Attempted automated wordcount. Please use LibreOffice/MSOffice for an accurate count: 6067

thanks, author! If you wish to have this removed from this list, email ra.llan.pcl+complaints @ gmail.com, making sure to provide proof that you are the author.

Beating the Heat

It was almost noon in Ponyville, but instead of the usual sounds of hustle and bustle that would normally fill the town at this time the streets were eerily quiet. Too quiet. Not a single pony could be seen in the town’s streets and roads. The normally busy market square was completely deserted. Ponyville had become like a ghost town. Not literally of course, everypony had taken shelter indoors. About a year ago the reason would probably have been due to the arrival of a certain striped Equad, but that was no longer the case. To find the reason for the lack of activity today one needed only to look up. Way up.

“Ugg, it’s so hot,” wined Rainbow Dash as she rolled over on her back letting all six limbs hang limp.

The six pony friends Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle were all sitting around in the basement lab of the latter. The biggest heat wave in recent Equestrian history had driven everypony indoors. The six friends were clustered around a group of small oscillating fans in a seemingly futile attempt to stay cool.

“Y’all been complaining non stop ’bout the heat for the past hour Rainbow. You’re hot, Ah’m hot, we’re all hot. Now just pipe down and be quite,” Applejack growled while wiping the sweat from her brow. She was starting to lose patience with the cyan Pegasus.

“But it’s so hot,” Dash reiterated, dragging her hooves over her face in an exaggerated fashion. “Even for a Pegasus it’s hot. I don’t know how you ground pounders can stand it.”

AJ’s eye twitched at the slur but before a fight broke out Rarity stepped in. “I am just going to blame the heat on that last remark Rainbow Dash, but Applejack is correct, your whining is starting to get on everypony’s nerves, so perhaps you should find something else to talk about, yes?”

“So says the Queen of whining,” Dash half muttered.

Now it was Rarity’s turn to get an eye twitch and Fluttershy’s to defuse a potentially violent scenario. “Please girls, no fighting,” she said in a soft comforting voice. Fluttershy moved to Rarity and Applejack in turn resting a comforting hoof on their shoulders, her voice and presence calming them down.  She then turned to Rainbow Dash and in a commanding motherly voice said, “Now as for you Rainbow Dash, your behaviour is atrocious. I know you are hot but that is no reason for you to take your frustrations out on the others. We are all your friends, and this is not how you treat friends. Now apologize to Rarity and Applejack.” Fluttershy fixed Rainbow with a look that was not quite “The Stare” but awfully close.

Dash opened her mouth like she was about to say something else rude, and then closed it again, her face softening. She turned away from the group scratching the back of her head with her right hoof. “Look I’m sorry OK. I know I have a big mouth sometimes. It has gotten me into trouble more times then I can count.” She turned back towards Applejack and Rarity looking slightly sheepish. “I didn’t really mean those things I said. I don’t want to hurt my friends.”

“Well shoot sugar cube Ah forgive ya. Ah guess the heat has gotten us all a might bit hot under the collar, if ya’ll excuse the pun,” Applejack reassured her friend.

“A lady knows how to forgive and forget,” Rarity added.

Satisfied that her friends were still friends the realization of taking such bold actions caught up on the usually timid Pegasus and Fluttershy shyly backed up to the edge of the circle.

Silence returned to the basement lab when Rarity spoke up, “A thought just occurred to me Rainbow Dash. Why can’t you and the weather team just provide some cloud cover to shield everypony from the Sun? Maybe even provide a nice cooling light shower.”

“Na-uh,” Rainbow shook her head and crossed her front hooves in front of herself for added effect. “I can’t do that for two reasons. First I am not getting into trouble with the head office for an unscheduled weather change. And second this level of heat would just evaporate the rain and clouds and then it will be both hot and humid.”

The silence returned again to the room for several minutes.

“Hey Twilight explain why Princess Celestia has to create a heat wave again?” asked Pinkie Pie.

Twilight blinked, she had almost forgotten that the usually hyperactive pony was even in the room she had been so uncharacteristically quiet. Apparently the heat had even managed to sap some of her endless energy, as evidenced by her signature cotton candy mane being half deflated.  “Pinkie we’ve been through this already. Remember the speech I gave yesterday in town.”

Twilight thought back to the previous day. She is standing in front of City Hall where most of the town had gathered. Mayor Mare is standing at the podium addressing the crowd.

“And now I turn the precedings over to Twilight Sparkle who will explain the message she received from Princess Celestia this morning,” the Mayor stepped down and let Twilight take her place.

“Good Day everypony,” Twilight smiled while placing a large stack of cue cards with her telekinesis on top of the podium, eliciting a loud groan from the crowd. Either she didn’t hear them or cared not to as Twilight went right into her highly detailed speech with a smile on her face. “Today I will be speaking to you all on behalf of our dear Princess Celestia. As we speak this same proclamation is being repeated in cities and towns all over Equestria, and similar messages have been sent to the distant kingdoms beyond our borders. As you are all well aware for the past one thousand years Princess Celestia had taken on the duty to control the movements of both the sun and the moon during her sister’s… absence, and that last year Princess Luna had returned to Equestria fallowing the events of the last Summer Sun Celebration.”

There was a slight nervous murmur in the crowd and Twilight silently pondered how long it would be before THAT event was no longer be a touchy subject for Equestrian’s and especially the citizens of Ponyville.

“Since that time Princess Luna has been slowly readjusting to modern life in Equestria and has once again taken on her ancient duty of controlling the Moon. In that time, with only having to control one astral body, Princess Celestia has build up a surplus of energy in her body. To fully understand all this you need a working knowledge of Newponian Physics, Quantum Magical mechanics, including String Theory, advanced magical variance, trans-dimensional and multi-planer energy convergence. This all gets very technical but I am more than prepared to educate you all.”

This elicited yet another loud groan from the audience, but before Twilight could continue the Mayor came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. “Twilight dear, perhaps it might be better if you stick to the cliff notes,” she said softly.

“But I made charts and diagrams and everything,” Twilight pleaded. Her horn began to glow and several charts and models suddenly appeared on the stage floating behind her in a purple glow.

“Please Twilight,” the older mare insisted as gently as she could.

“Oh fine,” Twilight conceded. Her horn glowed further and the objects on the stage and the rest of her prepared speech disappeared. Looking slightly annoyed she turned back to the much relieved audience. “To make a long, and in my humble opinion fascinating story short, Princess Celestia draws power from the Sun but now she requires less energy than she used to, so she must bleed the extra energy off by funneling it back to the Sun. This will have the unfortunate side effect of causing a severe heat wave to descend on the planet for the next three days. Princess Celestia recommends that all citizens try to avoid strenuous activity and take whatever means necessary to stay cool and apologizes for any inconvenience this heat wave will cause. The heat wave will begin in thirty-six hours.”

Back in the present Twilight turns to address the whole group. “See this is why the diagrams were so important. Had the Mayor let me finish I could have dispelled all confusion.”

“Oh I remembered I just wanted to see the flashback of when it was cooler,” Pinkie smiled.

“Flashback!?” Twilight asked confused. She was about to question Pinkie’s comment, but shaking her head decided against it. “The heat wave is necessary. If I could void it I would. Just look at what this dry heat is doing to my mane,” Twilight said pointing a hoof at her head and the giant purple puff ball now adorning it. “I pride myself on my organizational skills right down to my appearance, but right now it looks as disorganized and crazy as your...” Twilight pointed her hoof at Pinkie but then trailed off seeing that what little fuzz remained in her pink friend’s mane slowly dissolve and a pained look on her face replace the usually cheerful one. A look that said, “You think I’m crazy?”

“As your... you… Yucca elata,” Twilight quickly recovered. “Yah the Yucca elata, a type of desert plant with a big spiky top that is perfectly adapted to the heat,” Twilight smiled awkwardly hoping Pinkie would buy her lie.

Pinkie stared at Twilight intently for a moment before returning to her usual appearance and bubbly personality. “Okey dokey lokey,” she sang. After another pause Pinkie gasped then tackled Twilight to the ground wrapping her in a tight two hoofed hug. “That’s it! Twilight you’re such a genius. I guess that is why you are Princess Celestia’s star pupil, but I guess it is also because of your awesome magic, but you have to be smart to use your kind of magic, and you could not have been Celestia’s personal student without becoming a super smart smarty pants. Only you’re not wearing pants. Where are your smarty pants? Are the invisible? Oh there’s an idea, invisible pants. The problem is how would you know you are wearing them if you can’t see them. Maybe you could...”

“Pinkie!” Twilight yelled squirming to break free of Pinkie’s vice like grip.

“Yes Twilight?” Pinkie beamed back.

“Slow down, how am I a genius?”

“Haven’t you been paying attention?” Pinkie asked like Twilight should already have known, finally releasing the unicorn. “I’m talking about all of us coming up with ideas to beat the heat just like the Yucca elata.”

Everypony in the room looked at Pinkie completely unable to track the train that led her to this revelation. It was Applejack that finally broke the silence. “Ah reckon that Pinkie Pie might just be on to something there.” Now every pony minus Pinkie gave Applejack a confused stare. “Hear me out girls. Ah hate being unproductive, Ah’d rather be out working the fields, but Ah can’t. So instead of sitting around on our collective rumps complaining about the heat let’s be proactive. Between the six of us Ah bet we can find a perfect solution to staying cool.”

“Now that’s a plan,” Rainbow Dash took to the air hovering a few feet off the ground all excited. “And whoever comes up with the best idea gets to be named the coolest pony in Ponyville.” Rainbow Dash chuckled at her own bad pun. The others only groaned, well all except for Pinkie Pie who also giggled at the pun. “Naturally, it will be me seeing as I’m already 20% cooler then every other pony around.”

Applejack rolled her eyes, “Ah wasn’t intending it to become a contest, but it could be fun.”

“As long as you two ponies don’t let the competition go to your heads this could serve as a favorable distraction,” Rarity commented.

“It could be... nice,” Fluttershy offered.

“Alright then, it’s settled. We will rest for the remainder of the day then meet back up tomorrow and compare each other’s ideas,” Twilight provided the final agreement.

Content in thinking of plans for the next day the six friends did not mind the heat as much and soon the heat of the day gave way to the cool of the night. After sunset they all went their separate ways to put their plans for the next day into motion. Nopony discussed their ideas wanting them to be a surprise, but late in the night when their preparations were completed each pony was confident that they had the winning plan.

The next day saw the six ponies at Applejack’s family farm, Sweet Apple Acres.

“So who should go first?” asked Twilight.

“Well seeing as we’re all at ma farm, Ah think Ah should go first,” Applejack volunteered. She led her friends into the farm house and into the kitchen. “After a long day of work Ah like to cool of with a nice cold refreshing glass of my signature apple cider. But Ah know that plain apple cider ain’t gonna be nearly clever enough to win this here contest, so Ah thought about how Ah could make it even more refreshing.” Applejack opened her rather large full length freezer and extracted a silicone mould shell. She placed it on the table and opened it up to reveal six perfectly formed light golden brown popsicles. “Presenting ma newest apple themed recipe Apple cider popsicles,” Applejack proudly proclaimed.

Everypony Oooo-ed at the sight, while Applejack affixed four of the popsicles into special holders designed to fit around a pony’s canon. “All right everypony dig in and tell me what ya think.” Twilight and Rarity used their telekinesis to lift their popsicles while the others used the leg holsters. Simultaneously they all took the tips of the popsicles into their mouths and simultaneously a shiver ran down each pony’s spine.

“Burr that cold,” Pinkie shivered.

“Well Applejack dear I think that you have a real winner here. These are certainly tasty and if just a single lick can make one feel such a chill indoors I can believe it will be more than satisfactory at keeping ponies cool outdoors,” remarked Rarity.

Applejack beamed at the complement, “Thank-ye kindly Rarity. Ah do take pride in how creative Ah can be with apples.”

With that the six ponies made their way back outside. But by this time the Sun had risen higher into the sky and the temperature had increased, so much so that their popsicles quickly started to melt, soon leaving each of them with nothing more then a damp stick. They stopped to rest under a grove of trees.

“Well that was a bust,” Rainbow Dash huffed throwing her Popsicle stick onto the ground. “Who’s next?”

“Why don’t you go next Dashie?” sang Pinkie.

“Nope I’m going last because I know that I have the best idea,” she replied with a big grin.

“In that case I believe that now would be the perfect opportunity for me to unveil my masterpiece,” Rarity said as her horn glowed with a faint blue light. A matching light appeared on the latch of her left pannier as it opened and a white and red cloth cube floated out of her pack. A subtle shift in the brightness of her horn and a small electrostatic charge leapt from its tip striking the cube which expanded into a large brimmed hat. The overall design had a sweeping curve to it with the brim extending out further to the back then it did at the front, and the red stripes being thicker at the front and tapering towards the rear. She then carefully floated the hat onto the top of her head.

“Tada! Isn’t it lovely,” exclaimed Rarity as she struck a pose.

Applejack looked a little miffed. “You made a hat, so what? Ah’m wearing a hat right now and it’s not doing much to keep maself cool.”

Rarity raised a hoof to her mouth and gave a haughty chuckle, “I would not dream of comparing my creation to your scruffy old thing.”

“Scruffy!” Applejack whinnied. “Now see here Rarity. This hat belonged to my Pappy and I will not have nopony disrespecting it, ya hear me.” The orange Earth Pony mare took a menacing step towards the white Unicorn.

For her part Rarity took a step back. “I deeply regret my choice of words Applejack, I know how important that hat is to you and I meant no disrespect. I was merely attempting to draw attention to the differences in the material that our hats are made of. Your Stetson is comprised mainly of thick tanned animal hide designed to sit heavily on the head and keep your mane out of your face. But unfortunately does not breathe enough to keep you cool in extreme heat.”

Applejack swept her own hat off her head and gave it a good hard look. “I reckon  you may have a point there.” She then wiped the sweat off her brow and taking the brim of her hat in her teeth flipped it back on her head.

Nodding Rarity continued, “My Sun hat on the other hoof is made of the finest imported silk. The material is light to allow adequate air circulation and the brim is wide enough to provide the greatest amount of shade without being excessively big. And as I demonstrated it can be folded up for easy storage, the thin memory metal frame needs only receive a small electrical charge to return the hat to its original shape.”

“Cool. Mind if I try it?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I hate not being up in the air but there is just no shade up high. Having portable shade is just what a flyer like me needs.”

“Why of course Rainbow just be gentle with it. It is very delicate.” Rarity sparked her horn and transferred her hat onto Dash’s head. Almost immediately the Pegasus speedster took off into the air like a bullet punching through the trees, leaving a Rainbow coloured after image in her wake and a slightly tattered red and white hat that floated slowly to the ground.

Rarity picked her hat up and dusted it off while a slightly sadden Rainbow Dash slowly returned to the earth. “Sorry about that Rarity. I liked the look of your hat but it is to light to stay on a Pegasus’ head during flight.”

“And I think that non Unicorn ponies will have a problem activating the memory metal without a portable source of electricity,” added Twilight.

“No, no, no, I am the one who should be apologizing. I should have realized the limitations of my design. I shall simply have to change my approach,” Rarity used her magic to fold the remains of her hat back into her pack.

“No need for everypony to get all grumpy wompy again. I got the sure fire never gonna fail cure to the summer heat wave blues,” Pinkie bounced up and down. Digging her head into her pack she re-emerged with a bright yellow helmet on her head with a water bottle strapped to each side and a flexible tube extending from each bottle. It also had a paper windmill sticking out of the top for some reason. “When I saw Rarity’s hat I was worried that I couldn’t show mine without looking like I copied her’s. But then I realized that she made a hat while I have a helmet so they aren’t the same thing.”

“Pinkie if you don’t mind me asking, what is that thing?” Twilight asked.

“This is my new party invention, a drink helmet,” Pinkie cheered, then put on a more serious almost threatening look (well about as serious as a vibrating ball of smiling pink energy can look) and said, “Patent pending.”

“What’s it do?” asked Rainbow.

“Well the most important thing when out in the sun is to stay hydrated but it isn’t always convenient to keep a drink on hoof. Figuratively and literally,” Pinkie lifted her right leg indicating the now empty hoof holster. “You can’t run, or dance or sing without worrying about spilling something. So I thought if your drink is on your head then it is out of the way but still within easy reach. But then I realized that it isn’t easy to breath with your head in a goldfish bowl filled with punch. So then I thought what if the liquid was outside the bowl. So I stuck a couple of water bottles on the side of a helmet and Wha La. All I have to do is suck on the straws to get a nice mouthful of cool refreshing water, like this.” Pinkie took a big slurp from the straws filling her cheeks. She then made a disgusted face and spat the water on the ground. “Eww it’s all hot.”

“Don’t take it too hard Pinkie Pie. The same thing basically happened to me and ma popsicles. Nothin’s gonna stay cold for long in this heat,” Applejack gave Pinkie a reassuring pat on the shoulder. This seamed to help boost Pinkie’s spirits.

“If you all don’t mind I would like to show you all my idea now,” Fluttershy spoke softly. Everyone turned their attention onto her causing her to squeak and attempt to hide behind her mane. “I mean we are getting close to my cottage so I thought we could go there next. We can stop for lunch and get some water to drink. That is if it’s OK with the rest of you, that is.”

“No need to be bashful sugar cube, we are all going to take our turns eventually. Hopefully your plan will have a bit more longevity than mine,” Applejack reassured the timid Pegasus.

“Yes it is very kind of you to treat us to a meal like this,” said Twilight.

Taking the lead Fluttershy lead them down the path. A few minutes later they reached her cottage with everypony visibly sweating, but glad to be indoors.

“Let me get you all a glass of water, we have to keep from becoming dehydrated,” said Fluttershy as she made her way to the kitchen. A few minutes later Fluttershy returned holding a tray topped with six glasses of water and several sandwiches. After everypony ate and drank their fill, Twilight turned to Fluttershy and asked, “So let’s see what you came up with to protect ponies from the heat.”

Fluttershy got up and opened her closet, “Well I didn’t exactly make something like Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie did but I do have this.” Retreating out of the closet Fluttershy griped a thick silvery quilt in her mouth. Dropping it on the floor she continued to explain. “This is a thermal blanket; I use it when I have to camp outside at night while nursing larger animals. The silvery layer reflects your body heat back at you keeping you warm, so I thought that reversing it would have the opposite effect and reflect the Sun’s heat to keep you cool.”

“That’s quite ingenious Fluttershy,” Twilight looked impressed.

“Oh well I try,” Fluttershy blushed.

“Come on let’s try it out,” Pinkie grabbed Fluttershy and the blanket and pulled both out the door. Watching from the relative comfort of inside the door the other ponies, minus Pinkie who was outside with Fluttershy, watched as Fluttershy draped the thermal blanket over herself. It was so big it completely concealed her from view.

“It’s working. I don’t feel the heat at all,” Fluttershy called out to her friends.

“Can you even see anything under there?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy turned in the direction of the speaking voice and accidentally stepped on the edge of the blanket, tripped and fell and with an “Eeep” fell flat on her face. The others rush to her side, removing the blanket and helping her to her feet.

“You alright dear,” Rarity asked, levitating the blanket off her friend and offering a hoof to help Fluttershy up.

“I'm OK but your right Twilight I couldn't see where I was going. I could cut eye holes and trim the edges so I don't trip over them I suppose,” Fluttershy sighed.

Rainbow Dash prodded the material with a hoof. “Even if you cut some extra holes for our wings this thing would still create to much drag to fly properly with it on.”

“Well keep working on it Fluttershy. I think you had a fun idea being able to hide from the sun like that,” cheered Pinkie as they all returned inside the cottage.

“Alright Twilight, you’re up,” Dash nudged her unicorn friend. “I bet you got some super awesome spell to show off huh?”

Twilight trotted to the other side of the room and turned to face her friends. “Well last night after you all left I remembered reading about an energy transfer spell. Spike helped me find the book it was in again. Now energy cannot be created or destroyed only changed from one state to another or moved from one place to another. The spell is normally used in helping speed or slow chemical reactions by adding or removing thermal energy from the reaction chamber. I theorized that I should be able to adapt the principle to remove thermal energy from a pony and transfer it to something else.”

It was then that Twilight noticed that her friends weren’t really following her. She paused for a moment trying to think of a good example to help the girls visualize what she was trying to explain. “It is like how a Unicorn draws in etheric energy from the world around them and then channeling it through their horns and then releases it in the form of the spell that they want.”

“Oh,” came the collective response of understanding.

Twilight then dropped her head slightly, folding her ears back and letting out a sigh of disappointment. “Unfortunately I am having problems regulating the flow of energy. It works perfectly on inanimate objects but when I tried to modify it to work on Spike I turned him into an ice cube.”

Everypony gasped with looks of shock and horror.

“Oh Spike is fine,” Twilight quickly added seeing her friends reactions. “Dragon scales have a high resistance to damaging magic and his fire lung prevented his core temperature from dropping too low. He will be sniffling for a day, but he should recover by tomorrow. Anyway it will take more time and research before I can even think of trying the spell on a pony.”

“If you didn’t have a working plan why didn’t you tell us earlier darling?” asked Rarity.

“I have been going over the computations in my head all this time. I didn’t want to be the only one to not come up with something, plus I was kind of hoping one of you would have revealed a winning idea before my turn came up.”

“Well cheer up Twilight,” Rainbow Dash was smiling a big toothy grin. “Because now it is my turn, and I have the winning plan you’ve been waiting for.” Rainbow ruffled through her bags and pulled out a small grey object shaped like half of a thick walled cylinder with her teeth.

“What do ya got there Rainbow?” Applejack asked.

Dash carefully attached the device to the base of her tail before explaining, “This is a miniature portable cloud generator. It’s the same model that the Wonderbolts use in their air shows to create the smoke trails you see during their stunts. I can’t requisition full sized clouds to create a cloudy sky, but I figured that if I created my own personal mini cloud that wouldn’t be breaking the rules and should work just as good.”

Pinkie Pie was suddenly on top of Rainbow Dash holding her tail steady to get a better look at the cloud generator. “Wow that’s really cleaver Dashie. And fun too. Finding loop-holes is like something I would do. Have I been rubbing off on you?”

Dash pulled away drawing her tail close to herself feeling rather uncomfortable with Pinkie’s sudden proximity.

“I do not believe that Equestria is quite ready for two Pinkie Pies,” Rarity chuckled.

“Anyway,” Rainbow dragged out, resuming her confident stance. “Let’s try this puppy out.” Rainbow Dash reached her neck back and pulled a rip cord on the device. It sprang to life with a roar belching out a thick black cloud. It rose above Dash covering her in its shadow. “What did I tell you? This thing is the best,” Dash had to raise her voice slightly to be heard over the engine.

“It is a little loud do you not think?” asked Rarity, she and the other ponies flattening their ears against the din.

“I don’t need to keep it on all the time,” Rainbow replied, kicking her hind left leg out to the side silencing the machine. The cloud had reached the size of a pony hovering a foot above Rainbow’s head with a trail leading back to the machine.

“The cloud stays connected to the generator so it will fallow me around as I move,” Dash did a quick trot around the group to demonstrate.

“So how do you control the lightning?” asked Pinkie Pie, her head rotated to the side in thought.

“LightnIIINNNNGGGG?!!!!”

Just then the storm cloud above her head released a bolt of lightning that struck Dash in the back. Rainbow Dash had forgotton that the cloud generators that the Wonderbolts use produce thunderclouds for added dramatic effect. As long as a Pony keeps moving the lightning shoots off harmlessly behind them but Dash had been standing still. Being from such a small cloud the lightning wasn’t very powerful, but it was still strong enough to give Dash a good jolt causing the hair of her mane and tail to stand on end while leaping into the air in shock, colliding with the cloud, and bursting it before landing back on the ground on her rump with a crunch.

Her friends rushed to her side. “Rainbow Dash are you alright?” asked Twilight clearly worried as she helped her friend back to her hooves.

“Yah I’m alright,” Dash said nervously before reasserting her confident attitude, “Takes more than a little lightning to keep Rainbow Dash down.” Looking behind her caused her defeated look to returned. “Only I think I broke my cloud maker.”

Rarity ran a hoof through Dash’s mane reassuringly, “At least the only thing hurt is your mane and I’ll have that fixed up in no time.” Rarity then produced a comb, brush and cordless hair curler from her bag holding them in front of her with her telekinesis, a sly look on her face. “Now just hold still for a minute and let me work my magic.”

“Thanks Rarity but I can fix it myself,” Dash shook herself all over until her hair returned to normal. Dash could only imagining what overly elaborate grooming Rarity would give her.

“Oh fine,” Rarity huffed, returning her things to her pack.

“You travel with grooming supplies?” Twilight asked.

“A lady can never be too prepared,” she answered.

“Either way it looks like nopony is winning the completion,” Applejack noted.

“I hate losing,” Dash added.

“But it wasn’t a complete waste of time. We all had fun today and that is what really matters,” Pinkie was all smiles. Every pony nodded in agreement. They all had fun planning their ideas and showing them off. In fact looking at the position of the sun it was now late afternoon, most of the day had passed and they did not have the time or the presence of mind to complain about the temperature.

“We could try this again tomorrow, if you all want to that is,” Fluttershy spoke softly.

“That is probably the best idea any of us have had all day,” said Twilight.

With that the six friends when their separate ways to return to their respective places of residence and plan for the next and final day of the heat wave.

Back at the Ponyville library Twilight Sparkle entered the den to check on Spike. The little purple dragon had wrapped himself in a thick robe and was drinking a cup of hot cocoa.

“How are you feeling now Spike,” Twilight asked, placing a hoof on his forehead to check his temperature.

“I’m still a bit chilly, but I’m feeling a lot better,” the dragon replied.

“Again Spike I am really sorry about what happened with the spell.”

“I told you it’s OK. You don’t need to keep apologizing Twilight. I’ll be back to tip top condition by this time tomorrow. But enough about me how did your day go? Did you manage to perfect the spell? Who won the contest?” After a long day by himself Spike was eager to hear a good story.

“Well first AJ made these delicious apple cider popsicles....” Twilight sat and drew Spike in beside her while she regaled him with the events of the day.

“This experience has taught me that being with friends and having fun keeps your mind occupied and off of the pressures of the day. Basically time flies when you’re having fun,” Twilight concluded.

“Wow this will make for a pretty good friendship report to Princess Celestia,” commented Spike.

“I’ll write it up now and tomorrow if you’re feeling up to it, and only if you are feeling up to it, you can send it to her for me. Speaking of which it is time for you to get to bed,” Twilight lit her horn and lifted Spike up onto her back and began to make her way up the stairs.

“But don’t you need help with your research for tomorrow?” asked Spike.

Twilight shook her head, “You need your rest and besides Owlisious can help me when he gets in.”

Spiked yawned, “Alright but I’m helping you first thing in the morning.”

Twilight transferred Spike to his little bed, where he fell to sleep almost immediately. “Sure think Spike. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be even cooler than today.”

Author’s Notes

Hello every Brony just wanted to say hi and thank-you to all of you that took the time to read my silly little story. I have been lurking around Equestria Daily for a while now commenting on other peoples stories, so I thought it would only be fair if I tried writing a fan fiction story of my own. This is just a silly little idea I had floating around in my head for awhile. Before Friendship is Magic I wouldn’t even dream of trying something like this.

Interesting side note the original idea behind this story was something completely different. I liked how the fandom had given Luna this ability to hear the wishes made on stars, and I wanted to give Celestia a similar ability. My idea was that she could “feel” everything that the Sun’s rays touched. This would give her a sort of empathic ability to sense the feelings and emotions of ponies. But the danger is that if she opens herself up to much to all the different minds it would overwhelm her.

I didn’t want to just say she always had this ability but, just like with Luna, have something happen to her that awoke it. I thought about how much power it must have took for her to move both the Sun and Moon for a thousand years, when originally she was only supposed to move just the Sun. I also thought that a part of her nature is that energy is constantly being passed back and forth between her and the Sun. The Sun gives her power and sending it back moves it. To move the Moon Celestia had to draw out more energy from the Sun, and like I said in the story, that extra energy was no longer needed so she had to give the extra energy back. Think of it as re-regulating the system. The outcome of the re-regulation would be that Celestia would increase her affinity with the Sun giving her the Sun Touch ability.

The same energy transfer principle applies to Luna and all ponies really. For normal ponies they are drawing energy in from the world around them then release it to do work that affects the world around them. From making the plants grow, to changing the weather and the seasons and general magic. The difference between Alicorns and regular ponies is that while Celestia and Luna have the Sun and Moon all to themselves regular ponies have to share the energy of the planet.

As I was working out the outline of the story it became more and more about the Mane cast dealing with the heat wave and less about Celestia so I just put all the focus onto them. If anyone wants to take my original idea and write a story about it be my guess.

Table of Contents

@