Ponyville drifted past on the breeze, black soot catching oilly on Rainbow Dash’s stained wings. She shook it debris off with a moue of distaste before glaring askance at Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight nodded to herself slowly. “Well,” she said, slowly, “Okay. I admit it. Mistakes were made. I won’t deny that. But—” Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed at the unwelcome conjunction— “I feel that some of the blame rests on your shoulders, Rainbow.”

“On my shoulders,” Rainbow replied, her tone flat as a three day old coke. “Explain how this is my fault, Twilight.”

Twilight kept her gaze locked firmly on the wreckage of the town, lingering flames slowly dwindling as the remaining fuel burnt away. “Well I’m just saying you knew how terrible at being a pegasus I was. Really, you should have just told me no when I asked to learn how to be a weather pony.”

“I did.”

“Well not—”

“I did twice. You told me I was worrying about nothing and appointed yourself to the team with your princess powers. Which, by the way, is nepotism.” Rainbow turned on Twilight, giving her the full force of a glare made red by airborne particulates.

Twilight shook her head with vigor, studiously avoiding the daggers of Rainbow’s eyes. “Well technically nepotism is if you show special treatment to a friend or a relative. This was for personal gain so I think that’s more—” She clammed up as a brick went sailing by her head.

“Whatever! It doesn’t matter!” Rainbow’s wings fluttered irritably on the smoky breeze. “You went over my head to get yourself onto the weather team, and then what did you do?”

Twilight cleared her throat. “I may have scheduled a small thunderstorm.”

“And I told you ‘Twi, don’t schedule a storm, now is a bad time,’ didn’t I?”

Twilight’s eyes darted back and forth as her head bowed under the weight of recollection. “I can’t quite recall—”

“I TOLD YOU.”

“I must have misheard—”

Rainbow snorted derisively. “More like ignored.”

Twilight rubbed her hooves together with nervous loops. “I admit that I may have made some mistakes.”

Rainbow rolled hey eyes. “Whatever. What did you order the storm during, Twilight?”

Twilight muttered a response under her breath, then backed away, cringing, as Rainbow cupped an ear with a hoof and brought herself into contact with Twi’s muzzle. “DURING WHAT, TWILIGHT?” Rainbow repeated at volume.

Twilight gulped. “During a drought.”

“During. A. Drought.” Rainbow reared up and grabbed Twilight’s face, staring deeply with maddened eyes. “WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS.”

Twilight’s eyes were wide and frightened. “Well I—I thought that if we had a rainstorm, then we could clear up the drought!”

“Where are we getting the water from, numbskull?”

“From the Cloudsdale reservoirs! I checked and double checked, there was more than enough water being held up by the Cloudsdale Construction Registry to provide a solid two inches of rain over Ponyville!”

Rainbow’s face contorted into a series of expressions not thought attainable by ponykind. Had Twilight not been panicking she would have been impressed with Rainbow’s impossible musculature. “The Cloudsdale Construction—they can’t give you any water from the Cloudsdale Construction Registry! That’s water for Cloudsdale!”

Twilight’s rump hit the ground as she rapidly backpedaled from the shrieking blue pony. “Y—yes, but we’re all friends! I was sure I could borrow some water! I didn’t expect them to say no, especially after we had gotten the thunderclouds going!”

“Twilight!” Rainbow buried her face in her hooves. “The city is called ‘Cloudsdale’! It’s made of clouds! What did you think the water for something called ‘Cloudsdale Construction’ was for? If they gave you the water there wouldn’t be a Cloudsdale!”

“Oh.” Twilight looked down at the ashy ground, tracing circles with a hoof.

For a brief moment silence reigned, broken only by the soft crinkling of the fires and the occasional scream for help from some pony not yet extracted from the ruins.

“I didn’t know that.”

“I’m sure that will make all the homeless ponies feel better.”

“Hey at least nopony died, right?”

Rainbow groaned into her hooves before looking at Twilight with a resigned expression. “It’s. It’s okay Twilight. We all make mistakes. I’m sure we can fix…” She gestured expansively at the blacked plains that had once been a town, a forest, and a large swathe of farmlands. “You know. All that.”

Rainbow placed a consoling hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “I forgive you.”

Twilight looked up at Rainbow, eyes tearing with relief. “Really?”

“No.”