The Album

by Peregrine Caged

Silverspeed -- A Storm is Brewing

Written by: Dapurple
Rated Everyone

BRIING!!! went Silverspeed's alarm, reminding her of the time.

Another boring day ahead of me. I guess I should get up, Silverspeed thought.

Getting out of bed, she ran a brush through her mane. Wait! There's a storm scheduled for today! How could I forget?

You see, she was a weather pony, and weather ponies had to make the storms. This was no small task, either. A storm required ponies to watch the storm so as to keep it in hand. And even more ponies to make the storm!

Coffee, breakfast, run. Gotta be early today, Silverspeed thought. Wolfing (or ponying) down her breakfast, she flew out the door and to Ponyville Park, where the weather ponies coordinated the storm.

"Alright, everypony, we've got a big day ahead of us!" proclaimed Rainbow Dash, the head weather pony. "Today, we have a full-scale storm ahead of us. It will cover all of Ponyville and some outskirts, like Sweet Apple Acres."

Silverspeed tuned out as Rainbow Dash started listing the weather ponies' jobs. She already knew her job, perimeter. She was decently quick and had a very keen eye, due to her archery talent.

As Rainbow Dash moved down the line of pegasi, Silverspeed noted how there were some new ponies. Oh, right. Clousdale Weather Academy just had a class graduate.

"Aaaand, Silverspeed... Let's see. Perimeter, as always. Keep in mind, this'll cover all of Ponyville," Rainbow Dash reminded her. The reason for such a large storm was a problem with the water containment unit in Cloudsdale leaking, so there was only rain when necessary while it was being fixed. Ponyville took the brunt of the blow.

Racing off to the edge of the storm, Silverspeed thought about how long a day it would be. Hopefully I can still fly home by the end of today. It’ll take a while sorting out the mail, but flying would speed it up. Derpy Hooves had the mail route today, and it would take most of the afternoon to sort out her mail with her neighbors.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" a pony yelled, breaking her line of thought.

"Coming, coming," she mumbled, reluctant to stop planning her day. She flew to the Everfree, where the storm started, and immediately noticed a problem. It was far too close to the ground. With that altitude, there could be some major property damage. "What do you think you're doing? Those clouds are way too low. Somepony could get hurt!"

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Silverspeed sat down her bag as she got to her house in the middle of Ponyville’s residential area. Being a pegasus, one would think she would live in a cloud house or Cloudsdale. However, because of her talent, it had been requested of her that she live on the ground.

Whew! Being a weather pony is hard! she thought. If only this was the end of my day. Still so much to do!

Just then, a ring at the door interrupted her thoughts.

"MAIL!" came a voice from outside.

Walking to the door, she remembered a letter she needed to send. "I'm coming, I just need to get a letter to send," Silverspeed called. "Ah, here it is!"

"Here's your mail, Silverspeed," the Mail Mare, Derpy Hooves, informed her.

"Thank you, Derpy. Could you take this letter to the Equestrian National Archery League?” The silver-maned mare asked. “It’s a payment for their magazine.”

"Uh... Certainly!" Derpy decided confidently.

After reading her mail - nothing interesting there - Silverspeed found her bow and decided to practice her archery. I don't see why most ponies find this stressful. It's the most relaxing part of my day. Oh well, to each their own, I guess.

After about half an hour, she heard a knock on her door.

"Yes? Who is it?" Silverspeed asked through the door.

"Berry Punch, and I have some of your mail," came the slurred answer.

Opening the door, Silverspeed said, "Thank you. I hope Derpy gets the hang of this soon, for all of our sakes." Pausing, she added, "What is it? I haven't been expecting anything."

“Well, says on the outside that it's from the Equestrian National Archery League,” the mulberry mare replied.

“Hmm... Thank you, Berry. Goodbye!” she finally said.

Time to see what this is... She opened the letter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Miss Silverspeed:

We at the Equestrian National Archery League are aware of your performance at archery competitions around Equestria. We would be honored if you would compete in this year’s Equestrian National Archery Tournament.

Signed,

The Equestrian National Archery League Board of Directors

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wow... This is amazing!” Silverspeed cheered. “I’ll have to tell Mom and Dad about this!” I still need to practice, but that can wait. Silver ran outside to tell her friends and to thank Berry for giving her that amazing piece of news.

Before she could finish walking to her neighbor's house to thank her, a pink pony jumped out of a bush. "I just heard about your super-duper-extra-awesome news!" Pinkie yelled. "I'm throwing you a party!" BOOM! a party cannon went.

"Pinkie, can this wait please? I'm kinda busy. Can you make the party later?"

"Okie dokie lokie!" And away she bounced.

When Silverspeed got to Berry Punch's house, she wasn't surprised to hear the sounds of a bottle being opened, and its contents being guzzled down mercilessly.

Maybe I should just go to visit my parents up in Cloudsdale... Silverspeed thought. Oh, they'll be so proud!

Comments

[ShadowBro]

Dapurple, my dear, you have some potential! Keep up the writing and try to bring out the descriptors more. You're dialogue is a little stiff as well, but it'll be more important for you to describe what we would be seeing from Silverspeed's point of view. As I say: you've got talent, [insert gender here]!

[Verdigris]

1873712 "Insert gender"? That sounds painful.

[Verdigris]

A good start, though it seems not exactly rushed, but a little crowded. But one-shots tend to, so it's not so bad.
Going for a longer story - if that's in your future (and I'm not missing something) - requires pacing, so save some for later.
Congrats on being included in the Album.

[ShadowBro]

1875856
No, no, it's a simple hardware slot upgrade, as opposed to the standard wired-in approach that comes complete with your Human-Writer Model.

[Blue_Paladin42]

1876122
So, plug-n-play then?

[Xerzes]

Well, better luck next time.

[Dapurple]

Thank you all. I've gotten compliments from people I know on my writing, but complete strangers... it feels good.