//------------------------------// // Overstorm XI // Story: Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego // by MagicS //------------------------------// “What’s going on?! What’s that alarm?!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she flew around the interior of the lab, trying to see what was wrong and peeking out any windows. The blaring of the alarm pierced her skull and it just went on and on, ringing over and over. The four stallions covered their ears and joined her in trying to find the source of the problem. “There must be something wrong with one of our exterior instruments!” Whistler yelled. “It’s probably a propeller or stabilizer; that’s why the laboratory is slanting!” Lightning Rod shouted. “Come on, let’s check the panels on the second level!” He headed up to where you could walk up to the observatory or go through several doors that Rainbow Dash assumed led to the outside of the lab. The others followed Lightning Rod while Rainbow watched, they must have some kind of routine for emergencies like this and a way to figure out the problem. On the second level inside the lab there was a series of levers, switches, and flashing lights along the wall next to a hatch door. Lightning Rod inspected them to see what the source of the alarm was. Autumn Breeze pulled a panel off the wall and looked inside at the mess of wires and magical crystals. “We’ve lost twelve percent stabilization power but it looks like it’s holding steady there. Things aren’t getting worse at least.” “Still needs to be fixed as soon as possible. If something’s broken out there it could lead to a mess of other problems,” Lightning Rod said. His eyes went to one of the flashing lights and a switch flipped down beneath it. “Found it. The left dorsal propeller is broken. Turn it off and one of us will go outside and fix it, looks like a simple mechanical failure in the blades.” “That’s dangerous,” Whistler said, frowning. “We may have the manuals and seen the others fix this kind of stuff in the past but none of us are mechanics. And even with the weather dampeners the storm is still strong out there.” “It shouldn’t be an issue, from what we’re looking at it looks like a simple screw is loose and messing up the blades’ ability to spin. All we need to do is take a wrench out there and screw it back on. We have harnesses and the lifelines anyways so-” Lightning Rod was saying until Whistler interrupted him. “You may think it’s that easy but if anything is slightly out of the norm or unexpected we’ll be lost up there,” Whistler started pacing back and forth. “I didn’t want to scare the others and tell them we needed a new mechanic last time we touched down but...” “It may have been worth it now,” Cosmic Sight finished. The four stallions stood around at an impasse while the alarm continued to go off. It seemed they knew what the problem was and generally how to fix it to Rainbow Dash but they were apprehensive about actually doing it and what other issues could get in the way. Well she didn’t have time for that or any similar worries. A loud alarm was blaring in her head and it was really annoying, so unless she wanted to tear it out of the wall the only solution was to fix the actual problem. And if it was dangerous that only made it more exciting. Rainbow Dash floated down to stand right next to them and slowly raised her hoof up. “Uh, I can go out and fix it or whatever? Like if you guys don’t want to. It’s no problem.” They perked up in surprise at her suggestion and shared a few looks with each other while silently coming to a consensus. Whistler brought a hoof under his chin and tilted his head at her as he considered what she had said. “It’s true you’d be safer out there than any of us. And we can probably just shout instructions to you from the vestibule if you need them.” “Which she shouldn’t. All she should need to do is tighten a loose screw on the rim of the propeller,” Lightning Rod said. “Well alright then, let’s get to it,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Where do I need to go?” “Luckily for us all the propeller in question is the one closest to the second level outer door. Follow us please,” Lightning Rod said and led Rainbow Dash to another metal door up on this level of the lab. It was facing the west side of the lab so it probably let out into the side that was facing the wind. When Lightning Rod opened it up she saw that it led to a narrow hallway that extended about a dozen feet. The five ponies walked down it (with Lightning Rod closing the first door behind them) until they came out into a small, spherical room with another windowless door that must’ve led directly outside. There were a few lockers set up along one of the walls and a hoof-crank winch with a long wire spooled around it bolted on the floor. “There’s a stairway just outside this door that leads alongside the exterior and roof of the lab. Being a pegasus though you don’t need to use it, but following it you’ll see the propeller in need of repairs,” Autumn Breeze told her. “It’s the very first one along the path.” “Oh, so this used to be where any ponies who performed maintenance would leave from?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Precisely,” Autumn Breeze said. “Got it. So what’s all this other stuff then?” Rainbow Dash asked again as she looked at the winch and the lockers. Whistler opened up one of the lockers and a bunch of improperly placed and fastened tools spilled out onto the floor. With a click of his tongue he and Cosmic Sight got to work on putting them back in their proper places. Rainbow Dash also saw what looked like some kind of safety harness hanging in the locker. “The lockers contain the tools and gear you’ll need to fix the propeller and be safe out there,” Lightning Rod explained. “You should only need a wrench and maybe a clamp if the metal of the propeller has been distorted for this job though.” He used his magic to pull out the harness and showed it to her. It was just a simple thing made to go around her barrel and chest and loop over her legs and wings. There was a metal clasp on the back of it too. “You’ll wear this for safety, even though I think you’re probably fine without it, just in case.” “Fair enough,” Dash shrugged and started to put it on. Autumn Breeze then pulled on the cable attached to the winch, which had a carabiner at the end that he attached to the clasp on her safety harness. The pegasus smiled and patted the winch’s crank. “Alright, you’re good to go there. If something happens we can always reel you in.” “Thanks dude,” Rainbow grinned and flexed her wings, making sure they weren’t hampered by the harness. She took a step away from the winch to see how easily the wire came out and was pleased that it offered no resistance. “And here,” Whistler foisted a bag of tools to her that she looped around her neck. Inside it she saw a couple of different-sized wrenches and a few other tools that probably only Applejack would’ve known the name of in her group of friends. Maybe Twilight too. Rainbow Dash zipped the bag up and cracked her hooves, ready to get out there. “You should only need the large wrench but we’ve given you a few in case there are other problems,” Lightning Rod said. “Also because you’ll be close by the four of us will stay in the vestibule so you can just shout to us if you need anything.” “Right on,” Rainbow Dash saluted. “I’m ready to head out there and fix that thing, let’s open this door up.” Whistler nodded and put a hoof on the handle. “Good luck out there.” When he opened it up the wind from outside poured into the small vestibule and everyone inside had to squint their eyes and bring up their hooves to block their faces. Rainbow Dash walked up to the threshold and took her first step out, onto a metal platform with narrow stairs running up the wall to her left. It was weird to be out in the storm like this watching the intense winds and clouds speed by while it only barely affected her. She briefly looked back at the stallions huddling inside and gave them a small nod before flapping her wings and flying up, out of view of them for the moment. It was obvious that the lab was tilting slightly even from out here. She looked up to see the weather balloons attached to the roof of the lab, they all still looked fine. They must’ve been mostly used for keeping the lab afloat at this altitude. Probably. Even with her knowledge of weather and pegasus magic she didn’t fully understand how this place worked. She turned her eyes to the small stairs that went along the wall, according to Autumn Breeze the propeller that needed fixing would be the first on the trail of them. And there it was, she flew over to the propeller with ease. It shot out of the wall under the stairs before bending up at a ninety degree angle so the propeller faced the sky. The blades weren’t turning anymore and in fact it looked like they were being blocked from rotating by a screw coming loose and raising the metal cap that the blades were attached to. Even though the propeller should’ve been turned off, Rainbow Dash kept her head low and safe as she inspected it. No need to get in an accident. Rainbow Dash looked closer at how the thing worked, the plate that held the rotating end of the propeller would normally be tightly screwed in place onto the end of the beam holding it up. But one of those screws had come loose after some wear. It would’ve probably been best if she had a whole new screw to replace the old one with but since that wasn’t included in her bag they probably didn’t have any. She looked around at the rest of the propeller to see if there were any other problems or things she could do to make it function better but honestly she was at a bit of a loss. Again, the only ones of her group that might’ve been able to do something else up here were Applejack and maybe Twilight. “Do you see the problem?!” She heard Lightning Rod shout over the wind. “Yeah!” Rainbow Dash shouted right back. “I’ll be done with it in a second!” She unzipped her bag and pulled out the biggest wrench. Bringing it up to the loose screw she noticed it was indeed the perfect fit for it. It shouldn’t take much to hold this in place and screw it down so it stopped shaking when the propeller started moving again. She ended up putting the wrench in her mouth and her hooves on the metal plate to keep it steady, fixing the end of the wrench right around the head of the screw before turning it, pulling the wrench off, putting it back on, and turning it again. Slow going since she couldn’t just turn the wrench completely the entire time. There wasn’t enough space for that and her head didn’t revolve like an owl’s. So she could only turn the screw a little bit each time, which was really annoying. She didn’t envy the ponies who had to do this kind of work everyday. At least she could see the progress she was making with every turn, the screw became a little tighter and the metal more level. Her jaw was getting a little sore but it would probably only take a few more turns before she was done and the propeller could start functioning again. Rainbow Dash gave her jaw a tiny rest and looked around the rest of the lab’s exterior. The stairs looked like they made a full lap around the lap, slightly inclining along the way, until ending up on the roof where all the weather balloons were tethered. Further along the stairs to where she was, at about the south face of the lab, was a propeller coming out that aimed straight down instead of straight up like the one she was working on. A frown tugged at her face. With all the propellers, moving parts, other equipment and magic going into this lab, there must’ve been a hundred other things ready to break if not properly upkept. If the problem of the storm wasn’t solved soon the situation up here would only get worse and worse. I better finish this up quick and get back inside! Those guys need my help to beat this hurricane! Rainbow Dash held the wrench tight and narrowed her eyes as she worked on tightening up the screw the last few times. The screw got tougher to screw in, a sign it was getting tighter, and soon Rainbow Dash had it flush back up against the metal and it refused to budge anymore. She jostled the metal and the propeller a few times to see if it would move but thankfully everything was perfectly steady and firm. Rainbow Dash grinned with the wrench still in her mouth and floated down from the propeller and onto the stairs, spitting the tool back out into her bag. She couldn’t imagine how tough—nay, impossible—this would’ve been if the weather wasn’t being dampened. She walked down the stairs and put on a victorious face for the stallions, making sure to bring out as much of her classic swagger as possible. With a hop she jumped back into the vestibule and the wire on her harness went tight from how close she was to the winch. “Problem solved!” Dash stated, miming wiping some dirt off her wings. “Well done,” Lightning Rod smiled while the others sighed in relief. He pulled the outer door closed and Autumn Breeze freed up the lifeline from her back. “We can get back inside now and turn the propeller back on, the lab’s orientation should fix itself and the alarm will stop automatically,” Whistler said. “Good. I was getting rather tired of hearing that,” Cosmic Sight said. “Me too,” Dash said and took the safety harness off, giving it and her tool bag back to Whistler. “The propeller didn’t need much but if it happens again I can go back out there.” “With any luck you won’t be here long enough for us to need you again. After all, Autumn and I would like to get you off into the storm as soon as possible,” Lightning Rod told her. Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and grinned. “Good. That’s what I wanted too.”