//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Emergency Meeting // Story: Tornado Twilight // by Twippledash //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Emergency Meeting “Hi again,” Rainbow said, flying through library’s open door, seeing Twilight at the other end of the room. She landed next to her and asked, “Has anyone else come here yet?” Twilight looked back at Rainbow. “No, not yet,” she said and glanced at a clock on the library wall. “It’s only twenty minutes until the meeting though, so I’m sure first ones will arrive any minute now.” “Yeah.” Rainbow nodded. “I just came a bit earlier so I could count everypony as they arrive. Much easier that way than to count everyone once they are already crammed in the library. Oh, and before I forget to ask, do you still have that ane... ameno... what was it?” She scratched her head. “That thing we used last time to measure our wing powers?” “Anemometer,” Twilight said. “Yeah, that. I never remember the name of that thingy. Why did they have to give it so difficult to remember name anyway? Wouldn’t something simple like ‘wing power gauge’ make more sense?” She shook her head as Twilight was obviously about to give a convoluted answer about the etymology behind the name. “Whatever, doesn’t matter. You still have that lying around?” “Sure! I just have to make sure it still works, make some test runs, recalibrate it, and—“ “Yeah, yeah, spare me the details.” Rainbow swung her hoof. “Just make sure it’s up and running by tomorrow morning. We need to start measuring and improving our wing powers as early as possible. We have even less time for this than we had last time.” She paused for a moment. “How about that educational film about using tornadoes to raise the rainwater to Cloudsdale? Do you still have that?” “Uh, no. It kinda got destroyed last time, remember? Besides, the projector broke down too, and I still haven’t bought a replacement, as they don’t sell those here in Ponyville.” “Oh, yeah. Whatever, we don’t need it anyway. Every pegasus here in Ponyville already knows the drill. A quick motivational speech combined with a call for the training tomorrow morning should be enough.” As Rainbow had said that, she saw a third pony, Fluttershy, silently entering the library. The shy pegasus looked around, seeing nopony but Twilight and Rainbow in the otherwise empty library room. “Oh, did I interrupt something? Did I arrive too early?” she asked softly, glancing at the clock on the wall. “Sorry. I’ll just leave and come back—” “Just come in, Fluttershy,” Twilight said smiling. “We were expecting for the others to come any minute now anyway.” “Good to see you here, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said with a hint of surprise in her voice. She had almost expected that she would have to drag Fluttershy from her cottage herself. “So you’re not afraid of the tornado duty anymore, are you?” “Oh, no,” Fluttershy said, now walking to the other two. “Or yes, I am, kinda.” She tried to hide behind her mane before continuing, “And I still really don’t like big crowds. But last time I learned that every little bit helps, and I know this is important, and we really have to do this.” “That’s the spirit,” Rainbow said. “Just... stay with us from the beginning this time, alright? Nopony will laugh at you as long as you are with us and do your best. Or if they do laugh anyway, I’ll show them who’s the boss here!” She flew a feet into the air and bumped her chest with a hoof. “I’ll make them work so hard they don’t even have time to laugh!” “Oh, you don’t have to be so hard on them because of me...” “Nonsense,” Rainbow said. “If they give you any trouble, just tell me and I’ll take care of it.” After she finished that line, fourth and fifth pony—Cloudchaser and Flitter—entered the library. They were soon followed by Thunderlane, Derpy, Snowflake, and a bunch of other pegasi, and the library was steadily filling to the brim. Rainbow hovered near ceiling and kept count on everypony entering to make sure nopony thought they could skip the meeting without consequences. As the library filled with ponies and chatter, she was delighted to see that every non-elderly adult pegasus had arrived. It was time to start her speech. “Listen up, everypony!” Rainbow flew up in front of the crowd, raising her voice to make sure everypony heard her. The library room fell silent as everypony looked at Rainbow, listening intently. “I trust you have all read the notes I gave you earlier today, and you know why we are here tonight,” she said, getting small nods and a hushed chatter from most of the ponies present. “But in case somepony doesn’t know, here’s the short of it: Cloudsdale has run out of rainwater and is now in dire need of our highland water reserves by tomorrow afternoon. Our town was chosen as the water provider because we’ve done it recently already, and they trust we can fulfill their request even with the short notice. And you know what that means? It means we have to work hard to make another giant tornado to raise that water up to Cloudsdale once again! Cloudsdale need us! Equestria needs us! Are you with me?!” “YEAH!” the crowd of pegasi shouted collectively. Rainbow was watching at Fluttershy—who was hiding in a shadowy corner at the back—during that shout, and she could have sworn she saw even her shouting a little ‘yay’ among the others. That caused a smile to creep on her face for a split-second, but in a moment she had put on her expressionless face again. “Wonderbolt captain Spitfire would have come to supervise our performance again,” Rainbow continued her speech, “but the Wonderbolts were performing in Manehattan by the time a wing fever epidemic hit the city and unfortunately they caught it too, so they were asked to stay in the city to avoid spreading the epidemic further. That means I am now responsible of making this whole operation a successful one, and I’m not gonna rest until I’m satisfied with all of your performances!” She looked down at the covering yellow shape in the corner. “That goes for you too, Fluttershy,” Rainbow added, causing the yellow pegasus to retract deeper into the shadows. “I’m not going to tolerate the kind of fooling around you did last time, from anypony. Granted, in the end you helped us to push over the limit back then, but now I want everypony to be with us from the very beginning until the end. “Now,” she continued with a raised voice to the whole group, “I know you all are not as athletic and awesome as I am, and I know most of you haven’t kept up training since the last time, so we’re going to have an intense training session tomorrow to get all those wings of yours back to working order. Are you ready for some hard training?!” “YEAH!” “I can’t hear you! Louder!” “YEAH!” The resounding shock wave threatened to break some windows of the library. “Great! Now go take a hike and stretch those wing muscles tonight, and meet me at the racetrack tomorrow morning! I’m expecting everypony up and awake by sunrise, and I don’t want to see anypony missing! If you have any questions, ask them now!” Rainbow waited for a second for anypony to say anything, but the room stayed silent. “No questions? In that case, go! Stretch those muscles! And remember to be at the racetrack by sunrise!” As Rainbow finally landed on the floor in front of the crowd, the room was once again filled with chatter. The ponies were exiting through the door in a steady stream, quickly clearing the room until there were soon only three ponies left: Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash herself. “Don’t you think you were unnecessarily tough on them?” Twilight finally asked Rainbow. “May I remind you that we are not in the Wonderbolt Academy, and neither is this a military drill.” Rainbow waved her hoof dismissively “Nah. If I were giving commands in Wonderbolt Academy, I would have been at least ten times harsher. Besides, pegasi are an ancient warrior race; we appreciate it if there is somepony taking charge with a commanding and brash attitude.” “I don’t like brash attitude,” Fluttershy said softly. Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Okay. Most pegasi like to have a leader with brash attitude.” “Aren’t you stereotyping here?” Twilight asked. “I’m sure just having wings doesn’t mean you’ll automatically like something more than the others.” “It’s not just the wings; it’s in the pegasus genes,” Rainbow explained. “Or that’s what I was taught in Cloudsdale as a filly anyway. But obviously there are some exceptions, with one example in this very room.” She looked at Fluttershy, then back at Twilight, scratching her head. “And I guess you’re an exception too, Twilight, since you were not born a pegasus.” “Well, if it’s really in the genes as you say, then that would be true.” Twilight nodded affirmatively. “Me ascending to my alicorn status didn’t change my genotype as far as I know, so I obviously wouldn’t have these inherent pegasus genes in my body. It’s still just one factor though, and I’m sure upbringing and foalhood education play a major role here too, and—” “Twilight,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, “don’t try to turn this discussion into a lecture about what defines our personalities. If I wanted you to give a lecture, I would have asked for it. And I don’t remember asking, so you can stop it now.” Twilight pouted a little; she never got to give good impromptu lectures to her friends. “Oh well, maybe later then,” she said. “Anyway, I’ll just go and make sure the anemometer is still in working order, and you should probably go training or preparing otherwise for tomorrow. See you in the morning; I’ll be there again to help measuring your wing powers and to wish best of luck to you all.” She started walking towards the basement door to fetch said anemometer. “Hold on,” Rainbow said, causing Twilight to stop in the middle of the room. “You should go training? Measuring your wing powers? Wish best of luck to you?” She flew to Twilight and landed just a foot in front of her, giving her a stern look right into eyes. “Twilight, I think you misunderstood me, as you’re talking like you wouldn’t be taking part in creating the tornado. Let me just clarify that when I asked for all the pegasi for the tornado duty, that meant you too.” “But I’m not a pegasus. I’m—” “Do you have wings or not?” Rainbow snapped, poking a folded wing on Twilight’s side. “I don’t care if you have a horn or if you’re a princess, but as long as you have wings and you know how to use them, in my books you’re just as much of a pegasus as I or Fluttershy. Or should I have called for ‘all the pegasus ponies and that one alicorn princess of Ponyville’ or something? Doesn’t matter. You’re a pegasus now, and you’re going to help us, like it or not. Not only in organizing, but actually in creating the tornado. Deal with it.” “But—” “No buts!” Rainbow interrupted. “I got a direct order from the chief of the weather factory, and she clearly said I was to gather up every adult pegasus capable of flying to ensure we had enough wing power to funnel the water all the way up to Cloudsdale. She also made me responsible for this whole operation, and I’m not letting any pegasus stay out of this as long as they can fly! You remember what happened last time, right?” “Yes, I was th—” “We almost failed because of a few sick ponies! We were all doing our best, but still if it weren’t for Fluttershy—the only flight-capable grown-up pegasus left in Ponyville not yet in the tornado—suddenly joining our ranks, we wouldn’t have been able to make it! That time we all learned that every little bit and every pegasus counts. And that means your effort counts too, no matter how small it is.” “But I’ve had these wings only for a few weeks now!” Twilight shouted, finally managing to get a few words in. “I’m not good eno—” “Stop right there!” Rainbow interrupted once again. “I’ve seen you flying, so I know you can do it. It doesn’t matter if your wing power is just point one or something, as long as you do your best! You remember Fluttershy last time we did this?” The shy pegasus in question, still in the room with the other two, shrunk deeper into the shadows. “Her wing power was only point five when we started the measurements, and she managed to over quadruple her wing power in just one day, all on her own!” “I can’t really argue with that,” Twilight said, taking a step backwards to put a little distance between herself and the pegasus, who was now almost yelling right into her face. It seemed Rainbow was finally giving her a chance to talk back. “But you have no idea how hard it is to learn to fly when you’ve just grown wings out of nowhere and never have had them before. It’s like I’ve grown a new pair of limbs which I’m just learning to control somehow, and my body needs time to adjust. Just imagine if you suddenly grew a horn; do you think you would learn to levitate things overnight? Not to mention casting any harder spells?” “Hard to imagine as I’ve never had a horn... but I get your point anyway,” Rainbow said, calming down a little. “But how come Rarity learned to fly so quickly with the wings you created for her back when I attended that Best Young Flier competition, but for you it took over a week until you could even hover for a few seconds?” “Those were magical wings made of gossamer and morning dew, making them almost weightless and easier to control,” Twilight explained, having studied the wing spell further after learning to channel her magic better to actually cast that spell without exhausting herself completely. “But the most important thing is that they were, well, magical. Practically Rarity only had to think about flying somewhere, and the magic in those wings did the rest. That kind of wings are good for precisely controlled slow flying, but as a downside they are way too fragile to create significant winds or to build up speed. For those purposes real pegasus wings are far more preferable, but in turn using them is a lot harder to master. Not to mention replicating pegasus wings with unicorn magic would be nearly impossible.” Rainbow stood silently for a moment, trying to process all the information. “Okay, I guess that makes sense. But anyway, now you have pegasus wings and I know you can use them for flying. And like I said, it doesn’t matter how bad a flier you are; as long as you can at least get airborne, we can work with that, so I’m expecting you to show up at the training tomorrow. Not just as an organizer, but as a participant. Full stop, no objections,” Rainbow said, not wanting to argue about the subject anymore. “I have to get to training now so I would be in top shape tomorrow morning. The most important thing in coaching others to fly faster and stronger is to show a good example yourself first. See you tomorrow morning! And remember to bring that amenemo... amone... anamo...” She shook her head. “Ugh! That wing-power-measurement-thingy with you! Bye!” “It’s anemometer, and it doesn’t exactly measure wing power straight away; it just measures the wind speed a passing pegasus causes, and from that we can in turn calculate the—” Twilight started, but stopped as she noticed that Rainbow had already flew out through an open window, leaving her alone in the library with Fluttershy. She sighed. So much for giving another short lecture. “Um...” Fluttershy finally voiced after a moment of silence, “I’ll go now too, if that’s okay? I’ve got to go feed the animals...” She turned away to exit through the door. “No, wait,” Twilight said, causing Fluttershy to turn around to face her. “You said you were afraid to enter that tornado at first, right?” “Yes. And I still am,” Fluttershy said. “I mean, I’ll do it anyway, because it means so much for you and the others, especially Rainbow Dash. But even then I still don’t like doing it.” “How did you overcome your fears? And how can you be so calm even though you know you have to do it again tomorrow?” Twilight asked, hoping that it wasn’t too obvious that she was afraid to go into that tornado too. “Oh, knowing that I’ll be helping others gives me a good motivational boost. And if that isn’t enough, I always have my animal friends helping and encouraging me. Angel is such a good friend, always there when I need him the most. But...” Fluttershy hushed her tone, her voice barely as loud as a whisper. “But even if I seem calm on the outside, I’m still a nervous wreck in the inside. I’m just trying to be a little more assertive.” “I know exactly how you feel,” Twilight said with a wan smile. “Truth be told, I’m somewhat nervous too. Well, I’m not keeping you from your animals any longer, so I guess that’s all for tonight. I’ve got to make sure that anemometer is still working, and apparently I have to start working on my flying too.” She sighed in defeat. “No getting away from that, I guess.” Fluttershy smiled assuredly. “Don’t worry. It’s not really that bad.” Twilight smiled back with a slight chuckle. “Thanks. Well, I’ll see you in the morning then. Goodnight,” she said, turning towards the basement door to finally fetch that anemometer like she’d intended to do a few times already. “Goodnight.” Fluttershy turned to exit the library, now leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts. She hoped Fluttershy was right when she said it wouldn’t really be that bad—a shy pony like Fluttershy saying something isn’t bad would surely mean that it really couldn’t be that bad for her either. Right?