~49~
“Fluttershy, Look Out!”
The green electric currents were never ceasing as they shot through the sky and on the lands afar, as the gather winds grew stronger and stronger and picked up whatever they could within their grasp. Excess energy leaked into the alabaster piles of fluff, turning them into the strongest emerald colored, lighting-charged forces of nature they could be.
The girls stood tall against the grave threat though their hooves slid along the concrete ground. Their manes all flew back by the wind, as all their gazes were lost to the ethereal beauty above.
“So darling,” Rarity began, her head planted next to her friends. “If this storm wasn’t created by that dragon, nor by the magic of one of the Princesses, then who exactly created it.”
Twilight gulped the saliva in her mouth before responding. “I really wish I knew.”
The dark mass of storm clouds shrouded the capital in darkness, plunging its residents into fear for their lives as it swallowed the sun. From the epicenter of the storm, the clouds began to suck back, releasing their green swirling depths to all those who bore witness as something was plucked out from a different dimension.
A body floated within the descending orange sphere from within the green swirling lines of light. Arcs of emerald lightning jumped from cloud to cloud in an attempt to quicken its pace and increase its traction of power, as the electrical line then shot into the sphere of orange and slowly tainted it with its color.
An agonized scream of torture tore past the body’s raw throat as its lower body rose against its confines, bolts of electricity phasing through this being in an attempt to either shock him awake or infused themselves inside him.
Applejack’s mouth opened to tell a joke, but no words could escape past the barricaded of fear that barred her throat. She became content with just standing there and awaiting whatever could come next.
The distant roars shaking the foundation of the mountain terrorized a pair of lavender ears, as the storm before the amethyst eyes stung them from the brightness of the approaching sphere. Twilight’s limbs became shackled into place by mental restraints as her resolve began to waver.
She looked to her left where she watched as Pinkie, a mare who had been mostly silent during the incident, shouting at the top of her lungs at her. Yet the howling winds were the only sounds the lavender ears could hear.
“Twilight!” Pinkie tried once more to yell directly into her friend’s ear. “You need to stop this storm with one of your magical spells. Hello, Twilight to Equestria?”
An orange hoof laid itself on the pink mare’s back as it directed her gaze to its owner. “It’s no use, Sugarcube.”
Pinkie turned around to face Applejack.”What do we do next?”
Applejack shook her head and raised her shoulder. “Nothin we can’t do about it now, besides grabbing Rainbow Dash and hauling over to the castle to seek Celestia's help. Isn’t that right, Twilight.”
The aforementioned mare didn’t reply.
Applejack sighed and looked to her two still conscious friends. “Look, Pinkie and I will pick up Rainbow Dash and try our best to make it to the castle. Rarity, I leave getting Twilight outta her to you.”
Before Rarity so much had a chance to open her mouth, the two other mares began to gallop against the winds in an attempt to reach their friend fallen against one of the buildings populating around the circle. Though their quest would never be achieved the way they thought it would.
From the epicenter of the clouds shot forth a single, thin beam of blindingly green light pierced the air with a shrill cry of power, engulfing the circumference of the circle in a dome of emerald energy. The clouds began to dissipate as their power was consumed by the beam both infusing and expanding the sphere.
The wind carried both the orange and pink mare through the air and against the side of the mountain, pinning them in place as the clouds began to disappear and the beam began to shrink. They watched the blueness of the sky begin to emerge past the shrinking green clouds, as the bright sphere slowly dimmed.
“Is this storm finally over!?” Applejack cried from against the mountain, her head fighting against the winds to focus on the event. She saw the sphere returned to its original, yet green size, as a roar resounded from the corner of the same mountain she was plastered to. “Oh, nelly.”
Just as the last cloud faded from existence, leaving the remnants of the horrible storm only in the memories of all who bore witness, the dragon responsible for the first attack on the city rounded the corner of the mountain and back into the vicinity of the buildings and their inhabits.
Applejack’s eyes trailed behind the dragon to search for any trace of its former pursuers but found only a slightly smoky sky. Her eyes then glanced in the direction of the upcoming voice that had the kindest tone that she had ever heard in her life.
“Oh, my!” The distant voice grew louder as its owner ascended the final case of stairs to the level for which they all resided in. “What happened here? Is everyone okay?’
The howling winds began to subside, weakening their hold on the ponies as they slid off the side of the mountain onto the ground. Applejack didn’t waste a second in erecting her hoof toward her friend and yelling at the top of her lungs. “Fluttershy, look out!”
Fluttershy looked up from the two fallen bodies of her friends that had collapsed at the top of the stairs to the snout of the dragon just before her. She didn’t even have time to release a shrill cry before a claw rose up and swept toward her.
The kind pegasus was knocked down the few steps she had just climbed, but it wasn’t the claw that was responsible for the impact. Fluttershy looked up once more at the moment to see her longest friend, Rainbow Dash, take her place at the top of the steps as she awaited the talons of the claw.
“Rainbow!”
The heaving mare didn’t have a chance to glance back, but only to offer a smirk as the oncoming talons slashed across her stomach and back and clutched her body within the scaly palm.
With a mighty flap of the wings the dragon took off once more, intent on devouring its newest catch to recover its lost strength.