Growing Problems

by Alovelylittlecomplex

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

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Ponyville Skyline, 7:30 AM
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Rainbow Dash, contrary to her personal belief, was not that bright of a mare. Sure, some things interested her, such as the Daring Do series, but anything more was treading deep into egghead territory. And truth be told, she didn't need to know such superbflu superfluio extra things because she just didn't need them. Nuclear theory and particle physics? Ask Twilight to do it. Advanced calculus and its practical applications? Ask Twilight to do it. The economic model theory of Equestria? Rainbow knows a certain purple mare that knows her stuff.

Yet there are some things that grab Rainbow’s interest, and one particular activity grabs her attention quite well: flying. The amount of speed needed to achieve a sonic rainboom? Just past 340 meters per second. The most streamlined flying position? Mastered when she was a filly. Expert weather control techniques? Rainbow can conjure up a tornado.

But this morning, Rainbow’s favorite hobby was off. She was getting more drag on account of having just a bit more height, and it threw off her entire flying game. Missed landings, improper cloud manipulation, and inefficient energy usage were screwing her and the entire morning weather team up. The result was quite alarming to see, as Ponyville was dotted with impact craters from unlucky pegasi in some areas and doused with rainwater in others. In the distance, Rainbow could see Cloudsdale pegasi struggling with the weather factory; thunderclouds were growing frighteningly big, and the rainbow production district was leaking rainbow onto the underlying landscape.

“Ugh, what the hay is this! Everypony is flying like they have two left wings!” Rainbow huffed to herself. Derpy then crashed into Quills and Sofas, marking the impact as her 24th collision of the morning.

“Uhm… Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked while gently flying up to her. “I think we should call a doctor. I’m trying as hard as I can, but with Thunderlane down as the ninth pegasi with a concussion, I don’t think I can take care of so many injured ponies.”

“Nine?!” Rainbow cried, shocked. “But we haven’t even watered Sweet Apple Acres yet, and the other weather issues are gonna wreck this week’s schedule!”

“Oh… Okay then. I’ll see if I can get some help from the girls before we meet up. I’m sure Twilight will know what to do.” Fluttershy said before floating towards the library.

“Yeah, okay, you do that. I’ll see if I can fix this feathering mess everypony else made.” Rainbow replied in a more aggravated manner before taking off.

Flying was iffy at best when moving at normal Rainbow Dash is AwesomeTM speeds, so flying right now was a veritable disaster. However, flying any slower would ruin Dash’s street cred, and that was something Dash couldn’t afford to lose. (Street cred was just below daytime naps on Rainbow’s necessity list, but several notches above it on the radicalness list. It really was a fantastic and intricate system that was known only to the pegasus because she was the only one who bothered to learn it.) The result was a sporadic zig-zag rainbow trail that was entirely too fast to be sky legal.

Lost in her aggravated thoughts and flying like she just downed seventeen of Berry Punch’s best, Rainbow barely saw Blossomforth and Cloud Kicker from the corner of her eye. The two were corralling an errant ice cloud towards the lake to dump its contents, struggling to keep it stable. The three were unable to react in time as Rainbow collided in a decidedly not-so-awesome way into the pair, causing a miniature explosion that iced the three pegasi in place and launched the cloud into town. The frozen block that held the ponies prisoner fell to the ground with a loud thunk.

From Sweet Apple Acres’ southern fields, Applejack heard a muffled cry in the distance. Listening closer, she thought it sounded something along the lines of “MFFTHTHHHRR BHHKKRRR”.
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Fluttershy made it to the library’s front door when it opened. Twilight bumped her horn on the way out but was too engrossed in her argument with Spike to give it more attention than a couple of annoyed rubs with her hoof.

“...And I’m telling you that mares will not go crazy over you because you got armpit hair. While I understand that it’s a sign of puberty and increased masculinity, it’s still unsightly to show it off in such a manner. And frankly, dragon pit hair is kinda gross.” Twilight said, scrunching her nose up in disgust.

“Uhh… Twilight?” Fluttershy spoke in a hushed tone as to not intrude. It was rude to interrupt ponies that were talking, after all, and Fluttershy was anything but a rude pony.

“Oh yeah? Well you clearly don’t know what you’re talking about! Suave Dragon Monthly clearly says that flaunting a dragon’s pit hair is one of the easiest ways to land a date, along with honey baths and impromptu monologuing!” Spike stated matter-of-factly, not hearing Fluttershy.

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. She didn’t have the heart to tell Spike that Rainbow and Pinkie had been sending him that magazine every month since they arrived in town. That, and there was also the fact that the two were giving her a nice stipend for keeping her mouth shut.

“Excuse me… Twilight?” Fluttershy attempted to grab the pair’s attention again, as they were contentedly oblivious to the carnage raging around them at the moment. Fluttershy deftly dodged another pegasus that was careening through the air (which oddly sounded like a crashing airplane) before she landed in front of the two.

“Twilight, Spike, stop!” Fluttershy shouted as she blocked the two from falling down a huge crater where Ponyville’s market used to be. (Derpy would have a looooooooot of explaining to do for how she caused that one.)

“Oh, hey there, Fluttershy!” Twilight greeted her as she blinked in registration of where she was. “What are you-- Gah! Dear Celestia, what’s all this?!” Twilight exclaimed as she noticed the wreckage.

Celestia sneezed.

“Oh, uhm… It turns out pegasi flight dynamics are a very delicate process, and since all of us grew for some reason, we can’t exactly fly well. Without crashing into things, anyway.” Fluttershy explained.

“Oh man, that sounds--” ssssssSSSSHHHHAAABWOOOOM! Spike flinched before continuing. “That sounds pretty bad. I mean, it has to be really bad for the flower sisters to be panicking. Just look at them!” Spike exclaimed while pointing a claw towards the three mares. “They’re running around as if their manes are on fire! Lily’s mane is actually on fire!”

“Ehhh… I’ll fix that later.” Twilight said while waving her hoof. “Right now, I should probably stop Ponyville from collapsing. Again.”

Twilight prepared a spell, but her magic quickly fizzled out, her horn making an odd sizzling sound as the energy dissipated.

“What the hay?” Twilight said, shocked. She prepared to cast her spell once more, yet she had the same result.

Annoyed, Twilight’s left eye started twitching, when a wisp of magic flew in from Canterlot, popping into its letter form as it reached her. She grabbed the parchment from the air and opened it, grumbling while she used her mouth to untie the ribbon that held it closed. Spike and Fluttershy moved in closer to read the curious paper over Twilight’s shoulder as she read it aloud.

“...stufid riffon. Ack! Pthew! Ahem, Let’s see here… It says…”

“Dear unidentified magic user,

Congratulations! You’re magical prowess is certainly quite an amazing feat! However, due to the Equestrian Magical Protection Act of [year redacted], the spell you were about to cast, an MSRS (mass societal reformation spell), is no longer allowed to be performed onto the general public, as they have expressed that they do not want to be controlled by ‘you snooty unicorn pricks’. Because of your violation of this act, you are being issued a misdemeanor, with your magic is being temporarily disabled as punishment. If you wish to dispute your position, please file a ticket and send it to the Princess of Magic, Twilight Sparkle, herself for consideration.

With much respect,

Director T.L., Head of the Equestrian Magical Society”

Twilight read the letter again. She read the letter a third time. Spike and Fluttershy went for a coffee before coming back, only to find Twilight reading the letter upside-down, scrutinizing the parchment for any other details or hidden messages.

“Uhm… Is everything okay, Twilight” Fluttershy asked demurely.

Twilight only screamed in frustration in response.

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From Sweet Apple Acres’ southern fields, Applejack heard yet another muffled cry in the distance. Puzzled, she turned to buck another tree before huffing under her breath.

Thunk “Huh. Somepony’s prob’ly gettin’ laid.”

Whistling quietly, she made her way towards the next tree.

Author's Note:

Snails could probably have a higher turnover rate than me.

Comments

[tiwake]

Added to read later until it reaches 25k words, or marked as complete.

[Alovelylittlecomplex]

5546248

HL3 has a higher chance of being released before either of these things happen.

[tiwake]

5546546

Hehe... thats kinda why I stopped reading incomplete fanfics to begin with.