Derpy blasted through cloud ring after cloud ring. The pattern was complex, but she’d memorized it from her practice runs.

Left, left, right. Then a few in a loop. She whizzed through them, barely nicking a wingtip on the middle one. Didn’t even knock any of it loose. No way the judges noticed.

Easing into a straightaway section, she built up as much speed as she could before spreading her wings to slow through a hairpin turn downward. Her stomach lurched as she shot toward the ground. Quick pull-up at the bottom, two more rings, and... black cloud. Gotta go through those in the other direction. She reversed through it and shot straight up again.

Home stretch now. She followed a corkscrew pattern back down on an angle, the spirals continually tightening until she could feel the strain in her wing joints. She lacked the strength to accelerate anymore; it was all she could do to maintain a glide under these g-forces. After this many tight turns, her equilibrium was shot. She fixed her eyes on that puff of cloud rapidly spinning closer, finally bursting through it to loud applause.

“One minute, thirty-four seconds, no penalties!” called the announcer. “That’ll put Derpy in second place after our first event.”

She skidded to a halt on the landing area and stood there wobbling for a moment until she’d regained her balance. Wearing a wide grin, she trotted over to get a drink before the next event.

“Way to go, Derpy!”

“Yeah, good job!”

“Good luck!”

Derpy nodded back at each and closed her eyes. Though she was recovered from her flight, her pulse quickened a bit. It was... new. To do something right, be complimented, just once...

She found her spot for the second event and flapped off to a gray cloud marked with the same number fifteen that was pasted to her flank. A giant funnel hung beneath, draining into a large bucket with a line marked in yellow tape. She eyed the indicated level: three gallons, on the nose.

Rubbing a hoof on her chin, Derpy flitted around the cloud and viewed it from a few angles, calculation after calculation running through her mind. She’d have preferred to whittle it down to a nice cube, but it was deliberately shaped to make that strategy impossible. She sighed and gave a long, thoughtful stare to the cloud’s particular shade of gray. Brushing the wisps from its edges, she measured off a few hoof-widths along the edge and pulled a section free. She gave it a forceful snort, sending it sailing away.

Derpy raised the flag on her stall and waited for a judge to fly over. Glancing at the neighboring contestants’ clouds, she saw that each bucket had been assigned a different level. Clever precaution.

When the judge arrived, Derpy hopped onto the cloud, bouncing to squeeze out every last drop. After a few minutes, the trickle out of the funnel finally ended, and she flew down by the judge to see her result. She’d guessed a bit low, but the water level still sat within the tape’s width. A perfect score.

Forcing down her smile, Derpy proceeded with the judge out the far end of her stall, where a black cloud awaited. Hundreds of feet below, a target lay on the ground. She risked a glance at the scoreboard, which showed her currently in the lead.

Gulping down her nerves, she examined the cloud’s surface and selected a spot near the edge, punching a forehoof into the fluff. A lightning bolt shot downward, landing comfortably within the bullseye. She picked another point near the middle and punched again. Another top score, but barely—the black mark just grazed the center.

Last shot. One more bullseye would clinch the win.

This part of the cloud felt stable. She moved half a stride to her left and stomped with all fours. Dead center hit.

“Derpy has won this year’s Weather Games!” echoed the announcer’s voice, but it had taken on an odd, hollow quality.

Her eyes fluttered open as she looked up into Twilight’s face, the purple glow fading from her vision.

“Is that... what you wanted?” Twilight asked, her brow creased.

Derpy nodded and folded her ears back.

“But... you don’t look happy.”

Derpy sniffled and looked away. “I just... wanted to know... what it was like. For once.”

Frowning, Twilight asked, “What did you dream?”

Derpy shook her head, calling back as she trotted out the door, “N-nothing. Thanks, Twilight.”