Failsafes
Applejack, despite her still being a fairly young pony, liked to think she was seasoned enough to have a voice in what she was seeing. She was a mare that had seen plenty of weird stuff in her time; especially recently. Odd weeds, baffling attempts to scam her family for cheap or free apples, Pinkie Pie. More recently there were numerous incidents of grand scale and remarkably unsettling nature. Fluttershy succumbing to an animalistic rage at the Grand Galloping Gala, an Ursa Major that was actually only an Ursa Minor, the parasprites a few months ago, Pinkie Pie. She had seen a lot of odd stuff.
She had never, in her entire life, seen pink, fluffy clouds zipping around with such speed and agility that they were easily outmaneuvering a very frustrated Rainbow Dash. She had never before seen such clouds raining chocolate milk upon her secondary crop of corn plants she had been asked to grow for the food stores next winter. She had never seen said corn plants spontaneously start popping into popcorn en masse.
Looking at all of this play out before her, Applejack briefly wondered if she was dreaming. A quick thwack to her left hoof by her right confirmed that no, she was awake. She turned her gaze up to Rainbow just as the prismatically maned pegasus missed her target yet again. “Rainbow! What’s with all this, uh, chocolate rain?!” she called up, her irritation swiftly giving way to confusion as she realized even more just how unorthodox that sentence sounded.
Rainbow looked down at Applejack before swerving herself into an arc that brought her into a wobbly landing before the farm pony. “I wish I knew! But there’s crazy weather all over Ponyville, possibly all of Equestria. Reports just came into the office like, ten minutes ago that Cloudsdale is getting hit by a cola storm.”
“Cola?” Applejack asked in exasperation and disbelief, looking around at the carnage with wide eyes. It was then that she caught sight of a large number of wild animals scampering through her orchard, some of them climbing into the trees to stress-eat her apples. “Hey! Those ain’t yours!”
“Do you want me to get Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked while lifting back into the air a bit.
“Considerin’ Angel’s among those critters, Ah don’t think yer gonna need to.” Applejack noted while pointing into the trees. Rainbow looked and, sure enough, Angel, Fluttershy’s pet rabbit, could be seen sitting on a branch in one of the trees, nibbling on an apple with a worried expression on his face. His ears twitched occasionally at all of the odd sounds that surrounded him. And, as Applejack had predicted, Fluttershy soon appeared from the trees, floating up to Angel.
“Angel, all of you, please calm down. Let’s just get you all home and, um-”
A bright flash of light interrupted anything else Fluttershy was saying and forced her to screw her eyes shut. Applejack and Rainbow shielded their own eyes with their forelegs. As quickly as the flash had come, it went away. Now, Angel Bunny stood taller than Fluttershy, his legs having extended to a monstrous length. On his face was an expression that bespoke confusion and shock at his body’s newfound height.
“What?! No, this can’t be possible!” Fluttershy whispered to herself in shock and bewilderment as Angel then strut by, reaching out and plucking an apple from a tree on his way with his teeth.
“URGH!” Applejack growled out in rising anger before turning her attention back to the rest of her crop. “WHAT IN TARNATION IS GOIN’ ON?!”
A fresh wave of chocolate milk washed over them all, causing the brim of Applejack’s hat to fall over her eyes. Her look of anger melted into a dry glare. Rainbow shook her head, spread her wings and shot back up into the air. “Stop raining on my friends, dangit!”
This madness continued for several minutes, with everypony doing their best to get a hold of the situation. Nothing worked. The weather only got more wild and evasive, the animals were reshaped in even weirder and comedic ways. It was chaos incarnate. And from where Twilight stood, having just reached the farm and looking at everything going on, she felt a small shred of uncertainty and doubt. “Alright… here we go,” she mumbled before checking the book one last time.
Spike stood next to her, walking in place anxiously and twiddling his thumbs. “Are you gonna fix this or what?” he asked, gesturing to, well, everything.
“Yes, just give me a second… okay!” she snapped the book closed and sent it drifting into Spike’s claws. She then cleared her throat. “Everypony, don’t worry. I’ve got a spell ready that should fix all of this!”
All eyes turned to her, hopeful that she would succeed or relieved, believing her success was assured. Gulping heavily, Twilight closed her eyes to shut out their expressions and instead focused on her spell. Her horn lit up as she began the first stage of the spell. She felt anomalies all around her as her spell gained in power. Dozens of them were present and Twilight felt that trickle of doubt rear its ugly head again.
She then beat that doubt down with a stick and expanded the radius of her spell as far as possible. From where she was, she could hit most of ponyville and much of the northern countryside. She detected more and more anomalies as the sphere expanded. Finally, with a grimace, she set the second stage of the spell into motion. She felt a slight tug on her horn, an indication that it was working. The spell’s last stage that began. A blinding light erupted from Twilight’s horn and rapidly expanded across Ponyville and the surrounding hills. She could hear the alarmed gasps of her friends as the light washed over them.
For several seconds all was still. When Twilight finally opened her eyes, however, her expression went from one of hope to one of disappointment and shock. Nothing had changed. The clouds were still pink, they were still raining chocolate milk and the animals were still going crazy and shapeshifting. “Wha… it failed…” she muttered.
Up in the air, Rainbow opened up her own eyes and looked down at Twilight, seeing her expression go from confident and hopeful to the exact opposite. Her own face twisting with worry, Rainbow glided down to a landing right next to her fillyhood friend. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… I don’t know what else we can do now. That was the only spell in my arsenal that could even come close to dealing with something like this!” Twilight replied, gesturing wildly to the chaos before them.
“Back at the library, you mentioned that the spell would fail if the cause was more powerful than you, right?” Rainbow asked gently, nudging Twilight. Twilight nodded uneasily, her eyes flicking from one oddity to another. “Then we either need to use something besides magic to quell all of this, find whoever is responsible and make them fix it, or give mom a call.”
Twilight nodded slowly before shaking herself to clear her head. “Right… okay, you’re right. We can worry about finding out who’s responsible just as soon as we make sure the situation over the farm is contained and controlled, though.”
”Hey, that sounds fine to me.” Applejack nodded in agreement.
Twilight turned a critical eye up to the clouds and sky above, her brow furrowing in thought.
“Oh, there you all are!” a shrill voice called out from behind the group. All eyes turned and spotted Rarity and Pinkie Pie approaching briskly. Rarity was, as per usual, covered from hoof to horn in a thick coat, hat, and rain goggles. There was also a very wide umbrella resting on her back. Pinkie, by contrast, was just as unclothed as ever and has her head turned up to drink in some chocolate as they passed under one of the pink clouds. It had been Rarity to speak.
“What in Equestria took ya two so long?!” Applejack barked in mild annoyance before biting down on her tongue and shaking her head, a heavy sigh escaping her. “Gah, sorry. How are things in town?”
“I feel like I’ve jumped into a Lewis Canteroll novel,” Rarity replied while tentatively peering out at the sky from under her umbrella. She quickly flinched back when a drop of chocolate milk splattered across her goggles, a startled squeak finding its way out of her mouth.
Twilight felt a small smile appear on her own face. “Oh yeah, I’ve read his work before.”
“Not the best time, girls!” Rainbow interrupted bluntly before putting a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “What’s the plan?”
Twilight nodded and her expression hardened. “Okay… Rainbow, do you think you can herd these clouds into one spot?”
“I can try, but there won’t be much to stop them from zipping off to somewhere else if we don’t find a way to keep them there.” Rainbow nodded before glaring at the sky.
“They’re made of cotton candy, though. That means that have a stronger physical presence than the water vapor of standard clouds,” Twilight pointed out before looking to Applejack. “As soon as Rainbow has the clouds corralled in one spot, I want you to lasso them down to the ground.”
“Alright, but ah won’t be able to keep them there unless Ah hold the rope all day.” Applejack said with a small nod and thoughtful frown.
Twilight turned to Fluttershy. “That’s where the animals come in. They’re going nuts, yes, but look at them. They’re stressed and they are eating. Stress eating. Once the cotton candy clouds are on the ground, we can have the animals come in to eat them. Something so high in sugar should hopefully be a big draw for them. Then, not only will the clouds be held to the ground by the weight of hungry animals crawling all over it, but the clouds will be losing mass and weight as the animals eat it. Fluttershy, you can talk to the animals, so you can send that message.”
Fluttershy put on a determined look and nodded sharply. “Okay.” she managed to sound like she wasn’t scared.
“Alright, let’s get to work!” Twilight declared. Everypony gave a shout or cheer of affirmative before Rainbow rocketed into the sky to begin step one. While that was happening, Twilight turned to Rarity and Pinkie. “Rarity, you and I need to be ready to intervene with magic in case something goes wrong. Pinkie?”
Pinkie looked to Twilight with her cheeks bulging full of chocolate milk. “Hmm?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Er… help signal boost Fluttershy when she’s calling for the animals, okay?”
“Mm-hmm!” Pinkie chirped before swallowing the milk in her mouth and grinning excitedly. “Pinkie Pie, on the case!”
“Hey, AJ!” Rainbow called out from above, having already made some notable progress in making the clouds come together. “I can’t hold this ball together forever!”
“On it!” Applejack shouted up before breaking into a gallop for the wagon half-full of popcorn and apples that she had been pulling along when all of this started. In short order, she retrieved her lasso from it before sprinting to be directly under the clouds. “Okay, ready!” she yelled through the rope in her mouth.
With a curt nod, Rainbow peeled off and swerved to observe from a short distance and lower altitude. With the clouds now clear of ponies, Applejack swung the lasso up towards the clumped clouds with a sharp motion of her head. Twilight opted to give the rope a touch more momentum with a quick burst of telekinesis, putting it right on target to completely encircle and trap the clouds.
This done, Twilight then turned to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. “Alright, ready?”
“Mm-hmm.” Fluttershy hummed with a slight shake in her legs. Pinkie simply nodded before taking in a deep breath, ready to shout their announcement of cotton candy to the world.
It only took a few seconds for Applejack to pull the clouds down to the ground, where the squelched unpleasantly upon impact. Pinkie grinned widely, reached into her mane and withdrew a megaphone. She then turned to Fluttershy and whispered, “You may want to cover your ears,” she then looked at everypony else. “That goes for all of you.”
“Uh oh…” Rainbow murmured while placing her hooves over here ears.
“ATTENTION ALL FUZZY CRITTERS, BIG AND SMALL, NORMAL AND… UH… NOT!” Pinkie shouted into the megaphone, tilting it up slightly. “THERE IS SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT THAT FLUTTERSHY NEEDS TO TELL YOU!” Pinkie then hoofed the megaphone off to Fluttershy with a big grin still plastered on her face. “Your turn! I’m gonna go to the cloud now!”
Fluttershy blinked before, with a charmed smile at Pinkie’s antics, she retrieved the megaphone that was being offered. As soon as she had it, Pinkie bounced away to begin eating some cloud and drinking some chocolate milk. Fluttershy then held the megaphone up to her mouth. “Oh, my, um, Hello? Is this thing working?”
“Yes.” Applejack deadpanned.
“Okay, um, everyone? Animals? I may need your help eating this massive, gigantic, chocolate-filled cotton candy cloud. There’s just so much that I think I need all of you to help.” Fluttershy said with a small smile forming when she noticed all of the animals giving her their undivided attention. Then they all turned their gazes to the cotton candy cloud mass.
It was promptly swarmed by every animal within earshot, to the point that Pinkie lost her spot. “Hey!” the pink pony barked indignantly.
“Heh. And when yer all done with that, Y'all can have some of this popcorn for dessert!” Applejack said with a small smile before turning back to Twilight. “Whew… good thinkin’ Twi. That really worked.”
Twilight smiled somewhat before her frown returned. “Maybe, but we didn’t stop the source of all of this. As long as the source of these changes is still making changes, we won’t be in the clear.”
Rainbow snarled under her breath. “Well, what could possibly be able to do all of this?!” she asked irritably while gesturing to the farm and the chaos surrounding it.
“I can only think of two ponies or beings off the top of my head who would actually be powerful enough, but neither of them would ever do something like this,” Twilight replied while lifting a hoof to the side of her head and massaging her temple.
“You mean Princesses Celestia and Luna, darling?” Rarity asked curiously while absentmindedly adjusting the umbrella that still sat on Twilight’s back.
“Yeah. They are the most powerful ponies in the world, but neither of them would have any reason to do something like this,” Twilight reiterated before shaking her head. She then got a somewhat more steely look on her face. “But maybe they’ll know what is responsible. Spike, can you- Spike?” Twilight turned to her number one assistant. Immediately her worried frown turned into one of anticipation and expectation. Spike had his claws clutched to his belly while his cheeks puffed out.
With a loud belch, a flurry of green flames shot out of his mouth before coalescing into one point. From that point, a scroll bound by a red ribbon and marked with the royal seal appeared with a small pop and the dispersal of the remaining smoke and fire. Quickly, Twilight grabbed the letter in her magic and opened it to study the contents.
“What’s it say?” Rainbow asked eagerly, butting up next to Twilight to look at the contents as well. After shooting the pegasus a dirty look, Twilight returned her attention to the scroll. Its message was short and hastily scrawled.
Twilight Sparkle, Princess Rainbow Dash,
You and your friends are all required in Canterlot immediately. Please come as soon and as quickly as you are able.
Hurry,
-Princess Celestia.
Twilight’s eyes widened while Rainbow Dash bit her lip. Twilight looked up at the rest of the gathered group of friends. “We’re needed in Canterlot at once.”
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Hey there. Thanks very much for getting the next chapter up. I have to say you definitely did a great job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Yeah, the teamwork in dealing with those clouds was pretty well done. Not much more I CAN say at THIS point except that I AM curious as to what changes you come up with for later in the story.
At any rate, I'll very certainly be looking forward to more of this, but will also be quite willing to be patient.
Oh, and Happy New Year in advance. :-D
Oh this is setting up to be a doozy!
Maybe we will learn that Lewis was one of Discord's pen name?
I prefer chocolate cake to milk.
I have to wonder how much (if anything) Discord knows about the changes to time itself.
Your
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Going from forgetting they're even dead to starting with a gut punch.
Yup. Too bad it didn't work on Discord.
Speaking of...
That's reserved for those who figure out her hooves are sensitive.
Same material as Ponk's hair.
One must wonder how this will diverge. I think Discord will know about the timeline change, not something the Spirit of Chaos would miss.
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Is it really so surprising?
season 2 reference sure why not fine by me
but here Rainbow Dash was a princess what will happen to her when discord came
As a side benefit, the animals will be out of commission from all the candy they ate...
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Heresy! Chocolate milk is far superior to all things!
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Except coffee
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Heresy! Do not arouse the wrath of the choco-moo gods, for the great Brown Cows In The Sky must be appeased! Lol.
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All Hail the godly Chocolate Moo-Moos! All Hail!
I like how she has to mention Pinkie Pie twice.