Chapter 5: Into the Jet Stream
Rainbow's home was silent as she and Tank slept upstairs, with an occasional snore breaking the silence. The only other noise was my breathing, which I wouldn't be hearing if I could fall asleep. Despite laying down on a fucking cloud, I couldn't get any rest. It kept bothering me that I was still hanging around Ponyville when I knew damn well I shouldn't be.
I kept thinking about leaving, just ditching in the dead of night and move on to the next town. I knew I probably wouldn't survive the next journey, and if I did, I'd end up spending the rest of my money. I wouldn't be able to wait two weeks to get paid if I could get a job, which meant staying here was my only option now. Hopefully I could keep mooching off everypony until I could find some work. Summer Harvest was still a few months away, so I doubt Applejack would need any help just yet. What could I do in such a small town like Ponyville?
I lost my train of thought as I felt a drop of water hit me in the forehead, almost making me jump. I could feel the liquid slowly run down the side of my head, where I was able to reach it with my foreleg. Was there a leak in Rainbow Dash's house? It was made out of clouds after all. Maybe sometimes they precipitate and release moisture. I brought my hoof in front of my face, and using a beam of light reflecting off the moon, I was able to make out the dark liquid smeared onto my fur.
"Wait, this is... blood?" I whispered.
Curious, I shifted my head upwards to find the source of the blood. The entire ceiling above me had shifted into a crimson hue, suddenly releasing a downpour of red rain. I felt thick droplets of blood splatter onto my fur, making my skin itch. The whole living room flooded into a deep red haze, and I could feel myself getting sucked into the environment again. I could only stare in horror as the voices screeched into my ears once more.
"YoU'rE tiMe is RuNniNg oUt!"
"SuFferInG anD DeAtH, AwaItS YoU!"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The laughter was still ringing through my head as I felt the thick blood irritate my skin even more. I was frantically scratching my body in a panic, trying to numb the burning. My skin was burning! The boiling blood dug into my flesh, leaving a rancid stench of dead skin and... coffee?
I jolted upright from the couch, screaming in agony as the hot liquid pierced my skin like knives. By impulse, I was hovering in the air and shaking violently, trying to rid myself of the liquid.
"AAAA I'M BURNING! PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP!" I screamed.
"Augh! I'm so sorry! Just stop moving for a second, will ya?" a concerned voice replied.
I was suddenly showered down by another liquid, that was much lighter and cooler than before. The agonizing burning sensation melted away, leaving me soaking and panting for air. I looked up above me and saw Rainbow Dash bouncing on a storm cloud, emptying it's contents on top of me.
"I am so sorry!" she apologized. "I had woken up early and was bringing you a cup of coffee, but Tank crashed into me and made me spill it all over you!"
"W-What?" I replied. "Coffee? You mean it wasn't-"
"That wasn't cool Tank!" Rainbow scolded her tortoise. "I seriously need Twilight to take a look at your propeller before you hurt somepony!"
I gently lowered myself down onto the floor, scanning the living room. Instead of a downpour of blood, I saw drops of coffee trapped inside the clouds that made up the sofa and the flooring. I held a hoof to my chest as I realized it was just a dream.
"Holy fuck, that scared the shit out of me!" I exclaimed. "Like, fuck!"
In truth, I was still scared. That was the second time I was met with blood and disturbing voices, all while the room around me was collapsing into itself. I couldn't put my tongue on it, but something was definitely familiar about what I was experiencing. If it happened a second time, chances are I would still be around to see it a third time. The coffee acting as the blood was added realism to the vision, which had me wondering if these occurrences could cause further physical harm to me in the future. I really hoped I didn't have to experience one again.
"You all right?" Rainbow asked as she moved the empty storm cloud away. "It shouldn't be too bad, any burns should be hidden by your fur. Believe me, without fur I'd look like a wreck!"
"That was NOT an enjoyable wake-up call!" I replied, still trying to catch my breath. "Maybe... maybe I'll get my own coffee from now on..... fuck."
"Maybe that's for the best," Dash agreed. "At least until I can get Tank's propellers looked at."
(You see that Perception Filter, you see that? See what I did there? You're welcome. Okay, moving on. Read the comments if you have no idea what I'm talking about.)
A jumped in the air again as I heard knocking on the front door. Wait, how could you knock on clouds? What the fuck?
"Okay, you don't have to be so jumpy Darkstar!" stated Rainbow. "It's only somepony knocking at the door!"
She fluffed away the clouds again, and I saw who I believed to be Thunderlane looking worried.
"Rainbow Dash, we have a problem!" he exclaimed.
"Ugh, what is it this time Thunderlane?" Rainbow asked. "Did Ditzy Doo hurt herself again?"
"Actually, she did," Thunderlane answered. "And it was pretty serious this time! She had to go to the hospital!"
"Oh, for the love of Celestia! We're short enough on cloud busters as it is! There's no way we'll meet today's quota when we're short staffed!"
That's right, Rainbow Dash helped manage the weather in Ponyville. And I can now confirm they call her Ditzy Doo, not Derpy Hooves. Damn shame she hurt herself, but could it really be helped knowing her?
"Well, you gotta think of something Rainbow Dash! We have a thunderstorm to divert by tonight!"
"Ugh, even with my awesome speed there's no way we can divert that big of a storm! Aren't there any other pegasi that can fill in?"
Suddenly, Rainbow's annoyed expression turned into the one you get when you're struck with a brilliant idea. I had a really bad feeling.
"Darkstar! You need a job, right? We really need your help with this! I'll make it up to you!" she offered.
I had never done weather work before. All my previous work in Equestria was being a farm hand or taking out trash for a local business. My only experience with clouds was when I had first figured out to fly. I spent a good afternoon just messing around with the clouds, before the local weather team of the area told me to bugger off and stop ruining their work.
"Oh man, I don't know Rainbow. How can I trust myself with such a huge responsibility when I hardly have any experience?" I replied.
"Don't worry about it! I'll guide you through it! The ponies down south really need this thunderstorm! Besides, you're a pegasus! You've messed around with clouds before, haven't you?"
"Well, yeah. But this is an entire thunderstorm we're talking about here! Not just some small cluster of lone clouds!"
"We'll pay you double since you're under qualified!"
"Deal."
Okay, that probably wasn't the smartest move I made. But more money meant I could get out of here faster, even if it meant braving a storm where I'd risk being blown away and get struck by lightning. However, it would be a new experience for me and I desperately needed work now.
"So, when do we divert this storm?" I asked, yawning.
"Right now!" Rainbow exclaimed as she grabbed me by the hoof, dragging me outside of the house with her. I managed to lose her grasp and balance out on my own, attempting to keep up with her and Thunderlane.
"Geez, don't we even get breakfast first?" I yelled.
"No time!" Rainbow answered. "With little pegasi and me having to guide you, we'll need all the time we can get!"
Fair enough, but I was kinda hungry. We kept flying for a good ten minutes before I saw the storm forming in the distance. Right above the Everfree Forest. I knew right away what it was because of the creepy vibe it gave off. From my viewpoint, the branches of the trees were twisted in all sorts of odd angles. Despite the morning sun beaming down on the land, very little of it managed to break through the thick canopy of the forest. I felt a gust of wind collide with me as we neared the storm.
It reminded me of the storms I used to watch as a kid back when I lived in Alberta. An extremely large cumulonimbus cloud towered over us as it floated in the sky. The cloud itself was nearly pitch black, releasing a dark mist of rain into the Everfree. A couple of bright lightning strikes flashed into my eyes, accompanied by the sound of the roaring thunder. It made no sense that the thunder went off the same time as the lightning strikes, but I wasn't going to question a cartoon world.
"All right, listen up everypony!" Rainbow Dash ordered. I had noticed that a small group of pegasi had joined us in our flight. Cloudchaser, Flitter, Thunderlane, Airheart, Cloud Kicker, and Snowflake were all present. Holy shit, Snowflake was buff as fuck. I wondered how he could support himself in the air with those tiny ass wings.
"We short on weather ponies this month, due to complications in Cloudsdale. Something about the Rainbow Factory going haywire. Anyways, we have to double-time it if we're going to move this thunderstorm by tonight!"
"Tonight?" Airheart blurted. "How can we move this entire storm by tonight?" she asked, giving a concerned look to her co-workers.
"Simple, it'll be easy!" Dash replied, attempting to look confident. "The air conditions above the storm are creating a jet stream flowing southeast, which we can use to quickly transport the cloud piece by piece so it will miss Ponyville and work it's way to the desert."
Wow, that was actually pretty brilliant. Didn't jet streams have something to do with a warm front and a cold front? I couldn't remember, but like I said before, this was a cartoon world.
"But Rainbow Dash! Jet streams are extremely powerful tunnels of wind! Once we're in, we risk spreading bits of storm cloud all over Equestria!" Thunderlane stated.
"That's why we're going to partner up for this job!" Rainbow responded. "With two pegasi managing the cloud, we can easily maneuver our way out of the jet stream when the time comes. Everypony got that?"
Our weather friends didn't look so sure, but we all nodded anyways. At least with a partner, I wouldn't have to worry about screwing up too much, I hoped.
"Thunderlane and Snowflake! You two handle breaking down the interior of the cloud to ease the lightning and the harsh winds!"
"Got it!" Thunderlane flew off.
"YEEEAAAHH!" Snowflake screamed as he followed, disappearing into the cloud. I tried so hard not to laugh.
"Airheart and Cloudkicker, you two get started on breaking apart the exterior! Cloudchaser and Flitter will work together and send the separate masses of cloud into the jet stream! Darkstar and I will handle both! If we work fast enough, we can get this done by tonight, if we're lucky!" Rainbow commanded.
"No problem boss!"
"Piece of cake!"
"We'll do our best!"
"This cloud doesn't stand a chance boss!"
I watched as Cloudkicker and Airheart started to buck the massive storm system, sending the broken chunks of vapour up to Cloudchaser and Flitter. Once they were able to form a decent sized mass, they ascended upwards and I watched in surprise as the invisible jet stream caught them and sent them both blasting into the horizon.
"How are they going to get back?" I asked.
"Don't worry, there's usually an opposite stream that accompanies the original! They can ride it back! Oh! And you're going to need these!" Rainbow replied, handing me a pair of flying goggles. I wasted no time wrapping them around my head and adjusting the eyepieces.
"All set?" she asked.
"I guess."
"Awesome! Let's get this storm outta here!"
We descended into the thundercloud, which in return provided us with massive drops of rain and raging winds. I was struggling to hold my balance as the forces made my wings bend, but I kept pushing forward. Rainbow and I spotted a cell that had small chunks of hail forming in the center.
"Let's get this one! It'll make the process easier!" Rainbow ordered.
"All right!" I nervously replied.
We both lowered ourselves onto the cloud, attempting to hang on as the winds threatened to blow us away. Dash started bucking and beating down on the cloud, which sent the bits of hail out into the wind. A draft caught a small cluster and sent them right into me, each one painfully hitting me like air soft pellets.
"FFF- Damn it Dash!"
"Sorry! Just ignore it and help me smash the cloud already!"
I didn't waste time replying, and started imitating her bucking motions. I could feel the hail cloud separating from the rest of the storm, and it eventually broke off. The cloud got caught in the wind, and we almost fell off as the gale dragged the dark vapor deeper into the storm system.
"Okay, grab onto the cloud with your hooves and get ready to dash sideways when I say!" Rainbow stated.
I complied, clutching the soft surface with my hooves and awaited Rainbow's order.
"We're nearing a break in the storm! On three... two... one... DASH!"
Using all the energy I could provide with my wings, Dash and I burst out from the side of the cloud, holding a massive section of grey fluff and remaining hail pellets.
"Whew! Not bad for a novice! Now here comes the hard part!"
"Hard part?" I replied. "You mean being smashed by hail and getting thrown by fierce winds is the easy part?"
"That? Ha! We still have to send this through the jet stream, and we have to do it more than once! You're going to feel your legs ooze into your head in a second!"
"Oh, fuck me sideways..."
We both continued flying upwards, passing Airheart and Cloudkicker along the way. They had a good collection of little storm clouds building up, which was being tended to by Cloudchaser and Flitter. I saw no signs of Thunderlane and Snowflake, but I assumed they were still working inside the storm.
"I should probably warn you," spoke Dash. "You're gonna be glad you didn't eat anything this morning! Jet Streams are extremely fierce and should only be used by experienced flyers! Since you're working with somepony as awesome as me, I'm sure you'll be fine!"
"How are we supposed to stop ourselves?" I asked.
"Easy! Just grab onto the edge of the stream with your hoof the same time as me, and we'll pull ourselves out! And make sure you keep flying as you exit! Stopping too suddenly at those speeds does NOT feel good!"
"Got it. Anything else?"
"Nope! You ready for this?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"All right!" Rainbow screamed. "This is my favorite part! Hold on tight!"
My grip tightened on the cloud as we both bolted upwards. I braced myself as I anticipated the sudden acceleration that would take us to Celestia knows where. Without warning, I felt an unseen force take hold of my body and dragged both me and Rainbow Dash into the jet stream.
Everything went silent. In the next millisecond we were just blasting through a now visible tube of air, making my ears pop. My eyes began to fall backwards into their sockets, and I struggled to keep my mouth closed. My teeth held on to each other as the force made my blood rush. I tried shifting my head to look at Rainbow, but the incredible energy the jet stream created kept my head in place. My skull began to feel heavy and I was sure my back hooves went numb. It was becoming too much for me to handle, and I forced my foreleg to reach out against the air barrier. I struggled to keep hold of the cloud with one hoof, while forcing my other against astonishing winds. It finally connected with the wall, and I held on desperately, attempting to pull us both out back into the real world.
Rainbow Dash must have had enough too, because we suddenly broke free of the jet stream. Remembering what she told me, I kept my wings out and forced myself downwards. I maintained speed while making sure we didn't accidentally fall back into the jet stream. The blood quickly rushed back into my lower body, making me sick. I finally made it to an acceptable speed to slow down and express my thoughts on the experience.
"Holy shit... I'd rather be braving the storm than deal with that shit again!" I exclaimed, trying to catch me breath.
"Yeah, too bad we have to do that again... Hey, where's the cloud?" Rainbow replied, looking around in frustration.
"What?" I answered. I Looked back down at my left hoof, only too see it empty. "Fucking bullshit! I fucking lost it in the fucking jet stream! Fuck!"
"Easy on the language there Darkstar!" yelled Rainbow. "Sometimes they get away! We shouldn't have tried to ship a cloud that size on your first time anyways."
"Yeah, but I'm still pissed about losing it! Where were we going to put it anyways?" I asked.
"You see that empty field at the base of the mountain over there?" Rainbow pointed at the distance.
I looked over where she was pointing, catching the cluster of storm clouds that Flitter and Cloudchaser were working on not far from us. I was also able to get a good look at the new environment we were in. Further in the distance I could see the border of the nearly barren field and the desert, with a couple of sand dunes in the distance. I checked behind us to see how far Ponyville was, only it couldn't be seen. I was impressed at the speed on the streams, and I only wished I had known about them sooner. It would have made travelling Equestria easier. The only problem was it could rip my insides apart, and I could end up anywhere if I wasn't careful.
"Yeah, I see it. We're gonna have to go travel back now?"
"I'm afraid so. Don't worry, once you've traveled it enough times it gets easier to deal with it."
"I wonder what would happen if you did a Sonic Rainboom in one of those! That would be fucking epic to see!"
"Yeah, it would!" Rainbow agreed. "Wait, how did you know about my special technique?" she questioned.
Damn, I had to be careful to not slip up knowledge like that! At least it was Rainbow Dash and not Applejack, so lying would be easy.
"Oh, um, some ponies were talking about it last night at the party and that I just HAD to see one for myself, being new to Ponyville and all."
"Yeah, I guess when I'm that awesome, word tends to spread around!" she replied, buying my lie. "And I'll keep that idea in mind! I would call it, the "Sonic Slipstream"! No, it would need to have rainbow in it somewhere. Oh, I got it! How about, the-"
"Dash, as much as I think it's a pretty cool idea, we should probably get back and finish tearing apart that storm." I suggested.
"Uh, yeah! That's right! Grab my hoof and we'll ride the stream back together!"
She grabbed my hoof quite hard, and forced us both upwards towards the second jet stream. I was still feeling woozy after exiting the first, and I wasn't sure if I'd still be able to work after the second one. Nevertheless, I braced myself for the second shift in gravity.
We connected into the jet stream, with dead silence hitting us once again. The sickness returned, along with the numbness my hooves were feeling. I was starting to lose my grip on Rainbow Dash, and she seemed to notice as I felt her hoof pushing itself onto mine.
I used every last reserve of energy on my body to keep a grasp on the blue pegasus beside me, only to have her hoof slip away. I watched in horror as she sped past me, struggling to grasp onto the barrier beside her.
"No! Rainbow Dash!"
A voice started to break the silence. The familiar dark whisperings began to creep into the crevices of my mind again.
"No, not now! Not during the jet stream! Dash, help me!"
I lost all feeling to my body, unable to reject the voices now screaming inside my head. The pressurized air barriers around me started to darken into a red haze, throwing me into another horrifying vision.
"Don't waste your time making friends with these ponies! Soon, their souls will be mine, and you'll burn in Hell for eternity!"
That voice! I recognized that voice! It was hard to remember who was speaking to me, considering my brain was half mush by now. I was too distracted to think about it as the red air barrier surrounding me shifted into masses of slimy appendages. I was now traversing through a tunnel of bloody tentacles, sending me screaming into a realm of complete darkness.
"Amazing things will happen here soon Darkstar. You just wait..."
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Well obviously the bald crazed scientist dude from the Doom 3 series found somewhere else to invade.
Why, thank you! It's about damn time!
Man, Darkstar is flipping his shit.
good things are happening
ah, betruger. I loved killing him. My favorite line of his was: "Death will not be the end for you! Your soul will burn in hell forever!"
I look forward to seeing him.