August 24 [Tornado]
August 24
Lofty started waking everypony up early 'cause she said that she'd been looking at the weather on her computer and there was a good chance of storms a little further down in Texas. She said that the humans were already up and that Bill and Jo had gone to get us all breakfast at Dunkin Donuts.
Dewdrop asked if there was going to be coffee, and she said that there would be boxes of it, and he said to wake him up when the coffee arrived, so Paradise pulled the covers off of him and pushed him out of bed.
I didn't like having to wait for the bathroom, especially since everypony had sorta decided on an order and since I was the newest member of the weather team I had to go last. And I thought about just going outside, but I think it would have taken the same amount of time, since our window didn't open—if it did, I would have just flown out and been done with it.
I'd just gotten done filling up my camelback when there was a knock on the door, and Dusty said that as soon as we were ready we were meeting up in the lounge and once everyone was there we were going to go to the vans. So we all got our vests and blinking lights and other equipment if we had it and walked into the hallway, all sort of joking with each other until we got to the stairs and trooped down them. The hotel had elevators but nopony liked them.
Well, we were all there and Dusty was there so he said that he was going to get started and the rest of them could catch up to us. Then when we were going out to the car he said that we were more reliable than the humans when it came to getting up in the morning, and Lofty said except for Dewdrop.
He said that he was reliable as long as he had coffee or a pony to push him out of bed in the morning.
There were bags of breakfast sandwiches and boxes of doughnuts in the back of the van, along with three boxes of coffee for us to share. Whizzer said it was best to just drink it right out of the box, 'cause if we poured it in cups they got spilled whenever the van bounced.
Dusty said that we were going to Chillicothe unless he heard something else on the way and we had to change routes. He said that there were more storms coming through but that we should beat them and that there was a lot of open land there which was good for us to practice in.
I stood on my hind hooves and watched out the windows some as we drove, but mostly I stayed on the floor talking with everypony else.
I didn't have as much weather experience as any of them, which made sense—they'd only want to have the most experienced pegasuses trying to stop an Earth tornado. But I did have lots more experience flying on Earth than any of them, so while Lofty and Stormbreaker and Rocky Storm gave me some ideas about fighting tornadoes, I could tell them about how much different flying on Earth was from flying in Equestria.
And they all thought that I was pretty brave to be flying by myself, especially when I told them about storms that had blown me so far off-course that I got lost.
None of them had ever worked storms over the sea, though, so I guess they weren't as used to it. All of us thought that as long as when you came out of the clouds there was land to be seen, you were okay, even if you didn't know where that land was. If it was nothing but water as far as the eye could see, you were in trouble and had better hope that you could get back above the clouds and ride them somewhere safe.
I told them that when my mom was a filly, Cloud Climber had gotten lost in a storm that blew offshore and after it had cleared they never found her again and everypony figured that she'd drowned, but six months later they got a letter from Prance, and it was from her. She said that she had drifted all the way across the ocean and eventually wound up in Prance.
Merry May didn't believe that; she said that a pony would starve while drifting over the ocean, especially if it took six months.
I said that there were islands out there where she could have landed and maybe she had some food in her saddlebags, too. And I told her that I'd heard of sailorponies who had been adrift for a long time in lifeboats and they'd survived, 'cause the seaponies and the merponies had helped them, and why couldn't they also help a pegasus on a cloud?
Merry May said that seaponies and merponies were a myth and I told her that they weren't; everypony knew that they were real. Then Rocky Storm wanted to know how they'd even know that a pegasus was floating by on a cloud, and I said that maybe Cloud Climber had seen them and flown down.
And I did a lot of talking, 'cause there were all sorts of things that they still didn't know about Earth that they wanted to. So I told them about flying in an airplane and how much I hated it and they said that they'd taken a bus to Texas. I said that I didn't like buses that much, 'cause the ones in the city were smelly and uncomfortable, and the one from Lansing to Kalamazoo took too long.
Flanking Line said that they'd gotten their own special bus that they had all to themselves, and they way they described it, it was smaller than the ones that I'd ridden on, and there had been a television in the front which showed a movie that instructed them in what they needed to know to get their pilot's licenses.
I wished that I'd gotten to see a movie like that. It might have been more fun than reading the book.
It took us about an hour to get to Chillicothe, and then we all got out of the van 'cause there wasn't any point in sitting in it while we waited for everyone else to arrive.
Me and Lofty decided that we'd fly up and get a look around us, since we had plenty of time. That way we'd get a good idea what the land was like before the storm came, rather than flying into it like last time.
When we were in the air, I asked her if they'd done any night storms, and she said that they hadn't because the humans thought it was too dangerous. They said that if there was a tornado we wouldn't be able to see it, and I thought that was kind of silly, 'cause we could feel it. Well, I thought that we could anyway, and Lofty said that you could. She'd worked plenty of them in Equestria, and the air currents were really distinct.
It was all farmland and pasture land around us, which meant that there really weren't any good landmarks at all. None of the fields looked more distinctive than any of the others.
We could see the gathering clouds off to the west, and I thought it would be a couple of hours before the storm got to us but Lofty said that they moved really fast out here. And she told me that if we did find a tornado and we couldn't control it to fly up and perpendicular to its direction of travel, 'cause the top of them couldn't change directions that fast and being high would also keep us safe from debris that the tornado picked up.
She said that if they spotted one forming on their weather radar, we'd fly back to the van and try to intercept it. And she said that if we got a call to get back to the van, not to dally, but to get down as quickly as we could.
A couple of them had special equipment that they would wear for a tornado, which were weather monitoring instruments, and she said that they kind of changed around who got to carry them, 'cause it was a lot of extra weight and that didn't help. Plus they got mad when you lost it, which had happened to Electric Blue. She'd told Lofty that she got hit by a bad updraft and that the bands that held her equipment package on had gotten unfastened, and by the time she leveled out it was gone.
So we circled back around and landed beside the van, and Dusty showed us the weather map on his folding computer. He had a special antenna in it so that he could get portable internet instead of having to get it in a pipe like I did.
We were still standing around by the van when the other trucks arrived, and Prism Glider and Skydancer went over to get the equipment packages 'cause it was their turn to carry them. And then Lofty got clearance for all of us to fly and we went up in groups of two or three and got to a nice comfortable altitude and started to circle. That gave us one more chance to look at the ground below us so we'd all know our place, plus it gave us a chance to get used to the air.
Lofty had been right about the storm; when we first went up it looked like it was really far off and I was memorizing the arrangement of fields, and then the wind picked up a little bit and the pressure changed some and when I drew my focus back to the clouds they were nearly on us, and full of lightning and rain.
Lofty said that we were going to go on top to start, because we could get a good eye on the really big anvil clouds that way, and she said that sometimes we could also see by how the clouds were circulating if there was a tornado in them. Then we were going to dive through, and she said she'd lead and me and Medley would follow, wing-to-wing. And the plan if it was so bad that we got separated was to dive under and regroup below the cloud.
Well, I felt bad for everypony else, 'cause they were gonna get soaked right away and Medley saw the look on my face and reminded me that we were gonna get pretty beat up when we went through the cloud.
So we went up and over, and the clouds stretched off to the north and south as far as we could see. There were lots of big towering anvil clouds and off in the distance I saw one shoot lightning out of its top and down through the clouds and I was glad that that was a long ways from us, 'cause that was the killing lightning.
Lofty wanted to know if we could trust my watch, and I said that it hadn't let me down yet, and so I made it show me the bearing and distance to the nearest airport as a reference point, and we all looked at it and remembered the numbers, 'cause that's where we were now, and then we flew off northwest to get a look around the closest anvil cloud.
It was amazing just how high it was. The top was higher than I could ever fly; we learned in class that the tops of them could be almost 12 kilometers high.
We flew halfway around the perimeter of it, and Lofty told me that there was almost always a hook at the end of a supercell cloud which was where the tornadoes formed, and when we were on the backside of it we looked for one.
Since the storm was moving east pretty quickly, we'd kind of let the cloud come to us, and Lofty said that we should go through on the backside but we'd want to be careful because maybe Prism Glider or Skydancer would be in it, getting information.
Well, that sounded good in theory but it wasn't so good when we actually went in, 'cause once we got through the thin fluffy stuff at the top it got darker and darker and then we started to get hit by conflicting winds and I could feel my coat prickling from all the lightning in the cloud. I could just barely see Lofty and she wasn't more than a couple ponylengths in front of me.
And I'd forgotten that the other advantage of staying close was that we all got hit by the same winds at the same time, 'cause all of a sudden she was going up instead of down, and then we got hit by the same gust and rose with her, until we were clear of it and she found a good downdraft which really helped us out.
We were completely soaked by the time we got through the cloud, and visibility down there wasn't much better. The ground was nearly invisible to us, and Lofty called on her radio to see if they had a position report. I guess the instrument packages knew where they were, and so by that they knew where the pony carrying them was.
Well, Joey gave us their position but we didn't know where that was. And Lofty said not to worry about it; as long as we could find the van that was what mattered.
Then I got the idea that if Joey knew where I was in relation to an airport, than he could figure out where I was, so I told him the airport code that my watch said was closest, and what my bearing and distance was and he said to give him a minute and he'd figure it out.
Well, it took longer than a minute, but he was able to tell us where everypony else was, and so I set my watch to give compass headings, and after we'd flown for a little bit but not found anypony else yet he called back and told us to get back to the van right away because there was a tornado north of us.
He started to call out bearings to the ponies with the instrument packages, and I said that we needed to turn to the south and Medley was skeptical but then he gave Lofty a heading and I was right.
We were the last group to land, and after we made sure that everypony was there he pulled off the shoulder of the road so fast that the wheels spun and the back of the van slid around. Rocky Storm got knocked off her hooves and had Electric Blue land on her.
We raced along the highway and Lofty gave everypony a pep talk. We drove out of the rain for a little bit and then we were back in it and then it was coming down so hard and fast that Dusty had to slow down some. He kept talking into his radio to find out where it was and where to go to get ahead of it, Lofty reminded him that we needed to be a few miles ahead of it in order to have enough time to fly to altitude. And she told me that the first one they'd chased they'd been too close and all they could do was get out of its way.
When we went through a little town, I could hear sirens screaming out a strange, wailing note, which Medley said was a tornado siren and it was to warn everybody that a tornado was coming. And then Dusty slid the van to a stop and said that it was to our left. Skydancer opened the back doors of the van and we all got out into the pouring rain and we were in the air already when Lofty called the airplane directors and told them where we were and she said it was kind of a formality because there was no way any small airplane could fly in this.
The sky was a sickly green, but there wasn't any rain at all coming down. I could hear a distant roaring noise and focused on that, and I didn't see the tornado at first, but then a bright blue flash caught my attention, and when I looked over that way I could see the funnel.
It was curving to the south of us but coming in our direction, and Lofty yelled to go for the south side of it and try to counter-rotate. She yelled for me to get right behind her and for Stormbreaker to take the rear and follow her lead, and so we cut across its path and started trying to set up a countercurrent to slow it down or break it, and I think it worked some; the base of the tornado wobbled and it lifted off the ground for a bit but then it dropped back down and started sucking up crops and flinging them away again.
We had a second try, although it was all we could do to catch up to it. And right as we were getting close I saw it make a big blue flash again as it went across some electrical wires, and I hoped that they wouldn't be flailing around inside of it.
We didn't succeed that time, either, although we got it to come back up off the ground for a few miles before it touched down again. And we were all exhausted from fighting it, and Lofty didn't think that we could catch it again and still have enough energy left to have another try, so she directed us down to an intersection and read the road sign so that Dusty would know where we were. She said that was easier than GPS coordinates.
Dusty picked us up and we met up with everyone else at a Domino's Pizza in Altus, Oklahoma. I was surprised that we were in a different state now but obviously storms don't know where borders are.
We had to eat outside, 'cause there weren't any tables inside, so we took our food outside and set it on the tailgate of one of the trucks and shared it there. And Lofty asked everypony if they felt like they could take on one more storm today, and most of us thought that we probably couldn't. Chasing that tornado and trying to calm it down had taken a lot out of us, especially since we hadn't managed to disperse the tornado. Stormbreaker wanted another chance at a tornado but he got voted down.
So we told Doctor Tetsuya that we were too tired to try again, and he said that we'd done a really good job and that he'd gotten lots of data from the instrument packages, and Flanking Line asked him if he'd seen how we'd slowed down the tornado and he said that the data wasn't all that clear and he really needed to check the numbers to be sure.
But we all knew that we had. And Lofty reminded me that he was like that all the time. She said that he hated to commit to anything until he was really, really sure.
Well, that sort of made an idea in my mind, although it wasn't until we were in the van riding back home that I was really sure what I thought I wanted to do, so I asked Lofty if anypony had brought down any clouds and she said not yet, 'cause that wasn’t part of his weather observations.
Since I knew how much people liked seeing clouds up close—even if they couldn't touch them—I said that tomorrow some of us ought to get up early and if there were any clouds, get one and set it outside the window of his hotel room and sit on it and then knock on his window to wake him up, and she thought that was a great idea, and so she told Dusty, and he said that he'd tell Bill so that we could have instrument packages, too, and that way Doctor Tetsuya could get his data and see the cloud with his own eyes.
It was getting dark by the time we got back and it would have been nice to swim in the pool but it was still closed for maintenance.
Most of the humans weren't back yet, so since we didn't have anything else to do we went back to our rooms and Whizzer had brought playing cards so I learned poker (which was a human game) and lost badly, then I got my revenge by teaching them Durak. And then me and Lofty and Medley and Rocky Storm all went to bed early so that we could get a cloud for Doctor Tetsuya in the morning.
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Fun weather fact: there is a type of cloud called a pyrocumulonimbus which can form above a source of heat, such as a wildfire or volcano. It is possible for such a cloud to then make a tornado, although that was thought to be unlikely or even impossible.
On January 18, 2003, that happened in Australia (because of course Australia): the pyrocumulonimbus cloud produced an EF-2 fire tornado.
This has nothing to do with the chapter (in case you're one of those people who reads comments before the chapter), but I thought it was interesting.
thezooom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Fire-Tornado-Australia.jpg
I'd like nothing more than to wake up to a pegasus on a cloud outside my window.
Tornado sirens aren't just for tornadoes. They're for any severe storm. The last time I heard them, my town was being hit by a thunderstorm equal in strength to a Category 3 hurricane. Some of you coastal dwellers may scoff at that, but our buildings and infrastructure aren't designed for that, nor have the trees evolved to withstand 80-120 mph winds. It makes me glad I bought a pickup instead of that Mustang GT convertible I had my eyes on (which was the exact same price). There's no way the roof would've survived the weather that summer.
The Pegasus on the cloud should tell Dr. Tetsuya that there is no data that he (the pony) is there only anecdotal evidence, so it doesn't count
7674318 That's just Mother Nature giving Australia another middle finger in a long list of middle fingers.
And nice chapter.
7673585 Thanks. I couldn't find any link to the image she used, so I did my best and pointed to the post where I saw it.
7673259
Holy sh....
And then just wait for the flame war that begins when they see the Hobbit, Reign of Fire, Dragonslayer, D-War, Dungeons & Dragons, Dragon Fighter, and a whole host of such films.....
I don't know if I should
or 
.
7674586
Sorry, even I can't say that one with a straight face!
But what about Dragonheart? Surely that, and Erag...
Another great chapter! The tornado fighting was cool (the 'killing lightning' bit was a nice bit of 'innocence' again... the SG has seen some horrible stuff already), but what I liked even more was the Equestrian worldbuilding in the back of the van. You really get the feeling of a vast land where one's myth is the other one's everyday reality. The fine tuned technical skills in shaping the weather of central Equestria compared to experience of fighting coastal, feral weather systems is also nice. I guess they could profit hugely from having exchange students between each other. Even if you have the same educational background, what you're doing day to day makes a huge difference after all.
So the SG is setting up the same demonstration as for her climate science prof? Nice. As for him not 'believing' the team, I guess he actually does believe them, but that's simply not enough. This is a new field of science and all findings will be mercilessly scrutinized by peers and have a very high chance of being distorted by the media. Especially quotes. Parts of the media are also hostile to anything that might be somehow connected to climate science in any way, even if it's primarily meteorology. The data has to be as solid as possible, especially since it might form the basis for publications in scientific journals. Somewhere down the line it might also influence regional policy making and also foreign policy and there could be a lot of research grants allocated from both science bodies and the military. I understand him.
Could the team use that cloud to form a mini tornado with the 'cloud top' within measuring reach of equipment placed on the hotel's roof?
7674318 Because Australia will wreck your shit. And poison/maim/eat or otherwise kill you. Then kill what killed you.
7674653
Just be sure to include Dragonheart 2 & 3 in "that" category.
7674826
...The first one's fine though, right?
Nice to see a few stallions got to visit earth as well in the weather team, we've only really seem mares so far.
Well, Silver got to try the spin cycle and didnt get stuck in the drum.
As for Dragons, blame Hollywood for that, the reason Eragon managed to be made 18 months after the book came out, was because all the sets and animatronics were already built and filmed for the Pern:Dragonriders movie. Which they canceled because it was set in teh SciFi future, instead of Swords and Sorcery Fantasy.
Saphira is a 40 foot rideable animatronic dragon, who Anne McCaffrey, the author of Pern, managed to get to sit on before she died, back when she was called Ramoth.
For some reason I pictured Lofty with a big troll face just then...
7674843 An they're almost as numerous as mares on the team and so far they got more "screen time!". That's mind blowing level!
Silver's world view are shaking a bit...
7674839 Sure, the first one was good. The other two, not so much. Indeed, they were truly cringe worthy.
Meanwhile in Equestria guest humans are digitizing the Canterlot library while electrical engineers attempt to reverse engineer the power distribution system at Hoofer Dam.
7674963 The Eragon movie wouldn't have been too awfully bad except for the "magical growth spurt" they put the dragon through. And they seriously skimped on several sets that were supposed to be ancient cities with grand vistas, which instead ended up looking to be barely functional villages that were visually no bigger than the theater stages they were built upon.
However, the CGI on the dragon was well done, and Jeremy Irons did an admiral performance.
And here I was thinking that pegasi had some sort of innate electrical resistance (or ability to let it pass through without harm, really). I'm very curious why Silver hasn't mentioned such lightning before now, even with all the storms she's flown. And how this particular lightning is a killer but other kinds are not.
7674963
Wait, wait, wait, Wait, WAIT...! Eragon was made in place of Pern?! Now I'm upset. I want to see Ramoth, Mnementh, Ruth, The Master Harper, and everybody...
7675439
There are two kinds of lightning: negative and positive. The negative stuff comes from the lower clouds, and it's only a few hundred million volts and about 30,000 amps.
Positive lightning comes from the top of anvil clouds, and it's usually a billion volts at 300,000 amps.
Since the weatherponies are going to pick up a negative charge from being in the storm (it's why SG sparks when she lands), positive lightning will probably kill them, even in the air.
7675568
Huh.
The more you know...
Silver needs to add her cloud rope to standard gear.
At least when she goes to meet weather academics.
Also did she has her go pro with her? I bet energy drink companys would pay through their nose of first person tornado footage.
Just imagine the grumbling fbi and weather people when one of the companys gets out the big money to hire the wonderbolts or just 10% of every weather team in equestria to beat down a tornado on a livestream...
Also sometimes down the line, young flyers camp gets a mandatory periode of flight time on earth for every pegasus pony hahaha so they are used to the rough weather and sharing airspace. (and learn the magic of GPS navigation)
Edit: camelbags in pony colors with places for custom cutiemark velcros when?
Any WeatherPony who expresses a desire for a Camelback, a SmartWatch, a GoPro or a ShamrockShake will get it overnighted by a grateful nation.
O.k., that last one might be difficult.
A WeatherTeam of a dozen WeatherPonies is not quite enough for dispersing a tornado. Maybe, they should expand the WeatherTeam to an even score. If a standard WeatherTeam has a dozen members, maybe they can bring in another WeatherTeam.
1974 Super Outbreak. I was nine years old, in Louisville, KY. at the time. We weren't in the direct path of the one that hit us, but... it left an impression, let's say.
If we can hire some pegasi for the NSSL, I'm all for it.
Given they're all pegasi, that doesn't surprise me.
7674963
7675439
Likewise.
We have tsunami/nuclear meltdown sirens where I'm at (I live in the evac zone of a nuclear power plant). Never heard them go off outside of testing fortunately.
For those of you who may not have them in your area, may I present to you the Thunderbolt 1000T alert siren.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzFyGWdj6MI
7678784
(because you can totally use an air-raid siren in a song)
7674963
Wait what!
Dammit, that's sad. I love the Pern books.
Aren't they phasing out the old air raid style sirens?
7674331
Wouldn't that be awesome? Best way to wake up ever.
7674357
For that matter, a lot of the older systems are for air raids, too.
Back years ago, Kalamazoo got hit by a storm like that. It was about the worst rain I'd ever seen; it was probably blowing twenty or thirty feet inside the shop whenever the door was opened. Nearly zero visibility on the road, and the winds took out acres of trees, and I'm sure caused lots of structural damage. The next day, people were debating about how they were sure it had been tornadoes, because they couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that just wind, blowing straight, could cause that kind of damage.
7674417
"I can't prove it's a cloud."
"You can't prove I exist, either."
7674431
See, I always thought that was Mother Nature's way of making Australia unarguably the best country ever. Nobody else gets kangaroos, or a what-the-fuck-a-pus, or tornadoes on fire.
7674586
If there were plans to include dragons in the exchange program, they would want to be very selective about who they get. And I get the sense from the show that most dragons don't go to college. Part of the reason it's a pony-only program for now.
7674843
There are stallions in the exchange program as well, although they're not as common as the mares. As it happens, all the ponies in Silver Glow's geographical region are mares this time around.
7674771
I've always gotten the sense that the ponies generally don't travel as much as we do, probably in part because they don't have the tech to make it easy and convenient, and I think we keep seeing that in Ponyville when some species who is new and unique to the townsponies shows up. Probably the pegasi are the most likely to have 'worldly experience,' but even then I bet most of them like to stick to what they know. On one hand, they could benefit by moving pegasi from region to region; on the other, having a pony who's familiar with the local weather patterns is probably safer than having an exchange student.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
That's kind of one of the disconnects between the ponies and the humans. They know that they're having an effect on the weather, but he can hardly publish a paper saying that the ponies are controlling the storm because they say they are. He's got to be able to show it with clear, undeniable data, and since storms are by their very nature chaotic, that's very hard to get.
Yeah, that's the other thing. This, of course, is just preliminary. He's hardly going to publish the one research paper that explains everything--but what he observes here in the field, and the experiments he runs, are likely to be the foundation upon which other experiments are designed around, and as such the data he gathers is going to be examined obsessively by anyone who wants to do any kind of storm experiment with ponies. Add to that the risky nature of the experiment--a pony could easily get killed, or a misguided storm could take out a town--and even his experimental protocols are going to be closely examined, whether or not anything goes wrong.
Maybe. But the good doctor will want to collect lots more data before he even lets them try--what if it gets out of control? What then?
It's a great country, isn't it?
7674963
Getting stuck in the drum isn't necessarily the bad part--it's getting out of the drum that separates the mares from the fillies. Sort of like riding a tiger: getting on is the easy part.
7674976
Of course!
3/12 of the team are stallions, which is about the gender ratio I think exists in Equestria. What would really shake her would be if there was a unicorn on the team.
7675009
I pity an electrical engineer trying to reverse-engineer magitech. "So your storage batteries are literally glass jars with lightning inside, eh? And your distribution network is a pony pulling a wagon full of jars?"
7675782
"Let me just go get a cloud, and I'll tie it up where you can look at it to your heart's desire."
Yes, they would. If she was smart about marketing, she could send a teaser video to Red Bull and they'd probably be at her apartment with a wheelbarrow full of cash within 24 hours.
The Wonderbolts US tour, brought to you by Red Bull. Yeah, that would sell tickets.
I could see an Earth-based flight camp being a thing in the not-so-distant future. If Silver Glow wants to lead it, they'd probably let her, too.
When the company realizes that they're sitting on a literal goldmine.
7676236
How do you think that Mister Salvatore got that watch for Silver Glow? He made a phone call, and Garmin overnighted him one. If it becomes mandatory equipment for all pegasi visiting Earth, they're going to do very well.
7676378
7676440
They might be--the trick is to hit it in the right spot with the right thing. I see it kind of like fighting forest fires--you set backfires, clear firebreaks, and hit it where it counts. You hit a tornado where it counts, and the tornado goes down. (well, technically, back up) The trick is figuring out where and what.
7676702
For all of Lisa's complaints about it being unnatural to mess with the weather, severe weather will wreck your shit, and anything that you can do to mitigate it--anything at all--saves lives and property. Even just being able to steer a tornado out of the way of a populated area would provide immense benefits.
7676905
Soon enough, the handbook will mention how pegasi visiting Earth shouldn't go into the scary moving box.
7678385
I've heard ours go off for storms on multiple occasions. That's always good times.
Do they have separate tones, so you know if you should cower in the basement, or run like hell?
7683265
I hope not. To any of us who were around in the Cold War Era, hearing those sirens means you know shit's about to get real. I learned in elementary school how when you heard that siren, get to a basement or if you couldn't, get under the biggest, solidest thing you could find. (Yes, they were still doing duck and cover drills when I was in elementary school.)
7723019 was that the 2012 dereco or whatever it was? That wrecked Columbus too. We were without power for like a week and we're within the 270 belt that forms the city proper
7675439
7674963
Wow. You made me dislike the Eragon movie even more. I didn't think that was possible.
7674318
I saw footage of that fire tornado once. I'm not sure if I was googling Derpy's exploits, or Pokemon moves at the time, but it was one of those.
7815515
No, it was longer ago than that. 2001, I think, because I was driving wrecker for Prestow then.
We just got hit by one a couple of weeks ago, as it happens, and some people in Michigan were out of power for almost a week. I got lucky; I only lost power for three hours.
8053728
Fire tornadoes are just proof that Mother Nature loves to wreck our shit.
Pony randomly using a 'toy' on the train, that would go over SOOOO well. She might get barred from contacting Cayenne for being a bad influence. Still, for all the no naked taboo, gotta imagine Ponies have some decorum when it comes to outright sex in public.
No Silver, no, landing right in the back of the car would NOT be 'rude' it would be perfect and amazing, and you know Mr. Salvatore would love it. The only thing better would be if you did it while whipping out a pair of sunglasses and saying 'Let's hit the road.'
Well, duh on the Denny's. There's few times going toa Denny's is something you do. Road trips, post LARP/other nerd gathering food, and you royally fucked up Christmas/Thanksgiving dinner.
He enjoys getting to yell at people for being assholes to ponies maybe a biiiit to much, but it is amazing.
And another 'Must have' for all ponies. A GPS programmed to always find the nearest Taco Bell.
Given she's looking after Cayenne.... sooooo much paperwork. They'll be lucky to be done with it before their next pony leaves. Unless they just built in keyboard shortcuts to log Cayenne related lewdness incidents ala Red Versus Blue
Again Silver, so cheer, so always looking at the bright side, always finding something to be happy over. No one to talk to? Well, just gives her more time to watch all the interesting people walking around the station.
Just gotta tease the pony with cryptic hints of surprise.
Silver, of COURSE he'd take you to an airplane factory. She really does not quite get how they are here to pretty much do whatever she needs or wants. (within reason).
D'awwww train rocking pony to sleep. That was hard to get used to after a few months at sea, not having the boat swaying and moving around you. Even more so for Nucs, since our berthing was right over the screws, so we also had the whole thing vibrating anytime the shop went above ahead 2/3
Dividing line for a time zone right down the middle of town.... that has got to suck for some people.
Decently nice waitress, and lots of uber-greasy food. SO your basic transit stop diner.
So Texas is famous for cowboys and being big. Now I want a list of what the general pop culture knowledge for ponies is about all the states.
And Silver.. stahp.. stahp being so adorably helpful and good! It's too much! Wondering if they want her to help with too much rain, and clearly eager to help... so adorable!
Beaver... heh... Silver, it's a guy thing.
They should have turned around and chased the cop car, maybe pushed it till the cop tried to pull them over on some minor quibble.
And the Pony sniffer spoils the surprise a bit early.
YAY! Silver finds a pega-flock for Pega-Fun times!
New pony detected! Must attack with Friendship!
Tornado fighting ponies...... ALL OF THE YES!!!!!!!!!! And nice set up for this earlier in the fic.
Also, yay! hugging the good Pony handler for being good to his pony.
Yeah, no pony red tape can compete with human red tape.
I just picture them finding a storm as being like they hit this big red button, and all the ponies just leap into action, suiting up and jumping out of windows, flying down stairs, and popping up over the building to get to the vans.
Customized vans for the ponies. No chairs needed.
So, would a flock of pegasi flying in formation count as a single aircraft for the purpose of FAA control?
And Silver begins the push for pony cyber conversion with all her cool toys, and also sends Camelback stock through the roof.
Hmmmmm, I have come to dilemma.... what music would them taking off to hit the tornado be best with? Highway to the Danger Zone, or Ride of the Valkyries?
Get a bigger team to really fight those storms, Weathervengers Assemble!
Listen to the experts you silly humans. If a pegasus says they feel a change in the weather, it's changed. But, yeah nice ot have hard numbers for it as well.
Silver, so cute, and so happy to be flying with a team again, it's how ponies were meant to fly. And yet, so dedicated and so awesome in being so driven to keep up the weather watchin even alone and when she really doesn't have ti.
Stopping the hail, GO PONIES!
So, then don't sneak away to the Taco Bell, bring the group and show them the best food on Earth or at least the food chain that has something in it's food that's highly addictive to ponies.
TWC, a pagsus' favorite channel.
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All the fun ways companies can make a freaking killing the moment they start thinking like a pegasus. Hell for Camelbacks, ANY pony would want one, not just flappy pones. Can't tell me AJ wouldn't love having a ready source of water on her while bucking apples. Now, for Redbull, that might just cause an issue given the whole 'redbull gives you wings' slogan. Since that could open them up to all kinds of false advertising suits from ponies that failed to actually grow wings after drinking it.
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Discworld summed it up best. DEATH was in his library and calls for a list of all the dangerous creatures on Discworlds version of Australia. He then gets buried under an avalanche of books. He banishes them, and switches tactics, calling up a list of all the non-deadly creatures on it. He gets a single piece of paper saying. "Some of the sheep."
The place is so freaking hardcore, they've recently 'officially' found out, that there are birds there who deliberately start and spread fires.
Ponies know where it's at, Dunkin Donuts >>>>>>>>>>> Krispie Kreme!
#pegaproblems, upper floor windows that don't open.
Important note for pegasi on Earth, they do not like elevators. Hmm, would they have as much issue with the big glass ones you can look out of?
Drinking the coffee form the box... savages.
Good thought, long as you can see land, you're good. If not, you can end up in Prance. And yeah I totally buy this could happen. As to water, 1-clouds. 2- Ponies are part cat, and cats are actually able to drink seawater just fine.
Ah, charter buses, AKA the good ones.
Totally need to get a pony involved in making a 'Flight Instructions for Pegasi on Earth' video. Silver does not realize just how many options she has for an easy life right now.
Silly humans, not yet realizing how superior ponies are at all things weather.
Where have I heard those safety instructions for avoiding dying in a tornado?
Well, it's their fault for giving the pony a faulty harness, not her fault for losing the equipment.
Silly cutedorable Silver, non-pipe delivered internet.
She is just so proud of her watch.
Silver is best pony navigator!
I am loving the mental image of the back doors of a van bursting open, and an entire flock of action ready pegasi bursting out, already in flight and climbing. Ultra Pony Storm Fighters Go!
YAY! Ponies making a difference and fighting that silly tornado off the ground a bit. Just need a few more of them.
And yes, the cloud idea is amazing, as knowing pegasi are weather wizards is one thing, but it's still something hard to KNOW, and seeing them bring down a cloud is one of the best ways to make the sink in.
Yeah, like I said, Silver would suck at poker. Now, Rarity... she'd take your shirt. And then replace it with one FAR more stylish.
Silver meeting other ponies! YAY! Silver fighting Tornadoes! YAY! Silver being adorable! YAY! These chapters have everything!
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Well, if she used it in the privacy of her own train room, that shouldn’t offend anybody.
Yeah, I would think so. Being naked and having sex are two different things, after all.
Oh, yeah, he’d totally love it. She really should have.
Yeah, that’s pretty much it (really, any time you’re out super-late at night it’s a decent choice). Never had to deal with a bad Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, because my Mom is a darn good cook.
Really, that’s one of the best perks to his job.
Taco Bell should just donate a bunch of them to the pony program.
I bet that they did figure out a way to pre-fill in most of the parts on the form. Just add in the date and location, and they’re good to go.
Probably got a stack of them.
This is why ponies will be great overlords. They are nice and happy 99% of the time, and angry ponies can usually be de-angered with a hug or some strategic ear-scritches.
Of course he does! What kind of handler would he be if he didn’t?
Plus, we both know that Mr. Salvatore has always wanted to go to an airplane factory, too, and now he’s got a reason to do it officially, and to make the government pay for it (and since he’s got a pegasus with him, no airplane factory will tell him no).
I’ve never spent all that much time on boats, but even after a few hours it’s weird for a bit to not have the ground moving under you when you first get back to land. And noise/vibrations is the kind of thing that the body gets used to and doesn’t like when it’s gone. Most of my last few houses have been near a fairly busy road, and each time it takes me a little while to get used to the car noises, but then when I am, it’s really weird to be sleeping somewhere that there aren’t car noises.
I’m guessing that it’s not through town any more. I suspect that they zig-zag them some to avoid running down the middle of major metropolitan areas.
Pretty much.
Oh, man, that would be an interesting list. And a lot of misunderstandings, I’m sure. Florida would be famous for alligators, the Mouse kingdom, and being shaped like a penis. . . .
I could just imagine ponies naming things sexually and not even hiding it behind a euphemism. “And over there, that’s dick rock, ‘cause it looks like a dick.’
Probably would have, if Miss Cherilyn hadn’t been in the car to judge them.
Pony sniffers--ruining surprises since 1000 B.C(elestia).
Lots and lots of nuzzles. Mr. Salvatore must stand strong against the relentless cuteness in front of him.
Tornado fighting ponies are the best. Cute and fluffy and also complete badasses.
I bet the first time that Mr. Salvatore got a hug from a pony it was really weird for him.
It really can’t. A lot of their red tape can be instantly dissolved with things like “the Princess says,” whereas in our case--for good or ill--just because the President says so doesn’t make it so. Or the Queen or whoever else.
If they were more organized and prepared (and had a hotel with windows that opened) they could totally do that.
Actually, that’s the type of thing that might be alarming to people on the ground, especially if instead of flying to the van, they took off out of the hotel and flew west . . . and then the tornado sirens started sounding. . . .
“Customized” is kind of a strong word; they just took the seats out (which is actually easy in most vans). Probably they’re piled somewhere in the hotel, since those are probably rental vans.
That’s how they do it with normal aircraft, isn’t it? I think it is, and in that case, yeah, it would count as a single aircraft.
I know, right? Stuff that works without hands are really nice for ponies, and all the direction-finding stuff for pegasi.
Oh, Ride of the Valkyries, for sure.
All weather problems can be solved if you throw a bunch of ponies at it.
Probably half his problem is that the ponies are using their own terms for stuff, not the scientific terms he’s familiar with (they should have taken Silver’s weather science class
). That, and being a scientist, he does need hard numbers that are repeatable before he’ll be satisfied that they’re having an effect.
Teamwork is how weather pegasi get things done! Fight those nasty clouds, buck them back into little harmless tufts!a Get the rain out where you want it on the fields and stuff.
Oh, man, they’d hate that on the van ride back to the hotel. A whole gaggle of pegasi all fueled up with Taco Bell food. Especially since it wouldn’t take too long before they had a farting competition.
The only one that shows news they actually care about.
Oh, yeah, Camelbacks are totally a three-tribes type of thing. Convenient for any pony who doesn’t have ready access to water. Could build them into saddlebags, or even have slimmer models that can be worn under work clothes.
Redbull . . . funny story there. I watched the season finale where Twilight got her wings with a friend. Brought a can of Redbull with me (’cause I’d heard the rumors what was gonna happen), and when she ascended, I cracked that can open and took a swig.
He didn’t get the joke until a couple hours later. Actually called me to say that he’d just figured out why I’d brought Redbull.
And let’s not forget that animals aren’t the only thing that will kill you in Australia. The weather’s pretty brutal, too.
everydaykiss.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Living-In-Australia%E2%80%A6.jpg
I know, right? And it’s not only birds; Eucalyptus trees sling about flammable oil in the hopes that fire will burn out the competition. Everything there is poisonous, venomous, or on fire. Sometimes more than one of those things.
That’s just bad hotel design. Windows ought to open so pegasi can fly in and out whenever they want to.
The glass ones are okay, since they can see that they’re moving, and not get elevator motion-sickness.
Let’s be honest, though, disposable paper coffee cups aren’t exactly hoof-friendly.
And now it’s a standalone story!
Clouds is the answer.
Equines can’t drink salt water. I know this because in my various researches, I’ve learned that in places near the sea, wild horses have learned to dig holes for water.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Shackleford_Horse_Digging_Well.jpg
Most likely, a limo bus (since there’s only 12 of them). I think that’s what they’re called, anyway:
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Oh, yeah, totally. That thing would sell like hotcakes, too. Both to ponies who are interested in getting pilots’ licences for their time on Earth, and for ponies who want to laugh at the rules dumb humans have.
To be fair, it’s a bit of a stretch for humans to understand how pegasi can just do whatever they want with clouds and rain and stuff. Probably one of those things that you can’t really believe until you see it with your own eyes. Especially to trained climate scientists.
There are lots of things where ‘go perpendicular to it’ are good pieces of advice.
Although . . . was that actually advice given in Twister?
I know, right? If it had had better straps, it would have stayed on.
We all know that the internet is a series of tubes.
As well she should be--it always knows where she is, even when she’s in a cloud and can’t see the ground.
GPS for the win!
They totally should rig the van with automatic rear doors. Or, since they’re pegasi, a really big sunroof, and they could fly out that way.
Also, you’re gonna love an upcoming story (more shameless self-promotion!):
The stubborn wild earth-weather needs more ponies to get it in line, to get it to cooperate properly.
It really is. Data from the equipment packs and ground radar is one thing, but actually seeing a cloud hovering outside your hotel room window with a bunch of pegasi on it drives the point home. “Yeah, we can do this.”
Estee actually wrote a great story about ponies playing poker. Totally worth a read.
Whatever happened to that story about coast guard pegasuses?
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It’s still lagging along in the ‘in progress (slowly)’ queue.
On the plus side, I did a shorter version which you might enjoy if you haven’t seen it yet:
- MLP: FiM
- Adventure
- Slice of Life
Sky Sweeper works as a paramedic-in-training on a Great North Air Ambulance.Sky Sweeper’s even got a callsign, which is different than ponies in the US would get—she’s Pegasus FALX.
Today in things that aged poorly...
As an aside, the letter arrived after six months. I'd allow several weeks each for recovering from the ordeal and the actual mail shipment, leaving "only" five months for the journey itself.
Biscuit, you are one of the few people I know with enough of an engineering background to find a relevant non-semantic difference between pipes and wires. Anyone who tries to clear this "misunderstanding" up will fail.
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While sailors make up lots of things that they see, there’s a lot of real stuff they see which later gets found by scientists. I think that seaponies/merponies were already comic canon when I wrote this, and I knew about them.
The time of the voyage is indefinite (Cloud Climber lost track), and she wasn’t up to writing a letter right away, after she arrived in Prance. And yeah, it would take a while for the letter to arrive.
As it happens, that’s a story I did wind up telling:
- MLP: FiM
- Adventure
Stormbreakers fight feral storms off the coast of Equestria. It's a dangerous job, and sometimes they don't return home.Not only do I know the difference between pipes and wires, it used to be a running joke at the shop (with the old manager who was a lot more fun) to call small hoses ‘wires.’
Silver Glow knows that the internet is a series of tubes, and what is a connected series of tubes but pipes?
EDIT: for what it’s worth, I get antenna internet, not pipe-based internet.
I'm waiting for someone to do a "Virgin Stormwatcher vs. Chad Stormchaser" meme.
Oh sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet...
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Hmm, I wonder how that would look? Do the Chads have more equipment or less?
It is on.