An It Harm None

by DuncanR

"You can't win a hurricane."

“Form up on the left! I said form up!”

A squadron of pegasi streaked through the stormy clouds and pushed against the howling rain, but their formation was sloppy and uneven. The rain clouds were thick and dark, making it impossible to see any of the other squadrons... assuming they hadn’t been grounded.

Rainbow Dash shouted to be heard over the roaring wind. “Wedge formation, on my lead!”

The pegasi shifted positions around their wing-leader, performing a corkscrew ballet in the nightmarish gale. The starboard half of the wedge was clumsy and misshapen: Clover and Honeysuckle had to struggle just to keep their wings straight.

“Dash, we have to pull back! We can’t—”

“That was an order, Honeysuckle!” Dash tightened her goggles and pushed against the roiling wall of wind. “Come on, ponies! We get one shot at this!”

Honeysuckle redoubled her effort. The entire formation began listing to one side, buckling under the turbulence. There was a ragged scream as a pegasus tore away from them and went tumbling into the mist.

“Sunny Daze, no!”

“Keep it together!” said Rainbow Dash, “we can still pull this off with the four of us! Everypony prepare for a reverse spiral on my mark!”

“A reverse spiral?! But nopony’s ever...!”

“Mark!!”

The squadron struggled to keep up with their wing-leader. Scudded clouds clung to them like cobwebs and their necks prickled with invisible force. A bolt of raw energy cracked the sky: The flash of blue light illuminated the apple orchard below, along with the silhouettes of the remaining pegasus squadrons. There were only three other teams in the air, all wildly out of position.

“Dash, there’s nothing we can do! We have to find shelter!”

“Stay cool, girls! Weatherponies use lightning all the time! We can do this!”

A jagged zigzag stitched through the clouds, blinding them. This time the rumble was more than mere sound: it was an explosive wave of force that knocked them out of formation and sent them tumbling through the air.

Rainbow Dash burst from the underside of the storm clouds less than a hundred yards above the ground. She cupped her wings and caught the wind, but at her speed empty air was hard as rock: her wings snapped taut and a few of her primary feathers tore away. She crashed to the ground and skidded several yards, gouging a furrow in the grassy field.

She shot upright and looked around, but the other pegasi were nowhere to be seen. Despite all their efforts, the metamorphosis was complete: the rainstorm was now a thunderstorm. A barrage of searing bolts wracked the orchard below, splitting whole trees down the middle. A nearby barn exploded in a shower of flaming splinters.

Rainbow Dash reared up and yelled at the top of her lungs. The rain soaked through her wild mane and a rolling peal drowned out the sound of her voice.

---

By tomorrow morning the storm was over. The residents of Ponyville emerged from their basement shelters and began cleaning the streets. The village itself had suffered very little damage. A few branches had come loose and some of the more delicate flower gardens were ruined.

A sizable volunteer force marched its way to Sweet Apple Acres with carts full of landscaping tools and potting soil. The residents were no strangers to a bit of yard work. After all, Ponyville was renowned for its beautiful lawns and gardens. They could certainly spare the time to help tidy up Ponyville’s oldest and most successful family business.

None of them had been prepared for the devastation ahead. The eye of the storm had bored a shallow crater in the earth. Dozens of trees had been reduced to scorched, splintered stumps. A barn and a work shed were nothing but a charred outline where the walls had stood. There was no wreckage. Only barren ground.

Applejack pulled her cart through the ruined patch of orchard. She paused as volunteers approached to load it up with rocks and branches. Everypony she met was doing their best to wear a supportive smile.

“Applejack! Over here!” Twilight ran over, followed by a cloud of sparkling specks. “I managed to recover most of the roofing nails from the south field. My ‘iron-find-it’ spell is working perfectly, but I’m afraid most of the nails were melted by the electrical storm... I doubt you’ll be able to reuse them.”

“Aw, shucks. We can always melt ’em down to make new nails. And besides, I’m more worried about leaving them in the ground. They’d be a right nasty surprise for someone runnin’ the plough.”

“Of course. I’ll continue sweeping the rest of the fields. It shouldn’t take long.”

“Sure thing.” Applejack said, and smirked. “Just be sure to leave a little work for the rest of us, why don’tcha?”

“Applejack!” They turned to see Rarity, covered in a slight smattering of dust. “We’ve flattened out the barren land and laid down a fresh layer of potting soil. We’re ready to smooth everything out with the rollers and lay down some grass seed.”

“Rarity?!” Applejack said. “You were only supposed to organize the work crews. You didn’t have to do the work yourself!”

“Applejack, please,” Rarity said. “I know exactly how I would feel if the boutique were to come to harm. I simply couldn’t stand aside.”

“Now listen, you two. I appreciate all the help but there’s no need to go overboard.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “But your orchard means everything to you!”

Applejack laughed, and continued hauling the cart down the dirt road. Twilight and Rarity followed alongside.

“I thought you’d know me better’n that! A farm isn’t a bunch of trees and buildings. It’s a home. It’s friends and family.” Applejack paused as Applebloom walked past, hauling a tiny cart full of fresh tulip bulbs. “Sure the storm ruined a lot of hard work, but there’s always hard work to be done on a farm. I’m just thankful nopony got hurt.”

Twilight and Rarity shared a bittersweet smile.

“I’m glad you’re taking this so well,” Twilight said. “But we know what a shock it must be.”

They came to the end of the road where the barn had been. There was nothing left but an outline on the ground. There, sitting at the end of the road, was Rainbow Dash. Her colorful mane was even more wild and windswept than usual and the shoulder of her left wing was tightly bound with cotton bandages. Nothing serious... just support for a minor sprain.

“I gotta say, I don’t think I’m the one who’s hurtin’ the most.” Applejack stepped out from under the cart’s yoke. “You two gimme a minute.”

They nodded and returned to their work. Applejack walked down the rest of the road and went to Dash’s side. She was staring at the ruined foundation with dull eyes. She’d been sitting there for over an hour.

“You must be famished after all that flyin’ last night. You want some juice or somethin’?”

No response.

Applejack shuffled her hooves. “It’s not a big loss, y’know. That barn was gettin’ old anyhow, and there wasn’t anything in it.”

Still no response.

Applejack stepped over and looked her friend in the face. “Now listen here. You tried your best out there. A thunderstorm is one of the worst kind of storms there is! You know how dangerous it is to be under one... to say nothin’ of flying through one.”

Applejack sat down beside her. “I know you’re all about winning, but this was a hurricane. You can’t win a hurricane. And it coulda been a whole lot worse, too! It didn’t hit the village, right? Can you imagine what that would’ve—”

Rainbow Dash stood up and walked back up the path.

Applejack chased after her. “R.D.? Are you..?” She flinched as she saw the fury in her friend’s eyes.

Applejack slowed to a halt and watched her friend walk back to Ponyville.

“Atten...hut!”

A grid of pegasi stamped their feet and straightened their necks. They were arranged in front of the town hall’s circular porch. Rainbow Dash marched back and forth, using the porch as a stage.

“All right you sad, sorry sacks o’ feathers! You’ve all been part of the volunteer weather patrol in the past. You aren’t fully certified weatherponies, but you know how to take orders and follow instructions. You’ve helped us professionals tackle the jobs that are big, but simple. Today, that changes!”

Dash let out an ear-splitting whistle and a huge banner unfurled from the second-floor balcony of the building. The canvas was painted with a crude map of Ponyville and its surrounding districts. Dash pointed at the map with a wingtip.

“In the last two months alone, Ponyville’s outskirts have been assaulted by five major rainstorms... three of which turned into thunderstorms!”

The crowd shuddered in horror.

Dash pointed a hoof at them. “Don’t you wimp out on me! It’s only a matter of time till Ponyville suffers a direct hit. Are we gonna let that happen? Well? Are we?”

There was a pitiful, half-hearted cheer. Dash groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Come on! Saving Ponyville isn’t a freakin’ spectator sport! We need every set of wings we can muster!”

Twilight pushed her way through the crowd and walked up the stairs. “Dash? What’s going on here?”

“Right on time!” Dash pulled her up and thumped her on the back. “You all know Twilight Sparkle, right? Right. Well, my best friend here has cooked up a super-secret magic spell to give us the edge we need. Twilight? Go ahead and tell ’em how it works. And try to keep the scientific mumbo-jumbo to a minimum.”

“Tell them about what? Dash, what are you talking about?”

“The spell! You were supposed to whip up a magic spell to protect us against lightning.”
Twilight arched an eyebrow. “I was?”

“Yeah. I left you a note.”

“You left me a doodle of you kicking a cloud with a frowny face.”

“Like I said. A note. I figured you’d get the idea.”

“Dash, please.” Twilight turned away from the crowd and lowered her voice. “You gathered up almost every pegasus in town. You can’t just boss them around like this!”

Dash held up a silver badge. “As the city’s official ‘Weatherpony in Chief,’ I am declaring a state of emergency. I’m turning the volunteer weather force into an elite brigade of crack super-troopers. When I’m through with them, they’ll chew lightning and burp thunder! They are Ponyville’s first, last, front, second, middle, only, and third line of defence.” She pointed back to the crowd. “As of this minute you are Ponyville’s Storm Riders!”

Fluttershy peeked out from the front row. “Can I please go home now?” Her whimper was clearly audible over the tense silence.

Dash leaned over the edge of the porch and pointed a hoof at her. “Keep this up and you won’t have a home to go back to! None of us will! You don’t want to live in a storm shelter for the rest of your life, do you?!”

Fluttershy’s knees and bottom lip trembled.

Twilight grabbed Dash and pulled her back. “Would you stop it already? You’re scaring everypony!”

“I’m not scaring them. The thunderstorms are! I’m just pointing it out!”

The rest of their friends emerged from the crowd with Applejack in the lead. “Now listen here, Dash. I know we’ve got a serious problem... we all know that. But you won’t get anywhere by starting a panic.”

“I thought you’d be the first pony to cheer us on! You lost over a dozen trees last night. They take fifteen years to grow that big! What’s gotten into you?”

Applejack crossed both pairs of legs. “Listen, sugarcube... It’s called a natural disaster for a reason. It’s not like it happened on purpose. We have an insurance policy for that sort of thing.”

Fluttershy peeked out from behind her. “And besides... I’m not so sure the volunteer weather patrol is up to the task. We don’t have any experience with such powerful weather patterns... especially not thunder and lightning!”

“Oh, come on. Not everypony is as scared as you are.” She pointed at the crowd, but hesitated. Every single face was nervous or fearful.

Twilight patted her shoulder. “Come on, Dash. You know there are only two things that every pony is afraid of. Snakes, and lightning. And the latter is a hazard for even the most experienced pegasi.”

Dash stamped a hoof. “Well, I ain’t afraid of no lightning!”

“Double negatives notwithstanding, you’re the only one here who isn’t. And Fluttershy is the only pony I know of who isn’t afraid of snakes.”

“They’re not so bad,” Fluttershy said. “As long as you don’t move too quickly. Or too slowly... or stand too still.”

“But...! You...!” Dash looked at her friends. “Aren’t any of you on my side?”

Applejack stepped forward. “Of course we are. We just think you need to put some thought into it. Slow and steady wins the race, right?”

Dash frowned at her. “If by wins, you mean demolishes. And by race, you mean village.”

Twilight smiled up at her. “We’ve saved Ponyville before, haven’t we? We can do this together.”

“I know you want to help but this is different. A weather problem calls for a pegasus solution!”

“Actually,” Twilight said, “I’ve been in correspondence with a number of outlying estates. There are reports of rogue storms appearing all along the edge of the Everfree forest.”

Her horn glowed and an array of purple lights and lines appeared on the giant banner map. The lines came alive, flowing and rippling over the surface of the canvas. “They’re far too chaotic to predict, but something tells me these weather patterns might not be entirely natural. There’s too many of them in too short a period. If this is an artificial phenomenon we can still help you investigate it.”

“Hold on a minute, sugarcube. Are you saying something... made these storms?”

“Not exactly, but I don’t think they’re natural. The true cause is more likely—”

Applejack tromped away. “Y’all meet up at the end of the west field. We got an hour to pack up and move out.”

Comments

[carnivale]

This is actually really good so far! I'm surprised there aren't any comments yet.
Onto the next chapter! Lovin' Dash's attitude!

[DiscountDiscord]

“Tell them about what? Dash, what are you talking about?”

“The spell! You were supposed to whip up a magic spell to protect us against lightning.”

Twilight arched an eyebrow. “I was?”

“Yeah. I left you a note.”

“You left me a doodle of you kicking a cloud with a frowny face.”

“Like I said. A note. I figured you’d get the idea.”