//------------------------------// // Ch.12 - Song of Storms Pt.2 // Story: A Change of Weather in Ponyville // by MLPDavester //------------------------------// Here's the second part to Song of Storms, as promised earlier today. Hope you all enjoy it. And I'm sorry if any of you happen to tear up a bit in this chapter, I swung a little of the sad loop into the story here in a song about halfway through. I actually teared up a bit myself while writing it while listening to the music, hopefully none of you burst into streams of tears because of the emotion in this chapter. ~Ponyville Library~ “Are ya’ll positive that it’ll be alright?” Applejack asked her friends as they all sat in a circle in Twilight’s treehouse, waiting for the storm to pass with Maghus’ help. Applejack had just recently arrived from Sweet Apple Acres with Granny Smith, Big Mac and Applebloom in tow. None of them had been very comfortable leaving the farm the way they did, but at Applejack’s urging they came willingly if only to calm their family member. “It couldn’t be as bad as he said, could it? I mean, if Sweet Apple Acres is ruined then you’d have to leave Ponyville, Applejack…” Pinkie whimpered slightly at the thought of losing one of her best friends to a meanie-storm. Her mane deflated slightly, leaving a little waviness to it but otherwise straightening out considerably. The weather seemed to be affecting even Pinkie’s optimism, which didn’t deem well for Applejack’s previous question. “It’s just a storm you guys.” Rainbow Dash put a hoof around each of Pinkie’s and Applejack’s shoulders in an attempt to calm both of them down. “I’ve taken care of plenty in the past and this one is no different.” Rainbow put on a false smile in an extra attempt to alleviate her friends’ woes. In truth she had no clue how things would turn out. This storm was different given its size, and its trip over the Everfree Forest made the situation even less predictable. “It’ll be fine…” Fluttershy could only sit by and just give reassuring smiles to her friends as she was worried about the storm as well. It wasn’t quite as big a deal for her as it was for Applejack and her family, but the storm could be quite hazardous for all of the animals at her cottage if things got out of hand. Rarity and Twilight however were off in their own world as Twilight was attempting to make sense of the farewell Maghus had given her before Rarity took her back to Ponyville. “…I mean, he’s a nice colt and all, but does he really like me like that?” Twilight sighed as she stomped her hooves lightly in frustration. These thoughts and feelings she was experiencing were completely unfamiliar to her, and she had no books that could help her out of this mess. “Twilight, darling.” Rarity spoke soothingly as she patted her friend’s back. “I thought it was rather obvious that he felt something.” Twilight looked up at Rarity with a slightly shocked look on her face. “You knew?” “Well, not exactly. But I had my suspicions.” Rarity replied as she thought back to the few instances that she had seen Maghus attempt to hide a blush whenever Twilight said or did something that put the focus on him. “I saw how he reacted to your comments a few times in the last day, dear. It’s obvious that he feels something for you. Now how much he cares is something only he knows. If you want to find that out, you’re going to have to ask him yourself.” Twilight sighed in resignation. Her friend, though often prone to fits of drama and over-analyzing things, this was a situation in which her personality was the best at trying to reconcile things. She took a deep breath as she looked out the window, the growing black clouds crackling with sparks of lightning as they approached Ponyville and all of her friends’ homes. ~Sweet Apple Acres~ “Come on Maghus, focus!” Maghus groaned as he focused his magic on the oncoming storm clouds. He had already succeeded in getting a link between his magic and the storm, the trick now was to attempt to sever that link in multiple places at once and then quickly teleport each part separately in an attempt to get the storm clear before it did any lasting damage. The clouds could be seen rippling with energy in specific points at all times, as though someone were poking the clouds with a needle, causing them to spark in protest. The more Maghus focused his magic, the more the energy seemed to crackle and spring outwards, nearly turning into lightning bolts that would descend on the farm and forest surrounding it and leave only destruction behind. Maghus body groaned in protest as he put all of his power into ripping the clouds apart. He had never attempted such a feat of magic in the past. The furthest he had ever come to such a trial was when Moonbeam had made him simply take a bunch of small white clouds above Canterlot and break them into pieces. He had never experimented with storm clouds for the very reason he was so cautious now- the dangerous side effects of breaking apart these unruly pieces of weather. Maghus sighed and sat back for moment, taking in the sights around him as his magic continued to pull at the seams of the storm. He could see rows upon rows of apple trees swaying in the strong wind, the sweet scent of apples being carried off of them in all directions. Then his eyes turned to the barn and the house further along the way. This was Applejack’s home, the place she had lived all her life, and where her sister, brother and grandmother also lived as Maghus had noticed while Applejack had brought her family into Ponyville. All four of them had had looks of doubt and unease strongly apparent on them as they had all nodded to Maghus as they passed. Maghus’ expression turned into a deep frown of determination. He was NOT going to let some storm ruin the life of somepony that Twilight was such good friends with. He had received the occasional letter saying how she was having a good time in Ponyville, and asking how he was doing in Canterlot. He had always wanted to write saying how he had missed her and wanted more than anything for her to come back to Canterlot or for him to somehow go to Ponyville. It had all been selfish dreams however. He could never dream of taking Twilight away from the friends she spoke so highly of, and he knew going to Ponyville would ruin his chances of understanding his own magic better. So he had simply written letters saying he was doing fine and wishing her well in Ponyville. He had wished more than once that he could have pulled up the courage to at least confess to her his feelings that he had felt the day she had left one year ago. But he knew it would only serve to have the same effects of either Twilight coming back, him going there, or worse yet, resulting in the ruining of their friendship. He had known from the first instant at looking at the storm that he was putting himself very high up for a chance at failure. He had never experienced a situation like this, never been trained for something like this…or had he? Maghus then proceeded to think back to the different lessons he had with Moonbeam in the last few years as they had progressed into more advanced weather magic. They had dealt with cloud physics, cloud manipulation, all kinds of different magical aspects of clouds that he could tap into and exploit for the purpose of creating or destroying clouds. That was when Maghus had an epiphany. His new plan would be much riskier on his own body than his previous solution, but it was much less dangerous on the surrounding environment save for his general vicinity amidst the forest beyond the farm. Maghus proceeded to change his focus on the clouds themselves, and averted his magic towards to instability and contents of the clouds themselves. What Maghus was about to attempt was change the clouds into a bunch of gentle rainclouds, while absorbing the lightning and other hazardous aspects of the clouds into himself like a sponge. It would exact a terrible toll on his body, worse than his fears than he had felt when sending Twilight and the others off with his original plan. But it was better this way. He couldn’t bear to see everypony’s face as he absorbed so much instability into his small body. Maghus took a deep breath. He closed his eyes to the world around him as he thought about his friends, his family and Twilight…and sang. Storm As Maghus sang, he gently probed the clouds, gently taking in the different aspects of the clouds that could bring harm and destruction to anything they passed over. As he absorbed these different parts of the storm he channeled them through his own body slowly, releasing them to his general surroundings at a slow pace so as not to rush the storm all into one concentrated burst around him. His body was slowly working against him however as it tried to deny the access of the storm as it damaged different parts of his body all at once. Maghus scrunched up his face in pain as he opened his eyes and continued to sing while glancing at the storm above the forest, now mere minutes from reaching Sweet Apple Acres. He pushed a sense of renewed vigor through his bones and muscles, not willing himself to give up just for his own personal sake. Even if it costed him his life he would not let somepony else lose their home and way of life to a storm. What he also noticed about the storm as it approached was that the clouds were gently brightening and the danger and ominous feeling about them was slowly fading. He closed his eyes again and continued his work amidst the pain, knowing that his plan would work out for everypony else, even if it didn’t for him. ~Ponyville Library~ “Does anypony else hear something?” Pinkie asked suddenly while everypony else sat in solemn silence. As they all focussed a little more on their surroundings, they could all hear a gentle voice in the air, a sad tone to it as a tune and a song were carried through the air around Ponyville. “Girls! Looks outside!” Pinkie had just now noticed the brightening of the clouds, and called everypony’s attention to it. While everypony else walked over to gaze in marvel at the change in the weather, Rarity couldn’t help but notice the tears falling from Twilight’s eyes in a gentle flow. Rarity whispered gently to her friend so as not to attract everypony else’s attention. “Is something the matter Twilight?” “It’s Maghus…” Twilight whispered amidst her gentle sobs. Rarity’s confused look told her she had to explain further. “That’s Maghus’ voice…” Rarity couldn’t help but gasp as she glanced towards the others who had just now noticed their crying friend, sensing something was amiss. They could all tell that something was wrong, but what it was they couldn’t tell. Everyone except Pinkie with tears in her eyes as well, who nodded at Twilight to show she understood as Pinkie did in times like these. ~Sweet Apple Acres~ Maghus sighed inwardly as he looked at the scene in front of him. The clouds were now a clear white, no sense of danger or foreboding to them any longer. The area around Maghus and on his body was different however. Many trees around him had toppled over from the energy he had released from his body. A few nearby were still standing, but only barely. As for Maghus himself, his body had multiple bruises and sores on it as though he had been in a terrible fight. His mane and tail were even more dishevelled than usual, with hairs pointing in every direction. His body was also wracked with inner pain as a lot of the energy had done some damage to many of his vital organs. None had been rendered useless, but Maghus’ body was in the worst shape many ponies ended up in without actually passing away. Maghus smiled as his body flopped to the ground, fatigue and pain finally setting in. His body contorted into the fetal position as he whimpered in pain, still continuing his song. His body slowly began to fade into sleep, working its way up from his hooves into his lower torso, then his chest, and gradually into his head and mind. As he drifted into unconsciousness he could feel his body being gently picked up by magic. The last thing he saw and heard was the voice of a white stallion with a star-studded cape and cherry-crimson eyes as he gently trotted towards him. [Finish listening to song here if you haven’t finished it already.] “Let’s get you to a hospital, friend. You deserve a hero’s welcome after what you’ve done for this town today.” The mysterious stallion smiled as Maghus drifted to sleep. “It’s the least of what you deserve at this point…” The stallion’s expression went grim as he trotted back towards Ponyville, Maghus drifting nearby due to levitation magic. I`m very sorry to anyone that may have cried at this chapter, but it was going to happen eventually that something big would happen. I teared up actually reading this myself as I wrote it and listened to the song. So I won`t be surprised if a few others tear up as well at the emotional aspect of the chapter. As for the story itself, I`m hoping to get out another chapter or two during the week, but we`ll see how that goes considering I have a few things coming up in my university courses that will interfere with writing a little bit. We`ll see how things go. Other than that, goodnight everypony and have a good week.