The park in Ponyville was the best location for any kind of picnicking planned by ponies.
As it was slightly elevated it gave any ponies there a nice view over their town and the fields surrounding it. Sweet Apple Acres especially was a sight to behold, with rows and rows of apple trees. Even the Everfree Forest looked peaceful from this location.
It was the perfect place for the bi-weekly picnic that Twilight and her friends had arranged. As it was Saturday afternoon the park was relatively empty. Most ponies were either shopping or had to work. Applejack had left all market activities to her brother and was happy to have a free afternoon for once. Pinkie Pie had also been given the time off by the Cakes, despite the rush that Saturdays usually had. Rarity had somewhat reluctantly closed her boutique for the time being. She had nopony to take over her shop, but most certainly was entitled to take her lunch break whenever she wanted. Twilight had left the library with Spike in charge. It was highly unlikely that anypony would want to borrow a book on the weekend anyway or any day for that matter.
Finally there were the two pegasi, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy had both more and much less time than her friends. As Ponyville’s animal caretaker her job didn’t have fixed times and she would sometimes be called in the middle of the night because of an animal in need. She didn’t mind and loved doing something so helpful for Ponyville’s non-pony citizens.
As Ponyville’s weather manager, Rainbow Dash had more options to take a day off. She could simply task one of the other pegasi on her team to take over or switch shifts like she had done for today. Blossomforth had been not overly thrilled to switch shifts, but the prospect of having a long weekend next week more than made up for it. Although technically Rainbow Dash was off-duty she kept flying up into the sky and slowly circled above the group of ponies on the lookout for any kind of trouble.
Her friends didn’t really pay much attention to her behavior, as the rainbow maned pony rarely could sit down for long and just had to fly a bit to stretch her wings. Their attention was somewhat divided anyway, as for once the Cutie Mark Crusaders had joined in on the picnic. Their respective sisters kept a close eye on them, just in case their current attempt at finding their cutie marks turned out to be too boring. Ball-bouncing was ok, but if they decided to set the ball on fire they would need to intervene. Something that unfortunately was within the realm of possibilities, as the scorch marks near the clubhouse proved when they had tried their hoof at being firefighters.
One member of the CMC was not on her best game today.
“Oh, come on Scootaloo!” Applebloom stomped her small hoof on the ground in frustration as the ball she had bounced over to Scootaloo was ignored by the small pegasus.
“Sorry, sorry!” Scootaloo shook her head clear and quickly retrieved the ball. With one swing she threw it over to Sweetie Belle, but the throw wasn’t nearly strong enough to reach the unicorn filly.
“What’s wrong, Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle ignored the ball and walked up to her friend. “You keep missing all the time.”
“Yeah, usually ya always get the ball.” Applebloom joined her friends, a look of concern on her face.
“I don’t know what’s wrong.” Scootaloo fidgeted about. She seemed nervous about something.
A while ago they would have assumed that Scootaloo was nervous about Rainbow Dash being there with them. But even in that case she would have doubled her efforts with whatever task they were doing to impress her idol. As they had bonded some more, her drive to impress Rainbow Dash had lessened somewhat, but that still wasn’t a good enough explanation why she constantly messed up during their game.
“Do you feel alright?” Sweetie Belle asked and held a foreleg to Scootaloo’s head. Perhaps she could get her cutie mark in being a nurse that way. Scootaloo brushed her leg away.
“I’m fine.” The little filly’s answer wasn’t very convincing. Scootaloo seemed to be very nervous her friends noticed as they watched her for a couple of seconds closely. Every couple of seconds Scootaloo would buzz her wings, her ears would twitch and she would look around as if expecting something.
“May….maybe you are sick?” Sweetie Belle looked over to Applebloom, who nodded in agreement after having come up with the same idea.
“I feel fine.” Scootaloo had to admit that it was a lie. “No, actually I don’t feel fine.”
“What’s tha matter?” Applebloom also tried to attain her cutie mark for being a nurse, by holding up her foreleg. Before she could even reach her friend, her efforts were halted as Scootaloo took a step back.
“I don’t know. I just feel funny.” Scootaloo saw the confusion on her friend’s faces and tried to explain better. “You know that feeling if you think something is going to happen, but don’t know what?”
“Like a pop-quiz on Monday’s at school?” Sweetie Belle’s guess was met with a shudder by her friends. Monday’s pop-quizzes were pure evil.
“Yeah, kinda like that.” Scootaloo answered after shoving the memory of the last pop-quiz out of her mind. “Don’t you feel like that right now?”
Her friends exchanged a look and then shrugged, both shaking their heads to answer Scootaloo’s question.
“Maybe ya really are sick?” Applebloom shrugged once more.
“I think we should tell somepony.” Sweetie Belle looked over to her sister, who was sitting on the blanket she had brought along for the picnic.
“Nah, I don’t think that…..” Scootaloo’s answer was cut short as she felt a shiver run up and down her spine. Nervously she glanced about expecting something to happen. As it was clear that nothing would actually happen she sighed and let her head hang low. “Yeah, I guess you are right.”
The trio trudged up towards where their sisters and friends were sitting. They were just listening to Pinkie Pie informing them of a party being planned for the upcoming anniversary of Ponyville’s spa. Rarity was all ears for any possible special offers during that time. Applejack couldn’t really care less about the spa, but the prospect of another Pinkie Pie party made her pay attention also. None of them noticed the fillies until they were right beside them.
“Applejack?” Applebloom was the first to speak. Applejack tore her attention away from the pink party pony.
“Hey there.” She smiled at the fillies and offered them a slice of apple pie. The fillies shook their heads at the offered treat. “Did ya have any luck with yer cutie marks?”
Applejack knew that their efforts were pretty much futile, but humored them anyway.
“No….” Applebloom let her head hang for a moment at another fruitless effort in that regard.
“We think Scootaloo is sick.” Sweetie Belle’s statement halted Pinkie’s description about special edible mudmasks and every mare’s attention was suddenly focused on the fillies.
“Why? What’s the matter?” Twilight asked concerned and went through possible first aid spells she knew.
“I feel funny. Like really nervous as if something is going to happen, but don’t know what.” Scootaloo explained.
Twilight was going to ask about any further symptoms, but everyponies attention shifted towards Fluttershy who had chuckled. The timid pegasus shrunk back slightly at the sudden attention.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh out loud.” Fluttershy’s chuckle could have hardly been described as loud.
“Do you know something?” Scootaloo asked her.
“Yes, I… maybe Rainbow can explain better.” Fluttershy nodded towards Rainbow Dash slowly gliding to the ground after another circle in the sky.
With one final flap of her wings she joined her friends on the ground. The fact that all eyes were now glued on her only slightly fazed her. She hadn’t really done any stunt that deserved such attention, but maybe it was just her natural awesomeness that drew their looks.
“What’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked and quickly claimed a slice of pie.
“Scootaloo is feeling it.” Fluttershy simply stated with a small smile.
“Are you now….” Rainbow smiled at the little now very confused filly.
“Feeling what?” Twilight asked. It seemed to her that was something interesting to be learned here and she wished she had parchment and some quills and ink to take notes.
“A feeling of something building up.” Rainbow Dash explained. “It’s the weather, Squirt. When you get older you can feel changes in the weather long before anything actually happens. So close to the Everfree that feeling can be uncomfortable sometimes.”
“So…that’s normal that I feel so….weird?” Scootaloo looked up to her idol sitting beside her.
“It’s all part of growing up, Scoot.” Rainbow Dash ruffled the filly’s mane. “You’ll get used to it eventually.”
“But even we feel something is going to happen.” Fluttershy added to the conversation. “Oh….uh…sorry if I disturbed anypony by shuffling my wings every once in a while.”
Nopony had even noticed her do so and were unsure on how to act. Rainbow Dash wolfed down the slice of pie and purely to spite Rarity, did not swallow everything before talking.
“I’ve been checking the Everfree all morning.” Rainbow Dash swallowed the food, as Rarity was just about to complain about her awful table manners. “Couldn’t see anything brewing up, but with the Everfree you never know what’s going to happen next.”
“Do ya think a storm is comin’? If so then Ah need to make sure the farm is prepared.” Applejack already began planning out the task that would have to be taken care of in the eventuality of a storm.
“I dunno.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “The skies are all clear, but it still feels as if something big is coming.”
“You can take care of it right?” Scootaloo asked as her nerves slightly calmed down.
“Of course I can, Squirt!” Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest. “Ain’t nothing that can get past me.”
While it was a rather boastful statement, Rainbow Dash’s record was in her favor. Ever since she had taken up the mantle of weather manager in Ponyville not a single bad weather related accident had occurred. That was the reason nopony challenged her on it and rather continued enjoying the picnic.
_____________________________________________________________________
About half an hour later the little get together had a surprise visitor. Blossomforth nearly crashed into the assembled ponies sitting on their blankets. One quick bank to the right sent her tumbling to a stop next to them instead.
“Ow!” The pegasus mare untangled her limbs with a grunt.
“You ok?” Rainbow Dash helped her get back up.
“Here! This arrived by courier just now!” Blossomforth quickly shoved a letter from her saddlebag into Rainbow’s chest.
Startled she sat on her haunches and studied her co-worker. Blossomforth never had a need for speed and would very casually fly about the skies. Her primary task on the weather team was to design and shape clouds into nice forms that were pleasing to the eye. That she had seemingly raced here as fast as she could sent alarm bells going off in Rainbow’s mind.
Rainbow read the letter while Blossomforth caught her breath. Her eyes went wide with every new piece of information she read. Her surprise turned into a frown as she swore under her breath.
The other ponies just watched in confusion as Rainbow’s demeanor darkened by the second. Suddenly she looked up from the letter and turned to her friends.
“Fluttershy, get all your animal friends away from Ponyville. AJ, go and get Big Mac and Granny Smith from the farm along with any important documents you might need. The rest of you get back to Ponyville as fast as possible!” Rainbow barked out her orders fast and prepared to take off. In the last moment she turned her attention to Twilight. “Twilight, go to the mayor immediately! You will be needed there.”
“What’s going on?” Twilight asked with growing worry. None of them had seen their friend so serious. Rainbow Dash took off and yelled back to them of what was about to come.
“There’s a tornado approaching Ponyville!”
Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could towards town hall.
Now no more than a cyan blur with a rainbow colored trail she aimed for the open window on the top floor of the building where the weather management office was located. She pulled up into a tight looping that put considerable pressure on her wings. For a less experienced flier the maneuver would have sent them spinning out of control. For Rainbow Dash it was just another stunt.
With her speed diminished she flew in through the window and landed hard on her hooves. Thunderlane dropped the mug of coffee he had just been drinking.
“Geez, boss. I won’t be needing the coffee to wake up now, that’s for sure.” Thunderlane’s joke fell on deaf ears as Rainbow Dash didn’t respond. The look on her face was one of determination and told Thunderlane that not all was well. “What’s going on?”
“We’ve got trouble.” Rainbow Dash quickly responded and trotted past him. “Keep an ear open for an announcement.”
Without waiting for a reply Rainbow Dash opened her wings once she was out of the office and in the stairway. Running would have been fast, but simply gliding over the side and towards the mayor’s office was faster. In only a few seconds she was in front of the large office door. Not bothering to knock she barged inside, startling the secretary.
“You…you can’t go in there!” The secretary stammered, but was ignored by Rainbow Dash.
Once again not bothering to knock she threw the door to the mayor's office open and trotted inside.
“Rainbow Dash?!” The mayor quickly covered the magazine about the latest mane-dying techniques with some other documents. “I am in the middle of some important business! You cannot just storm inside without an appointment.”
“We haven’t got time for that!” Rainbow ignored the protest and dropped the letter she had held in her hoof on the mayor’s desk. “We have some really big bad trouble coming this way. Read it!”
The mayor held back any objection and quickly scanned the letter she had been given. The secretary hovered around the door, not willing to step inside, but also intrigued about what was going on. All three ponies flinched as Twilight Sparkle suddenly teleported into the room with a flash of purple.
“What is going on?” The purple unicorn asked out of breath. The series of teleportations she had made had been exhausting. “You said something about a tornado?”
“Cloudsdale’s weather factory have been experimenting further north.” Rainbow Dash explained quickly. “They mucked it up and have created a tornado that’s out of control. Now it is coming here.”
“Can’t they do anything?” The mayor did not read the rest of the letter. She trusted Rainbow Dash completely with anything related to Ponyvilles weather.
“Cloudsdale is too far away for any emergency team to do anything.” Rainbow shook her head. “They won’t be here on time.”
“Wh…what can we do?” Twilight looked from one pony to the next.
“Is there time to evacuate the town with the train?” Mayor Mare remained calm. Ponies were now depending on her keeping a cool head and she would not let them down.
“The track leading north is right in the path of the tornado.” Rainbow Dash walked over to a map of the surrounding area hanging on the wall pointing at it with her hoof. “The train going south has left about half an hour ago.”
“What about by hoof?” The Mayor moved beside Rainbow and inspected the map. Twilight joined them and listened closely.
“Too unsafe. The tornado is coming from this direction.” Rainbow traced the path of the tornado on the map with a hoof. “Once it gets close to the Everfree there is no way of telling how the weather there will affect it. It could be drawn in or much worse send it into the direction we have evacuated to. In open field we can’t get away fast enough.”
“Miss Sparkle?” The mayor turned to the unicorn. “You wouldn’t happen to know any spell that might aid us?”
Twilight had been thinking about that already, but came up empty.
“For smaller weather manipulation I’m sure to find something, but if it is too large I would have to do more research.” Twilight explained and turned to Rainbow Dash. “How big is that tornado?”
“It’s a class four, bordering on class five.” Rainbow Dash noted the blank expressions from Twilight and the mayor. “Remember the tornado we made to funnel water up to Cloudsdale?”
Both ponies nodded as they remembered the enormous tornado that had been made by wingpower alone.
“That was a class two.”
The mayor looked over to Twilight Sparkle hoping the unicorn would have some kind of trick to deal with their problem. Twilight expression was not a very encouraging one.
“THAT was a class two?” Twilight had been right there and had to fight with all her strength not to be blown away. “I’m sorry, but for anything that size I don’t have a spell ready. With enough time I am sure to find something.”
“It will hit Ponyville in about three hours.” Rainbow Dash informed her and tapped a hoof against the map.
“What about the Princesses?” The mayor asked Twilight with growing desperation.
“They are both on a diplomatic visit to the griffon kingdom. I can’t reach them there.” Twilight let her head hang. “Cadance is too far away to reach us in time as well.”
“What about Discord?” Rainbow Dash’s question told Twilight that the situation was very bad indeed if the rainbow maned pegasus was willing to involve the master of chaos.
“I don’t know how to reach him.” Twilight would have to talk to Celestia at some point about just that.
“Then there is only one option.” Rainbow Dash turned to the mayor. “Open up the shelter.”
“Yes….yes, that is our best option.” Hesitantly the mayor nodded.
“Shelter?” Twilight had never heard of any kind of shelter in Ponyville. She hadn’t seen anything that even remotely looked like one either.
“There is a shelter underneath Ponyville in case of just these emergencies.” The mayor explained. “It has thankfully never been used before, but it seems that we now will have to do just that. I have something that you might have to help us with.”
Twilight watched the mayor trot over to a picture on the wall. With her hoof the mayor moved it to the side revealing a safe in the wall. While the mayor began opening the safe, Twilight turned to her friend beside her.
“Why have I never heard of this before?”
“It’s kept a secret to avoid ponies from going inside to explore.” Rainbow Dash explained absentmindedly. She was planning ahead on how to deal with the tornado. “It can be dangerous to be trapped down there.”
“How do you know about it?” Twilight watched the mayor finally swing the door of the safe open and taking out a large pile of documents.
“Because it part of my job to know.” Rainbow shrugged. “I’m guessing most adults in Ponyville know about it anyway, but keep it to themselves. It was only built ten years or so ago.”
“Why?” Twilight could only imagine the drain on the towns financial reserves needed to build any kind of shelter.
“A massive storm came in from the Everfree.” Rainbow Dash explained and studied the map on the wall again. “It ruined most of the town I’m told.”
“You weren’t there?”
“Nah, I was just a filly still living in Cloudsdale.” Rainbow pursed her lips as another part of her brain feverishly thought of a plan. “If I had been there I would have stopped it somehow. Then AJ’s par….uhm…forget what I said.”
Twilight sighed heavily. She always had wondered about Applejack’s family on the farm and why two ponies seemed to be missing in the big picture. Now she had an answer, but wished she didn’t at the same time.
“Here.” The mayor beckoned the other two ponies to join her at her desk. “These are the instructions for the locking mechanism.”
Twilight took the bundle of documents that the mayor had slid over to her. She quickly scanned the first few pages.
“Why are you giving this to me?” Twilight asked while reading about the materials used in constructing the shelter.
“There are a few things you need to know.” The mayor cleared her throat. “Once the doors close they can only be opened back up from the outside or by a unicorn that knows the right spell. It is on the last page.”
“It is supposed to prevent any pony from going nuts while locked underground and endangering all the others by opening the door.” Rainbow Dash explained further.
“Then why is there this spell?” Twilight had found it immediately after the mayor had mentioned it and studied it with interest.
“In case there isn’t anypony left outside to open it back up.” Rainbow replied grimly.
“I….I understand.” Twilight could easily memorize the spell.
Mayor Mare walked over to a cupboard next to the map on the wall. As she opened it Twilight saw that there was some kind of microphone resting on a stand inside. A thick layer of dust surrounded the stand, but the microphone itself was spotless.
“I had best tell our citizens to prepare.” Mayor Mare glanced over to the other two ponies for some kind of agreement. Rainbow Dash nodded and walked up beside her, while Twilight read through the spell a couple of times to make sure she remembered it.
After a few deep breaths to collect herself the mayor flicked a switch beside the microphone. Magical energies crackled for an instant establishing the connection to the loudspeakers in town square. The last time they had been used had been the time when Spike had grown to enormous size and had gone on a rampage throughout the town.
“Citizens of Ponyville. Attention please!”
__________________________________________________________________
Scootaloo sped through Ponyville on her scooter. She had been given very direct orders by Applejack to get back to the orphanage as fast as possible. Feeling it was her duty to inform her caretaker of what was going to happen, she had taken off in an orange blur. Perhaps she could get a cutie mark for being a messenger.
She could already see the building in front of her when she heard the large loudspeakers in town square crackle. Moments later the voice of Mayor Mare boomed across Ponyville.
“Citizens of Ponyville. Attention please!”
All ponies stopped what they were doing the instant they heard her voice. Scootaloo quickly stepped on the brakes and ground to a stop a pony’s length away from Ponyville’s resident mailmare Derpy Hooves.
“We have an emergency!” The mayor spoke with clear calm voice. “We have a tornado approaching Ponyville.”
Immediately murmurs of the ponies around could be heard, all eyes fixed on the bright red speakers.
“We are going to open the shelter. I ask of you to calmly proceed there after you have gathered any vital belongings from your homes.”
The murmurs grew louder and a number of ponies hurried off to find their family or fetch anything vital from their homes.
“The tornado will arrive in about three hours. There is plenty of time for all ponies to enter the shelter, but not enough to try and outrun it. Please inform any pony of what is about to happen and wait by one of the three doors leading into the shelter.”
“What shelter?” Scootaloo asked a rather worried looking Derpy Hooves.
“I don’t know.” Derpy shrugged and watched a lot more ponies hurry off.
“The entrances are located to the north, west and east of town square. You will find members of my staff standing nearby, please make sure to tell them your name when you enter so we can make sure that all ponies are inside.”
“This isn’t good.” Derpy was torn about what to do. She still had a full bag of mail to deliver, but she had the feeling that she wouldn’t make the deliveries in time.
Scootaloo didn’t even hear Derpy’s comment as she concentrated on the new and very familiar voice now coming out of the loudspeakers.
“This is Rainbow Dash speaking. I am asking every available pegasus with weather controlling experience or good flight abilities to meet me in the library in half an hour.”
A moment of static buzzed out of the speakers as the mayor took hold of the microphone again.
“Please remain calm. The shelter is just a precaution if anything should happen.”
Scootaloo buzzed her wings again as the mayor repeated the message again. With a jolt she left the mailmare standing where she was and sped onwards to her home.
___________________________________________________________________
Half an hour later Rainbow Dash entered the library.
She sighed with relief as she saw that it was packed with all pegasi from Ponyville. Without any greeting she flew towards the stairs leading up. From this new vantage point she had a better position to address her fellow pegasi.
“Listen up.” Rainbow Dash spoke loudly to reach the ponies in the very back of the building. It reminded her of the time she had spoken to them about beating the record for top wing speed all that long time ago. “As you heard we have a bit of a problem coming our way.”
“What kind of tornado is it?”
“Where did it come from?”
“Why isn’t anypony from Cloudsdale here to help us?”
Rainbow Dash held up her front hooves to stem the flood of questions coming her way. It took them a moment to actually be quiet, but Rainbow couldn’t blame them. She could feel the nervousness radiating up from the crowd of ponies below her.
“A while ago I was at a seminar about automated tornado creation.” Rainbow Dash saw some confused looks below and chose to elaborate further. “Cloudsdale’s weather management had decided to no longer be dependant on wing speed to create tornados used for funneling up water from the reservoirs. They built a device for that to use for reservoirs where no pegasi or not enough pegasi live.”
She paused for a moment to make sure all had understood what was going on.
“It malfunctioned and has created a class four tornado that’s heading our way.” Rainbow Dash held up her hooves again to try and calm the ponies down. Her last statement had stirred them up with worry.
“I know it’s bad, but listen to me.” It took longer for the crowd to stop their mutterings and finally pay attention again. “I think we may have the ability to do something.”
“Against a class four?” Thunderlane looked up at his boss with curiosity.
“The standard way to deal with class ones is to just fly through them.” Rainbow knew full well that not all pegasi knew how to deal with tornados and had decided to give them a little walkthrough of what to do. “You disrupt the air enough for it to simply collapse. Class twos have to be unwound by creating another tornado around it turning in the opposite direction. They cancel each other out.”
“What about class three?” A mare in the back asked.
“I was just getting to that!” Rainbow snapped back, she hated being interrupted. “Class threes are diverted from its path by creating a class two tornado in its way.”
Rainbow swallowed hard as the next piece of information wasn’t easy to digest.
“There isn’t any way to deal with class fours or higher.” No muttering from the pegasi this time, instead they just looked around with worried and scared expressions. “But I have an idea.”
Rainbow Dash made sure that every single pegasus was paying close attention before explaining her plan.
“I think we could actually unravel it by using several smaller tornados.” She explained the plan she had been cooking up slowly as it was important everypony understood what to do. “If we keep at it we could make it collapse or at the least divert it from its current path.”
“Isn’t it safer to just stay in the shelter?” A stallion asked from somewhere in the middle.
“Yes, it is.” Rainbow Dash nodded slowly. “But if we don’t at least try then there won’t be a Ponyville in a few hours time. Yeah, we can rebuild it, but the damage to our crops would be disastrous. Sweet Apple Acres would take years to be back at the productivity they are now and even now it is a close call.”
She sensed that the majority was torn between trying to risk helping and rather seeking the safety of the shelter.
“It will be dangerous and I cannot say for certain that it will even work, but we should at least try to protect our homes and our livelihoods. Ponyville deserves that we at least try to save it.”
Rainbow Dash was asking a lot of them and she knew that each pony had to decide for themselves if they were willing to stand in harms way.
“I’m sorry. I can’t do that.” A mare spoke up. “I…I just had a foal two months ago.”
“I understand.” Rainbow Dash nodded a few times. “I am not forcing any of you to stay. If you want to go in the shelter then get moving and grab anything important on your way there.”
The cyan mare watched a dozen or so pegasi leave the library after a few seconds of quiet contemplation. She let her eyes wander over the crowd and sighed as she saw a few ponies stay that she needed for her plan to work. Rainbow Dash felt a fair amount of pride that her entire weatherteam had stayed here.
Flitter and Cloudchaser looked a bit confused about the entire situation, both were good strong fliers and would easily follow Rainbows instructions. Beside them Blossomforth stood and was shaking, from fear or her nerves getting the better of her, Rainbow Dash did not know. That she had stayed was a sign that she trusted the rainbow maned weather captain enough to follow her into danger. Thunderlane beside her had a grin expression on his face, no doubt thinking about his family.
Not part of the regular weatherteam, but on occasion part of it to help out, was the blonde grey pegasus beside Thunderlane. Years of delivering heavy mail had turned Derpy into a very strong flier, even if she sometimes had trouble with directions. A seldom seen determined frown on her brow told Rainbow that today Derpy would not mess things up.
There was one pony here that she didn’t think she would see. Fluttershy was cowering near the back wall and was visibly scared. Rainbow was proud of her yellow timid friend that she had mustered the courage to stay and even help. On the other side of things, Rainbow knew full well that Fluttershy was way out of her element and as much as she disliked the thought, Fluttershy was not going to help all that much.
“Ok, ponies. Meet me in forty-five minutes at the fountain in town square.” Rainbow Dash dismissed the pegasi and watched them hastily evacuate the library. She silently cursed as she lost sight of Fluttershy as she wanted to talk her out of helping. It would have to wait for later, there were things she had to take care of first.
________________________________________________________________________
Rainbow Dash closed the lid of a wooden box with a hoof. It was made out of the toughest wood available and was designed to keep its contents safe from harm. She had crammed as many things inside as would fit.
Deciding which things were worth saving had been tough for the pegasus. All her Daring Do books did not fit, but she could always replace them if something should happen to them. The rather extensive collection of Wonderbolts memorabilia however posed a bigger problem. A lot of it was signed by some of them, something she was immensely proud of. With a heavy heart she had decided to leave it all where is was, except for one large poster with the signatures of all current Wonderbolts. The rest of the wooden box was filled up with some documents that could not be replaced so easily.
Rainbow Dash stowed the box away into the bottom drawer of her dresser. With a blanket she covered it up and hoped it would provide extra protection against any kind of damage. She told herself it was just a precaution and that the entire situation would be over soon without a hitch.
She closed the drawer and took flight out of her bedroom. With a sharp turn she swooped into the kitchen and spotted Tank on the kitchen table. If he felt anything going on, he didn’t show it and slowly looked up to his caretaker. Rainbow grabbed him with her front hooves and didn’t bother taking the exit through the front door. The kitchen window was large enough for her, even with a tortoise in her hooves.
Seeing all the ponies below heading towards one of the entrances to the shelter sent a shiver down her spine. It was a dangerous situation they were in, but so far she had been blocking out pretty much everything. She felt it was her duty as Ponyville's chief weather manager to keep a cool head, ponies were depending on her after all.
She spotted Twilight standing near the entrance to the shelter closest to the town hall disguised as the entrance to a cellar. Because of Tank in her hooves she flew at moderate speed towards her friend. As she landed Twilight briefly looked up from a checklist she was holding with her magic.
“Hey, Twilight.” Rainbow greeted her friend and put tank on the ground.
“Hello, Rainbow.” Twilight checked something on her list.
“What’s that?” The pegasus asked with a nod to the floating list.
“The Mayor was kind enough to provide me with a list of all of Ponyville’s residents.” Twilight explained and ticked two names off the list as the spa sisters trotted through the entrance to the shelter. “I made a few copies and gave them to Spike and the mayor’s assistant at the other entrances. That way we can make sure that all ponies are accounted for.”
“Sounds good. What about any visitors?”
“We have the hotel registration here as well, but we are lucky that it was almost empty.” Twilight nodded to the cakes as they approached the shelter and ticked four names off the list.
“Hiya!” Pinkie Pie somehow appeared from behind Twilight and stuck her head between Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Despite the situation she was at her usual cheerful self. “Do you think I should maybe throw a party down there?”
“I doubt we will feel very much like partying, Pinkie.” Twilight ignored the pout the pink party pony was now giving her.
“Don’t worry, Pinks.” Rainbow nudged Pinkie in the side. “Once it is over you can throw a huge party. A “Ponyville is Safe” party.”
“That is a very good idea!” Pinkie grinned from ear to ear. “So you are sure that meanie twisted twister won’t make it here?”
“Of course not!” Rainbow Dash puffed her chest out. “The best weatherpony in all of Equestria is on the case after all!”
“That’s good to know.” Pinkie still was grinning. “Who is it?”
“Me, Pinkie….it’s me.” Rainbow gave her a flat look.
“Ooooooohh, silly me. How could I forget?” Pinkie was blissfully ignorant of the look Rainbow gave her as her attention was suddenly focused on a clothes rack rolling towards her.
It bumped into Pinkie, who didn’t budge an inch. From behind the clothes rack a familiar head popped up to see what was stopping her from going inside.
“Pinkie, darling, could you please move aside?” Rarity asked politely.
“Rarity? What is all that?” Twilight cast a glance at the overstuffed clothes rack.
“You heard the announcement earlier.” Rarity stepped into view. Both sides of her saddlebag were bloated from being overpacked. A less than amused Opal in a cage rested on her back. Despite Rarity’s calm tone of voice it was clearly visible that she was stressed out. “We should bring our most important items along.”
“Yes, I was there.” Twilight took her eyes off the clothes. “What was meant were documents and things of that kind. Not hundreds of dresses.”
“But these are the finest dresses I have ever made or acquired!” Rarity put a hoof to her chest. “I simply cannot part with them!”
“But…” Twilight saw that the white unicorn would not budge and she simply did not have the time to begin a lengthy discussion with the fashionista. “Fine. Just please put them somewhere out of everyponies way.”
“Thank you, Twilight.” Rarity quickly stepped behind the clothes rack again and started pushing. “You wouldn’t happen to know if my parents and sister are inside already would you?”
“Yes, they entered through the west entrance a minute ago.” Twilight informed her friend after checking her list.
“Thank you again, dear.” Rarity wheeled the rack inside making sure none of her dresses touched any of the walls.
“How did you know that about her family?” Rainbow Dash asked and glanced at the checklist again.
“I linked all three lists with a spell.” Twilight explained and tapped her pen against the list. “If one of us checks off a name it then is checked off in the others lists as well.”
“Oh, cool.” Rainbow turned to Pinkie Pie. “Say, Pinks. Do you mind taking Tank for me while I am busy out here?”
“Sure thing!” Pinkie somehow used her tail to snatch the tortoise up from the ground and placed him on her back. Gummy popped up out of her mane and eyed the new arrival to see if it was edible. “Perhaps I can throw a reptile party for them. A small party, of course!”
Pinkie bounced inside with usual cheerfulness. Rainbow Dash felt a pang of guilt to leave Tank alone, but she still had a job to do and something to ask Twilight.
“Listen.” Rainbow moved a bit closer to her friend as she didn’t want any other ponies eavesdropping. “I have a chest in the bottom drawer of my dresser.”
“That’s…uhm…nice?” Twilight gave the mare a confused look.
“No, see….I want you to open it if….something should happen.” Rainbow Dash didn’t want to go into too much detail, but didn’t have to as Twilight realized quickly what she meant.
“I understand.” Twilight bit her lip in thought. “Perhaps it is better if we get all ponies into the shelter, rather than risk something bad from happening.”
“Letting Ponyville get destroyed is bad, Twilight.”
“Yes, but it could be worse.”
“Don’t worry.” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I won’t be taking any risks. Not when I am responsible for other ponies.”
Twilight very reluctantly nodded her head. It was admirable how the pegasus displayed her qualities as a leader in bad situations. It was just unfortunate that it was only seen in dire circumstances. The unicorn quickly changed the subject as she saw a group of ponies approach.
It was the caretaker of the local orphanage with the foals under her care trotting along in front of her. She kept a very watchful eye on the little ones and kept them in line. One pony in particular had trouble trotting along in what she would call a snail’s pace.
As soon as Scootaloo spotted Rainbow Dash standing beside Twilight, she broke the formation and sprinted towards her idol. The caretaker did not object as she knew of the bond between the two pegasi.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo skid to a halt beside her honorary big sister, wings buzzing furiously and a wide smile on her lips.
“Hey, Squirt.” Rainbow ruffled the filly’s mane and smiled halfheartedly. She had wished to avoid the energetic pegasus, it was bad enough to leave Tank and her friends alone in the shelter possibly worrying and afraid, but that thought about Scootaloo somehow made Rainbow feel a bit worse.
“Come alone inside, Scootaloo.” Nettie said as she passed the trio of friends.
“I just want to talk to Rainbow Dash for a moment.” Scootaloo answered back. For a moment it seemed as if Nettie would object, but in the end she just nodded and gave the two pegasi a smile.
“That’s it.” Twilight said once the foals and caretaker were inside the shelter. “All non-pegasi are now inside.”
“Good.” Rainbow Dash nodded once. “That means we can close up. Do you mind giving us a minute?”
Twilight nodded and made her way inside. Rainbow Dash turned to the still excited filly and frowned. She wanted to say something awesome and inspiring, yet she came up blank. Before she could say a single word another pegasus joined them.
“I’m here.” Fluttershy quietly announced.
“Yes, I can see that.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Ok, you two get inside so I can close up.”
“What?” Both pegasi asked simultaneously.
“I am here ready to help.” Fluttershy said firmly.
“Yeah, so am I!” Scootaloo buzzed her wings again.
“No, you are not.” Rainbow stomped a hoof on the ground. “Listen, this is going to be really dangerous and I can’t keep an eye out for you.”
“I can fly and do my part.” Fluttershy also stomped a hoof on the ground with as much force as a flower petal drifting slowly to the ground. “I helped during the tornado we made for Cloudsdale and I will help here as well.”
“This isn’t some kind of stupid record we are trying to break!” Rainbow snapped back. That she of all ponies would claim a record to be something stupid made very clear just how pressured she currently was. “I can’t risk having you fly off into danger, because you saw a butterfly or bunny still on the ground.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I told all the animals to seek shelter someplace safe, so Ponyville will be clear of them.” Fluttershy explained.
“I can help too!” Scootaloo nodded eagerly.
“No!” Rainbow Dash’s barked order made the filly flinch back. With a calmer tone Rainbow continued. “Listen, Squirt. I need ponies with experience with weather manipulation and that can…well….fly.”
“I can scout ahead with my scooter!” Scootaloo rapidly said, not willing to let her handicap get in the way of helping out. “Warn you of anything on the ground or bring you things you need.”
“I…ugh…” Rainbow walked through the entrance to the shelter to try and clear her head a bit and come up with the right way of handling the situation currently on her hooves.
Beyond the first door a long and dimly lit tunnel led down at a thirty degree angle. Voices could be barely heard from further down. Fluttershy and Scootaloo kept trying to convince Rainbow to let them help. Rainbow ignored them until they reached a lever of sorts embedded in an alcove in the side of the tunnel.
She eyed the lever for any sign of neglect, but the ponies in charge of keeping the shelter ready had made sure that everything worked perfectly. Her eyes wandered up to the ceiling of the tunnel. Because of the dim light the large heavy door was barely visible. Once she flipped the lever a heavy iron door that was half a ponies length think would drop and seal up the shelter properly. It could only be reopened either by a magical spell or by flipping the lever once more.
“Or I can cheer you on while you battle the tornado!” Scootaloo kept suggesting things she could do to help.
“Squirt…” Rainbow was losing her patience and more importantly, time. “Fluttershy, help me out here.”
Fluttershy nodded and shared Rainbow’s opinion that Scootaloo should stay where it was safe. She also knew that Rainbow’s way of handling things wouldn’t convince the filly to agree with her wishes.
“Rainbow Dash is right, Scootaloo.” Fluttershy stepped in front of the filly. “Outside isn’t a place for eeeek!!”
Fluttershy squeaked out in surprise as she was roughly shoved from behind by Rainbow Dash. The timid yellow Pegasus crashed into the equally surprised orange filly. They tumbled forward a few times, Fluttershy instinctively wrapping her wings around Scootaloo to prevent her from getting hurt. In a tangled mess of legs and wings they came to a stop a few ponies lengths away from Rainbow Dash.
“Sorry!” Rainbow Dash said and wrapped a hoof around the lever beside her. “Take care of her for me!”
With a quick pull of the lever the door smashed down with a thundering boom.
