About one hundred miles North West of Canterlot, and about a few thousand feet up, the bustling city of Cloudsdale moved like a well-oiled machine. The rainy season was on the way and the Cloudsdale Weather Factory was doing double overtime to try and get as many rain clouds as possible for all of Equestria. At the lowest level of the complex, a singular mare bucked the clouds to test the lightning. She was the only one on the night shift for this job because it was the most dangerous, and no pony wanted to be anywhere near one of those things when they had too much.

As cliché as it was, not only did she have the job no pony wanted, but she was and always has been the outcast of the plant. If her bright yellow serpent eyes weren’t enough a deterrent, her bat wings were defiantly more than enough to push away anypony. Her radiant moon cutie mark on her flank was odd even to her. She had been born with it, unlike anypony else she knew. No moment of eureka, no insane revelation as to what she would be doing her whole life, nothing, she was just that bat pony with the shit job.

Her gray coat and light blue mane were dripping with sweat from a long six hour day. As the clock slowly winded down to her shift being over. The whistle sounded and she stopped mid-buck. She didn’t want to be here in the middle of the night all by herself any more than the next mare. She sighed and started walking towards the employee locker room. Inside, she saw her replacement for the day shift, White Knight. He didn’t really say much when she came in. He looked up, grinned and nodded at her.

“I left you the biggest one I could find.” the mare said jokingly.

White Knight chuckled. “Thanks Hestaria. I’ll be sure to leave you the most volatile for reassessment tonight.”

Hestaria giggled a bit and tossed her white lab coat into her locker.

‘I bet most of you think this is an OC ship-fic with another OC right?’ Hestaria thought to herself. ‘Well don’t get use to the idea, he’s just a passing glance. The real action hasn’t even started.’

Hestaria shut her locker and said goodbye to her coworker before flying out the double doors into the early autumn morning. The air at this altitude was fringed, but it didn’t faze her. She preferred the cold. It was easier to get warm than stay cool. Unlike most of her coworkers, with the exception of White Knight, she lived down at ground level. Her house was a simple one story cottage just under Cloudsdale. She landed at the end of her walk way and leaned against her mail box.

A light gray Pegasus with a yellow mane and matching eyes landed down next to her and smiled.

“Good morning Derpy.” Hestaria said with a smile.

“Morrnin’ Hesti! I got a letter for ya.”

“Don’t you always?”

Derpy dug into her saddle bags and pulled out a sealed envelope. “You think you’ll get in this time?”

“We’ll see. Thanks for the mail!” she shouted behind her walking back to her house.

“Bye Hesti!” Derpy shouted back as she took flight towards Canterlot.

“Like clockwork that mare.” Hestaria said to herself.

She pushed open her door and plopped down on her bed next to the fireplace. She took a deep breath and opened the letter. She read silently to herself and her expression turning gradually less enthusiastic. She sighed again and used the letter as the kindling for the fireplace.

“Not qualified again. How can a pony be not good enough to get into the Cloudsdale Freedom Fliers? It’s not like I asked to join the fucking Wonder Bolts!”# Hestaria swallowed her anger and plopped back down onto her bed. “It’s fine, I’ll just apply again next week. They have to say yes eventually. I know they will.” She pondered what she was saying for a moment. “I really need to stop talking to myself like I need to give exposition.”

Hestaria laid her head down onto her soft pillow and let her eyes shut. “Tomorrow’s another day.” She sighed before she slowly drifted off to sleep.