The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life

by Rhino

Chapter 18: Heart of the Storm

***Wednesday, Day 12, Morning***

It’s amazing how much of a difference one layer makes isn’t it? From the layer of blankets that pushes you towards that optimum temperature, the second layer that makes a cake, and now, the layer of clouds that reveals our final objective.

I sip my glass of milk on deck as I let my mind wander a bit as I gaze upon Fluffers in the morning light. No longer the overwhelming presence he was yesterday, today he simply looks like a large ball of clouds in the sky. But it is the details that hint at the potential. The color of the cloud is almost pitch black, no lightning can be seen but the rumblings of its accompanying thunder can be heard from the bowels of the sphere. Wind is no longer constantly flowing out, instead not coming is bursts… I would surmise he has more control over this portion of himself, this will be interesting.

Volt and a few of the others walk out as I finish my glass, Volt seeming well enough to try to break the tension.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys but to me Fluffers seems like a bit of a blow hard. That whole big show yesterday and today… nothing.”

A few chuckles are heard as I ask them the important question, “So, how are we going to do this?”

“I think I can help with that,” Hydro says as he walks out of the cabin with one of his knowing smirks.

He leads us back inside where a strange machine is one the table. Hydro gestures at it, “Ponies, meet the ball.” That sums it up quite nicely, the machine in question is a metallic sphere that goes up to about our knees if it were on the floor. Grooves in its shell suggest it is meant to unfold into something more. Hydro goes on to explain in broad terms: he built this during the night after yesterday’s fight thinking we’d need an edge today, Volt was called in this morning to ensure the small power supply needed would not fail, and from what I gathered it appears this little invention is meant to draw power from the lightning in the storm, gather it, then release it all at once in order to literally blow Fluffers apart to where he can never regenerate himself. Only one problem, it needs to be set up in the center of the core for it to ensure everything goes right.

Couldn’t just make it to where we could toss it at him could you Hydro? Have to place it.

As the one with the most success at penetrating the clouds, Blue volunteers to carry the ball to the core. He takes off after a quick swig of orange juice from the fridge with the ball in the crook of his foreleg. A cone of wind forms around him as he closes in on Fluffers, who has decided to wake up judging from the sudden spike of wind coming from him as well. Blue literally drills into the side of Fluffers when he makes contact and starts working way in. Worryingly a short ways in Blue starts losing speed fast. Just as he is almost halfway to the core a flash of lightning strikes him directly, the flash making it too bright for us to see where he got hit, but he stopped flapping.

Almost immediately the wind picked up again, this time throwing Blue and the ball out of the whole he created and back towards us. We barely have enough time to move one of the mattresses from yesterday’s landing pads into position before he crashes into it. Unfortunately his momentum wasn’t totally killed by the mattress so he ends up lazily flipping off the end onto his snout. While we caught Blue, Volt had caught the ball. We all crowd around the dark blue pegasus as he lays there with his wings convulsing from the current lingering in his body.

Once they die down Dash leans down to Blue’s face, “Hey Blue, are you okay?”

He mumbles a bit before we can understand him, “… No… that’s my chimicherrychonga…” He lunges out with his forelegs and grabs Dash in a hug.

We all just stare for a moment as Dash almost instantly blushes and starts punching Blue to get him to let go. A hook to his muzzle wakes him up enough for him to grab it in pain, thus releasing Dash and giving the rest of us a bit of a laugh seeing as how he’s fine if he can live through that little beating.

We all laugh for a bit before getting focused on the main question.

Twillight sums it up, “How are we going to get a pony to the core?”

Blue continues having regained most of his mental faculties, “Whoever we send has to be able to dodge or take a whole lot of lightning bolts…”

His statement sends the same thought through all of us as we slowly turn towards our resident lightning unicorn.

Volt chuckles nervously as he sweatdrops, “Eheh… well… I guess somepony has to do it…”

Hydro is the one to point out the obvious, “As much as I love this idea, how would we get him up there?”

Pinkie starts bouncing up and down with her hoof in the air, “Oh, oh! Pick me! Pick me!”

I point to her like a teacher calling on a student.

She stops bouncing for a moment as she answers, “I have an idea…”

***

“Explain to me why you had this cannon again,” Volt says, his front half hanging out of said cannon.

Pinkie replies, “Simple, this is my Doozy Party Cannon. I use it for fireworks or those bigger than normal parties where I need to set up outside for all the guests.”

Well that explains why it’s three times as long as I am tall, but NOT where she’s been keeping it.

Hydro hoofs Volt the ball then starts pacing in front of him, “Now Volt, just to review. We are going to be firing you from this cannon into that ball of raw weather fury over there with nothing to hold onto but this small ball which you will be forced to let go of once you get to the center. On the way there you will have zero visibility, and will most likely be constantly struck by lightning after a certain point… you may feel a slight tingling sensation. But I just want you to know, you cannot give up. Literally, you’re being shot from a cannon into the air, not much you can do to stop that once it starts. You will know the core as in all likely hood it is a space filled with either blisteringly strong winds or maybe even a ball of pure electric energy, either way it is not going to be pleasant. Once you drop the ball at this location you shall need to get out fast, whether this is by falling or just continuing across the cloud I’ll leave up to you. And one last thing, if you feel you’re heart stop, by all means feel free to keep going. It’s probably just the excess electricity and should wear off… probably. Ah good, I see you’re wide-eyed with anticipation, that’s the spirit!”

Volt clutches the ball to him as Hydro pushes him down into the cannon.

I stare at the red earth pony, “Hydro, you are fired from all future motivational speaking.”

Hydro simply shrugs and shoves the end of the barrel towards Fluffers.

A few words of encouragement from us and Pinkie starts to take aim at the whole Blue had made in Fluffers. She looks back at us once, we nod and she punches the launch button.

Streamers fly out behind Volt as he is rocketed through the air towards Fluffers at a speed Rainbow Dash would be proud of. Like Blue, Volt forms a cone, but this one happens once he gets into the cloud and is made of electricity. No offense to the pegasus but I think Volt is winning in the impressive cone contest right now. Lightning can be seen flashing from inside Fluffers at about 5 strikes a second. We all get worried as the seconds pass when suddenly one final flash lights up the inside of Fluffers before going dark. Nothing happens for the ten longest seconds of our lives.

Suddenly we see Volt’s limp form fall out of the bottom of the cloud as we hear a hum start to build up originating from inside Fluffers. Twilight notices him first and teleports him onto the mattress we had set up for Blue’s landing. He’s quite badly singed but he’s breathing. Twilight keeps an eye on Volt as the rest of us turn back to Fluffers, the hum having grown exponentially into what sounds almost like a primal roar of rage coming from Fluffers. The very surface of the cloud sphere seems to boil and random spike of cloud either shoot into or away from the center. Just when the sound is about to become unbearable-

Time seems to stop for a moment as the cloud freezes-

*KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

A massive ball of lightning erupts from the center of the cloud, rending the cloud itself into smaller and smaller pieces in the face of an expanding sphere of energy born from within. The ball itself stop expanding but a wave of lighter energy also shoots out finishing off the remaining clouds as it washes over the area around it including us. We all close our eyes until the rumbling from the explosion calms down.

Once we open our eyes we look where Fluffers used to be, the only remnant of his existence is a small charred crater directly underneath where the core was and a slightly messier area of the forest where we had fought yesterday. I turn to the rest of the group and stifle a chuckle.

All of our manes are now sticking straight out from the static of that shockwave. As the girls and guys look around we all burst into laughter at how ridiculous we look now, Rarity’s laughter seems almost like she’s about to cry. The sun shines down on our happy little group, our mission finally complete.

Mission Complete!

Comments

[darkironpony]

....What did I think? What did I think?! I'll tell you what I think about it! [Takes big breath.] Buck yeah! Get some! Take that fluffers!!!

I also can not wait for the next chapter.

[Atomic Vortex]

Looks my theory about Fluffers was wrong. Damn it.
And first arc verdict?
FUCKING AWESOME!

[blazikenking]

I saw a few instances of "whole" where "hole" should have been used.

[drone009]

the entire time until he gets shot out of the party cannon, I'm thinking 'the ball can't float, you idiots'