Saddleveil Plains Storm Jumping [Open]

[Thunder Boomer]

<p style="text-align: center"><img src="http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb328/Thunder-Boomer/ThunderBoomerHeader.jpg" /></p>

<p><span style="color: #408000">Thunder Boomer strained his wings as he blasted upward at nearly a 90 degree angle with grim determination. Around him, a black torrent raged. His muscles rippled and clenched and he fought against the onslaught of wind that threatened to blow him off course. His pelt stung as fat drops of rain and hail pounded his hide.

*CRACK FOOOOM*

Lightning was streaking across the sky rapidly in every direction. Thunder Boomer's heart thudded in his chest and adrenaline surged through his body as he instinctively dodged a bolt, narrowly avoiding it, and climbed ever higher. A broad grin broke out across his face. He was enjoying himself.

*BOOM CRACKLE*

Another bolt shot past him and he appeared to flirt with it as he dodged it with expert precision. Feeling a rush of excitement he allowed himself to roll twice in the air before catching an updraft and giving his screaming wings slight relief as he powered upward.

He had been flying for some time and his breathing had become heavy and strained as he sucked in air that was becoming thin from the altitude. The peak of the cumulonimbus had to be close, he could sense an impending pressure change. Flying this high was dangerous, especially in a storm that was on the verge of becoming a supercell. Thunder Boomer gritted his teeth as his vision blurred. He blinked and shook his head. Biting his lip he willed his wings to flap harder<em>. . . just. . . a . . . little . . . further. . .</em>

. . .

Thunder Boomer burst though the cloud cover into clear sky and dazzling sunlight. Raindrops sprayed off his wings and sparkled like falling diamonds. He had successfully beaten the storm and emerged on the other side.

Thunder Boomer performed a quick loop in celebration and landed on the top of the clouds gasping. He folded his wings and closed his eyes, desperate to catch his breath. He wouldn't though, not up here anyway. He rested in an almost-meditative state, relaxing his muscles and at least slowing his breathing slightly. He stayed in calm serenity for two minutes, three minutes. Before rolling, head forward into the cloud and plummeting, eyes still closed, back into the violent storm.

He fell.

Quickly, gaining speed. He kept his wings tight at his side and his eyes shut as he dropped like a stone through the dark violence surrounding him. Rain smacked his face as he continued blindly downward. Not knowing how close he was to the ground was part of the thrill. He played chicken with the earth and roulette with the lightning.

Fwip!

Halfway through his decent he flared his wings open as wide as they would go. They were still angled toward the ground and only served to slow his fall. The turbulence of wind off his wings sliced through the storm like a knife. In time, the result of the disturbance would be the eventual separation of the storm into two smaller, milder ones. Weather or not that was Thunder Boomer's intention was unknown. He continued to fall like this, slicing the air for what seemed like decades. Before he finally felt the tug of the impending ground below.<em> Three. . . two . . . one. . .</em>

Thunder Boomer's eyes snapped open and he pulled up mere feet from the ground and shot out across the plains. He glided a far distance before angling his wingtips down and slowing his velocity. When he had reached a safe speed, he dropped lower, tucked into a ball and somersaulted across the ground until he reached a stop.

Popping up into an upright position he pounded his hooves on the ground.</span> <span style="color: #0000BF">"Wooooo!"</span></p>

[Bannhammer]

A few days off to relax, that's what leave was supposed to be. For Ace High, a few days from the REA meant one thing, he could fly however he wanted too. The strict formations and straight lines were abandoned for loops and corkscrews, the rigid rules replaced by a carefree shot through the clouds. 

His two tone tunic flapped in the wind behind him, somehow staying on despite his maneuvers. Green on the back, and the inside was a sky blue; the whole thing clashed horribly with his midnight blue pelt, but it wasn't meant for fashion. 

The soldier pony was glad to be back in the heart of Equestria, it was a welcome change from the harsh mountains of the griffon lands. Six years of service taught him to cherish every moment he had at home. 

In those six years he'd changed a lot, going from a cocky hotshot mere inches away from being a wonderbolt to a well refined machine. At the front, he was a pillar of strength and one tough pony. Civilian life was different, but enjoyable. Of course, that didn't take into account his shot nerves, and the fact that when he was home, surprises and loud noises could stop him in his tracks. 

None of that mattered now, Ace was focused on enjoying his flight. In all of his years of flying, despite all of the competitions and battles, his favorite thing was to simply glide. 

As he continued his relaxing exercise, a familiar sound could be heard off in the distance: A loud booming that gently built up over time. 

That sounds pretty bad. Are the weather ponies doing an exercise? Or did one of their storms go out of control?

As he flew closer to investigate he could see massive, black clouds appear over the horizon. He'd seen pretty bad storms In his time, and this one was up there on the list. It was almost a supercell, and Ace had to wonder if the REA was doing an exercise in weapons grade storms. 

The tactical aviator could feel his gut start to tighten up, and that all too familiar feeling was coming back. He managed to reach into his tunic for a small pouch that contained a simple mix of herbs, he stuck a few in his mouth, hoping to calm his nerves. 

Ace noticed a lack of ponies, which confused Him. That meant this wasn't a planner storm, and it wasn't the REA... 

What is going on? Who is going to get rid of this thing before it reaches a town?

Almost as if to answer his question, a single pony could be seen bursting out of the top of the clouds, a tiny speck above a swirling tempest. The pony did a loop and stopped on the cloud to rest for a moment. Ace couldn't believe it. For a pony to fly through a storm like that was crazy, for them to do a loop at the end was just plain ridiculous. His mind flashed back a few years, to when he'd done the same thing in a. Weaponized storm, and the idea of somepony doing it willingly dumbfounded him. 

Ace waited for the pony's next move, and he could only watch as the green Pegasus dove down back into the storm. The storm was sliced in two by the pony's perilous descent, and Ace quickly tried to get closer to see the result. 

The pony burst out of the bottom of the storm and pulled up into a glide, mere feet above the ground. The remnants of the vicious storm hung in the air, torn asunder by the dare devil. Ace realized something when instead of simply landing, the pony did a roll: 

It was a STUNT

When Ace did it, it was a matter of life and death. This pony did it for kicks? The memories of his own stunt came back to him. His gut twisted up, and he needed a few more herbs to keep himself from losing it. 

With renewed vigor, the REA pony descended to the ground, hoping to catch the flyer before he could get away.  

His tunic flapped Wiley as he slowed down, and without a sound he came to a halt in front of the green Pegasus.

Ace was genuinely impressed, he knew how difficult that maneuver was, and he was glad to see another pony pull her off. 

 He didn't take any time to introduce himself, he just started talking. 

"That was reckless, stupid, dangerous, not to mention completely irresponsible....

He shifted his tone. "But it was awesome." 

[Thunder Boomer]

Thunder Boomer was grinning from ear-to-ear and pounded his hooves once more as he stood in the rain trying to catch his breath. That had been a really good jump. Really good. Of course, storms like this didn't come around very often. He sat down in the mud and started to replay the action in his head while tapping his hooves happily in the puddled water.

"That was reckless, stupid, dangerous, not to mention completely irresponsible.... But it was awesome."

Thunder Boomer blinked and looked up as a dark blue pegasus in a clashing uniform landed in front of him. "You saw that huh?" He asked the stranger, briefly looking him over but too high on adrenaline to bother taking in the details. "Are you in to it?" Boomer grabbed his hind hoofs with his fetlocks and rolled back to teeter on his haunches before looking upward and rolling eyes to the clouds. "She'll break up soon, but I bet she's got one more go in her before she dissipates." He jumped to his feet, shook the mud off and opened his wings. "I'm ready if you are."

That was it.

Thunder Boomer didn't think to introduce himself. Introductions were boring formalities and in a situation like this, he didn't have patience for such things. If this stallion was a friend, then Boomer would learn his name soon enough. If not, well, then it didn't really matter did it? Boomer could only assume that a pegusus out in a storm like this wanted the same thing. Unless, of course, he was a member of a local weather team and had finally caught up. . . naaah. Those guys didn't stand around and chat when there was clouds to be bucked.

[Boss_Hoss1]

A pair of reddish brown streaks flew across the sky, then made a right turn toward the thunderhead from several miles away.

They made for the split in the thunderhead, slowing down as they met the stormfront. the pegasi rode the winds like surfers, then curved their way into the split, coming out on the other side and seperating to race around the clouds in opposite directions, continuing to surf the stormfront.

After several passes, the two cloud halves were slowly rotating away from each other to eventually head off in different, and hopefully more useful directions and not reunite.

The pegasi looped in the air as they spotted the pair on the ground and closed their wings for a dive, coming out of it at a comfortable distance from the ground in unison.

Finally the pair fluttered to a hover and touched down nearby, an unusual sight. mare and stallion twins, down to nearly identical cutie marks. The male nickers and pulls a set of goggles up off his blue eyes "Hello, I'm Star Skybright. (a.k.a Hoss) Did anyone see how long this cell was building? We were diverted here after some unicorns saw an unscheduled storm off in the distance."

The mare takes a quick drink from a water bottle as she wipes her goggles "I'm Shanna. Wow! Looks like someone did most of the work for us up there. Which of you brawny boys split that mess like an apple?"

[Bannhammer]

Ace didn't immediately react. The pony had only spoken a few words before shooting off into the sky, once again charging towards the turbulent sky. 

The REA soldier hesitated, feeling a whole different range of emotions. His mind told him to go for it, to relive his glory days of dare devil flying and thrill seeking. Deep in his gut, his body told him to turn tail and flee, his nerves once again acting up. His emotions conflicted, Ace stayed on the ground, chewing his herbs. 

He'd flown through a storm like that before, a supercell designed and created by the REA as a perfect weapon. It had been mistakenly used against their own soldiers, and Ace had to fly up through it to tell the weather ponies to stop it. The experience was so terrifying and stressful that he could never forget it. He'd won the bronze star for his actions, but that was the day he lost his nerves. 

Luckily, he didn't have to choose. The storm was swiftly taken care of by a pair of red streaks. Ace sighed in relief as the prospect of flying through the storm was literally dashed. 

The two ponies asked who had initially divided the storm, Ace pointed to Thunder Boomer, who was still in the air. 

"It was all him."

[Thunder Boomer]

Thunder Boomer stared inquisitively at the stranger for a moment, wings flared. When the stallion took too long to respond, Boomer turned toward the storm and jumped into the air, flying toward it. He sped forward quite a distance, before turning his head back to see if he was being followed. The blue stallion was still on the ground. Boomer was about to call out to him when he noticed two redish streaks zip by in the distance. He frowned as the streaks turned on the storm, making quick work of it. The storm began to break up and sky began to peek through the split in the clouds as they began to churn away from each other.

Thunder Boomer flew slowly back to where he had left the blue pegasus. He didn't seem all that excited that his fun had been ruined before he had another go, but oh well. Things happen. The redish-brown pegisi had beaten him back to the blue stallion and seemed to have been talking to him before Boomer landed. As Boomer hooves touched the ground, he said to the blue pegasus "I guess that second jump just wasn't to be." Addressing the twin pegisi he added, "You guys were sure eager to break that one up weren't ya?"

[Boss_Hoss1]

The twins aheh as they belatedly realize they busted up someone's fun before he was done with it. The stallion sheepishly folds his "ams" behind him and scuffs the air with a hoof. "Sorry, we were in a rush. we were diverted from busting up another one in that directon by a few panicky unicorns."

Shanna hmms and looks the adventureous pegasus over and gets a wicked grin "Welll if you two want to have fun with a storm, how about coming with us? That one we were originally heading for looks like it will get as big as this one if it's not sat on right away."

She looks at her brother, with a twitch in one eye meaning he better not say "no'.

"Sooo There should be no trouble at all in letting it brew up for some fun. after all, we were going to surf on the stormfront wind riiight?"

Hoss looked away "Errr, ahhh n-no problem at all. Who's up for Storm surfing?.."

[Bannhammer]

Ace's relief didn't last long. Only a few seconds into the conversation and the new ponies proposed a potentially perilous predicament.

In his years of competitive flying, Ace would love to surf storms and ride the squalls. A few harrowing moments rewarded with the thrill of a lifetime and the satisfaction of victory. That was then, and years of serving and brief glances of death sapped any spirit Ace had for storm flying

With a tentative sigh, Ace reached into a small pouch in his garishly ugly tunic and pulled out some herbs. He stuffed them in his mouth and slowly began to chew. 

Ace looked at the other ponies, and with a show of bravado he smiled wide. "I'd love to, can't pass up a good opportunity to go stormin'" The soldier chuckled, trying to remember the lingo from days past, do ponies even call it 'storming' anymore?