It had been many moons since the Princesses had declared the Windigo Winter over. Shortly after Nightmare Moon's return, the Elements of Harmony were spent; their energies had all but been used up in trying to defeat the mad goddess.
In fact, too much energy. Harmony across the land had waned, the draw from these six ponies had sapped the land of harmony. Not even the Princesses could predict or explain what happened.
It started with petty theft in Manehatten, then an assault on a random bystander in Appleloosa. One by one, acts of disharmony began to spread. The Windigoes returned, bringing with them the coldest, darkest winter Equestria has ever known.
Only through the Element Bearers giving up their mantles did Harmony slowly return to the lands - but it was too late to prevent the damage done. Ponies were displaced by the harsh snows, some families torn apart - some snuffed out completely.
But, pony-kind as a whole struggled past and survived this cold Winter. Ponyville became the refugee centre of Equestria - friendships sprung and flourished, despite the tough times.
That Winter is gone now - society is returning to normal. Harmony and Friendship was returned to the ponies that inhabit Equestria.
Rainbow Dash counted the pegasi as they filed into the Tree Library near the centre of Ponyville. Like last time, they needed every wing they could get. "Eighty-two, eighty-three…Horseapples," she swore to herself. "One short."
Doing the headcount again, she made sure to find out which one was missing. No, Fluttershy was there. So was Thunderlane (No feather-flu for him!). Aha! She knew who the missing pony was.
"Dammit, I don't have time to go fetch her now...she's on the edge of the Everfree…" Sighing, Rainbow closed the door and continued her presentation.
The next morning, she flew over to the simple cottage on the edges of Ponyville. Knocking on the door caused a white unicorn with a fiery mane to open it, her purple eyes staring blankly past Rainbow Dash.
"Hello?" she asked, a thin white cane by her shoulder, held up by magic.
Rainbow looked past the unicorn, to the boxes inside still needing to be unpacked. "Uhh, yeah. Is Denith home?"
"A faint smile touched the unicorn's face, as her eyes lit up in cheer, still gazing past Dash in their blindness. "Yes! Of course, Rainbow Dash. I'll go fetch her for you."
Denith and Alatea. They were two of the refugees from the Winter. Rainbow had helped them when they were still homeless and living in tents. Then again, most of Ponyville had helped as ponies flocked from all corners of Equestria...
A turquoise pegasus with thick, red-rimmed glasses came to the door, a slight but noticeable limp in her gait. She had a dull gray mane in a thick braid and three interlocking clockwork gears for a cutiemark. "Yes…?" she asked, eyebrow raised.
"Denith...It's Rainbow Dash," she began sheepishly. "Look, I called for a meeting regarding the Cloudsdale reservoir and you missed it last night."
Denith continued to look impassively at Rainbow. "And…?"
"And, well, I could really use every wing I can out there. I can understand you missing last night's meeting - I mean, you're still unpacking into your new house and all - but I'd really like it if you could help us with it. Maybe we can get a new record this year!"
Denith looked away for a moment, before sighing. "I'm...I'm sorry, Rainbow. I have other responsibilities. I won't be able to make it."
Dash gave her a disappointed look. "But we really - ,"
The other pegasus had a sudden firmness in her eyes. "No. It's not happening. Now, if you don't mind, I'm busy."
The door was promptly closed in Rainbow Dash's snout before she could interject again. Standing wordlessly outside the door, she tried to form a coherent thought. "What...just happened?" she asked herself. No - there had to be more to this. Stomping her hoof in frustration, Rainbow Dash took off.
Weather duty that day had proven lighter than expected. Some emergency rainfall was scheduled for the area, and a quick scout over the Everfree had shown that plenty of clouds were on its way to Ponyville, even though the sky was mostly clear for now.
Rainbow Dash wrapped her scarf a little more snugly, relaxing on a cloud, idly looking at the ponies below as they continued their daily routines. The Windigo Winter had passed, but its chill still lingered in the air.
One particular pegasus caught her eye, walking with a distinct limp as she held a small basket with laundry on her back. Rainbow scooted her cloud a little closer, curiosity getting the better of her. 'Other responsibilities, my flank,' she thought to herself.
Denith began to hang up the washing on the line, her wings loosely spread out, until she paused, head tilting towards the Everfree Forest for a moment. Rainbow flew in even closer, eyes furrowed in curiosity.
The pegasus on the ground spread her wings out to their full span, twitching the angle of them every few seconds. Any normal pony would've seen a pegasus stretching her wings - only an experienced weather-pony - like Dash - could actually see something marvellous.
The individual currents of air as they fluctuated over each feather, each twitch in the wing slightly adjusting the angle as to get a different feel of the air. Heck, Denith probably wasn't even aware she was reading the wind like that.
She stood for the longest while, Rainbow staring in amazement at what she was witnessing. Finally, Denith gave a resigned sigh, taking down her already hung garments and brought them back inside.
Dash was slack-jawed. Denith had just predicted the weather with her wings. There were few pegasi who could do that - heck, even Rainbow relied on have to be in the clouds to do it. (Then again, what most ponies had in innate abilities, Rainbow Dash made up for in pure Awesome and skill).
Hang on - there was still plenty of time until the rainstorm. Why was she taking in her laundry early?
Rainbow Dash turned and abandoned her cloud, taking off towards the Everfree. The rainclouds were coming in earlier than expected.
"Denith Skies, Denith Skies, Denith Skies…" - irritated, Rainbow Dash muttered to herself - she was pouring through the Weather Control archives. "Skies…" She knew she'd heard that name before.
"Horseapples," she swore. 'No mention of Denith in here. Maybe she had a parent?'
She flipped a few pages before stopping. "Huh, that was quick."
Soary Skies - Weather Control Head Controller. Retired almost ten years ago.
Rainbow took a few steps away from the thick tome, slack jawed. 'Denith's dad is the ex WEATHER CONTROL MASTER?' This was astounding - no wonder she could read the air like that - it was in her family!
Rainbow Dash had no idea why a pony like Denith refused to help - but she intended to find out.
Soon, the rainbow-maned pegasus was knocking on the small cottage's door again. Luckily, Rainbow's intended target answered first this time. The bespectacled mare glared, unimpressed with Dash.
"Yes, Rainbow?" she asked, voice sounding surprisingly friendly. "Can I help you?"
Rainbow Dash didn't hesitate. "I'm going to cut straight to the chase, Denith. I know who your father is - what he did."
The clockmaker's face locked up, an unreadable expression on her face as her whole body stiffened.
Dash continued. "I mean - seriously. Weather control runs in your family! It's like in your...genes? It's in your genes to help out!"
Rainbow didn't notice the sickly look coming over Denith's face. "R - Rainbow Dash...The answer is still n - no…" Denith said, her voice strained. Her face had become deathly pale all of a sudden. "P - please...just go. I can't help out in the tornado funnel. I - Just...go."
Dash gave her a confused look. "Hey, Denith...are you feeling okay?"
"No, I - I'm not…" she replied, before turning and closing the door again.
"Oh for pony's sake!" Rainbow cried out, stomping her hoof. "What is that mare's problem?!"
There were still three weeks until Tornado Day. Rainbow Dash supervised the training, as usual, of the various pegasi of Ponyville in their endurance and strength-building routines.
But, at the back of her mind, she couldn't shake a simple thought. Denith looked like she had seen a ghost the other day just at the mere mention of her dad.
"No, I have to get to the bottom of this," she declared, stomping her hoof. A few other ponies gave a puzzled look, but otherwise continued training. 'Maybe Twilight can help me. She must know of some books or something that can find out what's going on.'
A moment later, Dash was inside the giant tree library.
Twilight gave the rainbow-maned mare a stern look. "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," she sighed, "I cannot in good faith help you pry into somepony's private life."
"But Twilight, there's something big going on!" Rainbow retorted. "Why else would she act like that? Maybe she lost her dad in the snowstorms or something."
"Maybe that is exactly why you should leave it alone!" Twilight hissed, continuing to sort her checklists for the day.
Rainbow dash gave a disgruntled groan. "I need a pegasus like that on the team, Twilight. Heck, if I could, I'd get Denith on the weather team full-time!" Twilight was just an egghead unicorn - she probably wouldn't understand.
"I understand, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said soothingly. "But there are some things we should just let lie for now."
Rainbow Dash hung her head in defeat. "Fine...I guess I'll leave it. I at least want to find out what happened to Soary Skies. He's an ex Weather-Control Master, anyways." Rainbow Dash headed towards the door. "Thanks anyways, Twilight. I'll see you around."
The next few days were mostly spent preparing the tornado team. What free time Dash did have she had spent at Cloudsdale's Weather Office in hope of finding out any and all info on Denith's father. Shortly after retiring he had moved to Fillydelphia with his family - his wife Grace Skies and two daughters, Deanna and Denith Skies.
At least, that's the only info that the weather office had. Since Soary travelled all over and beyond Equestria, they needed next of kin to notify in case anything happened to him.
That still didn't answer Rainbow Dash's question: What happened to him?
In her frustration, she finally decided to go to somepony who could at least point her in the right direction: the unicorn mare that lived with Denith, Alatea Tenera. They had found each other during the refugee camp days, and somehow had remained inseparable.
Rainbow found Alatea on her way home one afternoon, the blind using her cane and memory of the road to navigate. Even before Rainbow could land, the blind's ears picked up her approach, causing Alatea's head to turn in Dash's direction.
"Hey there, Alatea," Rainbow greeted, still thinking on how to ask the question.
Alatea broke into a small but cheerful smile, head fully turning to face the pegasus. "Good afternoon, Rainbow Dash. How can I help?"
Rainbow smiled nervously. "I need to ask you a question, if you don't mind."
Alatea seemed to ponder this for a moment, her head turning away ever so slightly. "Yes, of course. What do you need?"
"What happened to Denith's dad? I know he moved to Fillydelphia nine or so years ago."
Alatea's face softened into an unreadable look. "What do you need to know this for?"
Rainbow Dash hesitated, before picking up the confidence in her voice. "He's an old weather control master. I figured I'd learn a bit of history about some of Cloudsdales' ponies."
It was a terrible lie, and Rainbow was sure that the blind would see through it. The two stood in an awkward silence before Alatea's head turned back towards Rainbow.
"I do not have the right to tell you what my wife doesn't want you to know." Oh Celestia, she knows. Dash was about to start blurting out excuses when Alatea continued. "Something terrible happened in that town – to Denith's family. She will not talk to others of it and I respect her too much to tell."
The pegasus hung her head low in defeat. Darn – she was hoping to at least get a straight answer out of the often-blunt unicorn.
The fiery-maned mare turned towards the path ahead. "That chapter is closed in her life. I suggest you leave it so."
Without another word, Alatea's cane began to softly tap the cobblestone path as she continued her journey home. Rainbow Dash took off to the sky, dejected. She stopped suddenly, a frown on her face as she looked back down at the path.
"Wait, since when have those two been married?!"
It had been a week. A whole week – and Rainbow Dash was still nowhere closer to finding out why a pegasus of Denith's calibre was refusing to help out. It just didn't make sense - tornado duty wasn't even dangerous!
She was back in Twilight's library, looking through the 'recent history' section. Something - anything on Fillydelphia. Even with Spike helping out (Dash didn't want to risk asking Twilight) they were getting nowhere.
Rainbow Dash was about to give up when Spike brought a book to her. "Fillydelphia: The Rebuilding," the dragon offered. He continued, noticing Rainbow's disapproving look. "It's the closest I can find that has anything to do with that place in the last few years."
The pegasus took the book, scanning over the back cover. 'Covers the freezing and rebuilding of Fillydelphia during and after the Windigo Winter and tales of the brave ponies who risked their lives in restoring the glorious city.'
"This...might actually be what I'm looking for!" Dash exclaimed, face lighting up in hope. "Thanks, Spike! Tell Twilight I'll return this later!"
She was gone before the dragon could even reply. "Oh come on...Now I have to clean this mess all by myself…"
"Ugh...I never knew books could be so boring!" Rainbow groaned, trying to power through the pages. A good first half of the book was general history of the city itself. This was getting her nowhere.
Trying her best to keep in the scream of frustration, Rainbow Dash tossed the book idly onto her bed, collapsing onto the plush cloud-mattress. This was hopeless - there was no way she'd find out.
She picked the book up again, flipping through the pages irritatedly. A strange picture caught Dash's eye - A whole page dedicated to picture of a burning house. Crawling back up into a seated position, she began to read out loud to herself.
"Regarded as the first act of Disharmony in Fillydelphia, the burning of the Skies Residence forcefully evicted the family of four from their home, forcing them to relocate to the temporary shelters set up for the homeless ponies of the city."
A growing chill was growing in Dash's stomach. Maybe she really didn't want to read this chapter of Denith's life.
Gulping, she continued. "The Skies Family was brutally murdered by the father, Soary Skies, oft-thought as the one responsible for the act of arson against their family home. Soary was deemed insane by the courts and committed to the Institute of Mental Health. His eldest and only surviving daughter was hospitalised, where she remained in a coma."
Dash shook her head. No - this couldn't be right. She checked the publication date; almost a year after the events.
She scanned the pages again. The First act of Disharmony in Fillydelphia...was caused by Denith's dad. Everything had spiralled downwards from there.
Rainbow dash put the book down, closing it. She felt cold, a sick feeling crawling up her throat. No wonder the mare didn't want anything to do with weather. Her own mother and sister…gone at the hooves of her father. It wasn't right.
'I - I need some air,' she thought to herself, taking wing and flying out of her cloud mansion. It didn't matter where she went - she just needed to get away from that book.
Her voice cracked. "Oh Celestia, what've I gotten myself into?"
The inside of the cottage was cramped. There was never enough space even with all the boxes packed where they should be. There was only one bedroom shared between the two of them, the kitchen was always in a mess and the bathroom sink had a leak.
Denith Skies couldn't have asked or wished for anything more - it was perfect. It was a home that was hers and nopony could take that away.
She lived here with her two foals and wife, Alatea Tenera - a blind unicorn. Fixing clocks and maintaining the Ponyville clocktower provided a stable-enough income for them to get by on.
The end of the day had come, and Denith was relaxing in the living room, gently rocking two young foals in her forelegs.
The blind walked over and nuzzled her love. "I understand, Denith. I just hoped you could find the strength."
The pegasus offered a weak smile. Alatea couldn't see it - but Denith knew she could feel the smile and change in her voice. "I know, Ally...I know…" She nuzzled back. "I just need time."
Twilight Sparkle's brow was in a deep, frustrated furrow. Rainbow Dash had been avoiding her duties for the past two days - and now there was a book missing from her library. It was bad enough trying to coerce the pegasus into doing her job - but now Twilight had to sit and try to figure out exactly which book was missing.
Her whole morning had been taken up, doing a full stock take. Spike was out for the day, helping Fluttershy with her animal friends - leaving the unicorn in the dark regarding the state of the library.
She had only noticed it when she found one of the shelves had an empty slot but no matching record of it being checked out.
"Right - I've narrowed it down to recently published history books," she muttered to herself, magicking over a fresh stack of books, making a note of each one on a piece of paper.
A victorious grin spread across her face. "Aha! Found it!" She stood up, almost doing a victory dance. "Fillydelphia: the Rebuilding - by Marifold Prancer!"
Her enthusiasm sunk - remembering a certain mare that wasn't interested in tornado duty. No - this wouldn't stand. She had to find Rainbow Dash and find her now.
Storming out of the library, Twilight headed towards the first hot-air balloon taxi out of Ponyville towards Cloudsdale. A few extra bits convinced the pilot to stop directly outside Rainbow's cloud-mansion.
A quick cloud-walking spell later, and Twilight was knocking fiercely on Rainbow Dash's door. The blue pegasus opened it meekly. "Oh, hey Twili - ,"
Twilight cut her off viciously. "Exactly what are you doing with Fillydelphia: the Rebuilding?"
Rainbow's eyes widened slightly, darting around as they searched for lie, her stance stiffening. "I - uh - I was reading up on - you see - I wanted to know about the...the weather master! Yeah! I heard that there was a weather master who moved to Fillydelphia and I wanted to find out what happened to him!"
Twilight stared down Rainbow's half-hearted chuckle into a guilty whimper. "I can't believe you, of all ponies, did this! Denith is keeping her life private for a reason and you go in and snoop anyways!"
"I - I know…" Dash stammered. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I just needed to know why. A pegasus like that doesn't happen often."
Twilight sighed, shaking her head. "I'm not the one you should be apologising to," she said. "At the very least, you need to get back to preparing the tornado team - and I need to get my book back."
Rainbow Dash nodded and returned with the item. Wordlessly, she gave the book back to Twilight, who put it into her saddlebag.
"I'm disappointed in you, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, before departing back to the hot-air balloon taxi.
There was one week left until Tornado Day. Dash had resumed the training schedule. Things were looking up - nopony seemed to be coming down with anything, and even Fluttershy was keeping up a rigorous training schedule. So far, there was a 100% attendance record.
'Well, 100% minus one pegasus,' Rainbow thought to herself, gazing uneasily into the distance.
She had dropped the matter completely. What she had found had deflated any hope or enthusiasm of recruiting Denith onto the Tornado team.
They were preparing to wrap up the day of training, when a sudden strong breeze rushed past them. Sniffing the air, Rainbow turned and frowned in the direction of the Everfree. Taking wing, she soared above the clouds, wings spread out. Individual feathers twitched, reading the air currents and temperature fluctuations as they sent massive amounts of sensory information to her mind.
"Oh no…"
Flying further towards the Everfree confirmed her fears: dark, angry masses of clouds were rolling towards the town. Thunder flashed between clouds in a display that only confirmed Rainbow's fears.
Almost clocking a Sonic Rainboom down towards Ponyville, Rainbow Dash began to gather up all the pegasi.
"Okay, Cloud Kicker - get to Weather HQ; there's a freak storm on its way here and we have one, maybe two hours to get a team ready. I need you to get them on stand-by."
The aforementioned pegasus took wing and bolted towards Cloudsdale as Rainbow turned to the others.
"Listen up!" she began, raising her voice into an authoritative bark. "Change of plans - there's a massive storm heading in from the Everfree's direction." A few of the pegasi looked around nervously, mumbles exchanging between the group. "I want volunteers to help me size up the storm."
The gathered ponies looked around at each other, before Rainbow facehoofed.
"I said -" she took a deep breath "- I want volunteers!"
Steadily, one by one, some of them raised their hooves until roughly quarter of them had volunteered. Rainbow nodded.
"Good," she said, nodding. "Follow me so we can size up this thing."
Taking off with the volunteers in tow, they flew towards the edge of the Everfree forest. Already they could see just the sheer scope of the storm rapidly closing in towards Ponyville. It was like a mass of mountains raging towards them all, stretching for miles in either direction. A wall of earthly terror.
Rainbow could sense the uneasiness of the others - a hesitation she shared. Even with the first blizzards of the Winter steeling them, Ponyville had always been spared the brunt of them. Now, of all times, when the Winter was finally gone, they faced it full on.
With little choice, Rainbow sped back towards the Town Hall.
Dark clouds gathered overhead. Denith Skies worked her hammer furiously, banging nails into the boards over the last of her windows. Overhead, pegasi with megaphones called out a state of emergency, announcing the oncoming freak storm.
She was in a heavy sweat, eyes constantly darting up to the clouds. They had minutes before the first rains would hit - and the only thing important to her right now was to make sure her family was safe.
Going into her workshop one last time to ensure it was properly battered down and secure, Denith limped into the living room - the central part of the house. Her two newly born foals and her wife, Alatea Tenera, were already huddled in the center.
"We'll be fine, love," she whispered, nuzzling the blind unicorn as she took the two foals into her wings protectively. "The storm will be more rain and wind than anything."
Alatea nodded. "I hope you are right."
Dark clouds gathered overhead. Rainbow Dash worked her wings furiously, darting back and forth as she gathered and organised a weather team for the oncoming storm. The pegasi with megaphones had gone from announcing the storm to asking for volunteers.
The Ponyville pegasi (and even some unicorns) were well versed in weather-control considering their long-standing tradition of Winter Wrap Up.
Earth-pony volunteers were galloping from building to building, ensuring that they were secured and any potential debris was either tied down or packed somewhere safe.
Ponyville had never really seen a storm this large before - they were worried something could be uprooted or blown away.
The volunteers organised into groups - several teams devoted to diverting what they could from Ponyville proper, some were dedicated to protecting the outlying parts of the town. Rainbow was overseeing the team preparing Sweet Apple Acres for the oncoming storm, tying down ropes to some of the older trees, pegasi and unicorns setting up wind breaks.
A deep crack reverberated through the air followed by rumbling from the sky. Rainbow gazed upwards.
"Oh horseapples…" she swore, a massive torrent of rain slamming into them like a brick wall. Ponies yelled orders and requests at each other as they all began to brace for the storm proper.
Rainbow Dash had one final stop to make.
She flew to a small, one-bedroomed cottage near the edge of Ponyville. Landing, and already soaked to the bone, Rainbow knocked loudly on the door as the rain pelted mercilessly at her.
Denith answered the door, her surprised expression immediately turning sour. "What?" she asked bitterly.
Rainbow hesitated, glancing away guiltily. "Denith, I…" she started, trying to find the courage. She looked back up, her eyes full of sadness. "I know what your father did. What he really did. And - and I'm sorry."
Denith didn't say anything as her face again stiffened, her body locking up.
"I went poking my nose where I shouldn't have poked it," Rainbow continued, "and I'll understand if you never want anything to do with me, weather or Cloudsdale ever again. But I ask you one last time -," she hung her head in shame, "- I'm begging you, Denith. Please help us. A lot of good ponies are out here and we need every wing we can get. You're a weather genius, Denith."
The other mare stood, silently, watching as Rainbow was continuously assaulted by the storm. Denith's eyes moved back and forth between Rainbow and the storm behind her, judging, contemplating. Hoping.
A light flickered and died in Denith's eyes as she moved to close the door. "I'm sorry, Rainbow. I want my past to stay there - I have a family to take care of now." Her voice cracked. "I could never forgive myself if I lost them, too."
The door closed, an empty feeling settling in Dash's stomach.
A scared pegasus mare, her unicorn wife and her two foals lay huddled in the middle of the room as all they could do was listen to the storm rage around their tiny home. Denith had her wings extended around her family as she whispered sweet nothings to her filly and colt.
Their father was long-gone and had since dropped off the radar - leaving herself and Alatea to care for them. Denith didn't mind - to her, caring for those two foals was the only life she ever needed.
"The storm is strong," Alatea said in a low voice. Her face, from years of being unable to see and mimic other ponies' expressions maintained a neutral calm. "They really do need the help of a pegasus like you, love."
"I can't go out there, Alatea," Denith said. "I'm scared of what will happen out there."
"I know. I'm scared, too. I'm scared of you walking out that door and ever coming back in."
Denith nuzzled Alatea. "Please don't say that - you know I can look after myself."
A crack of thunder shook the house, the spatter of rain changing in tone, sounding a little more solid against the roof and boarded up windows.
"That sounds like sleet…" Denith remarked idly. Was it really that bad out there? How many ponies volunteered to help protect the town? Denith lowered her head. "Alatea...I'm scared of going out there. But…"
"You feel like you're abandoning them," Alatea said, finishing Denith's thoughts. "I will not make the decision for you. There are good ponies out there who are risking their lives to protect what they love - but there are ponies in this room that will love you no matter what decision you make."
Denith's eyes widened as she stared at Alatea's still blank expression. A smile softened Denith's face, as she nuzzled and kissed the unicorn on the nose. "I've made my decision."