//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Consequences // Story: Nature's Wrath // by Zoom Star //------------------------------// The sun was now high in the sky, signalling a new day. The wind from the night before had subsided, but the air was still cold, as if the wind left a remnant of itself behind. The ponies of Ponyville were confused as to how the sun was making the day cold, but most shrugged it off and went about their normal summer day with a scarf and jacket on. The stalls were still selling their produce, though the fruits and vegetables were beyond help from the drop in temperature. Applejack sat down under the shade of a nearby apple tree, feeling the defeat kick in. She had awoken this morning to find all the apples in the orchard had gone bad, the cold weather unsuitable for fruit to grow. She had spent most of the morning galloping everywhere trying to find any good apples, but all of the apples were gone. Her scarf flopped down beside her, and her jacket clung to her coat to collect what warmth it could. “How could ah be defeated by weather?” she asked the air, nopony in the vicinity being able to hear her. Her head dropped to the ground, a single tear forming in her emerald green eyes. “What is ma family supposed ta do now?” she asked the air once again, her head looking up into the blue sky, the sun beaming down without heat. Finally, she got up onto her hooves, and began her shameful walk back to her house to tell her family the bad news. “Why won’t you come out, little guys? It’s not winter yet” Fluttershy said, trying to coax a family of badgers out of their home. She had woken up this morning to find all the animals sleeping in their wintry houses, the cold weather making them think it was time to hibernate. She was now doing her best to try and get them back out, but she had had little success for the past 3 hours. She looked into the hole in front of her, but saw nothing but darkness. “What is going to happen if they go into hibernation too early?” she asked herself, thinking of the disastrous consequences that would occur if she did not succeed. She became faster paced, now banging on the top of the homes, shouting random words into their sleeping ears. She even grabbed a blow horn from her house and blasted it in the small caves, but none of these seemed to wake them up. Fluttershy dropped her head, shamefully walking back to her house. Rainbow Dash zoomed across the sky, trying to find clouds to remove from the large blue empty horizon. She had been up all morning, trying to find the reason why it was so cold. If Cloudsdale found out she couldn’t fix a simple weather problem than she would have been shamed by every Pegasus ever! She couldn’t let that happen, it would ruin her. But for the past 3 hours she had been up trying to find even a hint of a cloud, and found nothing. She finally hovered to the ground, her wings dropping down either side of her. She hung her head, walking slowly toward the library. She had degraded herself to asking Twilight how to fix the weather! What would Twilight think if she found out Dash couldn’t fix a weather problem on her own? But Dash had to go to her, no matter what. She couldn’t risk her reputation just to keep up her know-it-all-about-weather act. Rarity was hard at work, sowing a thread here, cutting an edge there. Ever since this morning, ponies were coming into her shop continuously, asking for winter jackets. When she asked why they wanted winter jackets during a nice summer day, they directed her outside, where she was hit by a huge wave of cold. She nodded her agreement, and rushed back in, beginning her work on a winter jacket for every pony in Ponyville! Before long, her profits began going through the roof as she got bits from every pony she ever knew. She didn’t know what had caused the cold weather, but she wanted to thank it a million times for the money it had brought in for her. She could buy Sweetie Belle a new set of school books, she could get some new fabrics from Canterlot, and she could even get Opalescence a new dazzling collar! The limits were endless! “Another two hot chocolates over here, Pinkie!” the two ponies at the nearby table shouted to Pinkie Pie. “Oki doki loki” she replied, bouncing off into the kitchen. She began whipping up many cups of warm chocolate, adding in the sugar and milk. When she had gotten enough hot chocolates onto a large tray, she trotted back out, putting them in front of the many ponies that were beginning to fill Sugarcube Corner. “Gee Mr and Mrs Cake, with this amount of ponies coming, our money is gonna go WHOOSH!” shouted Pinkie, emphasising the whoosh by jumping in the air, landing softly back onto the floor. The Cakes nodded in agreement, looking around at the constantly filling shop. “Poor dears, it must be dreadfully cold out there if so many are getting hot chocolates on a summer’s day” Mrs Cake said, looking out at the bright day, seeing a pony in a scarf and winter jacket. Twilight opened her eyes, feeling a lot better now that she had rested up. She slipped out of her bed, and went over to the mirror, fixing up her mane and coat. When she felt she was in a fit state to be seen in public, she trotted down the stairs, stopping at the bottom. “Oh, hey Twilight. Feeling better?” asked her little purple assistant, who had just finished packing her books back onto the shelf from her fiasco last night. “Yes Spike, I feel much better. Thank you for cleaning up” she replied, walking over and patting Spike on the head softly. “That’s what assistants do Twilight. But, your welcome” he said, taking out his duster and beginning to clean the bookcases to remove dust. Twilight trotted over to the book she had left open to continue reading, and was about to fall into it again, when a loud rap on the door caused her to jolt. “I’ll be over in a minute!” she cooed, picking up the book she knocked over.