When Lightning Strikes...

by neighsmith

Chapter 2: As the Fuze burns

Chapter 2: As the Fuze burns

“Well...” Fuze says through a mouth full of hay fries, “My job is awesome really. I work at Lunar Labs over in Canterlot.”

“Canterlot? How can you work in Canterlot? We are in APPLEOOSA, if you hadn’t noticed. Besides, that means you would have at least a day or two to commute!” you interrupt Fuze’s ridiculous explanation.

“The Princess sure has Her way with magic!" Fuze grins and continues, "All I do is go to that old tree up on the hill every morning at 8:30, and she teleports me directly to my office in the lab! Which, by the way, is the reason why I can never be late." He adds with a more serious look "Hey,sorry about leaving you this morning, and causing you to have that nightmare about.... wait, what was your nightmare about anyways?” a troubled look comes onto his face.

“Urm, well, how do you know it was a nightmare?” you ask defensively, the details of the nightmare not as forgotten as you would have liked.

“Because you were asleep and crying at the same time?” was Fuze’s face held a quizzical stare, as he unable to tell why you were not answering his question.

“Well, you see, it was...” after failing to find a flaw with his logic, you decide to dodge his question, albeit a little late. “Hey, let's not get side-tracked.You never really told me what you did at your job, .”

This seems to content Fuze for now as his expression reverts to thinking and trying to explain his job. “Well I got my job after my school expelled me...”

This surprises you. Why would they expel Fuze? He seems like such a nice pony.

“I know what you are thinking, why would I be expelled?” Fuze says,

Does he really know what Im thinking? No, that would take some clairvoyance on his part, like a sixth sense, and nopony actually has one of those, how could I be so silly to think that?

"Have I ever told about my Aunt?" Fuze asks while gazing off into space.

"No... What? Why would you ask me that?" you ask

"Oh well you, I just... I don't know... what was I even talking about?"

"You were telling me about your school, and how they expelled you?",you let out a long exasperated sigh after the reminder. "you know you can be so random some times."

“Oh yah! sorry I get all loopey sometimes, and I dont really have control over it... Well anyways, it happened one day when my school was holding a science fair...”

~~~~~~*flash back*~~~~~~~

“... last and not least, Fuze. What do you have for us today?” asked one of the three judges, donning a brown coat, a red mane, and a pair of evil little eyes that seemed to taunt Fuze, as if they dared him, dared the colt to show any sign of creativity, so that the judge could fail the little foal’s project for not being the usual volcano, or some other equally boorish set-up that always won first prize.

“Well, I made this super cool and sciencey thing all by myself! My aunt’s friend gave me a instruction booklet on how to make one, and so I thought, 'Hey, why not do this for the science fair?' I hope you all like it as much as I wil!” Fuze showed them a hemi-spherical clay pot with a paper tube protruding out of it.

“What exactly is it?” The an older stallion on the left said.

“ Let me explain what it is made of, then show you what it does... Please?” Fuze pulled the best puppy dog face a foal his age could make.

“All right, just get on with it! For Luna's sake boy, Celestia waits for nopony, and my favorite hayshack closes at sunset.” A fat mare on the right said.

“ Yay! Okay, so the clay pot contains spectra, the liquid that Pegasi make rainbows out of, and this paper tube contains blueberry juice inside of a glass cylinder. When I crush the glass by squeezing on the paper, like this...” a audible cracking noise is heard, “the two liquids mix.” Fuze then tosses the odd little clay...., whatever anypony would call that thing, into an empty field.

“And, if I may ask, what does this accomplish?” asked the center judge, the one with the evil eyes.

“Well, what most ponies don’t know is why spectra contains every color, and why they don’t just fade and mix all together in a boring brownish hue. It is because of a natural phenomenon, known as a multi-replacement reaction.”

“Is this relevant, Mr. Apple?”asked the Stallion on the right.

“Yes, indeed!” the excitement in Fuze’s voice rising. “As the antioxidants in the blueberry juice bond to the spectra, it turns black and the multiple, repeating single replacement reactions stop. As these stop, large amounts of energy are released!” Fuze turns to the field where his creation lies, a wisp of smoke coming out of the top.

Realization hit the fat one first, and she screamed out, “It’s going to blow!” before she ran as fast as her stubbly little trunks that only a blind pony would call hoofs could carry her.

Panic rose as the little pot started to jiggle. Teachers and parents ducked for cover. Screams filled the air, but they all fell on the deaf ears of Fuze. His excitement was to high, he could barely wait for the moment when the detonation would finally happen.

BOOM!

Colors burst forth in blindingly bright definition. The sound and shock wave forcing Fuze to his haunches. The blue from the shock wave matched the earth ponies coat. As the shock dissipated, little rainbow fires broke up almost instantaneously where the bomb had previously been. The fires then disappeared as quickly as they had come. Fuze just sat there in awe. “THAT. WAS. AMAZING!” he shouted out. This had to be my best day ever!!! That was what Fuze thought until he saw the stern face of the approaching judge. If Fuze thought those eyes were evil before, then these looked like Hell itself.

~~~~~~*back to the present*~~~~~

“So the town put me in jail, and then got the royal guards take me to Canterlot. They did some psyche evaluation thingy to make sure I wasn’t crazy enough to blow up the entire town or something. After assuring I wasn't all super-crazy/evil mad scientist, Princess Luna found out that I was talented in the art of the pyro at a super young age, so She hired me on the spot. Now I make the fireworks for all the royal events!” Fuze finished his story.

Your mouth hangs open. Fuze brought a bomb to school? And he now works many miles away for the Princess herself? How awesome is this colt?

You the see Fuze blushing. Seriously, why is he blushing? Then it hits you. You had been staring at him for about a minute now, and your mouth was still open. “Sorry, I didn’t, um, wasn’t trying to stare.” you looking away, embarrassed.

An awkward silence settles around the two of you.

Fuze clears his throat in an attempt to break the tension, but he fails. In a ditch effort he says “So that is how I got my cutie mark, what about yours? I mean, a black lightning bolt on an unicorn? That’s pretty awesome. Can you like shoot lightning? Because that would be AMAZING!” the last word comes out in a sing-songish tone.

You sit there, unmoving. You do not blink, and are barely even able to breathe. A silent memory passes into your mind.

~~~~~

“Moonshine! no...” tears and rain water mix into your coat. "Why..."
~~~~~

I always hated clouds. wait, clouds? I thought I was sitting on a chair... Why is Fuze waving at me? He looks... frantic? Worried? His mouth is moving but no sounds are coming out... what is going on? You think all of this to yourself for a few moments, but sleep quickly overtakes you.

Comments

[neighsmith]

Author's note: thanks to my editor, Mobius of the Moon, i have been able to clean up the majority of my grammatical errors. thanks Mobius!

[Mobius of the Moon]

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You're quite welcome.