I wear one of the worker uniforms, I can probably sneak in undetected. I want you guys to wait outside. I don't want to show all our cards."
"Are we to assist should things go pear-shaped?" asked Storm Front.
"Not right away. Part of this is finding out how serious these guys are and how far they're going to push it. We know that they were willing to throw the law out the window to get me in prison. But I want to know if they're even more extreme than that." Rainbow gulped. "That's why I want you guys to hang back and wait until things are really serious."
The stallion and colt shared an uncertain glance with each other before looking back at Rainbow and nodding.
"Be careful," said Dawn, "I doubt mom will be happy with us if anything happens to you."
"No promises," muttered Rainbow, taking to the air again.
Moving through Cloudsdale was an edgy experience. However, the numerous pegasi flitting from one destination to the next made it fairly easy for her. Even with her distinctive mane and tail, Rainbow Dash would still be difficult to pick out among this many other ponies. Still, she kept a wary eye out for the armored forms of the Cloudsdale Guard as she flew.
Rainbow figured she had managed to avoid detection as she came into a landing at the entrance to the weather factory. Moving quickly, she slipped into a group of ponies heading into the building. Looking around, she spotted several guards, but not from the City Guard. They wore no armor, but were at least equipped with wingblades. They also carried what looked like batons that could be wielded like clubs in their fetlocks. From the angry gazes they directed at anypony who crossed into their line of sight, Rainbow could tell that they were just aching to put those batons to use.
She wasn't the only one on edge though. An undercurrent of fear ran through everypony around her. All of them had their eyes on the thuggish stallions and mares watching for any sign of trouble. Now things were beginning to reflect the sense of uneasiness that churned in Rainbow's gut.
Slipping into the locker room where the workers' uniforms were stored, Rainbow quickly changed into the white coat and hardhat used by the weather forgers in the factory. The hat and coat helped hide her mane and tail, allowing Rainbow to move about more freely. Stepping out onto the work floor, Rainbow cast her eyes around, looking for any oddities that might catch her attention.
The first thing that struck her as she wandered through the factory was the presence of more guards. They seemed to be everywhere, moving in pairs, scrutinizing everypony they came across and harassing any they thought were shirking on their work.
"Quit slacking on the job you worthless layabout!" Snapping her head around, Rainbow saw a guard just as he lifted his baton and brought it down on the back of a stallion working at a cloud production station. The stallion let out a strained yelp and struggled to try and look more productive. The guard that had beat him only snickered as he and his partner moved along.
Rainbow gulped nervously. If she crossed any guards around here, she was likely to get the same treatment as that poor stallion. The best thing to do would be to keep moving and try to avoid crossing paths with any of them.
Moving through the facility, it became apparent why the weather was not being produced here. Most of the stations were unmanned. The snowflake department was completely abandoned, as were the rainbow pools. The only sections Rainbow saw that were in actual production were in the condensation and precipitation factories, responsible for the making of clouds and the storms that they made up. In fact, these areas were more heavily crewed than Rainbow had ever seen. Whoever had taken over the factory was putting a lot of effort into cloud-making. But then, what are they doing with all the clouds they make?
"You there!" Rainbow's head snapped up at the voice. Turning towards its source, she saw a pair of guards moving in her direction, their eyes fixed right on her. "What are you doing wandering around?"
Uh oh! Rainbow struggled to come up with a response that wouldn't lead to her getting pounded. Worse still, if her hat or coat were knocked askew in the struggle, the mane and tail that they were hiding would come into plain view and the jig would be up.
As she was about to open her mouth to stammer an excuse, Rainbow was cut off by a hoof over her shoulders. "There you are!" snapped an irritated mare as she pulled Rainbow away from the guards, "I told you to pay attention you idiot! I swear, if I have to go track you down one more time...!"
The speaker trailed off and Rainbow saw that the guards had apparently lost interest. Being pulled along by her shoulders, Rainbow stumbled as she tried to get a look at her rescuer.
"What the hay are you doing here?"
Rainbow flinched in surprise, finally looking over to see the familiar green coat and orange mane of her first partner at the Wonderbolt Academy. Lightning Dust did not look happy to see the pony that had gotten her suspended during her first session.
"What am I doing here?" mimicked Rainbow in an indignant tone, "What are you doing here?"
Lightning Dust rolled her eyes. "Seriously? I work here you idiot. I've always worked here, even before I went to the Academy. What? Did you think I materialized out of thin air?"
"I didn't know you worked here," growled Rainbow.
"Well I do. Deal with it. Now, it's your turn to answer my question. If you don't, you're on your own and I don't think the guards are gonna be happy to have an outsider wandering around the factory."
"I came here to find out just what's going on," said Rainbow, returning Lightning's glare, "Ponyville's got a serious drought going on, so do all the other towns in the Cloudsdale Distribution Zone. If you aren't making our weather, what the hay are you doing then?"
Lightning Dust gave Rainbow an incredulous look. "Are you serious? You came up here because your town is having rain problems?"
"Hey!" Rainbow bristled at Lightning's dismissive tone. "Some of my friends livelihoods depend on the weather that this place is supposed to make. I'm not about to leave them hanging."
"You sure left me hanging," muttered Lightning petulantly.
"You left yourself hanging," Rainbow shot back.
The two of them exchanged glares for a moment, before the sound of hooves on the packed cloud floor reminded them that they didn't have the facility all to themselves. Lightning Dust pulled Rainbow Dash along before the two of them had another encounter with the guards.
"Fine," muttered the light-green pegasus, "You want to see what's going on, come with me." With that, she trotted off, leading Rainbow Dash deeper into the heart of the weather factory.
"Question. How are we supposed to monitor Rainbow Dash from out here?" asked Dawn, giving Storm Front a sidelong glance.
The cloud construction that made up the walls of the weather factory were opaque, giving absolutely no hints as to what might have been going on inside. The only windows in the building either led into offices where the bureaucrats who oversaw the management of the factory worked or the rainbow pools, where the light was used to refract the spectra to produce the vivid rainbows that were the weather factory's signature product.
Storm Front didn't answer. He rested quietly on the small cloud overlooking the facility, his eyes closed and his ears swiveling back and forth. Dawn wondered if he was trying to monitor the situation with his hearing, but dismissed the notion as ridiculous. The walls of the factory were soundproofed to keep the work inside from disturbing the citizens of the surrounding city.
The ebony colt let out a sigh and settled onto the cloud next to Storm Front, hoping that whatever method the older pony was using was at least reliable. However, he ended up placing Rainbow Dash in the back of his mind as the ruffling of the wind along his feathers told him that the two of them had problems of their own. Company was coming.
Dawn tensed, readying to fight or flee, but the net closed before he could even react. With fantastic speed, several blue and gold streaks encircled the two pegasi on their cloud. Before Dawn could even think about acting, they were surrounded. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of the ponies that had entrapped him and Storm Front so easily. There was no mistaking those blue and gold uniforms with the winged lightning bolt decorating their flanks.
"Well well," said one of the Wonderbolts surrounding them, "Just who do we have here?"
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3102355 No. Bad.
3102451 dang sorry my iPad lagged
Hmm, are they their to help, or are they pegasi supremacists?
I seem to remember them being part of the guard, so they can't be on their side, Celestia would go nuts.
And Lightning Dust? Can see her siding with them after her experience at the Academy... but it sounds like she's trying to
do something from the inside.
Alicon+Knife+Cloudsdale Weather Factory=Happy Massacure
3102355 Bad munchkin, bad.
So the Wonderbolts are either pawns in this drought business or are one of the many responsible...
oooh Wonderbolts being rude...
3102831 points ay wonderbolts bad munchkins
p.s. sorry if someone already used it
Your going to make me wait an entire day to read more of this..... That's cruel man.... I'm so into the story right now....
Please only you can help.... Post the next chapter.... please
.... You can't say no to this face
...
I'm thinking the Wonderbolts are there to help, considering we know Spitfire's phoenix friend likes RD and is an acquaintance of Arkenstone's. I doubt she would let her subordinates get out of hand. Also there is the fact that there are two pegasus that they caught. Unless descriptions of Storm Front and Dawn (who never met any Cloudsdale ponies before) were sent to Cloudsdale, they'd have no reason to arrest/capture them.
So they're building a gigantic (storm)cloud, possibly to be weaponized. Interesting.
And i'm not sure the wonderbolts are hostile. Might just be showing of.
Theory... The tribalists have a Gale King who taught them how to weaponize lightning. I get that ponies who train under the three pillars are rare but Dawn can't be the only one.
And to those who still think Scootaloo is only being friend-shipped with Dawn open ur eyes she's crushing so hard it hurts. Keep up the great work bro I've been wondering wat the wonderbolts had to do with this story.
Ok, I have been mistaken with my assumption of Fluttershy having some kind of power in Cloudsdale or having high-ranking connections there (though the possibility still exists!), but I have enough dignity to admit that.
I must say that I really didn't expect Lughting Dust making appearence here. I wonder how she's wrapped in the whole mess with the weather factory, other than being a worker there, and just where the heck all those couds go?! If that militia brought workers from all the other departments to cloud-making, then their production rate should rise several times over. Could they be trying to weaponize lightnings from cumulous (sp?) like in the old times?
Another thing hit me, or more accurately, the theme of the next arc. The first one was about Applejack's unfound hatred for Dawn because of her pa's teachings (Cult Solar). Now we have Rainbow Dash, who has to find out, just what the hay is going on in Cloudsdale's weather factory to cause such dangerous draught, not only in Ponyville but in all cities/villages/towns in Cloudsdale's weather zone. And the next arc for sure will be about Twilight and her troubles with the nobles from Canterlot - it was mentioned several times already and recently, therefore without doubt those nobles will try something very soon, maybe even before the whole mess with Cloudsdale gets resolved.
I'm really anticipating for what is the reason behind the Cloudsdale situation and just what are the Canterlot nobility scheming for Twilight.
On another note, did anyone else got this impression about the weather factory's scene (3:25-6:30):
And our story's plot thickens(no pun intended
).
3103424
Probably blackmailed Dawns old master (if he isnt dead) into teaching them, and he sent Dawn away so he wouldnt cuaght by them. Or they got seperated previously and the blackmail still happens.
3106520
...Given what Dawn is capable of as a relative novice, I find it extremely difficult to believe that a master of the Gale King could be taken captive, period. Just isn't gonna happen.
The possibility of another student or what-have-you is there, but I was under the impression that the three schools basically only took one apprentice-- Celestia would almost certainly oppose any proliferation of the teachings, and the three ponies from the legend seemed significant. One of each tribe-- not four earth ponies and twin unicorns fighting alongside a lone pegasus. Plus, to become a Master you almost certainly need to be wise enough to A: pick a good apprentice and B: respect that training more ponies would disrupt the balance of power (between tribes, countries, etc, etc)
I'm not sold on this theory, at all.
3107311
The information could have been passed down through the tribal families.
Considering the scope of the tribalism in this story, I'd say that a lot of the "lost" information is being held by the elite families.
EDIT: Sentence structure
3108235 that's pretty much wat I'm saying that the old tribal families learned Gale King but I dout that it's Dawns Sensie.
I'm both confused and excited about the ending.
You did a great job on the chapter btw.
Aaaw no Rainbow Factory jokes?
aaww
I SHIP DAWN AND SCOOTALOO! ROMANTIC PUPPY LOVE! FOR THE WIN!
5112233
rainbow factory is terrible from a 13 year old brony's point of view
6911734
Rainbow Factory is terrible, period. As far as I'm concerned, it and it's cousin Cupcakes is the bottom of the barrel as far as fimfiction goes.
Unfortunately, my opinion is the minority based on the number of likes such slash fiction gets. Then again, my opinion is also a reflection of the fact that I've never cared for grimdark anyway, here or anywhere else. Dark I can do, but grimdark is needlessly bad, especially how it ends.
That's not why I read fiction at all; life is already a pile of horseshit, and I read fiction to escape said pile of horseshit. Not to mire in it.
Again though, my dislike of such fics is my own preference. Can't really stop others from reading said trash, and won't even bother to try.
5600241 When will they date? I can't wait much longer... Also, all hail the mighty Cipher.
7346095 You should read these stories: LIght world chapter and this one Visits to grim dark worlds. Alex Warlorn has a similar attitude to grim dark stories as you do.
Flitter is so cute!
7346095
I know this was six years ago (Six? Wow I hate the fact that it's 2023) but Rainbow Factory isn't bad, it's just mediocre. I think. I don't read much grimdark pony- have yet to and don't plan to read Cupcakes, even- so I don't have much to compare it to.
It did however spawn the Pegasus Device fic, which is amazing, so you should give it at least some credit. At the very least don't group it with Cupcakes, which while I haven't read it personally, sounds like genuine shit.