Stir Crazy

by Fordsie

The Driver of Nature

Hearing the pitter pattering of rain on the roof was not a new sensation. It was all that could be heard in this house over the past week. Never ending downpour. Showering down on Ponyville like a dark shroud, constantly overhead. Clamping my hooves over my ears did little to stop the constant noise. Whether it was because of how loud it was or if it was my mind trying to fill the emptiness with the only sound it could remember. It was maddening.

I finally decided it was time to get up, I was getting restless lying in bed anyway. Rolling out from under the sheets I was greeted by the blisteringly cold air. I hurried to my wardrobe to collect my scarf and jumper.

“Much better” I said to myself. Talking to myself had become a habit. I always felt calmer if I could think out loud rather than just in my head. After all the lightning hunting I had done for my photography and all the time I spent alone during said hunting, I suppose it was only natural to develop such a compulsion.

I hurried down the stairs towards the fireplace, fumbled with the matches for a bit and finally managed to get a fire going. Soon, the entire room was filled with heat. Suddenly my home felt more homey than it did when I woke up. Light was cast onto my photography award that I obtained several years ago for winning first place in the Equestrian Photography Society’s annual ‘Photo of the year’ contest.

“Awarded to Aperture for his incredible still shot of lighting striking a tree in the dead of night.” It read. They make it sound so impressive, but really it was just right place right time sort of thing. I just got lucky. Never the less, I was proud of my achievement. I then headed towards the front door to go and see if the newspaper had been delivered yet.

Twisting the handle resulted in the door swinging open by itself and a cold wet sensation on my hooves. I looked down.

“Water?” I exclaimed as the fluid quickly sloshed past my hooves and onto my carpet. I quickly forced the door close and peered out the window. It looked like all of Ponyville had been completely flooded. Water running down the streets in a similar fashion to a small river. I was astonished. How could we have gone from an admittedly large amount of rain to full on flooding?

Then it hit me.

The flood gates, they must have broken. All that pressure must have caused it to break and cause a flood. Considering that Ponyville is between two mountains, it wasn’t impossible for it to flood like this, but I never thought I would see it could happen. I can’t even open my front door without risk of completely flooding the entire house.

Opening the door for that small amount of time had already caused substantial damage to the floor. I can only imagine how much destruction could be caused by leaving the door open. I had come to the realisation that I was imprisoned by the elements, in my own house of all places.

“This is my worst nightmare” I thought to myself over and over again, each time making me more and more anxious. “Ok, Ok calm down.” I said “Inhale, count to three, exhale”. There was that habit again. It really did help, and in a situation like this I’ll take whatever kind of support I can get. Worrying ran in my family. My Dad would constantly worry about everything, small or large. I guess I got that from him. My Mum was the opposite, always laughing things off. She had an aura of calm around her most of the time. I could really use that aura right about now.
I sat down back at the fireplace.

The water had already started to evaporate leaving my carpet dry once again. I suppose that’s a start. I just stared into the fire and tried to forget about my situation. Every now and again I would think “Hey why don’t I just go outside and get some fresh air”. Only to come crashing back down to reality as I realise where I was. Without warning there was a tapping on glass. I looked around, confused. Where could it have come from? Was it just a tree scratching my windows? Again two taps. I spun around only to see a blue face smiling back at me. I hurried to my hooves and scurried over to the window and pushed it open.

“Hey bud, how you doin’ in there?” The blue pegasus said.

“I’m fine yeah, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I’m just doing the rounds and letting everypony know what’s going on with the weather.”

“So you’re a weather pony?”

“Ponyville’s one and only!”

I recognised the mare and started racking my brain for a name that matched the face.

“You’re Rainbow Dash right?”

“Yep that’s me!”

“Ah of course, so what did you want to tell me?”

“What? Oh! About the weather, yeah it’s a bit screwy at the moment” She said. “Apparently there
was a mechanical malfunction or something up in Cloudsdale and that’s what caused all the rain in Ponyville over the past few days.”

“So how long will it be until it’s fixed?” I asked.

“Should be around two days. Apparently I’m not important enough to know the exact time when it will be fixed but two days seems like a fair guess don’t you think?”

Two days. Those words echoed in my head. Two days, stuck inside. Two days, alone.

“You alright there bud? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” She says, trying to hold back a laugh. I was insulted at how she was treating the situation. It was all fine for her, she had wings, she could just fly away whenever she wanted to. But I’m stuck here. Maybe it’s just me. I do tend to get a bit distressed when solitude is involved.

“Hello? You still all there?”

“Yes sorry, I was… thinking about something.”

“What were you thinking about?” She asked.

“Does it matter?”

“I guess not, I was just curious” She said.

“Well it better be going then, seeya!” She says as she begins to fly off.

“Wait!” I yell. She turns back to look at me. Why did you do that you idiot.

“Yeah what is it?”

“It’s just that…”

Sweet Celestia, what are you doing? You don’t even know this mare.

“Well, I have pretty bad anxiety. And it can get pretty bad when I’m forced to be by myself”

“Oh… ok” She said nervously.

“So I was just wondering if you could come back and…”

There must be a better way to phrase this. I thought.

“I would like to ask you if you would come back tomorrow and check on me.” I said. “I wouldn’t ask you otherwise unless I thought it was important.”

“Hmm” She rubs her chin and looks off into the distance.

“Ok then, will do” She says cheerfully.

“Wow ok thank you so much.” I say.

“I owe you.”

“Well I’ll try and remember that, uhhh…”

“Aperture.” I say.

“Ok then Aperture” She says. “I’ll come back ‘round this time tomorrow and see how you’re holding up!” She says with a small salute.

“Thank you so much” I say

She smiles and flies off into the sky. I close the window and take a deep breath and try to stop my heart from leaping out my mouth.

“That was needlessly awkward” I said to myself.

Author's Note:

I have 1 more completed chapter, and another that is half finished... So you've got those to look forward to.