//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 - Briefing 
// Story: 10 Days, 3 Adventures - Part 3 - "Cloudsdale Reunion" 
// by TP Night 
//------------------------------//

Just three minutes later, Rainbow landed in front of the Wonderbolt HQ building,
and to her surprise, Mist was already standing there.

"How'd you get here before me?!" She asked in surprise.

"Oh, I... Know a couple of short-cuts, and I am pretty fast myself, so..."

"But I took short-cuts too, and I'm the fastest pony in this city!"

"Well, I guess my short-cuts were shorter.. And keep in mind, I left the
school area before you did, I saw you still talking to that weather pony when
I left the ground. So I would say I had maybe a half-minute or so head start.
In any case, we do not have time to discuss that now, we have more pressing matters.
Shall we enter the Headquarters? Do we... Do we need to knock or something, or
can we just barge in unannounced due to the current events?"

"Just go inside, I'm a reserve member, so I'm practically part of the 'Bolts."

"Right, the Reserve Squad. I was planning to ask you all for an interview,
like I already did with all actual Wonderbolts, I just have not had time yet, and..."

"Enough about that. You said yourself we have more pressing matters! Come on!"

Rainbow pushed open the large door and entered, walking up to a desk in the main
hall as they entered. "Rainbow Dash, Reserve Bolts and Weather pony,
reporting for duty. Where do you need me? Oh, and this guy is Mist, he's with me."

The young stallion behind the desk pressed a button on a intercom system.
"Ms. Spitfire, there's a Ms. Dash out here. Shall I send her in?"

Spitfires voice replied over the intercom, "Dash? As in, Rainbow Dash?"

"Yes, ma'am. Says she's a Reserve, and a weather pony."

"Send her in." Spitfires voice replied shortly, and then went silent.

The pony waved at an elevator next to the desk.

"Third floor, first door to your left. Has a name tag with Captain Spitfire on the door,
impossible to miss it. Go on up."

Rainbow smiled. "Thanks." And then, she turned to Mist. "Come on, you're going
up with me to meet Spitfire. She'll tell us what to do, and where."

"Very well, sounds like the best plan for now, yes." Mist agreed, and pressed
the button to call the elevator down.

A few minutes later (the elevator was slow), they entered Spitfires office,
a relative large room with a huge desk, a couple of bookshelves, a file cabinet,
and nothing more, unless you also count the small but bright lamps in the ceiling.
At the desk, they found Spitfire standing, and looking at various maps and
blueprints of Cloudsdale, the factory, and zoomed-in areas.

"Dash. Good. I'm glad you're here. We'll need you and your speed today if we're
going to pull this off effectively."

"Sounds like you already have a plan, Ma'am?" Rainbow asked.

"Don't you ma'am me, Dash. Call me Spitfire or shut up." She retorted,
half-serious, half-jokingly. Luckily, Rainbow had learned to pick up on Spitfires
sarcastic sense of humor, but Mist had not, and was slightly stunned by the way
the two mares talked to each other. Instead of trying to make sense of it,
he decided to simply stay quiet until they addressed him.

"So, What's the plan?" Rainbow asked.

"Partly still in development." Spitfire replied. "We don't have all the facts yet.
What we do know is that the factory had some trouble, so of course I sent ponies
to investigate. Soarin' and Misty Fly is there now, talking to the factory ponies.
Once they get back, we can start discussing solutions.
For now, we also need to do damage containment. Several high-grade storm clouds
got out and lost control, including a couple of Eights, as I'm sure you've been told."

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, I heard. Just tell me what to do!"

Mist nodded too. "Same here, just tell me where you need me, and I will do what I
can to assist. If there is anything I can do, of course."

At that moment, Spitfires intercom buzzed, and the receptionists voice
was heard over the system. "Captain, Misty Fly just came back. Shall I send her up?"

Spitfire pressed the 'talk' button on the machine, and replied shortly,
"Yes, send her up right away."

A minute later, Misty Fly entered the room.

Spitfire greeted her, and then asked, "So what's the situation? Did you find out
what's going on over there?"

Misty nodded and started talking.

"Yeah, well.. They're not sure how it started, but there was a small fire in the factory,
near the machines. Some cables and a control panel was damaged in the fire,
resulting in the machines going nuts, and producing stronger clouds than they're
supposed to do. Basically, the machines power gauge got stuck on 'High'.
Also, they obviously tried shutting the machines off, but the killswitch must've
been damaged in the fire too, because it didn't work."

"You mean the machines are still producing clouds?" Spitfire asked,
almost sounding slightly worried but hiding it well under a tone of professionalism.

"As far as I know, yes. The machine was active when I left ten minutes ago a least,
and I really doubt their 'Plan B' is done already." Misty replied.

Mist, with a clear tone of curiosity, asked, "Plan B?"

Misty Fly coughed slightly. "Excuse me. accidentally got some smoke from the
fire at the factory. small fire, lots of smoke. Anyway, yes, Plan B was to cut the main
power lines to the entire machine floor in the factory, or Plan C, the entire factory.
But that involves locating and disabling several power lines, directly connected
from the energy harvesters at the edge of town. Problem is, those power lines are old,
and hard to work with. First, they need to be found, and even that's a problem,
because some of them are built in to the Cloudsdale main ground-cloud itself.
We're talking the old half-forgotten access tunnels and stuff here. We're gonna need
to talk to elders, former workers and such, to find where those tunnels are and how to
get inside them. That is, if the entrances are still available at all, otherwise we'll
have to locate them above ground, and literally break in to them."

Spitfire scratched her chin with her eyes almost closed behind her dark glasses.
She was deep in thought. Mist raised his hoof. "Uhm.. I know where one of those
access tunnels are.. or at least, where it should be if it is still there."

Spitfire rasied an eyebrow, turning toward the stallion. "You do? How?"

Mist hesitated for a split second, not even long enough for anypony t notice,
before he replied, "Well, you see.. When I was researching Wonderbolt history,
I came across some other stuff too in the old books I was reading.
Historical records and such, Cloudsdale history. As you surely know,
Wonderbolts historically had many functions other than being aerial acrobats
and city mascots. They also often helped with all sorts of other work.
Surveillance, search-and-rescue operations, construction, teaching at the
Flight Academy, community service, police work. Even politics and military
operations. Well, one example I came across was the tunnels you talk about.
Wonderbolts were used for aerial recon during the construction, to keep the sites safe
during work. As such, some of the tunnels were included in the history books I read.
And, my memory is quite good. I remember reading about an entrance into one
of those tunnels, and I recall exactly where it should be, if it has not been removed."

Spitfire nodded slowly and started scratching her chin again. "I See... That's perfect.
Could you show a group of technicians and Wonderbolts where the entrance is?"

Mist nodded. "I can, yes. Just tell me when, and who to bring."

Rainbow now raised her hoof. "What about me? Want me to go there?"

Spitfire shook her head. "No, I have another need for you, Dash. Since you're one of
our fastest fliers, I'll need you to function as a messenger, and progress-inspector.
Basically, fly between the various shelters, make sure everything's okay, help them
if they need something, and also check on the rescue teams, the factory, and so on,
and report back to me once every hour or so. That way I can get somewhat regular
updates, and decide what to do. Can you do that?"

Rainbow gave a quick salute. "Yes, Ma'am!"

"...and stop calling me Ma'am, or I'll have you demoted to floor mop."

"Don't you mean janitor, or floor washer?" Rainbow asked.

"No. I mean the actual mop. I'll have you wash the floors with your mane."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Are you willing to take the risk?"

The two mares gave each other a half-serious, half-joking smile, and a quick laugh.
Mist looked at them, even more confused than before. Misty Fly leaned toward him,
whispering, "Don't worry.. Nopony understands those two."

Mist replied, also whispering, "I am glad I am not the only one then."

Spitfire suddenly turned serious again.

"Now then, ponies! We have work to do! Rainbow, look at this map. All green-circled
buildings are the safe shelters. Memorize them, and then go to each one and check
their status, make sure they're all doing okay, and report back here."

Rainbow nodded, took a look at the map for a minute, and then left the office through
the window, since that was faster than exiting the building the normal way.
(although for Rainbow, going through windows is the normal way.)

Meanwhile, Spitfire kept giving orders.

"Misty Fly, you return to the factory, get a couple of technicians capable of
detaching the power lines once we find them. And Mist, you go make sure
that entrance is still there, and then return here. If it's still there, we'll use it.
If not, we'll have to find another way in to the tunnels."

Mist and Misty nodded, and both left the office - they too took the liberty of
using the already open window instead of the slow elevator.