Tales of Old Equestria: Chapter 2

    Pending strolled through Cloudsdale, munching on her new hay. She passed many pegasi on her way, all busy tending to their shops, running errands, or otherwise going about their days. Some of them greeted Pending, though with her mouth full, she could only wave back without being rude.

    As she passed by two ponies, she overheard “There’s Pending Storm, probably heading back to bed, I bet.” Storm would have been insulted, but she had been called lazy many times before.  After a while, it wasn’t even insulting anymore… And actually, she had considered going back to bed.

    She took another bite of hay; “Mmm mm!” Though not particularly exotic, hay was still one of Pending Storm’s favorite things to eat. She loved the taste and simplicity of hay and it also helped that it didn’t require preparation to eat. After swallowing the previous bite, she took one more and finished off another one of the hay bundles. She was still hungry, so she reached into her bag to grab another bundle.

    “Oh, no.” Much to her surprise and disappointment, there were no more hay bundles, as she had devoured them all while walking from Roswell’s stall. She was out of food and out of bits, a situation she found herself in on occasion. Usually she didn’t consider it an urgent issue as she always found a way out of these problems, but this time she was hungry, all out of food, and needed bits for Slowpoke’s upcoming appointment.

    Just as she was realizing her predicament, she saw a seafoam pony standing nearby. Pending Storm trotted up to her.

    “Hey, Aria!” Storm said, smiling. The pony turned towards her.

    “Oh! Hello, Pending!” she said, returning the smile while brushing aside her emerald mane from her face. Her name was Aria Symphony, a pegasus well-known for her skill with the string bass as well as her outgoing personality. “How are you doing today? It’s good to see you up so early, relatively speaking,” Aria said before giving a brief chuckle.

    “I’m doing fine, thanks for asking. It does feel weird being up this time of day; I had forgotten the sun rose from the east,” said Storm, causing Aria to laugh a little. “So, uh, how are you?”

    “Great! Today, I’m leaving for Canterlot to perform my music on-stage in front of hundreds of ponies! If the audiences really like my music, I could get a job there! It’s always been my dream to become a professional bassist, and Canterlot is where that dream can become a reality!” Aria said cheerfully.

    “Wow, that’s great!”

    “Yep! Just imagine if Princess Celestia were to attend one of my concerts!” Aria beamed.

    “That’d sure be something.”

    “Mhm!”

    There was a moment of silence between the two.

    Aria raised an eyebrow, still smiling. “Were you by chance going to ask me something?” asked Aria.

    “Ah, yes!” Storm said. She gave a big smile. “Aria, my good friend... Would you be willing to spare some bits and/or foods for your good friend, Pending?”

    “Oh, you’re broke?” Aria asked with a concerned look. “I’m sorry to hear that. May I ask what happened to all your money?”

    Pending’s smile disappeared and she looks down at her hooves; she had been hoping Aria wouldn’t ask any questions. “... I ran out.”

    Both ponies were silent for a moment.  “...So is that a yes?” Storm pressed.

    “Aren’t there other ways for you to get money, Storm?”

    Pending looked up, pondering with her hoof below her muzzle. “Well, there is petty theft...”

    “Storm, no! What about your job? Yah know, the way most ponies get their money? You’re a weather pony, I’m sure there’s something for you to do.”

    The green pony stared at Aria for a moment, her face expressionless. “Seriously, what else you got?”

    “Oh, come on. If I’m not mistaken, your dad is managing all weather-related activities today. Why don’t you ask him if there’s a job available?” Aria asked.

    “He is?” Pending asked, her eyes looking away.

    “Yeah! The day is still young; maybe you’ll get a chance to make use of your special talent!” she said with a smile.

    Her face expressed disappointment. “Alright. . . Good luck on your trip to Canterlot, Aria.” Pending smiled. “When you become famous and all, don’t forget us little ponies in Cloudsdale.”

    Aria Symphony smiled back. “I won’t, and thank you.” She suddenly squeezed Pending with a hug, surprising the latter, who then hugged back. After a few seconds, they let go, and said their farewells.

    The green pegasus thought about seeking the financial aide of her other friends, but then figured she probably wouldn’t have had any better luck than she did with Aria. She still could have given it a try, but part of her was curious as to what her father, Star Storm, was doing at this time.

    He was a night owl, figuratively speaking, as he loved to stare at the night sky, and he was a fan of astronomy. His job was to manage weather duties at night, which is why Pending was puzzled as to why he was managing weather jobs during the day.

    After a short time of searching, she finally found her father. Star Storm’s dark blue coat stood out in contrast with the light blue background of the sky. He stood near the edge of a cloud, staring at a piece of parchment and quill that he held with his wings. She landed a few feet behind him.

    “Hey, dad! Weird seeing you up during the day,” she said.

    Star Storm turned around. There were lines under his eyes. “I could say the same for you,” he said with a tired voice.

    “Yeah, everypony’s been saying that,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I thought you only worked at night?” She smirked. “You’re not gonna see any stars during the day.”

    He raised an eyebrow. “You do know the sun is a star, right?”

    Her eyes widened. “. . . R-really?”

    Her father shook his head in disappointment. “What kind of daughter of mine doesn’t know basic astronomy?”

    “Me, I guess. Why are you working at this hour?”

    “Apparently the pony who usually manages the weather at this time is gone, so now I have to fill in.” He sighed from fatigue.

    “Well, where is he?”

    “Nopony knows. . . By the way, why are you here, sleepy head?” asked Star Storm, who was too exhausted to realize the irony of what he had just said.

    “Slowpoke.”

    “Ah.” He nodded his head understandingly. “Let me guess. . . You’re here cause you ran out of money and need a job.”

    She put on a smile. “Actually, I came here to visit my beloved father, you!” Her father raised one of his eyebrows again, skeptically. Pending relaxed her smile. “. . . And because I’m all out of money.”

    Star Storm turned his head, gazing off into the distance. “Well, you’re in luck. Incredible luck, actually.”

    “Oh, really?” she responded, glumly.

    “See that?” He pointed at a large, roundish cloud off in the distance. “That cloud seems to be getting close to Cloudsdale. Too close. It’s got to go.”

    “Wow,” she said, eyes widened. “That’s probably half the size of Cloudsdale. Why haven’t you sent anypony to disperse it?”

    “I would have, if any of our weather ponies had returned from their tasks!” He frowned.  “Seriously, not a single one of them has returned! Absolutely ridiculous.”          
    
    “What a lazy bunch of ponies!”

    Star turned to his daughter, narrowing his eyes. “Yeah. . . Anyways, I was thinking of just getting some random pegasi from the city to do this job. . . But since you’re here, we don’t need anypony else, do we?”

    “What are you proposing?” she asked.

    “Usually a cloud of that size would take dozens of ponies to handle. . . But if it were to become a storm cloud, a certain somepony would be able to manage it all by herself.”

    Pending smirked. “Heh, so it’s a job for the Pending Storm, is it?” she said as she slammed her hooves together.

    “Quite so,” he said, turning his eyes towards the piece of parchment he held with his wings. “The next storm is actually scheduled for tomorrow. . . Let’s just reschedule that for today.” With his quill, he scribbled something onto the parchment. He then yawned while looking back at the massive cloud. “Once you’ve made it a storm cloud, make sure it drifts away from Cloudsdale; we don’t want a repeat of three years ago.”

    Pending Storm flew up a few feet. “Oh, come on! One time! At least nopony got hurt!”

    “That was a miracle. Regardless, be careful out there.”

    “Psh, don’t worry, dad! A storm is no match for a Storm!” she said, gesturing to herself.

    Without another word, she flew off toward the cloud. Pending usually hated doing work of any sort, but anything relating to storms was different. She'd always loved storms, and had always been good at wrangling them, even her cutie mark was a storm cloud with a stroke of lightning, and creating them was her specialty.

    Pending slowed as she neared the cloud, circling towards the far side.  She glanced around to make sure nopony was watching.  She couldn’t see anypony, which was good.  Though pegasi had long been creating weather and storms, this little green pony could do so in a way nopony ever had before.

    Pending Storm had the power to create and control lightning.

    Of course her parents had taught her to always keep this power a secret.  Her ability was unlike anything her parents, or anypony, had seen before.  There was no telling how everypony would react if they knew, so the Storm family kept silent about it.

    Content that nopony could see, Pending began to concentrate on building up a charge.  The air began to hiss, and small bursts of electricity began to flicker around her.  She rubbed her hooves together, focusing the voltage, and then slammed them into the cloud.

    The cloud beneath her hooves began to darken as the electricity began to arc outward.  Small flashes began in the cloud, as the dark color spread in pockets along the surface.  It would take a few minutes for Pending to turn a cloud of this size into a storm cloud, but the scent of ozone heralded the clouds progressive transformation.
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    Commander Sky Fury observed the darkening walls of cloud around her angrily. Small flashes of lightning began to erupt as she watched, each seeming to exist just to spite her.

    “Captain, what is going on?” she asked with an irritated tone. She didn’t like when something unexpected happened.

    Captain Inclement, standing beside her, watched as the background went from white to dark grey. “I. . . Don’t know, ma’am,” he said, rather concerned. “It’s not like anything I’ve seen before.”

    The commander frowned. “No. . . Have we been discovered? But how?” Her eyes narrowed. “It can’t be a coincidence that this happens right as we near Cloudsdale.”

    He turned to face her, snapping a salute. “Commander, regardless of whether this is an attack or unknown phenomenon, I’d advise that now would be the time to exit the shroud. We are nearly upon Cloudsdale, and our troops are ready for the invasion.”

    Her eyes glanced at him, and then looked back at ‘the shroud’; it appeared as if a storm had started to surround them.

    “Agreed,” she said, calmly. “This is it. It’s time.”

    To be continued. . .