6 - Thursday Workday
“We really could’ve used Rainbow for this.”
Above Applejack’s head, thick cloud soup hid everything except thick tree trunks and tropical brush that seemed to grow in size with every step. Dawns like this were common back at Sweet Apple Acres; getting Rainbow to wake up early to clear proved too much of a hassle. However, she had no apple trees or barns to use as landmarks and thanks to the nearby mountains, the sun would be of little aid for another hour. If it wasn’t for the aquamarine toned unicorn leading the way, she’d be sure she’s been going around circles.
Applejack coughed lightly. “Excuse me, Miss, um—”
The unicorn turned her head, the corners of her mouth curling just enough to qualify as a smile before flattening. “Dotty Radar, ma’am.”
“That’s right.” She sipped a hot brew from her thermos. “Sorry. Guess the coffee hasn’t kicked in quite yet.”
“Understandable.”
“Are you sure Blitz and Fluttershy headed down this way? This fog’s thicker than gravy. I can’t even tell which way is north anymore.”
“I’m fairly certain of their location but I can check again. One moment.”
A pale green aura pulsed from her horn and spread out like ripples from a pebble thrown into a lake. She then pressed on her forehead and began rubbing it in a way to keep her bowl styled hair neat.
Applejack raised a curious eyebrow. “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are you doing?”
Radar’s yellow eyes darted in multiple directions, “I’m attempting to triangulate our friends’ current position. Unfortunately, there’s quite a number of animals in the area, making identifying individual targets rather difficult.”
The cowpony’s Stetson slid half off Applejack’s head. “Um, okay then. I guess that’s, helpful?”
“Apologies, ma’am. I’ll explain more clearly. Consider my talent as being able to detect objects within an area. For example, part my duties on the weather team is to identity cloud formations miles off the Brayside coast and determine their general direction. I can see it in my own way even though I can’t fly out there to verify.”
She stroked her chin. “Oh! I see. I was wondering why Blossom said we should ask for your help. You can figure out exactly where them seagulls’ home is, can’t ya?”
“Correct. However, my skill, much like anypony else’s, has its limitations. Swift had asked me to find their nesting rounds a few times before. I had narrowed it down to this tropical forest north of the town but regrettably, the constant elevation changes in this region limit my range. So far, I haven’t been able to locate it.” She held a blink for five seconds. “But I do believe I found our two other companions. This way.”
Radar led Applejack to a fork in the road. They made a left and ascended a hill, deeper into the rolling mist. A few minutes later, they diverted onto the damp grass and through some thick prickly bushes.
A few caws had Applejack take an attack stance. “Whoa, nelly! That sounds like trouble!”
“Negative, ma’am.” Radar pointed upward.
Through some breaks in the fog, they spotted a yellow toucan perched on a thick branch conversing with Fluttershy. Hanging on near the reddish trunk was Blitz nodding apparent comprehension.
Applejack cusped her mouth. “Fluttershy! Get down here right now! We were supposed to stay within eyesight of one another!”
She descended, frowning. “I’m sorry but I just had to chase down the toucan and talk to him.”
Blitz slid down the trunk and landed on all fours. “Yo. Take a chill pill, Jack. She was totally safe because I was keeping my eye on her.”
“I bet you were,” Applejack muttered under her breath.
“I did find out some helpful information about the seagulls,” Fluttershy continued. “Apparently, they have a leader and he lives here in the jungle along with the others. They’ve all been causing trouble ever since they’ve arrived. All the animals around here would be, oh so happy, if we could get them to calm down just a teensy bit.”
“Or just get out of town,” Blitz added, shaking a hoof toward the hidden sky.
Radar nodded. “We’re you able to retrieve any information about the whereabouts of their home, Miss Fluttershy?”
“They seem to move around a lot although the toucan thinks it’s on this side of the jungle.”
“I see.” Radar returned to a meditative state as her horn sent out pulses. “Hmmm. I believe I have a fix on two small flocks. One seems to be heading toward town but the other’s going deeper inland. If we follow those birds, we may discover their primary residence. Regrettably, they’re approximately one and a half miles northeast and drifting away from our present location.”
Blitz slumped onto a tree trunk and massaged his hooves, “That far? Nopony told me we’d be doing all this walking.”
“Quit your belly-aching,” said Applejack, whacking him with her hat. “At least that’ll give us time to talk about our little project together.”
He stuck out his tongue. “Lame. Why couldn’t I hook up with somepony else.”
“Too bad! I don’t like the idea as much as you but I want that spot right by the entrance! Now, you know how to cook, dontcha?”
“Do I know how to cook?” Blitz guffawed for a few seconds, wiping off faux tears. “Do I know how to… um? Negatory.”
Applejack slapped her forehead. “And you work on a farm? Good grief!”
Brayside Beach, Thursday morning.
With the sun rising over the mountain range, several stallions arrived at the designated festival site pulling wagons filled with wood fresh from the lumber mill. Behind them, a team of four pegasi led by Light Shower started a patrol around the area in search for incoming trouble. Five minutes afterwards, Blossom made her arrival with a cheery aloha to everypony within eyesight. She had Twilight, Rarity and Spike trail not far behind, her designated assistants for the whole project.
At least that’s how Blossom planned it. She hadn’t even barked out her first order before an interruption.
“What do you mean we should change the layout, Twilight?” said the surfer mare, speaking through her teeth.
“I was looking over some of the blueprints last night,” Twilight answered as Spike set up an easel and plastered on it several diagrams. “There’s potential for bottlenecks in the areas that I’ve circled here, here and here. Also, the seating arrangements for the stage didn’t seem right to me.” The unicorn added a page to the board. “If you do it this way, you’ll have better traffic flow and increase our official maximum capacity at the same time.”
“But that messes up the sightlines completely!” Blossom uncapped a pen and made her own scribbles. “You see? Only half of downtown and the tip of the Ferris Wheel are visible under your arrangement!”
Twilight drew an X over Blossom’s lines. “It’s not that bad. Ponies can still see their surroundings if they really try.”
“Only if you’re as tall as Princess Celestia! I want everypony to have a view of the entertainment and the fireworks, no matter where they are!”
Twilight took two steps toward her. “At the expense of maximum efficiency? What kind of proper planning is that?”
“Noted!”
“Ladies, please,” Rarity interjected, moving in between the two mares. “Let’s not make a scene.”
Blossom whipped her head and readjusted her ponytails. “Yes. Yes, of course. Rarity. This is a nice happy place. Now, we’ve only got until Saturday morning to set everything up. The current layout’s already been approved by the committee and I’d rather not make any drastic changes this late in the game. You understand, Twilight?”
The unicorn wrinkled her nose.
Rarity frowned. “I see. So it’s too late for those suggestions I gave you last night on some minor alterations for the required festival wardrobe?”
“Now that’s a different story, Rarity. In fact, I’ve already passed your suggestions to the ponies responsible for wardrobe.” She winked. “You’ve got an expert eye, so would you mind supervising their work for a while?”
“Of course, dearie! I shall do my best!”
Blossom called out for Light Shower who was having a mid-flight conversation with a fellow pegasus. Seconds later, she raised her voice an octave, “Stop gabbing and get your flank here, now!”
“Morning, girl,” he said as he landed and flashed his pearly whites. “Looking absolutely ravishing, as always.”
She groaned aloud. “Yes, yes. Like I haven’t heard that a million times before. Anyways, can you do me a teensy weensy little favor and escort Rarity here to where we’re putting together the uniforms?”
“But of course,” said Shower, grabbing ahold of her foreleg and bringing it closer to him. “Anything for the most beautiful mare in all the land. I would move mountains, challenge the princesses, fly all the way to the heavens or even—”
Blossom clasped his snout tight. “You keep talking and I’ll send you flying myself. Got it?”
Once free of her grasp, the pegasus led her Ponyville guest up the road toward the town center.
“So, what important task do you have for me, Blossom?” said Twilight, rocking back and forth from her tippy hooves.
The redhead dumped in front of her a stack of papers. “These are duty rosters for every lifeguard on duty up through the weekend. You can deliver these to every station up and down the coast. While you’re doing that,” She dropped a much larger pile besides the first, “you can put up some posters. Now, as for you, Spike, I’ll need you by my side to—”
A nearby carpenter called for Blossom.
“Excuse me. One second.”
After she trotted off, Twilight crammed the documents into a satchel. “The nerve of her, Spike! She blows off my wonderful ideas and she gives me tedious chores to do!”
“Well, you are being a bit pushy,” he replied, wagging a finger.
“Don’t you take sides!”
The assistant crossed his arms. “I am not. I’m just saying that for somepony’s that’s just trying to help, you want to change every single little detail.”
“But… well, I suppose that I’m used to being the pony in charge for these kinds of things.” She sighed, shoving in the last of the sheets before closing the satchel. “And I did promise myself a vacation from planning.”
Spike gave her a thumbs up. “I like the sound of that.”
Twilight puffed her chest. “Except regarding that orchestra! Spike? What’s the latest update?”
Reluctantly, he opened up a scroll. “Your orchestra will be boarding a train this evening. They’ll be here by tomorrow morning. Happy?”
“Very.”
He singed the paper to a crisp. “I’m not.”
“It’ll all work out, Spike. Now, if you excuse me, I’ve got duty rosters to deliver and, hmm.” She pulled out a list and scanned through the names. “I wonder if I could—”
“Ahem. Twilight?” Spike shot her a knowing look.
She marched away from him, grumbling whether he was really her assistant.
The dragon shrugged off her leaving comments. After all, his loyalty would always be with the bookworm that raised him ever since he hatched out of his egg.
On the other hand, working under Blossom was a nice change of pace. She rubbed his scales for a job well done, she fed him an occasional gem and she even carried him on her back when he developed a leg cramp. When his body called for a nap, he dared using her hair as a pillow for a nap and she didn’t even bat an eyelash.
This is paradise!
Then, a shake tossed him overboard and right into some sand. Before he could clasp his claws together for forgiveness, he realized the target of her ire was a few feet away – a beige stallion tall as a royal princess and with enough bulging muscles to take on multiple Royal Guards. Yet she had him cowering beneath her as though she was about to transform into an adult dragon and roast him to a crisp.
“What do you mean our dunk tank machine isn’t coming, Brute?” she shouted, causing the ponies in the area to drop their tools and watch.
“I’m sorry, Blossom, but,” He clung onto one of her hooves, “Las Pegasus really wants it!”
“Too bad! You said first come first serve and we put the request in first, didn’t we?”
His teeth chattered, “B–but my bosses—”
“Will be hearing from me personally if they try backing off our deal!” Blossom pulled out her surfboard. “Do you understand?”
“T–they said the town will have to pay more if they want… ahhhhhh!”
Her tail raised her gavel of justice skyward. Before she could deliver her verdict, Swift swooped in and clung onto the surfboard.
“Blossom!” He readjusted his grip. “Knock it off!”
“But I was just going to scare him,” she whined, digging a foreleg on a patchy spot of weeds.
He rolled his eyes. “Sure you were. Now, let go of the board, Blossom. Please?”
Ears flopping in the breeze, she dropped her gavel, stallion and all.
Swift dragged the surfboard into Spike’s possession. “Hold onto that, will ya?”
“Holey moley,” the dragon spoke into his ear. “How’d you calm her down like that?”
“Luck.” He whisked off some sweat. “Mostly luck that she actually listened to me for once. I hope I didn’t use it all up because I’m going to need some more of it right now.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.”
Swift casually strolled straight past Blossom and right up to the behemoth, now back on all fours. “’Sup, Brute? My bad about that. My friend gets like that sometimes. I bet that’s why your big shots, um, what were their names again?”
“Flim and Flam.”
“Of course! Those two. They decided to send a messenger rather than face Blossom themselves. Am I right?”
Brutus nodded. “No offense, miss, but I’ve heard stories about you taking on Leviathans. I don’t want to mess with anypony that can do that.”
“Well, I’ll let you in on something not everypony knows, Brutus.” Swift paced around him, “Despite Las Pegasus being further inland, they only have partial weather control. You see, they rely on my team to keep away any incoming storms coming from the ocean. You know, they like it really nice and dry over there.”
“Yeah. So?”
Swift stopped in front of him. “Well, did you know there’s one big storm heading their way? I noticed it far off in the distance during my morning patrol. It would be a big bummer if we, forget to take care of it. They’ll probably cancel whatever plans they have this weekend which means Las Pegasus won’t need a dunk tank machine anymore.” He pulled out a smile. “You get my drift?”
His foreleg rose halfway but quickly let it drop back down. “I believe I do, Swift. I’ll make sure the bosses do too. Sorry if I caused any trouble, Blossom.” Brutus galloped up the road and out of sight.
“Oh, thank you, Swift!” Blossom squeezed some air out of the slender stallion, “Thank you! Thank you! I didn’t know you could fib like that.”
Struggling out of her grip, “Eh? How did you know I was—?”
“I’m not used to you being a little naughty. Has Rainbow been teaching you things, hmmm?”
Swift snorted. “Whatever. Anyways, how many times do I have to tell you? You can’t solve every problem with your surfboard.”
“I had it under control before you arrived.” She swiped her surfboard from the dragon and then pounded it on a nearby picnic bench, “All right! Show’s over! Back to work on the double!”
The onlookers returned to carrying timber and hammering nails on wood.
“Oh, Spike?” Blossom slid over his direction. “Tell me. Do you have the list of names of those ponies I want for the rock band?”
“Rock, band?” He suddenly had a case of the shakes. “Umm, rock band! That’s right. We’re putting together a rock band. H-here you go.”
Blossom raised an eyebrow his way as she scrutinized the scroll. After a few seconds, she pressed on his cheeks. “Oh. You’re getting warm. Are you getting sick? It wasn’t my cooking last night, was it?”
“No!” His eyes darted back and forth. “It’s, um, too much time in the sun?”
She frowned. “I’m sorry, cutie. I’ve been working you too hard. Go ahead and take a breather. I can have a few other ponies gather up the band. Well, everypony except our lead singer.”
“And who is that, exactly, Blossom?” said Swift.
“Silly! Who else? Hipster Amps!”
“Eh?” A thought bubble started to form an image, only to disintegrate. “Really? She sings? Um, okay. If you say so but you think she’ll want to do this?”
“I’m sure of it! Only problem is that when I stopped by her store this morning, she left a note on the door. Apparently, she’s out hiking out in the mountains all day.”
“Hiking? This is just getting weirder. Since when does she go hiking?”
Blossom shrugged. “Whatever the reason, I need you to go out and find her.” She stifled a gasp. “I just had an idea. Have Rainbow help you in your search. That should speed things up. Then you two can go over to that trainer of yours. I bet he could help you find some of that dancing rhythm.”
Swift groaned and grimaced. “Seriously? Do I have to bring him into this too? What about the seagulls? Don’t you want us here instead if they come back today?”
“Let your teammates handle that,” she answered, directing his attention to a few pegasi flying around in a circle. “Now, go on. Oh, and do me a favor and check on Widget and Pinkie for me before searching for Amps. Not that I don’t trust those two working together but, well, just in case.”
“Ten four. So, where is Rainbow, anyways?”
“Darnit! I can’t get this right, Swift.”
“Just keeping trying, Rainbow.”
Under the shadow of a mountain peak, Rainbow massaged a cloud’s innards. Swift, hovering beside her, continually fed her instructions on how to achieve maximum softness. He had fluffed up an example for her to match but after a minute, she yanked apart another failure before starting over with a fresh batch.
Frustration aside, something about this routine had a sense of familiarity. Even the words of encouragement from the stallion were predictable right down to the syllable.
Eventually, Swift swept together the surrounding water vapor for more building material. “Well, our lunch break’s almost up. You wanna give it one last go?”
“I dunno,” she bemoaned, whisking away part of a cloud’s surface. “I’ve tried like a million times and I’m not getting any better.”
Swift jabbed a foreleg into the lumpy white. “Because you’re being too rough with it. Nice and slow, like this.”
“I know but I can’t see what you’re doing.” She dug in her hoof. “How am I supposed to know—?”
Her fur suddenly was touching his; it was time to pull back.
At least, that’s what should’ve happened.
Instead, she drew in closer to him as the scenery transformed from the Stallihorn Mountains to the back of a caboose at sunset. Any second now, a shrill horn from the locomotive would shatter this moment to pieces.
W–whoa, whoa, whoa! No, no, no!
She shoved him away and her entire world exploded in a fine mist. When it cleared, she was a filly standing on a school playground floating within sight of Cloudsdale. A brown colt had just delivered to her a red card scribbled with hearts and poetic adoration.
“Gross!” Rainbow tossed the card, hitting him in the nose. “Are you trying to spread germs?”
“I want to be your special somepony,” the colt answered in a whimper, presenting a single rose.
Pointing past him, “Go find somepony else! I hate the kissy stuff!”
The young Rainbow marched toward one of the many school buildings in the area. “Lousy Hearts and Hooves day. I knew should’ve stayed home today! I won’t be mushy with somepony on this day or any other day! Never ever, ever!”
Then, a filmstrip landed right in front of her. Four moments captured, she along with a stallion, a possession cherished like a racing trophy. She bent down to grab it but a sudden gust swept it high in the air before it faded.
“No!”
Hearing a sniffling noise nearby, Rainbow turned around and found the same brown colt using his long forelocks as makeshift tissue paper. Ever from afar, her heart writhed in pain knowing she was the cause of his agony.
She hustled back to him. “I’m sorry, kid. I didn’t mean to hurt you like that. We can still be fri— huh?”
Another eye blink and she was back to full size. What had been a colt was now Swift Flying fiddling with his hair.
“F–friends, right, Swift? R–right?”
Swift called her name except it didn’t come from the pony in front of him. The second time she heard him, she opened her eyes to a spinning ceiling fan.
“Wh–what?”
A hammock cradled and rocked her body and sheets hung on the edge of the netting. On one side, sparkling sunlight gave the bedroom a soft glow while on the other side, Swift peeked his head into the doorway.
“Rainbow? Are… oh! There you are.” He walked into the room, “Looks like what Blossom told me was true. You had a really rough night.”
Rainbow touched a few scruff marks on the side of her stomach. “Ah! Yeah, I guess you could say that.” Swift offered a hoof to disembark but her pride sedated the pain just enough to roll off the hammock. “I was trying to bust out a few surfing moves when these rocks suddenly showed up in the dark. First time, I bailed before I crashed into them. Second time around,” she began straightening her wingtips, “Ow! Not so lucky.”
Swift picked up a red surfboard bent into an L shape. “Shoot! I know this is just one of her regular boards but shoot! That must have been an epic wipeout. Are you good to fly? Blossom’s got us doing a few things today.”
“Pfffft! This is nothing!” She jogged in place, keeping the hind leg with some swelling off the ground as best she could. “Just need to shake it off. Besides, I’ve had way worse crashes than this.”
“Um, which one? I’ve lost track.”
She grabbed a pillow from the hammock and misfired onto the flower print wall. “Oh, ha,ha! Very funny, Swift! I’m just glad you weren’t around to help me this time. Can’t have you getting hurt too.”
“Good point. After all, Nurse Redheart did tell me you’re my biggest health hazard.”
His subsequent guffaws were acid to her ears. “Health hazard? Hey! When did she say that?”
“R–right after, heh heh, the thing with the avalanche when—” He collected his breath, realizing Rainbow hadn’t even chuckled. “Sorry, Rainbow. I thought—”
She quieted him with nothing more than a pleasing curling of the lips. “I was being a jerk that day, wasn’t I, Swift?”
***Begin Flashback***
Inside a small shack, Swift stood in front of a table with a map of the Stallihorn Mountain range sprawled across the surface.
Suddenly, Rainbow barged through the door and slammed her hooves on the table. “What’s the big idea, Swift? I just heard you want to put an all stop on operations!”
“It’s too dangerous to send anypony out there, Rainbow.” He pointed at an area around a marked circle, “Fifteen minutes ago, I spotted some heavy cumulonimbus clouds in this spot and they’re flowing—”
“Blah, blah, blah! I know what you’re gonna say, Swift. The rain will be intense and we’ll have the risk of an avalanche. I can’t allow anypony to go out there.” She rolled up the map and waved it at him, “When’s the last time we’ve actually had an avalanche close to the construction site?”
“That’s not the—”
“Zero,” she answered, poking the paper onto his chest. “Now, look. The railway project’s behind schedule as it is. I say we should give the green light and just stick close to the construction crew at all times.”
“And I say no.”
“Stop being so stubborn! Geez louise! Sometimes, you take your job way too seriously!”
He snatched the map from her. “And you don’t take it seriously enough!”
Rainbow leaned across the table. “What’s that supposed to mean? You’re the one that asked me here in the first place! You know, to spend more time together?”
“But we still have responsibilities, Rainbow! We can have our fun but that doesn’t mean slacking off on work like you do!”
“Hey! You take that back right now!”
He leaned back but quickly drew face to face with her. “No.”
“What?”
“You take way too many nap breaks, I’m always having to do the early morning weather checks while you sleep in and you keeping blabbing about the Cloudsdale race to everypony you see every chance you get!”
“Yeah, well, um.” She pouted with eyebrows slanted down. “Okay, you might have a point on the first two but I have a good reason for the third! I have an awesome reputation to maintain.”
He rolled his eyes, “And it’s starting to get annoying.”
Rainbow gasped. “You did not just say that.”
“I did! Having to hear you brag about every little thing about yourself over and over and over and over and over again is starting to drive me bonkers!”
“Buh! So says the pony who doesn’t believe in pegasus pride! That’s the problem with you, Swift. Even after all this time helping you out, you’re still too soft!” Pressing her forelegs on her face, “Oh, Celestia! There’s a few drops of water falling from the sky. We gotta call everything off or some ponies could risk getting wet.”
His wings came out in full display. “Knock it off, Rainbow! This isn’t a joke!”
“The only joke in here is you!” Rainbow stormed to the door and tried her best to rip it from its hinges. “Now, I’m telling everypony they have the green light. Do you have my back on this?”
“No, I don’t! If you want to screw up so badly, you clean up your own mess this time! I’m tired of cleaning them up for you!”
The entire cabin shook as Rainbow made her noisy exit.
He found the closest chair and took a seat so he could scowl at a file cabinet.
Dammit, Rainbow! He kicked the side of the cabinet. Driving me bonkers!
Swift turned his attention to the hands on the ticking clock above his head. Minute by minute, all he could do is glower at it while he rocked back and forth on his chair. It wasn’t until the sound of hammers striking the ceiling when his sense of duty and responsibility forced him to step out into the increasing rain.
In the span of seconds, a small stream running across the construction site transformed to a river and carried off loose lumber straight through fencing. Then, the roof of the shack he just left came crashing down. He leapt into the air, avoiding the rush of table splinters and soaked documents flowing beneath him.
Shoot! I can’t leave her out in this! Where could she have taken the workers today? The tunnels! They were drilling through… that way!
Swift took off into the misty grey skies.
Wait for me, Rainbow!
After rounding one mountain peak, he found two dozen workers on a narrow cliff side tossing aside their jackhammers and shovels and galloping toward the nearest pony-made tunnel. Rock and dirt rained down upon them and as he expected, Rainbow guided them away from incoming debris. Then, a slab the size of a house slid off the slope and tumbled toward the entrance, gaining speed as it broke into smaller pieces. Swift engaged maximum speed, noticing some falling branches trapping Rainbow into a confined space too close to the mountainside.
“Rainbow! Watch out!”
Right as a large chunk of rock ricocheted several feet above Rainbow, Swift grabbed ahold of her and pushed her closer to safety. Then, something he never saw banged right into his head, turning his memory into a static mess. He did recall crash landing short of the tunnel entrance, the calling of his name and a strong force pulling him into a safe area. He also remembered a bumpy ride on a stretcher back to the construction site’s first aid center alongside his injured friend.
“You’re with me,” she asked him, reaching from her stretcher and grazing his wing.
He said words forever lost to his concussion. Whatever it was, he made her laugh and that, he was glad he remembered.
The application of ointment on his wounds he wished he’d forgotten.
“Ah, ah, ah!” He banged the padded examination table, feeling acid singing his reddened skin. “Please, Nurse Redheart! A little less of that stuff!”
“You two really worry me sometimes,” the nurse complained as she dabbed a pad over Swift’s left eye. “What is this? The sixth time I’ve had to patch one of you two up since the start of this railway project?”
Rainbow slid off the nearby examination table, half dressed as a white mummy. “I know, I know. Today was completely my fault, Nurse Redheart.”
“No it’s—” Swift reeled from a stinging solution applied to his left ear. “It’s not. I should’ve stopped you when I had the chance. All my talk about being responsible and look what I do.”
“That’s right. Just look at what you did.” Rainbow sat right in front of him, clasping one foreleg with the other. “After ripping you like I did today, you still had my back. A little later than usual but you still did.”
“Sorry.”
She chuckled lightly. “Hey, now. That’s my line.”
“Eh?”
“Well, you did say I should be more responsible and you’re totally right.” Her ears flopped. “And I have to admit you’re not the first one to call me out on how I act sometimes. Far from the first. I don’t always listen and look what that got me today. You got hurt, again.”
“Rainbow? It’s—”
“No. Don’t try to let me off the hook. This is my bad and I have to learn from this. I can’t let this keep happening.” She paused to breathe out. “If I’m acting out of line again, don’t be afraid to call me out, okay? I may not like it but I trust you’ll do so for my own good.”
Swift nodded as Redheart applied wrap around his left wing. “Gotcha and next time I’m being a total stiff, knock me back to my senses, wontcha?”
She clenched his hoof and grazed him on the nose. “Okay, but not too hard.”
Her face lit up in a way that made him forget how drab and colorless the world was past the drenched windowpane.
“I, um, I’m gonna go grab some grub. I’ll save you the good stuff, okay, Swift?”
Suddenly, Redheart’s continual treatment of his body registered as a soothing massage, even after Rainbow left the office.
“Don’t worry” said the physician, reaching for some gauze. “I’m almost done here.”
“Yeah,” he answered automatically.
Redheart wrapped a bandage around his chest, “In my line of work, I’d say she’s a major health hazard to you.” She had a chuckle before snipping the fabric with scissors. “But take my advice. I’ve been treating Rainbow for many years and I can tell you she’s as tough as they come. You don’t need to take all the hits for her. I’m sure she would say the same thing to you.”
“Yeah.”
She put on a big grin and crossed his line of sight. “You really like her, don’t you?”
Swift stumbled back onto the floor. “Nononononononononono! No!”
***End Flashback***
“C’mon, Swift. Be honest. Total jerk that day, right?”
Swift grabbed onto his hair. “Well, I, w–what was the question?”
Bang! The entire house rattled, knocking a few pictures off the wall.
Rainbow ran to the window and leaned past the window frame. “What in Equestria was that?”
Swift facehoofed. “I’ve got a good guess. C’mon. We need to pay somepony a visit.”
Soon afterward, they took off from Blossom’s front door and set a course heading slightly away from the coastline. A few miles away, a narrow plume of smoke rose from the top of one of the many hills defining the landscape. Eventually, they followed one of the dirt roads until it ended at a t intersection where a tan building had its Fixit Up sign hanging over the front door by a nail. The garage door had a few dents and the side wall accumulated grime from the plume drifting in from the rear.
“Whoa!” Rainbow reeled from the barely visible crater in the backyard. “What happened here?”
“Widget,” the stallion yelled as he fanned away some smoke. “Where did you go?”
Two soot covered ponies hopped from the hole, one with their tail missing. However, one small waggle and curly pink hair materialized.
“Wid-get,” the stallion bemoaned, hovering above said pony. “Please tell me that loud bang wasn’t the fireworks.”
“Oy! You’re fussing about nothing. Pinkie and I already did a few fireworks tests earlier in the morning.”
“I put in an order for a few things we need,” Pinkie added. “We just gotta put everything together and—” She showered everypony with random confetti “—hooray for fireworks!”
“So what was that all about, then,” asked Rainbow.
“That’s what I’d like to know.” A pegasus stallion wearing a yellow jacket and a matching helmet landed close to the smoking pit. Before he could take a closer look, Widget impeded his path.
“Nothing going on here, Ember Quench.” A halo glowed above Widget’s head. “Just another day in the shop.”
Brow furrowing, “That’s what I’m afraid of, Miss Widget. You realize how much trouble you give me with your little experiments? I can’t keep an eye away from you without worrying you’ll set something on fire.”
She brandished a screwdriver, “Now, hold on there. I don’t see no flames around here. In fact, I’ve have a spotless record with your fire brigade since the spring.” Widget tucked her tool by her ear. “Besides, you approved me to do the fireworks this morning, so there’s no need to be a fly in the wall.”
“The only reason I approved it was because of Miss Pie over here and under the condition I make regular inspections.” He titled his hat at her, but held his stoic expression. “You better keep her reined in, ma’am, or I’m afraid I’ll have to revoke your fireworks license.”
Pinkie saluted the firepony. “Yes, sir! You can count on me!”
“I hope I can, ma’am.” The burgundy stallion took off into the cloudless sky.
Once he left earshot, Widget stuck her tongue his way. “What a nosy bloke. It’s just a hole in the ground. We didn’t damage anything else.”
Half a mile away, falling debris crashed through a cottage’s roof. While the others stood there in shock, Widget sneaked toward her shop, whistling a tune.
Swift hovered right into her path, forelegs crossed. “Wid-get?”
“Just a minor malfunction. Heh, heh,” she said with a red face. “I’ll just fix Squeezy Syrup’s roof for free, again. Oh, but take a look at what Pinkie and I are trying to build inside the shop!”
“But Widget, we’re in a bit of a—”
The unicorn was already past the front door, with Pinkie bouncing not far behind her.
With a reluctant nod, he had Rainbow follow him through the entrance to the shop.
Inside, the scent of lubricant intermixed with sawdust tickled Rainbow’s nose. Along the walls were large toolboxes on wheels and long tables with half-built trinkets strewn across its surface. Ropes of various lengths hung from pulleys attached to the ceiling, a few of the strands attached to broken wagon wheels. Near the middle of the shop stood the party cannon, now back in one piece. A blueprint on a rolling board diagramed the cannon’s individual components and besides the board was what looked like an unpainted replica of the device. Upon closer inspection, however, the barrel was not only larger and longer than the original but had small compartments inside the chamber.
“She’s a beaut, isn’t she,” said the proud unicorn inventor, wiping her face with a washcloth.
Rainbow poked the cannon, triggering a console attached on the side to flicker with buzzing light. “Whoa! Okay! It’s not going to explode now, is it?”
Pinkie had a giggle fit. “Yes and no. You probably heard—”
“Felt,” Swift interrupted.
Ignoring him, “—the Fireworks Super Cannon version one point one have a teensy weensy little hiccup. This is version one point, um, two!”
“But I thought you were just going to update the original Party Cannon, Widge.”
“But that’s no fun, Swift! This is the perfect chance to make something unexpected!” Widget titled the barrel toward the ceiling. “When this doohickey finally purrs, she’ll light up the sky like nopony has ever seen before! Whatever color or pattern you can think of, she’ll do it and all in one compact package so you can use it whenever! Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, you name it!”
Swift ran a hoof across the cannon’s smooth surface. “Huh. That’s, wicked, I guess. Do we really need this for the festival, though, Widge?”
“Only if we want the best show on the coast!” She then gnawed on the rubbery part of her screwdriver. “That’s if I can just work out all the bugs. Thanks to Pinkie, I know how the original party cannon works but this is something else. There so little time, I don’t think I’ll have it ready by Saturday.”
Pinkie gave Widget a quick hug. “Don’t you worry. I have a feeling when it finally does works, everypony will remember it for the right reasons.”
Swift beamed at the budding friendship in front of him. “What do you know? I actually believe that. Well, Rainbow and I gotta head out but can I ask you something, Widget? Blossom wants Hipster Amps as our singer but she’s gone hiking. Any idea on where to start looking?”
The unicorn nodded. “Try the Troten Trails. Last time I saw her, she was blabbering about something in that area.”
“Shoot. That doesn’t narrow it down much. Rainbow? Guess we’re doing a little sightseeing.”
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They're making it work for fireworks only? Is that a good thing or bad?
5824945
These aren't your average everyday fireworks. They are... advanced fireworks. We're talking "New Year's celebration scale" here, something a multi-purpose device like the regular party cannon can't pull off. Well, at least not for now.
5825037 That doesn't answer the question.
5825103 Good in terms of limiting this cannon to one function to get it up and running in time. Then again, they already had one prototype bite the dust.
I'm loving how Widget and Pinkie are having a budding friendship, its nice 8'D
Heeheehee, oh lordy... Brayside Beach is going to burn.