Scarlet Mane's Diary, Entry 3: The Big Blast of Boomby Madame MintyChaptersExhortationExpositionExpeditionExecutionExhortationMoonbeam sat quietly at one of the many desks in her workshop, deep in thought. I see things other ponies do not. Things that leave marks no pony else recognizes. Only I have memories of events I would call unforgettable. Like that freshly cut grass the other day. Why? Why only hello Moonbeam how are you what? "What?" "I said hello," said Jelly Joy, "are you busy?" "No, not at all," she said, closing her diary which she insisted to call a journal and hiding it in a drawer. "Will you be busy for the next day or so?" "I don't think so, why—" "So I guess nothing stops you from going to Coltisle, right?" "No, but... why?" "To witness an epic event, which doesn't happen very often!" "Okay, sure, I could use a break," said Moonbeam. "What exactly is it?" "Well, it's mostly Blasting Boom who's making it all happen, so you could guess it's a construction thing." "Wouldn't that be boring?" "Boring? Have you ever been to Coltisle?!" "Actually, I just went there and back on my ferry," Moonbeam admitted. "I wasn't sightseeing." "Then I'm sure you'll like it! I need to go now, here's the schedule and all the details," Jelly Joy said, putting a small piece of paper on Moon's desk. "Bye bye Joy!" "Take care!" she said, "See you later alligator!" she added towards Chewer, Moonbeam's pet alligator. Moonbeam thought intensely for a few second and then got up and started to look around for a crayon picture of Chewer she saw Scarlet Mane drawing. She had found it on another desk. It was a cute white cat, with a black patch shaped like some kind of lizard, surely not an alligator though. She looked at Chewer again and saw an evident alligator. Glance at the picture - cat. Chewer - cat. Picture - cat. Oh well, it kind of fits... but Scarlet won't get a cutie mark for drawing, that's for sure, she thought. "Come here, you fwuffy wittle kitty!" Melody nodded rapidly, making her black homburg hat fall off. She obviously got used to it, as without losing a beat she caught it and put it back on. "Great, I knew you'd love to come!" said Jelly Joy. Melody made a gesture of beating dough. "Oh, you think Cinnamon Cream would go too?" She nodded again, then crossed her front legs, uncrossed, clicked her hooves and pointed at herself. "Okay, okay, I think there will be some space for them, but you should ask Boom about that, and fast. Her ferry leaves in less than an hour, next one is in six hours." Melody repeated the dough gesture. "Yeah, I'll go ask her, take care!" Cinnamon Cream was busy, focused on experimenting with a dozen of glass beakers filled with differently colored water, milk, oils and Celestia knows what else. Without pausing for a second she answered Joy's question. "I would really love to go, no jest, but I'm preparing to a contest," she said, "I think you should, too, for your own good." "Don't you worry about my preparations," Joy whispered theatrically. "I'm smart enough to worry about mine, it wouldn't be pointless if you'd care about thine," Cinny said, sticking her tongue out and grinning. "I'll win even if I lose anyway!" Jelly Joy exclaimed loudly, "and I don't care if it doesn't make sense," she added heartrendingly after a while and slightly frowned. "Go on then and smile, have fun in Coltisle!" "Suit yourself, take cake... I mean care!" And off she went, giggling at Cinnamon's silly rhymes. Jelly Joy went inside the Plum house, a vividly colored, narrow but tall, 4-story red brick building covered with flowering vines and with a different set of curtains in each window. It served the Plums as not only their home, but also as a laboratory for their fruit research. Seconds later, Nuddly jumped through an open window, fortunately on the base floor, then started hopping in a circle. "Yes, yes, yes," she yelled, "I'll finally see it! Woo!" "Just don't be late if you want to go by the first ferry, it leaves within half an hour!" "Woo! Yeah!" "Okay, I see you're completely occupied by being happy, I won't disturb. Take care," Jelly Joy said quietly. ExpositionMoonbeam sat at her desk after lying on a couch with Chewer, immersed in thought, and finally looked at the schedule that Joy left her. "First ferry in half an hour? I won't make it!" she said with disappointment to the kitten. He wasn't listening as he was busy napping on the couch again. I won't be able to make a tour! she thought. She discarded the leaflet and sighed deeply, supporting her head on crossed front legs. She glanced outside the window and saw a jolly, round bumblebee flying around. Unless... She walked towards a large trap door in a corner of her enormous, cluttered workshop and pulled one of many identical levers besides it. Heavy metal plates started to move aside to reveal an unparalleled darkness. She pulled another lever. Sparks shot from its base and within moments cold, bluish lights flickered in the blackness. Her eyes shone with happiness and her grin grew wider as an immense circle of a dozen antennas linked together with lighting arcs illuminated the even bigger vault in a stroboscopic manner. The egg-shaped machine covered with pipes and valves in an elaborate pattern sitting in the center of the chamber was surely very large, but the strong yet vibrating light made it difficult to see how far and how big it actually was. Moonbeam, however, knew exactly. She turned her head towards Chewer, squinted her eyes and said, "We're gonna need a bigger door!" Scarlet Mane stood on the station, observing the arrival of the ferry. It was moving rapidly, gliding on the water, spraying it all around and creating an incredibly long cloud. Only when it began to slow down she noticed it's not really shaped like a boat. Just a dozen legs wide but hundreds long, composed of several similar vessels dragged by a bit bigger one with a tall funnel blowing huge amounts of steam. When it slowed down enough to not disturb the water too much, Scarlet saw that it's not actually a boat at all, but rather a bizarre train of sorts. It was painted dark green with yellow decals and curly numbers on the sides of each ferry car with curved roof made of shining brass. Pony-sized metal cogs brushed each other slightly slower every moment. Finally the machine and the clanging of its gears against cogged rails stopped. Melody together with Jelly Joy boarded the first ferry this day. Through the big windows of a car with a big yellow two Scarlet saw them putting their baggage on the shelves. They waved towards her as the ferry started to accelerate just after a loud and long whistle. She was waving them back when Nuddly Plum ran to the station completely out of breath, an old-style camera with a tripod on her back. It was a while until she managed to talk. "Oh no, I'm late," she panted out the obvious. "You seem exhausted, did you run the whole way?" "Uh, ah, yeah, the packing took too long." "Um... I don't want to sound wrong, I mean, I'm just a unicorn, but why didn't you just fly?" Nuddly Plum stared at her in surprise for a minute. Scarlet Mane began to feel uncomfortable and tried to think what did she say wrong or weird. "I... don't know," Nuddly finally said, making Scarlet facehoof. "Want to go to Moonbeam for tea?" "Eh, why not... I won't wait here for five hours, herp derp!" Nuddly Plum pushed aside some vines which almost completely covered the wooden door. "Moonbeam Sparkle's "Clock, spark & steamworks," she read aloud a small inscription. "Oh, I didn't notice that before," said Scarlet Mane. "Well, Moonbeam isn't exactly proud of the name. See, the..." Nuddly broke off as the door opened suddenly and Moonbeam herself came out. "Stay there, Chewie, good doggy, Mal will take care of you!" she said towards the interior. "Excuse me," she added as she walked past them in a hurry, carrying a rather large linen bag on her horn. After exchanging glances they followed her cautiously and ended up on the workshop's backyard, a rather large and mostly empty field of dirt, maybe except for a big circular hole in the middle. There was a loud metallic clicking coming from it. The inside of the chasm was filled with dense white fog which completely obscured whatever lied within. It poured out, covering the whole area. The cloud slowly subsided, revealing a grand egg-shaped structure standing on six surprisingly thin supports, curled gracefully to the outside, the whole apparently made purely of brass covered with complex patters, all reminiscent of an enormous golden beetle. Nuddly Plum stared at the machine with total awe while Scarlet Mane began to circle it in fascination. Moonbeam, focused enough to ignore them both, took out a blueprint from her bag and unrolled it on the ground. She glanced at the paper, then the beetle, looking for any differences and writing them down in a notepad. She took out a registration plate with letters "MSPARQL" and winced at it, then went to the back of the machine and started to screw it on. "Did you build it all by yourself?" Scarlet asked. "Oh, not entirely," Moon said, making final turns of a screwdriver and pointed at the blueprint. "Malachite Glint helped in the construction and Sapphire May..." she stopped, noticing Scarlet's quizzical look. "Right, I don't think you know Sapphire, she's not from Maretown, I know her from Canterlot. She helped in the design. Excellent heat pipes." Scarlet's eyes got bigger. "Canterlot? You're that Sparkle?" Moonbeam mumbled something under her breath. "Oh, sorry, I didn't want to—" Scarlet said meekly. "I just don't want to hear anything about my cousin," Moonbeam cut her off. Scarlet just nodded silently. "Why don't you help me with this, you and Nuddly?" Moon added. "The list is in the notepad, take a look." Scarlet Mane got to attach some rubbery tubes inside the beetle's belly, Moon herself was busy putting together some brass pipes of wildly changing diameter while Nuddly Plum was instructed to install a ratchet and a pawl on a spring. "Put the ratchet on the right axle and the pawl on the left one," reminded her Moon. Nuddly looked at one of the parts, then the other without any sign of comprehension. She turned the circular thingy in the air, then scratched her head with the oblong, nearly rectangular one. Pawl. Pawwwl. Sounds like a round thing. Ratchet. Scratch-et... she thought deeply. "Must be it," she said gleefully as she put the circular part on the left axle. After every part was in place Moon started the machine's engine to let it warm up, walked to her bag and took out three pairs of enormous brown goggles and colorful, striped scarves and gave them to other ponies, putting them on herself as well. She got a white and purple one, while Nuddly Plum got white and blue and Scarlet was left with white and maroon. They packed all remaining things inside the beetle's trunk, along with Nuddly's camera. Moonbeam unfolded a step ladder which had wide rungs connected alternately on the left and right by brass beams, as a whole similar to a metal serpent zigzagging between square boxes. When it extended fully they finally boarded the craft. There were two seats in the second row and another one in the third. Scarlet and Nuddly sat together in the second row and while fastening their safety belts glanced at each other, wrapped in far too large scarves and wearing goggles that were almost the size of their heads and giggled simultaneously. The front seat was of the pilot's and so Moonbeam sat there, then pressed an unlabelled button, making the ladder fold rapidly with a loud rattle. "All strapped up?" Moon asked, looking at them with overexcitement all over her face. They promptly nodded and the aircraft started to rise together with the noise coming from the engine. "I'm curious!" she yelled after they were well in the air. "What?!" Nuddly replied. "Don't you get nervous that we're flying Maretown's first ever prototype of a non-pegasi-propelled heavier-than-air machine that wasn't even actually made until several minutes ago and of course completely untested?" "What?! I can't hear you!" Moonbeam looked back again and stared at Nuddly for a second. "What?!" ExpeditionAfter about fifteen minutes they saw a familiar sight on the horizon. Within five more minutes they were passing over the ferry. Amazed ponies looked from behind the ferry portholes, some of them so determined to glance at the aircraft that they foolishly stuck their heads through them just to be sprayed by the seawater. Through Nuddly's mind passed an idea of jumping onto the ferry, like in her favorite action stories. Melody, Jelly Joy and Blasting Boom were not afraid of getting a little wet and waved through the open windows. Airponies waved back and Moon accelerated again. The beetle flew steady for almost an hour. Ponies started to close in to their destination. Moonbeam lowered engine's speed. "Moonbeam to tower, approaching landing zone!" "What tower?" Scarlet Mane wondered. "Obviously Blasting Boom's," Nuddly Plum was quick to answer. "Never mind," mumbled Moon and then started to carefully execute her first landing maneuver. "Releasing undercarriage," she said as she pressed a button labelled coffee. The machinery was put into motion and its gears rattled as if doing a particularly difficult job. Suddenly, she felt a short vibration and the gears began to spin almost soundlessly and the whole aircraft started to tilt forward. "Uh-oh." "Did... did you just said what I think I heard?" Nuddly said with worry as Moon tried to pilot the vehicle with several levers and dozens of buttons, with slight reluctance even pressing the one labelled self-destruct she remembered to be responsible for releasing parachutes, but none of the controls worked. "Yes! I did!" she finally screamed back, "We are going to crash!" She tried to control the craft with magic, but as they have started to fall more and more rapidly, the airflow was so fierce she simply couldn't outmatch the forces involved. Everypony's eyes were as big as they could be. Suddenly, Nuddly felt something on her shoulder. "Meep!" she let out and looked around. It was Scarlet, paler than usual, wordlessly poking her, then waving her front legs like with wings. "Fly?" "Yes, fly!" Scarlet Mane shrieked with an incredibly high-pitched voice, "wi—wings, fly!" she added, stuttering in terror and waving even faster. They undid their safety belts and looked at Moonbeam, who was still attempting to keep the machine in the air. She gave up as she saw the massive skyscraper getting closer every moment and clutched Nuddly's leg. At the same time they landed heavily on the dirty ground, the golden beetle smashed against the pearly wall. Ponies looked up and watched as the aircraft still worked and tried to punch through the stone structure. "Boom's skyscrapper..." mumbled Moon. "Your aircraft..." added Nuddly. "Those—those are just things," said Scarlet, still shaking. "What matters is that no one got hurt." Small pieces of brass and stone debris fell down and cluttered the area. Unexpectedly an explosion shook the building and the machine seemed to dig itself in. Soon it disappeared inside and a monstrous boulder shot out. It flew directly at Moonbeam. Paralyzed with fear and disbelief, she just stood there as the pearly slab of stone closed in. She awoke from the stupor and tried to jump away, however knowing it's too late already, but she felt extremely heavy, like she was made of lead. As much as she disliked magic, she had to try everything. She focused all her willpower and she could clearly feel the energy flowing within her body, but it converged in the horn so sluggishly, she would never make it. The burden was so strong she couldn't even close her eyes and was forced to watch as the distance decreases. Surprised, she noticed it's decelerating, but it kept going. Its sharp edge finally touched the right lens of her goggles. A crack appeared and its branches grew almost imperceptibly, slowly crawling along the glass, producing an unbearable creak during a moment that felt like forever. Suddenly the sun seemed to disappear as everything got pitch black. Is this... afterlife? she thought. An immense flash of amber light illuminated the surroundings again and she saw the stone slab again, backing up gently. More and more debris started to rise from the ground, blocking the light, eventually letting only individual golden rays through. Moonbeam was completely bedazzled by the spectacle. One of the rays shone directly into her eyes, blinding her for a second and finally making her blink. When she opened her eyes, she was together with Nuddly Plum and Scarlet Mane, still inside the aircraft, landed on the outskirts of the dirty construction site of the intact skyscraper, which seemed now even prettier than before. "Felt like a rough landing," Nuddly said, "Carrie doesn't seem to be very moved, though," she added. "Did you see that? Did. You. See that?!" Moon asked, mouth agape. She started to look around in confusion, discovering that apparently Nuddly didn't see anything and Scarlet Mane actually fell asleep. She also noticed two approaching stallions in yellow hard hats, both looked almost exactly the same with their laurel green coats, rather long wedgewood blue manes and light gray eyes, but the left one being an earth pony with a hammer cutie mark, the right one - a pegasus with a welder on his haunch. She quickly took off her goggles and untangled from her scarf and jumped out of the aircraft, not even using the step ladder. Strangers' voices woke up Scarlet at last. "Hey, we saw something odd—" said the left stallion, "—and we rushed—" added the pegasus on the right before Moon cut him off abruptly. "Did you see the gleam?! You had to see the gleam, right? Orange! Bright! Magnificent! And, and—" she said, stopping as she saw their irritated looks. "Miss, the Gleam, as I gather your flying machine is called, is really nice and shiny and has nice passengers—" pegasus said, winking at Nuddly, who giggled, "—but this is a restricted area. Gleam can stay if you just cover it up with something, but no pony is allowed to be here for now, so let us escort you to a safe place," stallion finished, winking at Scarlet Mane, who blushed in response. While other ponies chatted on the side and got introduced to each other, Moonbeam took a dark gray tarpaulin sheet and Nuddly's camera out of the Moongleam's trunk and put the scarves and eye protection in. As she did so, she saw that her pair of goggles still has a big crack on its right lens. She just stood there, staring at it for quite some time, until the pegasus, apparently called Chase, cleared his throat loudly. "You should go to the viewing post if you want to watch the show later," said Buzz Graystone, the stallion. "We must stay here and make final preparations," added Chase Graystone, the pegasus, winking at Nuddly Plum again. Moon shook her head and followed other ponies outside the fenced area. They still had a couple more hours to said spectacle and, as planned, they began sightseeing. She couldn't stop thinking about what happened—or maybe what didn't—and as they passed a drinking fountain she dunked her head in the water without any warning, splashing some around and making Nuddly snicker and several passersby giving her a baffled look. As the whole Coltisle city was built by pegasi for pegasi, it was very obvious that others didn't have it easy even to get in. Most its inhabitants flew above the trio and not many ponies were walking on the streets. The only way up the half a mile high volcanic plateau in the very middle of Horseshoe Bay, other than flying, was to arrive by boat to a small outpost, often inaccessible due to tides, then walk the Spiral Tract which encircled the whole city several times under its hundreds of small waterfalls which froze during winter, forming a tunnel that was both windy and slippery. Not very long ago it all changed dramatically with the construction of Moonbeam's Coltisle ferry line, which could move not much slower than a cruising pegasus and was able to travel the distance from the mainland in just over two hours hours, compared to boat's day or sometimes two, without fear of crashing on the rocks. Another bit of help was from the Coltisle elevator system, which was quickly nicknamed Moonraiser which greatly pleased Moonbeam, mostly because the other alternative she saw was Sparklift. The sudden surge of new residents caused many changes in the city, including a glider rental service near the elevators. Transport carriages drove the paved roads back and forth. Moon quickly noted every crossroad was a roundabout and in the middle there was always a series of large spherical mirrors hanging on ropes from crossed banners which in turn were attached to the buildings in a diagonal manner. It seemed that every sphere was intended for a different airway level and allowed everypony to see what's behind the corner before entering the roundabout. Scarlet took notice of remarkably tall buildings, some of them with square, but most with hexagonal foundations, each one a spiral wrapped in clouds and made of pure white stone reminiscent of porcelain, all of them connected with aqueducting arches seemingly at random, some of which having holes that let small waterfalls form. Thin but tall walls of crystalline liquid fell into channels on each side of the pavement. Nuddly Plum was overjoyed by the sheer number of colorful air control banners, enormous wall paintings and various posters all around. There were so many that instead of reading some her eyes just quickly jumped from one poster to another. ExecutionAs they had to stop every few steps due to Nuddly photographing practically everything the time simply flew and they headed back to the landing site. Nearby there was a viewing post, not very fancy but looking very sturdy and as the anticipation grew Moonbeam started to regret she didn't actually read the leaflet, as she was unsure if she liked surprises. Melody greeted them in front of it and led them inside. Blasting Boom was already there, wearing steel protectors covered in partially stripped blue paint on her knees and shoulders. "Hiya!" she said cheerfully, "come on and find a good spot, everyone is here so the show is going to start in just a minute." "Where's Joy?" asked Moonbeam with a touch of concern in her voice as Jelly Joy was nowhere to be seen. "She's just connecting wires—oh, here she is," said Boom. "Hello!" greeted the pony in question through her clenched teeth which she used to drag some cords. Moonbeam wanted to ask what's the show about but felt right now it would be a silly question. I'll just wait and see in just a... Oh, who am I kidding? she thought and looked around. Finding a leaflet stack she took one the very moment Joy finally attached the wires to a large console. "All set!" Jelly Joy shouted, putting on her blue hard hat and diverting Moonbeam's attention from the leaflet again. Oh, probably lights... but it's not dark yet, thought Moon. Blasting Boom looked at the majestic pearly tower. "Shame, really," she muttered, making Moon's bewilderment grow manifold. "Everypony knows why we are here. This is a very delicate operation. It requires proper conditions. They won't be properer anymore, so let's do this!" she said, putting her blue steel hard hat on and flying away. Moon observed her flight closely. She started encircling the building and gaining speed and then slammed against it, making it shake. She backed away and kicked it again and again. Moonbeam's jaw dropped in surprise. At the same time Nuddly was far too overexcited, shooting photo after photo, Melody stomped her hoof in sync with each hit and Scarlet in turn closed her eyes every time there was a blast sound. Fortunately the distance to the tower was long enough to make the sound arrive a fair bit after each punch, so she didn't miss anything. After several hits the building still looked mostly untouched, but Blasting Boom was determined to prove that name suits her well. She rose to an incredible altitude, disappearing in the clouds, then dived down at a tremendous speed, causing a shock cone to form just the moment she struck through the pearly tower's roof. At the same time Jelly Joy was concentrated on a stopwatch and pressed consecutive buttons on her control panel at precise intervals, causing an explosion after explosion in perfect sync with Blasting Boom piercing through floors. Finally a dust covered pegasus flew out of the tower's front door followed by a large gray cloud. Joy pressed the last button there was, causing a series of small explosions at the base, making the building completely disintegrate. It promptly collapsed with a mighty roar and then vanished in a neat pile of rubble, revealing the Sun slowly setting behind. Scarlet Mane and Melody stomped her hooves on the ground in delight and admiration for the show while Nuddly Plum screamed unintelligibly and squeezed a pneumatic shutter release of her camera repeatedly, making happy and a bit goofy face with a wide grin and enormous eyes. Moonbeam clutched her head with her hooves and started to drool, stutter and look around nervously, then anticlimactically fainted. Moonbeam woke up with a paper cup on her horn and cold water on her face. "Oh hey, you're awake," she heard Jelly Joy's voice as she took the cup off, "are you alright?" "Maybe you should rest a bit," said Scarlet as Moon got up. "Am I going bonkers? One too many building collapsed for today," she replied. "It was a scheduled demolition after all," Nuddly said, rolling her eyes. "Oh, I was afraid you got hurt—you didn't, right? Great! Well, take care now," said Joy, "I have to go catch the ferry back to Maretown now," she added and waved goodbye. "I'll finally get to do a glider jump!" she yelled happily from some distance and disappeared behind yet another skyscrapper. Moonbeam sat on the floor. "I'm not in the mood to fly the... Moongleam again anytime soon," she said gloomly. "Well, of course not, you should relax now, not strain yourself further," said Scarlet Mane sympathetically. "C'mon boys!" Blasting Boom called, "let's move the machine onto a ferry car, chop-chop!" "Sure boss," Buzz and Chase said in unison. Chase then picked up Buzz and put him down at the top of a large yellow crane. "Should be easy to couple with the rest of the ferry when you'll want to go home," said Boom. "Thank you Boom, that's very nice of you," said Moon appreciatively. "It'll get dark in an hour or so, I really advise you to check out the city after dusk. See ya!" added Boom and flew away. Not many pegasi moved around the city at late evening hours and with all airways almost empty there wasn't much noise from ponies greeting each other or simply swishing and whishing as they fly. Moonbeam's, Nuddly Plum's and Melody's hooves were click-click-clacking more than audibly on the pavement. They all together with Scarlet Mane silently agreed that Blasting Boom was right. Turned off at day, seamlessly embedded into the corners of the buildings, long neon tubes illuminated the streets and skies with various colors. The paintings on the walls, charged by the sunlight and neon tubes, emitted fluorescent light, same as many posters glued to them. It appeared that Nuddly couldn't be more pleased but then she saw one of a slim earth pony of rather cold colors - tropical blue coat, mane of regal and midnight shades and deep cerulean eyes. The name on the poster didn't tell Scarlet much, but the cutie mark on the mare's haunch, an upside down violin clef and a bass clef intertwined to form a heart, told her everything. She knew that her friend liked music a lot and was often seen and heard with Melody, who was now reading the poster carefully to check whether her contribution of providing instruments is listed. She grinned widely when she found it to be true. "Eventide Note is performing here right now!" Nuddly said with excitement and squealed. "Let's go and listen," said Moon and they walked towards Deaf Punk Club, the place mentioned on the poster. At least most of them did, as Nuddly Plum was jumping around instead, consequently bumping with a muffled clang into a ink black coated and mahogany brown maned city guard in a matte silver armor. "Watch it miss," he said, staring at her with his light gray eyes, "you could hurt yourself." She giggled. "Sorry offic—oh!" she said and cut off as she noticed an enormous wall painting of a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane behind him, ignoring him completely. He shrugged, nodded at the other ponies and tried to walk away but he quickly stopped, hearing a loud shriek of hers. "Meep!" "Who's that?" asked Moon, making Nuddly snicker. "Everypony knows who, you have to get out more," she said. "Um..." let out Scarlet, while nervously drilling in the pavement with her hoof. "Frankly, I don't know either," said the guard. Melody shrugged as well. Nuddly soundly sighed. "I'll tell you later, now stand there," she said as pointed under the wall. "Are you—" started the guard, stopping immediately as she pushed him there. He stared at her with irritation but somewhat feeling powerless to do anything about the situation. She took her camera off her back and with a swift motion set up the tripod and laid the pneumatic cord on the ground for the shutter release. "I'll have to ask you not to—" the guard began again as Nuddly Plum squeezed herself in between Moonbeam and Scarlet Mane on one side and Melody with the guard on the other. "Cheese!" she said through her clenched shiny white teeth and stepped on the trigger, engulfing everypony in the bright light from her flash lamp.
ExhortationMoonbeam sat quietly at one of the many desks in her workshop, deep in thought. I see things other ponies do not. Things that leave marks no pony else recognizes. Only I have memories of events I would call unforgettable. Like that freshly cut grass the other day. Why? Why only hello Moonbeam how are you what? "What?" "I said hello," said Jelly Joy, "are you busy?" "No, not at all," she said, closing her diary which she insisted to call a journal and hiding it in a drawer. "Will you be busy for the next day or so?" "I don't think so, why—" "So I guess nothing stops you from going to Coltisle, right?" "No, but... why?" "To witness an epic event, which doesn't happen very often!" "Okay, sure, I could use a break," said Moonbeam. "What exactly is it?" "Well, it's mostly Blasting Boom who's making it all happen, so you could guess it's a construction thing." "Wouldn't that be boring?" "Boring? Have you ever been to Coltisle?!" "Actually, I just went there and back on my ferry," Moonbeam admitted. "I wasn't sightseeing." "Then I'm sure you'll like it! I need to go now, here's the schedule and all the details," Jelly Joy said, putting a small piece of paper on Moon's desk. "Bye bye Joy!" "Take care!" she said, "See you later alligator!" she added towards Chewer, Moonbeam's pet alligator. Moonbeam thought intensely for a few second and then got up and started to look around for a crayon picture of Chewer she saw Scarlet Mane drawing. She had found it on another desk. It was a cute white cat, with a black patch shaped like some kind of lizard, surely not an alligator though. She looked at Chewer again and saw an evident alligator. Glance at the picture - cat. Chewer - cat. Picture - cat. Oh well, it kind of fits... but Scarlet won't get a cutie mark for drawing, that's for sure, she thought. "Come here, you fwuffy wittle kitty!" Melody nodded rapidly, making her black homburg hat fall off. She obviously got used to it, as without losing a beat she caught it and put it back on. "Great, I knew you'd love to come!" said Jelly Joy. Melody made a gesture of beating dough. "Oh, you think Cinnamon Cream would go too?" She nodded again, then crossed her front legs, uncrossed, clicked her hooves and pointed at herself. "Okay, okay, I think there will be some space for them, but you should ask Boom about that, and fast. Her ferry leaves in less than an hour, next one is in six hours." Melody repeated the dough gesture. "Yeah, I'll go ask her, take care!" Cinnamon Cream was busy, focused on experimenting with a dozen of glass beakers filled with differently colored water, milk, oils and Celestia knows what else. Without pausing for a second she answered Joy's question. "I would really love to go, no jest, but I'm preparing to a contest," she said, "I think you should, too, for your own good." "Don't you worry about my preparations," Joy whispered theatrically. "I'm smart enough to worry about mine, it wouldn't be pointless if you'd care about thine," Cinny said, sticking her tongue out and grinning. "I'll win even if I lose anyway!" Jelly Joy exclaimed loudly, "and I don't care if it doesn't make sense," she added heartrendingly after a while and slightly frowned. "Go on then and smile, have fun in Coltisle!" "Suit yourself, take cake... I mean care!" And off she went, giggling at Cinnamon's silly rhymes. Jelly Joy went inside the Plum house, a vividly colored, narrow but tall, 4-story red brick building covered with flowering vines and with a different set of curtains in each window. It served the Plums as not only their home, but also as a laboratory for their fruit research. Seconds later, Nuddly jumped through an open window, fortunately on the base floor, then started hopping in a circle. "Yes, yes, yes," she yelled, "I'll finally see it! Woo!" "Just don't be late if you want to go by the first ferry, it leaves within half an hour!" "Woo! Yeah!" "Okay, I see you're completely occupied by being happy, I won't disturb. Take care," Jelly Joy said quietly.
ExpositionMoonbeam sat at her desk after lying on a couch with Chewer, immersed in thought, and finally looked at the schedule that Joy left her. "First ferry in half an hour? I won't make it!" she said with disappointment to the kitten. He wasn't listening as he was busy napping on the couch again. I won't be able to make a tour! she thought. She discarded the leaflet and sighed deeply, supporting her head on crossed front legs. She glanced outside the window and saw a jolly, round bumblebee flying around. Unless... She walked towards a large trap door in a corner of her enormous, cluttered workshop and pulled one of many identical levers besides it. Heavy metal plates started to move aside to reveal an unparalleled darkness. She pulled another lever. Sparks shot from its base and within moments cold, bluish lights flickered in the blackness. Her eyes shone with happiness and her grin grew wider as an immense circle of a dozen antennas linked together with lighting arcs illuminated the even bigger vault in a stroboscopic manner. The egg-shaped machine covered with pipes and valves in an elaborate pattern sitting in the center of the chamber was surely very large, but the strong yet vibrating light made it difficult to see how far and how big it actually was. Moonbeam, however, knew exactly. She turned her head towards Chewer, squinted her eyes and said, "We're gonna need a bigger door!" Scarlet Mane stood on the station, observing the arrival of the ferry. It was moving rapidly, gliding on the water, spraying it all around and creating an incredibly long cloud. Only when it began to slow down she noticed it's not really shaped like a boat. Just a dozen legs wide but hundreds long, composed of several similar vessels dragged by a bit bigger one with a tall funnel blowing huge amounts of steam. When it slowed down enough to not disturb the water too much, Scarlet saw that it's not actually a boat at all, but rather a bizarre train of sorts. It was painted dark green with yellow decals and curly numbers on the sides of each ferry car with curved roof made of shining brass. Pony-sized metal cogs brushed each other slightly slower every moment. Finally the machine and the clanging of its gears against cogged rails stopped. Melody together with Jelly Joy boarded the first ferry this day. Through the big windows of a car with a big yellow two Scarlet saw them putting their baggage on the shelves. They waved towards her as the ferry started to accelerate just after a loud and long whistle. She was waving them back when Nuddly Plum ran to the station completely out of breath, an old-style camera with a tripod on her back. It was a while until she managed to talk. "Oh no, I'm late," she panted out the obvious. "You seem exhausted, did you run the whole way?" "Uh, ah, yeah, the packing took too long." "Um... I don't want to sound wrong, I mean, I'm just a unicorn, but why didn't you just fly?" Nuddly Plum stared at her in surprise for a minute. Scarlet Mane began to feel uncomfortable and tried to think what did she say wrong or weird. "I... don't know," Nuddly finally said, making Scarlet facehoof. "Want to go to Moonbeam for tea?" "Eh, why not... I won't wait here for five hours, herp derp!" Nuddly Plum pushed aside some vines which almost completely covered the wooden door. "Moonbeam Sparkle's "Clock, spark & steamworks," she read aloud a small inscription. "Oh, I didn't notice that before," said Scarlet Mane. "Well, Moonbeam isn't exactly proud of the name. See, the..." Nuddly broke off as the door opened suddenly and Moonbeam herself came out. "Stay there, Chewie, good doggy, Mal will take care of you!" she said towards the interior. "Excuse me," she added as she walked past them in a hurry, carrying a rather large linen bag on her horn. After exchanging glances they followed her cautiously and ended up on the workshop's backyard, a rather large and mostly empty field of dirt, maybe except for a big circular hole in the middle. There was a loud metallic clicking coming from it. The inside of the chasm was filled with dense white fog which completely obscured whatever lied within. It poured out, covering the whole area. The cloud slowly subsided, revealing a grand egg-shaped structure standing on six surprisingly thin supports, curled gracefully to the outside, the whole apparently made purely of brass covered with complex patters, all reminiscent of an enormous golden beetle. Nuddly Plum stared at the machine with total awe while Scarlet Mane began to circle it in fascination. Moonbeam, focused enough to ignore them both, took out a blueprint from her bag and unrolled it on the ground. She glanced at the paper, then the beetle, looking for any differences and writing them down in a notepad. She took out a registration plate with letters "MSPARQL" and winced at it, then went to the back of the machine and started to screw it on. "Did you build it all by yourself?" Scarlet asked. "Oh, not entirely," Moon said, making final turns of a screwdriver and pointed at the blueprint. "Malachite Glint helped in the construction and Sapphire May..." she stopped, noticing Scarlet's quizzical look. "Right, I don't think you know Sapphire, she's not from Maretown, I know her from Canterlot. She helped in the design. Excellent heat pipes." Scarlet's eyes got bigger. "Canterlot? You're that Sparkle?" Moonbeam mumbled something under her breath. "Oh, sorry, I didn't want to—" Scarlet said meekly. "I just don't want to hear anything about my cousin," Moonbeam cut her off. Scarlet just nodded silently. "Why don't you help me with this, you and Nuddly?" Moon added. "The list is in the notepad, take a look." Scarlet Mane got to attach some rubbery tubes inside the beetle's belly, Moon herself was busy putting together some brass pipes of wildly changing diameter while Nuddly Plum was instructed to install a ratchet and a pawl on a spring. "Put the ratchet on the right axle and the pawl on the left one," reminded her Moon. Nuddly looked at one of the parts, then the other without any sign of comprehension. She turned the circular thingy in the air, then scratched her head with the oblong, nearly rectangular one. Pawl. Pawwwl. Sounds like a round thing. Ratchet. Scratch-et... she thought deeply. "Must be it," she said gleefully as she put the circular part on the left axle. After every part was in place Moon started the machine's engine to let it warm up, walked to her bag and took out three pairs of enormous brown goggles and colorful, striped scarves and gave them to other ponies, putting them on herself as well. She got a white and purple one, while Nuddly Plum got white and blue and Scarlet was left with white and maroon. They packed all remaining things inside the beetle's trunk, along with Nuddly's camera. Moonbeam unfolded a step ladder which had wide rungs connected alternately on the left and right by brass beams, as a whole similar to a metal serpent zigzagging between square boxes. When it extended fully they finally boarded the craft. There were two seats in the second row and another one in the third. Scarlet and Nuddly sat together in the second row and while fastening their safety belts glanced at each other, wrapped in far too large scarves and wearing goggles that were almost the size of their heads and giggled simultaneously. The front seat was of the pilot's and so Moonbeam sat there, then pressed an unlabelled button, making the ladder fold rapidly with a loud rattle. "All strapped up?" Moon asked, looking at them with overexcitement all over her face. They promptly nodded and the aircraft started to rise together with the noise coming from the engine. "I'm curious!" she yelled after they were well in the air. "What?!" Nuddly replied. "Don't you get nervous that we're flying Maretown's first ever prototype of a non-pegasi-propelled heavier-than-air machine that wasn't even actually made until several minutes ago and of course completely untested?" "What?! I can't hear you!" Moonbeam looked back again and stared at Nuddly for a second. "What?!"
ExpeditionAfter about fifteen minutes they saw a familiar sight on the horizon. Within five more minutes they were passing over the ferry. Amazed ponies looked from behind the ferry portholes, some of them so determined to glance at the aircraft that they foolishly stuck their heads through them just to be sprayed by the seawater. Through Nuddly's mind passed an idea of jumping onto the ferry, like in her favorite action stories. Melody, Jelly Joy and Blasting Boom were not afraid of getting a little wet and waved through the open windows. Airponies waved back and Moon accelerated again. The beetle flew steady for almost an hour. Ponies started to close in to their destination. Moonbeam lowered engine's speed. "Moonbeam to tower, approaching landing zone!" "What tower?" Scarlet Mane wondered. "Obviously Blasting Boom's," Nuddly Plum was quick to answer. "Never mind," mumbled Moon and then started to carefully execute her first landing maneuver. "Releasing undercarriage," she said as she pressed a button labelled coffee. The machinery was put into motion and its gears rattled as if doing a particularly difficult job. Suddenly, she felt a short vibration and the gears began to spin almost soundlessly and the whole aircraft started to tilt forward. "Uh-oh." "Did... did you just said what I think I heard?" Nuddly said with worry as Moon tried to pilot the vehicle with several levers and dozens of buttons, with slight reluctance even pressing the one labelled self-destruct she remembered to be responsible for releasing parachutes, but none of the controls worked. "Yes! I did!" she finally screamed back, "We are going to crash!" She tried to control the craft with magic, but as they have started to fall more and more rapidly, the airflow was so fierce she simply couldn't outmatch the forces involved. Everypony's eyes were as big as they could be. Suddenly, Nuddly felt something on her shoulder. "Meep!" she let out and looked around. It was Scarlet, paler than usual, wordlessly poking her, then waving her front legs like with wings. "Fly?" "Yes, fly!" Scarlet Mane shrieked with an incredibly high-pitched voice, "wi—wings, fly!" she added, stuttering in terror and waving even faster. They undid their safety belts and looked at Moonbeam, who was still attempting to keep the machine in the air. She gave up as she saw the massive skyscraper getting closer every moment and clutched Nuddly's leg. At the same time they landed heavily on the dirty ground, the golden beetle smashed against the pearly wall. Ponies looked up and watched as the aircraft still worked and tried to punch through the stone structure. "Boom's skyscrapper..." mumbled Moon. "Your aircraft..." added Nuddly. "Those—those are just things," said Scarlet, still shaking. "What matters is that no one got hurt." Small pieces of brass and stone debris fell down and cluttered the area. Unexpectedly an explosion shook the building and the machine seemed to dig itself in. Soon it disappeared inside and a monstrous boulder shot out. It flew directly at Moonbeam. Paralyzed with fear and disbelief, she just stood there as the pearly slab of stone closed in. She awoke from the stupor and tried to jump away, however knowing it's too late already, but she felt extremely heavy, like she was made of lead. As much as she disliked magic, she had to try everything. She focused all her willpower and she could clearly feel the energy flowing within her body, but it converged in the horn so sluggishly, she would never make it. The burden was so strong she couldn't even close her eyes and was forced to watch as the distance decreases. Surprised, she noticed it's decelerating, but it kept going. Its sharp edge finally touched the right lens of her goggles. A crack appeared and its branches grew almost imperceptibly, slowly crawling along the glass, producing an unbearable creak during a moment that felt like forever. Suddenly the sun seemed to disappear as everything got pitch black. Is this... afterlife? she thought. An immense flash of amber light illuminated the surroundings again and she saw the stone slab again, backing up gently. More and more debris started to rise from the ground, blocking the light, eventually letting only individual golden rays through. Moonbeam was completely bedazzled by the spectacle. One of the rays shone directly into her eyes, blinding her for a second and finally making her blink. When she opened her eyes, she was together with Nuddly Plum and Scarlet Mane, still inside the aircraft, landed on the outskirts of the dirty construction site of the intact skyscraper, which seemed now even prettier than before. "Felt like a rough landing," Nuddly said, "Carrie doesn't seem to be very moved, though," she added. "Did you see that? Did. You. See that?!" Moon asked, mouth agape. She started to look around in confusion, discovering that apparently Nuddly didn't see anything and Scarlet Mane actually fell asleep. She also noticed two approaching stallions in yellow hard hats, both looked almost exactly the same with their laurel green coats, rather long wedgewood blue manes and light gray eyes, but the left one being an earth pony with a hammer cutie mark, the right one - a pegasus with a welder on his haunch. She quickly took off her goggles and untangled from her scarf and jumped out of the aircraft, not even using the step ladder. Strangers' voices woke up Scarlet at last. "Hey, we saw something odd—" said the left stallion, "—and we rushed—" added the pegasus on the right before Moon cut him off abruptly. "Did you see the gleam?! You had to see the gleam, right? Orange! Bright! Magnificent! And, and—" she said, stopping as she saw their irritated looks. "Miss, the Gleam, as I gather your flying machine is called, is really nice and shiny and has nice passengers—" pegasus said, winking at Nuddly, who giggled, "—but this is a restricted area. Gleam can stay if you just cover it up with something, but no pony is allowed to be here for now, so let us escort you to a safe place," stallion finished, winking at Scarlet Mane, who blushed in response. While other ponies chatted on the side and got introduced to each other, Moonbeam took a dark gray tarpaulin sheet and Nuddly's camera out of the Moongleam's trunk and put the scarves and eye protection in. As she did so, she saw that her pair of goggles still has a big crack on its right lens. She just stood there, staring at it for quite some time, until the pegasus, apparently called Chase, cleared his throat loudly. "You should go to the viewing post if you want to watch the show later," said Buzz Graystone, the stallion. "We must stay here and make final preparations," added Chase Graystone, the pegasus, winking at Nuddly Plum again. Moon shook her head and followed other ponies outside the fenced area. They still had a couple more hours to said spectacle and, as planned, they began sightseeing. She couldn't stop thinking about what happened—or maybe what didn't—and as they passed a drinking fountain she dunked her head in the water without any warning, splashing some around and making Nuddly snicker and several passersby giving her a baffled look. As the whole Coltisle city was built by pegasi for pegasi, it was very obvious that others didn't have it easy even to get in. Most its inhabitants flew above the trio and not many ponies were walking on the streets. The only way up the half a mile high volcanic plateau in the very middle of Horseshoe Bay, other than flying, was to arrive by boat to a small outpost, often inaccessible due to tides, then walk the Spiral Tract which encircled the whole city several times under its hundreds of small waterfalls which froze during winter, forming a tunnel that was both windy and slippery. Not very long ago it all changed dramatically with the construction of Moonbeam's Coltisle ferry line, which could move not much slower than a cruising pegasus and was able to travel the distance from the mainland in just over two hours hours, compared to boat's day or sometimes two, without fear of crashing on the rocks. Another bit of help was from the Coltisle elevator system, which was quickly nicknamed Moonraiser which greatly pleased Moonbeam, mostly because the other alternative she saw was Sparklift. The sudden surge of new residents caused many changes in the city, including a glider rental service near the elevators. Transport carriages drove the paved roads back and forth. Moon quickly noted every crossroad was a roundabout and in the middle there was always a series of large spherical mirrors hanging on ropes from crossed banners which in turn were attached to the buildings in a diagonal manner. It seemed that every sphere was intended for a different airway level and allowed everypony to see what's behind the corner before entering the roundabout. Scarlet took notice of remarkably tall buildings, some of them with square, but most with hexagonal foundations, each one a spiral wrapped in clouds and made of pure white stone reminiscent of porcelain, all of them connected with aqueducting arches seemingly at random, some of which having holes that let small waterfalls form. Thin but tall walls of crystalline liquid fell into channels on each side of the pavement. Nuddly Plum was overjoyed by the sheer number of colorful air control banners, enormous wall paintings and various posters all around. There were so many that instead of reading some her eyes just quickly jumped from one poster to another.
ExecutionAs they had to stop every few steps due to Nuddly photographing practically everything the time simply flew and they headed back to the landing site. Nearby there was a viewing post, not very fancy but looking very sturdy and as the anticipation grew Moonbeam started to regret she didn't actually read the leaflet, as she was unsure if she liked surprises. Melody greeted them in front of it and led them inside. Blasting Boom was already there, wearing steel protectors covered in partially stripped blue paint on her knees and shoulders. "Hiya!" she said cheerfully, "come on and find a good spot, everyone is here so the show is going to start in just a minute." "Where's Joy?" asked Moonbeam with a touch of concern in her voice as Jelly Joy was nowhere to be seen. "She's just connecting wires—oh, here she is," said Boom. "Hello!" greeted the pony in question through her clenched teeth which she used to drag some cords. Moonbeam wanted to ask what's the show about but felt right now it would be a silly question. I'll just wait and see in just a... Oh, who am I kidding? she thought and looked around. Finding a leaflet stack she took one the very moment Joy finally attached the wires to a large console. "All set!" Jelly Joy shouted, putting on her blue hard hat and diverting Moonbeam's attention from the leaflet again. Oh, probably lights... but it's not dark yet, thought Moon. Blasting Boom looked at the majestic pearly tower. "Shame, really," she muttered, making Moon's bewilderment grow manifold. "Everypony knows why we are here. This is a very delicate operation. It requires proper conditions. They won't be properer anymore, so let's do this!" she said, putting her blue steel hard hat on and flying away. Moon observed her flight closely. She started encircling the building and gaining speed and then slammed against it, making it shake. She backed away and kicked it again and again. Moonbeam's jaw dropped in surprise. At the same time Nuddly was far too overexcited, shooting photo after photo, Melody stomped her hoof in sync with each hit and Scarlet in turn closed her eyes every time there was a blast sound. Fortunately the distance to the tower was long enough to make the sound arrive a fair bit after each punch, so she didn't miss anything. After several hits the building still looked mostly untouched, but Blasting Boom was determined to prove that name suits her well. She rose to an incredible altitude, disappearing in the clouds, then dived down at a tremendous speed, causing a shock cone to form just the moment she struck through the pearly tower's roof. At the same time Jelly Joy was concentrated on a stopwatch and pressed consecutive buttons on her control panel at precise intervals, causing an explosion after explosion in perfect sync with Blasting Boom piercing through floors. Finally a dust covered pegasus flew out of the tower's front door followed by a large gray cloud. Joy pressed the last button there was, causing a series of small explosions at the base, making the building completely disintegrate. It promptly collapsed with a mighty roar and then vanished in a neat pile of rubble, revealing the Sun slowly setting behind. Scarlet Mane and Melody stomped her hooves on the ground in delight and admiration for the show while Nuddly Plum screamed unintelligibly and squeezed a pneumatic shutter release of her camera repeatedly, making happy and a bit goofy face with a wide grin and enormous eyes. Moonbeam clutched her head with her hooves and started to drool, stutter and look around nervously, then anticlimactically fainted. Moonbeam woke up with a paper cup on her horn and cold water on her face. "Oh hey, you're awake," she heard Jelly Joy's voice as she took the cup off, "are you alright?" "Maybe you should rest a bit," said Scarlet as Moon got up. "Am I going bonkers? One too many building collapsed for today," she replied. "It was a scheduled demolition after all," Nuddly said, rolling her eyes. "Oh, I was afraid you got hurt—you didn't, right? Great! Well, take care now," said Joy, "I have to go catch the ferry back to Maretown now," she added and waved goodbye. "I'll finally get to do a glider jump!" she yelled happily from some distance and disappeared behind yet another skyscrapper. Moonbeam sat on the floor. "I'm not in the mood to fly the... Moongleam again anytime soon," she said gloomly. "Well, of course not, you should relax now, not strain yourself further," said Scarlet Mane sympathetically. "C'mon boys!" Blasting Boom called, "let's move the machine onto a ferry car, chop-chop!" "Sure boss," Buzz and Chase said in unison. Chase then picked up Buzz and put him down at the top of a large yellow crane. "Should be easy to couple with the rest of the ferry when you'll want to go home," said Boom. "Thank you Boom, that's very nice of you," said Moon appreciatively. "It'll get dark in an hour or so, I really advise you to check out the city after dusk. See ya!" added Boom and flew away. Not many pegasi moved around the city at late evening hours and with all airways almost empty there wasn't much noise from ponies greeting each other or simply swishing and whishing as they fly. Moonbeam's, Nuddly Plum's and Melody's hooves were click-click-clacking more than audibly on the pavement. They all together with Scarlet Mane silently agreed that Blasting Boom was right. Turned off at day, seamlessly embedded into the corners of the buildings, long neon tubes illuminated the streets and skies with various colors. The paintings on the walls, charged by the sunlight and neon tubes, emitted fluorescent light, same as many posters glued to them. It appeared that Nuddly couldn't be more pleased but then she saw one of a slim earth pony of rather cold colors - tropical blue coat, mane of regal and midnight shades and deep cerulean eyes. The name on the poster didn't tell Scarlet much, but the cutie mark on the mare's haunch, an upside down violin clef and a bass clef intertwined to form a heart, told her everything. She knew that her friend liked music a lot and was often seen and heard with Melody, who was now reading the poster carefully to check whether her contribution of providing instruments is listed. She grinned widely when she found it to be true. "Eventide Note is performing here right now!" Nuddly said with excitement and squealed. "Let's go and listen," said Moon and they walked towards Deaf Punk Club, the place mentioned on the poster. At least most of them did, as Nuddly Plum was jumping around instead, consequently bumping with a muffled clang into a ink black coated and mahogany brown maned city guard in a matte silver armor. "Watch it miss," he said, staring at her with his light gray eyes, "you could hurt yourself." She giggled. "Sorry offic—oh!" she said and cut off as she noticed an enormous wall painting of a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane behind him, ignoring him completely. He shrugged, nodded at the other ponies and tried to walk away but he quickly stopped, hearing a loud shriek of hers. "Meep!" "Who's that?" asked Moon, making Nuddly snicker. "Everypony knows who, you have to get out more," she said. "Um..." let out Scarlet, while nervously drilling in the pavement with her hoof. "Frankly, I don't know either," said the guard. Melody shrugged as well. Nuddly soundly sighed. "I'll tell you later, now stand there," she said as pointed under the wall. "Are you—" started the guard, stopping immediately as she pushed him there. He stared at her with irritation but somewhat feeling powerless to do anything about the situation. She took her camera off her back and with a swift motion set up the tripod and laid the pneumatic cord on the ground for the shutter release. "I'll have to ask you not to—" the guard began again as Nuddly Plum squeezed herself in between Moonbeam and Scarlet Mane on one side and Melody with the guard on the other. "Cheese!" she said through her clenched shiny white teeth and stepped on the trigger, engulfing everypony in the bright light from her flash lamp.
