//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Gather the Troops // Story: The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life // by Rhino //------------------------------// ***Saturday, Day 9, morning*** “So just to make sure we’re not forgetting anything, let’s go over this one more time.” I say to Twilight. Rainbow interjects with a slight whine, “Again? I’m pretty sure we all have the gist of it by now. Why do you want to go over it again?” Still a bit cranky from our early departure I see. I look at her, “Because this is serious and the more information we know the less guessing we have to do.” I nod at Twilight to recap. She goes into lecture mode, “Princess Celestia has asked us, and by us I mean the girls and I, to stop an extremely large, hostile, sentient cloud that has been terrorizing Equestria.” Volt confirms what us guys had recently found out, “And the reason the princess asked you girls is because it turns out not only have you dealt with weird situations before, but you six are in fact the famous Bearers of the Elements of Harmony who have saved Equestria on a few separate occasions and considered heroes?” “Heroines.” I correct. He waves it off, “Yeah that.” Twilight nods at this particular bombshell that was dropped on us the previous evening. “Correct, the princess also wanted to bring some specialists along with us, which would be you three.” She points her hoof at Hydro, Volt, and I. I ask something that just occurred to me, “Actually on that note there is something I want to ask, to be honest I’m surprised I didn’t ask this earlier. How did Princess Celestia know about us anyway?” Twilight answers, “The girls and I send reports to Celestia on the magic of friendship, along with that I also send her periodic reports of interesting things that happen in Ponyville. I sent her reports both for when you three arrived in Ponyville and my notes on what happened the other day when you all helped me test that new spell.” I ponder this for a moment, “I would guess this means after you told her about us she then endeavored to look into our backgrounds so I assume this is where her knowledge of our fields was obtained.” It’s a weird feeling knowing one of the rulers of the country looked into you… not sure if I like it or not. Twilight nods again, “Yes I would guess that’s what happened. She said she wanted Hydro and Volt for their respective areas of engineering and electrical expertise. She also said she wanted Rhino along for his magical proficiency.” Hydro continues the say-and-confirm pattern, “Alright so we know why we are all here, now what do we know about the cloud?” The other girls tune in a little more at this point as Twilight goes on, “Objectively we don’t know much about the cloud, but what we do know doesn’t inspire confidence. A month or so ago, there was an accident at the weather factory in Cloudsdale. The result of this experiment was a single small cloud darker than anypony had seen before. They tried to simply get rid of it like any other unwanted cloud but what was strange is that the pegasi could barely affect the cloud let alone get rid of it. While they were trying to decide what to do with it… it apparently escaped. While they weren’t too worried about it, the problem is that it found its way over the Everfree Forest and ended up combining with the clouds there into the massive cloud that it is now. It’s sentience is limited, but is more than enough for it to realize that ponies were hurting it and thus it is trying to do the same to them. Since a few days ago it moved out of the forest and has been causing extreme and unpredictable weather all across Equestria. The princess assigned us to stop it while the army tries to stay ahead of the cloud and evacuate those who are in its path, but being sentient means it’s only even more unpredictable than other storms from the Everfree. The princess believed that with a wide array of approaches we could find some way to stop the cloud which she has code named: Fluffers.” The fact that Twilight says its name with a straight face makes the rest of us snicker. Hah! Still having a hard time taking it seriously with a name like that. We laugh to ourselves for a minute, getting it out of our system, then I summarize our current situation, “And thus we find ourselves on a medium sized airship headed for Cloudsdale with a cargo hold of tools and parts. I’m just glad we were able to set up last minute arrangements for our affairs in Ponyville.” The others make various noises of agreement to my statement. Speaking of which, I wonder how Specter and Angel are doing over at Fluttershy’s… ***Meanwhile, at Fluttershy’s house*** We find Specter lounging on a shelf in Fluttershy’s living room eating some mixed nuts as Angel walks in with a smirk on his face from another room. Angel walks over to Specter with that same smirk, ‘Hey Specs, you mind sleeping down here tonight? I need the bedroom.’ He motions back over his shoulder where Specter could see a female rabbit and her friends chatting. Specter raises an eyebrow at Angel, ‘Seriously? Again? Why do I always get kicked out when you have girls over? What do you guys do up there anyway?’ ‘You’ll find out when you’re older.’ Angel chuckles at the squirrel’s naivety. Specter gives Angel an appraising look, ‘I’m not sure I’ll even want to know then.’ Angel puts a paw to his chin for a moment, ‘Tell you what, to make it up to you, how about I move our sparring match up from next week to say… in five minutes?’ ‘I suppose that’ll do, at least it’ll tire me out so I can sleep through those weird noises you make.’ Five minutes later and we find our two furry friends opposite each other in the middle of the floor. Specter is garbed in a traditional ninja outfit and wielding a tiny toy wooden sword. Angel is wearing a white ninja outfit and wielding a carrot. The two raise their weapons and slowly circle each other. They freeze and every other animal in the cottage looks on, none of them daring to make a sound. The clock chimes. At this signal the two combatants rush towards each other and- ***Back at the airship*** Those two are probably just sleeping the day away. I continue with the questions, “So are we heading to Cloudsdale to ask the ponies at the weather factory about the initial cloud?” Twilight shakes her head, “No, actually we are headed there to pick up one more pony to help us against Fluffers. He is the only researcher of the Everfree Forest weather and could be a great help to us.” “So what’s this mysterious pony’s name?” “Blue Breeze.”