It was a bright and sunny day in Ponyville, and just the thought of it was enough to make Rainbow Dash cringe. This weather wasn’t her fault. This weather couldn’t have been her fault. However, as captain of the Ponyville weather team, the blame for it would land squarely on her shoulders. If she was going to avoid a mountain of paperwork—not to mention actually fix this mess—she needed the answer to one very important question.

“How?” Rainbow Dash asked through gritted teeth as she slowly flapped her wings to stay afloat. She glared down at the three ponies sitting at the table outside Sugarcube Corner. Irritatingly enough, they were taking this situation far too lightly and were chatting amongst themselves and sipping their milkshakes. A fourth milkshake sat by its lonesome, but Rainbow Dash refused to drink it out of principle. She loudly cleared her throat, gaining the attention of her three unlikely perpetrators: Pinkie Pie, Derpy, and Sweetie Belle.

“How?” she asked again. “That’s all I want to know. The entire weather team busted their rumps getting today’s storm ready on time. How is it that the entire skies’ worth of storm clouds went missing during the ten minute break we spent in Sugarcube Corner? Especially since for five of those minutes you were talking with me, Pinkie! I mean—gah! Only one of you is even a pegasus!”

Pinkie Pie, Derpy, and Sweetie Belle looked between each other and then back to Rainbow Dash.

“Come on, Dashie,” Pinkie said with a nonchalant wave, “it was just a teeny, little mistake. No need to get worked up over it.”

“Yes there is! I’m the captain of the Ponyville weather team. Which means that when I have to write the report about how today’s thunderstorm went, I’ll have to say that there wasn’t one. And do you know what my superiors in Cloudsdale are going to say about that?”

Pinkie tapped her lips and thought for a bit before saying, “That there’s been too much rain lately and we should use this opportunity to have an afternoon picnic party?”

Derpy face lit up. “That I’m the best temporary weather pony and should be given more hours?”

Sweetie sighed into her milkshake. “That I didn’t get my sunshine cutie mark?”

Rainbow Dash placed a hoof against her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut. She would silently and slowly count to ten before continuing. “No. They are going to ask me why there was no thunderstorm, and I’ll have to tell them that, somehow, a directionally challenged pegasus mailmare, a baker-slash-party-throwing earth pony, and a unicorn filly that can barely use magic somehow cleared the sky out from under the noses of the entire weather team. And what do you think they are going to say about that?”

“That they should rethink their policies on not letting earth ponies join?”

“That compasses should be included in the ‘welcome aboard’ packet for all temporary weather ponies?”

“That I still have a chance at an improbability cutie mark?”

Rainbow Dash began batting her hoof against her forehead. Sadly, even a self-induced concussion wouldn’t get her out of the coming paperwork. If anything, she would have to fill out a form for an extension. She sighed and let herself drop to the ground.

“Okay, look,” Rainbow Dash said as she joined the others at the table. “Mistakes were made. I may be upset, but I’m not angry. Just confused. Really, really, confused. Can somepony please explain to me just what the hay happened so that we can try to undo it?”

Derpy’s hoof shot into the air and frantically waved around. “Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!” Her hoof continued to rise as her wings lifted her body above the table.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Fine. Derpy, we’ll start we you. Since you’re the only one that is even able to fly.”

“Yes!” Derpy shouted as she dropped back into her seat with a thud. She placed a hoof under her chin and looked off into her distance. “Let’s see… where should I begin?”

Rainbow Dash pulled her milkshake forward and took a sip. Somehow, she didn’t think this explanation would be acceptable to her superiors. Since she was pretty much doomed, she was at least going to enjoy the taste of strawberries and bananas.

---

I think I should begin a few hours ago, after I woke up this morning. I had just finished baking Dinky’s breakfast muffin when I realized I was out of orange juice. Now, I still had some grapefruit juice—which I think tastes really nasty, but Dinky likes it, and it’s supposed to be good for you, so I keep buying it for her, even if it does taste like socks. Anyway, it looked like my choice was between water or sock juice, so I grabbed a glass and went to the sink. Luckily, there was a ring at the doorbell and it turned out some of Dinky’s friends wanted her to come over and play at their house today. I said it was okay and told them to hurry home before the storm started. After hugging Dinky and waving goodbye, I decided that there was enough time to run to the market. That way, I could get my orange juice, since it didn’t taste like socks.

On my way to the market, I looked up at all the pegasi pushing around the clouds. Storm clouds are a lot of fun, and I kind of wished I had signed up as a full-time member of the weather team instead of temporary help, but I really like my current job. I mean, who wouldn’t want a job where their special talent was so useful every day? Anyway, I noticed you flying around and shouting out orders. You sounded a little stressed, so I decided to call out to you and see if you needed any help.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash!” I called.

You looked down at me and said, “Forsooth, Lady Derpy of yon Muffin Fields. Verily, what is thine
enquiry?”

And I sa—



“Woah, Derpy. Stop,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Aww, why did you interrupt?” Pinkie asked. “The story was just starting to get good.”

Rainbow Dash stared flatly at Pinkie, decided a response wasn’t worth it, and then turned to meet Derpy’s eyes. “I do not talk like that.”

Derpy blushed and broke eye contact. “I know, but... well, whenever somepony is upset, I like to pretend they talk silly. It makes them seem less threatening.”

“You’re pretending I’m talking weird right now, aren’t you?”

“Aye, aye, admiral!” Derpy said with a salute.

Rainbow Dash slumped in her seat. “Urgh, fine. Just keep telling the story.”

“Anyway, so, like I was saying...”



I said to you, “You need any help?”

And you said, “Nay, Lady Derpy. Though our task be ardru.. ardo... uh, difficult, ye olde weather patrol be...”

Um, okay. Basically, you said ‘no.’ And I said, ‘please.’ And that went back and forth until you finally sighed and said it would be okay if I looked over the clouds to make sure there was no thin spots.

So, my breakfast task completely forgotten since I got to play with the storm clouds—uh, I mean work with them—I took to the air and started helping.

It was fun swooping back and forth, smoothing out the thicker clouds, my feathers tingling with static electricity. Or at least it was until I got a part of the clouds too smooth. I tried to move some clouds around to make it more lumpy again, but that only caused a hole to form. I tried to close that hole and, well, made another. Two actually. But I fixed those quickly and was left with one big hole! I was standing there on the edge of the hole, trying to figure out what to do, when I noticed Pinkie on the ground below me, and she was sitting on this weird looking thing. She looked a little nervous so I asked her if she needed any help.

That’s when things got crazy. Also fun!

---

“Things got crazy,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned. She leaned back and covered her face with her hooves. “Great. FIne. Then what happened?”

“Actually,” Pinkie quickly said before Derpy could continue, “maybe it would be better if I told this part of the story.”

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof towards Pinkie. “Sure. Go ahead. My report can’t possibly make any less sense at this point.”

“All right. Here I go! My story starts about five minutes earlier...”

---

It had been a glorious morning in Ponyville for about the first twenty minutes, but with the sun up, it was time to get to work, and no other ponies were working harder than the weather team. Clouds streaked across the sky, propelled forward by mighty pegasus wings. They came together, first a few, and then many. The clouds piled up as they slowly but surely covered the entire town in a gloomy half-light. The storm rumbled and groaned, ready to burst, but the pegasi kept it contained. They knew what they were doing, for they were under the leadership of the one, the only, the incredible Rainbow Dash!

In practically no time at all, the storm was finished. All that remained was a solid buck to get it going. However, the weather team had finished early. Ten minutes early, to be exact. While they could have started the storm early and raced home in the rain, Rainbow Dash had a better idea: a celebratory break at Sugarcube Corner. There, they could feast upon the freshly baked donuts and cupcakes. When it came time to head home they may still have gotten wet, but with a belly full of delicious treats made with tender care and love, the journey would be a happy one.

The front door’s bell jingled, alerting Pinkie to the presence of her latest customers. It had been a slow morning—most rainy days were—but that did little to curb her ever-present enthusiasm. With a friendly smile on her face, Pinkie turned around from setting out the latest batch of cookies and was pleasantly surprised to see her good friend Rainbow Dash entering, followed by at least a dozen other pegasi.

Pinkie stepped up to the counter and welcomed everypony by saying—



“Hold it!” Rainbow Dash yelled, putting a hoof up. “I’m sorry to interrupt again, but why are you telling the story like that?”

Pinkie cocked her head to one side. “Like what?”

“Like... like that! Why are you telling it like you’re a character in it rather than just telling it like how it happened to you?”

“Well, Derpy told her story in first person, so I decided I wanted to tell mine in third person.”

Sweetie Belle’s face scrunched up as she looked to Pinkie. “Wait, if first and third person are taken, then how do I tell my part of the story?”

“Hmm, I suppose you could do it in second person.”

Sweetie Belle only looked at Pinkie in the same amount of confusion that Rainbow Dash herself was feeling.

“You know, like in those choose your own adventure books?”

“Okay... do I have to?”

Pinkie laughed and wrapped a foreleg over Sweetie Belle’s shoulder. “Nah. I think that’d get more annoying than it would funny. You just tell you part of the story whoever you want.”

Rainbow Dash returned her face to her hooves. “Urgh. Why do I even open my big mouth? Keep going, Pinkie.”



Pinkie welcomed everypony by saying, “Welcome, everypony! I hope you’re hungry because almost everything has just come from the oven!”

This news was met with immediate excitement as all the hard working pegasi rushed forward to place their orders. It was a brief moment of chaos, but soon, everyone was satisfied. Everyone except for one, that is.

Rainbow Dash still stood at the display counter, looking over each and every delectable delight. A slight worry came over Pinkie. While her friend may have been indecisive in the past over which baked good she most wanted, it had never gone on this long.

Pinkie could feel a bead of sweat slowly sliding down her brow. Had she somehow lost her baking touch? Was she no longer able to make presentable pastries to please her pals? Was Rainbow Dash just not hungry? These questions and more flooded Pinkie’s head as she watched for second after agonizing second of her friend staring listlessly through the glass.

Then, it happened. The moment Pinkie knew would one day come, yet prayed it never would. Rainbow Dash raised her head, looked Pinkie in the eyes, and asked, “Hey, Pinkie, does Sugarcube Corner have any cloud cakes? I know I’ve never seen them here. It’s just that, after my last visit to Cloudsdale, I’ve really had a craving for one.”

Time seemed to freeze as the question wormed its way through Pinkie’s skull. The answer was simple, yet horrifying: no. No, Sugarcube Corner has never made cloud cakes. Pinkie had never made cloud cakes. There was one single, semi-solid baked good out there that, try as she might, she would never be able to create. Didn’t Rainbow Dash know that? Didn’t she realize how many sleepless night went by with Pinkie staring at her ceiling, trying desperately to come up with a way to make the impossible possible? Didn’t she know why Pinkie couldn’t make cloud cakes? Didn’t she?



Pinkie was leaning across the table, her face mere inches from Rainbow Dash’s.

Nervously, Rainbow Dash looked to the side, then back at Pinkie. “Er, i-is this part of the story, or are you actually asking me?”



It was because Pinkie Pie was an earth pony and therefore unable to manipulate clouds in her bare hooves without the aid of magic. And before Rainbow Dash tries to interrupt Pinkie’s story again, cloud cakes can’t be made with the assistance of magic either. Seriously, Pinkie learned the hard way that magic makes those cakes taste nasty. Blech.

However, despite knowing the answer, Pinkie refused to give up. If her friend wanted a cloud cake, then, by gum, her friend was going to get a cloud cake.

“Of course,” Pinkie said. “You just wait five minutes, and I’ll whip one up really quick.”

Pinkie quickly turned around and exiting into the kitchen, all the while hoping Rainbow Dash couldn’t see the look of dread on her face.

Pinkie knew the dangers of biting off more than she could chew—she had even read Twilight’s friendship report on the subject—but she was determined. Somehow, in some way, today would be different. Today, she was going to make that elusive cloud cake. Especially since this day Pinkie had a special assistant with her: an exuberant little filly named Sweetie Belle.



“Ooh! It is my turn, now?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Sorry, Sweetie, I still need to get to the part where I met Derpy. But don’t worry, I’ll let you tell the end.”

“Wait. Sweetie Belle was helping you bake?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously. “Are you sure that was a good idea? Rarity always said that her cooking—”

Realizing that the pony she was talking about was right there, Rainbow Dash whipped her head in Sweetie Belle’s direction. The little filly looked up at her with hopeful eyes that could easily start filling with tears.

“...was delicious,” Rainbow Dash finished with a grin.

Sweetie Belle’s eyes shined brighter as she opened her mouth and made a squeeing noise. She quickly turned to look at her flank. Instantly, her joy vanished and she hung her head.

After placing one hoof on Sweetie Belle’s shoulder, Pinkie used her other hoof to lift the sad filly’s chin and offer a smile. “Don’t be upset you didn’t get your cutie mark. You were still a big help! The only problem was everything you made was so good that we both ended up eating it before we could sell it. Keep trying. You’ll get it one day.”

A snuffling sound came from Derpy, who had a big hankie dabbing her eyes. She smiled at Rainbow Dash and said, “It’s such a touching moment. It reminds me of when Dinky asked me when she was getting a cutie mark.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Yes. The feelings are overwhelming. Now, can we get back to the story of how you three managed to remove the clouds?”

“Oh, right! Where was I...”



With her special assistant ready for anything, Pinkie sprang into action like a rubber ball thrown really, really hard at a trampoline that was also on an even bigger trampoline. Ingredients were called out. Instruction were giving. Batter was tasted. Soon, all the preparations were complete, and only one ingredient remained: a cloud.

It’s a well-known fact that cloud cakes get their incredible fluffiness from having a cloud mixed in with the batter, but what many ponies didn’t know was that the type of cloud played an equally important part in its creation. For example, trying to use cirrus clouds would produce a crumbly mess, while fog would make the cakes too mushy. Ordinary cumulus was the Cloudsdale standards. However, the best tasting clouds to use—and most dangerous ones—had to have been storm clouds. One bite of the statically charged cake would produce a flavor explosion that could knock a pony onto their haunches.

Pinkie smiled. As luck would have it, there was a whole sky of those clouds right outside. All she had to do was find a way to get them.

After a quick trip to her room to get her whirly-copter-ma-jiggy, Pinkie bid Sweetie Belle farewell and reminded her to keep the oven preheated. Once outside, Pinkie opened a compartment on the side of her copter. Inside was a special device she had prepared in the eventuality of this situation. It looked like a pile of metal bands stuck together into a tube shape because, well, it was a pile of metal bands stuck together into a tube shape. The special thing about these bands was that they were all magnetized to very specific magnetic fields. The end result was that, instead of metal, they could attract clouds. Twilight had tried to explain to Pinkie that such a device made from only magnets was scientifically impossible, and while Pinkie respected Twilight’s seemingly endless knowledge, she knew that there were some things that even the world’s smartest unicorn—whoops, alicorn. Pinkie was still getting used to that. Anyway, Pinkie knew that there were some things that even the world’s smartest alicorn didn’t know. Magnets were, apparently, one of them.

There was just one teensy little problem with the cloud-attracting magnet. Well, three of them: the cloud had to be a storm cloud, she had to be very close to the cloud, and the magnets also attracted lightning like a lightning rod made out of thousands of lightning rods.

Pinkie climbed onto her copter and put on her safety goggles. She knew what she was doing was crazy. She knew that she should go back to Rainbow Dash, tell her that they were all out of cloud cakes, and offer something else. But a part of her also knew that she had to do this. That this would be the step that set her on the path to fulfilling her destiny of becoming the greatest baker Equestria has ever known. She just needed a sign, something to tell her she was doing the right thing.

That’s when the sky opened and a beam of sunlight shone down upon Pinkie.

Caught in that soft, warm glow, Pinkie couldn’t help but think that maybe this was the sign she had asked for. Looking up, her gaze fell upon a smiling face surrounded by a mane that glowed gold like the sun behind it. A rush fell over the world as the being spoke to Pinkie: “Hey! You look a little nervous. Need any help?”

Derpy fluttered down through the clouds to land on the ground. Pinkie knew this was her chance and quickly explained her situation. Derpy listened intently and even agreed to the plan where she would try and safely lead Pinkie around the lightning the inevitable lightning strikes.

Afterwards, Derpy asked, “You know, if all you need is a cloud, I could get one for you.”

“Thanks, Derpy, but no,” Pinkie answered. “No ordinary storm cloud will do. I’m only going to get one shot at this, so I’m going after... the Heart of the Storm.”

The Heart of the Storm was said to be a myth, a legend passed down from one pegasus to the next. Nopony has ever actually seen it, or at least lived to tell the tale. Every storm cloud was supposed to have one, and it was also supposed to be a literal heart, beating and pulsing with the energy that fueled the storm around it. If a normal storm cloud made a delicious cloud cake, then the Heart of the Storm would make a cake at least ten times as delicious.

Derpy didn’t believe in the existence of the Heart, and Pinkie couldn’t blame her. After all, most of Grammy Pie’s stories seemed pretty far out there, but they always had a seed of truth to them. If the Heart did exist, then Pinkie would find it. Failing that, there were plenty of other delicious storm clouds to choose from.

Pinkie inserted her hoof into her magnetic band and, with a click, locked it into place. She started pumping the pedals on her copter, causing the blades to rotate faster and faster. Soon, she was airborne.

Derpy flew ahead and scanned the cloud line for a way in. She pointed to a spot and Pinkie nodded. Together, they flew forward and were engulfed by the storm.



“Alright, Pinkie, hold on,” Rainbow Dash said. She remained quiet for a few seconds after Pinkie had stopped talking. There was so much wrong with Pinkie’s story that she didn’t even know where to begin. “All the impossible stuff aside, you were gone for five minutes. I know, because I was watching the clock so we didn’t miss the storm’s starting time. So, I have to ask: how could you have possibly done all this in five minutes!?”

Pinkie smirked and giggled into a hoof. “Oh, don’t worry, Dashie. They were an extremely long five minutes, but you’ll see, the story will fit into them perfectly.”

“But... that... that doesn’t make any sense!”

Derpy snorted and quickly buried her mouth in her forelegs to muffle her laughter.

“Stop pretending that I talk weird!”

Rainbow Dash groaned. There wasn’t a point to listen further since listing any of this on her report would only get her superiors to question her sanity. She motioned for Pinkie to continue anyway. She would at least get to listen to one of Pinkie’s wild stories.



The world had become a confusing sea of gray. The winds threatening to send Pinkie careening off course, while the lightning nipped at her tail. It was only thanks to Derpy’s warnings of where the lightning was preparing to strike that Pinkie hadn’t been blown out of the sky long ago.

They seemed to travel for hours, but it was actually only for one extremely long minute. Then, the storm opened up into a great cavern filled with cloudy stalactites and stalagmites. The air was thick here with electricity, and Pinkie could feel all her fur standing on end. The cavern walls crackled with veins of power. While the sight of this cavern alone was enough to take away anypony’s breath and make them question if they really knew anything at all about meteorology, the most stunning thing was the cloud in the center. It was big, it was connected by thin, wispy strands to the cavern walls, and it was shaped like a heart. And not one of those Hearts and Hooves day fake hearts. This was the real deal.

Pinkie stared in awe, a smile pulling her lips ever wider. However, the smile vanished in an instant as Pinkie realized that the storm had her exactly where it wanted her.

Derpy tried to shout out a warning, but no warning could have prepared Pinkie for what was happening.

Lightning came from every surface, and it all streaked straight at Pinkie.

What happened next was all a blur for Pinkie. She remembered the strange feeling of weightlessness moments before the pull of gravity returned. She remembered the molten pieces of metal, her remains of her copter, falling beside her. And she remembered the Heart, seething with anger for having its domain violated. As Pinkie closed her eyes, all she could think was the silly thought of how the Cakes were going to be upset with her when she didn’t show up for work tomorrow morning.

Then the falling stopped and Pinkie found herself jerked awake. Derpy was there, her hooves wrapped around Pinkie’s midsection while she flapped her wings furiously to stay aloft. An ordinary pegasus would have chosen that moment to head to the safety of the ground before her wings tired from the increased load. However, Derpy was no normal pegasus. Years of lugging around a heavy mailbag had strengthened her wings to the point that carrying Pinkie wasn’t even an inconvenience.

Derpy shouted something, likely asking Pinkie what to do, but the sounds of the storm were too loud for them to hear each other. But that was fine since there was only one thing they needed to do: capture that Heart.

Pinkie pointed and Derpy nodded in understanding. Together, they shot forward, dodging left and right as the Heart redoubled its efforts to destroy the intruders. Twisting, twirling, corkscrew-urling, Derpy evaded every attack. The Heart was right in front of them. It looked like they were going to do it. Then, a wall of electricity came forth and blocked their path.

Derpy pulled up into a ninety-degree turn. Even with her conditioned strength, the extreme flying and weight of Pinkie was beginning to take its toll on Derpy. Her breathing had become labored and her grip slick with sweat. Still, she didn’t give up, and continued to climb higher and higher as she flew parallel to the vertical streaks of lightning. Upon reaching the top of the cavern, Derpy did a backflip and went into a dive. The wall of lightning collapsed downward, chasing after the fleeing pegasus. But as Derpy spun and dodged the lightning, the Heart must have realized its folly, as Pinkie was no longer there.

The lightning strikes stopped. If the uncaring Heart felt any emotions at that moment, it must have been confusion. Where had Pinkie gone? She couldn’t possibly have given up, had she? Did her friend really drop her in order to save her own skin?

Well, in reverse order, the answers were: Nope, she threw her; not on her life; and way up in the air.

The simple fact was that Pinkie Pie was an earth pony and therefore unable to manipulate clouds in her bare hooves without the aid of magic. That meant that when Derpy had reached the ceiling and let go, Pinkie continued upward, through the clouds and into the sunny skies above. Once she reached the top of her arch, Pinkie went into her own dive with her magnet-covered hoof stretched out before her. Down, down, down she fell. Her vision was briefly obscured as she once again passed through the clouds, but then she was back in the cavern and directly above the Heart.

The Heart was crafty. All Heart of the Storm had to be. How else had been unnoticed all these years. But even the Heart saw this attack coming too late. It tried to strike, this time sending forth lightning from itself. Pinkie smiled. She had been waiting for this mistake. With a quick twist of her hoof, the magnets were in position. Perhaps then, the Heart had realized what Pinkies plans were, but it was impossible to recall the lightning.

The bolt struck the magnets, providing the power needed for Pinkie to activate its secret technique.

With a fierce shout because she hadn’t taken the time to come up with a battle cry, Pinkie lashed out, sending out a blue electric bolt straight into the Heart. Instantly, the power of magnets took over. The Heart writhed as it was ripped free of the wispy tendril that held it in place. Its power stolen, the constant rumbling of the storm came to an end.

Pinkie had done it. She had accomplished the impossible. She, and earth pony, held a cloud on the end of her hoof.

She was also falling, but luckily, with the storm no longer trying to zap her, Derpy was able to swing around and snatch Pinkie out of the air.

Together, the heroes exited the storm. They didn’t speak at all on the return trip. But that didn’t matter since the giddy excitement either felt would have made their attempts at speech unintelligible anyway. What did matter was that they had conquered a legend, and now, they would get to eat it.

Back outside Sugarcube Corner, the heroes realized the cost of their actions. With the Heart no longer there to provide power, the storm clouds above were breaking apart and letting rays of sunlight shine through. Pinkie and Derpy knew that they were both going to get in really big trouble after all this, but hopefully the cloud cake would be delicious enough for everypony to forget all about it.

Inside, Sweetie Belle greeted them with a thousand questions about where they went and why were parts of them black and singed and what was that weird thing Pinkie was holding, but Pinkie ended the enquire with a simple order.

Since she was such a good little helper, Sweetie Belle ran to get the bowl of batter they had prepared earlier. With the moment of destiny upon them, Pinkie held her breath and plunged the Heart into the mixture. She then shook off her singed magnets and went to grab a spoon.

Once. Twice. Three times Pinkie stirred. The secret to cloud cakes was to use as little agitation as possible. With the preparations complete, Pinkie grabbed to biggest cake pan in the kitchen and poured the rich, golden batter out. They could easily have snuck a hoof-lick of the batter, but the thought hadn’t even crossed their minds at the time. This was a special event, and couldn’t be rushed.

With some help from Derpy, Pinkie moved the ginormous cake pan into the oven and closed the door. It wouldn’t take long at all for the cake to bake, which was a good thing, as the five minutes were almost up.

The oven timer dinged and the moment of truth had arrived. Together, the three ponies opened the oven and peaked inside. It was then Pinkie remembered a property of cloud cakes she had forgotten until now. Which normal cakes grew as they cooked, cloud cakes shrank. The result being that, instead of having one giant cake they could cut up and serve to everypony, they now had something about the size of a tiny cupcake.

---

Pinkie grew silent and shut her eyes. A smile came to her lips as she leaned back in her chair.

Rainbow Dash waited as patiently as she could, but quickly realized Pinkie wasn’t going to say any more.

“Well? Rainbow Dash asked. “Don’t leave me hanging. What happened next?”

“I think,” Pinkie said slowly, “that it’s Sweetie’s turn.”

“Me?” Sweetie Belle squeaked. Her ears dropped and she appeared to be trying to sink into her chair. “How am I supposed to follow that?”

Pinkie opened her eyes and smiled. “Just tell the story. It doesn’t matter how good or bad it is, just so long as it’s your story.”

Sweetie Belle gulped and took a long breath. “Okay. Here goes...”

---

I ate the cloud cake.

---

Rainbow Dash blinked. “You what?”

“This is harder than it looks,” Sweetie Belle whined. “I’m not a good story teller like Pinkie.”

“No, not that.” Rainbow Dash smacked her forehead with a hoof. “I mean—gah! I don’t even know what I mean anymore.”

Pinkie leaned forward and whispered something into Sweetie Belle’s ear.

“Oh, okay,” Sweetie Belle said. “I’ll do that. Here’s my story...”

---

I came to Sugarcube corner that morning to wait for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. I knew there was supposed to be a big storm today, but Scootaloo had some big idea that involved kites and keys. She said that today would have been the perfect day and that we’d get our cutie marks for sure this time.

I waited for them, but then I found out that Apple Bloom had to help her sister get the barn door’s nailed shut and Scootaloo had apparently been grounded for some reason. I was about to go home before the storm hit, but Pinkie must have realized I was bummed out, because she asked me if I wanted to be a baker’s assistant today.

I know Apple Bloom already tried that, but it sounded like fun, so I agreed.

We made a lot of really tasty treats, and the best part was that we got to eat everything we made. Not all of it turned out great, but a lot of it was really good. I didn’t get my baker’s cutie mark, but I still really enjoyed myself.

There was some commotion up front when Rainbow Dash and the weather team showed up, so Pinkie went to take their orders while I waited for my latest batch of cookies to be done.

When Pinkie came back, she looked like she had seen a ghost. She tried to act like everything was okay, but I could tell something was wrong. Pinkie had me get a whole bunch of ingredients together and mixed them in a bowl. Then she dragged this weird machine across the kitchen, told me she was proud of me and to keep the oven ready, and then went outside.

I didn’t know what was going on, but I Pinkie looked really serious, so I nodded.

I went to the oven and it was just after I got my cookies out that Pinkie returned and had Derpy with her. They were all banged up and looked like they had been set on fire a few times. I tried to ask them what happened and why Pinkie was carrying that thumping cloud on her hoof. Pinkie told me to grab the batter, so I did. I could tell this was something important.

She mixed everything together and stuck it in the oven, and then pulled it out a minute later. I was so surprise that all that batter has shrunk into one little cupcake.

Since we had been baking like this all morning, I thought this was just another one of our baked goods. Since it was my turn to get first sample, I grabbed what I thought was a cupcake but was actually a cloud cake and ate it.

It was so good, it knock me onto my haunches.

The End.

---

“The end,” Rainbow Dash repeated, realizing that this was, indeed, her end. With the stories over, the only thing left to do was write her report on why there was no storm. Her only hope was to try to glean some information out of these three that could have actually caused the storm to disappear.

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash said as she got up out of her seat. “First off, there is no Heart of the Storm. There are no legends about it. There are no folk stories. Pegasi make storms. We know all about how they really work. As cool as it would be, there are no mystical clouds inside that control them.

“Secondly, cloud cakes aren’t actually made from clouds. They’re only called that because they are light and fluffy like clouds and originated in Cloudsdale. Earth ponies can make them easily. The only reason they’re so rare is because there are really high in fat and most bakeries don’t want to contribute to their customers having a heart attack.

“Thirdly, even if you could make a cake out of clouds, there is no way one little filly could have eaten an entire skies’ worth in five minutes.

“So, can any of you tell me what really happened or do I just have to make things up about freak heat refraction destroying the clouds or something?”

The following silence was nearly deafening as Pinkie, Derpy, and Sweetie Belle looked between each other. Finally, Sweetie Belle turned her watery eyes up towards Rainbow Dash and said, “B-but I really did eat the cloud cake.”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth only to have her voice catch in her throat. She couldn’t call Sweetie a liar. It wasn’t her fault she had gotten caught up in Pinkie’s shenanigans. She bit back any retort she could have given and instead said, “Don’t worry about it. You guys can go home now.”

Extending her wings, Rainbow Dash turned away from the group. She didn’t take to the sky right away. While it rarely happened, today she didn’t feel like rushing home. With a final sigh, she was about to flap her wings when she heard a loud hiccup from behind her.

“Uh, Dashie?” Pinkie said. “You might want to see this.”

“What is it n—”

Freezing in mid turn, Rainbow Dash watched the small storm cloud floating away from Sweetie Belle’s head. A tiny spark of lightning shot out of the cloud, zapping the straw of a milkshake glass, followed by a miniature boom.

Rainbow Dash poked the cloud, which then began to sprinkle rain on the table. She turned to Sweetie Belle. “How’d you do that?”

“I don’t know. I just—hup!”

As she hiccuped, a wisp of cloud shot out of her mouth. The vapors swirled together until they thickened and formed into another gray cloud, identical to the first.

Rainbow Dash’s mouth twitch into a smile. “Sweetie Belle! Quick! Hiccup more!”

“I can’t—hup!—just make my—hup!—self hiccup whenever I—hup!—want to—hup!”

Rainbow Dash scooped up all the newly formed clouds a smooched them together. She then beamed at the fully sized cloud before her. “I don’t believe it. This just might work. Derpy!”

Derpy snapped into a salute.

“Go get the weather team. Tell them to meet me here. The storm is back on.”

As Derpy took to the skies, Rainbow Dashed turned her eyes on Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie Belle? Don’t stop hiccupping.”

Sweetie Belle gulped. “I don’t think I—hup!—like this—hup!—story anymore.”