Chapter 2
The two ponies sat at a round table outside Banana Cobbler’s Delectable Eatery. A large umbrella standing nearby shaded the pair while Stormy dug into the plate of green bean amandine.
Spyglass levitated a fork into the dish, narrowly avoiding Stormy’s face. “If I’d known you were this hungry,” he said, “I would have asked if you wanted to stop here first.”
“S’ok,” Stormy mumbled through a mouthful of food.
“Watch, uh, that flower.” Spyglass magically moved the lily back behind Stormy’s ear. “I got it for you to wear, not to eat. By the way, Starry, I’ve known you for a week now and you’ve never really told me about yourself.”
Stormy swallowed. “I thought you liked the mystery.”
“Well yes, but this is getting ridiculous. You can’t even tell me what you used to do before you came to Baltimare?”
“Oh. Well, I just come to a town, work for a week or two, then move on to the next one. Baltimare’s my, um, fifth I think. It’s pretty hard work, but it keeps my stomach full. Usually. What about you? How did you end up with a two bedroom house and your own store at your age?”
Spyglass had rescued most of what was left of the dish, moving it to a small plate in front of him. “I grew up in that house. The room I’ve been letting you stay in belonged to my sister and me. My old toys are still in that closet I bet. Doctor Witherson was my favorite. You should let him out sometime; I’m sure he’d love the company.
“As for the store, my mom ran it. She used to joke that it was her eldest child. After she passed away, Dad took it over, but his heart was never really in it. Soprano—my sister—inherited Mom’s voice. She moved to Manehattan to become a singer.
“As soon as I was out of high school, Dad took every bit I owned, including all that birthday and Hearth’s Warming money he’d given me over the years. Called it the price of the house. Left me penniless with a shop that had gotten a reputation for selling overpriced junk. He’s moved down south since then. I don’t talk much to either of them these days.”
“Oh... I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s all right. I wouldn’t trade The Finely Focused Filly for the world. And I’ve been working hard on rebuilding her reputation, just like Mom would have wanted.”
“I’m glad to be helping out, then.”
“I’m just glad for some company around the shop; it gets lonely working by yourself sometimes. If you’re done washing the plate, I can show you around town.”
Stormy returned her tongue to her mouth. “Oh, sure. What did you have in mind?”
“Well, we can see if there’s a decent play tonight; we can go sightseeing around the town square; we can walk through the woods—”
“How about the beach? I’ve never been to a beach.”
“The beach? That’ll work too. Let’s go to the beach.”
---
Stormy breathed deep; the sea air filled her lungs. The air was saturated with the smell of salt... and the feeling of power. With the high sun pounding on the water, even a single pegasus could craft some very severe weather from the rising moisture. But there were none around to exploit it. Such wasted potential.
Stormy walked through the edge of the surf, Spyglass at her side. As they walked, Stormy drifted farther and farther into the water, the bottom of her robe submerging.
Stormy eyed the waves as Spyglass talked about something. Ooh, there’s a good one. “So Spyglass,” she said, pointing a hoof inland, “what’s that building?”
Spyglass turned. “That’s the town hall. I haven’t had much of a need to go there lately...” Spyglass went on, but Stormy wasn’t paying attention.
Keep looking at it... She crouched slightly. Wait for it...
Stormy jumped into the air and landed in the newly arrived wave, sending a small wall of water into Spyglass’s side.
Spyglass turned to see Stormy failing to look innocent.
“Oh, I see how this is.”
“Whatever are you talking about?” Stormy tilted her head, smiled, and blinked several times.
Spyglass kicked water back at her. Stormy pranced backwards away from him, water splashing around her feet. “Come on, is that all you got?”
Spyglass’s horn began to glow as about four gallons of water lifted into the air.
Uh-oh. Stormy backed away. “Hey, hey no fair! I don’t have magic! You can’t—”
He did.
Stormy shook her head, trying to get the water out of her ears. “Ack! Why you—”
A young voice cut in. “Hey, watch it! You almost got our sand castle with that thing!”
Stormy looked over at two fillies sitting just outside the splash radius. “Sand castle?” Her eyes lit up. ”Sand castle. Spyglass put that water down we’re making a sand castle!”
Stormy plopped herself down on the beach and began crafting.
---
The sun neared the horizon. The two fillies had long since left for other pursuits, and the two adults played in the sand.
“Sheesh, Starry, if I’d known making sand castles would make you this happy, I wouldn’t have bothered with that flower.”
Stormy, still smiling, looked up at him. “I don’t mind. The flower’s nice too.” The smile faded and she felt around her ear. “The flower! Where did it go? Did I drop it?”
Spyglass looked out over the ocean. “If you dropped it, it’s long gone by now. Besides, I got it to make you smile, and you’ve done plenty of that today. Look at you, you’re covered in sand.”
Stormy looked at her sandy legs and dirty robe. “You call this covered? This is nothing! I grew up in the desert! I got sand in so many places as a filly I had to make up words for the parts of my body they got in. And this! This sand is cool and wet. The desert was HOT. I had to lug water around everywhere to keep myself from getting heat stroke or something.”
Spyglass smirked. “First a smile, then I get some history out of you after all.”
“Ah... so you did. Um, I guess that doesn’t tell you too much about me.” Stormy paused. “I hope.”
---
Stormy entered Spyglass’s old bedroom, closed the door, drew the shades, and hung up her robe. The walls were painted a light blue, with the remnants of some childhood doodles here and there. A quantity of dust called the desk in one corner home. On the east wall was the door to a small balcony, where a filly and a colt had once played, so long ago. In another corner was the bed, which was actually just two twin beds pushed together. There, years ago, a mother had sung a lullaby to a frightened little pony to soothe his nerves.
“My old toys are still in that closet I bet. Doctor Witherson was my favorite.”
Stormy opened the closet door. Atop a pile of old memories was a plush earth pony, snappily dressed.
“Doctor Witherson, I presume.”
Stormy took the doll and sat it down on the bed, seating herself next to it.
“It seems you’ve already beaten Forelock Holmes to solving this case.” Stormy gave her wings a flap. “And you see why I can’t tell Spyglass. I hope you can keep my secret, too.”
Stormy laid down. “You’re supposed to be pretty smart, right? Any ideas on what to do next? I mean, I know I should be getting ready to move on, and I can’t let anyone, especially him, find out about...” She flapped again. “...but... I just... don’t want to.”
She rolled onto her back, holding the doll above her. “Any ideas?”
Doctor Witherson had no answer.
---
Stormy Nights lay fast asleep on the bed, Doctor Witherson under one foreleg. The soft pitter-patter of rain filled the air.
Stormy groaned contentedly. She rolled onto her stomach, slowly spreading her wings. Thunder rumbled and Stormy smiled, squeezing the toy to her chest.
Her eyes snapped open.
Stormy threw on her robe and flung open the bedroom door, surprising Spyglass below in the living room.
“It’s raining!”
“Um, yeah.”
“How is it raining?! I thought there weren’t any pegasi in Baltimare!”
“Oh there aren’t. We have our own system. I was going to head over after breakfast, though I don’t see why you can’t come, too.”
“Let’s eat then! Comeon comeon comeon.”
---
Stormy pranced out in the rain, hood tossed back.
Spyglass stared at her from under his raincoat. “I learn something new about you every day, Starry.”
“I’m sorry, but this feels so GOOD. It can’t have been that long since I’ve last felt rain, but it feels like it’s been years!” She looked at the sky and paused. The clouds were nothing like she’d ever seen. Instead of the fluffy sheet she was used to, these looked like they’d been smeared by some giant mixing spoon. Irregular bands of light and dark crossed the sky.
“Um,” she said, “what’s with the sky?”
“Oh, that’s what it looks like here when it rains.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Come on, I’ll show you.” He pointed a hoof at a column of cloud by the beach. Stormy would have thought that it was a tornado if Spyglass had not been so calm about it.
“Yeah... I think I have to see this.”
---
At the base of the funnel cloud were four large round machines. Each had a pipe running into it, and the cloud emanated out of their tops. The pipes ran back through several pumps, and on into the ocean. The earth ponies of the town worked the pumps and shoveled salt from the cloud machines back into the sea.
Stormy stared, bewildered.
“We lease these machines from Cloudsdale, you see.”
“Uh huh.”
A new voice said, “Ah, Spyglass, you’re here. Who’s your friend?”
“Good morning, Mayor Seabreeze. This is Starry Isles. She’s been staying at my place for the last week or so.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Miss Isles,” the sea-green unicorn said. “Spyglass, if you would join the other unicorns, it’s time to move the next section.”
“Sure thing. Here, Starry, watch this.” He trotted over to a group of unicorns. All of their horns illuminated. Up in the sky, a multicolored magical glow appeared around a section of cloud, and the whole thing shifted, smearing the sky.
“Well...” Stormy said, “that’s... something.”
“It isn’t perfect,” Mayor Seabreeze said. “I’ve been asking for a real weather team for a while now, but the Weather Department puts us on the bottom of the list because we already have a weather system, and we can’t get rid of this system because we’ll have no weather team to water the crops.”
“I see. I guess. If, uh, you don’t need any more help I think I’m going to head home.”
Spyglass kept his eyes on the clouds as he replied. “Go ahead. Don’t bother opening the shop; all of the customers are out here anyways.”
Stormy made her way back to the house, trying to just enjoy the rain without looking at the sky. She ruffled her wings under her cloak, trying to get some water, any water, to touch them, but only the faintest hint of moisture made it through.
---
Stormy Nights stood in the shower, the nozzle directing a spray of cold water onto her outstretched wing.
She sighed. It’s just not the same. Stormy stepped out of the shower, halfheartedly tossing on her robe. She walked to her room.
Hmm, it’s dark outside... and the balcony points away from town... I guess I could... for just a minute or two...
Stormy disrobed and carefully walked out onto the balcony, eyes peeled for other ponies. She laid down and spread her wings. The deep purple pegasus closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and felt her fears and anxieties wash away.
---
“Starry? Starry!”
“Wha- huh?” Stormy awoke, rain still falling on her back.
Spyglass looked up from below the balcony. “Are you okay? You didn’t answer when I knocked on your door. I was starting to get worried. What are you doing out here?”
“I’m just...” She still wasn’t wearing her robe. A sense of dread hit her. Her wings closed and she pressed herself down onto the floor. “How much... how much did you see?”
“What?”
“HOW MUCH DID YOU SEE?”
“What do you mean?”
“HOW MUCH DID YOU SEE?”
Spyglass took a step backwards. “Let's... let's talk inside, out of the rain.”
He left Stormy’s view.
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More headcanon this chapter. I figure that unicorns can do weather, but it's very inefficient, and looks very strange (especially to a real weatherpony). The whole town is needed to do what maybe six pegasi could.
"I don't like sand," Stormy explained, clearly annoyed. "It's coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere." She provacatively rubbed a hoof across Spyglass's flank. "Not like here. Here everything's soft... and smooth..."
Spyglass became nervous. "There was a very old mare who lived on the island. She used to make glass out of sand - and vases and necklaces out of the glass. They were magical."
Stormy dreamily looked into Spyglass's eyes. "Everything here is magical," she replied, obviously romancing him.
Later on Stormy loses a hoof and a midget fights Trixie. Then Stormy chokes Spyglass on a volcano and Spyglass gives birth to twins and wait this can't be right.
Uh oh, this won't end well. Or will it? Can't wait for the next chapter
Oh boy, this gun' be good.
700318
Did you overdose on Writer's Weed again? *Sigh* What did I tell you about using drugs to increase the... the... imagination of your writing?
Some people never learn...
And now I have to wait for Chapter 3 :C... Diablo 3, Nightmare Difficulty, here I come!
700423 it was creativi-tea just hope he doesn't make the tea with more then 1 bag... or with too much honey
702367
Oh, I used to drink that stuff all the time... but then I imploded and exploded at the same time (and caused a paradox that ended this plain of existence). I still don't know how it fixed itself... something to do with a pink pony who bounced around and could break the fourth wall... whatever that means T_T.
702618 dude, the story hasn't actually finished yet... Poor Heartbreak is still hopped up on creativi-tea. Don't make me link the story, I'm too damn exhausted
702636
What story? I am confused. My mind's receptors are not firing off! This is terrible! I... I don't know what you are referring to D:.
706488
It is actually named after Mount Tambora. In an earlier draft, Mount Tamfoala, an extinct volcano, was a significant part of the story, but it fell out in a re-write. The name of the river coming out of it stuck, though. I don't see why the mountain can't still be sitting near Baltimare, come to think of it.