Hurricane Fluttershy
Night's POV
Night was in the library with Twilight and Spike setting up a presentation for Rainbow tonight. Something to do with Cloudsdale getting water from the Ponyville reservoir. "Everything good?" Rainbow asked as she came in.
"Everything will be ready for tonight," Twilight answered.
"Thanks, Twilight," Rainbow said before turning to Night. "So, Night, I know that since you aren't a pegasus you don't have to help, but we sure could use it."
"I'll think about Rainbow, but no promises," Night told her.
"That works for me," Rainbow said as Twilight handed her the notices for the presentation.
When Rainbow left, Spike looked at Night. "Even if you do join them, what about using your powers?" Spike asked.
"I don't know Spike. I'm trying not to use them as much as I used to," Night answered.
"I know that, Twilight knows that, but Rainbow doesn't know that," Spike pointed out.
"Spike, if Night tells the rest of our friends that he's not using his powers as much, that's going to raise questions. Ones we don't want to answer," Twilight explained to him.
"But how do we know this Shade guy wasn't trying to eliminate Night as a threat? He could be an evil pony," Spike countered.
"I don't think he is. The way he talked about ponies turning on ones like me, us, it's like he was speaking from experience. Like he was persecuted for his abilities," Night pointed out.
"You can't let what he said determine when you use your powers," Spike said.
"Spike, just let it go," Twilight told him.
"Alright, but I don't like it," Spike said.
Later, pegasi started to enter the library and it looked like everypony was here until Rainbow pushed Fluttershy in. Spike dimmed the lights and turned on the projector as the film played which reminded Night of movies from the 1950s. "Every living thing depends on the life-giving nourishment of rainwater, and it is up to Cloudsdale to provide rain-filled clouds to every corner of Equestria. But how, one pony might ask, does Cloudsdale gather all this extra water? Tornado power! That's right, Pegasi-driven tornado power. A team of Pegasi combine their wing power to create a jumbo tornado, powerful enough to pull water out of the local reservoir and funnel it all the way up to Cloudsdale. Remember, Pegasi, your jumbo tornado must reach a minimum of eight hundred wing power to lift that water up to Cloudsdale. So, the next time you're wondering 'Where does all that extra rainwater come from?', just remem–" The film had suddenly cut off. Night saw that Spike had accidentally broken the film.
"Uh... intermission?" Spike asked the ponies, some glaring at him and others giving blank stares.
"So, here's the scoop. Cloudsdale has chosen our own highland reservoir as a source of the rainwater they need for all of Equestria. And you know what that means. It means it's up to Ponyville's Pegasi to bring that water up to Cloudsdale," Rainbow said. The pegasi talked to each other excitedly as Rainbow continued. "Not only that, but Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, will be here to oversee the water transfer and record our top tornado windspeed. Now last year, Fillydelphia broke the windspeed record with a top speed of nine hundred and ten wing power. But I think we can do better. I think we can get a top speed over a thousand! …if each and every pony trains, and trains hard to get their wing power numbers up." A cough was then heard from the crowd. "That coughing better be from a popcorn kernel, Thunderlane. Nopony's getting sick on my watch," Rainbow told him before turning back to the rest of the pegasi. "So, are we gonna train hard?" she asked them.
"Yeah!" they shouted.
"Are we gonna be strong?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah!" they shouted again.
"Are we gonna be fast?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah!" they shouted once more.
"Record-smashing fast?" Rainbow asked a pegasus named Bulk Biceps.
"YEAH!" he shouted.
"Who's with me?" Rainbow asked the crowd, which cheered in excitement.
The Next Morning: Rainbow's POV
Rainbow was on the track with all the pegasi watching them getting ready. " Stretch those glutes, Flitter! Nice flexibility, Cloud Chaser. A... little too much flexibility, Blossomforth. Uh, somepony give Blossomforth a hoof. Let's see some faster trotting, Thunderlane! Good pace, Silverspeed!" Rainbow coached. She then blew her whistle to get everypony's attention. "Keep it up! We're gonna need all the wing power we can get to break that record!" Rainbow encouraged.
"YEAH!" Bulk Bicep shouted then snorted.
Rainbow just stood where she was awkwardly for a while before she got back into it. "Good work, everypony!" she encouraged before continuing under her breath, "Everypony except Fluttershy."
She flew over to Fluttershy's cottage and knocked on the door. "Fluttershy? I know you're in there! You're avoiding tornado duty and I want to know why! Fluttershy, open–" Rainbow said as the door opened. Fluttershy showed herself with brown dots on her and wearing a robe around her.
"Achoo. Hi, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said before she coughed weakly. Rainbow quickly pieced together what was happening but decided to play along.
"Fluttershy, what happened to you?" Rainbow asked.
"Oh, I *sniffs* I think I have *coughs weakly* the pony pox. I'm sorry. I really, really wanted to come to training day today *coughs weakly*, but this pony pox has really knocked me for a loop. Achoo," Fluttershy said as she let out another weak cough.
"Oh, you poor thing. You know, there's only one cure for pony pox," Rainbow told her.
"I know, plenty of bed–" Fluttershy started as Rainbow threw cold water on her.
"Cold water! Those pony pox are clearing right up" Rainbow said as the "pox" dripped off Fluttershy.
"Oh, y'know, all of a sudden, I'm, I'm starting to feel better," Fluttershy said as she laughed nervously. I'll just get out of these robes and–" Fluttershy started when she tripped over nothing. " Oh, my wing, oh, ow, it's hurt. I guess I can't fly after all–"
Rainbow blew her whistle in her face which caused her to jump into the air and hover. "Messed up wing, huh?" Rainbow asked as Fluttershy looked at her awkwardly and came back down. "Stop horsing around, Fluttershy. We've got a lot of training to do. Come on now, what's going on?" Rainbow asked, concerned for her friend.
"Well, y'see, uh, well... oh, Rainbow Dash, I just can't do it! I can't fly!" Fluttershy admitted.
Rainbow looked surprised, as she knew that was false. "What are you talking about? Just last week you went into that wicked nose dive to save that falling baby bird right before it hit the ground!" she told her.
"But that was different, that was an emergency! This whole tornado thing, it's more like a performance, and you know how I hate performing in front of others. Don't you remember flight camp? I couldn't gallop hard or fly fast, not with everypony looking at me!" Fluttershy said fearfully.
"It wasn't that bad," Rainbow told her, knowing that she did her Sonic Rainboom to help her out of that.
"You're right, Rainbow Dash, it wasn't bad. It was horrible! The other foals used to tease me, a lot!" Fluttershy said.
Rainbow remembered the foals' chant, and how much it had angered her. "Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!" It still pissed her off just thinking about it.
"I just can't risk that sort of humiliation again," Fluttershy said, clearly remembering it worse than Rainbow.
"Suck it up, Fluttershy! This is no time for–" Rainbow started, but the. she remembered that this wouldn't convince Fluttershy. "I mean, confidence or no confidence, I'm gonna need every Pegasus to break the record, including you. I need every ounce of wing power I can get," Rainbow told her.
"Oh, I-I don't think so, Rainbow Dash…" Fluttershy said. Realizing that that was that, Rainbow turned to leave.
"Thanks anyway," she said.
"Wait. I'll do it," Fluttershy said. Rainbow got excited.
"You will?" Rainbow asked as she flew to Fluttershy.
"I will," Fluttershy said.
"You game?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm game," Fluttershy answered.
"Alright!" Rainbow shouted.
The two flew back to the training area where Rainbow saw Twilight getting her machine ready with Night and Spike. "Hey Rainbow, I'm in," Night told her once she and Fluttershy landed.
"You are?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah, I am," Night answered before he got closer to Rainbow and whispered, "But I'm not using my powers for this. My wing power will be all me," he explained.
Rainbow nodded, glad that Night had decided to join in. She was also glad Night wasn't using his powers. Rainbow didn't want to cheat her way to a record. "What exactly does this machine do?" Cloud Chaser asked Twilight.
"This is an anemometer. It measures your accelerative velocity and translates it into wing power, thus gauging your cumulative H2O anti-gravitational potential," Twilight explained. "Any other questions?"
"What exactly does this machine do?" Flitter asked Spike.
"It tells you how fast you're flying and how strong your wings are," Spike clarified. Twilight looked at them grumpily as Night said something to reassure her when they heard some coughing.
"Is that you again, Thunderlane? Please, we need to have a germ-free environment," Twilight scolded as she sprayed an anti-germ on him.
"It wasn't me, it was Blossomforth," Thunderlane protested.
"Don't worry, Twilight. Thunderlane's just cooking up an excuse to spend tornado day in bed," Rainbow told her before she turned to him. "Why don't you get over here and be our first test flyer, Thunderlane?" Rainbow told him.
Thunderlane flew over to the starting point and got ready. He flew as fast as he could and Twilight's device recorded the speed as he passed. "We have 9.3 wing power," Twilight announced. Spike wrote the number down on his clipboard next to Thunderlane's name as the other ponies cheered for him.
"Not bad, not bad," Rainbow said. She flew over to the starting point and headed down as fast as she could go.
"16.5 wing power!" Twilight announced. Ponies celebrated Rainbow's score as she flew above them.
"Now listen up! If each of you can get your numbers up to at least 10.0 wing power by the end of the week, we'll no doubt set a new tornado speed record. We'll be number one!" Rainbow encouraged. As the training went on, Twilight and Spike continued to note scores as Rainbow watched. There were some good scores, however, almost no pony passed the 10.0 wing power except Night, who got a 16.4 without using powers.
"Impressive," Rainbow said when she saw Spike put down an 11.0. "Fluttershy, your turn," Rainbow said. Fluttershy started off strong, flying faster than Rainbow thought she would, but she slowed down before she reached Twilight's device and it barely moved. Rainbow saw the score and Twilight looked at Rainbow.
"Tell her," Twilight told her in a hushed voice.
"No, you tell her!" Rainbow said in a hushed voice as well.
"No, you!" Twilight said.
Rainbow conceded and turned to Fluttershy. "Um... great job, Fluttershy! You measured, uh, uh, .5," Rainbow told her.
Fluttershy looked proud when Spike said, ".5? Isn't that like... less than one?" Night smacked the dragon on the head with his wing. Fluttershy suddenly ran off.
"Fluttershy, wait! So some punks poked a little fun at you and you got stage fright, big deal. You aren't gonna go quit just because of that, are you?" Rainbow asked her.
"Yes!" Fluttershy answered, crying.
"But I need you!" Rainbow told her.
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, I just don't have the courage right now…" Fluttershy said through her tears. She then ran off, probably back to her home.
A few days passed and everypony was getting better. "That's wonderful, Flitter. Much better than yesterday," Twilight said.
"This is crazy awesome! We're gonna smash that record!" Rainbow said confidently. A squirrel then came up and started chittering excitedly.
"What's he saying?" Spike asked.
"Do I look like I speak squirrel?" Twilight asked Spike.
"What's that?" Spike asked, looking at something in the distance. Looking over, Rainbow saw Fluttershy coming back. Rainbow smiled at seeing her as Fluttershy got ready. She flew with all her might and passed Twilight's device.
"2.3? 2.3?! That has to be some kind of mistake! I worked so hard!" Fluttershy said after seeing her score.
"Fluttershy, that's a huge improvement!" Twilight encouraged her.
"You did awesome, Fluttershy," Rainbow told her, proud of Fluttershy's improvement.
"No, I didn't. I thought I'd gotten over my nerves, but they still got the best of me! There's no way I'll fly with 10.0 wing power tomorrow!" Fluttershy said.
"So you won't fly with 10.0 wing power. Every bit counts!" Rainbow said, trying to bring Fluttershy's spirits up.
"How would you feel if everypony else was flying with 10.0 wing power and you were flying with 2.5?" Fluttershy asked.
"Actually, it was only 2.3, and– ow!" Spike said as Night hit him over the head with his wing.
"Well, uh… I'd feel… um…" Rainbow started, not sure how to answer that.
"Exactly! Humiliated!" Fluttershy answered for her as she started crying. "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, I just can't do it!" she said as she ran off.
"It's okay, Rainbow Dash, you've still got plenty of wing power for your tornado. You'll be able to lift tons of water up to Cloudsdale!" Spike told Rainbow.
"Spike. Just stop talking. You're doing more harm than good," Night told the dragon. Spike's face quickly soured as his oblivious veil was lifted.
Rainbow just sighed and said, "If only there was a way to lift Fluttershy out of the dumps."
Tomorrow came quickly for Rainbow as she stood by Twilight, Spike and Night with a larger version of the device Twilight used to measure wing power by the reservoir that would be used. The pegasi, minus Fluttershy, were all waiting as well as Spitfire came down from Cloudsdale. "You ready for this?" Night asked Rainbow.
"You know it," Rainbow answered as she flew up to talk to the others. "Are we ready to do this?" Rainbow asked them. They responded in cheers as Rainbow flew back down. Spike then ran up to her.
"Look!" he said, holding the attendance list. Looking down, she saw a red 'X' by Thunderlane.
"Lazy Thunderlane! Where is he?! He's been trying to get out of tornado duty the whole time with his fake coughing and all," Rainbow said. She looked for a pony in the crowd 'till she found him. "Rumble, where's your lazy brother?" Rainbow asked the foal.
"He's got the feather flu. He's down at Ponyville Hospital," Rumble explained.
"But he's not the only one," Spike said, showing that more pegasi weren't here.
Twilight then ran the numbers. "Let's see, with those ten sick Pegasi out with the feather flu…" Twilight started then gasped.
"Don't tell me we won't be able to break the windspeed record?" Rainbow asked.
"No…" Twilight answered.
"Phew!" Rainbow said, but she relaxed too soon.
"…You might not have enough wing power to create a tornado powerful enough to lift the water to Cloudsdale!" Twilight told her.
"Well, should we pack up?" Spike asked. Rainbow looked back at the pegasi and saw Spitfire looking at her watch.
"No. Of course not. Forget the record. Cloudsdale still needs water!" Rainbow answered as she flew over to the rest of the pegasi with Night right beside her. "Okay, everypony! Let's give it all we've got! On the sound of the horn, we take off!" Rainbow told them. She looked at Twilight who signaled Spike to sound it off.
Spike blew into the horn and the pegasi took to the air and formed the tornado. It was going quite well when a couple ponies started tumbling which started a cascade collapse of the tornado. Rainbow lost control herself and crashed into a tree. "Are you two okay?" Twilight asked.
"I'm fine," Rainbow answered, her answer muffled by a tree.
"I'll live," Night said.
"Oh, you were so close to the eight hundred wing power minimum! I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said as Rainbow got herself out of the tree.
"We've got to try again!" she said, getting ready to take to the air.
"But you've pushed your crew to their limit already!" Twilight said, pulling Rainbow to the ground with her magic. "If you break apart again, somepony could get hurt! You should quit, it's not safe!" Twilight told her, pointing to the ponies still recovering.
"No! One more time! I've gotta know we gave it our all! If I'm going down, I'm going down flying!" Rainbow told Twilight as she took into the air. "C'mon, ponies, let's make this happen!" Rainbow shouted to the pegasi.
They got ready again and at the sound of the horn, they took to the air again. They quickly got the tornado started and Rainbow flew between pegasi, trying to encourage them to give more power. "Stay in position! Flap those wings! Faster!"
"Seven hundred and fifty wing power!" Rainbow heard Twilight shout from outside the tornado.
"C'mon! Just a little harder! I can see the water trying to funnel through!" Rainbow shouted. She then flew in beside Night. "I know you said you weren't going to use your powers, but sure could use them!" Rainbow shouted at him, who looked like he was reaching his limit as well.
"If it looks like we're about to fall apart I will, but if we can push ourselves a bit more I think we'll do it!" Night shouted back. Rainbow nodded and the two started to get faster.
Twilight's POV
Twilight was pushed up against the anemometer along with Fluttershy and Spike, watching the number climb to a halt. "Seven ninety five! We are so close! Fluttershy, they need you up there!" Twilight shouted.
"I won't make a difference!" Fluttershy protested.
"You can make a difference!" Twilight pointed out.
"My measly 2.3 wing power is still too little!" Fluttershy stated.
"It's sticking at seven ninety five! I don't know if they've got any more in 'em without Night using his you know what!" Spike noted.
"Do it for Equestria! Do it for Rainbow Dash and Night! Do it for yourself!" Twilight shouted as she gave her a pair of goggles. Fluttershy took the goggles and ran up to the tornado. She set Angel down, who was blown to a tree where the other animals that came with Fluttershy were. Fluttershy then got sucked in.
Rainbow's POV
Rainbow could feel her body protest as she and Night still tried to increase their wing power. She then saw something yellow show up beside her. Fluttershy was flying next to her and Night. The two smiled at their friend and continued to push. Rainbow then saw the water fly through the tornado and out the other end. She smiled as the horn blared out and ponies started to peel off. Rainbow landed on the ground beside Night, who looked exhausted, and looked around for Fluttershy. She looked up and saw Fluttershy was still flying in circles. Rainbow flew over to her and stopped her with a cloud. "Whoa, girl, take it easy!" Rainbow told her.
"Whuh, what? Did we do it?" Fluttershy asked.
" Yeah, we did it! You did it!" Rainbow told her.
"Nice work Fluttershy!" Night congratulated as he flew up.
The three wing-clapped before flying back down to the ground. "Great job, Fluttershy, that was awesome!" Flitter said.
"Yeah, we couldn't have done it without you," Cloud Chaser added.
"Nice job, Rainbow Dash," Spitfire said, coming from behind Rainbow and she turned around as the Wonderbolt continued. "You may not have set a new record, but you showed a lot of guts," She commented.
"Thanks, but if you wanna talk guts, then you've gotta give it to my number one flyer, Fluttershy!" Rainbow told her, pointing to her shy friend. "Let's hear it for Fluttershy!" she shouted.
The ponies then started chanting, "Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can really fly!" as they threw her into the air.
"That, was intense," Night told Rainbow.
"You said it, but we did it. That's what matters," Rainbow answered him. He, Twilight, and Spike then headed home as Spitfire flew back up to Cloudsdale. Rainbow headed home as well to get some well deserved rest.