//------------------------------//
// 7. Eye Of The Brainstorm 
// Story: Renaming Starlight's Village 
// by Brass Polish 
//------------------------------//

As the summer went on, it grew more and more humid. At this point, it was actually cooler outside than indoors; even at night.
“Okay, everypony,” Big Macintosh announced one muggy morning when a package arrived at the Cafe. “The label says ‘S Belle’. Place your bets. Is it for Sugar Belle or Sweetie Belle?”
Sweetie and Sugar opened the parcel. Inside were flasks.
“Icing, maybe?” ventured Apple Bloom.
There was a note tucked into one side of the cardboard box.
“Anytime you need a boost,” Sugar Belle read, “open one of these up. We’ve put an orb of our power-boosting magic into each flask. Happy rehabilitating. Signed Flim, Flam, and Phlegm.”
“So it’s for me.” Sweetie peered into the parcel and contemplated the gift.
“Let’s try one out,” said Scootaloo. “Go ahead, Sweetie. Open one up, and try to swap my cutie mark with Apple Bloom’s.”

*****

Apple Bloom nodded, and Sweetie Belle agreed. She unscrewed one of the flasks. A green orb hovered out and connected sharply with her horn. As energy surged through her, she aimed her focus on her fellow Crusader’s flanks. In seconds, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had each other’s cutie marks.
“Perfect!” exclaimed Apple Bloom. “Now we’ll have no trouble helping the villagers with cutie mark problems.”
“I didn’t see you having much trouble helping Old Lady Cooper with her problem,” said Big Mac with a raised eyebrow. “Ya didn’t need magic for that. Well not your own, that is.”
“Good point,” Sweetie Belle nodded. “And if I’m honest, this almost feels like cheating. If we’re really Cutie Mark Crusaders, we should be able to get by without…”

*****

Night Glider entered the Cafe.
“Town meeting,” she announced.
And off she went. Sweetie Belle headed out at once.
“Hey, swap our cutie marks back first!” shouted Scootaloo.
“Calm down. There’s no rush,” said Big Mac.
“Yeah. Come on. There’s an important meeting going on,” insisted Sugar Belle. “Sweetie can swap your marks back afterwards. Nopony will notice the difference in the meantime.”
Neither Apple Bloom nor Scootaloo were convinced, but joined Big Mac and Sugar Belle as they left the Cafe regardless.

*****

Although Night Glider was moderating this meeting, she wasn’t exactly an authority figure in the Village. There hadn’t really been a leader in the Village since Starlight left. Any time a meeting is held, the one holding or even calling it usually held the most relevance to the issue at hoof, or simply noticed an issue that needed to be addressed.
“As you’ve all noticed,” Night Glider said when it looked like all the villagers were present at the end of the road, “the humidity is getting worse. We need to brainstorm ways of dealing with it. Anypony got any ideas.”
Some villagers raised their hooves.
“Um…” Night Glider scanned the crowd. “Yes. You. B Rainy.”
“Why don’t we contact Cloudsdale’s Weather Factory?” suggested a blueish-grey stallion. “Commission a team of their pegasi to regulate our weather?”
Night Glider frowned. “This Village is too small and out of the way to justify regulating our weather on a frequent basis.”
Murmurs of agreement wafted over the crowd.
“Besides, the weather itself isn’t the problem,” Night Glider went on, “so much as conditions indoors.”

*****

Big Mac was the tallest pony in the Village, so when Sweetie Belle jumped onto his back and raised her hoof, she was easily spotted by Night Glider.
“Yes, Sweetie?”
“The Flim Flam Brothers sent me a package of flasks containing orbs of their magic,” Sweetie said. “But we don’t really need them. So what if we used that energy to power fans in all the cottages?”
Agreeable chatter broke out.
“I like it,” Night Glider nodded. “That’ll definitely cool our bedrooms and living rooms down. All in favour?”
An overwhelming majority of the villagers raised their hooves. Sweetie Belle felt quite good to have participated in a Village meeting for the first time. But as the meeting adjourned and enthusiastic chatter started, she saw the stallion who’d suggested contacting the Weather Factory fly off down the road. She managed to spot his cutie mark; a brain with bolts of lightning coming from it. At once, she ran after him.
“Hey, where are you going?!” shouted Scootaloo. “You gotta swap our cutie marks back before everypony takes the flasks away!”
“Calm down,” said Big Mac sharply. “You heard Night Glider. They’re not going to collect the flasks until each cottage has been issued with fans. There’s plenty of time.”

*****

B Rainy had flown into his cottage and slammed the door almost a minute before Sweetie Belle got to his front yard. Between casting a complicated spell and the dense humidity, she couldn’t run very fast. She was about to knock on the door when a creaking noise caught her attention. She turned to see Old Lady Cooper rocking in her chair in the middle of the road.
“Well,” said the old mare when she was Sweetie walking up to her, “looks like we’re the only ones attending this town meeting.”
“Uh, the meeting was over there.” Sweetie pointed to the end of the road. “It just finished.”
“Oh,” Old Lady Cooper grunted.
“Cooper, did you see a stallion run into that cottage a minute ago?” asked Sweetie.
Old Lady Cooper shook her head.
“He’s a blueish-grey stallion,” Sweetie described, “and his cutie mark looked like a brain shooting lightning.”
“Oh, that’s B Rainy,” nodded Old Lady Cooper. “He says he got his cutie mark for brainstorming, after a pre-production meeting for a pageant his primary school was putting on. But for some reason, ever since he got it, every idea he’s offered has been rejected by every pony he’s pitched one to.”
“I thought so,” said Sweetie Belle.

*****

Sweetie Belle ran back to the Cafe to tell Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. When she entered, a sweet scent filled her nostrils. There was nothing baking though.
“There you are!” barked Scootaloo.
“Oh, good,” sighed Sugar Belle. “I tried swapping their cutie marks myself. I even used one of the flasks.”
Sweetie Belle sniffed. “I think all you’ve managed to do is make their cutie marks smell like fondant.”
“Come on, Sweetie! We gotta get our own cutie marks restored before the Villagers get their fans!” Scootaloo barked.
Sweetie Belle grabbed a flask from the box; she was relieved to see there were still plenty left for the Villagers to keep their cottages cool. She opened the flask, let the green orb that emerged from it connect with her horn and feed her power, and seconds later, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had their cutie marks back.
“Thanks, Sweetie,” smiled Scootaloo. “Much appreciated.”
Apple Bloom blinked. I’m not as impatient as she was acting, am I?
“Now that that’s done,” Sweetie Belle said quickly, “I’ve found us another cutie mark problem to solve.”
“Ooh! What is it?! What is it?!” Apple Bloom bounced intently.

*****

After Sweetie Belle told Apple Bloom and Scootaloo about B Rainy’s situation, they left the Cafe and made for his cottage. They arrived just in time to see B Rainy step out of his front door; he was carrying a bindle.
“Wait, B Rainy!” called Sweetie. “You don’t have to leave town!”
“Oh, you’re those Cutie Mark Crusaders,” frowned B Rainy. “Let me guess. You think you can help me with my cutie mark problem?”
“We can help you with your cutie mark problem,” said Apple Bloom confidently.
“No, you can’t. Because I haven’t got a cutie mark problem,” said B Rainy.
“We know nopony likes any idea you come up with and it’s really frustrating you,” said Scootaloo.
“So you know I don’t have problems with my cutie mark,” B Rainy grimaced. “It’s everypony else who has a problem with my cutie mark. Ponies see my cutie mark, they know my talent is coming up with good ideas, and they think that makes them useless by comparison, so they ignore everything I say.”
“I’m sure that’s not the reason why your ideas sometimes get rejected,” insisted Sweetie Belle.
“It was all thanks to me that the school pageant was a success! After I spotted a flaw in the teacher’s plan and told her how to fix it, we used my idea right away in rehearsal, we all agreed it was the perfect way to go, and my cutie mark appeared! But then, all of a sudden, every idea I come up with is dismissed!”
In a fit of temper, B Rainy tossed his bindle aside.
“How can nopony like my good ideas when good ideas are what my cutie mark is for?!”

*****

He calmed down a little bit when he saw the thoughtful look on Scootaloo’s face.
“The thing about brainstorming,” Scootaloo said, “is it’s a team effort. Somepony suggests an idea, and then the group discusses it and finds ways to improve on it.”
B Rainy blinked. “That’s… true. I did… more or less expand on my teacher’s idea.”
“Maybe your cutie mark doesn’t mean you’re great at coming up with ideas on your own,” ventured Apple Bloom.
B Rainy relaxed a little.
“This makes sense,” he said. “Actually, looking back… some of the ideas I’d thought of and suggested were… pretty lousy. This one time, there was a flu going around, and I suggested setting up soap dispensers and avoiding shaking hooves and canceling social events. Now that I think of it, my classmates were right when they said the immune system needs practise.”
“So how about this? Next time there’s a town meeting, instead of throwing out an idea of your own, try expanding on somepony else’s idea,” Sweetie Belle suggested.
“Well… alright then,” B Rainy managed a slight grin. “I’ll just be going back into my home then. Thanks, fillies.”

*****

Each cottage was issued with fans the following day, and a flask of Flim Flam Brothers magic along with them. Ponies were sleeping better and sweating a lot less in their now cooler cottages. Best of all, the fans didn’t need much power to rotate fast enough to waft the air about; theoretically, one flask of Flim Flam Brothers magic could power one fan for eight weeks.
“Should we write to them? Tell them they could sell flasks of their magic?” Apple Bloom asked. “They’d make a fortune.”

*****

A week passed, and nopony was suffering from the humidity. But there was no word or suggestion of another town meeting being held any time soon. Eventually, the Crusaders thought it might be a good idea to check up on B Rainy. They went to his cottage and knocked on his door. They were pleased to see the door open seconds later; they were worried he might have gotten impatient, had a self-doubt relapse, and left town anyway. As the door opened, sheets of paper billowed out into the front yard.
“Remember when you said I should see if I spot any flaws in somepony’s idea next time there’s a town meeting?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle nodded.
“Well I think I spotted a flaw with your idea from the last one,” B Rainy frowned.
“What is all this?” asked Scootaloo, looking past B Rainy through the doorway to see scores of papers flying about the cottage.
“Over the years, whenever an idea popped into my head,” explained B Rainy, “I jotted it down. I always filed my proposals and blueprints and diagrams neatly on my desk; just in case I want to revisit any one of them. But now that I’ve got a fan, my ideas are quite literally floating around my head.”
A sheet of paper flew into Apple Bloom’s face.
“A school of friendship?” she read. “That’d be kind of an insult, wouldn’t it? It’d just undermine everything Twilight Sparkle went through to learn about friendship.”

*****

B Rainy hastily grabbed the paper from off Apple Bloom’s face and crumpled it in his hoof.
“So, any town meetings coming up?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“It looks like there aren’t any problems that need to be addressed,” said Sweetie Belle. “So… maybe you should hold one.”
“Me?”
“Yeah,” nodded Sweetie. “Ask the villagers if they have any suggestions for what you should do with all these useless sheets of paper that you don’t need anymore.”
B Rainy was trying not to scowl.
“No need to bother the rest of the Village with my problem,” he said. “I’ll just use the paper to stoke my fireplace when winter comes…”
“That’s your own idea,” Sweetie Belle interrupted. “Your cutie mark is for expanding on ideas by other ponies, remember?”

*****

B Rainy did so the next morning. It wasn’t a humid day, but it was still pretty hot. Still, almost all the other Villagers answered his call to the end of the road.
“So…” he said when it looked like everyone was ready to hear about the issue at hoof, “I’ve got a lot of waste paper in my cottage. It’s a bit wasteful to leave it there, or to burn it. I’d like to hear any suggestions any of you may have.”
There were a few mutterings in the crowd. B Rainy quickly felt a little awkward for calling upon the entire population of the Village for such a personal problem.
Party Favour raised his hoof. “I’ll take it.”
He blew up some balloons and twisted them into a fox.
“I can use the paper to papier mache some of my balloon art,” he said.
“Ooh! Can I paint it?” asked a Villager with a paint roller cutie mark.
“Sure, Undercoat,” grinned Party Favour.
Agreeable muttering wafted through the crowd.
“Well, I’m sure you could make good use of my scrap paper,” said B Rainy. “But there’s a lot of it. If you keep it in your cottage, you’ll have the same problem I’ve been having. Especially with a fan blowing.”
“Good point,” said Party Favour.
“It’s not too hot and humid anymore, though,” put in Undercoat. “He probably won’t need to run his fan as much. I think we’re past the worst of it.”
“Hmm, you’re right… it is a pleasant day right now,” B Rainy stroked his chin. “So… why don’t we make a day of it? How about we take advantage of the nice summer weather and have ourselves a papier mache street party?”

*****

Right away, B Rainy thought the idea didn’t sound as good out loud as it had done in his head. But in seconds, Villagers were jumping at the idea. He was being asked to go fetch as much of his scrap paper as he could, and Party Favour was being bombarded with requests for balloon animals. The Cutie Mark Crusaders went with B Rainy to collect stacks of paper, and by the time they’d returned to the street, Villagers had already collected many buckets of water and tubes of glue, and Party Favour was already blowing up balloons and shaping them into animals and objects. B Rainy and the Crusaders passed sheets of paper to the Villagers, who in no time were tearing them into strips, dunking them into buckets to make them soggy and sticky, and pasting them onto their balloon animals.
“Looks like everypony’s having a fun time,” smiled B Rainy later that day.
“All thanks to the idea you got from Party Favour’s suggestion,” grinned Apple Bloom.
“Thanks, Crusaders,” B Rainy beamed. “I haven’t felt this helpful and useful since my school days.”

*****

B Rainy and the Crusaders walked among the crowd. Everypony was having fun at the papier mache street fair, but some Villagers had complaints; and they weren’t about the summer heat.
“Is somepony making a papier mache dead fish?” Featherbangs groaned. “What’s that smell?”
Sweetie Belle sniffed. There was a faint trace of rotten food in the air. Then she remembered that B Rainy had angrily thrown his bindle aside over a week ago. He must have forgotten it after he changed his mind and didn’t leave the Village. Sweetie Belle made her way to B Rainy’s front yard. She couldn’t see the bindle, but the bad smell was stronger here. She looked in some of the bushes, and there was the bindle, no doubt full of some food that had clearly gone off big time in the summer heat.
“Better get rid of this before it stinks up the whole street and ruins the party,” said Sweetie, trying not to breathe through her nose as she magiced the foul bindle out of the bush.

*****

Sweetie Belle took the bindle to the composter in the backyard of Sugar Belle’s Cafe, and dumped the rotten food into it. A sheet of paper slid out of the bindle as well. Sweetie Belle took one look at it and gasped. On this paper was written a plan to find where Zecora had stashed the Alicorn Amulet, so as to pave the way for him to take over the Village and “finally be able to implement his brilliant ideas”. Sweetie quickly stuffed the paper into the composter along with the rotten food, and shut the lid.
“Well… it looks like we got to him just in time to prevent another dictatorship in this Village,” she breathed. “I don’t know if the Alicorn Amulet would work on a pegasus, but…”