//------------------------------//
// Scattered Showers, Improving By Evening 
// Story: The Coming Storm 
// by Jay911 
//------------------------------//

JULY 25
1:07 PM

Swift and I were casting about in the concourse of the SkyDome, in near-total darkness. The power, of course, was out, and most of the doors were blocked with random bits of debris. Clearly on purpose, though, as we'd done at Ponytown to prevent all but the door we wanted used from being accessed.
Swift's latest trick, a ball of light hovering over her head like a cartoon lightbulb, was giving us a dim view of the world around us. The Quaker Steak & Lube restaurant, all locked up, off to our left, was still making my mouth water just thinking of the concept of perfectly cooked and salted french fries. When we got home, I'd have to check the potatoes and see if any were good to harvest yet, and then figure out a way to get some deep frying going on.
"Jeff!" Swift called out, her voice echoing up and down the empty concourse. We assumed he went in the obviously open door, though we knew not why. Had he seen someone? Heard someone?
If so, why didn't he come get us, or at least tell us where he was going?
"Whoa! Look out," Swift said, and put a leg across my chest to prevent me from stepping onto nothingness as the stairs to the lower bowl seats began before us.
"Those come up fast," I said after thanking my friend. I descended them carefully with her and we continued looking around.
"Does the fact that there's no encampment around here give you the heebie-jeebies at all?" Swift asked.
"Heebie. Jeebies?" I said, cocking an eyebrow.
"It's weird!"
"I know what you mean," I admitted. I shrugged, not even thinking that she couldn't see it. "It's a big place. Maybe they set up camp far away from the door, like we did."
"Right," Swift nodded. "Fair enough."
We made it down to row 1 - field level - without breaking any necks or legs. I blinked and motioned to the edge of the low fence that separated the field from the seats. On a human, it was a little over knee-high - to us, it was at about our chins. "Swift, light that up."
On the unpadded blue tubing that formed the seats-side of the wall was some fresh blood. Not a lot, but enough that you could tell what it was, and that it was deposited recently.
"Jeez..." Swift's ears folded back to complete her worried expression.
"I kinda wish we'd brought the sticks outta the truck," I murmured. "Jeff!" I hissed into the darkness.
"Hey, there's more on the top," Swift said, gesturing to a thin smear along the top of the wall's padding.
I looked at it, contemplated, and then said, "Okay. Boost me over."
Without argument, Swift magically helped me over the wall, and then assisted herself as well (and I didn't notice until later that she was able to keep up her light spell all the while). We were just beyond third base, on the warning track, but couldn't even see that far despite our magical illumination.
"Stop," Swift said in a whisper, freezing solid still. I did the same.
We could hear slow, uncoordinated footfalls on the artificial grass, crackling as the plastic blades crunched underhoof. God, I hope it's underhoof, and not under something else.
"Jeff," Swift called out in a low, conversational tone.
There was no response.
She looked to me. "Let's slowly follow the noise. If I stop, you stop, and vice versa. If you see something, let me know. Be ready for anything."
"You got it," I said, and fell a half a length behind her to her right side as she moved forward.
Three tense minutes later, or possibly an eternity (I'm not sure), we found ourselves approaching a reddish-tan and blond Earth pony staggering about in shallow center field.
"Jeff," Swift said with relief and hurried to his side, then staggered back a half-step. When I got to them, I saw why she'd recoiled - he had a bloody nose and black eye.
"Hey," he said weakly. "I'm... almost checked... hot on their trail."
"Jeff?" Swift said concernedly. "Are you okay?"
"Gotta find the others," he murmured, blood seeping from his nostrils. "They might be... 'fraid of the dark. Or those spiders."
I poofed out as the two of us whirled to look at what he was pointing at. There was nothing there but green plastic turf.
"Let's get him back to the truck," I said. "Or at least outdoors. I think he has a concussion."
"Yeah," Swift said, trying to guide him back the way we came (or at least we hoped we were pointed that way). "C'mon, buddy."
"Buddy's here?" Jeff said with alarm. "Shit, he was supposed to be guardin' Ponytown."
"He is," I said, moving to his other side to kind of keep him corralled. "Let's get you outside."
"But what about the girl? And the jerk guy and th'other guy we didn't hear from yet?"
"We'll find them soon enough," Swift said. "Jeff, you're hurt. We need to get you somewhere we can take a good look at you."
"'Kay," he agreed after a long pause to comprehend. "Yeah. Stupid railing."
"Why'd you come in here?" I decided to ask, not sure if I'd get an answer. "Did you hear something?"
"Yeah, a scream," he answered sluggishly, then made a half-hearted attempt at a girlish yelp. "Somebody needs help. No. Somepony needs help, right Swifty?" he chuckled.
"We'll help them as soon as we finish helping you," she assured him.
We got to the field wall and climbed over it again, accompanied by a curse and a feeble buck from Jeff - his attempt at punishing the structure that had injured him. Then it was time to tackle the stairs. "These don' look steep, but when you don't see 'em comin' - woosh!"
Jeff threw his forelegs out to the sides with the last bit, as punctuation to his statement, and Swift and I had to prevent him from falling on his face. "Yeah," I said pointedly. "They're tricky when you don't keep your hooves under you."
We climbed the stairs, then crossed the 30 meters of concourse, and were back at the door to the outside world. Jeff winced at the bright light, and I have to admit after adjusting to the dim illumination Swift was providing, I wasn't too pleased either.
"Stay with him," Swift said. "Make sure he doesn't get worse. Try to stop the bleeding."
"What, are you going to search alone??" I protested. "Wait until I can go with you."
"Stay with Jeff," she stressed. "If somepony in here was screaming, they might be in trouble."
"All the more reason for me to go wit-"
"I've got this," Swift said, fixing me with a gaze that said she was done discussing it.
"...fine," I frowned. "At least take one of our sticks with you."
"I'll improvise something first chance I get," she told me. "Get some water into him and sit him down."
"Be careful," I said. Then I realized something, and said, "Please, at least just wait 'til I get him to the truck and bring you back a radio."
Swift frowned. "Make it quick."
I hurried Jeff over to the curb by the truck as quickly as I felt was safe for him, then unlocked the truck, grabbed the handheld radio, made sure it had power, and tucked it under my wing; then, after admonishing Jeff to stay put, I galloped back over to the door.
"Keep in touch," I said, lifting my wing and letting the radio levitate away from me.
Swift smiled. "I'll be okay," she said. "Keep him awake and well." Then she turned and disappeared into the darkness.

Jeff had stayed put as requested. It almost made me want to sprint back and call out to Swift to wait for me, so I could catch up with her, but in my heart I knew he needed to be watched.
"I'm going to get you a water," I said, climbing up into the bed of the truck. One of these days we need to hit up a vet clinic and figure out things like pain meds for horses. Coming back down with a bottle between my teeth, I wrenched the cap off and handed it- sorry, hoofed it to him to drink.
As he was drinking, I studied his face. The black eye was a little swollen and he had cuts around the side of his face. His nose had stopped bleeding, but he was still drenched in red on the front of his face. I got another bottle of water to rinse him off, only meeting with mild protest.
I let him sit and take stock of himself for a few minutes, blowing his bloody nose and gathering his wits. "Can you even breathe through that right now?" I asked.
"M'talking, aren't I?"
"How do you feel now?"
"Like I headbutted a locomotive."
I looked at him. His eyes seemed equal - I remember hearing that head-injured people would often have different sized pupils. I hoped the same followed for horses.
I held up a hoof. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Jeff looked at me like I was the brain-damaged one, then smirked. "Very funny."
I sat down in front of him and smiled. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Some," he mumbled. "Found an open door. Shouted 'hello' into it. Heard a far-off scream. Then you two found me."
"I think there's a little bit missing in there," I told him. "You fell down some stairs and hit your head on a railing."
"So much for being the hero," he smiled, then winced. "Where's Swift?"
"She went inside to look for the others."
"By herself?"
I resisted the urge to swat him with a wing. "You went in by yourself."
"Yeah, and lookit what it got me." He gingerly touched the side of his face near the black eye with a hoof, and then sucked in air through his teeth in pain. "Ow."
"I wish we had something to give you," I said. "I don't know if aspirin or ibuprofen will hurt us. Want more water, though?"
He lifted the bottle with his free hoof. "Still got some here. Thanks."
I was contemplating leaving him sitting by the truck and venturing as far as I dared inside the door, when the radio inside the truck finally crackled. "Stormy, you there?"
I pulled open the door, scrambled up into the tall cab, and managed to key the mic. "Go ahead," I told Swift.
"I've got 'em. They were way up in the luxury box level. Everypony's okay, and we're coming out."
"That's a relief," I said. "Need any help?"
"Nah, we're good. How's Jeff?"
"Getting better," I said. "About as sane as the rest of us now."
"Good to hear... I think," Swift half-laughed. "Talk to ya in a few minutes."
I climbed back down, leaving the door open, and sat beside Jeff again. "She's found them, and they-"
"I heard it," he interrupted me, nodding. "Good news."
"Did I lie about your prognosis?" I said with a hint of a smile.
"Big headache," he said. "I'll be okay."
"Can you stand?"
He gritted his teeth, grunted, and slowly got to his hooves. He swayed once, but ended up staying upright without support.
"Take it easy," I cautioned him. "Don't over-exert yourself."
"I'll be okay," he repeated.
"I just don't want you running across the plaza and eating pavement."
"I'm good," he insisted. "I'm just gonna take a few steps. Make sure everything's working. You go to the door and meet them."
"You sure?" I asked.
"Go, Storm. I'll be fine."
"Okay," I nodded, and turned and headed across the plaza, up the steps, and towards the open door. As I was heading there, I realized with dismay that I'd been on the field at SkyDome - probably for the only time - and hadn't stood at home plate, or run the bases, or anything on my bucket list.
I got to the door just as a tan earth pony was coming out. She took a step back in surprise upon seeing me.
"It's okay," I said. "I'm with the pony who found you."
"Oh," she said a little nervously. "Hello."
I stepped aside to let her fully out the door. She had a striking mane and tail of varying shades of green, and eyes of a reddish-orange tint, a little darker than Jeff's coat. On her rump was a red cross, much like a first-aid insignia. Behind her was a white male pegasus, a little on the stocky side, with red mane and tail and slate grey eyes; he had a butt picture of a crescent wrench crossed over a claw hammer. He squinted at the bright light and cast me a strange - possibly suspicious - look.
Behind him and just ahead of Swift was a thinner but slightly taller dark brown pony, with jet-black mane and tail and deep blue eyes. His tail and horn - okay, so he's a unicorn - had streaks of silver throughout - dock to tip along his tail, and in a spiral from the base of his horn to its point. He wore the mark of a paint brush and several splashes of color, as if dabs of paint on a traditional painter's palette.
Swift came out, smiling briefly as she saw me, but turning cross in a flash. "Where's Jeff?" she demanded. "Did you leave him?"
"He insisted," I said, wings out. "He's by the truck - he promised he wouldn't go anywhere."
Her light spell diffused, but I noticed her horn was still glowing. Momentarily, a cart squeezed through the doorway, carrying a stack of random and assorted items - clearly the other ponies' belongings.
"Whatever," she sighed. Gesturing with a hoof, she said, "Stormy, meet Karin-" pointing to the mare, then the pegasus and finally the unicorn "-Serge, and Rich."
"Howdy," I said, waving a wing, and reflexively offering a hoof to shake, or at least bump. Rich, closest to me, figured it out and tapped my hoof with a faint smile.
"Hi," the girl said sheepishly. "Thanks for coming for us."
"Not a problem," I smiled. "Can we all go down towards the plaza to meet our third?"
As we descended the stairs, Swift carried the cart with ease in her yellow glow, bypassing the cement steps with it completely. I couldn't help but notice that the trio were glancing back at her and exchanging cautious looks with one another.
"Jeff," I called out, waving a hoof. He cantered over to us and smiled, looking half-decent - much better than I'd envisioned when I first saw his injuries.
"Jeff, this is Rich, Serge, and Karin," Swift introduced them, setting their cart down near the truck.
"Pleased to meet you," Jeff smiled, dipping his head in a kind of a bow.
Karin blinked and stepped forward. "How'd you get hurt?" she asked, then gasped. "It wasn't from looking for us, was it?"
"It's nothin'," Jeff said dismissively. "Just a bruise."
"I'm a paramedic student. Let me look," Karin insisted, then added in a murmur with ears folded back, "...at least I was."
"Jeff, let her give you a once-over," I suggested. "Karin, I think he may have had a concussion. He rung his bell pretty hard falling down."
Jeff obligingly sat down and let himself be inspected. Serge was watching with an expressionless face, but Rich was studying Swift intensely as she sorted their gear into the back of the truck.
I sidled up to her and got her attention, nodding towards him. She figured it out and backed up a bit to be closer to him. "Haven't seen magic in use before, huh?" she smiled.
"It's amazing," he said. "How are you doing that?"
"Once you gain your focus, it's actually pretty simple," Swift explained. "Stick with me and I'll show you."
I decided since the other two were pairing off by race, I might as well too, and headed for the white pegasus. "So, hi," I said to him.
He shifted his gaze from Karin to me and then back.
"Serge, right? I'm Stormy." I offered my hoof.
He glanced at my hoof, then my face. "Of course you are," he rumbled.
I was rendered momentarily speechless by the cool reception. "Trust me, it fits me better than my old name," I smiled, then hurried to change the subject. "Can you fly with those?" I nodded to his wings.
He grunted again. "Haven't tried," he said. "Too busy survivin', kid."
I failed to suppress my laugh at being called a kid. "Fair enough," I said, letting it drop.
"Folks? Gather 'round," Swift said, levitating a crate down from the pickup box. "We've got some box lunches we brought with us, and some water. Let's take some time to have a bite and get to know one another."
Good idea, I thought to myself, admiring Swift's planning. We all got together and sat in a circle as Swift distributed the fruit & vegetable salads.
"So you're a medic?" I asked Karin.
She nodded a little. "Sort of," she said. "I was in training when this all went down. So not really."
"Hey, it's better than nothing," Jeff commented. "Thanks, by the way."
"No problem," Karin smiled, blushing a little.
"Besides, if you're a medic, she's our mage-" I pointed with a hoof at Swift "-so we're ready for a raid."
Swift rolled her eyes and Jeff chuckled. Karin clearly didn't get it and Serge was disinterested, but Rich brightened up, laughed a little, and held out a hoof, which I reached across the circle and bumped. "Good one," he said.
I caught a tinge of accent in his voice, and said, "Can I ask? Quebecois?"
"Oui," he nodded, smiling. "Trois-Rivieres."
"Jeff's from Ottawa," I said. "He might know a bit of French. I'm afraid I'm a little too rusty."
"Un petit peu," Jeff chimed in.
We all chattered on some more, and Serge spoke up once the conversation dwindled. "So. How much time did you all lose?"
"Lose?" I said, both eyebrows going up.
"What do you mean?" Swift asked.
Serge seemed irritated. "How much time did you lose?" he repeated. He tossed a hoof towards Karin. "Eight days." To Rich. "Three weeks." To himself. "Two days. What about the rest of you?"
The three of us looked at one another and then to Serge. Jeff said, "I don't think any of us lost any time at all. I know I didn't."
"Me either," Swift shook her head.
"I was asleep, but I woke up around eight or nine hours after I went to bed," I said.
"That's weird!" Karin cut in. "All three of us seemed to skip several days at least."
We listened as Serge explained. "I was on break on my laptop at work in the Maintenance of Way division over at Union Station," he said, angling a hoof towards the train terminal on the other side of the stadium. "I must have nodded off, but I didn't feel like I got any rest at all. I woke up Monday morning according to the clock on my computer screen, looking like this."
"I left night school at Centennial to drive home and suddenly night turned into day. And I turned into a horse... or a pony, I guess is what we're calling ourselves? And I crashed my car on the Gardiner from the shock of it all. Found my way here and found Serge making a nest out of the luxury boxes."
Rich spoke up. "I was in town for a gaming convention. I'm a computer game programmer. I woke up looking like this after the first night of the convention, and spent half a day trying to figure out how to get down from the eleventh floor of my hotel-" he gestured to a nearby tower "-without elevators or power for the card-swipe doors in the stairwells. I saw signs of life over here and came in to find I'd either slept twenty-one days or otherwise really missed out on the rest of the conference."
"That's really strange," Swift said, looking to Karin. "Especially yours where you say night turned into day. Are you saying you were driving along in the middle of the night on May 23 and suddenly it was daytime on May 31?"
Karin nodded and shrugged. "I didn't know it at the time. Serge's been really careful to keep track of what day it is. Since nothing's automatically recording it any more."
"Another one for the list?" I asided to Jeff, and he nodded.
"'The list'?" Serge inquired, an eyebrow raised.
Jeff chuckled. "The list of weird sh.. stuff that's accompanied this phenomenon," he smiled.
We continued talking over lunch. Had they found anyone else? No, just them, and random dogs, cats, and other pets roaming the downtown core. That bit of conversation prompted some discussion on how there was now just six of us left from a population area of around six or seven million people, and the same reactions that the original three of us had had came forth again.
What had happened inside, I wanted to know, derailing our subject briefly. Why had Jeff heard a scream?
Embarrassedly, Karin admitted that was her. They heard him shouting out and she was startled, dropping a box of stuff. In the dark, they didn't want to risk moving around and stumbling into someone that may or may not have been friendly (they weren't certain Jeff was from our group).
That brought up the question of why they were in the dark and didn't answer the radio. They didn't bother refueling their generator after talking to us on the radio, because they expected to be rescued and wouldn't need it any more. So when it ran out, it plunged them into darkness and took out their communications along with it - a simple lapse in judgment.
"So," Jeff said, polishing off his meal and standing up - still a little shakily, I noticed, but Karin had her eye on him as well, and didn't seem concerned. "Let's go get the rest of your stuff and get it loaded."
The three ponies looked at one another, then him. "This is it," Serge said, nodding to the cart Swift had unloaded. "Nothing else worth keepin'."
"Oh," Jeff said with a forced smile after a long pause. "Okay then." He looked at the neatly packed truck. "I guess we don't need a trailer then..."
"Do you mind riding in the box?" I asked. "I can do it if one of you wants to ride up front with Jeff."
"We can both ride in the back," Swift spoke up. "That means two of you can fit in the cab. Maybe all three if you don't mind getting cozy."
"I'll sit outside," Rich said. "I want to learn more about what I might be able to do with this." He nodded his head forward and kind of tried to look at his own horn.
"Deal," Swift smiled.
"Well, if nopony objects, maybe we should get on the road," Jeff said. "We'll get home and get you settled and then have time for supper and some more discussion."
Everyone agreed at that (and the three didn't even flinch at Swift and now Jeff's unique terminology), and we all saddled up - ergh, sorry, I can't believe I said that.

I was looking down from my perch above the headache rack, through the sunroof at the ponies in the cab of the truck. Serge was speaking casually with Jeff - a lot more animated and engaged than he'd been outside the stadium. Maybe the unique pickup truck brought him out of his shell, he being a mechanical professional and all. Karin had her face all but pressed to the glass, watching the outside world go by, clearly awestruck by the emptiness of it all.
I was in my normal pose, except for the wings - I didn't want to draw that much attention to myself at this point. It took all my inner strength not to flap them open and drink in the sensation of the wind rushing through my feathers, though; still, I was getting some... information? Sensation?... just from standing there and feeling the manufactured breeze go by.
Momentarily, Swift climbed up beside me, and I edged aside to give her room.
"Taking a break from your student, sensei?" I smiled, turning to regard her.
"He's a little overwhelmed," she nodded. "Gonna get down and get some rest now. I don't blame him. This whole trip was two-thirds clusterfuck from all angles."
"We all came out of it okay, with minimal bumps and bruises," I pointed out. "But if we do this again, you're right, we do need to put together a better plan. Maybe something written out with assigned roles and such. And proper supplies for doing a search-and-rescue."
"Hopefully we get a chance to get better at it," Swift smiled, and I nodded, understanding her meaning.
Hopefully, there were other ponies to rescue.
I was about to say something more - I think about the fact we'd neglected to ask them if they'd come across Mr X's crew, but I forget, because something in the background behind Swift, as we passed a side street, caught my eye.
"Oh... Oh shit!" I gasped, and my wings snapped open reflexively. Before I realized what I was doing, I leapt from the truck, fluttering to a safe landing on the sidewalk, and galloped back to the street we'd passed. Behind me, Swift was pounding the roof of the truck with a hoof, calling for Jeff to stop and back up.
I slowed to a trot, and then a slow walk, letting out a little squeal, wings still out in surprise. "Uhhh..." I said with a waver in my voice - that kind-of excited, shocky sound people sometimes make when something unexpectedly fantastic befalls them.
The truck grumbled in reverse back to the intersection and stopped, but I was approaching my quarry slowly, unable to believe what my eyes were seeing.
"Oh, for-" Swift said behind me, and jumped down, coming over.
By that time, I had my face pressed against the driver's side window glass of the titanium metallic-colored, glass-roofed Model S parked at the curb. An extension cable ran to a receptacle embedded in a stone wall framing the house's front lawn, but I wasn't paying attention to that, other than to appreciate the fact that the owners weren't there. The layer of dust on everything in the area made that obvious enough.
"You're getting drool on it," Swift said sarcastically.
"Oh, my sweet, I will nurse you back to health, after you've been neglected for so long," I said, leaning against the car. "Don't worry, you're in good hooves now."
Swift shook her head and turned back to call out to Jeff. "We're gonna need a minute or two here," she said. "Stormy's brain has encountered an error and must restart."
"Never mind her," I cooed to the car. "She doesn't have to ride in you if she doesn't like you."
"Hey, I never said that," Swift shot back.
She managed to pry me away from the car and search the adjacent house, while the others gathered around and watched, some in bemusement, some in complete confusion. We found the key fob after a quick search, and I went back outside, mashing the driver's side door handle with a hoof.
The door handles obediently popped out of the sides of the car, and I hooted in delight.
Opening up the door, I wriggled into the seat, then adjusted it for my stature. Finally, the moment of truth - I pushed the brake pedal. Everything on the dash lit up and indicated it was ready, with over 300 kilometers of range remaining.
"Ohhh," I squeaked again.
"Let me know if I should get some paper towels," Swift deadpanned from the door sill. "On second thought, I'm coming with you. Somepony's gotta keep you focused."
"Is she going to be okay?" Jeff quipped.
"Probably," Swift smirked, "but we'll let her have her moment. Give me the handheld back, and we'll see you at Ponytown."