Violet Skies

by Fluttersnake31

Chapter 8 - Back to Work

Back to Work

Finally returning to Cloudsdale, Violet was sitting in a hot air balloon with three mares that looked to be about the same age as herself. She was wearing her modified weather suit again as her magic held onto a rope that was tied around the Everfree cloud, which was still pacified from the net that held it in place. One of the three mares was apparently the one she'd written the letter to earlier, the orange pegasus Scootaloo. It was quiet, since the three had finished arguing over something that Violet really didn't care to pay attention to. She was mostly just watching the cloud, eager to start work on it. The silence was broken by Scootaloo.

"So, what exactly did you need to get an Everfree storm cloud for? What does a pony even do with one of those?"

Violet smiled at her, "Well, I'm going to study it and figure out how they work. They constantly generate their own lightning field, and they are almost ten times denser than a normal storm cloud, but they still float as high as it wants. There are so many secrets I can learn from it. As I've been watching it, I've been thinking so much. Perhaps if I figured out how they create their own lightning, maybe that knowledge could lead to infinite energy generators? Imagine if we could power all of Canterlot with just one of these clouds?"

"That would be pretty impressive. I guess I've never thought about that. If you could do that, I bet you could build a scooter that runs on it's own lightning generator! That could make them move so fast! That'd be awesome. I hope you can figure it out soon, I want to be the first one to use it." Scootaloo said excitedly.

With a chuckle, Violet turned to look at the cloud. "That would be quite entertaining, seeing ponies riding around on self-powered scooters. Sounds somewhat dangerous though. I'm sure the first thing that my boss would want me to do is find a way to power the weather suits though."

Scootaloo chuckled, standing to glance over the side of the balloon. She immediately screamed. "We're about to crash through the cloud floor! Sweetie Belle, weren't you supposed to be steering us?"

The white unicorn was leaning slightly against the corner as she looked up from a book she levitated in front of her which she dropped from the sudden outburst. "What!? I thought it was Applebloom's turn! I was reading!"

Scootaloo groaned, looking at the earth pony who was sitting up from the balloon's basket floor. She had been asleep until the sudden panic woke her. "Ah' told you ta' keep watch Scootaloo. That's why ah' took a nap!" the irritated yellow mare replied, clearly angry about her nap being disturbed.

"You didn't tell me anything, Applebloom! You just went to sleep!" Scootaloo replied, reaching for the controls and turning up the heat so they would head up and away from the cloud floor. Once out of the way, she slowed it down and let it gently drift to land softly on the clouds. "Whew, that was close. It was nice to meet you, Violet. We have some stuff to take care of in town, so we probably won't be able to give you a ride back if you need one."

Violet stepped down from the basket, pulling the cloud along with the rope. "It was nice to meet you too, but I don't live in Ponyville, so I'll be fine. Well, have fun with whatever you're off doing." She waived and turned to walk towards the factory. 'Looks like it's finally time to go back to work. Those three argue a lot, I honestly don't know how they became friends. Oh well, I have a cloud to study!' Violet thought to herself.

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The weapons bay seemed much busier than it ever had been. A number of various machines and tools now took up it's formerly empty space, the large cloud container in the center of the room. Gat and Morri were working on their own issued projects and Cloudy Blitz, the weapons manager who typically wouldn't show up, was sitting at the small table in the corner. He just glanced at Violet for a moment before standing and heading over towards her.

"About time you caught that cloud. Now go put it in the container and I'll give you your assignment papers. You don't need to be shown how to use one of those, do you?" the sunglasses-wearing stallion asked.

Violet huffed, "I know how to operate a cloud containment device. Nice to see you too, boss.." There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she turned to climb up a large utility ladder that led to the top of the machine. At the top was a large opening that was closed off by grating that opened to a lever. Violet pulled the lever, opening up the grating so she could drop the cloud in. She removed the rope and levitated the cloud to the bottom where she released the netting around it with her magic. Quickly, she closed it up so the cloud couldn't escape. It seemed to angrily fly about the inside, shocking the walls of the container in its anger. Violet thought it looked sorta like an angry bee trapped in a jar. She giggled to herself before heading down the ladder-stairs and over to the table where Cloudy presented a folder of papers.

"I hope you enjoyed your time off, because now it's time for you to work. You have three tasks to complete. First, you need to figure out a way to control that cloud and create an easy way to control it's friends. Second, you have to build something that can channel their free lightning into a high power bolt that can be aimed. Third, if you can find any other uses for the cloud that can be used as some sort of weapon of defense, than let me know and we can come up with something together to add to it. That isn't too much for a unicorn like you to handle, is it?" Cloudy said, pointing with a large hoof, smirking.

"You actually want me to make weapons? I thought I was trying to discover secrets about the Everfree clouds, not build a weapon from one." she frowned.

The stallion groaned. "You're assigned to the weapons department for a reason. If I wanted you to make pretty pink clouds and frolic around with them, I'd have sent you to the cloud department. Too bad for you they're full, so you're stuck making weapons or not having a job here. And it's not what I want, these are from the big boss."

Violet gave him a sour look, she didn't like when he talked like that. "The big boss sent those assignments? As in Rainbow Dash? I didn't think that's what she meant when she told me the other day."

Cloudy leaned back in his chair. "No, genius, Rainbow Dash left Lightning Dust in charge of the south side facilities while she oversees the north side facilities. If you weren't playing with clouds in Ponyville this morning, you'd have been at the meeting. We're also going to be getting more focus soon, which means we might increase staff here. Apparently, things are getting rough in the Frozen North and Celestia may need new weapons to take on the new threat to the Crystal Empire. So, If I were you, I would probably try and complete your assignments within the next few weeks. Unfortunately, I have my own assignments so you'll be seeing even less of me. Stupid admin stuff will have me running all over the place."

Violet almost let out a sigh of relief, but stifled it. "Alright, I'll get started quickly then.. Enjoy your admin duties." she said before heading back to the cloud container. Cloudy rolled his eyes and stood to head out of the bay.

The lone storm cloud just drifted slowly in the container, not angry anymore. It occasionally let out a small spark, but seemed mostly tame for now. Violet only smiled, watching it drift for a few moments before glancing over to a table where Gat seemed to be looking over some equipment. He didn't notice her since he was distracted, but she wandered over to visit him.

"What do they have you working on?" she'd ask.

Gat jumped slightly, startled a little since he was lost in his thoughts. "Vi'let? How have ya' been? They jus' got me workin' on building a thingy that reflects alicorn magic. 'Pparently there's a rogue alicorn in the Frozen North o' sorts. These here armor pieces were used o'er a thousand years ago by a group of ponies who tried to stop Nightmare Moon on their own, but failed. I thought it was some sorta' unicorn magics that protected them, but this is actually some sorta' material that nullifies magic altogeth'r. I'm tryin' to figure out where they came from so we could get more."

Violet smiled. "Well, that's actually really useful, I suppose. As long as we find it first though. Something like that seems very, very dangerous if it's in the wrong hooves."

The dark green pegasus nodded. "That's why I'm gonna find it m'self. With some personal friends o' mine, course. If ya wanna come, I wouldn't mind the extra help. Whenever, we figure where, o' course."

"I'd love to come along, if I can. I'll be pretty busy with the Everfree cloud though, but I'll make time. Well, it was nice to talk with you, but I should probably get to work."

Gat smiled, "Yeah, me too. Good luck with that cloud. Them's dangerous, but I got faith in ya'. Morri might be more free to help, she's just makin' a giant sun panel 'r something."

"I'll keep her in mind. She probably won't want to be bothered by me." she chuckled, trotting over to the cloud container. "All right cloud, first things first, I'm Violet Dawn and I'm going to be learning what I can from you. Now, I have to take a little sample from you to start with, so this might hurt a little."

Taking a little syringe, she pressed a small button on the side of the container, opening a little hole. Quickly, she levitated it into the container and stuck it into the cloud, sucking in a small puff of cloud into the syringe. She pulled it back out and closed the opening before the cloud went into another little lightning fit.

Violet giggled to herself. "You're so fussy, I'll give it back when I'm done, I promise. I just need it for a little while." she said to the cloud as she took the sample into another large device which was more like an isolated single room with all glass sides and a table with various tools and smaller measuring devices. Once inside, she shut the door behind her and went to the table and set down the syringe. It was very quiet in the little isolation room, which made it perfect for her to work in peace. She put a small petri dish down beside it and released the cloud sample into the dish. It almost started to float away before Violet casted a small bubble around the dish to prevent the tiny cloud puff to float away.

Pulling out a simple microscope of sorts, she looked at the cloud, studying every edge and curve of the cloud puff. It looked almost like a regular cloud would, but she noticed something different. It seemed to lightly pulse, as if the electricity inside it kept it alive. Violet smiled to herself, continuing to study for a couple hours until she heard a knocking on the door. She looked up to see Morri knocking. Morri looked as emotionless as usual, but the lights seemed to be half off in the bay. Violet never noticed, since the isolated room had its own lights. Setting down her instruments, she opened the door.

"Violet, it's time to go home. You're lucky I stayed to make sure everything not needed running was turned off." the teal mare said with her monotone voice. The lack of inflection made it hard to tell her mood, but Violet could tell from whether the tips of Morri's mane was pointed or frayed, indicating content or irritation usually. Morri seemed to be content.

"I guess my sense of time was a little off, I did get here a little later than usual. Thanks, Morri."

Morri nodded. "Yup. I'm going home now. See you tomorrow, Violet."

Violet watched as she turned and left. Shrugging, she put away her tools and levitated the cloud puff back over to the container, returning the puff to it's owner. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow little cloud. You helped me a lot today, and I think tomorrow, we'll actually be able to make progress. Hopefully I can get what I need.." she said to the storm cloud that just fizzled with it's static, seeming to watch as she left. Morri was at the door still when Violet opened it to leave.

"You're talking to the cloud as if it hears you. That's weird. It's just a cloud."

Violet frowned, "No, It's more than just a cloud. It has it's own properties that gives it a low level intelligence. It's almost like a pet.."

Morri rolled her eyes. "It's a cloud, Violet. Go home." With that, she left the building for good now, flying off towards central Cloudsdale.

Sighing, Violet took another cloud-walking pill and began heading to her Couldsdale apartment. It wasn't very far from the factory, since it was mostly built for it's employees. Her room was pretty small, but it was all she really needed. A twin size bed sat in the corner and a wide, short dresser was across it against the wall. There were a few pictures of old friends and one of her and her parents together. Violet smiled at her picture and then hopped into her bed. 'Tomorrow, I think I might be able to read the cloud's thoughts. If I succeed, it'll make controlling it easier!' she thought to herself before soon drifting off to sleep, eager for tomorrow.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

...Just what is the picture supposte to be a picture of?

[Fluttersnake31]

7293456 Its Violet standing behind a cloud. Its was just something I drew up so there was a picture. I'm planning on having a friend of mine make a better one when she has the time ^~^