//------------------------------// // Chapter Nine // Story: A Tempest Tossed // by LotusTeaDragon //------------------------------// City of Manehattan Basement of the Manehattan Public Library "It's dark." "Sorry, Violet, I'm trying to find my spare salt lamp," Candela said, hurriedly feeling her way through the saddlebags. "I'm afraid we may have either lost it in the storm, or used it up already. Then again, I might have miscounted." Violet took a small step forward, her hooves scuffing against the hard concrete of the basement floor. "Take your time," she replied, focusing on any potential obstacles in her way. "It would probably be better if you didn't move," Candela's voice called to her from behind and to her right. Violet chuckled. "Probably, but there's little adventure in standing still." She could feel light prickles in the air as she shuffled forward. The air was so dry down in the basement that she could feel her fur react to the static build up. Between the constant rain outside, the wind, the mud, and then the bone dry air inside, Violet was set on getting a whole coat treatment next time she visited Sandy Sandlebrush's Spa back home. She had gone about 10 hoof lengths, by her reckoning, before she bumped into something solid. She ran a hoof upward, following the shape until she could feel her hoof level with her muzzle. Whatever it was, it was quite tall. She tapped on it, and heard a soft thud. Not hollow. She was about to slide her hoof along the side to see how wide the object was, when everything flared into existence. "Found it!" came Candela's voice. "Gah!" came the reply. Violet held up a forehoof, attempting to block the bright light, and failed. She squeezed her eyes shut. "You okay?" she heard from nearby. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay, just... surprised, I guess," Violet answered. She felt a hoof on her withers, and a hug that muffled a chuckle. It seemed she was the subject of some amusement. "I can hear you laughing," came her reply. "I'm not laughing," Candela spoke with little conviction before she started chuckling again. Violet felt Candela lean in close behind her right ear. A moment later, she felt shock at the small kiss that had been placed there. Her face became a blushing mess. "I didn't mean to laugh, but if you could see yourself, you'd understand why." Candela explained, the mirth still evident in her voice. Violet opened her eyes until she was merely squinting. The bright light from the salt lamp was still sharp, but tolerable, and she could feel herself acclimate. As she opened her eyes, she could see a beige blob in front of her. "Is that you, Candela?" she called out as she began to blink rapidly. A snort. "I hope not. I mean, I've put on a little weight over the winter, but not that much." Her vision cleared, and Violet could finally make out the object in front of her. "A box?" she asked. Candela nodded as she came into view to Violet's right. "Yes, but not just any box, it's an electrical oscillator." Violet was too busy staring at Candela to comment on their find. She was too busy trying not to laugh at Candela. The earth pony was covered from muzzle to tail in styrofoam peanuts. "Why in the wide world of Equestria are you covered in packing peanuts?!" she asked her dear friend. Candela looked down, and took note of her appearance. "Hm, I guess they got me, too." "What do you mean, 'you too'?" asked Violet. Candela raised an eyebrow. "I'm not the only one who took a short trip through the United Pony Shipping center, my dear." Violet looked down to where Candela had focused her gaze. Sure enough, Violet was covered in packing peanuts as well. Then it clicked. "That's what the prickling sensations were when I was trying to look around in the dark!" Candela nodded and motioned around her with a forehoof. Violet looked about and saw the air full of debris, mostly packing peanuts, paperclips, nuts, and bolts, ad a few emergency meal packages floating from floor to ceiling. "What is going on?" she asked no one in particular, but most satisfyingly, Candela deigned to answer anyway. "It would seem our oscillator has gone haywire," she replied. Violet stepped away from the boxy object, coming around to the other side to stand with Candela. Before them stood a massive squat machine, housed inside of a wooden structure, and an open front. The machine itself was a brushed aluminum, with a large copper coil inside of it that was visible thanks to a reinforced glass window on the front of the machine itself. Above the glass window was a small control panel with a hoof full of buttons and switches. From the top of the machine, and leading out through the paneling, were tubes, and wires. Glancing at the switches and gauges on the front, Violet could see that it didn't appear to be powered on. "I can't hear anything," said Violet. "I think it's in standby mode," came the reply. "Standby for what?" asked Violet, "oscillators like these aren't supposed to come on unless there has been a massive surge of magic directly in the vicinity. Right now, not a drop of magic is working anywhere inside of the storm." Carefully, Violet reached out to touch a button on the front panel. "I don't know if we should press anything just yet," came Candela's voice. Violet's hoof stopped just short of pressing the standby switch. Considering her friend's note of caution, she felt it better to take things slowly. She stepped back and joined the earth pony. "Maybe we should look for the radio, first." Violet nodded in agreement, tearing her eyes away from the machine and looking about the large, open space, broken up only by the tall storage shelving, for the emergency all-band radio transmitter. They split up and began glancing at the utility shelves lined up against the wall, each pony taking one row and walking down the center of each aisle. Violet couldn't help but take an interest in the items sitting on each shelf. Well, sitting wasn't really the right term. Because of the odd state of the atmosphere around them, the various boxes and canisters were floating, though the enclosed storage bins kept them from floating out and about like so much of the other detritus that made moving quickly a painfully annoying job. She had stopped to glance at a box of 90 year old animal crackers when she heard Candela call out for her. "Violet!" "Coming! Where are you?" she called back as she rounded the corner at a trot. She would have gone faster, but she'd managed to walk right into a sea of ball bearings. That would have hurt going full speed. "Over here! Shelf system 1A-3B!" Violet carefully dodged the BBs from hell as she made her way further along the storage shelving, looking at the placards on each one. "2C-3G... 2B-3D... 2A-3B!" she said as she read them off, taking a left turn at the placard. The end of the aisle should have met right up with Candela's location, and sure enough, it lead right to a small open area, where there sat a desk. Candela was standing over a pile of spare parts, from what she could see, but it was the look of worry on her face that concerned Violet the most. "What is it, Candy?" she asked, feeling a bit out of breath. She noted to herself that she really needed to start exercising again. All of this adventuring was wearing her out. "Well, it's good news, and bad news, really," came the reply as Candela looked from the desk to the pile of parts loosely packed and pushing gently against the underside of the desk. "The good news is that we found the transmitter." Violet's gut felt hollow as she dreaded the words that came next. "The bad news," Candela said with a sigh, "is what we're looking at is the transmitter." Violet shook her head, and bumped it on the desk, jostling the parts floating underneath. "Great. No one told us that there would be some assembly required." Candela snorted. "There's more, actually," she said and grabbed a component with one hoof, holding it up and showing it to Violet. "I'm sure you can tell just by looking," she began as Violet examined the hunk of metal. Violet noticed it right away, of course, considering her extensive background in using and repairing weather equipment. She looked up at Candela, her eyes grim to match the earth pony's hooded gaze. "They've been shorted out," said Candela. Violet nodded. "Each component of this transmitter has been flooded with energy beyond its maximum capacity. Every single capacitor is dead." They were now without any way to call for help, and sitting squarely in the center of the storm. /)*(\