Braeburn led the trio back to Applejack's side and let them in, but didn't follow. "Ah got something t' check on, but y'all gonna stay here, right? No leaving without Applejack this time. Promise."
Cherry sighed softly but settled down. Though not nominated for the position, her concession seemed to echo in the others shortly. "We promise."
He nodded. "Good. Ah'll see y'all later." He closed the door behind him and they could hear his hooves retreating away from the house.
They didn't have to wait long at least. Just as the boredom became unbearable, Applejack stirred with a mumble. The headache of before had settled and she felt renewed, at least compared to before. She opened her eyes to see three other pairs gazing down at her. She blinked before memory caught up with her. "Ah, good. Yer all back." She sat up slowly as to not bonk heads on the way. "We done missed the whole first day."
Indigo pointed back at the tavern they had been in. "I learned how to play an instrument."
Applejack blinked at the news. "Shoot, it takes longer than one afternoon ta learn how ta play proper."
He pouted a little but became all the more set. "I did! I didn't say I was super good at it, but I did..."
"Easy there pardner. If ya say ya did, than ah believe ya. What instrument did ya get playin'?"
Berry inclined her head towards Indigo. "He learned how to 'tickle ivories'."
Applejack blinked with confusion before it hit her. "Oh! Shoot, ya learned how ya play a piana some?" She slid up to her hooves. "Ah wanna hear that, later. Maybe after we're back in Ponyville."
Cherry smiled brightly as she waved a hoof towards him. "Will you help convince Twilight to get him one?"
She didn't immediately shoot down her idea. "Actually... if'n ya suggested a, ya know, underwater piano. Ah bet she'd get real excited."
Indigo clopped his hooves. "I'd love to try a wet piano, but I want to try dry one too. They would sound different, wouldn't they?"
Applejack frowned a little. "Suppose that's true... Well, there's the one Pinkie used. Ah don't think anypony even touches that one no more. Bad luck they say, bunch a hooey if ya ask me. We can probably take that one." She moved for the door. "Ah hear some ruckus outside that sounds like a good time. Let's see if we can't squeeze in some good times today."
They went outside to find the sky crackling and flaring. The power of the dry was so intense that even in the evening, it made the sky explode with its might. Bright colors and loud bangs shook The Dry beneath them with intense washes of its majesty. It was at once both amazing and terrifying and sent all three seaponies scurrying for cover.
"W-wait! Don't go hidin' because of some fireworks."
Cherry peeked out from behind the barrel she had selected to hide behind. "Fire in the sky? How would that be a good idea?!"
"I don't want to be burned!" cried out Indigo as he quaked behind a post far too narrow to serve as cover.
Berry had ducked back into the house. "Tell me when it's over!"
"Shoot, it ain't nothin' to be scared of." Applejack thrust a hoof up at the multi-color display that flared brilliantly behind her. "Ponies done made it fer lookin' at and enjoyin', not hidin' from."
Indie peeked around his post, then raised his eyes as a bright explosion of yellow and blue filled the sky. "P-ponies made that?" He slowly stepped out, approaching Applejack. "They can do that?"
"Sure can." Applejack nodded confidently. "Now let's get a good spot an' enjoy it." She waved for the fillies to come along and got moving. Though they still seemed shocked, the sea ponies all followed along after her, learning of the glories of what she would call 'fire works', though they did no work besides exploding brightly and loudly? Was that work? Applejack insisted it was.
Elsewhere, Braeburn pulled the lever to get the water flowing through the orchard in a dance of undulating sprinklers and pipes that sprayed water over leaves and across roots as was requested. Everything seemed to be fine, despite the interference. Whatever the sea ponies had done, the machine seemed to be...
He turned in place and saw the area surrounding the lever had become a slurry of water and dirt. He was on an island surrounded by mud! "Consarnit!" While the machine was doing its job to pump water, it was leaking something awful. He pulled the lever back into the off position, but that didn't make the ocean he was stranded in go away, and the cool evening was doing nothing to make it go away... He was trapped.
"Help!" he called out, but the fireworks blazed overhead, threatening to drown out his attempts to call for assistance.
While most enjoyed the spectacle, Indigo raised an ear. Watching the dry power was a bit scary and so looking away from it, even if it had brilliant shades, was a nice thing. The noise he heard prompted him to do just that. Was someone calling? He started moving closer. "Someone's calling for help." He was sure of it. A pony, specifically, was shouting for help.
He broke into a gallop with the others trailing behind, including Applejack.
They arrived to find Braeburn stranded on his island, looking worried and annoyed in equal measure. "There you are! Look what you done did!" He pointed at the mess he was surrounded in. "Now ah can't move!"
Cherry trotted up without fear and sank a hoof into the muddy soil, only to lose it for a moment. The dirt had become like silt at the bottom of the sea and she was pretty sure she could navigate that. "Hold on." She squirmed free of her dry-swimmers and into the mire, even if it made a mess of her fur, and swam with the natural grace of a sea creature despite it. It slowed her progress, being partially solid, but could not stop her from quickly reaching the stranded dry pony. "Come on! We'll get you to safety."
Braeburn blushed faintly as the other seaponies quickly joined Cherry at his island, but he'd have to get muddy to get back. But what was the alternative? He let out a sigh and took off his hat, tossing it across to Applejack before he sank into the mess. The three caught him easily and carried him across before dumping him out onto The dry.
Berry nodded. "Well, there's only one part we did anything to. If there's any place to look, it'll be there. One moment."
Braeburn thrust out a hoof to stop them, but they all vanished under the mud before he could stop them. "Blast it..."
Applejack shook her head. "Look, this one thing ah'll trust them with. Let's give them a moment to figure out what's gone wrong."
"If ya say so..."
Minutes later, a lone part was tossed at the hooves of the two. Cherry pointed at it. "We had the mechanical pony make it bigger."
Applejack raised a brow. "Mechanical pony?"
Berry nodded as she shook herself free of mud. "He had a friend with a snail mark."
Applejack brought a hoof to her face. "Tell me, did the mechanical thing look like two things connected in the center like?"
Indigo bobbed his head. "That's the one."
Applejack threw her own hat down. "Consarnit! What are Snips and Snails even doin' here?"
Braeburn looked confused. "Who?"
"Nothin'... Nothin'... Just two more lost foals in need of rescuing. Look--" She pointed to the piece, covered in mud as it was. "--A'hm pretty certain yer gonna have ta replace that. There's no work those two would do to anything that ah'd trust fer a minute."
Braeburn picked up the broken part and shook the mud free of it. "Ah'll do the best ah can. Shoot. We barely got ta use it..."
Cherry sunk her head low, the others following suit. "We're really sorry we caused all this trouble. I thought we could fix it..."
Part of Braeburn wanted to be furious at the young ponies, but their sincere apology made that hard. He instead grunted. "Ah guess it'll be alright... Look, next time somepony tells ya not to do somethin', ya don't do it, alright? Especially when they's somepony that knows better."
"Yes, sir," all three echoed miserably.
Above them, the fireworks covered the town in bright colors and explosions that Applejack continued to insist were entirely harmless to them all.
Is it wrong I want these three to meet Turing Test??
Where's the kaboom?
There's supposed to be an earth shattering kaboom!
*Fireworks finale*
Oh! There it is!
I don't... Get it. How much did the thing leak. How could have it made the ground so watery that sea ponies could swim in it without suffocating from the dirt. How much water was wasted
7309713 A lot of water was wasted.
so i have not read yet (i only saw this because it was in the feature bow today) but i found something cool!
one of the hosts of Celestia radio (a old radio broadcast for mlp that was started by Hooflander) has a OC similar to your cover art! vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/celestiaradio/images/6/69/Alimerpony.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120608170730
im going to go read your story now, i just thought that this was a cool find!
Looks like theres repairs and recalibrations to do before they can start the annual greased pig, mud wrestling and barn off rodeo.
Hmm, I wonder what they'd think if they met Tank? An animal they would partially recognize with a mechanical gizmo on his back. Next thing we know, flying seaponies.
Oh good, a mere flood. In the desert. Braeburn is being awfully patient considering...
Keep going! ;)
Well that was melodramatic, as they said on Mythbusters 'Jamie wanted Big Boom!'
crackle and flare - crackling and flaring
as was request - as was requested --or-- as was expected
attempts to assistance - attempts to summon/call for assistance
her fur and swam - her fur, and swam
But what was the alternative. - But what was the alternative?
*****
A bit of a mess to clean up, but thankfully nothing too catastrophic this time. If Braeburn allows them to make the repair, it should be better than new in no time at all.
I wonder if pony fireworks are chemical or magical in nature. Probably some combination of the two.
I also wonder what the cause for celebration is. Not that ponies need a reason to be happy.
7312236 Typos fixed to help make this chapter completion a bit smoother.
7329317
It's... third-person. Unless somebody is actually narrating, it's still a bit strange. :V
Le gasp! I am.....up todate!?
.....the suspense is drowning me.
7351043
Pyro, there are some times when I really hate you.
7369060 actually that doesn't really go hand in hand with what i was thinking...
I thought that, you know? There would at least be one species with a different language right? But yeah that defied my expectations of a response as well...
Anyway, i just love any type of "sound" which includes, vocaltypes of things like languages! So obviously i would be worried about something like this
(In other words, i am just being kinda crazy)
I really hope you continue this story. I'd like to see what happens when they get the train running.
Any word when it we'll be updated?
7481267 That'll do it too. Haven't seen that machine before. Then there's this
meh.ro/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/meh.ro6505.jpg
Or this if you want to wreck cars
26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsbghgFsBw1qgvvn1o1_500.jpg
7481478
It's the world's first AT-AT!
7482637 And probably more durable than the ones in 'Empire strikes back'. Anyway I think Cherry has a thing for dry land mechanical flipper conversions!
7529138 Simple; surface tension/resistance.
Aerodynamics involve air being the main resistance, which is far less than water which Hydrodynamics covers.
Like I said before, put an aerodynamic design in water, you'd get a bobbing piece of junk, same as trying to make a hydrodynamic design fly, it wouldn't get off the ground without obscene amounts of propulsion, the use of water and dye to test aerodynamics is for simplicity's sake, otherwise they use wind tunnels and powders to do the same thing.
7529577 You replied in the wrong chapter.
7529609 Actually, I replied in the 'cover page' comments, which automatically posts to the latest chapter, sorry bout that.
7529788 That is correct.
7580074 New info has since come out. Turns out that a siren did some hypnotizing.
7579939
Who's to say it's chlorinated? In any case, the intentional chlorination of public water supplies only dates to the early 1900s. Also, as chlorine is a gas and is only dissolved in the water it would just fizz out of any water warmer than a certain temperature. Perhaps as an aquatic creature she'd be more susceptible to dissolved chlorine, but I strongly doubt it would gas out fast enough (and in high enough concentration) to cause her any harm in an area with adequate ventilation.
So. Rainbow kaboom? Rainbooms! Someone left a portal open, eh?