My Little Season Fairy: Weather is Magic

by Nyperold

Chapter 1

"Get that under control!"
"I'm trying, sir, but it's just too much to handle!"
The factory worker and his subordinates were frantically trying to do whatever they could to keep the machine together, but they could all see it was futile.
"All right," the foreman said, "there's nothing for it. Sound the evacuation alarm!"
Klaxons blared throughout the area around the factory. Every pony dropped what he was doing and attempted to leave as quickly as possible. Workers trained to assist in emergencies maintained order in the evacuation. Eventually, the workers at the malfunctioning machine broke away, as well, having delayed the inevitable as much as possible. They cleared the factory just as the machine exploded in a burst of brilliant color, taking out the entire thing, and the cloud on which it sat.

And where it had been, there was a shimmering disc.

*~*~*

"Sugar, c'mon! get up!"
"Please get up, Sugar, or you'll be late!"
"Ohhh, you're gonna make us late, too!"
In the world of season fairies, Sugar, a little snow fairy, was being awakened by her friends Pepper, the wind fairy, and Salt, the cloud fairy. She rubbed her eyes, stretched, and looked at her friends' worried faces.
"Oh no! What time is it?"
"Time for us to get movin', that's what time it is!" said Salt.
"C'mon, we'd better hurry!" said Pepper.
Sugar grabbed what she needed, and followed her friends.

"Where could those three be?" said the elder. "It's almost time to start."
"We're... here!" panted Sugar as the three came in and flew toward him.
"Well, you're here on time, so I won't scold you about it, but you did cut it pretty close. Now then--"
The elder was interrupted by the opening of a large portal that suddenly appeared in their path. The fairies couldn't stop in time, and they went through.

"Sugar? Salt? Pepper?" called Ginger. No answer came.
"Ginger, Turmeric, I'm going to need you to go after them. They may get in trouble wherever that leads!"
"As you wish, elder," said Turmeric.
"What will you do about Muhlenberg?" asked Ginger.
"I'll take care of Muhlenberg. You take care of those fairies! Good luck!"
The two adult fairies disappeared through the portal, which shrank to nothingness behind them.

*~*~*

The five hovered in midair and looked around. They saw several clouds around them where winged ponies were tending to the injuries of other winged ponies, or flying them away on stretchers. Nearby was a decent-sized city, seemingly built on top of the cloud.

"Whooooa..." said Salt. "What is this place?" None of the other fairies had any idea.
"Hey! You over there!" said a voice. It came from a light blue pony with magenta eyes and a rainbow mane. It approached them and stopped, looking stern. "Did you do this?"
"Hey!" said Sugar, getting in the pony's face. "How could you accuse us of something like that? We didn't do it, okay? We didn't!"
"Now, now, Sugar," said Pepper. "I'm sure they have to check all their leads. Um, miss, I think we were brought here as an effect of this."
"Oh? Heh, sorry about that, then. I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in all of Equestria!"
"I'm Pepper, and these are Salt, Ginger, Turmeric, and, of course, Sugar."
"So is this cloud Equestria?" asked Salt.
Rainbow Dash laughed. "No, no. Equestria is much, much bigger. We're hovering in Cloudsdale, in... what used to be... where the weather factory was. An explosion took it out not long ago. We'll need to rebuild, but the cloud machine went with it!"
Salt pulled out his cello. "Sounds like something we could help with, right, Turmeric?"
"Not so fast, Salt. I don't think the clouds we made back in the human world could support buildings. We might be able to here, but if we're not, then what we'll have is a great big gaping pit disguised as the equivalent of solid ground. We'll have to analyze the local clouds, and experiment to see if we can get it right first. You are right, though, if we can help, we should."
"Wait wait wait," said Rainbow Dash. "Make clouds? How're y'gonna do that without machinery?"
"Well, Miss Dash," said Pepper, "we're season fairies. In the human world, we're responsible for making various kinds of weather for our assigned areas."
Salt grinned at Sugar. "Yeah, or whatever area we happen to be in if the local fairy of our type is late." Sugar grinned and blushed, recalling the time she filled in for a full-fledged snow fairy.
"Looks like there's a story behind that, but it'll have to wait. You all, hang on to my mane. If you're with me, everypony'll know you're cool. We'll get you two somepony to help you experiment with cloud-making." The five did as told, and Rainbow Dash took them in search of a cloud scientist.

"Well, now that that's settled," said Sugar, once they had found one. "now what?"
"Say," said Pepper, "I thought I saw a city below us when we were back at the hole."
"Huh?" said Rainbow Dash. "...OhmyCelestiayou'reright! Hang on, we're moving again!"

*~*~*

"--so I said to myself that it was gonna be a doozy, and then there was an explosion of color, and then my tail started twitchy-twitch-twitching all over the place, and then stuff started falling, and so--"
"Little... BUSY... here... Pinkie," said Twilight Sparkle, straining to concentrate as she and Rarity lifted a large piece of debris onto a cart set to be pulled by Big Macintosh. "There. Okay, Big Mac, I think that's a load."
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh headed off with it.

"Pinkie, darling," said Rarity, "weren't you assigned to the kitchens?"
"Yup! But right now, you can't fit another pony in the local kitchens and expect anypony to be able to do anything! We're working in shifts, and it's not mine right now."
"Well, we kind of need to concentrate in order to move things around. I certainly appreciate Pinkie Sense more than I would ever have thought, but... you can recap when we can all relax and enjoy it, y'know?"
"Hey, guys!" said Applejack, pulling a tankard of cider. "Y'all thirsty? Ah brought some cider ta help cool ya down some!"
"Ooooh, thank you!" said Pinkie Pie. "My mouth is parched!"
"I can't imagine why," said Twilight dryly, then smiled. "Thank you, Applejack."
"Glad t'help out. Bah the way, y'all seen Big Mac?"
"He just took a load of debris away." Twilight sipped her cider. "He'll be sorry to have missed this."
"Oh, it's okay. Ah'll ketch up t'him sooner or later."
"Hey! Guys!" came Rainbow Dash's voice from above as she made her descent. "Is everything all right?"
"As far as I know," said Twilight, "there's property damage and a few injuries, but that's it."
"We're just taking a break while we wait for a cart to load debris onto," said Rarity.
"Care fer some cider?"
Rainbow Dash's eyes lit up. "Would I! Thanks, Applejack!"
Applejack served it to her."Yer welcome, sugarcube."
Rainbow Dash started sipping at the cider, then stopped. "Oh! I should introduce you. I found these little guys near ground -- or should I say, cloud -- zero. This is Salt--"
"Pardon me," said Pepper, "but Salt's still in Clouds...ville?"
Twilight giggled a bit. "Cloudsdale."
"Cloudsdale. I'm Pepper, a wind fairy."
"I'm Ginger, a rain fairy."
"And I'm Sugar, a snow fairy!"
"It's nice to meet you!" they all said, bowing in greeting.
"Well, I'm Twilight Sparkle."
"I'm Pinkie Pie!"
"Ah'm Applejack."
"And I am Rarity."
"Oh, I'd better get back to Cloudsdale to help out, so I'll see you guys later!"
"Bye!" said the others, and Rainbow Dash flew back as fast as she could.

"So," said Twilight Sparkle, "when you said that you were wind, rain, and snow fairies, what does that mean, exactly?"
"Oh," said Sugar, "well, we're season fairies, so we're responsible for making different kinds of weather."
"What kind of machine do you use to make weather?" asked Rarity.
"Machine?" said Sugar. "No, we're not scientists; we use our musical instruments!"
Twilight quirked an eyebrow. "Instruments? To make weather? I'll believe it when I see it."
Sugar puffed her cheeks in annoyance, but then extracted a flute from her bag, put it to her mouth, and blew over the embouchure hole, her fingers depressing the keys and producing a lively tune. The round part on the flute glowed, and a single large snowflake generated right in front of Twilight. The ponies, particularly Twilight, stood transfixed at the sight, until it touched her nose and dissipated.
"Ooh, that's cold!" Twilight said. "So... I guess you guys really can make weather, huh?"
"Yep!"
"Well, in that case, Miss Ginger, did Ah hear you say you were a rain fairy?"
"Yes."
"Well, mah farm needs some rain for the crops, an' some pegasi brought some clouds over, but then they got called away on accounta the explosion, so they never rained. So Ah was wonderin' iffin maybe you could trah gettin' 'em to rain?"
"I'll certainly try, Miss Applejack, but I must warn you that Turmeric -- one of the cloud fairies -- wasn't sure if his usual technique would work to fill in the cloud, and if that's uncertain, I might not be able to make it rain, either."
"Aw, that's okay. All y'can do is try, 'n' if it doesn't work, weyull, we'll jus' have to hope a pegasus kin get away long enough ta make it rain there. Ah'll see you folks later!"
Applejack left, Ginger following her.

"You know, dahlings, I'm not sure what we'd need wind and snow for at the moment."
"Hmm..." said Twilight. "Pepper, how well can you control your wind?"
"Fairly well, I suppose," said Pepper. "I can make a nice breeze, or sweep light debris into a pile."
"That could come in handy," said Twilight. "Now for Sugar. Snow... snow... cold... packs...? I wonder if the local hospital could use your snow..."
"Ohhh!" said Sugar. "How?"
"For some injuries," Twilight explained, "it's good to apply some cold to it. If somepony can wrap up something cold, then they can put it on the injury."
"I believe I've seen them doing that at the veterinary clinic," said Pepper.
"Oh!" said Rarity. "Then if the hospital isn't in need of your assistance, perhaps you could help Fluttershy instead!"
"Sounds like a plan!" Twilight spread her wings. "I'll fly her to the hospital. Rarity, you and Pepper go see if Fluttershy needs help, and if so, tell her about Sugar. I'll be by later, either way, but Sugar might be with me, or she might not be. We'll see."
"Then we'll see you later?" said Pepper.
"Yeah!" said Sugar. "Let's help some ponies!"
Sugar gripped Twilight's mane extra tight, but as it turned out, Twilight was a little slower than the average pegasus of equivalent age. With practice, she had gotten good enough to be a graceful flyer at that speed, but said speed was nowhere near Rainbow Dash's, so Sugar loosened her grip a little as they headed for the hospital.