My intuition about the second part of “Baby Cakes” was right. After I helped Twilight with her reports, she tried to visit Pinkie Pie to help with babysitting the Cake Twins. Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie kicked Twilight out before she could do anything. It was a shame, really. I was a sucker for baby ponies in the fandom, and it would’ve been interesting to interact with the twins.
One day at the library, I overheard Rainbow Dash talking to Twilight.
“So why do you want to bring all the pegasi here?” Twilight asked.
“Because they need to learn how to bring the water up to Cloudsdale,” Rainbow replied. “And what better place to learn than in a library? Besides, you’ve got one of those fancy projectors.”
“Alright. Spike and I will set everything up. You can go ahead and recruit every pegasi in town.”
“Great, thanks.” Rainbow Dash zoomed out.
That’s when I realized this was when “Hurricane Fluttershy” took place. In the show, Fluttershy would overcome her fears and help the pegasi bring the water up to Cloudsdale. I couldn’t think of anything to change here. I didn’t know who had the feather flu first, and I didn’t want to risk catching it if it affects dragons. Also, I wanted Fluttershy to have her time to shine.
“Spike, help me prepare the room,” Twilight commanded. “Set up the projector for me. It should be in the closet.”
I saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”
As I brung out the projector, a sudden realization hit me: I didn’t know how to use a film projector. I grew up where everything was digital.
How do I operate this thing?
That’s when I noticed a booklet resting on top of the machine. I took it and read the cover.
“Film Projector: How to operate this thing.”
Oh. How convenient.
I read through the booklet, and the instructions were pretty easy. I was able to set up the projector in no time.
By the time night fell, everypony who was a pegasus was at the library. Once everypony was in place, I turned on the projector, and the movie started playing. It honestly looked like something out of a 1950s info movie.
“Every living thing depends on the life-giving nourishment of rainwater, and it is up to Cloudsdale to provide rain-filled clouds to every corner of Equestria,” said the movie narrator. “But how, one pony might ask, does Cloudsdale gather all this extra water? Tornado power! That's right, pegasi-driven tornado power. A team of pegasi combine their wing power to create a jumbo tornado, powerful enough to pull water out of the local reservoir and funnel it all the way up to Cloudsdale. Remember, pegasi, your jumbo tornado must reach a minimum of eight hundred wing power to lift that water up to Cloudsdale. So, the next time you're wondering ‘Where does all that extra rainwater come from?’, just remember...it’s all thanks to your local pegasi and Cloudsdale!”
The word “FIN” appeared on the screen, and the movie was over. I quickly turned off the projector and turned on the lights.
Rainbow Dash then told everypony that Ponyville’s reservoir was chosen to bring the water up to Cloudsdale. Thus, every pegasus in Ponyville, including Fluttershy, needs to train by the end of the week in order to reach 800 wing power. Rainbow Dash also mentioned how Captain Spitfire will be there to record the wing power, and that she hoped to break Fillydelphia’s speed record of 910.
The only problem was with Fluttershy. After what happened at her old flight school, she couldn’t bring it to herself to fly as fast as the other pegasi. I’m hoping I can encourage her the next few days so she could gain some confidence.
The next day, Twilight and I were setting up an anemometer: a device tells you how fast you're flying and how strong your wings are. The other pegasi were stretching and getting ready to run while Rainbow went to get Fluttershy.
“I hope we can get enough wing power from all these pegasi,” Twilight said. “The overly-muscular one with small wings is concerning me.”
“Don’t worry, Twilight,” I said. “Every little bit helps. Besides, wing size doesn’t matter. Just wing power.”
After a while, Rainbow came back with Fluttershy. Once everything was set up, Thunderlane was the first pegasus to try it out. He clocked in at 9.3 wing power, which was rather impressive. Rainbow Dash was next, and she reached 16.5. This went on for the other pegasi. The most interesting ones I found were Bulk Biceps’s (the muscled white pegasus) 7.9 and Rumble’s 8.7.
“That colt’s gonna be a prodigy,” Twilight said.
“I’m surprised he’s the only kid pegasus here,” I said. “Aren’t there any others?”
“Thunderlane said he wanted to join the others to help out, so Rainbow Dash and Cheerilee allowed it.”
After everypony else’s wing power was recorded, the last pony was Fluttershy. Something told me I needed to talk to her first.
“Give me a second, Twilight.” I placed my quill and notebook on the ground and hurried to the starting line where Fluttershy was.
“Hey, listen,” I said to Fluttershy. “I know that you may not be the best flyer, but you shouldn’t let that hold you back. I know you have impressive wing power. Don’t let anypony tell you that you can’t fly!”
“Oh, I don’t know about this, Spike,” Fluttershy whimpered. “You’ve seen those previous scores. Even a colt can reach over 8 wing power, and I can’t even move a leaf.”
“Don’t worry about that. You don’t need to compare your wing strength to him. Just focus on your own wingspeed. Remember: Fluttershy, you can really fly!”
I gave her a light kiss on the cheek before hurrying back. I quickly picked up my notebook and quill before sitting next to the anemometer.
Twilight leaned over and whispered, “You shouldn’t do that, Spike.”
“What? I’m not allowed to give encouragement?” I hissed.
“No, I mean what you did to Fluttershy on the cheek. I know you two are starting to become a thing, but you shouldn’t do that out in the open. If anypony saw that a dragon and a pony were a couple...”
“It was just one small kiss. Nopony sans you noticed.”
“I’m just saying, be careful.”
I rolled my eyes and watched Fluttershy preparing to fly. With all her might, she flew as fast as she could down the track and right past the anemometer. It looked like she was going pretty fast, but the look on Twilight’s and Rainbow’s faces told me she didn’t do so well.
“You tell her,” Twilight whispered to Rainbow Dash.
“No, you tell her,” Rainbow whispered back.
“Just tell me, and I’ll tell her,” I said.
That’s when Fluttershy looked at us.
“Um...great job, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash said. “You measured, uh, uh, 2.5.”
“See? You did way better than we could expect!” I exclaimed.
“We did?” Twilight asked.
“Shhh!”
Sadly, my compliment didn’t help. Fluttershy believed she couldn’t bring up enough wing power, so she ran away in tears. Rainbow Dash tried to reassure her that it wasn’t too bad, but it didn’t help.
“This is seriously bad,” Rainbow Dash said. “And I’m not talking about the power record this time.”
“What happened that left Fluttershy so distressed about her flying?” Twilight asked.
“Back in flight school, Fluttershy wasn’t the best flier,” Rainbow replied. “A lot of fillies and colts kept picking on her for that. I’ve told them to back off multiple times, and I even talked to the flight coach about them, but she wouldn’t do anything. Useless pony. I was hoping Fluttershy would be over this by now, but it still seems to be weighing her down.”
“Should we talk to her?”
“No, it’s best if we leave her alone.” Rainbow sighed. “She just needs time to be alone. She’ll come back whenever she feels better.”
Never thought I’d see Rainbow as the sympathetic type. I’m glad she cares for Fluttershy.
I decided to listen to Rainbow and leave Fluttershy be.
Over the next few days, the other pegasi improved on their wing power. Even Rumble managed to match his older brother’s wing power.
“Your younger brother’s amazing, Thunderlane,” I said. “I never seen a pegasus his age fly so fast.”
“Yeah, Rumble’s really enthusiastic when it comes to flying,” Thunderlane said. “One time, when he was just a foal, he flew for a full day straight.”
“Impressive.”
“I would like to think so, but the next day, his wings got pretty sore from so much flying. It took him about two days to recover.”
“Ouch.”
That’s when Thunderlane coughed. I was thankful he covered his mouth.
“Are you feeling okay?” I asked. “You can stay home if you’re feeling sick. We can make do with two less pegasi.”
“I’m fine, kid,” Thunderlane said. “Just a dry throat. That’s all. I’ll drink some water after this.”
That made me skeptical. I decided not to press on, though.
After a few more pegasi’s wing power was recorded, a squirrel showed up and squeaked at Twilight and me.
“What’s he saying?” I asked.
“Do I look like I speak squirrel?” Twilight snarked.
“Hey, look!” I saw Fluttershy approaching the track with full confidence. I guess Rainbow was right about Fluttershy needing some alone time.
Fluttershy approached the starting line. She then took off like a bullet across the track. She zipped past us so fast, I could’ve sworn she was Rainbow Dash in disguise.
Sadly…the anemometer once again told a different tale.
“2.9?!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “2.9?! That has to be some kind of mistake! I worked so hard!”
“Fluttershy, that’s a huge improvement!” Twilight said.
“That’s even better than your last attempt,” I added.
“You did awesome, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash.
“No, I didn't,” Flutteshy retorted. “I thought I'd gotten over my nerves, but they still got the best of me! There's no way I'll fly with 10.0 wing power tomorrow!”
“So you won't fly with 10.0 wing power. Every bit counts!”
“How would you feel if everypony else was flying with 10.0 wing power and you were flying with 2.9?!”
Rainbow Dash took off her hat. “Well, uh... I'd feel... um...”
“Exactly! Humiliated! I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, I just can't do it!” Fluttershy ran off once again.
“This is really serious,” I said. “We gotta do something. Does anyone know a good psychiatrist?”
“I don’t think that would help, Spike,” Dash said. “I’ll have to talk to her tomorrow after we lift the water.”
The next morning, almost every Ponyville pegasus arrived at the reservoir. Twilight and I had just finished setting up a giant anemometer just as Captain Spitfire arrived. I took attendance of all the pegasi, but I noticed some of the ponies were absent. Thunderlane was one of them. I quickly told Rainbow Dash.
“Lazy Thunderlane!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Where is he?! He's been trying to get out of tornado duty the whole time with his fake coughing and all. Rumble, where's your lazy brother?”
“He’s got the feather flu,” Rumble replied. “He's down at Ponyville Hospital.”
“He’s not the only one,” I said. “Seven other ponies are absent, too. Probably suffered the same fate.”
Twilight quickly did some calculations and discovered that not only would there not be enough wing power to break the record, there wouldn’t even be enough to get the water to Cloudsdale.
“What should we do?” Twilight asked.
“Can’t Spitfire join us?” I asked. “Or better yet, can’t we have some of the unicorns lift the water to Cloudsdale?”
“Spike, it’s tradition to use wing power to lift the water,” Twilight replied. “It’s like how earth ponies don’t use magic to do Winter Wrap Up.”
“Forget the record,” Rainbow said as she put her goggles on. “Cloudsdale still needs water! Okay, everypony! Let's give it all we've got! On the sound of the horn, we take off!”
Everypony else put on their respective goggles. I quickly hurried to the giant horn. Once Twilight gave the signal, I blew as hard as I could. The pegasi took off and swirled around the reservoir. In no time flat, a tornado was formed. The anemometer spun like a windmill. The wind was picking up all around us.
Twilight read the gage. “150 wing power...250 wing power...500 wing power...”
The wind was going so fast, it was getting hard for me to stand. I quickly hurried to the front of the anemometer so I wouldn’t get blown away.
“750 wing power!” Twilight announced.
“Keep it up, pegasi!” I hollered.
“Twilight! Spike!” A voice called out.
We turned to see Fluttershy trying to approach us, but the intense winds made it difficult.
“Fluttershy! What are you doing here?!” Twilight shouted.
“ I figured... if I couldn't help Rainbow Dash with the tornado... the least I could do was offer moral support!” Fluttershy gripped onto the anemometer
“She could sure use it, considering eight Pegasi are sick with the feather flu!”
“Oh no! That's terrible news!”
It was terrible news, but it wasn’t worse than the outcome of the pegasi’s first attempt. The twister they created couldn’t surpass 750 wing power, and it fell apart sending every pegasus in different directions. Miraculously, nopony was seriously hurt.
“Oh, you were so close to the eight hundred wing power minimum!” Twilight said. “I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash regained her composure and proclaimed, “We've got to try again!”
Twilight quickly stopped her. “But you've pushed your crew to their limit already! If you break apart again, somepony could get hurt! You should quit, it's not safe!”
“No! One more time!” Dashie rebutted. “I've gotta know we gave it our all! If I'm going down, I'm going down flying!” She quickly put her goggles on. “C'mon, ponies, let's make this happen!”
Everypony cheered and got into formation. Once again, I blew the horn and the pegasi formed another tornado.
“100...200...500...” Twilight counted. “750!”
“That was the maximum wing power before they fell apart!” I shouted as I held onto the anemometer.
“Oh! I’m too nervous to look!” Fluttershy cried.
The intense howling of the wind and the spinning ponies made it hard to determine if the water was really rising. I could hardly hear myself think, let alone hear Twilight and Fluttershy talk.
“795! We are so close!” Twilight hollered. “Fluttershy, they need you up there!”
“My measly 2.9 wing power is still too little!” Fluttershy shouted. “I won't make a difference!”
“Yes, you will!” I barked. “Do it for Equestria! Do it for your friends! Do it for yourself!” I handed her a pair of goggles.
Fluttershy gulped and grabbed the goggles. After she placed them on, she slowly but surely got into the tornado. Within minutes, the gage was moving again.
“Seven ninety eight! She surpassed her best wing power number!” Twilight shouted.
The tornado spun faster and faster. Soon the anemometer beeped as it clocked the wing power at 800! Water came spewing out of the twister and into the weather factory. Both Twilight and I cheered as every last drop left the reservoir.
Still fighting the wind, I climbed to the horn and blew hard. The wind died down as all the pegasi broke formation and the tornado disappeared. Everypony was joyful that they finally got the water to Cloudsdale. Meanwhile Fluttershy was still spinning around. Rainbow halted her with a cloud.
“Whoa, girl, take it easy!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Did...did we do it?” Fluttershy gasped.
“Yeah, we did it. You did it.”
The two did a wing slap as everypony else congratulated Fluttershy, including Spitfire. The crowd picked her up and chanted, “Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can really fly!”
It was nice to see Fluttershy gaining a little confidence once in a while. Her character development was one of the reasons why she was my favorite pony.
Whoa Twilight! I never pegged you for a racist!
10573676
I was surprised as well
10573676
She needs to lighten up. As does Ponyville, if what she says is true.
Maybe Spike babysitting the cake twins can be a cute chapter to read
I thought you said that if an episode didn’t change much you’d skip it except for Spike not messing up the film and the kiss on the cheek nothing changed.
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Yikes Twilight really needs to get an attitude adjustment. Then again most of her experiences are probably from old books. Hopefully this is addressed soon.
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Well... Twilight is Canterlot-born. Of course unicorns there can be racist towards non-unicorns and even then, they’re also classist morons with coins up their butts and their heads high from snorting clouds. The altitude must be doing wonders for their brains.
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snowball effect, little changes can have massive consequences in the long run.
Oh my, the next chapter will be a Canterlot Wedding??? Because i cant wait for that, whi knows maybe burning Chrysalis or discover before the Wedding
10573869
I just saw no difference in the chapter aside from noticing Rumble’s prodigy status, 2.5 from the start and the kiss. I just feel like it could’ve been summed up instead of a chapter dedicated to it.
Conventient. Very convenient. Almost too conventient. . .
The work of discord? Or something more?
After the kiss, I half expected spike to quip " Ah, just wait till the hippogriffs come back." And then realize his mistake.
I don't think it's twilight being too racist, but more worrying about what others would think and their narrow views.
Was 2.5 at the beginning a mistake? In the show she was 0.5 when she did the first reading?
I expected Spike to show up where Fluttershy was with the animals. I also hoped she'd be higher than 2.9, especially considering she actually hit 2.5 this time for her first showing as opposed to the 0.5 she hit in the show. 0.5 to 2.9 is an improvement. 2.5 to 2.9 is not much considering how much she showed in the show.
Then there is the Spike/Shy thing. Why would ponies have a problem with that? They didn't have issues with Spike puppy-dogging Rarity.
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No, 2.5 wasn’t a mistake. Spike told her not to worry about other ponies, so she gained some confidence there.
As for Fluttershy and Spike, the only ponies who were worried so far are Fluttershy and Twilight, who are always worried about something. For all we know, the ponies could be supportive of interspecies relationships.
Also, congrats on being my 1000 commentator!
10574019
I think in the episode it does show that , on her first attempt, Shy was 1. Not really giving her 100% due to her shyness, and 2. she went even slower after that due to her childhood trauma.
Where here Spike kinda gave her encouragement to power through some of that.
I kinda expected Spike to show up too, but maybe this Spike though it better for Flutters to do this one by herself.
Though sad I really did not expect Flutters to do too much better.
I say this due to the fact that I 'Think' 2.5-2.9 WAS Flutters going speed; like if she was to 'run' this is her speed, but if she were 'sprinting' it would be more.
As well, Flutters was getting flight instruction from woodland critters, so sure it helped but not as much as a Pony could have helped her.
Like the difference from getting exercise help from your friend who works out everyday to an actual sports instructor.
This is still season 2? Ponies had problems with Zebras like not that long ago, and while handled that was still within the Equine form.
Ponies right now still see other races so wishie washie that it is impossible to know how they will react.
So Gilda was seen as okay if not as a weird cat bird bully, Iron Will was treated as a celebrity even though he might be going door to door to get seminar money, and.... I don't think I have a good third example other than Ponies have an instinctive fear of dragons because they are dragon, but that makes sense.
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Well, the fact that dragons are big scary firebreathing massive threats - and the utter lack of, well, documentation surrounding them.
What, was Ember's dad so stubborn and isolationist that he couldn't strike a deal with Princess Celestia to share some knowledge of dragonkind? I just find it weird it took until Ember gained power for the two species to begin to mingle, is all. Not a single previous Dragon Lord was impressed enough by ponykind? Not even by Celestia, the mover of the sun?
Also, what became of Celestia's discovery of Spike's sabotage in the last chapter?
At first paragraph, you mentioned Spitfire can't join in, but she showed up several paragraphs previously. Is this an inconsistency?
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Spike was just asking why Spitfire couldn’t help the pegasi even though she showed up to record the wing power.
10575541
Ah, I see
What became of Celestia's discovery of Spike's sabotage in its about time?
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I noted he still didn't get a straight answer to that though, why Spitfire wasn't helping.
Unless this was a two line Heartsong i am confused.
HERESY! Spike x Flutterbat = Awesome
I'm all for keeping tradition, but in this case I'd say getting the water to Cloudsdale is far more important
Bullshit!
Time to deep kiss in the middle of the shopping market most busy hour ♡
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Not to mention, both Rarity and Fluttershy have already kissed spike on his cheek...
So why is it okay that they kiss him, but not the reverse?
That is how Zecoras situation could happen.
Friendship and love is for everycreature.
This situation at the end makes little to no sense for a vital event. Records are one thing, but the moment the record was off the agenda, a stand by team or a guard company would have standed ready for a emergency like that.
Kids show logic can be very dangerous...