Nightmare

Scarlet laid back on a plush cloud, kicking back after a long day of work. This was, by far, her favorite form of relaxation. Nothing felt better than sinking into a fluffy bed of condensed water vapor.

Napping on clouds is not uncommon for pegasi. However, most of them would gladly sleep for hours on any cloud they saw, with absolutely no regard for their quality. Scarlet, on the other hand, made it a point to educate herself about the characteristics of different clouds. As unnecessary as this may sound, there is a good reason. After all, what's more comfortable, a spring mattress, or a memory foam mattress? A fleece sweater, or a wool sweater? This is the same basic concept.

Obviously, cumulus clouds are the most comfortable types, due to their puffy nature. Stratus clouds are usually cold and damp, and cirrus clouds tend to linger at much higher altitudes (making it harder to breathe). That fact is a no-brainer, in Scarlet's opinion. However, a surprisingly huge contributing factor of cloud comfort is their actual location.

The worst place for a cloud to be is around big cities, such as Manehattan or Baltimare, because there is a high quantity of pollution from nearby factories and such, which eventually makes its way into the air and combines with the water particles. Thus, resulting in a dirty cloud, which is not pleasant in the slightest.

Cloudsdale, despite its name, is nowhere near the most comfortable cloud in Equestria. Quite the contrary, in fact. Clouds tend to gain a somewhat coarse feeling after too much time, and the city of Cloudsdale has been around for over a thousand years. At some point in time, the pegasi of Cloudsdale decreed that not a single tuft of cloud was to be removed from or added to their glorious city. Perhaps they felt it was perfect, and nothing should be changed, but that's irrelevant.

As it turns out, the best clouds in the world are those that form in the middle of nowhere (out in the country, if you will). These types of clouds are sheltered at formation from the loathsome effects of air pollution, and therefore maintain maximum cleanliness.

It just so happened that Scarlet was lying on a cumulus cloud in the middle of nowhere (well, technically not “nowhere”, but far from any factories), and the pleasant feeling that resulted was indescribable.

Scarlet stared over the edge of the most luxurious cloud in the world, and looked down at the orchid, which was right below her. The sweet aroma of cherries drifted up, and only added to her delight.

Scarlet nonchalantly put her hooves behind her head, leaned back into the cloud, and sighed. “This is the life.” she said to herself.

As Scarlet closed her eyes to sleep, she glimpsed something out of the corner of her vision. She turned her head, and noticed something in the distance. It looked like a cloud, but it was too far away to make out. At first, Scarlet brushed it off as nothing more than just that; a cloud, but then she noticed something unusual. The cloud seemed to be getting closer to her.

“That's strange.” she stated. “Clouds don't normally move by themselves, except...” her thoughts trailed off for a moment. “That's impossible...”

She lazily got up off of the cloud, annoyed that her nap was being interrupted. She flew in the direction of the moving cloud, wanting to find out what it really was.

As she got closer, she noticed more distinct features, such as pillars and houses. Indeed, it was Cloudsdale, but how?

“Cloudsdale couldn't have made a full cycle around Equestria by now. This doesn't make any sense,” Scarlet said to herself. She continued to fly closer.

When she finally arrived at her previous city of residence, the first thing she saw was the Weather Factory, the biggest building in Cloudsdale, sitting near the edge of the city. She decided to check it out.

The factory was enormous. Rivers of rainbow flowed from the inside to the outside. Storm clouds lingered above, and the sound of thunder could constantly be heard.

Scarlet wandered around to the back of the factory, where she found the testing grounds. This area was designed for large-scale testing procedures, and it was quite spacious.

There were pegasi (about twenty-five) standing in formation for something big. Scarlet watched with growing interest.

A large stallion pegasus walked to the front of the group. “Alright, workers. Today, we're going to test a new, innovative formation for creating tornadoes. It's designed to improve overall control, and should be much easier than what you're used to. Cerulean, are you ready to begin the test? You're the leader of this formation, so you decide when to begin.”

Scarlet was in disbelief. Her eyes searched through the group of pegasi, and sure enough, there was a Blue pegasus with a dark blue mane standing at the front.

Cerulean replied, “Yes, sir.” He looked towards the other pegasi. “I'm going to give you all a countdown from 5. Follow my lead.”

Scarlet was at a loss for words. She had no idea how to approach the situation. She called out, “Dad! What are you doing here?”

Cerulean looked in her direction. He mouthed a sentence. He seemed to be saying, “Go back home. I'm working.”

“Scarlet, dear!” called a familiar voice. “Please get back to the house. We're busy!”

Sure enough, the voice calling out to her was her mother, Golden. Scarlet was speechless, her confusion overpowering her ability to think clearly.

“Alright, workers! Here we go!” called out Cerulean.

Scarlet didn't know what to do.

“Five. Four. Three.”

Scarlet was terrified.

“Two. One.”

Scarlet felt utterly helpless.

“Begin!”

The pegasi flapped their wings, and made their way into the air, keeping their formation in check. As their speed increased, Scarlet could feel a strong gust of wind. The wind started to become visible, and finally, it began to focus by the pegasi workers, its color getting darker by the second.

In just a small amount of time, the cone-like shape of the tornado was clear, and it continued to grow.

“Alright,” called out the large stallion, observing the test from the sidelines. “That's more than enough. Break up the formation before it gets too big!”

Several seconds passed, and nothing was changing. The tornado continued to grow in size. A worried expression made its way across the stallion's face.

A voice could be heard from inside the tornado. “We can't control it! Somehow, it's self-sufficient now! It's growing on its own!” yelled Cerulean.

The tornado was now at its peak size, and it looked extremely unstable.

“You all need to escape! Fly towards the outside, and try to get out!” yelled the stallion.

The effort of the pegasi workers was obvious, as the walls of the tornado expanded and distorted in shape. One by one, many of the workers were able to escape the monster, flying away as fast as they could. Cerulean easily escaped, and he frantically looked around, then back at the tornado. Some of the workers didn't have the strength to get out, including Golden. He searched around with his eyes, but could not locate his wife. He took a deep breath, and dove back into the vicious tornado.

He came out seconds later with one of the workers. When he let them go, they flew away at top speed, trying to distance themselves from the tornado as much as they could. Cerulean dove inside the tornado once again.

Every few seconds, Cerulean managed to locate and rescue another worker. The expression on his face was one of fierce determination, and Scarlet could tell that this required every ounce of his concentration and strength. If he lost focus for just a second, he would lose his balance and become a rag doll to the tornado's fury.

After saving the lives of seven workers, Cerulean finally returned from inside the tornado with Golden.

The second Scarlet spotted Golden's bright coat, she yelled “Mom! Dad!”.

At that moment, Cerulean and Golden glanced towards their daughter for a split second.

That's all the time it took for him to lose his focus.

Cerulean lost grip of his wife, and she was hurled back into the tornado. His wings began to fold. He tried his best to maintain balance, but the tornado would not be denied its victims.

Cerulean glanced at his daughter one last time. Their eyes met for a moment, and the look on his face was one of sadness.

Then, he did something she never expected, and smiled at Scarlet.

Cerulean was sucked back into the tornado, and he could no longer fight it.

“NO!!!” yelled Scarlet. She tried to dive in the direction of her parents, but found that she couldn't move a muscle.

Suddenly, her vision was forced towards the whole of Cloudsdale, and she had a view of the entire city.

A gargantuan, red lightning bolt appeared from the heavens, and struck the city. Scarlet watched in horror as her ancestral home began to break apart.

Scarlet awoke with a scream. She sat up, and realized that she was sitting in her bed at Cherry Hill Ranch.

Scarlet was sweating profusely, and her heart was beating fast, as if she had just finished a race.

She breathed a sigh of relief. “It was just a nightmare.” she thought to herself.

She got up from the bed, and walked towards the door, careful not to wake up her friends (who still seemed to be asleep, despite her abrupt awakening). The door creaked slightly as she opened it, but she paid it no heed.

After she left the room, Fluttershy lifted her head. She saw that Scarlet's bed was empty, and the door was slightly ajar. Curious, Fluttershy got up and slowly made her way to the door as well, trying to be as discreet as possible.

[][][][][][][][]

Scarlet wandered through the cherry orchard, hoping some fresh air would help her gather her thoughts. Eventually, she found herself at the edge of the entire orchard, and she looked up. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and Scarlet could clearly see that it was a full moon. The famous “Mare in the Moon” pattern was completely visible.

“Five months.” she thought to herself. “I can't believe we've been gone for five whole months. It only feels like a couple weeks, at most.”

Scarlet heard some rustling behind her. She turned around, tensing up slightly, and saw Fluttershy emerge from the orchard.

“Are you okay?” asked Fluttershy.

Scarlet relaxed. “Yeah, I'm fine, I just had a hard time sleeping.”

Fluttershy walked over to Scarlet and sat next to her.

“Did I... wake you up, by chance?” asked Scarlet.

“It's fine.” replied Fluttershy. “It's not your fault I'm a light sleeper. It's pretty hard to avoid a creaking door, anyway.”

Scarlet fought the urge to chuckle. “She wakes up to a creaking door, but not a loud shriek. I won't even question that logic.”

“Why did you come out here, Scarlet?” Fluttershy asked. “When I saw you leaving the house, I got kind of worried, so I followed you. Is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine...” Scarlet assured her. “Well, everything is fine in reality. For some reason, I've been having these really weird dreams lately.”

Luckily, Fluttershy didn't press her for details.

Scarlet left out the fact that these “dreams” were more like nightmares. Every single one of these nightmares ended similarly, which she thought was strange.

“What is that red lightning bolt that I keep seeing?” she thought to herself. “I want to think that it means something, but it doesn't make any sense to me.”

Scarlet looked towards Fluttershy, studying her intently. Fluttershy was staring up at the sky, much like she was just a few minutes ago. Something came to mind, all of a sudden, and Scarlet couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it sooner. She wanted to talk to Fluttershy about it, but wasn't entirely sure how to broach the subject without hurting her feelings.

“Fluttershy,” started Scarlet. Fluttershy turned her attention back to Scarlet. “Please don't take this the wrong way... I know how sensitive you can be sometimes, and I just want you to know that I don't mean this in a negative way.”

“Yes?” asked Fluttershy.

Scarlet hesitated. Finally, the words came out. “Why did you leave Cloudsdale to come with us? I know you had parents, and a house, and friends. I don't understand what drove you to abandon all of that for us.”

Upon hearing this, Fluttershy looked down. She didn't seem eager to answer this question.

“Fluttershy, I hope you know that you can trust me, and that I would never judge you. Please. I want to know why.”

Fluttershy looked back up. “Okay, Scarlet. I'll tell you everything.” she said. Scarlet opened her ears, and for once, kept her fluctuating thoughts in check.

“You're right about the first two things. I had parents, and a house. But you're wrong about the third.”

Scarlet's eyes shifted slightly. Fluttershy took this the wrong way. “Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to put it like that, it's just...”

“Why are you sorry? I asked for what happened, and you're telling me. I don't care how you have to say it, I just want to know.” Scarlet asserted.

“Okay, then.” said Fluttershy. “Well, the third thing you said was wrong. I didn't have any friends, besides you two. In fact, you and Rainbow Dash are the first friends I remember having since I was almost a foal. Nopony ever bothered talking to me, and I was too nervous to approach them. I was thrown for a loop when you two seemed so eager to get to know me. I wasn't used to the attention.”

“I see,” said Scarlet. “What about your parents?”

Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably. “Well, my parents... I never really saw eye-to-eye with them. They always wanted me to do things I didn't want to do. They were always pointing out my flaws, telling me that I'm too timid and shy.”

“It wasn't until the night we left that I realized what they were trying to do. Remember when I told you at first that I couldn't leave with you two?”

Scarlet nodded her head.

“Well, as soon as I got home, I heard them talking about me. They wanted to send me away, Scarlet!” tears started to show in Fluttershy's eyes. “They wanted to pull me out of flight camp and send me to military school! They hated everything about me!”

At this point, Fluttershy was sobbing uncontrollably. She covered her eyes.

Scarlet put a hoof around her friend, trying to comfort her. “Hey, it's okay. I doubt they hated you. I don't think anypony could hate you, let alone your parents. I think their mind was just in the wrong place at the time.”

Fluttershy rubbed the tears out of her eyes. “They mentioned you and Rainbow Dash. They didn't like the fact that I was talking to you two and not them. Also, they wanted to get me away from you. By that time, they'd already heard about the incident earlier that day.” she managed to say through a choked voice.

Scarlet didn't know how to respond to this.

“You know, Rainbow isn't lying about what happened back in Cloudsdale.” said Fluttershy, as she started to regain her composure. “I saw a lot of what she saw. We flew away before anything happened. Rainbow said not to turn around, even when we were far away from you, but I couldn't resist. I turned around just to get a quick look, and I saw a big red flash, followed by the sound of thunder. We both heard the noise, but I don't think Rainbow Dash saw what I saw.”

Scarlet thought of her recent nightmares, with the red lightning bolt, and wondered if this was related.

“Why are you telling me all of this?” asked Scarlet.

“Because I think you've been trying to avoid that incident all this time.” said Fluttershy. “I think you should try to figure out what happened to you, and what it means. There's obviously something that separates you from any pegasus I've ever seen, Scarlet Lightning. I think you should make it your goal to discover who and what you are.”

Scarlet didn't know what to say. This was so unlike Fluttershy. The truth of her words hit Scarlet like brick.

Fluttershy saw the shocked expression on Scarlet's face, and backed down. “I'm sorry... I didn't mean to-”

“No, Fluttershy. You're completely right. I need to figure this out. I've been trying to elude this for too long.”

“Okay.” Fluttershy said, reassured. Then, she yawned deeply. “I'm going back to bed.” she said.

“Alright. I'm gonna stay up for a bit longer. I have a few things to think about. Good night, Fluttershy.” said Scarlet.

“Good night, Scarlet.” said Fluttershy. She started walking back in the direction of the house.

“Fluttershy,” said Scarlet. Fluttershy stopped in her tracks, and turned her head.

“Thank you,” Scarlet said, smiling. Fluttershy smiled back, and replied, “I'm glad I could help.”

Her friend disappeared into the orchard, and Scarlet was left to reflect on the discussion.