Cloudsdale Weather Laboratories

by AceZora

-Secundo-

-Secundo-

--

March 14th 5014

8:30 am.

Grand Pony Station, Manehattan.

Ward exited the chariot, stepping down onto the cracked and littered pavement. The streets were a chaotic mash-up of every sense imaginable. Having lived so long in the city though, made the unicorn deaf to the noises and blind to the flashing lights, instead focusing on only what she needed. Ward took a few steps, went to pay the stallions pulling the chariot, then remembered it was free and simply thanked them.

She walked a few meters until she reached the entrance for Grand Pony Station, the largest and busiest train station in all of Equestria. Yet this was normal procedure to Ward as she stepped though into the air conditioned atrium. Without a thought she scanned for the Canterlot terminal, located it, and then did not wast any time getting there.

The mare passed countless other ponies on her route, but per usual, noticed none of them. Upon reaching the desired room, Ward was tempted to get in line for her ticket but once again remembered the premium pass she had received in the letter from The Royal Cloudsdale Congress.

Ward Dreaming walked passed the ticked lines to the terminal entry checkpoint. Before the guard could ask for her ticked, ward showed him the pass and was allowed to enter. This is nice. Ward thought to herself. The big wigs sure do treat their allies kindly. I should work for them more often.

Ponies of all shapes and sizes filled the terminal. Ward glanced over the room and could easily see that the Canterlot Train had not arrived yet, no need checking the Arrivals and Departures screen. Hopefully they didn't take too long.

A television on the wall next to the Arrivals and Departures screen was playing the very same news station Ward was watching yesterday. They were covering some guard scandal over in the Crystal Empire, nothing out of the ordinary there. But right as ward looked down to check the time.

"Breaking news!" Said the anchor pony.

Ward turned back to the screen along with several others in the general vicinity.

"We are getting confirmed reports that an explosion has erupted in or around the now decommissioned Cloudsdale Weather Factory moments ago."

The train for Canterlot arrived.

"The cause of this combustion remains unclear as of now, however reports are coming in that smoke is billowing out the north face of the facility."

Ward had to peel her focus off the screen to notice the recently arrived train. She wanted to stay and watch but she had to get going, surely a television could be easily found in the Canterlot train station. She boarded.

--

8:50 am.

Cloudsdale Town Hall.

"No! No! No! This is ridiculous! You sent a unicorn!?"

"Y...yes, Sir." Trembling. "I'm sorry."

"You should know better than to trust a snobby unicorn, especially one from Manehattan."

"My sincerest apologies Mr. Venture. I didn't..."

"Yeah yeah, you didn't know... That's alright, It's too late anyway if shes already on here way there."

The conversation was interrupted by a tall and skinny orange pony running upstairs. When he arrived he was panting, trying to say everything at once. "Mr.... Mr.. Venture..." He tried to speak.

"Spit it out already!" Scorned Gust Venture.

"The... the factory... it exploded."

"What!"

"Yeah, smoke is coming out and everything."

"Goddammit!" Said Gust. "I knew that factory was dangerous!" As he ran out the door.

He ran down the stairs to the front door of the Town Hall where he met others standing outside. They were looking in the distance at the smoking facility.

"What's happened!" A terrorized mare yelled out.

"Something exploded inside the factory." A stallion informed her.

Smoke was billowing out of the facility, Gust didn't know what to do about it, no one was inside to facility, but some pony flying by could have been hurt just like he tried to explain to Veil. That damned pegasus! He screamed in his mind.

"What do we do?" asked a mare behind him.

"I don't know" Gust replied.

--

9:26 am.

Ward sat in the very comfortable first class car jamming out to her new Beats by Vinyl. She made decent money and liked to treat herself to nice thing every now and then, without going crazy. She was listening to classical music though, so there were no 'beats' to speak of. But Ward loved it.

She began to get bored with her music and packed the headphones back into her bag. Without the music drowning out everything Ward could hear the sounds of the train speeding along the rails and small talk between ponies. The clearest was a conversation between a stallion and mare taking place in front of her.

"So yeah people seem to like it, i'm really excited." He said.

"And.... It's about a cartoon show?" Asked the mare.

"Yeah, My Little Human."

"Isn't that for young fillies?"

"It is.. But we find it really great."

"We?"

Ward put her headphones back on.

Now that the sounds were gone, she was free to think clearly. An advertisement for those new self-propelled chariots was posted above the ponies across from her. They were the latest breakthrough in an unprecedented technological boom in Equestria, mostly in Manehattan though, business and industry were quickly becoming the new culture of the city. Unlike Ponyville and Cloudsdale which were still stuck in there old ways, money was the driving force in Manehattan.

Ward was tired from traveling, and she still had a couple of hours to go until Canterlot. She needed to kill some time, so she leaned back, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

Comments

[AceZora]

5014014

Yes. Dash and Hide are dead.