Chapters Immediately the new employees knew what to do. Following Sassaflash's instructions, they went outside the building. Sassaflash went up the long spiral stairs and went inside her office.
My office, she thought as she made it inside. The office for an Electric Production Supervisor was very large. In fact, it was so large that it could make room for four ponies. The room had to be that large in case there was more than one EPS. There was basically four of everything: four desks, four chairs, and four beds for the supervisors who had to stay at the factory for the night. The only main thing that didn't have four versions of it was a single window on the right wall.
Sassaflash would often look out this window to see if her employees were doing fine. She walked over to the window and looked outside. Everything seemed to be fine.
"I don't need to be concerned," she softly spoke to herself. "Everything is okay."
The pegasi employees of the electric division were busy putting on Zappertron 4000s on their backs. Tea Leaf happened to struggle putting on hers, and Sassaflash really wasn't that surprised.
Tea Leaf was found grunting when a pony named Sunny Rays found her. She didn't work for the electric division, but she decided to help Tea Leaf out of kindness. Tea Leaf immediately saw Sunny and asked her for help.
"Hey there!" Tea Leaf asked loudly to Sunny Rays. "Can you help me put this on? Sassaflash told me that a pony was supposed to wear this like a saddle."
"Well, if it is as simple as putting on a saddle," Sunny Rays replied, "I can help you."
Sunny Rays grabbed the saddle-like Zappertron 4000 that Tea Leaf was holding. Tea Leaf stood up, folded her wings, and straightened her back. With concentration, Sunny put the Zappertron 4000 onto Tea's back. She fastened it together with the strap at the bottom. Knowing that the Zappertron 4000 was now on her back, Tea Leaf stretched her wings through the holes on the saddle-like machine.
"Thanks a bunch!"
"You don't have to thank me."
Sassaflash, seeing this random act of kindness through the window of the office, smiled. A single tear was shed on her face.
"I have a feeling that Tea Leaf is going to be a great electricity collector," she softly spoke to herself.
Time had seemed to pass. By this time, all of the employees had on a Zappertron 4000. Some of them were even starting to collect electricity. Sassaflash watched as Sunny Rays bucked a storm cloud over to Grand Gruff.
"I've got this!"
Grand Gruff turned on the Zappertron 4000 on his back and held the tube in his hooves. A few lightning bolts appeared, and Grand Gruff flew around to collect them. The clear container on the back of the Zappertron 4000 began to be filled with bouncing, spiraling bolts of lightning.
Carnation was flying around a storm cloud collecting one lightning bolt at a time. Sassaflash had a feeling that Carnation was going to be one of her best employees.
The three pegasi who always seemed to be together: Citrus, Limelight Lime, and Decaffie, were busy collecting lightning bolts out of a huge storm cloud by working together. A few of Sassaflash's longtime workers were working at that cloud too. This cloud is going to make up a majority of today's power collected, she thought to herself.
Of course, Tea Leaf was goofing up. Apparently her hooves couldn't hold a tube that long. The tube was flailing wildly all over the place in the sky and pegasi everywhere in that area were chuckling. At one point the tube got so close to Tea Leaf that it started to vacuum some of her mane.
"Aaaauggghhh!" Tea Leaf screamed. "The tube is on my head!"
Sassaflash had a horrified expression on her face. I can't be fired right now! At least not for * this** nonsense!* she thought. Sassaflash raced out of the office and literally flew out the door.
Sassaflash burst through the entrance door to the electric division building and was flying in place in the skies of Equestria.
"Tea Leaf? Where are you?"
She heard her fellow employee's cry for help nearby. The latter Electric Production Supervisor flew over to her. Tea Leaf was madly flapping her wings, hovering literally right next to a storm cloud.
"Sassaflash!" Tea Leaf shouted with relief. "Can you come and help me here?"
Sassaflash, hovering next to Tea Leaf, straightened out the tube that was still in Tea Leaf's hooves.
"Phew!" Tea Leaf spoke with relief. "I was so scared!"
"It was my duty to help you."
Sassaflash then flew back to the electric division building. She entered it again, went up the spiral stairs, and entered the office. Once more she continued to watch her fellow employees collect electricity. She remembered when she was doing all of this work, which was only five months ago.
"Hope you guys won't need my help for the rest of the day." Sassaflash spoke quietly to herself.
It wasn't too long until the pegasi began flying back near the electric division building and began to take off their Zappertron 4000s. One by one the pegasi were turning their Zappertron 4000s upside down, plugging the tubes inside the tube on the collector, and putting the machines back into the box near the collector machines.
Tea Leaf at least knew how to take off her Zappertron 4000, but the tube flopped a little bit too close to her face. As a result, a little bit of electricity leaked out as a lightning bolt and shocked Tea Leaf. Sassaflash face-hoofed herself as she saw this through the window in her office.
"Ooh, that's gotta hurt. " Carnation spoke.
Tea Leaf finally got control of the tube and put the Zappertron 4000 over the collecting tube. Instantly the bouncing, spiraling lightning bolts disappeared. Tea Leaf then put the machine in the box and headed inside the electric division building where her other fellow workers were seen staring at the large collecting jar.
Sassaflash exited her office and headed down the spiral stairs to see her employees staring in awe at the collecting tube. Today the tube happened to hold a little bit more than half of the electricity the large jar could possibly hold.
"Nice work, everypony!" a pleased Sassaflash told her employees.
Sassaflash, being satisfied with her employees' work, shook the hooves of everypony. However, it was 7:00 p.m. All of the employees exited the building and said their goodbyes.
Everypony, but Sassaflash. She had to stay here for the night because tomorrow was yet another big day. All of the employees of every division was going to meet in the large, main Cloudsdale Weather Factory building to discuss recent events and how everypony did in the current week.
Sassaflash yawned as she slowly made her way up the spiral stairs again and into the office. She took off her work uniform and climbed inside her bed. She had to get to bed this early because she woke up early. After all, she had an early dinner at the main Cloudsdale Weather Factory building an hour before work actually started. Sassaflash closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
As Sassaflash was busy sleeping, all seemed to be well in the electric division. She was busy dreaming about how happy the princesses would be when the electric division collected all of the electricity needed for the Grand Galloping Gala.
"So, you told us to come in here?" Princess Celestia asked Sassaflash.
"Yes, your Highness." Sassaflash answered.
The Princesses made their way to the large jar. The jar was completely full with electricity. Princess Celestia's mouth was wide open, and Princess Luna was just staring off into space.
A silence took place in the electric division.
"So, do you like it?" Sassaflash questioned.
Princess Luna was still staring off into space. Princess Celestia waved a hoof in front of her face, waking up her younger sister.
"Did thou really manage to pull off this?" Princess Luna asked in wonder.
Sassaflash, full with pride, spoke: "Yes. My employees and I filled this entire jar."
The Grand Galloping Gala was indeed coming up. Now that the jar was filled, Sassaflash and her workers' names would go down in Equestrian history.
A loud crash woke up Sassaflash.
"Who goes there?"
It was 4:35 a.m.
"Oh come on! Can you at least let me sleep?"
Everything was silent. Sassaflash dismissed this as something from her mind and went back to sleep. As she was sleeping, she heard another loud crash. Something also fell over. Glass could be heard breaking.
Sassaflash growled and put her pillow over her head. Suddenly, she heard electricity buzzing and a scream. Oh no. It couldn't be. she anxiously thought. She tried to go back to sleep. Just then, a large boom can be heard.
"That's it. I'm gonna see what exactly is going on here."
Sassaflash got out of bed and exited the office. The entire factory was pitch-black. It was obviously not morning yet. Sassaflash yawned as she tried to find a light switch. When she found one, she flicked it upwards with her hooves. What she saw was the most terrifying yet mysterious thing she has ever seen in her life and career.
The Zappertron 4000s. The electricity deposit station. The large, vacant jar. They were all gone. Just like that.
"Oh sweet Celestia," Sassaflash whispered.
At least the uniforms were still there. Sassaflash at least had to look professional, so she put on her Electric Production Supervisor uniform and walked throughout the now almost completely empty electric division. The pipes were gone too. It was almost as if the division had just been built.
"Who could've done this?"
Sassaflash was just about to exit the electric division when she saw the silhouette of a pegasus mare outside in the dark. When the figure turned its head to look at Sassaflash, it immediately flew away and disappeared.
"Who is that pony?'"
"And then they were all gone. Just like that!"
It was 7:30 a.m, thirty minutes before work started. Sassaflash was talking to her friends about the recent incident at the electric division in the main building of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory.
"It just doesn't make sense," Medley spoke. "How could they all just disappear?"
"Perhaps it was a burglar," Dizzy Twister guessed.
"But who in the name of Star Swirl's beard would go out on a limb and steal all of the machines in the electric division?!" Cloud Kicker angrily spoke.
"Perhaps someone was jealous of Sassaflash's job," Cloudchaser suggested.
"That could be possible, seeing how high she is in the world of work," Flitter added.
Sassaflash was getting mad. She didn't need all of this conspiracy theory nonsense.
"How about this: everypony, stop making up silly conspiracy theories! Cumulo Nimbus will just figure this out by himself! This pony could just be jealous of all of us because we are the supervisors of every single division! "
A large silence took place.
"Sorry, Sassaflash," Dizzy Twister apologized. "We are just trying to make sense of a recent event."
"You are forgiven," Sassaflash spoke. "Now let's hurry. Work starts in ten minutes now!"
Sassaflash and her friends hurried off to the meeting room in the main building of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, awaiting the other workers and Cumulo Nimbus himself.
It was 8:00 a.m. Everypony was seated in the meeting room. The workers sat in chairs surrounding the desks where the Junior Worker Ponies and supervisors sat. In front of everypony else was Cumulo Nimbus, the boss.
Cumulo Nimbus cleared his throat.
"Today is October 28. We, the Cloudsdale Weather Factory employees, including workers, JWPs, and supervisors alike, have gathered here today to talk about recent events to each other and to me, Cumulo Nimbus."
Cumulo Nimbus folded his wings.
"So, let's do an overview on how well each division is doing so far. The first division who will show their progress is the cloud division. Cloudchaser and Flitter, as the respective supervisors of the division, will come up here and stand next to me."
Cloudchaser and Flitter got up out of their seats and stood next to Cumulo Nimbus.
"As of yesterday, we have bucked a total of 527 clouds," informed Flitter.
"That's a pretty impressive number, eh? Next week, we'll buck even more clouds!" Cloudchaser enthusiastically spoke.
"You may head back to your seats now," Cumulo Nimbus told Cloudchaser and Flitter.
Cloudchaser and Flitter headed back to their seats.
Sassaflash gulped. These meetings, these congregations, were always easy for her. Suddenly they seemed a whole lot harder than they were ever intended to be. Since she had forgotten how much electricity her workers have collected yesterday, what was she going to say when she got up out of her seat to stand next to her all-superior boss Cumulo Nimbus?
"Now, the sun division will show their progress."
Cloud Kicker raced up out of her seat and stood smiling next to Cumulo Nimbus.
"I can tell she is happy about her progress," Carnation whispered to herself.
"The sun has been shining for the amount of time it is supposed to," Cloud Kicker informed. "There is no need to worry if the weather goes bonkers or something. Why? Because... WE ARE THE CLOUDSDALE WEATHER FACTORY! "
Cloud Kicker jumped up in the air and flapped her wings for a few seconds before landing on the ground again.
Cumulo Nimbus, still with his blank expression on his face, told Cloud Kicker: "Alright, Cloud Kicker. You can sit back down now."
Cloud Kicker hopped happily back to her seat.
"Now, the rain division."
Medley walked up next to Cumulo Nimbus.
"We have been making it rain for the days it was supposed to and have been bucking storm clouds when it was supposed to be sunny," Medley informed. "We have been impressing the sun division, and the sun division has been impressing us."
"Nicely done!" Tea Leaf yelled.
Pegasi around Tea Leaf told Tea Leaf to be quiet.
"You can head back to your seat now, Medley," Cumulo Nimbus spoke.
Medley calmly walked back to her seat.
Sassaflash's heart was pounding. What am I going to say? she anxiously thought to herself.
"It is now the tornado division's turn to come up."
Dizzy Twister got up out of her seat and stood next to Cumulo Nimbus.
"So far, we have been told to not create any tornadoes on purpose," Dizzy Twister informed. "But we have been doing practice drills in a field far away from Ponyville inhabitants."
Dizzy Twister headed back to her seat.
Sassaflash's heart was beating like a drum. What am I supposed to say? she anxiously thought to herself.
"And finally, the electric division."
Sassaflash's heart was racing. Sweat was pouring down her head and her eyes were wide open.
"I said, the electric division," Cumulo Nimbus repeated.
"Is something wrong?" Tea Leaf asked Sassaflash.
Despite the ongoing fear, Sassaflash slowly rose up out of her seat and walked next to Cumulo Nimbus.
Sassaflash opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Everypony was staring at her.
"Sassaflash, is there something wrong?"
Sassaflash opened her mouth and nothing came out again.
"I said-"
"All of the machines at the electric division have been stolen-"
Sassaflash held her hooves over her mouth.
A large silence took place in the meeting room. Suddenly, everypony gasped. After that, everypony started chattering.
"Who would do such a thing?" Tea Leaf wailed.
"Oh come on! I just started to work here yesterday!" Carnation angrily spoke.
"Well, I have an explanation for this."
Everypony was silent. They turned their heads over to the owner of the voice. Standing by the door of the meeting room...was Lightning Dust.
"I saw it all happen this morning."
"Who are you?" Cumulo Nimbus asked.
"Lightning Dust," Lightning Dust introduced with pride.
"Ah yes. Lightning Dust. The pegasus who got dragged out of the Wonderbolts Academy..."
"I have changed," Lightning Dust replied to Cumulo Nimbus.
Lightning Dust walked up next to Cumulo Nimbus.
"Alas, I indeed have seen who had stolen the electric division machines. They were six pegasi cloaked all in black. I wonder who would stay up that late to pull off such a heist..."
Lightning Dust paused.
"Unless you were them! "
Lightning Dust pointed to the six supervisors, Sassaflash and her friends alike.
Everypony gasped.
"But you love to work here!" Tea Leaf gasped.
Suddenly, the gasping turned into bitter argument.
The arguments erupting between the pegasi continued for five minutes until Cumulo Nimbus simply spoke:
"Stop."
A large silence took place.
"We will continue this tomorrow. Everypony, you can go home."
Everypony got up out of their seats. As Sassaflash and her friends were about to walk out the door, Cumulo Nimbus flew up out of his seat and landed next to them.
"You six will stay here tomorrow. I will also speak to you now. Lightning Dust is welcome to stay here for this talk because she is an alleged witness."
Sassaflash and her friends walked up to Cumulo Nimbus.
"Gosh," Medley whispered. "We are in a tough place now."
The Talk With Cumulo Nimbus
"Everypony, sit in these seven chairs," instructed Cumulo Nimbus, "and turn them towards me."
Sassaflash, her five friends, and Lightning Dust walked over to the seven chairs Cumulo Nimbus was talking about and turned them towards him.
"You may sit down."
The seven pegasi promptly sat down in their chairs.
Cumulo Nimbus flew across the room to sit down in his chair.
"Sassaflash, you may begin with your side of the story first."
Sassaflash gulped. "Well," she began, "I was staying over to sleep at the electric division yesterday because of today's big meeting. As I was sleeping, around four o' clock a.m., I suddenly got up out of bed and I turned on the lights downstairs on the first floor of the division. There were no machines at all ! The only thing left were the uniforms. I put on my uniform and I managed to glimpse a dark, black figure of a pegasus mare just before I turned off the lights again and went back upstairs to go back to sleep."
"Who do you think was the pegasus figure?" Cumulo Nimbus asked Sassaflash.
"I think this figure was none other than Lightning Dust herself," Sassaflash replied. "I mean, she already had gotten dragged out of the Wonderbolts Academy quite some time ago. She could just be jealous of my friends and me because we have such a high status here at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory!"
"Interesting story," Cumulo Nimbus replied. "Lightning Dust, you are free to make any objections."
"Well, I would never do such a thing again! I mean, I apologized to everypony afterwards, and I was looked down upon for a long time. Eventually, everypony forgot about it, just as how everypony will forget about this ."
Lightning Dust looked Sassaflash square in the face.
"You and your band of thieves."
"OBJECTION! " Sassaflash shouted. "We would never do this! We love our jobs oh so very much! Besides, the Grand Gallo-"
"Stop," spoke Cumulo Nimbus. "Do you recall me telling all of you that only Lightning Dust can make any objections?"
"Yes boss," Sassaflash replied.
"Now, your friends can tell their side of the incident."
"We were not there," Medley replied.
"Oh yes you were!" Lightning Dust shot back.
"Do you have any proof ?" Dizzy Twister asked.
"Now, now," spoke Cumulo Nimbus. "Since the other weather supervisors have nothing to say, I will now let Lightning Dust speak about her side of this sudden heist."
"Well," Lightning Dust began, "I was flying around yesterday morning to get my adrenaline rush for the day. I happened to fly by the Cloudsdale Weather Factory on my flight. Suddenly, I heard a huge explosion. I flew by the electric division to see what it was. In there, the electric division looked very barren, with nothing inside. Nothing, except six pegasi with cloaks of black on them. 'Stop!' I shouted, but they flew around me and out of the electric division."
"Interesting," Cumulo Nimbus replied. "Sassaflash, you and your friends are free to make any objections."
"Well, first of all," Sassaflash spoke, "your evidence is very vague. You didn't really state when any of this happened except for 'this morning'."
Sassaflash's friends nodded their heads in agreement.
"Second of all, I saw nothing but the electric division uniforms. You saw nothing at all! "
"But I was just flying!" Lightning Dust shot back.
"Lightning Dust," Cumulo Nimbus added. "Only Sassaflash and her friends are free to make any objections right now."
Lightning Dust grunted.
"Third of all," Sassaflash added, "my friends weren't even there at the time! "
"I was still sleeping!" Medley added.
"We were busy drawing clouds!" Cloudchaser and Flitter agreed.
"Stop," Cumulo Nimbus spoke with a booming voice, "We will continue this tomorrow. Go home and get some rest tonight. Tomorrow we will determine who carried out such a heist."
Lightning Dust got up out of her seat and flew across the room. She landed next to the door, looking at Sassaflash.
"This isn't over!"
Lightning Dust flew out of the building, Sassaflash and the rest of the weather supervisors following her.
Finally, Sassaflash was home. She took off her uniform as soon as she got inside.
"Probably won't be needing this anymore."
She tossed her uniform on the floor as she ran up her house's stairs. Upon reaching the second floor, Sassaflash ran into her bedroom and flopped down onto her bed. She began to weep.
However, she wasn't certain about one thing: Why would she cry about something she clearly didn't do? Why did she have to go through this pain she didn't deserve? Why, above all of these questions, did she get blamed, possibly shut out, and possibly fired and shamed when the real culprit, Lightning Dust, actually deserves this? She didn't know why Cumulo Nimbus didn't believe her. She didn't know why her fellow employees started to shame her. At least she had the support of her friends.
Sassaflash smiled as she remembered her friends. My friends, she thought, the one few ponies I can count on.
Suddenly, a few tears formed around her eyes again. Maybe she didn't deserve her job. Maybe she'd be better off working somewhere else. No, no. She loved her job, and Cumulo Nimbus would probably change his mind tomorrow. The thought of that made Sassaflash more confident than ever. Tomorrow is the day she and her friends would show Cumulo Nimbus what a big, filthy liar Lightning Dust was today and to win back the trust of everypony in the Cloudsdale Weather Factory.
"I'll show them," she spoke to herself. "I'll show them all!"
The next morning, every pegasus from every division, including Sassaflash and her friends, gathered in the large meeting hall of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. Cumulo Nimbus flew across the room and sat in his chair, facing everyone. The weather supervisors sat in their desks, arranged around Cumulo Nimbus's chair. Lightning Dust sat in a small, empty desk next to Cumulo Nimbus.
Suddenly, Cumulo Nimbus began to speak: "We are gathered here today to hold a trial of yesterday's heist. I talked to these weather supervisors alongside this other young pegasus mare, Lightning Dust. Apparently Lightning Dust is very aggressive with her opinions on the heist, being a witness."
"The weather supervisors, however, are disagreeing with Lightning's theory that they were the thieves. They are very defensive with their opinions. Both of their stories are very interesting, however. First, let's hear what Sassaflash has to say about this heist."
Sassaflash cleared her throat and began to speak. "I think I know why Lightning Dust is defensive against her theory. She is covering herself because she is afraid to get caught and framed for this heist."
"What makes you think I did it?" Lightning Dust blasted.
"You are trying to cover your tracks," Sassaflash told Lightning, "to make it look like you did nothing, to make it look like you were just an innocent witness. My friends and I think you stole the machines from the electric division, and we are sticking with our opinions."
"In my story," Sassaflash continued, "I was the witness. I saw the uniforms still intact at the division. I saw only one pegasus mare figure, and that was you , Lightning Dust. How could I see myself?"
Pegasi from the audience started to yell and argue.
"I knew it all along that she did nothing!" shouted Tea Leaf.
Everypony went silent again as Sassaflash began to speak again: "Exactly. Lightning Dust wanted to make herself look less suspicious by saying that she is a better pony now. But she isn't."
"I disagree!" disagreed Lightning Dust. "I am a better pony now, and I could prove it to all of you neighsayers!"
"How will you do that without any solid evidence, huh?" Medley asked Lightning.
"I'm leaving!" Lightning Dust suddenly shouted. "And this isn't over! NOTHING IS OVER! "
"Wait," boomed Cumulo Nimbus's voice, "since nopony else has anything to say about this event, nopony is guilty yet. You each will have exactly one month to convince other ponies that you weren't the thieves."
"What I mean is that the weather supervisors would convince ponies that they were innocent, and Lightning Dust would tell other ponies that she is innocent."
A pervasive silence filled the room.
"You may all leave now."
All of the pegasi except Cumulo Nimbus left the room, leaving Cumulo Nimbus sitting in his chair in front of a rather empty audience.
"This makes no sense."
Sassaflash and her five friends were gathered at her house.
"We'll need some kind of plan!" exclaimed Cloud Kicker.
"We can put up fliers," Medley suggested.
"Come on!" Sassaflash disagreed. "It's not like I have a lost pet or something!"
"Then how will we do this?" questioned Medley.
"We'll have to hold speeches in front of large audiences," Sassaflash spoke. "I write really good speeches. The way I was talking yesterday and today, it sounded like I was giving a speech to everypony."
"Better get started on that speech," Dizzy Twister suggested.
"Yeah," Sassaflash replied. "But first, we've gotta go to bed!"
Sassaflash grabbed a few pillows and went upstairs to her bedroom. Her loyal friends followed her there.
"I'll sleep in the bed," she told all of her friends.
Sassaflash laid the five pillows she grabbed all around the bed she was going to lay in. As her friends rested their heads on their pillows, Sassaflash climbed into her own bed.
"Good night!" she told her friends.
"Good night!" they responded.
And what a good night it was. Tomorrow was going to be a day full of speech-writing and oral practicing for Sassaflash and her friends. They had to win the trust of other ponies, otherwise they'd be guilty for nothing.
The very next day, Sassaflash and her friends were waiting by the train station so they could go to Manehattan. They were dragging their luggage in their mouths, teeth tightly gripped on the handles of their suitcases. Sassaflash glanced around impatiently, as if she was bored of waiting for the Friendship Express train to come.
"It should be here in five more minutes."
"Five more minutes?!" Cloud Kicker shouted. "I can't live with that! This will be the very first time I will go to Manehattan, and I'm so excited!"
"This is our first time we've been to Manehattan," corrected Medley.
"Remember Cloud Kicker," Sassaflash told an impatient Cloud Kicker, "we are a team. We'll wait together."
Three minutes passed before the Friendship Express train came into view.
Cloud Kicker gasped. "IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! "
The doors of the train opened and the train conductor, All Aboard, stepped out. "All aboard! If you are going to Manehattan, step up on this train and give me your tickets."
Sassaflash and her friends walked up single-file to All Aboard and gave him their tickets. Dragging their luggage behind them, they stepped carefully onto the Friendship Express train and placed their luggage on their seats. Sassaflash, Medley, and Dizzy Twister sat in one row of seats near the left side of the train, and Cloud Kicker, Cloudchaser, and Flitter sat in another row of seats near the right side of the train. After everypony else got on the train, All Aboard got back on the train.
"To Manehattan we go!"
All Aboard started the train, and it slowly started to leave the train station. Many ponies were seen waving their friends and family members goodbye.
"Aren't you girls excited?" Sassaflash asked Medley and Dizzy Twister.
"I'll say!" replied Dizzy Twister. "I've always wanted to go to Manehattan!"
"I second that," Medley agreed.
"Whoo-hoo!" shouted Cloud Kicker. "I am totally pumped for this trip!"
"Cloud Kicker!" shouted Sassaflash. "We are only here to convince some other ponies that we aren't the thieves of the electric division's machines."
"What if they already believe us?" Cloud Kicker asked Sassaflash.
"Forget it," she replied. "Cloud Kicker, I just want to rest now. It will be around three to four hours before we reach Manehattan."
"You said it," agreed Cloudchaser.
Flitter yawned. "Even though it is not getting late, I still didn't have my daily nap yet."
She curled up in her seat and began to sleep. Cloudchaser immediately flopped to sleep, with Cloud Kicker following her.
"Yeah, it's time for me to sleep too," commented Dizzy Twister.
She curled up on her seat, Medley doing the same next to her friend. Sassaflash simply looked out the window of the Friendship Express train. All she saw was a blustery, orange desert.
"Looks like we're passing Appaloosa, girls."
There was no reply. All of her friends were fast asleep. Sassaflash simply continued to look out the window and look at the beautiful scenery of Equestria.
It had been three hours since the Friendship Express train had left the train station in Ponyville. Only Sassaflash was awake among her friends. Sassaflash looked out the window again, and saw....
Manehattan. They had arrived at their destination. The city streets were lined with ponies with fantastic fashions. A few ponies seemed like they were visiting from Canterlot, with their snooty behaviors and their classy outfits. As the Friendship Express train slowed to a stop, Sassaflash crouched down beside a sleeping Medley and whispered:
"We're here!"
Medley awakened with a jolt. She, in turn, shook Dizzy Twister awake.
"Girls, we're here!" shouted a sleepy Dizzy Twister to her friends. Cloud Kicker, Cloudchaser, and Flitter awoke at once.
"EEEEEEEEEEEE! " screamed Cloud Kicker. "We're here! We're here!"
"Everypony who is visiting Manehattan, get off of the train and enjoy your time here," All Aboard spoke. "Everypony who is going to Ponyville, come on this train and give me your tickets."
Sassaflash and her friends gathered their luggage and stepped off the train. As soon as the other passengers stepped off of the Friendship Express, other ponies walked inside.
Suddenly, Lyrica walked up to Sassaflash and her friends. "Excuse me young mare, but are you Sassaflash?"
"Yes," she answered Lyrica.
"I feel so sorry for you," Lyrica told Sassaflash. "That wicked, selfish mare Lightning Dust has accused you and your friends for nothing! She gave me one of those t-shirts, but I rejected it. Canterlot has a strong belief in you, Sassaflash. We are angry at that Lightning Dust that she possibly disrupted next month's Grand Galloping Gala."
"Does anypony over here in Manehattan believe us?" asked Medley.
"I overheard some ponies talking about you when I was walking near the train station," answered Lyrica. "They seemed to be also upset about Lightning Dust. Therefore, I think that Manehattan also has a strong group of ponies who believe you."
"That's great," answered Sassaflash.
"So long," concluded Lyrica.
She walked away from the train station. Sassaflash and her friends were dragging their luggage on the ground as they started to explore Manehattan's streets.
"There's the Statue of Harmony!" pointed out Cloud Kicker.
The Statue of Harmony was built to honor the first defeat of Discord many moons ago. Apparently Manehattan believed this was a very important event, which it was anyway.
"We're going to check into a hotel soon," Sassaflash informed her friends.
"Which hotel exactly?" asked Flitter.
"The Four Trees Hotel," answered Sassaflash.
Sassaflash and her friends hopped in a taxi cart. "We're heading to the Four Trees Hotel."
The young stallion started to pull the cart in the busy, bustling streets of Manehattan. All around them, ponies were seen rejoicing at the sight of Sassaflash and her friends.
"We believe that you and your friends are innocent!"
Within fifteen minutes, the taxi cart arrived at the Four Trees Hotel. The stallion stopped walking and let Sassaflash and her friends get off of the taxi cart. They got off on 54 Neigh Street, the street on which the hotel was located. Sassaflash and her friends stepped inside, with their luggage handles in their mouths, dragging their suitcases behind them.
A bellhop pony was behind the front desk as Sassaflash and her friends entered the hotel.
"Hello," he greeted them with a smile, "what may I help you with?"
"We are staying here for one night," answered Sassaflash.
"That would be seventy bits to cover all of you," the bellhop pony told them.
He handed Sassaflash a room key. "Your room is room 23 on the second floor. To get to your room, you'll have to get on our new and improved dumbwaiter."
The bellhop pony pointed to the dumbwaiter that was across the room. "So, you're leaving tomorrow morning?"
"Yes," answered Sassaflash, "at ten o'clock."
"Enjoy your stay," the bellhop pony spoke.
Sassaflash and her friends walked across the main lobby and got inside the dumbwaiter with their luggage. She held the robe between her hooves and began to hoist it up. A few minutes later, the dumbwaiter was on the second floor. Sassaflash and her friends climbed outside and walked to find room 23. A few rooms down, near a window on the side of the hotel, was room 23. Sassaflash grabbed the room key and unlocked the door. She and her friends walked inside their hotel room with their luggage.
"Wow," exclaimed Medley, "the hotels here are really posh!"
"Make sure not to mess up everything," warned Sassaflash. "We are in Manehattan , not Ponyville. We want to impress the employees here."
Suddenly, everypony's stomach's growled at once.
"Where should we eat?" asked Dizzy Twister.
"Maybe Down To Earth took flight in other areas of Equestria!" Cloudchaser exclaimed. "We could see if there is a café here."
"It's worth a try," spoke Flitter.
Sassaflash and her friends left their luggage inside their room. She grabbed the key to their room and put it in her saddlebag. They exited room 23 and got inside the dumbwaiter. A few minutes later, Sassaflash and her friends were back in the main lobby.
"Going somewhere for lunch?" the bellhop pony asked.
"Yes," Sassaflash told him.
"Okay. You six have a nice meal!"
Sassaflash and her friends exited the Four Trees Hotel and started across 54 Neigh Street. After six minutes of walking, something caught Cloudchaser's eye.
She gasped. "C-could it be..."
It was another Down To Earth café, like the one in Ponyville, except this particular café in Manehattan was larger.
"Well, it's not like this stomach can feed itself! Let's head in there!"
Sassaflash and her friends entered the Down To Earth café.
Another pony hostess stood at the desk. "Greetings! Hey, aren't you Sassaflash?"
"Yes," Sassaflash replied.
"So, six ponies?" the hostess asked. "You'll be going to table eleven. Follow me."
Sassaflash and her five friends followed the hostess mare to table eleven. They sat down at the table. They ordered their food, and the hostess pony galloped to the kitchen once she got the orders from them.
"I'm excited to see the rest of Manehattan!" Cloud Kicker spoke excitedly. "I've- I mean, we've never been here! It's pretty huge, which means we can explore so much!"
"Yup," agreed Dizzy Twister, "so much to explore."
"I love this place so much!" Cloudchaser commented. "I'm glad they took my advice! Maybe I can work at the Down To Earth café back in Ponyville on the days that I am off from the Cloudsdale Weather Factory."
"Well," Sassaflash replied, "you won't be getting back to work if we don't convince enough ponies that we are innocent!"
"We might already have enough support," Flitter commented. "You never know."
Apparently a few minutes had already passed. The hostess mare came out with the food at table eleven.
"Here's your food. Be careful, the coffee is very hot! I've also heard a lot of ponies from different tables talking about you. I think that nopony in Manehattan believes that liar Lightning Dust anymore! Good luck!"
The hostess mare dashed off to go to another table. Sassaflash smiled at her success.
"Looks like we really are going to convince a lot of ponies after all."
"I say that we just stay in Ponyville for the rest of the month after we leave Manehattan tomorrow," suggested Medley.
"I think that we should just eat our food right now!" spoke Dizzy Twister.
Cloudchaser and Flitter sipped their coffee and ate their salad. Dizzy Twister, Cloud Kicker, and Medley sipped their hay soda and ate their breadsticks. Sassaflash sipped her apple juice and ate her salad and breadsticks. After they finished eating their food, the hostess pony came by their table again.
"Finished yet?"
"Yes," answered Sassaflash.
"I'll get your bill," the hostess pony told Sassaflash.
She sped off, and came back with the bill for table eleven. Sassaflash glanced at the bill for the meal.
"Hmm," she softly spoke, "76 bits. Not bad."
Sassaflash placed her hard-earned bits on the bill. The hostess pony collected the bill and spoke kindheartedly:
"So long! Hope you six enjoyed your meal!"
It was seven o'clock p.m, and Sassaflash and her friends were back in their hotel room.
"What a fantastic day!" shouted Cloud Kicker. "We got to go inside the Statue Of Harmony!"
"Yup," Medley spoke to herself, "we got to go."
"I say we go to bed!" Dizzy Twister added.
Sassaflash yawned. "Yup. We're going back to Ponyville tomorrow, so we have to get plenty of rest."
"But there's no rush," Cloud Kicker commented, "right, Sassaflash?"
"Yeah," Sassaflash responded. "We'll just get breakfast at my house tomorrow."
"I think it would be more like brunch," commented Flitter.
"I agree with Dizzy Twister," Cloudchaser spoke. "Let's get to bed!"
Sassaflash, Medley, and Dizzy Twister pulled up the sheets of the first bed in the room to sleep in. Cloud Kicker, Cloudchaser, and Flitter pulled up the sheets of the second bed to sleep in. Sassaflash turned off the lights in the room before she climbed into the bed. Medley and Dizzy Twister followed her into the same bed. Cloud Kicker, Cloudchaser, and Flitter climbed into the second bed.
"Good night!" spoke Sassaflash.
"Good night!" replied her friends.
Sassaflash and her friends immediately fell asleep.
Three hours later, the Friendship Express train pulled into the Ponyville train station. All Aboard stopped the train and let the passengers get off. Sassaflash and her friends slowly rose up out of their seats and grabbed their luggage. They got off of the train, letting other passengers get off too.
"All ponies who are heading to Canterlot, board this train!" shouted All Aboard.
Sassaflash and her friends slowly flew in the sky, making sure they didn't drop their luggage during their flight. When her house could be seen, Sassaflash landed on the cloud where her house was. She took her house key out of her saddlebag and unlocked the door. She entered her house, her friends following her. Sassaflash closed the door behind her.
"Can we go back to our houses tomorrow?" asked Dizzy Twister.
"Yes," replied Sassaflash, "and make sure to bring your luggage back with you."
Sassaflash went into her kitchen. "So, who wants pancakes and scrambled eggs?"
"Ooh! Ooh!" an excited Cloud Kicker spoke. "I do! I do!"
"Fine with me," replied Medley.
"I guess that's a yes," Sassaflash spoke. "I guess you all want to drink milk?"
"Yes, Sassaflash," replied Dizzy Twister.
Sassaflash carefully cracked an egg on the skillet. She turned on the heater, and the egg started to sizzle. Gripping the skillet handle with her teeth, Sassaflash carefully flipped the egg whenever the latter action was needed. In two minutes, the egg was fully cooked. Sassaflash carefully maneuvered the skillet to drop the egg on a plate.
"Whomever is going to eat this egg, you can just scramble it with a fork."
A few more minutes later, Sassaflash finished cooking the rest of the eggs and all of the pancakes. She took a carton of milk out from her fridge and carefully poured out milk into six glasses.
"Breakfast is served."
Sassaflash got out of the way so her friends could grab the plates of food she had prepared for them. When there was only one plate and glass of milk remaining, she grabbed the plate and glass of milk and headed to her kitchen table. She sat down in a chair and scrambled her egg with a fork.
"Yum!" shouted Cloud Kicker. "You make the best blueberry pancakes!"
"I guess these taste pretty great," Flitter commented.
"Down To Earth makes pretty good pancakes too," Cloudchaser added. "Who would ever forget about Down To Earth? It is the best café chain in Equestria!"
"I thought we already had this discussion!" Flitter spoke with an annoyed tone.
"Do you not like it anymore or something?" responded Cloudchaser.
"Please don't argue in here," Medley spoke. "This is Sassaflash's house . You don't want to upset her, do you?"
"I guess," responded a disappointed Cloudchaser.
"Sometimes I still wonder why she loves that café so much," commented Dizzy Twister.
After Sassaflash and her friends finished eating breakfast, Sassaflash gathered the empty plates and glasses and put them in her sink.
"I'll wash them later."
"Boy, am I stuffed!" Cloud Kicker spoke. "Hadn't it been for me, you still would've had that surplus of blueberry pancakes!"
"I made a surplus just in case anypony else wanted any," Sassaflash informed Cloud Kicker.
"Yeah!" Flitter spoke. "I could've had another helping hadn't it been for your rambunctious hunger!"
"Let's not argue here," Medley quietly spoke, "we're visiting Sassaflash's-"
A knock could be heard at Sassaflash's door.
"Who could that be?" Sassaflash though out loud.
"I don't know," Dizzy Twister shouted, "just see who it is!"
Sassaflash opened the door, and in walked Sunny Rays.
"I think I might have more evidence to prove your innocence."
Sunny Rays walked into Sassaflash's house. She came into here for a reason, but for what?
"I saw what happened while you were sleeping, Sassaflash."
"You saw what Lightning Dust did while I was asleep?" asked Sassaflash.
"Yes," answered Sunny Rays, "although I will tell you later. I will make the most of this visit as I can."
"Please," Sassaflash replied, "do come in."
Sunny Rays walks a little bit more into Sassaflash's house and shuts the door. "Lovely weather we're having here...despite us being let off work until we find out who really stole the electric division's machines."
Sassaflash growled. "Ugh. I've been through this for too many times already! Lightning Dust is the pony who stole the machines!"
Sunny Rays glanced out of the window in the house. "Yeah, but I figured she wouldn't be that defensive about it. I mean, I saw the whole thing right before my eyes!"
"Can you tell me what you saw?" Sassaflash asked Sunny Rays.
"Yeah! I wanna know what you saw!" Cloud Kicker excitedly spoke.
"Okay."
Sunny Rays cleared her throat and began to speak...
"That one day, in the very early morning, I woke up at a very early time. I don't know exactly why I did, but I just got up at that time for some reason. I wanted to go check out the Cloudsdale Weather Factory to see how it was doing. So, I flew out of my house and towards the factory. Suddenly, I saw this silhouette of a pegasus mare flying towards where the electric division was. I flew near the cloud where the latter factory was built on and I hid under it to watch this pegasus mare."
"She flew in the electric division, and a few minutes later, I heard a clinking noise and banging. There even was an explosion in the latter division! Immediately after that, I heard electricity buzzing and a yelp. I heard the sound of hooves walking on the ground two minutes after the yelp. I assume that was you, trying to make sense of this. The pegasus mare silhouette then flew out of the electric division, and I heard how distraught you were."
"We already have that evidence," Sassaflash told Sunny Rays. "Do you have any more?"
"Well," Sunny Rays began, "if you were to take a closer look at the silhouette, assuming that it was Lightning Dust, something didn't quite match up."
"What does she MEAN?! " Cloud Kicker shouted with confusion.
"I mean, if you took a look at the shadow, the shadow was different. "
Sassaflash's heart dropped. Oh no. she thought worriedly. What if she really didn't do it after all? What if it was a different pegasus all along? I'm doomed. My friends are doomed. I'm going to lose my job, the best job in all of Equestria.
Sassaflash began to silently cry. Sunny Rays walked over to her.
"Don't be sad, Sassaflash."
"I have every reason to be sad!" wept Sassaflash. "I'm going to lose my job! They're going to lose their jobs! All because of a simple misjudgment, everypony who ever worked at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory is going to LOSE THEIR JOBS! "
Sassaflash threw her body onto the floor and wept very loudly.
"It's okay, Sassaflash," comforted Medley. "We have three weeks left before the month is over."
"But what if we don't find the culprit in time?" Sassaflash wept, still with her head on the hardwood floor of her house. "We could all be in trouble!"
Sunny Rays hushed Sassaflash. "Sassaflash, you don't understand."
"What do you mean ?" wept Sassaflash.
"Way back in June," Sunny Rays began, "when I was getting ready to work at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory for the day, I overheard Lightning Dust, who happened to be flying in the sky near the factory that day, talking to herself about how much she hated you and your friends, Sassaflash. She vowed to herself that she would get revenge on you one day."
"And what happened a few days ago," Dizzy Twister realized, "was her form of revenge?"
Sassaflash stopped crying and got on her four hooves again. "So, you're saying that she was wearing some sort of disguise when she stole the electric division's machines?"
"That's my hunch," replied Sunny Rays. "And to prove my little hunch, you're going to have to speak to Lightning Dust herself."
"But how will we find her?" asked Flitter.
"She's still probably in Ponyville," Sunny Rays told Flitter, "convincing ponies to believe her along the way."
"Then we've gotta find Lightning Dust!" exclaimed Cloud Kicker.
"We'll put away our luggage later," Medley commented.
"I'll go home," Sunny Rays told Sassaflash.
"We'll tell you whenever we can how the talk with Lightning went," Sassaflash told her.
Sunny Rays left Sassaflash's house.
"Let's goooooo!" Cloud Kicker exclaimed very loudly.
Sassaflash and her friends left the house shortly after Sunny Rays left.
"Lightning Dust? Where are you? We only want to speak with you!"
Sassaflash and her friends were busy scouring the streets of Ponyville for Lightning Dust. Perhaps she knew this would eventually happen to her, so she hid somewhere. But where could she hide?
"Has anypony seen Lightning Dust around here?" Sassaflash asked Carrot Top.
"The last time I saw her," Carrot Top told Sassaflash, "she fled somewhere. I don't know where, but she galloped away to your left."
"Thanks for the directions."
"Anytime, Sassaflash," replied Carrot Top. "Anytime."
Sassaflash and her friends galloped as fast as they could to their left. All they saw were food stands and...an alley? Could this be where Lightning Dust is?
"Let's look in that mysterious alley," Medley suggested to Sassaflash.
"Ooh, scaaaryyy!" Cloud Kicker spoke.
"Stop being so," Dizzy Twister told Cloud Kicker, "nutty ."
"Nutty?" Cloud Kicker began, "Nutty? I don't tell you how to live your life!"
Sassaflash facehooved herself. "I know that we have to be serious during this, but I didn't say that we have to argue with anypony during it! We are probably about to speak to Lightning Dust, so lets all be calm."
"Sorry, Cloud Kicker," Dizzy Twister apologized to Cloud Kicker.
"It's okay," Cloud Kicker replied. "You're one of my best friends."
Sassaflash and her friends started towards the alley. Immediately after they stepped into the alley, everypony had a feeling of dread.
"W-why would Lightning Dust go here ?" asked a nervous Flitter.
Just a Bolt of Lightning in The Dark Part I
Sassaflash and her friends cautiously walked down the alley. Trashcans were literally everywhere around them. It was also very dark, with rats skittering around Sassaflash and her friends sometimes.
"Hello? Lightning Dust? Are you here?"
Sassaflash's call echoed off the walls of the alley. Water started to drip onto Cloudchaser's head from the roof of a house.
"That feels very cold!"
Cloudchaser shivered as Flitter helped her get back on the path of the alley. Suddenly, the sound of water splashing could be heard.
"Lightning Dust?" Sassaflash called out. "Is that you?"
"You're going to have to find out..."
The sound of laughter could be heard all around Sassaflash and her friends. They backed up against a wall of the alley as the sound of laughter echoed all around them, taunting them to find the cause of it.
"I think that's Lightning Dust alright..." a shivering Medley told Sassaflash.
"We're not giving up," Sassaflash spoke determinedly, "not yet. "
Sassaflash got off from the side of the wall and motioned to her friends to follow her. When they also finally got off from the side of the wall, they started to follow her in the seemingly endless alley. After about two minutes of walking, they suddenly stopped in their tracks.
"What is it, Sassaflash?" Flitter asked Sassaflash. "Who or what do you see?"
Sassaflash pointed to the silhouette of a pegasus mare standing on top of a dumpster. She leaped off and started to slowly walk towards Sassaflash and her friends. Walking towards the lighter area of the alley, the pegasus mare silhouette was revealed to be none other than Lightning Dust herself.
"I knew you were coming here, Sassaflash."
"You don't need to taunt us, Lightning Dust," Sassaflash bravely told Lightning Dust. "We knew that you stole the electric division machines the entire time."
"You're right, Sassaflash," replied Lightning Dust to Sassaflash. "I in fact did steal the machines. I don't even feel the tiniest bit sorry for anypony. I guess they'll have to cancel the Grand Galloping Gala after all."
"Sunny Rays," Medley began, "however, did tell us that you were wearing some sort of disguise when you were stealing the machines from the electric division."
"You mean Scarlet Rose?" Lightning Dust asked Medley. "She's my disguised self in anything and everything. I posed as her to get back into the Wonderbolts Academy, to start fresh with dating somepony, and to work in the cloud division at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory."
Lightning Dust glared at Sassaflash menacingly as Sassaflash gasped.
"I can see it now!"
She walked over to a sky blue pegasus mare with auburn eyes and a sleek, red mane.
"Um, excuse me," Sassaflash asked the pegasus. "I'm the Electricity Production Supervisor for the electric division of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. What division are you working in?"
"The cloud division," the pegasus replied with a flat voice. She walked away to the cloud division building soon afterwards.
After that flashback in Sassaflash's mind, Lightning Dust began to walk in circles around Sassaflash and her friends.
"So? What are you gonna do now? " she taunted to Sassaflash and her friends. "You might as well give up and let me 'win'."
"We're not gonna back down without a fight!" Cloudchaser yelled in defense of her friends.
"Ooh!" Lightning Dust taunted. "Looks like somepony wants to, y'know, give up! "
Lightning Dust flew up so high in the air that she was above the dark alley. She then flew down, divebombing Cloudchaser. Cloudchaser got up, but her wings were twitching.
"Ouch," she whimpered. "You injured my wings."
"Ready to give up?" Lightning Dust replied.
Inside Sassaflash, her emotions, which seemed like they were sealed in a bottle of pop, were about to explode and fizz everywhere. Sassaflash growled like an angry dog defensive of his territory.
"What's that?" Lightning Dust asked Sassaflash. "Did I hurt your friend? Oopsies! "
Suddenly, Sassaflash finally snapped. "You do not go around living your life while hurting and manipulating other ponies along the way! You hurt one of my most trusted friends, and for that, my friends and I will report you to Cumulo Nimbus! THREE WEEKS EARLY! "
"That won't be as easy as you could imagine," a smug Lightning Dust replied.
"How?" a confused Cloud Kicker responded.
"You'll have to chase me in order to get true justice," Lightning Dust replied.
Sassaflash growled very loudly. "Well, I'm gonna-"
Lightning Dust was gone. Sassaflash turned around to speak to her friends.
"Let's go chase down Lightning Dust! Flitter, you're going to help Cloudchaser fold her wings in properly without injuring them any further! Medley, Dizzy Twister, and Cloud Kicker, you follow me at your own pace!"
Sassaflash and her friends began galloping to chase down Lightning Dust in the dark alley.
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Just a Bolt of Lightning in The Dark Part II
Sassaflash's heart was rapidly beating as she and her friends continued to pursue Lightning Dust. How could she just divebomb Cloudchaser like that? she angrily thought. She deserves to be hunted down and turned in to Cumulo Nimbus for her crimes!
"Has anypony seen Lightning Dust yet?" Dizzy Twister asked.
"Not yet, Dizzy Twister," replied Medley. "We still have a long way to go before we find Lightning Dust. Besides, she could have just fled out of the alley altogether."
"We're not giving up now," Sassaflash told Medley, "just you wait, Medley."
Sassaflash and her friends continued to run at top speed as they continued to run through the dark alley. Suddenly, they hit a dead end.
"By Star Swirl's beard!" cried Cloud Kicker. "This alley's like a maze!"
"Why do you think I decided to go here?" a voice spoke.
"That's Lightning Dust!" exclaimed Cloudchaser. "Let's hurry now. I really need to go to the hospital so Nurse Redheart can bandage my injured wings!"
"I hope that you can still make it to the gala," Flitter told Cloudchaser.
"The Grand Galloping Gala's next month!" replied Dizzy Twister. "Of course she's gonna make it! It doesn't take that long for a pegasus's wings to heal."
Sassaflash and her friends turned around and went another direction in the dark alley. Suddenly, they came to a stop. A row of trashcans blocked their way. To solve that, Cloud Kicker bucked the trashcans over, creating a passageway for Sassaflash and her friends to walk through. They continued to pursue Lightning Dust.
"What makes you think I'm gonna give up?" her voice taunted.
"What makes you think we'll give up?" replied Sassaflash.
Sassaflash and her friends kept running and running until they got to the end of the alley. Sassaflash looked around for Lightning Dust, until...
BAM! Lightning Dust knocked out Sassaflash and dragged her away into the alley.
Cloud Kicker gasped. "There must've been another path in the alley this entire time!"
"First, Lightning Dust injured my wings," Cloudchaser began, "and now she knocks out Sassaflash? I really hate her now!"
"Let's go give that Lightning Dust a piece of our minds!" exclaimed Flitter.
Medley, Dizzy Twister, Cloud Kicker, Cloudchaser, and Flitter ran into the alley and turned left, where they saw Lightning Dust with an unconscious Sassaflash. Medley stepped forward and said:
"Why must you do these terrible things?"
Lightning Dust just replied:
"I'm too cool to give up."
"Why did you injure my friend Cloudchaser's wings like that?" Flitter asked Lightning Dust. "There must be some reason why you decided to do that to her."
"Also, why did you knock my best friend Sassaflash unconscious?" Cloud Kicker asked Lightning Dust.
"First of all," Lightning Dust began, "I saw Cloudchaser as a threat. I thought that she would help you guys out by cutting me off and turning me in to the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. But my coolness prevented that, so I divebombed her and I injured her wings on purpose. Second of all, I knew that Sassaflash would try to do the same thing that Cloudchaser was about to do. So, I knocked her unconscious. Just like that."
Slowly Sassaflash began to wake up. "Oh...my head hurts. Medley, am I okay-"
"No," Medley replied, "you are not okay. Lightning Dust tried to cut us all off by taking you down."
"How could you!" Sassaflash burst out at Lightning Dust. "You injure Cloudchaser's wings, and you knock me out? You deserve to tell all of this to Princess Celestia!"
Suddenly, a tear rolled down Lightning Dust's face. "No...no, no...It can't end like this..."
Lightning Dust flopped down on the floor of the alley and started to cry.
"Can we turn you in to the Cloudsdale Weather Factory then?" Medley asked Lightning Dust. "We won't tell anypony else what happened today. We'll just say that Cloudchaser injured her wings in a flying accident."
"Yes! Please!" Lightning Dust retreated. "I'll do anything to not go in front of Princess Celestia!"
"Then let's head to the Cloudsdale Weather Factory!' exclaimed Sassaflash.
"Hey!" Cloudchaser yelled. "You're forgetting about my injured wings!"
"Right after Cloudchaser gets her wings bandaged," Sassaflash added.
It was just another normal day for Sassaflash. Some ponies called her "Sassy Sassaflash". She had been known to sass ponies, but that was all in the past now. Now, in the present, Sassaflash has a job at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. She worked in the electric division of the factory, producing electricity for Equestria from the energy of lightning bolts. She had gotten pretty high in the world of work, and is now the Electricity Production Supervisor. She earns 45 bits a day, too.
Sassaflash had just gotten out of bed.
"Oh no! I'm going to be late for work!" she shouted.
Sassaflash had no time to waste. She got up out of bed, and put on her uniform; it consisted of a navy blue shirt and a cool yellow skirt. On the shirt was the engraving of a lightning bolt, and under the symbol were the letters "EPS" to represent her job. Today was a big day; Equestria needs more power than ever now. The Grand Galloping Gala was two months away, and the latter event was known to use a lot of lights. Lights require electricity, and electricity is produced in the Cloudsdale Weather Factory.
"Hopefully I'll be able to create enough power to supply Equestria for the rest of the year," Sassaflash told herself.
Suddenly, she remembered the other reason today was such a big day: there were new employees today. About twenty new faces were going to show up at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, and five of those newbies were going to start working at the electric division. It was Sassaflash's job to hold a tour today for the new employees of the division and explain the same history of the division she's told over twenty times. New employees always started their first day on the job on a Friday. She had to make a good first impression on the newbies today.
As Sassaflash arrived at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, she already saw some ponies she didn't recognize at all. First things first, I need to figure out who will be in the electric division. Sassaflash thought. She walked over to a sky blue pegasus mare with auburn eyes and a sleek, red mane.
"Um, excuse me," Sassaflash asked the pegasus. "I'm the Electricity Production Supervisor for the electric division of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. What division are you working in?"
"The cloud division," the pegasus replied with a flat voice. She walked away to the cloud division building soon afterwards.
Sassaflash knew she had to get her group together in order to start producing electricity for the day. Finally, she found a small group of six pegasi clustered near the electric division building.
"Oh my gosh! It's Sassaflash!" a mint green pegasus mare with cyan eyes and a turquoise mane shouted.
"I'm guessing that all of you are my tour group," Sassaflash spoke to the pegasi.
"It wasn't too hard to find everypony who was new to working in the electric division," a brown pegasus stallion with orange eyes and a blonde mane told the latter Electricity Production Supervisor.
"Alright, everypony! This must be our tour group. Let's take some time to introduce ourselves. I'm Sassaflash, the Electricity Production Supervisor of the electric division of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory," Sassaflash spoke with a professional-sounding voice.
The mint green pegasus mare replied: "I'm Tea Leaf. My friends just call me TL."
The brown pegasus stallion replied: "Grand Gruff."
A yellow pegasus mare with pink eyes and a forsythia mane replied: "Carnation."
The three remaining pegasus mares, the first one orange, the second one lime green, and the third one espresso, each with the same auburn eyes and ponytailed, cream manes shouted: "Citrus, Limelight Lime, and Decaffie!" in unison.
"All right, everypony!" Sassaflash shouted in glee. "Let's go inside the building!"
The small group of seven pegasi (including Sassaflash herself) went inside the building. To the Electricity Production Supervisor herself, she was used to these surroundings. To the new employees, however, these surroundings were entirely new and astonishing. A tube in the ceiling looped down into a machine with vacant space inside.
"Welcome to the electric division of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, the place you will work for this day forward! I'm Sassaflash, as I introduced earlier."
Tea Leaf raised her hoof to say something, but was quickly interrupted by the tour guide Sassaflash.
"You are probably wondering what this machine is. This machine is where all of the energy from the lightning bolts go. But, I'm afraid that we'll have to get to that later. There is more to collecting electricity than just simply dumping it in a machine."
"Aww, feathers!" Citrus, Limelight Lime, and Decaffie shouted in unison.
"I think it is kind of creepy that you three always speak at the same time. Can't you speak from your own mind for once?" Grand Gruff asked the three latter ponies.
"They could just be very close friends," Carnation replied. "You can't criticize them for that."
The seven pegasi walked to the area where there were the uniforms the employees of the electric division had to wear. They resembled Sassaflash's uniform, however, each uniform had a different, unique abbreviation under the lightning bolt insignia.
"Have any of you noticed how the abbreviations on each top of each uniform change as you look down each row?"
The six pegasi both nodded up and down.
"These abbreviations all represent your initial role in your workplace. 'JWP' for Junior Worker Pony, 'LP' for Leader Pony, and finally, 'EPS' for Electricity Production Supervisor. Any questions yet?"
Tea Leaf's hoof immediately shot up in the air. Her wings were flapping wildly in the air.
"Ooh! Ooh! Does this mean you are our boss?"
Sassaflash cleared her throat and opened her mouth to answer Tea Leaf's question.
"Yes, TL. I am your boss, but each supervisor of each and every division in the Cloudsdale Weather Factory has one, superior boss: Cumulo Nimbus."
Tea Leaf's hoof shot up in the air again.
"Ooh! What are all of the different divisions?"
Sassaflash quietly growled at the latter mint green pegasus.
"There's the cloud division, whom their respective 'CS' (Cloud Supervisor)s are Cloudchaser and Flitter. They are two of my friends. There's the tornado division. Their 'TPS' (Tornado Production Supervisor) is Dizzy Twister. She's also one of my great friends. There's the sun division, also. Their 'SS' (Sunlight Supervisor) is Cloud Kicker. She's on good terms with me. Lastly, there is the rain division. Their 'RPS' (Rain Production Supervisor) is Medley. She is also one of my many friends."
"Why do you have so many friends that work at each of the divisions at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, Sassaflash?" Carnation asked.
"All of us live in Ponyville, and all of us wanted to work somewhere here. Now, let's get on with the tour."
Sassaflash's tour group continued until they stopped at a row of small machines that looked like they were meant to be worn like saddles. A medium-size tube was protruding out of a hole on the side of the machine.
"Now, these are the machines that we use to collect the electric power of the lightning bolts. These machines were meant to be worn like saddles, as you can see. This machine, called the Zappertron 4000, acts like a vacuum. The cloud division will buck storm clouds over to you. If you see one or more lightning bolts come out of a cloud, you fly over to it. You turn on your Zappertron 4000, and it will suck them right up! When you think you've collected enough lightning bolts, fly up near the electric division building. Turn your Zappertron 4000 to reverse vacuum, take it off, and turn it upside down. Make sure you plug in the tube from the machine to the deposit tube! I can not stress this enough! Many of my workers have made this mistake before and it really messes up their manes! Literally! "
A silence that seemed to empower the building took place.
"Uh, alright..." quietly spoke Grand Gruff.
"Any questions? No? Okay, let's continue to back where we came from!"
The tour group finally made it back around to the large container with the tube protruding out of the top of it. Everypony's mouths opened wide again, looking very astonished. Sassaflash seemed very proud of this moment. They all seem just fine, she thought to herself.
"Okay! Now it is about time when I tell all of you the origin story of the electric division of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory!"
"Ooh! Yay!" Tea Leaf happily spoke while bouncing in place.
Sassaflash cleared her throat and began to speak to her tour group...
A long time ago, light could only be created from the magic of unicorns. Every town and city had unicorn vendors who would use their magic to create light inside a jar. To keep the light from escaping, they would put a lid on top of the jar, creating a dim, yet bright, soft glow.
One unicorn vendor one day named Spark decided he finally had enough. He resided in Canterlot who would sell lights to ponies for a living. He set out one stormy day to discover something called "electricity". Only Star Swirl the Bearded attempted to discover electricity, and he failed every time he tried.
Luckily, Spark succeeded in his mission to find electricity. He drained the power of a single, spiraling lightning bolt inside a jar to create electricity. After this discovery, news caught on to Cloudsdale. When the boss of a very small Cloudsdale Weather Factory (whom at the time was Cloudy Sky) caught wind of this news, an electric division was added to the factory alongside the cloud, tornado, sun, and rain divisions.
"Wow! I never knew that a unicorn discovered electricity!" a surprised Tea Leaf spoke.
Sassaflash looked at her astonished and excited new employees. Just the thought of them made her heart leap in joy.
"Now everypony, are you ready to get to work?"
All of the new employees responded with a hearty "Yeah! "
Sassaflash, Speech Writer
The light from the morning sun blared through the windows of Sassaflash's house and woke her up. Sassaflash yawned her usual, long yawn that woke up all of her friends.
"Speech, speech," she drowsily spoke.
Sassaflash's friends got up and sat on her bed.
"And you've got a 'speech, speech' to write!" Medley told a drowsy Sassaflash.
Sassaflash's ears perked up. "Then I've gotta go downstairs, then!"
Sassaflash dashed down her stairs and faceplanted on the floor on accident. Her friends giggled as their friend slowly got up on her four hooves again.
"Stop giggling! I only slipped because I was hurrying downstairs."
"Better get to writing that speech, then!" Cloudchaser and Flitter both smiled.
Sassaflash's friends got downstairs as Sassaflash herself got out five chairs. She arranged the chairs around her large, round table. Her own chair was seated already. "Now I'm gonna need some paper and a nice, sharpened pencil."
"On it!" saluted Cloud Kicker. She galloped quickly to a pile of paper and grabbed some paper with her wings. She grabbed a pencil with her mouth and galloped back to the table where Sassaflash was standing by. She took the pencil and papers and set them down on the table.
Sassaflash sat down on her chair, pencil in her mouth. She slowly began to write...
An hour later, Sassaflash was finished with writing her speech. She was so exhausted that she passed out on the floor. Medley walked over to her.
"Are you done with your-"
Sassaflash was spread out on the floor with her eyes closed.
"-speech."
There was a pervasive silence that filled the room.
"Did you finish your-"
"Yes!" Sassaflash answered loudly. "Yes I'm finished!"
"May I read it?" asked Medley.
Sassaflash nodded yes. Medley picked up the paper and started to read:
"Hello, citizens of Ponyville! I am Sassaflash, a pegasus who has been framed for a crime that I didn't commit. My friends have been framed for this, too. "
Medley continued to read the rest of Sassaflash's speech until she finally finished. "Wow, Sassaflash! What a good speech!"
Sassaflash blushed. "None taken. I did a really good job on it, don't you think?"
Sassaflash stood up on her four hooves again and folded her wings. Dizzy Twister walked next to her.
"Yeah, but we need to find a day to present that speech of yours."
"Maybe tomorrow," suggested Sassaflash. "I need some rest today after writing that long speech. I can't wait to deliver it to the citizens of Ponyville!"
"I'm sure everypony will like it," Medley complimented.
Cloud Kicker galloped into the room. "Of course everypony will like it! You're Sassaflash !"
To convey her message to her best friend Sassaflash, Cloud Kicker flew throughout Sassaflash's house. She landed on the hardwood floor with a thud.
"Cloud Kicker..." growled Sassaflash, "How many times have I told you to not fly in my house?"
"Sorry..."
Cloud Kicker got up again on her four hooves. Cloudchaser and Flitter both walked silently into the room. The sound of stomachs rumbling could be heard.
"Ooh," Flitter spoke, "looks like it's lunch time now."
"We can go out to Sugarcube Corner," Medley suggested.
"But they don't have a real meal!" Dizzy Twister responded.
"How about we go to that nice café called Down To Earth?" Cloudchaser suggested. "They've got the best food ever there!"
"Down To Earth it is!" Sassaflash spoke with confidence.
The pegasi exited Sassaflash's house and flew down to Ponyville. Immediately after they landed, everypony's heads turned to look at them.
"Get out of our town, you thieves!"
Sassaflash and her friends started to run away from an angry mob of ponies.
"Yup," Medley told a nervous Sassaflash, "they totally believe Lightning Dust."
"RUN! " shouted Cloud Kicker.
Sassaflash and her five friends flew in the air. They thought they were safe, until...
"Fly after them!"
A group of angry pegasi started to fly after Sassaflash and her friends. They kept flying like a mob of angry birds. They thought the pegasi would catch up to them, until...
"There's Down To Earth!" shouted Dizzy Twister.
Sassaflash landed safely on the ground in front of Down To Earth. Her friends landed safely after her.
"Quick! Inside!" shouted Cloud Kicker.
Sassaflash and her friends quickly entered the Down To Earth café. The angry pegasi were angrily knocking out the door.
"Come out, thieves!"
Sassaflash was panting. "Pheeeewwww! I thought we would be caught by those angry pegasi!"
There they were: Down To Earth. As the angry pegasi were still knocking angrily at the door, Sassaflash and her friends walked over to a table. The hostess greeted them with a smile.
"Hello and welcome to Down To Earth! How-"
The hostess mare noticed outside the angry pegasi.
"Do you know why they are here?"
Sassaflash glanced at her friends for a few quick seconds, then gulped.
"They're...ravenous with hunger?"
The hostess gasped. "Bring them inside! They'll love the soup of the day!"
Cloud Kicker walked outside and brought inside the angry, ravenous pegasi.
"Get them- OOH! COFFEE! "
The hostess took a glance at Sassaflash and her friends. "Now, where was I... Oh! How many ponies are with you today?
"Just six," answered Sassaflash.
"So, those other pegasi are at a separate table?" the hostess asked.
"Yup."
"Then I'll take you to table five. It has just enough seats for your party of six, including you!"
The hostess mare led Sassaflash and her friends to table five. They sat down in the very comfortable chairs, looking at their menus.
"Will you take our orders soon?" Dizzy Twister asked.
"Excuse me," the hostess replied, "I'll have to take care of these hungry, ravenous customers first."
The hostess left the table and went back to her main table.
"They must have a very strong support for Lightning Dust," Medley commented.
"You said it!" Cloud Kicker added. "They hate us so much, they were willing to chase us into a restaurant!"
"A café ," corrected Cloudchaser.
"How can we convince them," Sassaflash commented, "that we didn't steal the machines? There has to be some explanation as to why all of these ponies believe so strongly in Lightning Dust!"
"She gave me a free shirt that says 'Lightning Is Not Frightening' on it," the voice of a mare spoke.
"So she's giving everypony free shirts," Cloudchaser added, "to convince them to believe her?"
"That sounds like Lightning Dust, alright," added Flitter.
The hostess mare came back to table five.
"Excuse me as I lead these ponies over to table nine."
She quickly galloped over to table nine, the angry mob of pegasi following her.
"Well, she had to satisfy them somehow," spoke Medley.
An hour and thirty minutes later, the angry pegasi had left table nine. Sassaflash and her friends had finished eating their food.
"Color me surprised!" Dizzy Twister exclaimed. "The soup of the day was really good after all!"
A sick Cloud Kicker groaned. "My stomach feels like it is about to burst into pieces."
"You should've saved that food for later," Medley commented.
"This is why I love this place so much!" shouted Cloudchaser. "Every week I want to come back! The hostess even recognizes me, and the waiters know what I want!"
"She drags me here every week," Flitter added, "and they know me pretty well here too. I'm not saying I dislike it here, just I get tired of this place sometimes."
Cloudchaser's mouth went wide open. "Tired? Of this place? This is the best café in all of Equestria! I've tried asking the ponies who work here to turn this café into a chain of cafés, and every single time I ask them, they tell me that they're working on it! I'm so tired of waiting!"
Suddenly, one of the angry pegasi walked up to table five. "Hey girls. I'm sorry."
"Sorry for liking Lightning Dust?" asked Sassaflash.
"Yes," the pegasus mare responded, "I am. She was bribing us all to believe her. I now know that I don't believe her anymore. We were fooled. Deceived. Cheated. Now she's going to make ponies all across Equestria believe her for something that she clearly has done. She's a liar. I believe you girls now. I feel so sorry for believing Lightning Dust. When I was eating, my friends and I agreed that she deceived us all."
"Tomorrow I'm presenting a speech," Sassaflash added.
"Great! That'll make those ponies believe that you were innocent! See ya later!"
The pegasus mare, along with her friends, exited the café.
"Well, I'm pumped for this!" Cloud Kicker exclaimed.
"Remember, you are up there on that stage to support me," Sassaflash told Cloud Kicker. "Show them all your enthusiasm!"
"I'm great at that! " Cloud Kicker replied.
"Well friend," Medley told Sassaflash, "we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
A day later, Sassaflash was standing on a stage in the Ponyville Square. A podium was in front of her. Her friends were surrounding her, smiling. The night before, she had revised her speech with updated, fresh information. She was pumped for this moment.
"You can do it, Sassaflash!" Cloud Kicker whispered.
Mayor Mare stepped up on the stage. "Let's let Sassaflash deliver her speech now."
Mayor Mare stepped off the stage to let Sassaflash deliver her speech.
Several ponies were seen staring intently at Sassaflash. She gulped as she looked at the paper in front of her on the podium. She took a deep breath, and began to speak to the crowd in front of her:
"Hello, citizens of Ponyville! I am Sassaflash, a pegasus who has been framed for a crime that I didn't commit. My friends have been framed for this, too. Of course, there's always another side to a story like this. The pony who framed us for a crime we didn't commit was Lightning Dust. She selfishly bribed you all to believe her. Another pony told me that she was selling t-shirts with the design 'Lightning Is Not Frightening' on them."
"Now, I understand that you may say: 'But Sassaflash, t-shirts are COOL! ' T-shirts may be cool to you, but they aren't so cool anymore if they bribe you to believe somebody. Apparently Lightning Dust thinks that we were the thieves whom recently stole all of the machines in the electric division of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. Well, first of all, during our trial at the latter factory two days ago, Lightning Dust had slightly different and more vague evidence than we did."
"Second of all, she was very reckless and was willing to guard her opinions at any time. Third of all, she kept butting in when it was clearly our turn to state our sides of the heist and our objections to Lightning Dust's view of it all. I know that you may still not believe us, but if you do, don't buy any of Lightning Dust's t-shirts! If you still believe her, stop believing her and start believing us ."
On that note, Sassaflash and her friends slowly walked off the stage. What followed was applause from the crowd. Mayor Mare stepped up on the stage again.
"We are very pleased with hearing Sassaflash's speech. You may leave now."
As Sassaflash and her friends were walking away, she saw some of Lightning's old followers throw their t-shirts on the ground and stomp on them.
"What a big liar!"
Sassaflash started to flap her wings and fly in Equestria's big blue skies. Her friends were following after her.
"So," asked Medley, "where should we go next? What should we do there?"
"Pack your bags, girls!" Sassaflash announced. "We're going to Manehattan!"
It was morning, and the sun shone through the curtains. Sassaflash awoke first with a yawn. Her yawn woke up the rest of her friends.
"Hey! What gives?!" shouted a sleepy Cloudchaser.
"It's nine o' clock!" Sassaflash spoke. "If we don't want to miss the train, then we should get up!"
Cloud Kicker fell out of bed and onto the floor. "At least I'm up!"
"I was up first," corrected Sassaflash.
"Whatever, Sassaflash."
Medley, Dizzy Twister, and Flitter woke up. Sassaflash got of the bed she slept in recently and grabbed the room key and her luggage. Medley and Dizzy Twister stood up and got their luggage. The rest of Sassaflash's friends did the same.
"So, we're having breakfast at your place, right?" asked Dizzy Twister.
"Yup," Sassaflash replied.
Sassaflash and her friends exited room 23 and went inside the dumbwaiter. A few minutes later, they were in the main lobby of the Four Trees Hotel.
"Checking out?" asked the bellhop pony.
"Yup," replied Sassaflash.
Sassaflash gave the bellhop pony the room key and the seventy bits like she promised. Carefully gripping their luggage with their mouths, Sassaflash and her friends exited the Four Trees Hotel. A taxi cart seemed to be waiting for them as they got out onto 54 Neigh Street. Sassaflash and her friends went inside the taxi cart.
"To the train station," Sassaflash directed.
The young stallion quickly galloped from street to street until he finally pulled the cart to the train station. Sassaflash and her friends got off of the cart just as the Friendship Express train pulled into the train station. All Aboard stepped out.
"Everypony who is coming to Ponyville, give me your tickets to board this train!"
Sassaflash and her friends took out their tickets from their saddlebags and walked up to All Aboard. He got their tickets and let them inside the Friendship Express train. As soon as they boarded, other ponies were let inside. As soon as everypony boarded the train, All Aboard got back on the train.
"To Ponyville!"
All Aboard started the Friendship Express train. It slowly lurched forward and quickened its pace every few seconds.
"Can't believe we are already coming home," spoke Sassaflash.
She sighed. She was going to really miss Manehattan.
Sassaflash and her friends were in the Cloudsdale Weather Factory's meeting room with Lightning Dust. Cloudchaser had her wings bandaged. She tried to fold them in properly, but she yelped.
"Ouch!"
"Don't worry, Cloudchaser," reassured Flitter. "Just keep them open for as long as you like. When you want to try again with folding your wings properly, you could give it another try."
"Thanks Flitter," replied Cloudchaser.
Cumulo Nimbus walked into the meeting room. "You've gotten enough support already, it seems. You still have three weeks left to convince other ponies."
"We're already ready," Sassaflash told him. "Lightning Dust here apologized for everything she has done."
"I'm sorry..." whimpered a sorry Lightning Dust.
"I'll send in the other Cloudsdale Weather Factory employees," Cumulo Nimbus told Sassaflash and her friends.
A few minutes later, everypony was in their seats. Cumulo Nimbus cleared his throat:
"We are here to discuss who really stole the-"
"It was Lightning Dust!" Tea Leaf shouted.
Ponies all around Tea Leaf hushed her. Cumulo Nimbus glanced at the audience, then he glanced back down at the paper he had written.
"We are here to discuss who really stole the electric division's machines. However, it is three weeks too early. But, as the boss of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, I am free to make any decisions. It seems that more ponies have agreed that Sassaflash and her friends are innocent. Is this true, Sassaflash?"
Cumulo Nimbus glanced at Sassaflash, who was sitting in her desk. "Lightning Dust apologized to us earlier today in an alley that she stole the machines."
"Very well then. Lightning Dust, you are guilty of stealing the electric division's machines."
Lightning Dust hung her head in shame. Suddenly, Cumulo Nimbus cleared his throat and told her:
"However, I am not the boss of everything. You will get to choose your punishment."
"I want to be in the Junior Speedsters until I have learned my lesson," Lightning Dust told Cumulo Nimbus.
"Very well then," he replied. "I will tell the instructor of the Junior Speedsters to enroll you in their class until you have learned your lesson. We will replace the electric division's machines eventually. Everypony, you may leave."
As everypony started to leave, Cumulo Nimbus stood beside Sassaflash.
"You were very brave for stating what you have seen."
"Thanks boss," replied Sassaflash.
Cumulo Nimbus then turned to Lightning Dust.
"Are you ready to be in the Junior Speedsters?"
"I accept my punishment," a saddened Lightning Dust replied.
"May the Grand Galloping Gala go on!" Cumulo Nimbus bravely spoke.
Three weeks later, Sassaflash and her friends were walking towards the grand Canterlot Castle. They were invited to the Grand Galloping Gala! Cloudchaser stretched her now-healed wings.
"How are you wings feeling?" Flitter asked.
"Stop asking that!" Cloudchaser replied. "They are healed. Stop being such a worrywart."
Sassaflash and her friends entered the Canterlot Castle. Vinyl Scratch was putting on great music in the garden while Octavia and her band played nice, soothing classical music inside the castle. Suddenly, Princess Celestia walked up to Sassaflash.
"Sassaflash," she began, "I'm very impressed with how much electricity you've collected just for the Grand Galloping Gala."
"Thanks, Your Highness," replied Sassaflash.
"I now have some other ponies I need to talk to," Princess Celestia told Sassaflash. "See you later."
Princess Celestia gracefully walked away. Sassaflash and her friends walked to the snack table.
"Whaaaaat?" a disappointed Cloud Kicker spoke. "No nachos?"
"This is an elegant gala , Cloud Kicker," Dizzy Twister told Cloud Kicker, "not a birthday bash."
"I guess that means no hay soda either," Cloud Kicker sadly spoke.
"There's punch," Medley told Cloud Kicker.
Cloud Kicker walked up to the punch table and filled a glass with punch. She gulped it down, drop by drop. She burped, setting the glass back on the table.
"I say!" Fleur Dis Lee spoke.
After Cloud Kicker filled up on some more punch, Sassaflash and her friends, including that of Cloud Kicker, walked throughout the majestic Canterlot Castle. Suddenly, they saw somepony familiar: Lightning Dust. She walked slowly towards Sassaflash to talk to her.
"Sassaflash," Lightning Dust began, "I am so sorry. I don't know why I think I'm cooler than everypony else. I guess I just don't listen to my heart enough."
"You'll be fine," reassured Sassaflash. "Just don't mess up any at the Junior Speedsters camp, 'kay?"
"I'll make sure that everypony accepts me there," Lightning Dust replies. "Guess I'll be seeing you guys later."
Lightning Dust walked away without another word. Sassaflash turned to her friends to speak to them.
"I hope Lightning does fine in the Junior Speedsters without causing any trouble like she did just a few days ago."
"Don't worry Sassaflash," Medley tells her, "I think she'll be just fine."
"I want to check out Vinyl Scratch in the Canterlot Gardens now!" Cloudchaser suggested.
"Isn't her stage name DJ Pon-3?" asked a confused Flitter.
"Whatever," Cloudchaser replied.
Sassaflash and her friends head out together into the Canterlot Gardens, where Vinyl Scratch was putting on a song. Everypony was cheering for the latter DJ. Suddenly, Lightning Dust came outside too.
"I thought I could just have a real bash here too."
Sassaflash and her friends, along with Lightning Dust, began to dance with everypony else to Vinyl Scratch's song as the night truly seemed to last forever.
