September 1 – 8:12 AM
Even though the weather team had spent much of the previous day removing the humidity from the region around Ponyville, Celestia’s sun was already hot enough to make that accomplishment feel completely irrelevant. The fact that Rainbow Dash was flitting back and forth across the southern edge of the fog bank like a hummingbird in her fog suit did little to make them feel better, since the reflective silver fabric (and the fact that she could periodically duck inside the cool, dark fog) at least gave her some relief from the ever-growing heat. Still, most of the weatherponies knew better than to grumble about their boss while she was in the midst of barking out orders.
“Come on, ponies! The sooner we get this done, the sooner everything can get back to normal.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m sure we’ll be out of here in no time,” Thunderlane said sarcastically as he stopped pushing a particularly energetic puff of storm cloud towards the fog to wipe some sweat from his forehead. “After all, we’ve got more than enough cloud on hoof to seed the biggest fog bank any of us has ever seen.”
Rainbow Dash sighed; Thunderlane had been her unofficial second-in-command for quite some time, which meant that he was far more fearless in voicing his dissatisfaction than the rest of his coworkers. “Look, it doesn’t have to rain all at once. Once we get this section raining, the north winds will push the rest of the fog into the rain, which will keep up until it’s too thin to keep precipitating.” The final word in that sentence was enough to keep Thunderlane (and by extension, most of the regulars) quiet, since Rainbow Dash generally only used weatherpony jargon with her team when she wasn’t in the mood to argue.
The reservists, however, were a different matter entirely. “Ow!” shouted a rough male voice as the scent of ozone filled the air. “Why can’t we use normal clouds?”
Rainbow Dash didn’t personally know the burly brown pegasus stallion with a wooden crate for a cutie mark, but she felt quite sure that this level of whining over a relatively minor lightning mishap ought to be grounds to revoke his perma-stubble privileges. “We’re using storm clouds because they’ll make the fog rain faster. Now quit your bellyaching!”
Meanwhile, on the ground below, Fluttershy nervously tugged on her cravat.
“It’s best not to tighten it too much, darling,” Rarity said as she glanced up from her book. The fashionista had tagged along in case Rainbow Dash’s fog suit needed “periodic upkeep” (which was the euphemism she had taken to using in place of “letting Rainbow Dash out of her suit so she could use the little filly’s room”), but had otherwise decided to use the opportunity to pretend that she and Fluttershy hadn’t missed their weekly spa appointment. Granted, sitting on a chaise longue and reading the latest bodice-ripper from the celebrated pen of Ruffled Feathers wasn’t really comparable to getting a massage from Aloe or Lotus Blossom, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“Oh, I know,” responded Fluttershy (who really looked like she could use one of those massages), “but I’m still nervous. What if this doesn’t work?”
“Well, then you’ll simply form a new plan, of course. After all, by then, Mr. Pusher should be back with that information you need from the manufacturer, correct?”
Fluttershy sighed and smiled weakly. “I suppose that’s true. There’s probably nothing to worry about.”
September 1 – 8:12 AM
“Well, how’d it go?” Sweetie Belle asked as Scootaloo trudged back from the clubhouse. She and Apple Bloom had been waiting in the clearing that had been designated as the staging ground for the trebuchet for nearly fifteen minutes.
Scootaloo, however, didn’t seem to hear the question; instead of responding, she launched into a tangentially-related rant. “I don’t see why those stupid animals can’t just learn to talk normal. This is Equestria! Speak Equestrian!”
“Um, I’m not sure that they can,” Sweetie Belle said with a note of apprehension in her voice. “I think it has something to do with their vocal cords.”
Scootaloo, however, was in no mood to discuss zoology. “Thirty minutes,” she said, pausing briefly for dramatic emphasis. “It took me thirty minutes to figure out that Mr. Shnookums wanted a comprehensive health care plan, and another twenty minutes to bargain him down to paying for a trip to the vet if anything goes wrong. It wouldn’t have been so bad if that hamster hadn’t gotten Angel to negotiate for him, though. I mean, Angel kept pushing for full dental coverage, and he refused to listen when I tried to explain that this was just a temp job!”
“Well, now ya know why Sweet Apple Acres only hires family members,” Apple Bloom called out from beside the trebuchet, where she was inspecting the various support beams.
“But do we have our hamster?” Sweetie Belle said, hoping to circumvent any further rants about the inconvenience of labor relations.
“Yeah, Shnookums is on board,” Scootaloo said wearily. “All I can say is that we better get some cutie marks out of this.”
“Sounds ta me like somepony needs some cheerin’ up,” Apple Bloom said. “How ’bout we test out the trebuchet?”
“It’s finished?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yep,” Apple Bloom replied as she gingerly patted the catapult with her hoof. “At least, I’m pretty sure it is. I figure a couple of test shots oughta let us know if everything’s workin’ the way it’s s’posed ta. C’mon, we’ll even let you take the first shot.”
Scootaloo looked genuinely touched by this gesture. As she lifted a hoof to her face to wipe away a drop of sweat that had made it all the way to her eye and was most definitely not a tear, she said, “You guys are the best friends anypony could ever ask for,” and pulled the other two fillies into a tight hug.
It was only when she released them a few seconds later that Scootaloo asked the most pressing question: “So, what are we going to use for ammo?”
Apple Bloom slowly looked around the orchard. “Well...”
September 1 – 8:14 AM
“Well?!” Bon Bon shouted as she gesticulated wildly in the general direction of the apple in the middle of her living room, still surrounded by shards of glass from her now-broken window. “How much more evidence do you need?!”
Lyra took a slow, deep breath and tried to address her friend’s concerns as diplomatically as possible. “Bon Bon, are you certain you aren’t jumping to conclusions here?”
“Of course I’m jumping to conclusions, because there isn’t anything else to jump to! The humans have clearly announced their warlike intent by firing the first shot as a warning. The invasion has begun, Lyra, and we need to call an emergency meeting of SPHERE immediately so we can start distributing weapons.”
“Weapons? Like what?”
“Oh, you know, knives, scissors, knitting needles... um... and other pointy objects which I might think of later. Speaking of which, you should really consider sharpening your horn for self-defense.”
“What the— It’s a horn, not a pencil! Not only would filing it to a point hurt like nopony’s business, my ability to use magic could be permanently damaged. And what’s even more important, I don’t think you’re right about the apple.”
“Oh, come on, Lyra, are you seriously going to argue that ponies chucked this into my window?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course it was the humans who did it. However, I happen to think that this was intended as a demonstration of their goodwill.”
“Goodwill? Since when is property damage a sign of goodwill?”
Lyra, however, shook her head. “You’re assuming that the property damage was intentional. For all you know, the wind threw off their aim. What’s important is that they didn’t send a weapon, like a bomb or something. They sent food. One does not offer apples to somepony one wishes to harm.”
“Unless they’re poisoned apples,” Bon Bon countered.
Lyra rolled her eyes. “Okay, now you’re just being difficult.”
Bon Bon slumped onto her couch. “Listen, we’re getting nowhere with this conversation. What we need is somepony who’s completely impartial, but is willing to actually take what we say seriously.”
Three seconds later, the answer came to both ponies simultaneously: “Pinkie Pie.”
September 1 – 8:15 AM
As Pencil Pusher couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen anypony shift from calm to panic as quickly as Jasmine Breeze, he was inclined to assume that getting back to Fluttershy really was as important as the executive had claimed. In his effort to exit the headquarters of Caligo Manufacturing as quickly as possible, he nearly tripped over his own hooves while rounding a corner in the labyrinthine hallway. This happened three more times before it occurred to Pencil that, as a pegasus, he could avoid this problem by hovering above the floor. Unfortunately, this was not the only obstacle he’d have to deal with before getting outside.
“Excuse me, sir, are you Pickle Barrel?”
Pencil suppressed a groan as best he could as he continued to make his way towards the office building’s lobby. He had never met this particular stallion before, but he recognized his reddish-brown coat and baseball cutie mark from the times he’d visited Greg in his office. A reporter of some sort, if he remembered correctly. Pencil Pusher didn’t know his name, and at the moment, he didn’t really care. There were far more productive things for him to be doing at the moment than acquainting himself with Greg’s friends. “Sorry, that isn’t my name.”
“But you do work in Requisitions at the Department of Weather, right?”
Pencil Pusher sighed. “Yes, I do, and I’m very busy right now.”
However, the stallion refused to be brushed off so easily, and flew directly in front of Pencil. “Hard Hitter, Cloudsdale Eye. I was hoping for a moment of your time.”
“Pencil Pusher,” the bureaucrat reluctantly replied. “I don’t really have much time at the moment,” Pencil said absently. “I need to get back to Ponyville.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I’m acting as the liaison to the fog specialist. Now, please get out of my way.” Pencil Pusher finally managed to squeeze around the reporter and make his way to the staircase.
Unfortunately, Hard Hitter had decided to use the “pester your subject with questions until they give you something worthwhile” strategy that day. “Well, perhaps you can tell me about the specialist, then,” he called out as he caught up with Pencil Pusher in the main lobby.
“She’s already a public figure. I doubt I could add anything to the mix,” Pencil replied, doing his best to avoid eye contact.
“But how did she get the position? It seems a little odd that an animal caretaker and a former supermodel would stoop to being a mere fog specialist in her spare time, after all.”
Pencil Pusher didn’t bother suppressing a groan this time. He stopped moving and glowered directly at Hard Hitter. “Look, I don’t know what you’re trying to get at, but it doesn’t matter. I’m positive that Fluttershy wouldn’t be listed as a fog specialist if she didn’t have the prerequisite qualifications. But if you really think that there’s some sort of funny business going on, you can just head to the DOW archives and have a look at her file, which I’m fairly certain is open to the public. If anything fishy was actually going on, that’s where you’d find your evidence. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a job to do.” Pencil Pusher didn’t wait for a response, and took off southwards, towards Ponyville.
Hard Hitter just stared at the grey stallion as he flew farther into the distance. “But... you were supposed to be a pushover....”
Stats
Page generated in 0.048 seconds
Total duration
697 users online
809,566 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
And you're supposed to go track down those DOW files so we can finally find out fluttershy's dark secret, ya goob.
Sorry, Hard Hitter. You seem to have gotten "pushover" confused with "badass". It happens to the best of us.
kinda.. short really..
still good tho
I still don't get the whole Hard Hitter bit, what's he going to find out? That she's qualified as a fog specialist but did it as a tax dodge? I'm sure that's a perfectly acceptable reason really, if you need more fog specialists, offer a tax break, why not? Seriously, he ain't going to find crap.
That last line XD
Once again I find it hilarious that Bon Bon is the human obsessed maniac and not Lyra
HAH! Reasons I'm liking Pencil Pusher more and more.
~Skeeter The Lurker
3050545 They're both human-obsessed maniacs. Bon Bon's just the one who thinks we're coming to pillage their towns and ravish their mares.
3050574
It's funny how the most easily pushed mare of all is turning this "pushover" into a hardball.
3050689
Agreed. I love it.
~Skeeter The Lurker
3050692
I agree...
But I do it also because your avatar reminded me of that awesome cartoon that should be brought back to life with new episodes to give it the ending it deserves.
"AKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
3050755
(On a side note... I did manage to get the foolish samurai warrior to follow me...)
~Skeeter The Lurker
That last sentence was awesome.
3050676
Which is why I added maniac to the description
Good
3050426
Hard Hitter, best consider something: if he was a pushover, but spending time with Fluttershy made him tough...
Do you really wanna mess with Fluttershy?
3050676
Wait, we're not? Oh, um, I mean, of course not, that'd be wrong?
3050689
The things we do for love or at least a reasonable facsimile.
3051452 ah he's, but what if they WANT to ravished? Wouldn't we be doing them a disservice by NOT doing lots of ravishing?
Hey, hey Hard Hitter, hey Hard Hitter.
files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/ct51c9fbc3.jpg
3050507
He's a muckraker looking for anything he can even remotely spin into a scandal story. His kind of newspaper is the kind that doesn't let such silly things like FACTS get in the way of a good story. The DOW archives would have the info that says she passed the fog specialist exam. Can't spin much from that, but if he can get some opinions on Flutters that are less than flattering, then who needs those silly qualification exam results. Some folk aren't totally sure about her! All the better if he can get some dirt on an Element of Harmony. Makes Gabby Gums seem pretty tame really.
...Pencil Pusher, must you make us love you even more? Good luck finding dirt, Hard Hitter! It's fun to see you fail
I love this story so much.
3051979 even if he found it, fluttershys image is under royal protection, the story would be veito'd before it even made it to the editor.
not when there's an ENTIRE TOWN'S WORTH of Lives at Stake Hard Hitter, and I bet you'll find nothing worth mentioning at the DOW Archives either!
That was Pencil Pusher 1.0, but he recently got upgraded. Now you're dealing with Pencil Pusher 2.0, who has had all pushover traits removed.
3050406
Hey dark secret is... SHE HAS NO DARK SECRET!
Also a secret knitting room.
Yeah, Hard Hitter isn't going to find shit. Fluttershy may have initially picked up the specialist label as a tax dodge, but she is most definitely fulfilling her duties right now so she is really just doing what the tax exemption program wanted. The whole purpose of that was to create a team of specialists capable of responding to an unusual class of emergencies without wasting tons of money on full time employees that would rarely be used, and it is clearly working exactly as intended in this situation.
He might try something with whatever problem this attempted solution causes, but I kind of doubt he will get there in time to do anything given that his next course of action is going to be digging into the archives.
Okay, guy, look at it this way - pretty model gets job. Guy who works for pretty model has complete personality change. For the ... special ... kind of reporter for whom journalistic integrity isn't really an issue, the story pretty much writes itself from there. True, it's a bit more work than you might be used to, what with the unthinkable situation that virtually noone has a bad thing to say about Fluttershy, but there will be plenty of people who have bad things to say about people who _associate_ with Fluttershy - and if she has that sort of effect on her friends, what can she be like?
...
I can feel the libel suits pouring in already...
I really hope that Pencil Pusher gets a chance with Fluttershy. God, I love this story.
Oh, come on, now you're just teasing us with whatever happens when this fog gets rained on. Get to the next disaster already!
3052490
She prefers the term "Chamber of Extreme Knitting."
–“Of course I’m jumping to conclusions, because there isn’t anything else to jump to!["]
l laughed rather hard at this line. I'm definitely going to use it in conversation at some point.
I love how you've got both Lyra and Bon Bon in the whole humans deal. It's a hilarious and original dynamic that I'd love to see more of.
3051643 Ah I see, that makes sense, just the way it's described it's like he's looking for proof. If he isn't looking for proof, just a good story, well that makes sense. Yeah, Gabby Gums just told the truth, mostly, just truths that other ponies didn't want told.
3054297
Hmm, well, "I was a Canterlot Snob" sounds like it probably stretched the truth more than a bit. And I was never entirely sure if Flutters' hair extensions was real or a fabrication based on some particular pictures.
3054426 Oh yeah they stretched the truth all right, the Canterlot snob thing was based on something Spike said, thought probably taken out of context. Judging by Flutters reaction to the story I'd say the tail extentions are real, not that there is any shame in that, or at least there shouldn't be.
Pencil Pusher; growing a backbone since August 31st.
3054023
Shhhh! You can't go revealing all her secrets in on go. You need a couple of chapters between to build the suspense.
3054297 - Perhaps a better way to think of it is that he's assuming that Fluttershy is a typical public official, and in his experience, when public officials refuse to answer relatively straightforward questions, that means they're hiding something. Basically, his journalistic instincts have been piqued.
That said, even though he is talented, he's also a massive jerk who had his ego bruised at that press conference.
Why isn't Pencil Pusher sending a telegram? It would presumably get to Ponyville much faster than he will.
3050676 Bon Bon's just miffed that no-one ever writes about her being ravished by a human. It's always the Bearers or Princesses. Even Lyra gets more xenosexin' than ol' Candybutt.
3058117 - One: security. Fluttershy's the only one who's authorized to see the formula.
Two: If the formula has illustrations (such as diagrams) that can't be converted to Horse/Morse Code, then telegraphy is completely useless.
3058371 I'm not talking about sending the entire spec document. A quick message like, "Urgent. Don't use rain plan. Will explain on arrival," could save a lot of time and trouble.
3058462 Do they even have telegraphy technology in this reality? I mean Pencil Pusher has had to fly back and forth from Cloudsdale to Ponyville the entire story.
3058937 - Oh, yes, they do. It features quite prominently in Derpy's scene. The reason Pencil keep flying back and forth is that a lot of paperwork requires signatures.
3058937 As Kwakerjak said, yes they do. Hard Hitter sends a telegram to Greg at the end of chapter 17.
3059071
Forgot about that part, okay yeah, I agree a simple telegram warning message would be wise at this point.
1000 thumb ups. Gratz!
3059100 Wise, probably. But never underestimate the ability to overlook what's wise while PANIC MODE! is in effect.
3058371
and not only that, if the Formula is Several Pages long, it would take FAR Too Long to Translate it to and from Horse/Morse Code, and since this formula is a Trade Secret, Caligo probably told PP to NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES to Send the Formula via Telegraph in case Caligo's Competitors are listening to the telegraph wires. now if this were the Equestria Girls Universe, where the Communications Technology is equal to Real Life 21st Century Technology, sending the Caligo formula via an encrypted Cellular Data transmission to a Secure DOW Issued Smartphone given to the specialists upon their Work Assignment, would be no sweat. but since Flash Fog is set in an Equestria with its Communications Technology firmly set in the 19th Century, it has to be done either by Telegraph or Hoof Delivered.
HYPOTHESIS:
Special Cloud formula for high desert construction... behaves like putty and operates on a magic principle similar to an endothermic reaction.
The construction cloud's magic absorbs heat to generate a reaction that increases its density and strength so that it can last longer in an arid environment without breaking up. Thus the reason why the fog is colder than a Windego's Unmentionables is because it's sucking heat right out of the environment. Which incidentally, is fine to provide free cooling in a hot desert.
The application of liquid water, which is lacking in a desert, returns it to pliability for ease of movement and reshaping.
In short:
Heat cures/hardens it...
...Water softens it.
The bonfires provided just enough heat energy to 'cure' the leading edge of the fog bank, making a dam up in the pass that is currently holding the rest of the mass back. And if the violent reaction of it against one unlucky pegasus is any indication... It's a mass under very high 'pressure'.
And Fluttershy is about to water it.
Only one theme belongs to this story:
"Night shift is well underway at the Caligo Manufacturing facility in Cloudsdale. It's a routine shift for Flywheel, the employee monitoring the instrumentation of the plant's storage tanks. Routine enough that she asks for a fellow employee to take over her station while she makes a trip to the bathroom. It shouldn't be a problem. If the gauge moves into the red, hit the stop button.
However, tonight the routine is far from normal. Caligo has been manufacturing a new type of construction cloud. One the storage system hasn't been calibrated to handle. Within minutes, alarms start going off by the dozen as the tanks fill to capacity faster than anticipated. Flywheel returns just in time to see the tanks reach critical pressure and sounds the alarm. Seconds later, they burst, starting a series of events that would be felt as far away as Canterlot.
Now with advanced human technology, we can reveal exactly what happened."
Disasters don't just happen. They're a chain of critical events.
Unravel the clues... And count down those final:
SECONDS FROM DISASTER
"FLASH FOG"