//------------------------------//
// 15 The Storm Spire 
// Story: Alternate Beginnings: Year Five 
// by Doug Graves 
//------------------------------//

May 12th, 997

"Hey, Sis, it's time!" Scootaloo yells up at the nearby cloud. At the lack of response she growls, pacing back and forth a few times before calling again, "Come on, you promised!" Her hoof taps the ground, the beat quickening at the lack of response.

"Ugh, is it time already?" Rainbow moans after a long wait, a cyan wing moving up to block the sun from her face. The disheveled rainbow mane comes up next, the attached face yawning as she slowly gets to her hooves. The pegasus takes a few shaky steps forward, falling off the cloud and doing a somersault before her wings flare out, her mane shaking back and forth to get that trademark wind-swept look. She concentrates as she lands, still a little shaky even on the low speed approach to Scootaloo.

Scootaloo prances back and forth a little as she watches the aerial trick, "Okay okay okay, let's go!" She darts towards a large stack of wood, then back to her dam, then back towards the wood. Her hooves continue pounding the grassy surface of the field, swerving around the various tree stumps in her way.

Rainbow Dash smiles down at her filly, a quick nuzzle shared between the two when she catches up before Rainbow takes off again, practicing slow speed flight as the two get to the wood pile. Rainbow looks around, trying to find something, but ends up scratching her head, "So, um, what exactly did you want to do with the place?"

Scootaloo grabs her scooter, pushing herself around Rainbow while she explains, "So, I wanted a sweet track to practice on. Turns, ramps, and Daddy was talking about something called a half-pipe. So I was thinking we could make an area that has those and another area that has more of a speed course."

"Now you're talking my language!" Rainbow says. She looks out at the grassy field around them; it had originally been one of the southern Apple orchards, but a heavy storm years ago had knocked over a lot of the trees, leaving a lot of jagged stumps. The ground itself is fairly flat but has been allowed to go fallow, many opportunistic saplings and grasses growing around, leaving a lot of obstacles for any true speed track. Rainbow looks up from the field, seeing Applejack dragging another cart full of wooden planks. "Hey Applejack!" Rainbow calls, waving a hoof, "What'cha got there?"

"Howdy, Rainbow, Scootaloo. Ah'm bringing in some more ramp material, mostly from one of our old barns. It ain't gonna be perfect, but it should hold up to anything less than Rainbow crashing into it full speed."

"Hey, that only happened the one time, and I already apologized!" Rainbow pouts, crossing her forelegs and looking off to the side. She blows a bit of her mane out of her eyes, "And you wanted that section of wall knocked out anyway."

Applejack rolls her eyes, "Well, Ah mostly told ya that to spare your feelings, but we did make it work after all. Doug kept complaining about having to stoop down to get into that barn, and we got a bigger door out of your lack of attention. You might need to take longer naps, or maybe spend less of the nights staying up and sleeping instead." Applejack stops the cart next to the stack of wood, taking her harness off and hopping up into the cart. She says in a softer voice, "Okay, you, grab your stuff and out ya go." Applejack takes one end of a stack of planks, Rainbow huffing as she moves to grab the other end, the two preparing to unload the cart.

Applebaum, a wooden pencil looking comically oversized perched behind her ear, saddlebags stuffed with paper strapped to her side, cautiously drops off the side of the stack of wood. She gives her dam a quick nuzzle, the next leap taking her off the cart, her casual walk to one of the flatter stumps next to them. Her mane blows back, the draft from Rainbow and the Everfree; she pulls one of the pieces of paper out of her saddlebags, spreading it out over the stump and placing a few rocks along the corners to keep it in place. She smiles, looking up at Scootaloo, the filly cautiously approaching and looking at the blank paper.

"So, what's that for?" Scootaloo asks, pointing her hoof at the paper.

"To help you plan!" Applebaum grins, pulling the pencil out from behind her ear. "Doug said that you and Rainbow might not plan right and could waste a lot of time and wood without a good idea of what to do."

"Hey!" Rainbow calls out, "We totally could have pulled this off without any egghead planning for us!" She drops her beam, her and Applejack going back for another load, "I oughta go give him a buck or two, not believing in us!"

Scootaloo glances to Applebaum, then back to the paper. She quietly says, "So, uh, what were you going to do?"

Applebaum quietly says, stifling a sob, "Um, just write down what you girls wanted to do. Take notes, that kind of thing." She hangs her head a little, "Just trying to help."

"Are ya sure, Rainbow? Ah mean, this is a pretty big project, and Big Mac and Ah don't just up and build a barn. It takes some serious planning." Applejack grabs the next stack of wood, lifting it up. "And, trust me on this, you ain't exactly the planning type."

"Yeah, well, me and Scoots got this!" Rainbow grunts as she picks up her side, one more load to go.

"Alright, Rainbow, Ah trust ya, and you know Doug does too. How much more wood you think you'll need to haul out here?"

Rainbow sets her side down, looking around at the field surrounding them. "Um, uh, Scoots, how much did you want to make?"

Scootaloo looks up from the paper, her imagination running wild with images of giant diving boards and massive earthen banks, her scooter flying over each of the obstacles in her way. "I don't know."

Rainbow looks back to Applejack, giving a small shrug. Applejack sighs, saying, "Well, Ah ain't hauling any more wood out here until you know how much you need. And Ah especially don't want to be hauling wood only to turn around and have to haul it back." She points a hoof at Rainbow, "If'n that's the case, Ah'm liable to make you haul it back yourself." She adjusts her hat, Rainbow squinting an eye as she stares back.

"Well, this can't be too hard," Rainbow says, her gaze shifting to the field. "We don't need any for the field section, right?"

"Um, we might need some," Scootaloo says, "I want to make a few ramps over some of the stumps. You know, get a few up and down sections. Or, you know what would be really cool, is a ramp to take off of." She taps her hoof against her muzzle, "And it wouldn't hurt to have a ramp on the other side to land on, so I don't hit the ground so hard. I think it hurts the scooter when I do that in town."

"Yeah, okay, we can do that. So, that's, what, like, six planks of wood?" Rainbow taps her hoof against her chin, "And you want, um, how many of those?"

Applejack rolls her eyes, "How about, Ah let you three figure that out. Ah'll be out'n about if'n you're ready for more wood."

"Thanks, sis!" Applebaum says, her dam giving her a wink as she takes the empty cart and starts walking back to the farmhouse. The foal looks over to the two pegasi, noting their perturbed looks. "So, um, would you like some help planning? It all sounds really, um, awesome so far."

Rainbow lets out a long sigh, "Fine, you can help." 

Applebaum gives a short squeal, happily running back to the stump and picking up her pencil. "So, um, Ah think it might be better to start with a big picture. That's what Daddy said. You want a track around the outside, right?" Scootaloo nods, looking excited as Applebaum starts a list on a second sheet of paper. Rainbow pouts at the lack of action, glancing out to the wood and then back to the field. Applebaum says, "Hey, Rainbow, can you find out how much wood we have?"

"Um, we have a bunch of wood." Rainbow cocks her head to the side. "Like, a lot."

Applebaum sighs, "Can you get a tape measure and find out? It'll be good to know to tell Applejack how much more we need. And you don't want to haul the wood we need over here, do you?"

Rainbow considers for a second before she nods, "Yeah, I really don't want to do that. Be right back!" She darts off, the hints of a rainbow contrail behind her.

Applebaum looks back at Scootaloo, "Okay, so, Ah think you said you wanted some other things? What would those be?"

"Um, I... So, let's say I want some areas that are higher, so, like, ramps and stuff. And then I think it would be really cool to have this big, um, vertical wall. Like, a ramp that I could go up, and then come back down on."

Applebaum makes a quick sketch, "Something like this?"

Scootaloo glances at the picture of a small slide that very quickly goes vertical, "Yeah, that looks great! So, how much wood would that take?"

Applebaum adds a few numbers to it, looking around at the wood lying around them. "Um, Ah don't know. It depends on how much we need to support the vertical end, Ah think, and if you want to have a platform on top that you can jump off of."

"Ooh, that's a great idea!" Scootaloo prances back and forth a little, "Then I could, like, start from the top and then hit one of the ramps and catch some sweet air!"

"Okay, let's try to count this." Applebaum looks over at the planks of wood that they have, "So, I think those planks are a foot wide. And about five or six feet long, on the majority of them. And we want at least, say, ten feet tall. And then we need to build the support behind, which is going to be another, let's see, three posts, two tall, that's six, plus a few going across them for support, call it three, and then double that so that we can have a little place on top you can stand on. So eighteen plus ten, or twenty eight. Maybe a few more, so the curve on the ramp isn't so steep. Call it thirty pieces of wood."

Scootaloo watches as Applebaum quickly adds notes to the drawing she made, "I think I know what your special talent is going to be. This is gonna be so sweet!"

"Heh, yeah, it'll be pretty sweet." Applebaum frowns as she glances back at her flank, "No cutie mark though; oh well." Applebaum looks at the paper on the stump, "So, how much space do you think that will need, and how much space do we have here?"

"Um, lemme check." Scootaloo grabs her scooter, making her way from one end of the field to the other. She gets back around the same time Rainbow returns, the mare beginning to count and measure the planks of wood. Scootaloo says, "About a hundred yards, squared."

"Okay, and that'll be good for your outside track, right?" Applebaum asks, drawing on her paper, "And how wide would that be?"

"I think ten feet is good. And I don't want the track going around the entire boundary. Just on half of it." Scootaloo reaches for the pencil, Applebaum hoofing it over, "More like... this." She carefully draws a line around the southern and eastern section, then a meandering line, lots of switchbacks and large turns to connect back to the southwest section.

"Okay, that looks cool, but where is the ramp stuff going to be?" Applebaum points her hoof, "Ah don't think there is enough space for that."

"Oh." Scootaloo looks down as Rainbow comes over; the mare is wearing a hard hat, a foal sized one in one hoof and some construction equipment held in a bucket in the other. "I guess I need to put that in."

"What'cha got there, squirt?" Rainbow says, looking at the drawing, trying to read through the chicken scratch hoofwriting, "Looks... awesome. I think."

"Yeah!" Scootaloo says, "Okay, so, how about this?" She erases some of the lines, drawing in a few large squares at the southeast part. "Enough space for the track around the outside, and we can put the ramp section here! And then the other platform sections in this area."

"Aww yeah, that's what I want to see!" Rainbow says. Applebaum points her to the schematics for the ramp, Rainbow giving a happy nod, "I'll start working on that section, making some of those things we were talking about. So, how about we put that big ramp you want on the little hill on the southeast part. Then we can put a few of the other smaller spots on the area around it." She moves forward a little before stopping and turning around, rubbing a hoof against the back of her head, "Oh, and, um, Applebaum, thanks for the help."

Applebaum smiles, "Thanks, Rainbow! Glad to be of as-sas, um, help."

Scootaloo points back at the map, "Okay, so, let's go map out along the edge, find out where exactly the track is going to do. At least along the southern and eastern edge, 'cause I know where the track is going to be there. Let's find each stump that's in the way, and which ones we should get Applejack to drag out and which ones we should build ramps on."

"Okay!" Applebaum smiles, bringing along a sheet of paper to keep track of how many smaller ramps they would need to make. She pulls out a marker for Scootaloo to mark the stumps they want to remove, the two fillies galloping to the edge of the field. 

Scootaloo begins to run along the track in her mind, leaping over some of the stumps and calling, "Ramp!" Others she takes the marker in her mouth, jumping on top and making a black 'x' while Applebaum struggles to keep up. They eventually get to the end of the line, Scootaloo waiting while Applebaum catches up, though neither is breathing very hard. They run over to Rainbow Dash, the mare working on bringing planks of wood to the top of the hill.

Rainbow Dash motions to the two hard hats, "Okay, girls, each of you put on one of these and we'll get started. We only have the two hammers, so the two of you get acquainted with those while I keep bringing the wood over. I'll be holding the pieces in place while the two of you get to hammering." Rainbow looks back down on the picture, "And, um, I hope your balance is good, because we might need to be standing on this structure while we build it. At least, you two will have to hammer while I hold the piece up high. Shouldn't be too bad though."

Scootaloo puts on her purple helmet, Applebaum the hard hat. The two fillies move to the pile of wood, able to drag the pieces of wood, one at a time, that they need to the site. Applebaum makes marks on the pieces of wood with her marker, trying to find pieces of similar length so the ramp is even. Rainbow grabs one of the vertical beams, looking at the ground and saying, "So, are we making this free standing? I think we might want to dig a couple of these posts into the ground."

Scootaloo says, "Apple Bloom is a good digger, we should get her to help!" She grins, "Oh, and Sweetie Belle could help lift and hold things with her magic! We should get them to help too!"

Rainbow shrugs, "Eh, I mean, if you want to, but I was kinda hoping this was something we'd get to do together, Scoots. No offense, Applebaum."

"None taken."

"Okay!" Scootaloo moves over to Rainbow, nuzzling her dam, "I love working with you."

"Heh, I love you too, squirt," Rainbow smiles, rubbing Scootaloo's mane, "But we need to get on this, you know? I'll start... ugh... digging a few post holes." She mutters to herself, wiping imaginary dirt off of her forelegs, "Going to get my hooves all dirty... ugh..."

"Hey, Rainbow, I can do that," Applebaum offers, moving to the first spot and testing the soft earth. Rainbow gives her a large grin and a quick nuzzle before flying back to the wood pile, saying, "Okay, Scoots, the hard part is going to get the nice curve we need without a big sheet that we lay on top. So, we're going to make a long section, then a triangle shape, and then the vertical part. We're going to nail the smoothest boards that we have on top of that."

"Got it!" Scootaloo exclaims, looking first at the longest boards, "I think we want these long ones for the vertical beams. Then we can use these boards over here for the ramp part. They're all about the same." She moves to the last stack, "That leaves these boards to make the base." A few wayward clumps of dirt hit Rainbow and Scootaloo, the two pegasi giving quick glares before they notice the progress Applebaum is making. She has dug out quite a lot of the area already, Scootaloo saying, "Hey, maybe I can get my cutie mark in excavation, too!"

"Ah better not have an excavation cutie mark!" Applebaum says, a quick glance to her flank. "What's excavation?"

"Digging," Rainbow smirks, "And I sure hope you don't get one of those. I'd hardly get to see you!"

"Yeah," Applebaum says, "There's got to be a better way to dig than to use your hooves. This is nice, soft earth and it's kinda hard on my hooves already!"

Rainbow lays out the pieces for the base of the ramp, nailing together boards to make two sturdy lengths. They lay the slats across the top, the various holes and splits in the wood not deterring the ponies in the least. Applebaum digs a deeper section, placing the long pieces for the vertical section in each, dirt covering the holes. The three laugh as they dance over the top of the dirt, pushing it back into place as best they can.

The three work mostly in silence as the day goes on, the vertical part of the ramp slowly taking form as they work their way higher and higher. Soon enough the top landing is complete, slats nailed to the side to form the ramp. The curved section gives them a little trouble, ending up with two slight bends from pieces partially nailed in a triangle connected to the horizontal and vertical sections.

The three exhausted ponies happily sigh as they look over their completed section. Applebaum gathers her materials as Scootaloo smirks to Rainbow Dash, "Oh, this is going to be sweet!"

Rainbow Dash grins at her filly, "I know! It's going to be" - she mashes her lips together - "So! Awesome!"

Scootaloo grabs her scooter, "Alright, here I go!" She makes 'vroom' noises as she gets on top of her scooter, slowly pushing herself in line with the ramp while Rainbow and Applebaum watch excitedly. She starts pushing with her hoof, her speed increasing quickly, still aiming directly at the ramp, the grass easily parting for her scooter's small wheels. Her wings beat rapidly, full speed now as she gets close.

Rainbow's eyes grow wide, holding her hooves up to her face as Scootaloo hits the first of the wooden beams, her scooter quickly making the transition from horizontal to vertical, launching her straight into the air. Three cheers come as she seems to hang in the air, her scooter slowly turns around, the filly's wings helping stabilize the rotation, aiming her directly at the ramp.

She hits the ramp, her wings beating furiously as she yells out another cheer, echoing among the nearby trees. She raises one hoof, Rainbow copying the motion, as Scootaloo calls out to Rainbow, "Race you back to the house!"

Rainbow Dash smirks at her filly, "Oh, you're on!" as she takes off, a rainbow contrail behind her. Applebaum takes her time, grabbing her things and makes her way back, a smile at a job well done.