Violet Skies

by Fluttersnake31

Chapter 9 - Showtime

Showtime

The following week of tests and studying were more successful than Violet expected. The first thing she had managed to accomplish was learning that it would respond to various levels of electric shocks with various displays of what Violet only could explain as emotions. High voltage shocks seemed to make it very energetic and appearing to be happy, while long constant pulses of lower energy would lull it into a sort of depression or would outright pacify the cloud over an extended period of time. An easy way for her to determine it's current mood, was giving it a single moderate-powered shock. The cloud would either wiggle a bit in place if content, or try to retaliate if it were in a more irritable mood.

Once she had felt comfortable with the cloud, she had three tall bars installed on the inside walls of the cloud container that would send out pulses from three directions to quickly set the cloud into an awake, but pacified state. While in this state, she could use a powered magnet to attract the cloud in whichever way she wanted. With that, she concluded that with consistently training the cloud, it could be directed to a specific amount of magnetic pull. She figured, to use this discovery as a weapon, a target could be magnetized, so that it would lure the cloud towards it where the pulse bars can instantly be changed to a high power pulse that would put the cloud into an instant frenzy, attacking anything nearby that target until pacified again.

When asked on her progress by Cloudy Blitz, he was actually impressed on the discoveries, even scheduling for Lightning Dust to come and look at the cloud, which was apparently a big thing being talked about around the Weather Facility, as now the weapon development bay was cleaner than usual, and the other machines were moved against the walls to allow for a set of spectator stands to have been set up. Violet decided to not just show them the magnet trick, but also to demonstrate a specially built attachment to the weather suits that add a smaller scale version of the energy bars to allow control of the cloud in a field environment. Currently, Violet was checking the suit one last time, to make sure everything had been installed as she specified. Morri came over to her, dressed a slight bit more formally with her mane tied back to not be as messy. The ends of her mane were slightly frayed though, indicating her irritated mood.

"Are you almost ready? Lightning is bringing ponies from numerous departments and might be bringing some of our future co-workers from what I've heard. I don't like all this attention." Morri said in her usual emotionless tone.

Violet looked up from the suit. "Yes, I'm finishing up. Why are you so worried about it though? I'm the one they're here to see, so I'm the one that should be nervous. I know what I'm doing though, and I've done this at least three dozen times this week. I'm pretty much playing a game of fetch with a cloud in front of a crowd of ponies. The only difference is that I'm trying my new suit in the process. Everything on the suit is done exactly as I needed it to be, so it should work perfectly. And if anything does happen to go wrong, I'm doing everything from within the cloud chamber. Gat will pacify the cloud with the larger energy bars if the suit is faulty, and nopony will notice."

Morri gazed at her. "Okay. Well, let's get ready to greet Lightning Dust and whoever she's bringing. They'll be here in a few minutes."

Violet nodded, following Morri to stand beside the elevator where the VIP's would be entering. A couple of random other workers were already beginning to arrive, entering through the main doors or the back door. The stands were maybe only a fourth filled by the time Lightning and her entourage finally arrived.

Violet smiled at Lightning and the ponies she'd never seen before. "I'm glad you came to see my progress, ma'am. I'm ready to start my demonstration whenever you're ready."

Lightning chuckled, "You can just call me by my name, and we still have to wait for the new hires to arrive. I want them to know you before they actually start working with you. I think it will inspire them and show just how talented this department is. So, while we wait, I believe it's only proper that I introduce you to my friends. First, the managers of the Cloud Production, Field Suit Maintenance, and Resource Recieving and Distribution departments."

Violet shook their hooves, eager to meet the manager of Cloud Productions. She was about to speak but was quickly cut off by an un- introduced stallion who had a short forest green mane and a blue-grey coat. "Ah, Violet Dawn, It's nice to meet you. I'm the owner of PegaGears, the main provider of the base weather suits and other mechs that the Weather Corporation uses and modifies. You can call me Wake. I am quite interested in your personal modification that you had ordered. You see, every modification has to be approved by myself personally, so once I saw it, I became curious about your project. Hopefully, your display today will impress me further. Our two companies, while yes, we work together, we don't officially have a partnership with the Weather Corporation. They merely buy what we build and modify them. It's rather tedious for your company to send anything new by me though, which is why I'm here. If this display inspires me, I may agree to partner with Lightning and Rainbow Dash to provide my suits at a discount while allowing them free modifications whenever they want."

Lightning nodded with a smile, "And I'm sure we'll impress you, Wake. Violet is one of the most talented in this department. I have full faith in her ability. Now, I believe everypony who's coming should be here now, as I can see Cloudy Blitz over by the new ponies in the stands. Shall we begin, Violet?"

"Yes, of course. I'm ready to start." Violet and Morri headed towards the cloud container as Lightning and her group sat in a specified section of the stands. Climbing up to the top entrance with the grating, Violet stood behind a makeshift pedestal. "Today, I'm going to demonstrate that I can control one of the dangerous Everfree Forest clouds, which as you all know, cannot be tamed by normal means. This is made possible by a system of pulse emitting bars which are the long black magnet-like devices on the sides of the inner walls of the cloud containment device. By emitting a constant rate of low voltage energy, the cloud is pacified yet still alive and awake. These clouds are almost like a living animal whereas they have emotions and desires just like a cat or dog would. Now, through magnetizing another nearby object at the correct amount, causes the cloud to seek it, moving towards it and confusing it so that it believes the object is another cloud seeking what can only be described as a mate." She looked to Morri, smiling slightly. Morri just nodded back at her.

"Now, instead of using the bars, I will use a shrunken down version of the pulse system that is built for potential use in the field. This system was custom built into a standard weather suit, and using this, I will guide the cloud to fetch a steel ball and take it through the loop installed inside the chamber, then return it to me. My assistant, Morri will lower me into the chamber, while Gat remains at the outside controls in the case of any anomalies." Violet finished, turning to Morri who sighed and opened her wings to stretch a little before flying down to lift the suit up to Violet. Stepping into the suit and powering it on, Violet let Morri lift her up and slowly lowered her into the large cylinder where the cloud was currently immobile from the larger bar system. Morri flew back out, closing up the grate at the top.

'Here we go, cloud. It's time to try this up close.' Violet thought to herself as she nodded to Gat to disable the big system. Once it was disabled, the cloud began to spark. It didn't seem to be happy, that Violet could tell, but it didn't sway her. Quickly, she activated the personal system, which to her relief, pacified the cloud once again. The crowd awed as the cloud stopped sparking once again. Violet almost felt like she was hosting some sort of stage show as she activated the steel ball's magnetic attraction and the cloud began to fly towards it. It stopped just above it and Violet turned a dial next to one of the bars, which was the larger of three and was attached horizontally to her chest while the other two came off her shoulders at an angle.

The change in energy caused the cloud to emit sparks again and zap the metal ball, pulling it into the cloud with the bolt. Violet then toned it back down and activated the ring hanging from the ceiling of the cylinder, making it attract the cloud just as the steel ball had. Moving slower due to the steel ball inside, the cloud floated up through the ring. As it looped through, Violet deactivated the ring again, and allowed the cloud to slowly sink back down to where she stood. Landing as a thick fog would, it just laid on the ground for a few moments before lifting up to hover again, leaving the steel ball on the ground.

The crowd was clapping and some were cheering a little. There weren't too many ponies actually watching, but the large bay made them echo. Violet smiled wide, everything went well. She motioned at Gat to reactivate the larger energy bars. With them reactivated, Morri opened the grate to fly in and pick up Violet to lift her back out of the cloud container. They closed up the grate and Violet smiled at the crowd. Lightning and Wake seemed very impressed, among the other ponies. She then glanced over at the crowd of soon-to-be co-workers. They were excited too, except for one. A bulkier looking pegasus sat in the back of the group, seeming to stare directly at Violet. Her eyes locked with his, and she had a really uneasy feeling come over her. He looked like one of the pegasai that was in Canterlot the night she saw all the stolen equipment. Could he be the one that had struck her, knocking her out? Her thoughts were interrupted by Morri, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

"Are you just going to stare into space all day or go talk to Lightning before she leaves? I'm sure they'll want to talk to you after that." Morri said dully. Her mane's ends weren't frayed anymore.

Violet blushed, "Oh, right, of course! Sorry, I suppose I spaced out a little. I'll go talk to them before they leave." She hurried down the ladder to head over where Lightning and her party were waiting.

Lightning was smiling wide. "Keep up the good work, Violet. Perhaps Rainbow and I can notify one of the princesses of the new discovery, once you're a bit closer to finishing, of course. They could really use the new methods against the threat in the north. This is probably the farthest in research that anypony has ever come regarding the Everfree clouds, you should be proud."

"Also, I now am willing to partner with Cloudsdale Weather Corporation officially, thanks to your display. Now, brilliant minds in all departments of this facility will no longer have to jump through hoops to develop modifications to my suit design. At least you were lucky enough to have Rainbow Dash personally request for you. I may not have been here without seeing the request directly. You're going to be a popular mare, Violet. Continue doing good things." Wake said before turning to leave, followed by Lightning.

'Me? A popular mare? Dunno what to think of that, but neat I suppose. But where did those new ponies go. I need to see that stallion.' Violet thought as she turned back to the stands. Everypony seemed to have left or were leaving, but then she noticed the stallion was up on the top of the cloud container, looking at the custom suit she'd left up there. Quickly, Violet rushed up the stairs.

"Hey, what are you doing? You don't work here yet. That's Weather Corp. property." Violet said, trying not to sound like she recognized him.

The stallion turned to face her and gave a soft smile. "I was only making it so that it won't short itself out. Those bars seem to use a large amount of energy, which could lead to power failure, especially since you were changing the power output at drastic levels without any cooldown time or build up time. I'm just trying to help. Wouldn't want to run out of power while inside there would you? That'd be terrible and could end up really messy if you're trapped inside that thing with a cloud like that."

Violet gave an awkward smile back. At least he didn't seem to recognize her, but it was definitely him. Perhaps after he leaves, she could tell Cloudy about him? Hopefully, they could figure out a way to lock him away for stealing those suits the other night. "Oh, of course. I.. Hadn't thought of that. I'm not really much when it comes to that stuff, my skills are with clouds. But, you need to leave. You aren't allowed to touch anything without actually being an employee."

He chuckled, "My bad, I'll hurry and catch up with the others. Nice meeting you in person, Violet." With that, he hurried off to leave with the rest of the new ponies.

After cleaning up, Morri and Gat went back to their usual work. Violet went over to her custom suit to inspect it. She wasn't about to take any chances, that pony was the one who made her night miserable last week. She didn't see anything wrong, so she put it on and activated it. Nothing negative so far. Testing the pulse bar system, she activated it at a low level, pointed to the open. It worked as it should, so she reached to turn it off, however, it wouldn't shut down. Confused, she tried to dial to a higher-energy pulse and tried again, failing still. Trying to turn it back down, she turned the knob, but now it wouldn't shut down. She panicked a little, rapidly pressing the small power button when suddenly, the power started to increase on it's own, pushing her back a little from the intensity of the pulses being sent through the air. Morri noticed and started to run up the ladder.

"Morri, stay back, I don't know what it's doing! That stallion messed with my suit!" Violet exclaimed worriedly.

Not listening anyways, Morri reached the top, pushing through the pulses the best she could. Violet tried to hold her ground but was still being pushed back from the steady increase of power. The teal mare wasn't able to push through the pulses any longer and could only hold her own ground. "Violet, just shut the thing off already! Overload it with magic if you have to!" Morri yelled. She couldn't figure out what to do as she smashed her hoof onto the off switch. Just then, the pulses became too much for Morri to withstand as she completely was blown back right into the lever for the grating, opening it up.

Violet fell backwards into the cloud container, landing hard onto her side. The cloud that had been hovering right below Violet before she fell had slowed Violet's fall slightly as she fell through it, but once hit by the suit's pulses, it went into a frenzy as lightning struck all around the cloud, hitting the sides and top. It then charged at Violet. Knowing she couldn't get up just yet, she activated the steel ball with her magic. The cloud curved towards the ball and struck it with a bright bolt of lightning, causing it to be launched at the wall. Unfortunately, Violet had been just barely in the way as the electrified steel ball collided with the side of her horn, completely shattering it where the small crack had still been healing from the previous week. She let out a piercing scream and instantly collapsed onto the ground, losing any concentration she'd had on the steel ball. Not being attracted to the ball anymore as it shut down, the cloud quickly went to Violet's unconscious body, shocking her and pulling her inside the cloud. Once inside the cloud, the suit stopped emitting pulses, as if they were being absorbed by the cloud itself.

Morri struggled to stand as she watched Violet taken inside the cloud below her. Gat was already at the controls before Morri could call for him. Increasing the output levels of the inner bars, he attempted to pacify the cloud. The cloud seemed to resist for a few moments, the magically reinforced glass cracking slightly as Gat increased the rate of pulses. Slowly, the cloud seemed to weaken and shrink around Violet to the point where it looked like it took the shape of her. Once the cloud couldn't take it anymore, it then suddenly just dissipated, dropping a shivering Violet to the ground. Gat quickly shut down the pulse bars and ran up top to fly inside and pick her up.

When he tried to pick her up, there still was crackling of electricity sparking around her body from the cloud and also the now severely damaged suit. It shocked him and knocked him back a little but he just picked her up again, fighting through the pain. Immediately as they exited the cylinder, he put her down and stepped back. His mane and coat was extra frizzled and slightly scorched in spots, but he was in best condition of the three. Morri was clutching her side, breathing heavily and showing signs of collapsed lung while Violet was still unconscious, bleeding from her broken horn, and sparking from the residual energy that was forced into her body.

Cloudy Blitz had heard the commotion, and came out when Gat flew to pick up Violet. He had quickly sounded the emergency alarm and then ran up with a first aid kit to help with Morri, patching up the collapsed lung. The two carried her down to the ground when the emergency team came in to take over, a unicorn on the team levitating Violet so nopony would be shocked. They took them away as fast as they could, leaving one with Gat to help with his wounds. With a heavy sigh, Cloudy went back into his office. An open letter sat on his desk.

Steer clear of the mare after the show..

Cloudy glared at the short note, picking it up and ripping it into pieces before throwing the pieces into the trash.