Heart of the storm

by Sebbaa

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
When he woke the next morning, the sun was already high up. He blinked a few times and sat up. That was strange. Rainbow had always woken him at dawn for nearly two weeks. He yawned heavily and gathered himself out of bed. He left it the way it was. He saw now point in making a bed he would mess up the next time he slept in it anyway. And his drill sergeant had never complained about it.
After he had briefly visited the bathroom, he came down into the kitchen, only to find it empty. The Applefamily had apparently already eaten. Still, there was one bowl of oatmeal left for him. Only one bowl. He had told everyone he would leave today, but now he really realized that his training with Rainbow was at an end. He let his ears sink and proceeded with his breakfast very slowly.
When he had cleaned up after himself and left the farmhouse, there was a surprise waiting for him.
“OH! There you are Recruit, you're late.” someone shouted from top of a single cloud. Sure enough, when he looked up he saw Rainbow Dash. She jumped of the cloud, let herself fall almost all the way to the ground and landed with a strong gust of wind right in front of him.
“Uh... morning Rainbow?” he managed to say before the light blue mare went on.
“You may think your training is finished Recruit, but you couldn’t be more wrong. It is only finished when I say so. And for me to say so, you have to pass your final exam.” she explained witch a mischievous grin. She threw him a black piece of cloth.
“Here. Blindfold yourself. I will lead your to our secret base in Ghastly Gorge, it's location is top secret! There you will take your final test. DID I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?”
Stormheart was quite surprised by this turn of events. Slowly he bound the black cloth around his head so he could not see anything. He took this few moments to gather himself.
“YES MA'AM! INVISIBLY CLEAR MA'AM!” he answered. He was grinning despite himself. Whatever Rainbow had planned, it meant he could spend more time with her till he had to say goodbye.
“That's what I wanted to hear.” the mare said, now ginning widely. She no longer had to put up the drill sergeant face. “GRAB MY TAIL AND WE ARE OFF!”

Of course they were flying. And with Rainbow in the lead, they were not flying slowly. Storm did his best to hold on as he was dragged along. All he could do was stabilize his own flight. Trying to do any propulsion by himself was useless.
To his relief, they did not fly very far. After a few minutes, Rainbow Dash slowed down.
“Brace for landing in three...two...one!” she said. Storm spread his wings wide and stretched his legs, testing for ground. When he finally felt it, he gently set down. But landing blind is quite difficult. He stumbled, hit Rainbows flank with his head, bounced off and fell on his haunches. Damn that must have looked Stupid. He could already hear Rainbow Dash chuckling. Luckily there was nopony else to see his mishap. “Can I take of the blindfold now?” he asked vexed. “Yes, go ahead.” Rainbow answered.

“SURPRISE!” the voice of everypony in Ponyville shot out. Nothing could have prepared Stormheart for what he saw when he undid the blindfold.
He sat in the middle of the Ponyville town center. Around him had gathered all ponies that lived in town or more. He couldn’t tell. The town itself was decorated festive. There were tables bulging with food, party games, balloons and other decoration. Just now somepony had fired a party cannon, showering him and the surrounding ponies in confetti and streamers. His eyes stared in utter shock at it all, but that quickly turned to horror when the saw the banners.
“Goodbye Stormheart, Hero of Ponyville!” or “To our honored guest who saved the day.” they said. It was all too much for the blue colt. He just sat there on his haunches, looked around dumbstruck and hoped for any explanation.
It was Rainbow who spoke up first: “Pinkie Pie wanted to give you a welcome party. She does that for all new ponies in Ponyville. But I did not want her to interrupt your training, so I put her off, till it turned into a farewell party.”
With that, the pink earth pony bounced into his field of vision.
“I had so much time to prepare the party, I got more and more ponies invited, more and more food and games! And then Apple Bloom told me of your heroics, and than I told Major Mane, and than she wanted to thank you personal, so we prepared even more party, and now it is the best party ever! We have got Cupcakes and games and.......” Pinkie granted him an avalanche of her pinkieness, till Applejack gently pushed her away before his head could explode. But what he had gathered from her chatter did not reassure him in the slightest.
“The major wants to hold a speech in your honor.” the orange mare explained him and pointed to an older earth pony wearing glasses, poised behind a speakers desk on a wooden stage.
“You better get up there now little hero, everypony is waiting for you.” she added and began shoving him toward the stage.
Without any help from his side, he found himself next to the major, still sitting on his haunches. She looked down on him fondly, then she turned to the audience to start her speak.
“Fillies and gentlecolts, my fellow citizens of Ponyville.” she began in a very festive manner, “today we honor a young stallion, a pony who has never graced our fair town before. Yet selflessly he rescued three of our little fillies from crashing in a terribly storm. He had been gravely injured during this exploit and it took him weeks to recover. But now he is back on his wings. So without further delay, it is my honor and delight, to present you: Stormheart!”
There was a loud clopping and clapping of hooves, and the eyes of everypony rested expectantly on him. But he was to baffled to do anything but stare back in horror. “Say a few words to the audience.” the major whispered from the side.
Great, they thought him a hero, expected a speech, next they would hang a bucking medal round his neck. What else could go wrong? Sure enough, as soon as he had thought it, someone hung a golden medal around his head.
It was all too much for the young pegasus. He could not take anymore.
“IT WAS ME WHO MADE THAT STORM IN THE FIRST PLACE! I AM NO HERO, SO STOP THANKING ME!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Silence fell over Ponyville. Nopony had expected that. Slowly the crowd began to murmur.
Realization of what he had just said struck Stormheart. Frantically he looked around the crowd. He saw puzzled and confused faces, or were they accusing faces?
“I knew he was hiding something!” Applejack exclaimed. She said it with a tone of satisfaction, but the blue colt could only hear more accusations. And were they wrong to accuse him? His actions had almost killed three fillies.
He got on his hooves, his wings spreading because of the stress. He took a few steps back, eying the crowd. Overwhelmed by the situation, he found himself out of room to back away to. With a sudden gust of wind he took flight. His flight lessons with Rainbow payed off. He was gone before anypony could react.

“What was that all about?” Twilight Sparkle asked. She found herself with her five best friends and the Cutie Mark Crusaders right in front of the stage.
“He just admitted the truth. He made that storm that almost killed Apple Bloom and her friends. And then he turned tail rather than face us.” Applejack answered angrily.
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Us and an entire crowd of stranger ponies. You can't blame him for that! You know he can be almost as shy as Fluttershy here. I was afraid he would fly off anyway.”
“Still, he made that terrible Storm!” Applejack insisted.
“No he can't have. Nopony can make a storm on his own.” Apple Bloom claimed when she stood up in defense for her new friend.
“Uh, and he is such a nice little colt. He would never hurt anypony.” Fluttershy added worried.
Eyes turned expectantly on Twilight Sparkle. She put a hoof to her brow and thought about everything for a moment.
“It is true that a single pegasus can't create a storm. At least not nowadays. But I think I have read that commander Hurricane, the pegasus leader back at the founding of Equestria, did have legendary weather control. Arg... I can't remember anymore.” she explained thoughtfully and became frustrated with her own lack of knowledge. It took her a few more moments, but after having formed a plan, she addressed her friends: “Rainbow Dash, you better fly after him and talk to him. He was so worked up, who knows what might happen.”
Dash saluted briefly, than she was off, leaving a rainbow trail in her wake.
The lavender unicorn addressed the rest of her friends. “I will do some research in the library. Meet me there later.”

Rainbow Dash flew high above town to get a better vantage. She spotted no immediate sign of the blue pegasus she was looking for, but that was only natural, given that she had trained him personally. “Oh stupid Recruit. Where have you gone?” she said to herself in a low voice, sounding rather worried.
She set off in the general direction of Cloudsdale. Stormheart had planned to depart for the city in the clouds today anyway. So it was a good guess, that he would be on his way. She would have to make good time if she wanted to catch up with him before he got there though.
She was racing across the sky, trailing a long rainbow in her wake. Her speed made her almost miss him. He was laying on a dark cloud, hanging lonely in the air just outside eyesight from Ponyville.

Stormheart had not found it in him to fly straight for Cloudsdale. There was nothing there for him. In fact he did not want to fly anywhere at all or do anything. With his blunder at his own goodbye party, he had probably turned all of his new friends against him.
Applejack would surely curse his name, let it never be uttered in Sweet Apple Acres again. The crusaders would hate him now, knowing that it had been him who nearly got them killed. Next thing, they would try to get a Stormheart vanquishing cutie mark. Trying to banish him to the moon and put in prison in the place they banished him to. Maybe that would be for the best. At least on the moon he could not hurt anypony anymore.
Surely Fluttershy now regretted ever nursing him back to health. If she had known him to be a menace to ponykind, she would have smothered him in his sleep. No.. NO! He could never bring himself to imagine Fluttershy doing anything bad. She was the kindest pony he had ever met. He would not stain her memory in this way. It broke his heart just thinking about the yellow pegasus none the less.
Rainbow Dash would deny to ever have met him. Calling him the lamest flier to ever come out of Cloudsdale. Saying that he was unworthy to even utter the name of the Wonderbolts, unworthy of flying in the same sky as her. Tears welled up in his eyes. As they ran down his cheek and dropped onto the cloud, it began to rain.

Without him noticing, the cloud had become quite big while he had been sitting on it. Other clouds had gathered and merged together. He was sitting on a grown summer rain, when Rainbow Dash found him. “There you are! I have been looking for you.” she exclaimed worried when she landed right beside him.
The young pegasus had not expected anyone to follow him. He would have fallen out of the sky, had he not been sitting on a cloud. As it was he jumped up in shock two meters into the air. He gathered himself and slowly turned to the pegasus mare.
“Rainbow? What? Why?” he was to startled to make any sense right then, “Did you come to tell me that I am unworthy of flying in the same sky as you?” he finally asked, tears welling in his eyes.
That question shook Rainbow deeply. How could he think that? Celestia knew that this colt was prone to emotional sways. Just how bad was he right now?
“Of course not, why would I do that?” she answered, “you are my number one recruit. The best to ever leave the Rainbow Dash Academy of Flight.” she added and ruffled his hair with her hoof. “It is my honor to share one sky with you.” she finished, putting a hoof on her chest in a theatrical gesture.
Storm sniffed and looked at her, still in doubt. “You mean it?”
“Of course I do!” Rainbow answered solemn. “I even pinky swear it! Cross my heart and hope to fly, put a cup...'” she was interrupted when the young pegasus jumped her and hugged her tightly. He began to sob uncontrollably on her shoulder.
Rainbow Dash was not really good with awkward social situations. But as the element of loyalty, she would always be there when a friend needed a shoulder to cry on. She patted the sobbing colt on the back. “There there. It's OK. Rainbow's got your back!”
It took a few moments for Storm to compose himself. But he eventually managed to let go of Rainbow Dash and started to wipe away his tears. “Thank you.” he said weakly.
“Don't mention it.” the mare replied and waved it off.
“The others?” Storm asked, letting his ears hang, “I am sure they all hate me know.”
Dash shook her head forcefully. “Of course not. Don't be stupid.” she exclaimed.
“Well maybe Applejack is a bit off because you lied to her. But we are all mostly confused. What was that about you making the storm?”
The colt sighed. “Just what I said.” he replied weakly. “I made that storm that nearly killed the Crusaders.” he explained looking like a beaten dog.
The mare shook her head in disbelieve. “Oh come on, you saved them yourself. Nopony got hurt... well expect for you. And besides: You couldn't have made the storm by yourself. Nopony can!”
Storm sighed again, more heavily and finally looked up to her, but he had a look of defiance on his face.
“So you call me a liar?” he asked stroppy.
“That's not what I meant!” Rainbow countered, “But maybe you didn't understand what was going on and blamed yourself because you didn't know better.”
“So I am stupid?”
“Och NO!” Rainbow exclaimed frustrated. Storm was impossible when he got defensive like that. She took a deep breath, sat down on the cloud, and beckoned him to sit beside her.
“Just tell me what happened that day. From the start. I am sure we can work it out.”
The colt sighed again, even more heavily this time, and let his ears sink. “Fine.” he said, stretching the word in annoyance. He sat down beside Rainbow with a thump.
After he had been sitting there for a few moments without doing anything, Rainbow shot him an expecting look and poked him in the side. He looked up, then he started telling her about that fateful day.
“So I was in flight school...”

He had been in his advanced course in meteorology and he was doing a presentation of his homework on the unique weather phenomena of the Everfree Forest. “Where the clouds move on their own.” But it seemed the beauty of self forming cloud formations and independent weather was lost on his classmates. It had not been an easy presentation, but one where he had to dodge paper planes and ignore stupid comments several times.

That he could live with. He was actual used to it. So he just closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and went on. Hiding his anger best as he could.

Soon he had finished his presentation with a picture of a self occurring thunderstorm above the forest complete with a giant, dark cumulus could rising thousands of feet into the sky. He had taken the picture himself, at the risk of getting caught in the storm. He nearly had been blown into the forest. But it had been worth it. To him it had been a sight of pure beauty.

Just as he had pinned the picture to the board and turned around, a big grin on his face, because now everypony could see this awe inspiring sight, he was assailed by an array of paper balls aimed at his face. He ducked on reflex and somehow managed to avoid them. When he got back up, he saw the usual trio pointing and laughing at him. Quick Ball Sky Chaser and Batalot. Three members of the Quiddich team and a constant thorn in his side.

“Now that's what I call a piece of Art!” Quick Ball claimed, before he burst out laughing, pointing at the young pegasus that now stared at the trio with a snarl on his face.

But then he realized that the brown colt was not pointing at him, but behind him? Slowly Stormheart turned around again, dreading what he would see. And true enough. The three paper balls had been soaked in raw rainbows and they had hit his picture dead center. His precious photography was now a multicolored mess.
“Hey Stormblank! If you like that stupid forest so much, why don't you go and live there?!” someone yelled from behind, who Stormheart knew to be Sky Chaser by voice. He whirled around, baring his teeth, his anger flaring up white hot. He braced himself, ready to charge at his assailants,his wings popped up involuntary.
Whenever a pegasus is under stress, it is his instinct to spread it's wings and get ready to fight or flight.

“Hey look! Giant wing boner!” Batalot exclaimed and pointed his hoof at the sky blue pegasus.
The whole class started to laugh.
Stormheart eyes widened as he realized what happened. He looked around the classroom. Everypony was laughing at him. No one would stand up for his defense. So it was flight!

Funny thing about buildings made out of clouds. No matter how thick and solid a wall might look, it is still only a cloud. Any pegasus who put his mind to it could still pass through without difficulty. With a gust of wind that made his classmates shield their faces, Stormheart took to the sky and dashed right through the ceiling. He left a hole in the clouds for Celestias sun to shine through. With that he was gone.

Stormheart flew as fast as he could, tears welling in his eyes. Buck weather factory, buck flight school! He just wanted to get away from it all. He cursed under his breath as he dashed through a layer of clouds, trailing a long vortex of bad weather in his wake.

His angry dash was slowly running its course and he started to feel burning exhaustion in his wings. With a final climb he shed his speed and landed on a dark storm cloud. It had the same color as his unruly mane and perfectly fit his mood. He looked around and took in his surroundings. Cloudsdale already was a long way. It could hardly be seen on the horizon. Below him was hilly farm and woodland, nopony to be seen for dozens of miles. He was as alone as a pegasus could be. And while this was what he had stormed out of his class for earlier, he was now starting to feel lonely. He settled down on the cloud and rested his head on his hooves. Buck it all! Why was he all alone even when in school? Why couldn’t they just accept him as he was? A tear ran down his cheek and dropped onto the cloud. It began to rain. Slowly at first. One drop, than another, but soon more rain clouds gathered around and began a downpour.

It was not just flight school that made his live a living hell. He had just started apprenticing at the weather factory while still attending his final classes at school. He had thought that this was finally his chance to shine. That he would finally find his own very special talent and get his cutie mark.
But no! He had found nothing, only growing frustration.
Weather factory was not at all what he had expected.
“Your cloud is too big! And too dark. We are making fleece clouds today and yours is more like a black sheep. Scrap it and do it again!” his fore worker would yell.
He had always enjoyed forming clouds and making winds. But for him they were not mere objects but living, breathing things, each with its own story and personality. None was exactly like the other. It was a form of art! But reality in the weather factory of Cloudsdale was a different thing. It was a machine pumping out weather at the press of a button. Each pegasus worker only a small clog in it all, making a million clouds a year.

“To the moon with weather factory! To the moon with flight school!” he exclaimed angrily as he jumped to his hooves. His anger was flaring up again, burning out all other emotions. He had to move, he had to work it out of his system. Acting purely on instinct he jumped of the cloud and dove for the ground.

Right above ground he pulled up and began circling back up again. He did not notice, but a powerful updraft appeared where he had flown. It grabbed him and pushed him up ever higher and faster. By the time he reached cloud level again he was corkscrewing up almost vertically. He shot through the dark cloud he had left behind. It was pulled and pushed into his wake as he rose ever higher. The warm, moisture air from the ground cooled down when it reached the freezing temperatures at high altitude. The water condensed and formed several storm clouds. As the updraft continued to grew in strength, so did the the clouds grow in size.

Stormheart rose to the center of the storm. Wind and rain were raging about him, tugging at his wings, drenching his coat. But this was his storm. He had made it! He was its master. He spread his wings wide. Blinding bright lightning flashed on both sides of him, deafening thunder roared and shook him to the bone. He did not notice at that time, but at this very moment his cutie mark appeared. A black storm cloud, shooting a single bolt of yellow lightning.
Suddenly he heard screaming. It yanked him right out of his madness. Only now did he realize that he was in the middle of a raging storm. One he had made. One he had lost every control over. In panic he looked around and spotted three fillies strapped to some flying contraption, screaming for their lives. Without hesitating, without ever thinking, he dove for them.

“I managed to catch them and break our fall. I passed out right after the crash. This is when you found me.” he told her as he ended his story.
Rainbow Dash had listened patiently. She had asked a few questions at first, but the colt looked so annoyed each time, that she stopped, in fear he might break off his story then and there. She eyed him sceptically. His tale was still pretty far fetched. She had never heard of a pegasuses mood affecting the weather in this way, or of one making a storm on his own. But then again, why would he make this up? And then there was the fact that the cloud they were sitting on had gone a lot brighter and stopped raining since he had calmed down. She shrugged. Maybe this was like Pinkie Sense. You just couldn't explain it. She got back on her hooves.
“We should get back to Twilight and the others.” she exclaimed as she stretched her legs and wings. “They will be worried about us by now.”

And they came down from the mountains. Thunder was their voice, lightning their wings. They rode on the tempest gale and left doom and destruction in their wake.

Special thanks to StewartSpicer for proofreading.

Comments

Dam, didn't see that coming...

[Chill Mists(Chilly)]

Woh, I did not see that one coming either. More chapters are to be read by me !

[Pureangel86]

I thought it was Mayor Mare not Major Mane.