//------------------------------//
// Rain Falls, Thunder Claps, Lightning Strikes 
// Story: Rain 
// by Piece Bot 
//------------------------------//

There was the sound of water hitting the tree bark. The sound of water hitting painted shutters. The pitter patter of rain drummed against the library where Twilight slept. She was about to turn in for the night, before realising that it might be a good idea to close the windows downstairs. She turned, and softly went to the ground floor. A quick look into Spike’s room had him snoring away the storm.

A clap of thunder. A bright flash of white. Then the rain poured harder. Twilight was thankful she wasn’t scared of storms and that none of her friends had run into the library as an emergency. This time anyway. No doubt they were all in their homes and snuggled up in their beds. Twilight walked to the windows around the shelves and quickly closed them with her magic as she walked by. The spell doubled as a light to see after putting the candles out for the night.

When she closed the final window, the Unicorn looked outside and smiled faintly. It was nice, seeing the rain slide onto the window and make its happy little trails on the glass. She bet that if Pinkie had her way, the loveable party pony would have all her friends outside, playing in the mud. Twilight chuckled to herself and slowly dimmed her magic until it was no more. Now she could see the spectacle of the lightning every time the thunder happened.

Flash.

A white-hot bolt of lightning struck the ground but since this was so close, Twilight jumped in her skin a bit.

“One, two, thre-” thunder clapped. Twilight smiled and sat by the window, waiting if another crash of thunder would happen. Twilight always liked thunder, even as a filly. More often than not, either her parents, her foalsitter Cadence, or even Shining, would find her sitting at a window, and simply watching the rain fall. This is one of those times when Twilight truly felt at peace and realised that everything was fine in the world. Even if it’s for one stormy night.

“Lightning flash. One, two, three, fo- thunder.”

Twilight also liked to count the seconds between lightning forming and thunder crashing. The purplish white streak of electricity arced in the distance. She waited, and another lightning flash in front of the window. One second later, and thunder sounded overhead.

“Ah!” Twilight was startled, and nearly jumped out of her skin for the second time. This is the one night she was glad no metal experiments were happening in the roof on her library. Not like last time when she had Rainbow hold a weather vane that was mounted onto a sensor for meteorological purposes. It was a wonder how that Pegasus managed to survive that lightning strike.

The rain continued. The lightning showed. The thunder clapped. Twilight continued to watch. Soon, she began making pictures in the lightning. When one struck, Twilight saw an Ursa Major rear its head. Another strike. This time a parasprite dancing with a flash bee popped up. While other ponies thought that lightning was natural and nothing to worry over, and some ponies feared lightning like there’s no tomorrow. Twilight didn’t.

Twilight moved away from the window and her soft steps took her further into the treehouse and back to her room. She glanced outside a nearby window every time thunder clapped so this hindered her progress somewhat. In this manner, she eventually made it back to her bedroom. With a soft sigh, Twilight kept her shutters bedroom open slipped underneath the covers.while she would usually read until she felt the need for sleep, on this night, Twilight would watch the rain fall.

It sounded like the hooffalls of multiple mini ponies were hammering away at the glass. Twilight chuckled to herself, and closed her eyes with a smile. She found herself drifting off, and soon entered the dreamland. As she slept, she twitched, her ears flopped, and her smile stayed in place even while the storm went on.

Come morning, Twilight gently opened her eyes, and was surprised to find the storm still raging. Maybe it was a two day storm instead of the one? In any case, she knew that it would be difficult for ponies to even go out in this weather, let alone borrow and return books. Spike would be glad for the sleep in, that much Twilight was sure of.

With a small yawn, Twilight snuggled into her sheets and blankets and did her best to get back to sleep. Even if it was for a little while. A purpley-white flash underneath her eyelids. Twilight silently counted the seconds. It was seven before she heard the thunder.

“Storm is slowly moving on,” Twilight noted with some disappointment. “Or it could just be-” she was interrupted by a closer clap of thunder. She quickly counted and got to five for the next bout of thunder and lightning to appear in quick succession. “Okay, must be a new round of storms.” Twilight was happy about that fact. She grabbed a spare pillow and hugged it, placing it between her legs as she stared out the window and at the dark sky. To be honest, it still looked like night time despite the clock on the wall saying otherwise.

Dark clouds and rolling thunder. Twilight used to be told that the thunder was Celestia banging pots and pans in the kitchen while the lightning was her being happy about making a grand delicacy. Obviously, Twilight knows better know, but sometimes, she thinks of that small story and wondered if it was true or not. It wasn’t, but still, this thought swirled around in her head on days like this.

Twilight exhaled and kept a silent vigil on the storm outside. Even if it was in the morning, and even if nopony was coming in, at the very least Twilight can enjoy watching storms on the rare occasion they happen for Ponyville. Twilight had to remind herself to thank Rainbow for such a lovely spectacle whenever the storm cleared up once she roused herself enough to think such thoughts.