By mid-afternoon I was increasingly nervous having this big responsibility suddenly thrust on me, but having Rainbow beside me all day leading up to it was definitely a great management tool. Warming up we first we practiced moving empty, white clouds around in place to simulate moving the rainclouds around in preparation for the thunderstorms that would take place later during the day. We then spent the rest of the early afternoon stretching our wings and partaking in flying exercises, though it eventually turned something more playful down the lines of twirling and gliding. I was careful to make sure we didn't tire ourselves out though, especially given Rainbow's enthusiasm.

"Come on, what's the matter? Can't you keep up?" she called to me with a smirk as we twirled wildly around each other over the south-side meadows.

"Not really," I shot back, "And I wanna make sure I have energy left for the job itself. I don't have all-day stamina like you."

"Sure you do," she said forcefully, though with a late wink to ensure her sincerity. "You just need a whip behind you, that's all," she teased, though I'm sure she was half-serious. If not all serious. Secretly, I needed it. Confidence is something that I've sort of been struggling with since the incident all those years ago. I don't like to talk about these things much, and... well, I'll just stop now.

Anyway, I decided I'd done enough twirling for the day. As much fun as it was spinning around her in the air and seeing the landscape change wildly in the background as I stared at her smiling face, it was rather dizzying.

"Whoa," I said, floating gently to the grass, struggling to keep my balance. The world continued to spin for a few more seconds, and I heard Rainbow land just beside me with a thud.

"So do you think you're you ready? And please don't hurl," I heard her say, as I leaned my head down.

"Oh no," I said, taking long deep breaths.

"So... *are* you ready?" she pressed, leaning in and looking intently at me as I brought my head back up from the ground. I looked up around the sky, and most of my nervousness was well under our control, but maybe a tiny bit of it showed for a second.

"Um... I think so," I said, with a gentle smile, but she raised her eyebrow.

"Wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Let's try it again. Are *you* ready?" she asked seriously, like a gym teacher firing up his class. I thought for a moment about my response and where I want wrong. Then I got it.

"Yep," I nodded.

"Sonic," she replied stiffly. "You gotta get tough. You gotta get nasty!" she said tenaciously.

"I do? I mean - yes!" I said, shaking my head and narrowing my eyes for a second. "I... do?"

"No, not really. We're just moving clouds around," she said, her face relaxing epicly into a kind of smirk.

"Rainbow!" I cried playfully. Though I was laughing now, her smile disappeared just as quickly it came.

"But we've gotta be fast, and getting tough and nasty will help you get fast. Attitude beats records," she snarled to herself, and I stopped laughing immediately.

"I'll give my last breath for you," I said to her almost instinctively and with a completely straight face, though it took a moment for me to realize I could've probably picked something better as I put my hoof to my chin. "Oh sorry, was that cringe?" I muttered, though she really seemed to like it.

"That's my stallion! That's what I wanna hear," she said with a proud chuckle. She turned her head back and gave me a quick head-to-tail examination and then came back with a look of confidence that I quickly felt in my heart. I thanked her with a beam. Then I took a deep breath and looked around. "Whatcha thinking about?" she asked.

The truth was, at that moment I was thinking about how badly I wanted to impress her today. More than that even just how badly I wanted to fit it in at Ponyville. You're well beloved, and I'm a nobody. In the past I had gotten used to it, but I just wanted her to have as much as she deserved. I hadn't proven myself yet and I didn't feel quite worthy of her.

"Oh you know, just doing well today," I said, looking at her. But she was looking thoughtfully at me, and with care. She didn't seem to buy it.

"Look, Sonic," she started, raising an eyebrow. "Everypony knows I'm not really a, you know... relationship expert," she started.

"You sure about that?" I said teasingly. I had to jump on that one.

"Shut up," she shot back, smirking. "But I do know that you can tell me anything. And-"

"I wasn't kidding," I said, interrupting. I looked directly at her appreciatively. I didn't want her to get the wrong impression. "I know I can tell you anything. And I promise I will," I said, assuring her with my eyes. "But... I just really want to do well today, that's all."

"I wanna do well today too," she said, smiling. "And I gotta say, I'm really impressed. You really are a great flier."

"You really think so?" I said with a bashful beam. You have no idea what that meant to me, for so many reasons. Obviously something like that from your crush is worth more than any money can buy, but flying is also a huge part of who I am. It's a big part of what makes the two of us who we are. It's always - as you may remember - represented a large portion of my hopes and goals for myself.

"Absolutely," she declared, putting her arm around me. "You are so well named! I mean you've got great speed," she remarked, impressed. "Not quite as fast as me of course but hey, don't feel bad- not even the wonderbolts are as fast as me anymore."

I turned a deep shade of red and looked away from her thoroughly delighted, too embarrassed to look her right in the eye.

"I guess there's more to flying than speed, though," I muttered quietly.

"Yes, there is!" she said, sticking her face in mine. "But you have the rest of that too! You've got three of the four things needed to be a *really* great flier; speed, control, and above all, determination," she went on, each syllable dripping with enthusiasm. But then she gave me a good and long look, and caught a glimpse of my past in her eyes. "But I'm still not quite sold on the fourth."

"And which one is that?" I asked, looking back into her. She took her time to answer, as though backing it up with her gaze.

She didn't get the chance. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Blossomforth, a blue-eyed white mare with a watermelon-colored mane landed just in front of us, panting heavily. She was looking at us, but she couldn't spit out words at first. Rainbow and I looked at each other somewhat confused. She raised her hoof in the air as if to give her a second while she caught her breath.

"There you are!" she said, looking at Rainbow. "We've been looking all over for you."

"Why? This thing is going down at 3:30 like it usually does," she replied eyeing her, then putting her hoof on her chin as she thought to herself. "We've still got a half hour to warm up, though we should be heading over there now anyway," she said, turning to me with a smile.

"That's not it. I don't feel like explaining it. Look, someone that wants to see you is at Sugarcube Corner. Can you just come with me, she'll explain everything."

"Who?" cried Rainbow with terrible curiosity.

"You'll see," replied Blossomforth with a wink.

"Come on," Rainbow said to me, and wasted no time launching off towards Ponyville. She was so quick that for a moment I stood there awkwardly with Blossomforth, who gave me a cross between a smile and a smirk.

"Uh... thanks?" I said with a chuckle, and no time to apologize for Rainbow's abrupt departure. Who, speaking of which was flying away from me. "Oh, right."

Rainbow touched down a block or two from the corner shop to give me a chance to catch up. I landed right next to her in front of the shop and the two of us walked side by side for the door. Her expression was a mixture of irritated and curious.

"This had better be important, taking away our warmup time like this," she muttered, probably more to herself.

Standing right outside the door were five ponies - all of them pegasus - three to the right and two to the left, all of them close to our age. They were talking amongst themselves, and it seemed pretty casual. They looked at us with a kind of "you're about to hear it" expression on each of their faces. On the left were two mares - the first a light purple with a dark purple mane with clouds and a sun for cutie mark, and standing next to her was a green mare with a purple mane and three suns for a cutie mark. On the right was Thunderlane, Whitewash, and a third stallion who was green with a grey mane and shamrocks for a cutie mark.

"What is this about?' asked Rainbow to them. "And are you guys ready to go?"

"Long story. We'll let her take it," said Thunderlane with a smirk and a nod to inside the shop. Rainbow let out a very mild exasperated gasp and continued in at high walking speed. I saw Thunderlane give me a wink as we headed in, all other eyes watching us too.

Rainbow butted through the door with her head as I followed right behind her.

"Alright, now who is so lazy that they couldn't- PRINCESS?"

Rainbow's tone of voice went instantly from irritated to horrified as a we found ourselves staring at the back of a very tall white mare with a flowing multi-colored mane, who turned around upon hearing Rainbow. Even if I had seen her fairly recently, it's not everyday you walk in on the princess who is requesting to speak with you and your girlfriend for whatever reason.

"P-princess Celestia?" she cried, falling to her knees, and I quickly followed suit. "Did I say lazy? I didn't say lazy, you didn't hear that, did you?" she said to me with a pleading smile. The white monarch laughed sweetly.

"It's quite alright, I admit I have a tendency to pass off exercise that I need to work on," she chuckled, and Rainbow followed up with a much more uncomfortable chuckle of her own.

"Uh, yeah... hehe." Looking back on it, it was actually kind of adorable.

"It's a pleasure to see you again Sonic," she remarked, and based on the affectionate tone in her voice and the authenticity in her smile there was certainly no doubting it. I couldn't help but blush a little bit. I was embarrassed since she was the reason I came here in the first place, even though I was incredibly thankful of course. I was struggling to find the right words as I smiled back at her, but I didn't have to.

"Wait a minute... you two know each other?" asked Rainbow quite curiously and looking straight at me with wide eyes. Ok, so... we had caught up on a lot, but I hadn't quite got that far. My ears fell in embarrassment as I struggled yet again to find words amidst my own chuckling.

"Absolutely. Sonic here is a hero of Canterlot. The day before he arrived here, in a most-impressive display of aerial skill he saved a small foal from a runaway cart tumbling down the hill," replied the Princess proudly.

"HE DID?!?" she yelled, though looking directly at me, as the Princess' laughter could be heard behind her. "Why didn't you tell me??"

"I was-" I started, blushing terribly now and loving every second of it, "I was getting to it, ok? I was about to tell you."

"That sounds... just like me," she muttered, much quieter this time, during which and after she stared into me intently, as though in disbelief. With every second she stared, the smile on her face grew and the twinkle in her eyes made itself a little more visible. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Princess looking on at the two of us in adoration. I had nothing else to say, so I just stood there and happily basked in her affection, and returned as much of it as I could.

"He's full of surprises, isn't he?" asked the monarch baitingly. "I am so happy to see that you two have become such good friends so quickly," she said with the sweetness of an angel.

To me she was plainly implying that she knew well what was going on, even if that wasn't her intent. Given the way I reacted when she mentioned Rainbow was the lead weather pony here back in the castle suite the day of the Canterlot incident, she could probably put together how I felt about her, especially given she seemed very intuitive to begin with. Rainbow even mentioned something about asking her if she knew where I was when we were making confessions. So for me to see the Princess smiling so approvingly was melting my heart away. That also meant she not only knew Rainbow, but probably knew her well.

It took Rainbow a moment to react and realize what was going on, but after a few moments her ears finally came crashing down to her head and she turned a reddish color as she looked away from me nervously.

"Right," she said, straightening herself out and attempting a tough, serious face. "So what can we do for you?"

"Well," the princess said, straightening out somewhat as well, "given nopony was able to locate you, and you clearly don't know the situation, I will go ahead and tell you that there was a little issue in Cloudsdale this morning."

"Issue? What issue?" said Dash, alarmed and anxious.

"It's quite alright and under control now," replied the monarch with a gentle smile. "There was a leak in the Cloudsdale reservoir that holds the water up there, the cause of which appears to be a thoughtless mistake on the part of one of the workers. It took nearly all of the pegasi from both Cloudsdale and Ponyville to ensure our entire supply of rainwater was not lost, though most of it was."

"What?" said Rainbow, as her mouth dropped open. I was surprised too and made what I could of it as quickly as I could. "But-" she said, looking at me. "Princess, we are soooooo... sorry. If I was there, I would have-"

"It's quite alright Rainbow, I do not blame you for wanting to get away and have a good time with each other," she said, chuckling. "Thankfully most of the pegasus ponies here were available, but when you couldn't be found I sent for some ponies to look for you. Of course Twilight is still away in the northwest, and around here you are the clear leader of the pegasi. I was hoping maybe you'd have seen or heard the ruckus at some point today," she continued.

"Well," said Rainbow, chuckling to me, "we were pretty busy in the south fields today, and we stayed pretty low to the ground. We're really sorry. Here, let us go help them. Come on, Sonic."

"That's not necessary, it was probably good for them to handle this on their own anyway and practice without usual leadership. Spitfire arrived early, so I had her head up the clean up and restoration efforts. Also it was certainly good for you two to spend some time together," she said, smiling. "I gather by now though you are no longer needed, and I think they are handling themselves just fine. However I still need you to carry on your scheduled rain shower for this evening."

Rainbow turned to me for a moment, probably making sure we both understood. We were both still surprised at the news and putting it all together. But she explained it perfectly.

"Um," said Rainbow, putting her hoof to her forehead, "ok, do they still have our clouds or do they have to be made?"

"Fortunately, all the clouds for your scheduled rainstorm are ready. Unfortunately, however, plenty of pegasi are still cleaning the water and salvaging what they can from the leak. But I personally had some of the six best ponies sent back to help you - you saw five of them outside and Blossomforth, who is surely the reason you are here now. The eight of you will have to take care of it yourselves."

"Ok, we'll get started on that right away. You can count on us Princess," she said with a loyal salute. The white mare's smile faded once again and instead she now had a more apologetic look.

"I'm so sorry you two, but I must ask one more request of you," she said, and the two of us looked at each other and then back at her in anticipation. "We will need to harvest the water from the reservoir here today - thankfully it is mostly full - since Cloudsdale has now lost most of its water to the earth beneath it. Call it an 'emergency water tornado' if you must. But with young Sonic here to help you, I have the utmost confidence in you. The two of you - your team of eight and the remaining pegasi still in Cloudsdale - must work fast so you can get together and make the tornado once you're finished before the sun lowers across these lands. Do you understand?"

Rainbow Dash and I took it all in and one last time, and after one more look at each other she spoke on behalf of both of us with a dutiful declaration.

"We understand completely," she replied.

"I'm very sorry about this," said the princess, and her body language certainly backed it up. "I will ensure you are all rewarded for this service. Perhaps front row tickets to a Wonderbolt show? Though maybe I should pick something different for you two, since you may be in the show yourselves very soon," she said with an encouraging smile.

Rainbow laughed and I chuckled.

"Hey, she knows what's up!" Dash proclaimed joyfully, giving me a hoofbump which I was happy to return. "Come on, let's go. Just follow my lead. Just like we practiced today. You're more than ready," she said, and the two of us made for the door quickly. Anxiety was increasing but I was determined to not let her down. Given her words of encouragement, I'd say I was just confident enough.

Rainbow Dash burst through the front door of the shop and took off trotting, spreading her wings in the process and launching off right in front of the shop. The other six of them (Blossomforth was back now) and myself spread our own wings and took off together right behind her.

"So you all know the scoop, right? Otherwise you wouldn't have been standing there," said Rainbow as we ascended towards Cloudsdale at a cruising pace so we could still talk to each other. "Oh, and by the way," she added in an extremely irritated tone, "thanks for the heads up that was Princess. I'll remember that the next time you're walking into a situation you aren't prepared for."

"Blossy didn't tell you?" asked Thunderlane.

"I told you... never call me that."

"Hey, I haven't met you yet," said the green mare with the purple mane to me as she flew up beside me, "but my name's Merry May."

"Oh, yeah, sorry Sonic. Everypony, this is Sonic if you haven't met him. Prepare to be impressed," Rainbow said now flying backwards with a proud smile that I deeply appreciated. "You know Thunderlane. That's Whitewash," she continued pointing to a gruff white stallion with a blue mane, "and you know Blossomforth."

"Yep," Blossomforth added hovering on my right.

"That, over there, is Clear Skies," Dash said moving onto the light purple mare with the dark purple mane who was now just to my left.

"Hello there!" she said daintily.

"Hi," I replied, shyly but friendlily.

"And that's Buddy," she finished, pointing to the green stallion with the grey mane.

"Great name," I told him with a beam.

"Thanks," he replied, looking away with a smile.

"Where are you from? Because I've heard a couple different things," asked Blossomforth.

"Oh," I started nervously.

"So we are all good now, right?" asked Rainbow, oblivious to the question and rescuing me as she turned around and looked over her shoulder, accelerating slightly. The vast city in the middle of the blues skies came into full view with the trees and greens below us were getting a little smaller.

"Yeah, I think so, but how do you wanna do this?" he asked loudly up to her. Basically, when you're flying at this speed - a fast cruise - you have to raise your voice in the wind or else you won't be heard. Of course when you're flying full speed, you don't talk to anyone, as that would be a waste of time and energy.

"Let's see what we got when we get up there," she replied, and picked up her pace again, so we did as well. It was starting to hit me as the floating city got bigger and bigger in front of us that not only was I about to return to the place I met and knew Rainbow Dash during my childhood, but I was actually part of a weather team... led by her.

Suddenly flying up a few feet in front of me and looking back to talk to me was Clear Skies.

"So you know Rainbow Dash? That's so cool! I know everything there is to know about the mane six. All their adventures, how they've saved us," she started, and some of the other ponies let out a sigh, especially Whitewash and Thunderlane. I did very much appreciate her trying to make me feel welcome, and was eager to befriend these ponies.

"Here we go," whispered Thunderlane under his breath.

"Mane six?" I asked. I had a feeling this had to do with the so-called elements of harmony again.

"Oh, you know! Rainbow and her five friends, the elements of harmony. That's what we call them. A little nickname," she said, throwing her hoof out. I sobbed a little bit on the inside. Rainbow and I still hadn't got that far yet. She agreed to tell me about the elements after all of our stuff today.

"Yeah, you know, the only six ponies who ever do anything heroic or important in Equestria," Thunderlane muttered sadly to himself.

"Telling the new guy about your weird obsession with six ponies, one of which is his girlfriend, is not the best way to introduce yourself," said Whitewash with an irritated eye roll.

"It's not an obsession. I'm just a big fan that's all," she said in reply. "Right Blossomforth?"

"It's definitely sort of close to an obsession, Cleary," replied the white mare with the watermelon mane. Clear Skies gasped.

"Merry May? Please help me here," she called to the green mare with the purple mane.

"Uh," she said, laughing nervously. "Rainbow, what do you think?"

"Hey, I understand it," she said, with a smirk to herself before she turned back and her facial expression switched to a little uncomfortable. "Well, it does border on creepy sometimes. Like she knows *every* detail. Don't you even know about the red dragon complaining about how I kicked him?" she asked uneasily, before switching back to proud. "Which is true by the way, I totally did."

"Jeez, maybe I do have a problem," she said to herself. "I'm sorry, I just love your girls' stories, that's all! They're like the Daring Do books," she said, and Rainbow's face lit up with excitement. Seeing that lit mine up as well. She was going to read me those stories personally.

"Now she gets it," remarked Whitewash.

"Well hey, at least I didn't get kicked out of the Wonderbolt academy for ... what was it again?" she shot back smugly.

"None of your business, that's what," he replied angrily.

"Come on guys, play nicely," said Thunderlane with a smirk.

"Thunder's right guys, we don't want to give a bad first impression to our new team member," said Buddy - the green stallion - with some delicacy in his voice. "We usually get along really well, though this is the first time we've ever been together as a team of eight," he added, to which I chuckled.

"Focus, guys!" cried Rainbow. "We got a job to do here!"

"Right," replied most of them, looking ahead with straight faces, or at least trying to.

With that comment, we all but arrived at the white city and weather capital of Equestria. Returning here was a surreal moment for me. One decade ago, a ten-year-old and a nine-year-old were best friends here. They flew in and around the pillared homes and factories, the rainbow falls, the flying arenas... this is where it all started. This is where all the memories with her that I took with me through my life were born. When I was a colt, this is where my fears came to die whenever she was beside me. I saw the steps and fountains we used to play at. The race tracks we raced at. When that filly looked back at me as the beautiful mare she has become and the sun shined behind her, I knew my hopes of ten years had not been misplaced.

I barely had any time to take it in. Voices abounded around me and to everypony else there was nothing usual and out routine but the large number of pegasus on the other side tending the water leak. Rainbow herself disappeared for a moment, seeking the manager.

"Look," said Clear Skies, pointing to the opposite side. We looked over and saw droves of pegasus from the top dotting the air from Cloudsdale all the way down to the ground. Many of them had buckets and were carrying water back up the reservoir as small leaks made their way down to the Earth, while other pegasus were working tirelessly to fix the leaks at the top.

"You should've seen it earlier. There were streams of water falling," remarked Thunderlane to me.

"You'd think those labs would be better equipped for these emergencies by now, huh?" said Clear Skies.

"That leak's not coming from the labs," replied Thunderlane. "It's from the main tank that the labs get their water from. A much, much bigger tank than the ones in the labs."

"How are we supposed to do this with just eight of us?" mumbled Whitewash.

"I know, right?" grumbled Blossomforth.

"What if we get too tired and collapse to the Earth?" asked Buddy fearfully.

It didn't long for us to become a little preoccupied with what was going on on the other side, and so eventually we were all standing there silently looking over at it. As we all stood watching the ponies on the other side work while we waited for details on our assignment, a lone young stallion emerged from our side of the city and made his way. He had a golden coat and a white mane and tail.

"Hey guys, see that stallion?" asked Thunderlane over the silence. "Any pal of his is a palomino."

"Hey, good one Thunder!" said Clear Skies.

"How have I never heard that?" asked Blossomforth.

"Right??" said Merry May.

Suddenly, walking up from behind us and standing in front of the seven of us on the city of clouds was the pony who used to give me a hard time when I was a foal. The same stallion whom Rainbow had flung over at the party on my second day here. Dumbbell, the chocolate pegasus. His vain gaze caught sight of us standing there and turned his head to us, looking down his snout.

"What are you seven up to?" he asked.

"Didn't you hear? We got a job to do. We got selected as the best weather ponies in town and we're setting up the rainstorm for this evening," said Thunderlane confidently. Dumbbell laughed derisively.

"Couple things. First off, best weather ponies my flank. Second off, if you're taking those clouds from here, there's no way you can get it done as a team of eight. No way," he replied, looking across at us. My expression turned sour, along with everypony else's.

"Jealousy is not a heavenly virtue," said Thunderlane, smirking. Dumbbell laughed again.

"Come on Whitewash," he charged, looking at the white stallion, "you know this job is beyond reason. Don't hold your tongue."

"Hey Dumbbell, don't forget now, we have Rainbow Dash! She never gives up no matter what," proclaimed Clear Skies, and I couldn't help but smile proudly. I really liked the way that sounded. Rainbow Dash, the mare who never gives up. He sneered however, shaking his head, and then looked over here at me in right my eye.

"Rainbow Crash? She's overrated," he muttered, smirking directly at me.

"Now wait just a minute," I said, stepping forward and mustering enough courage now that he officially crossed the line. "She's not overrated. It's no secret to anyone who's honest with themselves that she's the best flier in Equestria."

"What about you?" he asked. "What have you ever done? I remember you at flight camp, the way you followed her around like a dog. Well she's not here to protect you now. You vanished for ten years, come back in, you're probably proud of yourself right about now. But you've done nothing. None of you have. If you're not good enough for the Wonderbolts, then you certainly aren't good enough for this job."

I didn't back down, and had no intention, but our silent and rather hostile stare didn't last long.

"Hey Whitewash," said Thunderlane, turning his head with a wide beam, "why don't you go tell Spitfire that she's got a lazy stallion skipping out on work over here. Or wait, you know what? Nevermind, I'll do it. HEY SPITTY!" he called, and Dumbbell growled at us in defeat. He flew away angrily towards the other working pegasi. Thunderlane and a few of the mares laughed at his lowly retreat, but I remained standing there, somewhat shaken.

"Jealousy, Sonic. Pure jealousy," remarked Thunder, as we watched him disappear into the crowd up in front of us.

"He's one of a kind, Sonic. Don't worry about him," said Blossomforth comfortingly.

"Yeah, he's a loser," offered Merry May.

"I think he needs *a lot* of good hugs," said Buddy.

"Oh, Sonic... Rainbow, she's a great flier, he doesn't know what he's talking about. She's like, well, you know... her name is Dash!" added Clear Skies.

Hearing this from them made me feel a lot better. I daresay even I was completely over anything I was feeling before. I felt like I was part of the team, suddenly. I looked back at them all and smiled in appreciation.

"Thanks guys."

Suddenly emerging from one of the largest pillared buildings in Cloudsdale situated directly in front of us seven standing there emerged Rainbow. She wasted no time flying over to us and the rest of us naturally straightened ourselves up and prepared for orders. I was beyond excited to be in this position, and I waited like a soldier with complete loyalty to his superior in anticipation.

"So what's the deal? What are we doing?" asked Thunderlane.

"The deal is this," she said, holding her head high. "They have our clouds ready, but we have to transport them from Storage Room D to Ponyville ourselves," she continued, seemingly knowing it was going to arouse a negative response. "And, those clouds are gonna dump their water in two hours, so they absolutely have to be laid out and ready by then. Besides, we have to go quick anyway because we have to help with the water tornado to get the highland reservoir water into Clousdale this evening."

A few of them gasped, and others shook their heads at this news. I must admit, it's an awful lot for an afternoon and evening. I can see how it could maybe be discouraging.

"Hey, come on! Attitude? This is from the Princess herself," Rainbow said with force, "and with the exception of Sonic, who is gonna be as good as any of us except me maybe, we've all worked together several times and we've always done our job right. We're just climbing the ladder and taking the next step, that's all. This is not the Frozen North where blizzards rage and the weather is out of control. We own this work."

"So..." asked Clear Skies, thinking hard, "we have to get all those rainclouds to Ponyville ourselves, get 'em all set up, and all of it by dinnertime?"

"Yep," replied Rainbow quickly, unintimidated.

"I've done worse," muttered Thunderlane.

"Really?" asked Whitewash snarkily in a fake voice.

"Yeah," replied Thunder, nodding back with extra sneer in retaliation.

"That's a lot to do in a short time," said Merry May.

"So what?" replied Rainbow.

"So how can eight of us get all those clouds across the sky in two hours?" she shot back.

"Do you know how many ponies shy away from challenges like this? Ordinary ponies don't try this. Or they try it, and then they give up," stated Rainbow Dash ferociously, staring intently at her and then to the rest of them as she started walking side to side down the line of us. "Every single pony here has a cutie mark that's weather or flying related! We have a chance to show the Princess and ourselves that we're not ordinary ponies."

That comment seemed to get to them somewhat, as they began turning their heads and looking at each other with raised eyebrows that seemed to agree she had a point. Buddy, though, was raising his hoof in protest.

"Except you, Buddy. But hey, you're a pretty good flier yourself!"

"Well, I-" he said with a chuckle.

"All of you here were sent to me because you were singled out as being the best pegasus for this job. You've got speed and you've got experience. Are you gonna tell me now you can't do it?? You gonna go to Princess Celestia and all the ponies counting on us in Ponyville and tell 'em you're not good enough? You don't have the strength of will? Is that friendship?" she asked. She spoke with such passion and with such effect that I was now smiling from ear to ear in admiration.

"No, I suppose not," remarked Merry May.

"Well geez when you put it that way," said Clear Skies, grinning. With each one of them that conceded to her I got more and more excited.

"You'd think we're about to go to war or something," remarked Whitewash, raising his eyebrow. Then he smirked. "I'm in."

"Alright Rainbow, you got us, we'll give it a try. But who's doing what?" asked Blossomforth.

"Sonic and I will put the clouds in place over Ponyville," she said, shooting me a smile that especially tickled. I started fluttering my wings to get the jitters out.

"Called it!" announced Buddy.

"Thunderlane, you and Blossomforth will both haul clouds out of the storage room. Relay them to those three," she barked, pointing to Merry May, Whitewash, and Clear Skies. Blossomforth rolled her eyes. It's almost here, Sonic. It's almost here! I started trotting in place. Clearly no one else was quite as excited as I was, but that's alright I guess. I just didn't want to let them down.

"Of course I get stuck with you," she said to Thunder, though I think (and hope) she was only half serious.

"Oh come on! I'm a joy to be around," he said, chasing after her.

"Buddy, you go with them, they need a third pony."

"Alrighty then," he said, and trotted after them. "Wait... we can take a little rest if we get tired, right?" he asked fearfully.

"Little rest," granted Rainbow. "And you three, meet those guys about a third of the way between Ponyville and Cloudsdale and then dish them to us at the next third so we can lay them out over the city."

"Got it," they said together.

"Come on, let's everypony grab a cloud while we're up here," said Rainbow, and everyone else headed for the storage room. She turned to me with a smile and narrowed her eyebrows. She was ready to go to work with me. "And hey, let's have some fun for crying out loud!"

"Sonic watch out!"

Without thinking I looked up and with one desperate flap of my wings just barely sidestepped a lightning bolt from the thundercloud I just placed next to Rainbow's. I hovered there frozen for a second with a wide open mouth; pretty much what everypony does after just narrowly avoiding disaster. Once "pain averted" had fully sunk in, I looked over at Rainbow with a smile but found that she was laughing.

"Hey, Sonic... I've heard of a black-tailed jackrabbit, but never a black-tailed Sonic!"

"Uh oh."

I looked down and found that the tip of my tail was not so lucky. Well that's unfortunate... Rainbow was still laughing, too. I had to think of something to get back at her. That's when the lightbulb when off.

"Jackrabbit, huh? You know Rainbow, I swear... Sometimes it seems like you don't *carrot* all about my tail," I said, raising my eyebrow with a devastating smirk. She gasped.

"No you didn't," she muttered.

"Yes, I did," I replied, chuckling victoriously. Suddenly I caught sight of Whitewash, Merry May, and Clear Skies with our next round of thunderheads approaching our relay point. "Oh, I think they're ready for us!"

Rainbow turned her head around to confirm it, then we both blasted off. By now on our retrieval runs to those three we twirled around each other mid air, locked on with each other. As we soared to them, her happy eyes were squarely in my foreground, with blue skies, clouds, and Equestria below spinning around in the background, all the while the wind rushed through my ears as I flapped my wings effortlessly. It was certainly a great time to be a pegasus.

After a minute or two of flying we met those three at about one thousand feet (pegasus terms for above ground). By comparison, the clouds are set up at about four hundred feet and Cloudsdale is at about two-thousand feet. Those three had made it a little further than usual on this run.

"Little slow this time, huh?" remarked a winded Whitewash as I reached my hooves around his raincloud. This round of clouds from them was somewhat small; this cloud was only two-times my size rather than four or five. The small ones made for lighter travel on the way back.

"Yeah, Sonic had an accident," said Rainbow, giggling with a wink to me.

"Say, you a look a little like one of those jackrabbits!" said Clear Skies.

"That's what I said!" cried Rainbow, smiling at me, before she shook her head. "No, don't say that! He might make another rabbit pun."

I shrugged guiltily to those three as Rainbow now had her forelegs wrapped around Buddy's cloud, and Merry May's was left floating by itself. Rainbow and I both noticed they were starting to look tired, and all of us were sweating a fair amount. I had plenty left in me, but I was starting to feel the effect of flying back and forth at high-speeds for almost an hour.

"Great job guys! Keep 'em coming, we're about halfway done," she provided, and we saluted each other quickly before heading getting back to it. "And tell those guys to hurry up!" she called as we turned away. The two of us wasted no time; we both darted down towards Ponyville, pushing our respective clouds through the air. The way down is usually a little harder in terms of difficulty - we have gravity on our side but then of course the extra baggage to go along with it. They float, but they're filled with water so they're a lot heavier then your average white puffy cloud, and they catch wind and force your wings to work.

Rainbow and I don't just go through motions; we make work fun. When we got to Ponyville I shot upward and Rainbow darted beneath me; she kicked her cloud to me and I sent mine down to her- the trick is to avoid the bottom end of the cloud as to avoid getting the good shock that I narrowly avoided on the last run. We caught each cloud effortlessly and twirled around each other, putting the clouds in place at the exact time. We both shot each other proud smiles, and quick sliver of romantic joy, then went to take off back towards the lone cloud that still waited for us back at the relay point.

We both sped for it... the last cloud. In a fit of friendly competitiveness, we flew side by side, beating our wings furiously as we closed in on it. Our eyes from it to each other repeatedly. I almost had her! We were neck and neck until the very end, she barely edged me out and snatched it. She turned around and headed back with her prize, but I still had a chance; if I could steal the cloud without getting zapped before she got it with the other clouds, I could negate the points she would get for otherwise getting it back.

She beat her wings and pushed the cloud along, and certainly enjoying herself; she had this big proud grin on her face and looked around fearfully for me. Of course she protected the top of the cloud with her body, forcing my to take it from the bottom, which would almost guarantee a lightning shock. No one wants to get jolted, so this game forced me to think of some other way to get it. I flew very high and just slightly behind her as I bit my hoof thinking desperately of something to do. I was running out of time, too; every second that went by she got closer.

"Just give me this one! You can't steal it now!" she proclaimed to the skies.

With her body around it there was no way I could snatch it from anywhere but the bottom. If only that cloud was bigger... Suddenly, it hit me. Well I wasn't sure of it, but I gave it try nonetheless. I saw that she was searching the skies furiously for me, moving her head in every which way. If she moved her head to the right, I went left; if she went left, I went right. I dove to her level and closed in slowly, moving away wherever she looked. I was felt like a cat sneaking up on a mouse; truly, even up till now I hadn't had this much fun since we did this stuff when we were kids.

She looked beneath her, then above to the right and then I shot forward to put myself right where she just looked underneath. I could see she was confused, now. She stopped midair and hovered there for a second, and she turned completely around to look for me. My heart was racing; I silently wrapped my forelegs around the cloud's sides and waited anxiously for her to turn back around. Her head came back around quickly.

"Ah!" she screamed, startled, and naturally I jumped too.

"Thanks for carrying it all that way for me!" I remarked, and sped off with it.

"Hey!" she cried with a laugh and bolted after me. She was closing in on me just as I was about to get to the clouds. Looking back at her, I came back around and shoved it the last few feet to be safe with it's own kind. She wasn't even too upset. "Nice one, Sonic! I gotta give you props there," she said, rubbing her hoof in my mane, and I shrugged blushingly. "But must I remind you, I still have a two-point lead?"

"Ah, you must not," I told her.

Suddenly catching sight in our gaze were the other three coming back with a new round of clouds. Without further ado we were up up and away after our colleagues, twirling around and letting the adrenaline and the amount of fun we were having with each other take our mind off the physical exertion.

Now fast forward about forty five minutes. At the urging of everypony else and myself, Rainbow conceded a take five about halfway through, shortly after where I left off. We had also switched up jobs twice; now it was Thunderlane, Rainbow and I taking the clouds to Buddy, Whitewash, and Blossomforth from Cloudsdale, who in turn delivered them to Merry May and Clear Skies who were now doing our first job. The pace had slowed down substantially, but we only had dozens of more clouds to deliver and Ponyville would be completely covered for the rain shower.

I flew into the huge storage room and grabbed another thunderhead (most ponies know this, but for the ones that don't, not every raincloud has lighting in it; the ones that do are called, well... you can probably put it together). I took it out the large back door and flew back around, passing Rainbow Dash on the way, who shot me a look of determination as she went by. I flew it forward and passed it off to Thunderlane.

"Holding up?" I asked. He took a deep breath over his other fast breaths and put on a look of enthusiasm just for me.

"Affirmative," he affirmed with a laugh.

It had devolved into us carrying clouds and setting them out there one by one. Whoever was back first between the next three took the next cloud, and I'm pretty sure that's what Clear Skies and Merry Mary were doing too. I turned my body and flapped my wings. When you start getting really tired, your flaps tend to slow down and follow through more, instead relying on more wind to get you forward. Rainbow zipped past me with another cloud, and I got to the warehouse and stood on the white-clouded floor for thirty seconds. Now, for the first real time, I could feel my body actually starting to resist me doing more. I promptly ignored it and thought of Rainbow, who gave me plenty of strength to keep going.

I grabbed the next cloud and started heading out. Thunderlane arrived as I was walking in, who's witty humor made work easier as well.

"Yo," he said, breathing hard with his head down. "Let know one ever say I'm lazy ever again," he remarked, walking lethargically ahead. Suddenly, Rainbow appeared right behind him.

"You've actually done a great job, Thunder!" she she said with a smirk, though sincere in what she said.

"Actually," he replied, grabbing a cloud, "I *usually* do. Just not when I have the feather flu."

"I'll let that stand," granted Rainbow, and the three of us headed out together with a cloud. "I'm proud of you guys. All of you," she remarked, as we flew out into the open skies with our clouds. "Especially you, though," she said quietly to me with a look of loving encouragement. I felt my soul lighting up and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I had really accomplished something, though I knew we were not done yet.

When we arrived at our usual spot, we found the other five of them sitting on a white cloud that was just near the pass-off point. They were all sitting on their rumps, their heads hanging low, and their wings hanging limp. Rainbow Dash was visibly surprised in her expression, and as we approached, she set her cloud aside in the air and flew onto the cloud, followed by Thunder and I.

"What's up?" she asked them.

"We're tired," remarked Whitewash, and the other five nodded their heads wearily in agreement. There was a hint of shame in their faces, especially now with Rainbow looking at them. Thunder even nodded a little bit, though quickly put on a smile to save himself when I made eye contact with him. Dash raised her eyebrow in thought, moving more towards disbelief. This was eerily similar to the beginning when they doubted themselves then, too. I have to go ahead and confess... I sort of lack confidence sometimes too, if you couldn't tell.

"So... what? You're just gonna give up?" she asked.

"No, no," said Clear Skies, shaking her head no. "We just need a rest, that's all. Twenty minutes."

"We can't rest when we're done?" asked Rainbow. "If we rest now, we risk missing the tornado before sunset. If we go now, we finish, we get a quick rest, then we raise that water before sunset. Without us, there's no tornado."

"Then there's no tornado," replied Whitewash cooly.

"What if one of us collapses and falls?" asked Buddy fearfully.

"Then we'll be right there to pick you up," Rainbow shot back, and they lifted their heads curiously. "For these last fifty, we'll all fly side by side. We'll all grab one cloud and take it all the way ourselves. And if one pony stumbles, we'll all be there to help them."

"We're not like you, ok?" said Blossomforth to her, breathing hard. "We get tired easier. We don't have your skills."

"You think I'm not tired?" she asked, and some of them seemed surprised to hear that. "I am tired. Believe me."

"We just need to rest first," replied Merry May.

"We do that, we risk letting Princess down, we risk letting Equestria down, and we risk letting ourselves down."

"Easy for you to say, you're an element of harmony," said Whitewash, looking up from his spot. "And what do you mean let ourselves down? We're tired, we just want to rest."

"That's why this is so important," she muttered. She stood up tall and raised her head over them all. "That's our nature. The chances we get to go against our nature and prove we own ourselves don't come very often. You wanna go on living life shying away from challenges? You wanna conserve the most energy possible, regardless of what the consequences are for you or anypony else?"

The way she spoke was unlike other ponies, like say a gym teacher. You could see in her eyes that their doing this was important to her. Not for her, but for themselves. She charged it to each one of them to be separate because she believed that was the best for them.

"I'm sure when the Princess called they said a few things over there, didn't they?" she asked, and suddenly the lot of them raised their ears and listened attentively to her. Though I had been captivated from the beginning, of course. "They all gave you looks that weren't too confident, didn't they? Like they didn't envy you for getting this job because they didn't think you could do it. Is that somewhere in the ballpark?"

Merry May and Blossomforth turned their heads to each other, and Buddy and Clear Skies traded soulful looks. Whitewash looked down in thought. Their expressions all but confirmed Rainbow's assertion.

"And come on, be honest with me. You were a bit shocked when the Princess picked you six. You questioned her, didn't you? You didn't think we could do this with just the eight of us. Well folks, look at that big, dark, storm hanging over Ponyville. See that? How many of those clouds are yours, Whitewash? Or yours, Clear Skies? I'm a force to be reckoned with, but eighty-five percent of that storm was not me, it was you guys."

Now they were all listening intently. All eyes were on her, and every syllable was a forceful conviction. I was in utter awe of her and quickly losing myself in her determination. My heart's desire to finish what we started, that feeling you get when you feel invincible, was soaring.

"Celestia chose you because you were Ponyville's finest! And so far, you've proven yourselves to me that you really are the best in Ponyville, and possibly Equestria... minus the Wonderbolts. So I'm not going to let you bow out of it now that you're a few feet from the finish line. You've worked too hard and proved too many ponies wrong!" she said, pleading to them with passion. "Take this opportunity to be something that most ponies will never be!" Then, suddenly, she was calm. "Somepony who doesn't back down."

There was a silence that charged us all. All of six of them had radically different looks in their eyes now.

"Alright folks," said Thunderlane, stepping in with a much lighter visage. "Come on, we can't let all the work that just went into that speech go for nothing. Let's finish this job. And then let's gloat like heck."

"I'll drink to that," said Blossomforth, standing up with a smile.

"Gee, Rainbow. When you put it that way," panted Clear Skies, tired but willing.

"If I fall, please catch me! Oh, and I'll catch you too," added Buddy, lifting himself up.

"What are we waiting for?" said Merry May.

That left Whitewash, who was now the only one still sitting down, and remained the least emotional. The seven of us stood in a circle around him and waited silently in his response. He looked up, seemingly unmoved, and let out a long sigh. Then he chuckled and stood up.

"Only because I'll settle for a four minute rest," he said with a smirk. "And because I'm gonna go to straight to Dumbbell when this is over."

Just about all of them laughed and cheered. Their general reactions couldn't have made Rainbow Dash any happier, and it couldn't have made me any more proud. She basked in their willingness to keep going and smiled boldly at her own cadets. She walked forward and put her hoof in the air in the middle of us all. When everypony else put their ponies up, she looked across at us all.

"Ponyville on three," she said, and the rest of us followed suit. "One, two, three, PONYVILLE!"

The rest of them made their way up to Cloudsdale, and again Rainbow and I naturally stayed behind for just a moment. I didn't have much to say to her. All I could do was smile proudly. Ten years was a small price for the shimmering utopia that is a life with Rainbow at your side. She saved her bright and loving gaze for just a second, then suddenly she averted to her tough, confident self, and that smirk that appears on her face before she does something epic emerged.

"Come on, Sonic. Let's do this."