"La la la la laaa...cho!" Fluttershy sang and sneezed as she packed her saddlebag. Angel bunny hopped over to her, looking concerned. "It's ok Angel. Just a little dust in my nose. Now, I'm going to the market for the afternoon to stock up on supplies before the storm comes. Dashie said it might last for a few days. Did you need anything while I'm there?" Fluttershy asked.
The little white bunny held up a crudely drawn picture of a giant cake and pointed at it vigorously.
"Now Angel, you know how much sweets upset your tummy. Besides, cakes cost a lot of money." Angel kept pointing, looking desperate. "Well..." Fluttershy hesitated. Angel recognized the sign of weakness and pulled out his secret weapon- the eyes. "Oh, Angel... Ok, fine. I'll find something of a treat for you."
The little yellow pony shook her head fondly as her little bunny friend hopped up and down for joy- or was he telling her to leave? Either way, she needed to hurry. "Bye Angel! Bye every-" she broke off to cough- " one. Goodness, I hope I'm not getting sick," she added to herself as she donned her saddlebag, coat, scarf, and boots and headed out into the cold winter air.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A stallion looked up from his work and took a deep breath of air. Eeyup. Ozone. Big Macintosh didn't have to look up to know there was a mighty large storm brewing up above.
"Um, excuse me?"
Big Mac turned back to his apple cart and saw a small, butter-colored mare looking up at him nervously. She was one of AJ's friends. Butterfly? Fritterpie? No! Fluttershy! "How can ah help ya, Miss Fluttershy?"
"Um, I was wondering, if you don't mind, that is, if... I could maybe.. maybe... Achoo!" Big Mac frowned in concern as the little pony fell backwards from the force of her own sneeze. "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to... I mean, I..." Fluttershy broke off, whimpering and hiding in her mane.
Big Mac blinked. "That's ok Miss, but ya might want to take it easy. That there sounds like one heck of a cold. Now, what did ya want?"
"Oh, yes. I was wondering if I could.. mumblemumblemumble."
"Pardon?"
"Buy some apples?" Fluttershy squeaked, blushing a little as she handed the larger pony a small bag of bits with a shaking hoof.
"Eeyup," Big Mac said with a gentle smile, hoping to ease the little pony's nerves. He handed her a bag filled with apples, and an apple pie on the side.
"Um, I didn't order a pie," Fluttershy said quietly.
"Yeah, it's a... present. To apologize for scaring ya." Macintosh blushed faintly.
"Oh. Um, thanks you then. I'll see you.." Fluttershy broke off into a fit of coughing that left her breathless. "I should go," she wheezed, and turned to leave. " I have lots more shopping to do."
Mac got up and walked around so he was blocking the little mare's path. "No. You don't. You need to get home and rest," he said sternly but gently. "Ah'll get the rest of yer things and drop them off at yer cottage later."
Fluttershy sank to the ground, wide eyed. "N.. No, I could never ask that of you... I mean, you've already done so much and I'm sure you're very busy..."
"And yer sick. Now, please, let meh help ya," he said tenderly, as if talking to a filly.
"Well, if you're sure it's not any trouble..."
"Ah'm sure it's not. Now, scurry on home and ah'll be there later on with all yer things." Big Mac watched as Fluttershy handed him her saddlebag and shopping list. She squeaked something that sounded like "thanks" and walked away, coughing again.
Big Mac watched her head off down the path towards home, smiling fondly. He liked this shy little mare.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A sky blue pegasus mare flew up to a purple alicorn sitting on a cloud. "Hey Twi! The weather team moved faster than even /I/ had predicted! We're ready to start the storm as soon as we have your approval," the blue one announced.
"Alright, thanks Rainbow. Good work. But I don't want to confuse the earth ponies and unicorns down in Ponyville. Send a team down to warn every pony. Oh, and make sure someone gets Sweet Apple Acres. They probably have some pre-storm precautions to take care of."
"Yes, your Royal Highness," Rainbow Dash said with a smirk and an over dramatic bow, hoping for a reaction out of her friend.
"Dash! You know how much I hate that! Just because the Storm of Refreshment is one of my Royal Duties doesn't mean you have to go on and on about it!" Twilight fumed.
"Sheesh, take it easy. It's all in good fun." With a flick of her rainbow colored mane and tail, Dash did an impressive backflip-corkscrew-dive maneuver down to her team who were resting on a cloud a little ways off.
Twilight flopped back down on her cloud with a sigh. This while storm business was harder than she'd thought. She's had to verify that every cloud within a 50 mile radius of Ponyville was taken and charged full of rainwater and lightning. She had to get the weather teams to cover every square inch of sky in and around the town with the thick, heavy clouds. Then, they had add even MORE clouds filled with hail, sleet, and snow, AND prepare fierce winds to blow through this entire storm, which was scheduled to run for 5 days.
On top of all this, the poor Princess had to make sure all of the ponies below were prepared. During the storm, the conditions outside would be extremely dangerous, so every pony would have to be instructed to stay in their homes. But they had to have food and supplies, so they had to be stocking up. And inspection teams had to be sent out to make sure each and every pony had everything they could possibly need.
"Why are we doing this again?" Spike, who had been sitting next to his caretaker the whole time, asked.
"To refresh the land as well as the skies and make sure every pony knows how to survive harsh weather conditions," Twilight recited tiredly.
"Oh. Right. Well, I'm glad the preparations are pretty much done. I'm sick of sitting around all day doing nothing."
(About an hour later...)
"Every pony has been warned and is ready!" Rainbow Dash yelled.
Twilight jumped a couple feet up as she we startled out of her doze.
Dash started rolling on her back laughing. "You should see your face right now!"
"Dash..."
"Heh. Right." She wiped a laughter tear from her eye. "Anyway, do we have your ok?"
"Sure. Go for it. Just let me get back to my castle first."
"Okey dokey!" Turning back to her team as Twilight flew away, she ordered, "Positions! Ready... Aim...."
BOOOOM! The first lightning bolt struck. The storm had begun.