A bunch of weird fliers were falling from the sky. I turn to look at Thunderlane, and he’s already reading one.

“What is it, bro?”

“Looks like there’s a meeting for us pegasi,” he says slowly.

More of those fliers fall around us as Miss Rainbow Dash does another fly-by.

“Library tonight!” she screams down at us. “Be cool or be mule.”

---

“This is so cool!” I can’t keep it in. I’m smiling so much. “Thanks for bringing me with you, Thunderlane.”

He just laughs. “Hey, no problem, buddy.”

“Is Spitfire really going to be there?” I take to the air so I can get a good look at him.

“She’ll be there for the tornado,” he says, pulling me back down. “Right now, we’re just meeting up to train for the big day.”

“Oh.” I let him lower me to the ground and trot to keep up with him.

“You know who will be there, though?” he asks. “Cloudchaser, and Flitter, too.”

I jump back up in excitement. “Really?!”

“That’s right, Rumble,” he says with a smile. “You get to hang out with your big bro and two favorite foalsitters all day.”

“Awesome!” We call them my foalsitters, but they’re basically like my big sisters at this point. They’ve been friends with Thunderlane for pretty much forever, and they’ve been taking care of me for longer than I can remember.

Cloudchaser is one of those cool sisters. She lets me stay up late and sometimes sneaks me a cookie before dinner. And Flitter is really, really nice. She tucks me in at night and gives me a cookie whenever I feel bad. Now I get to spend all day with them!

We get to the clearing where everypony’s already training. I haven’t seen so many pegasi in one place since Thunderlane took me with him to Cloudsdale.

It’s pretty cool.

I spot Flitter and Cloudchaser stretching and race to meet them while Thunderlane stays behind to clear his throat or something.

Flitter smiles when she sees me coming.

“Rumble!” She catches me as I fly into her open forelimbs and then she’s hugging me and squeezing me a little too tight.

Just the way I like it.

“Hey, Rumble.” Cloudchaser walks over and starts messing with my mane. “You here to fly with us big ponies?”

“Uh-huh!”

Flitter lets me go when Thunderlane comes over and they start talking about grown-up stuff like what an anemometer is. I’m not really paying attention until somepony starts coughing and I see Miss Twilight’s head pop up.

“Is that you again, Thunderlane?” She starts spraying him with this smelly disinfectant stuff.

I see Miss Rainbow Dash walk over, and she doesn’t look too happy.

“Thunderlane’s just cooking up an excuse to spend tornado day in bed. Why don’t you get over here and be our first test flyer, Thunderlane?”

Ooh… Thunderlane’s in trouble… It’s kinda funny seeing him like this, though. I watch as he makes his way to the starting line.

…Huh. That’s weird.

He left a feather behind.

Thunderlane starts flapping his wings super-fast before zipping down the track.

“We’ve got 9.3 wing power!” Miss Twilight says.

Me, Flitter, and Cloudchaser all surround him. He went so fast and he didn’t even break a sweat.

Wow, my brother’s so cool.

“Not bad, not bad.” Miss Rainbow Dash takes her place at the starting line, looking really serious. Like, scary-serious. She blows by us and I’m reminded of that one time I flew into a storm cloud to try to see where lightning comes from.

“16.5 wing power!”

No wonder she’s in charge of Ponyville weather. She’s awesome!

“Now listen up!” Miss Rainbow Dash yells down to us. “If each of you can get your numbers up to at least 10.0 wing power by the end of the week, we’ll no doubt set a new tornado speed record. We’ll be number one!”



I watch as a bunch of other pegasi fly past the anemometer and get their wing power numbers. Cloudchaser was almost as fast as my brother, and Flitter did pretty good, too. It’s fun hanging out with them while we wait for the next pegasus to get ready, and I really like seeing what kind of numbers everypony’s getting, but all I’ve been doing so far is watching and warming up. I walk over to where Miss Rainbow Dash was flying above the ground.

“Miss Rainbow Dash?” I call up to her.

She moves her clipboard and lands when she sees me. “Oh, hey, Rumble.” She’s actually kinda pretty when she smiles. Definitely better than when she’s being all serious or yelling. “What’s up?”

“I was just wondering when it’d be my turn.”

Her pretty smile disappears and she looks very confused. “Your turn?”

“Yeah,” I say, flapping my wings. “I need to know my wing power number for the tornado, right?”

“Uh…” She turns her head, looking for something. “Just a sec, kid.”

I watch her fly off and land next to Thunderlane, and I’m pretty sure they’re talking about me. She keeps waving her hooves over in my direction.

I guess nopony ever told her that it’s not very polite to point.

Wow, she looks really mad. I hope Thunderlane isn’t in real trouble this time. I don’t want her to be mad at him. He talks about her a lot, and I’ve seen the way he looks at her sometimes.

It looks like she’s calmed down a little when she and Thunderlane fly over to me.

“Okay, Rumble,” Miss Rainbow Dash says, “if you’re ready now, you can go next.”

I give her a salute like how I see the Wonderbolts salute their captain. “Yes, ma’am!”

I step up to the starting line, and Cloudchaser and Flitter fly over when they see me.

“You can do it, Rumble!”

“Go, Rumble, go!”

I flap my wings the way the other pegasi did while I was watching, and I fly down the track as fast as I can.

“8.2 wing power!” I hear Miss Twilight say behind me. A whole bunch of ponies turn when they hear it.

Spike hops up at the sound. “Wow, way to go, Rumble!”

Flitter and Cloudchaser race over and wrap me up in a hug. I catch Thunderlane giving Miss Rainbow Dash his I-told-you-so look. It’s kinda nice not being the one he’s giving it to, for once.

“Not bad, Rumble,” Miss Rainbow Dash says when she walks up to me. “Not bad at all.” She has one of those pretty smiles again. Me, Flitter, and Cloudchaser have to get out of the way when she calls for the next pony on the list, though.

After that it’s pretty normal until a scared-looking yellow pony takes her place at the starting line. Her takeoff looks okay but kinda slow. Cloudchaser and Flitter start giggling about what they plan to do after training today, but for some reason, it seems like it makes the yellow pony slow down even more.

Miss Rainbow Dash tells her that she flew with .5 wing power. I’m pretty sure most birds fly with at least .8 wing power. I thought she was gonna get mad and yell at the yellow pony, but mostly she seemed kinda nervous.

The yellow pony seems pretty upset about it, anyway. She runs off and Miss Rainbow Dash chases after her. I see Miss Rainbow Dash come back without the yellow pony, but she isn’t how she usually is. She isn’t shouting at the ponies while they train like before, but I don’t see her pretty smile anymore, either.



“So how was your first day of tornado training?” Thunderlane asks me on the way home.

“Huh?” I look up at him and shake my head. “Oh, uh—I had fun. Lots of fun.”

He tilts his head at me. “Something wrong, Rumble?”

All I can do is stare at my hooves. “You-you remember that pony who got .5 wing power?”

“You mean Fluttershy?”

That was Fluttershy? I guess I’ve only ever heard of her. I’ve never actually met her before. She doesn’t seem like she could be one of the ponies who stood up to Nightmare Moon or Discord.

“Do I—” I finally look up at him. He looks a little worried. “Did I make her look bad?”

“What?” He stops and puts his foreleg around me. “No, buddy. Don’t think like that.” I hug him back as he pulls me in closer. “You just did your best out there. Same as anypony else.”

Everypony was really nice to me today. They kept telling me I did a good job and gave me advice on how to get my wing power numbers up. I was getting a lot of hoofbumps and high-wings and ponies messing with my mane. It really was a lot of fun. I kept thinking about Fluttershy, though. It’s never fun being the pony who comes in last.

“I just feel bad for her, y’know?”

“It’s good that you care about other ponies’ feelings,” he says as we pull apart, “but you don’t ever have to feel guilty about trying your best, okay?”

I nod to him, and he smiles to me. After a moment of just standing around, he coughs into his hoof a couple of times.

I guess that’s the cue for us to keep walking.

---

Things started falling into a pattern after that. Every day after school, I would go to the field for tornado training. A lot of the grown-up ponies would be there already training. There’d be stretching exercises with Cloudchaser, wing-ups with Thunderlane, and snack time with Flitter. I’m really having fun getting to spend so much time with all of them. Miss Rainbow Dash is back to normal, too—mostly yelling but sometimes smiling.

I haven’t seen Miss Fluttershy since the first day, though. I hope she’s okay.

Tomorrow’s tornado day, which means today’s the last day of training. Cloudchaser was able to reach the 10.0 wing power goal, and Flitter’s gotten really close a couple of times. It was Thunderlane who was working real hard, though. It feels like he was training harder than anypony else. He got his wing power number all the way to 11.2!

It looks like it’s about time to pack up and leave when a squirrel randomly starts squeaking at Miss Twilight. Everypony turns and I have to fly up to see Miss Fluttershy! She’s back, and she looks much more confident than on that first day.

She flies down the track going way faster than she did before and ends up with 2.3 wing power. That’s some of the best improvement I’ve seen from the other ponies. She must’ve worked really hard all week to improve that much. Everypony else seems to agree, too.

Miss Fluttershy doesn’t look very happy with the number, though. She runs away again. Most of us don’t know what to do, so we just pack up and leave.



“So, tomorrow’s the big day,” Thunderlane says while he opens the door to our house. “You excited?”

“Totally!” I say, flapping my wings. “I feel kinda bad that I didn’t 10.0 wing power, though.”

“Maybe you could get there if you cut your mane like mine.” He runs a hoof through his mane and smiles at me.

“No way,” I say, shaking my head. “This is how the Wonderbolts wear their manes.”

“Well, I bet even the Wonderbolts didn’t have 9.1 wing power when they were your age.” He gives me a playful nudge, and I nudge him back.

“Yeah, but you’re at 11.2 wing power!” I remind him. “You’re like… twenty-percent cooler than that first day!”

Thunderlane chuckles, and it sounds like rolling thunder. “I think you’ve been around Rainbow Dash too long.” His laughing changes to coughing, so bad that it makes him stop.

I stop and stare at him. “You okay, bro?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine.” He waves it off and shakes his head. “Just… something in my throat.”

I can’t bring myself to look away. “You-you’re going to be okay for tomorrow, right?”

“I’m fine, Rumble.” It looks like the coughing has stopped and it looks like he’s back to his usual self. “We’re gonna fly together, just like I promised.” He taps me towards the stairs. “C’mon, you need to rest for tomorrow.”

I’m still a little nervous when I get into bed, but I can’t wait to fly my brother, Flitter, and Cloudchaser.

---

I wake up to the sound of coughing.

Really bad coughing.

I rush downstairs and see Thunderlane slumped over a bowl of soup and a bunch of black feathers on the ground.

“Hey, buddy,” he says, trying to give me a weak smile. He coughs into his hoof, and it sounds painful.

“Wh-what’s going on?” My eyes keep going all over him.

“I got the feather flu.” He sniffs and clears his throat. “I thought I could kick it if I just trained hard enough, but last night it got real bad.”

“But what about the tornado?” I say, panicked. “We need you. Cloudsdale needs you. I need you!” I blink hard as I see another feather fall out of wings. “We-we were supposed to fly together…”

Thunderlane stretches out a wing. It looks limp and really weak. “I know I promised, but I don’t think I can fly this, and definitely not with 10.0 wing power.” His eyes look so sad and sorry when he looks at me. “You’re gonna have to fly for both of us.”

“No!” I bite my lower lip but keep going. “I-I can’t do it without you there.”

“You’ll still have Flitter and Cloudchaser,” he says. “Rainbow Dash is gonna need you there.” He leans down and looks me in the eyes. “I need you to be tough for me today, okay, Rumble?”

I sniff hard and drag a hoof across my muzzle, but I nod anyway.

“I need to get to Ponyville Hospital,” he says as he heads for the door. “Flitter and Cloudchaser will be here soon. They can make you breakfast, and then they’ll take you to the reservoir, okay?”

My voice comes out as a little croak when I try to talk, so I just nod again.

“I’m sorry, Rumble,” he says, and I can tell he means it. “I know you can do it.”

He closes the door, and I’m all alone.

---

Flitter and Cloudchaser keep telling that it’ll be okay. They keep telling me that Thunderlane will be fine. They keep telling me not to worry.

It doesn’t really work, and Flitter doesn’t have a cookie to help me feel better.

We get to the reservoir and there’s this huge anemometer set up. All the ponies were lined up and waiting to start. Cloudchaser nudges me with her wing.

“Hey, Rumble—look,” she says, pointing to the end of the line.

My eyes go wide. “It’s Spitfire.”

This time Flitter gives me a nudge.

“Go say ‘hi’,” she says with a smile.

They encourage me a little more, and I take to the air. She smiles to me when I land in front of her. It’s a cool smile, but in a friendly sorta way. It reminds me of when Miss Rainbow Dash smiles.

“You’re Captain Spitfire,” I say in awe.

She laughs like crackling campfire. “Yeah, that’s me,” she says, “but you can just call me ‘Spitfire’.”

Wow, she’s so cool.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“I’m Rumble,” I say, puffing out my chest. “I’m the best flyer in my class.”

“So you’re here to watch the tornado today?”

“Actually, I’m flying today. I’m gonna be the first and only foal to fly in Ponyville’s tornado.”

Why do the grown-ups keep looking at me like that?

“I was supposed to be here with my big brother, but he…” I swallow hard, but try to stay tough. “He couldn’t make it.”

Her eyes relax and she’s smiling again.

“Be safe out there, Rumble.”

I salute her like a Wonderbolt and fly back to my place in line. Miss Rainbow Dash is taking attendance.

“Rumble,” she calls out, “where’s your lazy brother?”

Thunderlane isn’t lazy! He wanted to be here but he couldn’t. He trained hard—maybe harder than anypony else—all so he could be here with me! So we could fly in this together. Even though he was sick and he knew it. Now he’s in the hospital and I don’t know if he’s okay and I’m… scared. I’m scared and I don’t know what to do.

I want to yell all of this at her. I want to yell all of it and more. I’m not supposed to yell, though, especially at grown-ups.

“He’s got the feather flu. He’s down at Ponyville Hospital.” My voice cracked a little when I said it, but I don’t think anypony noticed.

There’s a delay before we start the tornado. Apparently Thunderlane isn’t the only out with the feather flu.

Miss Rainbow Dash flies up above us, though, and she’s got that serious-look again.

“Alright, everypony! Let’s give it all we’ve got! On the sound of the horn, we take off!”

I shut my eyes tight and wait for the sound. I open my eyes when Spike blows into the horn, and we all rocket into the rocket into the sky.

Being inside a tornado feels really weird. It’s like trying to fly into two different directions at the same time, without accidently flying into anypony else. I can’t find Flitter or Cloudchaser. Everything’s too blurry and moving too fast. The water’s starting to pull up out of the reservoir, but I know I need to fly faster.

The tornado starts to feel bumpy, and I can see pegasi falling and flying into each other. I brace myself as the tornado breaks apart. A good flyer knows how to handle a spinout and a crash-landing. Just ask any Wonderbolt.

I don’t open my eyes until I’m back on the ground. Breathing heavy, I look around and I can see Cloudchaser helping Flitter get up. I’m glad they’re okay. It looks like everypony else is okay, too. I try to stand up and stumble a little. Once the ground stops spinning and I’m not feeling so dizzy, I try again and get up. Miss Rainbow Dash is up in the air again.

“C’mon, ponies, let’s make this happen!”

I don’t want to get back up there. I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s scary and dangerous and Thunderlane isn’t here to catch me like when I flew into that storm cloud. Thunderlane isn’t here.

That’s why I have to get back up there, though. I have to fly for Thunderlane. I have to fly for Flitter and Cloudchaser and Miss Rainbow Dash and all the other ponies who couldn’t be here. Everypony trained so hard for this.

I can’t let them down now.

We’re back in the sky and forming the tornado again. It’s just like last time. It’s fast and blurry and my wings are all sore from the first time. My breathing is trying to keep up with my pounding heart.

“C’mon!” Miss Rainbow yells out to us. “Just a little harder!”

I’m flying for Thunderlane, my big brother. I’m flying for both us. I push harder, and I notice a yellow-and-pink smudge join the swirl of shapes and colors around me. The water from the reservoir climbs higher and higher until it shoots out the very top.

The sound of the horn breaks through all the noise and we slow the tornado until it disappears. I land on the ground as soon as I can, panting hard and looking all around me.

“Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can really fly!”

A bunch of ponies have gathered together and are holding Fluttershy up. She’s smiling.

What about Spitfire? Did she see me?

I see Spitfire, and she’s talking to a bunch of the grown-ups. I see Cloudchaser, and Miss Raindrops and Mister Biceps, too.

I look over and see Flitter landing next to me.

“You see that?” she said pointing to group. “Spitfire’s talking about finding recruits for the Wonderbolts Reserve. Cloudchaser’s thinking about signing up. How cool is that?”

I do my best to smile. “It’d be the coolest.”

“We should tell Thunderlane about this later,” she says with a smile. “He’ll want to hear all about it, don’t you think?”

“Y-yeah.”

She gives me a hug, and it feels a little too tight. “It would mean you and I get to spend a lot more quality time together, too. Won’t that be fun?”

I nod, and wonder if Flitter has a cookie with her.

I could really use one right now.

---

I wave good-bye to Flitter and Cloudchaser after they drop me off. When I open the door, I see Thunderlane sitting at the table again.

He looks a lot better, though, and there aren’t so many feathers this time.

“Hey, Rumble,” he says when he sees me. “How’d it go?”

“Uh, we did it,” I say quietly. “We-we got the water up to Cloudsdale.”

“Awesome,” he says with a nod. “Did you get to meet Spitfire?”

“Yeah,” I whisper. “She was cool.”

I know that look he’s giving me. He’s worried about me. “You okay, buddy?”

“I’m fine,” I say quickly. “Just… tired, I guess.”

“I bet.” He coughs a little and sniffles. “Did you have fun hanging out with Flitter and Cloudchaser.”

“Yeah, but it would’ve been better if you were there, too.”

We both look down at the ground. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say next.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better now, though.”

“Thanks, Rumble.” He’s smiling again. That’s good. “Maybe next time we’ll be able to fly together.”

“Yeah, maybe next time.”

I go up to my room and close the door behind me, passing by my Wonderbolts poster before falling into bed. My wings are still sore and feel really stiff. I’m tired but I can’t fall asleep. I’m thinking too much. I’m thinking about how a bunch of ponies were cheering for Fluttershy and carrying her away. I’m thinking about how Spitfire was talking to those ponies about the Wonderbolt Reserve.

“Yeah,” I repeat to myself.

“Maybe next time.”