One moment the sky was wide open, clear as glass, the sun shining brightly down on the dusty Sweet Apple Acres. Then with a mighty heave the once clear sky exploded with dark clouds, their passage thundering forth with terrible speed.
I let out a sigh of relief, our farm hadn't recieved any hoof forsaken rain in over two months now and recently it had started to seem like we would never again feel the cool wetness against our skin, or see our trees, thirsty as they are, cause puddles that are so large as to imitate a lakes to disappear like a magic spell.
Thunder sounded in the distance and far to the left a crack of lightning broke through the murmuring sky. With a mighty clap the clouds broke open, ready to gift upon us their life giving liquid, so clean and clear.
I stepped outside, wanting to feel the first drop of rain against my dusty hide, I wanted to smell the scent of the trees refreshed and revived. Instead... I sniffed. The air... it didn't smell as rain should. Outside it smelled of a Italian restuarant one might find in Manehattean, it smelled like a place that too often used garlic to flavor their dishes. The scent, hanging thick as it was, seemed heavier than the humidity its self, gaggingly thick.
There was a plop, right next to my hoof, I started to turned to look down, pausing only to lift up a hoof to protect my nose from this eye watering stench. At least there was water...No, of course not, why would anything manage to be normal in Ponyville. After so many excuses from the Pegasi about 'Oh, well there isn't a storm scheduled' or 'The workers in Cloudsdale are on strike' this was it. I was going to find Rainbow Dash and tell her whatever sort of sick joke this was suppose to be was not funny in the slightest, after all some ponies had liviely hoods to look after.
I kicked at the red mess that the "rain" had left on my porch. The rounded form rolled until it hit the porch stairs in just a few short seconds.
Plosh
Plosh
Plosh
Plosh
At each wooden step it made contact, and with every time it made contact it let out a wet, squishy noise. I could not understand why anypony enjoyed Griffin food. That's what it was after all. one of them whatcha ma callits.. I scratched a hoof at my noggin, irritated I couldn't remember the proper name for this meaty ball...meaty ball....I let out a thin laugh as I remembered the rather obvious name.
Meatballs.
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For an afternoon of meatballs, noodles and pasta sauce raining down upon the roofs and roads of Ponyville the walk to Rainbow Dash's cloud house was actually rather uneventful.
At first on the way over to that idiotic Pegasus's home I attempted to count each drop of sauce or slimy spaghetti that slithered its way down my rump.
One, plup.
Two, plosh.
Three, squesh.
Four, pliph.
Luckily I never did learn how to count past four and now more than ever I was proud of that. I could stop paying attention to each disgustingly different noise that came from meaty rain as they lodged themselves into my mane or stained my rump. I was going to have to bathe for days, scrubbing hard, to even start to get the smell out of my nostrils. Winona was going to just love that. Wait, Winona.... Oh horsefeathers, I hope that dog weren't eating any of this rain.
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I was a mite surprised to find that Ponyville was under the storm cover too. It's one thing for Rainbow Dash to prank me, but all of Ponyville? Where's the logic there. It seemed like I was the only pony gutsy enough though to do something about it. As I strolled down the empty streets, shutters banged close, fearful eyes peeked out, and strangely enough some sort of cold breeze started up right behind me with some sort of western-y suspense music. I watched in confusions as a tumble weed rolled its way past in slow motion. Very slow motion considering the wind Almost lost my hat in that dramatic breeze. Turning around though it was only Pinkie Pie and her plethora of instruments...and a fan.
That crazy mare just nodded sagely and pointed off to a distance.
"They thought it'd be funny."
Some days I really felt we need to get Pinkie tested for one of those fancy brain disease thingies. Wasn't there one of em where the mare or colt that had it heard imaginary voices telling them what to do?
I shrugged it off. One matter at a time. Otherwise nothing would get done, and then where would we be? That's right, the moon.
I turned frontwards again, narrowly avoiding catching a meatball in the eye. That pegasus was going to be the death of me. I lifted up a hoof and landed it squarely down upon that antagonizing ball of meat. I mean really, how did she even pull this off.
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After all of that when I finally got to that rainbow spewing, cloud swirling home of Dash's of course she had the gall to not even be home. Who did that mare think she was for pony's sake. I grumbled under my breathe, I hadn't planned on what to do if that filly weren't willing to accept what was coming to her. Maybe somepony else would have an idea on how to find her...in fact... I got it!
Just last week Twilight demonstrated this pony finding spell to us. All the spell needed was a single hair from the pony you were trying to find. I grinned at the hot air balloon I was currently sitting in. I suspected, knowing Twilight's paranoid nature, she kept mane samples on all of us. All needed to do was make a little trip down to Twilight's ask her to do her little magic spell and I'll know exactly where to find little Dashie. I rubbed my hooves in glee before reaching up to slowly let the gas out of the hot air balloon. Now that I had a plan there was no need to be unnecessarily hasty.
Once down of the sweetly solid ground I set out at a gallop.While Rainbow Dash might claim to be the fastest flier in Ponyville, I was the fastest runner in Ponyville. And I bet, to borrow my friend's words, I could make it there in ten minutes flat.
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As it turned out dodging exotic foods and sliding on saucy roads does not help one's time. In fact between slidding, accidentally of course, down the length of Mane Street on my rump and almost losing my stetson to a particularly savage meatball it took me twelve minutes to make it to Golden Oaks Library. Twelve minutes! Might as well have been thirty, or an hour. However I took no time to weep over it. Instead I perked my ears up. From the sounds of things Twilight was already with someone. That or she had taken to arguing with herself again. Actually I let my ears relax. As loud as she was shouting I'm surprised I hadn't heard out at the farm.
" I tried telling you! But noooo, you wouldn't listen. We had to do it your way. "
I figured this sound like one of the arguments that she has with herself and if it was just herself, well then I wouldn't be interrupting anything.
Shaking like Winoa after a bath to get off splatterings of sauce I made my way towards the front door. I didn't bother with knocking. after all the library is supposed to open to the public, not just to egg headed unicorns named Twilight.
I blinked as I entered the typically orderly library. Books were surging around, some in just a simple circle around the perimeter of the bookshelves, others doing more complex loopedy doos and figure eights. In the middle of this cyclone of books though was the mare I had been looking for. And just my luck she wasn't alone.
Both mares looked up as I stood there in the doorway, and as one both of them shouted.
"Applejack! Close the door!"
I snapped to just in time to buck the door close as a flock of books attempted to make a get away run for it. Then I turned to face the blue coated prankster, only to come snout to snout with Twilight.
"Good, good, so...um, how about that weather."
I narrowed my eyes, glaring past Twilight and at Rainbow Dash. Twilight glanced between the two of us before a look dawned across her face.
"Oh, no, no,no! you have it all wrong Applejack. This weather isn't her fault. It's actually kind of mine...You see, um, well...IT'S ALLLL MY FAULT!"
I blinked again, this time with more surprise as Twilight flung herself down onto the floor teary eyed. I turned to Rainbow Dash hoping for some explanation as to why my hooves were started to get wet with Twilight's tears. Rainbow Dash shrugged,
"Turns out Miss Bookworm has some serious problems with weather spells."
