The thunderstorm slammed against the roof of the small car that chugged through the cute little town of Ponyville. Twilight thought this new town that her family was moving to was absolutely disgusting. It was so much smaller than any other place she had ever lived, and the colors were too bright. It seemed like every house and shop in existence was painted a different, vomit-inducing color. Worse yet—it looked so uncivilized.
"Oh, don’t be so upset, Twilight," she heard her mother, Twilight Velvet, snap from the passenger's seat of the bland, grey car. "You’ll make some great friends here. I just have a feeling."
"This weather is terrible," her father, Night Light, grumbled. He squinted to watch the cobblestone road and Twilight Sparkle gazed up at a sign that read Carousel Boutique, which flapped wildly in the wind.
"Just go slow, dear," Twilight Velvet muttered, looking back at the worried Twilight. "Are you nervous about the rain?"
"What? No! I know for a fact it won’t be bad. There is no possible probability that this could be a devastating storm!"
"That’s very good," Night Light chuckled as the rain slacked off into nothingness. "Hey, would you look at that? It’s gone! Why don’t you two go up and look at the orchard? It’s beautiful up there! Go talk to that farmer up on the hill, how about it? She looks very nice." Before Spike or Twilight even knew what was going on, they were shoved out of the car and pushed to wooden, tall sign that sat over a long, dirt path that read Sweet Apple Acres.
"Well, it’s worth a shot," Twilight optimistically sighed, and the two trudged up the wet, muddy road.
"You look absolutely darling, darling! How does it feel," Rarity squealed. Fluttershy held her arms up at the extremely sparkly dress and resisted the urge to just... Just...
"Itchy," Fluttershy whispered very quietly.
"What did you say?"
"Itchy," Fluttershy breathed out in an even more silent squeak.
"Please, Fluttershy, I simply cannot understand you!"
"Itchy," Fluttershy whimpered in a louder voice. Her pale, pasty face quickly turned ruddy and she hid behind her long, pastel pink hair that nearly dragged against the floor.
"Really? I would have never thought," Rarity pondered. "Oh well, I suppose we’ll have to start over with new fabric! The same color though, right?"
"You’re not mad?"
"Of course not!" The soft television on the wall began to screech in terror and the girls looked up to the screen with the red banner scrolling across the bottom.
"A tornado warning has been issued for the following areas. If you are inside, find a location with no windows or mirrors. If you are outside or on the road, seek shelter immediately."
"Oh no," Fluttershy gasped, ripping the dress’s pins apart to get the fabric off. "I have to go, Rarity, I’m so sorry!"
"Fluttershy, those are always so silly!"
"I have animals at home," the girl shrieked loudly as she stood at the front door. They looked at each other in shock, and Fluttershy tucked her hair behind her ear. "I, um... I’ll call you later, okay?"
"O-Okay," Rarity stuttered, watching the girl flee from the boutique. It was a few moments of silence before the wind began to pull the doors open, and Rarity slammed them shut and locked them.
"Rarity, there’s a really bad storm coming," Sweetie Belle shouted in a fearful tone, running down the spiral staircase that swirled around the entire, circular building of Carousel Boutique, which, in fact, looked like a carousel.
"I know, Sweetie," she explained, trying to secure all of her loose objects inside of a closet or a cranny so that nothing would fly around and hurt the two. "Get into the hallway and I’ll be there in a second. Do you hear me?"
"Yes," Sweetie loyally whimpered, grabbing Rarity’s flashlight for the table and a throw pillow from the chaise lounge before fleeing to the long, dark hallway. Rarity sighed and tucked her hair behind her ears as she collected her cherry red reading glasses, her keys, a throw blanket from the couch, and a bag of supplies that she kept in case of a storm. Her heels clicked loudly across the floor as she rushed to their safe spot and she got on the floor with the girl.
"Here we are," Rarity calmly sang, wrapping them both up in the blanket. Opalescence meowed from Sweetie Belle’s lap, and Rarity smiled when the cat purred. They sat together on the pillow and she smiled, taking some crackers, a battery-powered radio, and a coloring book and crayons from the posh handbag. "Do you want to color in a picture?"
"No," Sweetie Belle whimpered fearfully, resting her head on Rarity’s arm.
"Well, I do." She opened the book and began to color, then she counted.
3...
2...
"Can I do one?" Rarity grinned and tore out her sheet, handing the book to the small girl to let her pick out a page.
"Well howdy there, Miss," Applejack shouted over the sound of the storm. She held her cowboy hat down on her hay colored hair through the heavy, harsh winds, and Twilight clutched tightly onto her cardigan to keep it on. "Looks like tornado weather, dunnit?"
"What," Twilight shouted over the sound of the hard wind. Applejack just so happened to hear a loud bell from the sweet little farmhouse on the hill and a loud, southern voice boomed down to them.
"Applejack," her boisterous little granny shouted, "there’s a ‘nado comin’ fer us! Get yer apple-pickin’ booty in the house, y’ hear?"
"Well would’ja look at that? I was right!" Applejack laughed, grasping Twilight’s hand. "Come on, now, we’re gonna have us a lil’ hurricane party! That’s what Granny Smith calls ‘em. I don’t think I’ve ever met’chya before, have I? Name's Applejack!"
"This isn’t the time for introductions," Twilight screamed, looking back at the huge, black tornado, then down at Spike, who looked afraid of the storm. "It’s going to hit your farmhouse!"
"No it ain’t, they barely ever blow through us! They’re too scared," Applejack reassured with a laugh, "and if the lil’ monster does hit us, we can rebuild!"
"Applejack, my family doesn’t know what to do in a crisis and it’s heading for Ponyville!"
"Do they have them cellular touchy-feely phones?"
"Yes, why?" Applejack opened the door and shoved Twilight and Spike through before barging in, slamming the door shut. They jogged into the hallway where no windows or mirrors were, and there was an older, muscular boy holding a young girl around Spike’s age, as well as the old lady.
"Tell ‘em to run up to Sugarcube Corner," she explained. "Not far away from anybody, and they got a basement that goes for miles! Built it myself, y’ see?"
"Really?" Twilight was now more impressed than worried, and Applejack gave her and Spike a blanket. The whole house smelled so cozy and welcoming, like fresh, new pine straw and firewood. Twilight smiled and wrapped her and Spike up in the blankets.
"Yep! Say, what’s your name, anyway?"
"I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my little brother Spike."
"Nice to meet y’all," Applejack chuckled, tilting her hat. "This is Applebloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith. Y’all already know me."
"It’s nice to meet you too," Twilight started, looking around at the family. They were so loving and nice, and she felt that she never wanted to leave.
"Come on, Pinkie, in the basement," Mr. Cake desperately ordered, and Pinkie Pie scooped up the toddler twins into her arms. Mrs. Cake took the little boy from her and the tall, slender girl—who was still in her cute, diner uniform that she wore while working at the bakery—quickly looked back at a couple as they rushed into the doors. It was a tall man and woman: the man with dark blue hair and golden eyes; the lady with long, white and light purple hair, with straight across bangs.
"Please, help us," they called out to her, and her pretty blue eyes widened as the couple began to get sucked through the doorframe by the huge, black twister. She scrambled to meet them, but she felt Mr. Cake yank her back down into the cellar, and she caught one last glimpse of them being pulled into the storm before he shut the door and everything turned black.
"Oh my God," Pinkie whimpered, sitting down on the floor. Mr. Cake lit a candle and set it down to where only a certain area was lit. She received awful images in her vivid imagination of monsters in the deep darkness, and Mrs. Cake finally placed a hand on hers.
"Pinkie Pie, don’t think about that family," she whispered, "they’re fine."
"No, they aren’t," Pinkie mumbled. She could feel it in her stomach that it wasn’t alright. After a little while of waiting, Pinkie took up a bottle of water from the storage in the cellar and she poured it in a mixing bowl. She then dipped her face into the bowl, then waited for a few seconds before taking her head from the bowl, sputtering and coughing.
"Do you feel better?"
"Sure," she whispered. She was angrier than anything that she didn’t know their names, for if she had known and written them on paper before dropping them into the water, she could have seen their fate.
"Is this storm over yet?"
"The weather has now cleared. You are clear to check your home for any damages."
"Alright," Rainbow excitedly shouted, grabbing up her skateboard and her backpack. She twisted her snapback cap around backward and slid on her butt down the banister of the stairs. Her family didn’t live in an awful house for sure, but it was in a strange location.
Her family lived in the clouds, in fact, and her family had an odd job that had been passed down for years. Her family created the weather. Sometimes, a fight caused horrible weather, since the job had been passed down to Rainbow Dash after her dad retired. Speaking of a fight, Dash watched her dad sit in his recliner in silence. The man that had once owned a nice athletic frame and a big head of rainbow hair now had nothing more than a beer gut and a half bald, shiny head. She loved him very much and he did everything for her and her adopted sister Scootaloo, but he had started to get into arguments with her after he had his wings taken away and he started drinking.
"Daddy," she asked, watching the man in the recliner. She approached him and looked down at the man, who had passed out in front of the television. She slowly reached down and gave him a kiss on the cheek, before she smiled and ran to the door. She threw it open before she took a few steps back. "Double Rainboom," she tried to pump herself up, before she jumped up and down, loosened her muscles, and jumped on her skateboard, pushing off through the door.
Rainbow kicked her legs and screamed in excitement before she dived downwards. For years she had tried to cause an amazing phenomenon that her father was able to do called a Double Rainboom. It was where she could cause enough pressure in the atmosphere—mote than a speeding bullet—to create a ringed double rainbow.
Rainbow held one arm out to cause more of a torpedo effect, and the wind began to deflect her body, but it was no use. She used her free arm to squeeze her necklace, and the ruby lightning cloud illuminated before two huge, blue, soft wings shot from her back. It caught her only inches above the ground, and she laughed as she did a few flips in the air, landing on her feet in front of Fluttershy’s cottage.
"Never fear, Dashie is here!" Fluttershy gasped as her sweet little critters fled away from her, and her kind eyes squeezed shut when the last little butterfly twinkled off of her finger. "Oh. Whoops."
"Yes," she sighed, "whoops indeed."
"So, what’s up? Anything new?" Rainbow Dash kicked her feet up as she flopped down on the girl’s sofa, and Fluttershy sighed.
"Did you have a fight with your dad?"
"What," Rainbow Dash laughed, before blowing a raspberry with her lips. "No way!"
"Rainbow." Dash looked at Fluttershy, and the taller, skinnier girl’s eyes narrowed. Dash scratched her tan skin and bit her lip before sighing.
"Yeah."
"You caused a huge tornado to blow through, Dashie."
"Nobody got hurt, did they?"
"I don’t know, but it isn’t safe for us, and it’s not safe for your relationship with your dad! I know you love him and you’ve always wanted to be the better version of him, but that also means that you look up to him!"
"No I don’t," Dash shouted, "he’s a drunk coward!"
"Are you sure that you aren’t the coward, Rainbow Dash?"
"I’m anything but," Rainbow muttered, folding her arms. There was a long silence before a Fluttershy scooped up a ball python from the floor, wrapping it around her neck.
"Please, don’t be so awful to him—"
"Hey, how about we go visit with Rarity?"
"You never want to visit Rarity because you’re her perfect body style."
"Applejack?"
"You always argue."
"Pinkie Pie?"
"You think she’s annoying."
"So," Rainbow Dash shouted, throwing her hands up. "Anything’s better than talking about Dad! Even Pinkie Pie, for Celestia's sake!" Fluttershy stood to her feet with the snake still around her neck, and the two slowly began to walk from the cottage. The sky was now blue and beautiful, and a Fluttershy hummed a nice little tune on their way. It wasn’t because she wanted to sing, but because she wanted to reassure that the animals were safe. They crossed under the weeping willow that she had hung many a bird feeder on, and she sighed when she saw half of the beautifully painted feeders sprawled on the ground. "I can help you make more," Dash offered, and they continued to walk.
"So, uh," Dash began, and Fluttershy blushed crimson when she felt the girl 's warm aura. She closed her eyes with a smile, and they walked slowly down the path to the center of town where Sugarcube Corner sat.
In the distance, they heard awful sobbing, and Fluttershy began to run ahead when she heard it. Her eyes widened when she saw a beautiful girl she had never seen before, with thick-framed glasses and long, dark purple hair held up in a bun. "Mom, Dad," the girl wailed, and Pinkie Pie was seen consoling her, still in her short-skirted uniform. Fluttershy had never seen Pinkie so solid and still in her life, and she had also never seen a house in such ruin as the craftsman house that sat right across from Sugarcube Corner.
This would be the beginning of the end.