//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Off the Beaten Path // by wonderkid125 //------------------------------// A distant boom ringing in her ears pulled Rainbow Dash from her sleep. She barely even opened her eyes, letting her drowsiness consume her as she laid her head back on her pillow and turned over. Much to her initial confusion, more strange sounds could be heard around her. As the sleepy haze slowly cleared from her mind, she quickly deduced these sounds to be rain falling against the tent and the ground outside. “Wh..what the hay?” She muttered in a confused and tired stupor while sitting up and looking around. Just as she got up, another boom sounded out, closer and louder than the previous one. All at once she realized, it was thundering. The flap to the tent unzipped abruptly and a purple shape came rushing inside. “Oh, thank goodness you’re awake,” The shape exclaimed with a relieved tone. Rainbow quickly identified the voice to be her friend Twilight. “What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked uneasily while trying to look past the unicorn to get a glimpse outside. What she could make out didn’t look good. Twilight stepped further inside and pulled the tent flap away so the pegasus could see better. The sky outside wasn’t the beautiful sunrise or midday sky that Rainbow had expected when waking up. Instead, there were ominous looking gray and black clouds rolling across the horizon. It also appeared to be raining slightly; not enough to be considered an actual shower, but enough to warrant anyone to get to shelter to avoid the inevitable downpour that was most likely coming next. “Woah… that doesn’t look good,” Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrows in surprise at how far along the gray clouds were. Twilight looked at her with a worried expression. “The storm front must have gotten here ahead of schedule. It really snuck up on us… and it doesn’t look pretty.” She explained. “Get your sleeping bag rolled up and help us pack. We need to get out of here before it gets any worse.” Rainbow Dash nodded, ignoring her drowsiness and rushing to complete her assigned task. Twilight used her horn and helped with rolling up some of the others’ sleeping bags as well. As the two mares worked to get everything on the inside of the tent packed up, they could hear the distant sound of thunder getting closer. The wind and the rain outside didn’t seem to be getting noticeably worse, but they wouldn’t stay that way for long at this rate. “Hey, are you two almost done?” An anxious voice chimed in from the front of the tent. The pair turned and noticed Rarity poking her head through the tent flap. Twilight tugged on the strap holding the last sleeping bag together and let it fall into a neat bundle on the ground. “Just about,” She reported before turning to the white mare. “Go start on getting the tent broken down. We’ll have our things out before you get very far,” Rarity turned and looked behind her as another crack of thunder reverberated across the land. She turned back to her fellow unicorn with an understandably concerned look on her face. “Please hurry, darling… it is not looking like a walk in the park out here,” While their friend went back outside, seemingly to recruit the help of the others to get the tent broken down, Twilight and Rainbow Dash hurried to get the rest of their gear packed up and ready to move. “How did this happen?” Rainbow Dash asked while making sure that her and Fluttershy’s backpacks were all ready to go. “Storms don’t just happen ahead of schedule... and they definitely can’t just sneak up on people,” Twilight frowned uneasily at the troubling thought. “I’m not sure… all I know is that there are no pegasus teams monitoring or controlling this thing… at least as far as we could see,” “What?!” Rainbow paused what she was doing and looked to the unicorn in shock. “What do you mean nobody is controlling this thing? This is the middle of Equestria, not the Everfree. Storms don’t just up and happen out here by themselves!” “I don’t know!” Twilight replied with equal confusion and frustration to her pegasus friend. She took a moment to calm herself down and think rationally. “Look, I can ask questions about what is going on after we get back home. Right now, we need to be out of here before that storm is right on top of us,” Rainbow Dash glanced back outside to see the ugly looking sky waiting for them. She could hear and see her other friends rushing around outside to get everything ready to leave. They were practically terrified, and she couldn’t blame them. “Right…” She nodded before returning to her work, more motivated than ever. After a few moments of packing, the pair finished with all of their gear and personal belongings. They each took a few backpacks with them and stepped outside, only to be met by an uncoordinated mess of ponies trying to hurry every chance they got to deconstruct the tent. The rain had picked up slightly, still amounting to little more than a sprinkle. Off to the left, the skyline was dominated by flashes of lightning against the pitch black clouds fast approaching. It was hard to see very much of the ground in the distance due to the curtain of heavy rain that seemed to obscure their vision. The ponies definitely did not want to get caught out in that. As Twilight and Rainbow Dash exited the tent, Pinkie Pie and Blue Bolt rushed up to them. “Are you guys done in there?” Blue asked urgently. Twilight glanced behind her, spotting the few bags and backpacks that had been left inside. “Yeah, all the stuff is packed up,” She reported. The pair nodded before heading inside of the tent to gather up the remaining gear. Off to the side of the tent, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity could be seen struggling to get the tent under control. The wind had picked up slightly, making the many straps and smaller components of the tent wave about uncontrollably. “Twilight, we could use a helpin’ hoof over here!” Applejack called while looking to the unicorn pleadingly. “Coming!” Twilight exclaimed while setting the bags she was carrying down. She rushed off to assist the two mares with getting the tent under control. Rainbow Dash turned to see how Pinkie and Blue Bolt were doing. Right on cue, the pair exited the tent carrying as much stuff as they could manage. “Is that everything?” Rainbow asked curiously. “Yeah,” Blue replied. “We’re all set once we get the tent packed up,” “Then let’s get on it! That storm isn’t gonna slow down to wait for us!” Rainbow Dash suggested urgently. Her two companions nodded before joining her in helping the others with the tent. With everypony working together, they managed to shrink the tent down to manageable size in a few minutes. While it might not have been exactly as it had been when it came out of its original bag, it fit into the backpack well enough to warrant the group to count it as finished. The wind and rain kept intensifying as the distant thunder and lightning became much less distant. Before the group could get their bags together, the reprieve they were fortunate enough to receive ended almost instantaneously as the water started coming down in sheets. Twilight had to use her horn to provide extra light as the clouds swallowed up the sun ahead of them. They were right on the edge of the nastier looking stuff, and they were losing the race. “Let’s get moving!” She called to her friends. Everyone was quick to follow their purple leader as she started back toward home. Despite how cold and wet they were getting, and how much the thunder and lightning around them made them nervous, their pace could only go so fast due to the incredible wind blowing against them. The sheer amount of water being thrown into their faces made navigating difficult, even without the decrease in light from cloud cover. Somewhere off to the left ahead of them, a bolt of lightning came down from the sky and struck the top of the cliff that skirted the clearing. The ponies barely had an instant to prepare before one of the loudest and most jarring noises they had ever experienced rocked through their bodies and kept going. The sudden vibration and accompanying noise made everyone either jump or yelp in fright. Although it was hard to tell, they could see small rocks falling over the edge and down to the clearing below from where the bolt had struck. Twilight looked ahead as she heard the rushing sound of water. The stream they had crossed to get to this side of the clearing was up ahead, and it was much more violently fast than they remembered. “Oh no… I forgot about the stream.” “How are we going to get over that?” Applejack yelled over the sound of the wind and rain. “I don’t know about y’all, but I don’t feel like gettin’ electrocuted like a fly in a bug zapper!” Twilight looked around at the others. They were nervous and terrified, and rightly so. With the constant threat of lightning overhead and the water from the stream being even more turbulent than before, the possibility of being struck dead by lightning was higher than any of them would have liked. “I don’t think we have a choice!” Twilight exclaimed. “We need to get across and get off this cliff as soon as possible, or we’re going to be struck by lightning whether or not we’re touching water!” While the unease and tension in the group was audible without words, they all seemed to agree with the unicorn. At the very least, they knew that she was right about one thing. They had to get to shelter as soon as possible. Walking along the roaring waters of the stream, the ponies searched for the crossing they used yesterday. The rocks they had hopped across were their only hope of getting across without taking a running leap and swimming like there was no tomorrow. They were already above normal ground level, so nobody wanted to increase their chance of being electrocuted any further. Finally, after nearly giving up hope, Fluttershy managed to spot a difference in color amid the rushing waters. “There!” She exclaimed while pointing her friends to her discovery. The others turned, only to see the rocks they were seeking out. The sight of the rocks, however, was less pleasing than they first thought. The increase in the flow of the water meant that the rocks were nearly submerged. Only their tops managed to peek out from the constant flow, and even they looked slick and wet as the stream crashed around them. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Twilight exclaimed in frustration. Rarity recoiled in shock as she saw what she had to walk over. “There is no way I am going over that! If the lightning doesn’t get me, the stream will just wash me away!” “I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Rainbow Dash said while spreading her wings to test them against the wind. Even trying to lift off of the ground resulted in her being blown back violently. “I would suggest we carry you guys over, but even I would have a hard time flying in this wind,” Twilight looked around to see her friends silently dreading the idea of crossing. The storm rolling in showed no signs of stopping, and they had to move. Finally, she steeled her expression and faced the roaring waters ahead of her. “There’s no time for hesitating, we need to move!” She exclaimed while rushing forward. The others gasped in shock as the unicorn stepped onto the first of the rocks and started crossing. While she was having a hard time balancing, her determination seemed to outweigh her fear of falling in. “You heard her, let’s get going!” Blue Bolt suggested while stepping up to the stream. The others took a moment to look at the pair like they were crazy before throwing caution to the abundance of wind and stepping up to cross. If the wind pushing against them and the water pushing them to the side wasn’t enough, the weight on their backs from all of the gear they were carrying made the ponies about as balanced as a drunken mountain goat. Still, they all slowly pressed forward, being careful to keep their hooves planted as they crossed from rock to slippery rock. “Woah!” Pinkie exclaimed as one of the crashing waves sent her slipping off balance. She flailed to get back to stable ground, but she was clearly dipping sideways. Before she fell off of the rocks, however, she felt someone biting down on her tail and pulling her back to a seated position. She turned her head and saw Applejack behind her, reeling back from offering her assistance. “Thanks… that was a close one.” “Don’t mention it, just keep movin’.” Applejack replied. Pinkie nodded before carefully getting back to her feet and continuing along the crossing. After some more tense minutes of stepping from rock to rock, the ponies gradually started making it to the other side. Twilight and the others waited by the edge of the stream, watching their friends crossing and waiting to help if the need arose. By some stroke of luck, all of them managed to get across without major issue. Wasting no time on patting themselves on the back, the ponies quickly made for the trail around the cliff that would eventually take them back to Ponyville. Twilight kept at the front of the group, providing light and making sure that the ground was traversable. Due to the heavy rainfall, the dirt beneath them had already turned to mud and was rapidly becoming oversaturated. Soon enough, they would be standing in water. Thankfully, as they reached the cliffside and started along the path, the rock face to their left provided some shelter from the rain. Still, the sheer drop-off to their right was all the more intimidating with the wind and slick dirt factored in. “Keep moving everyone!” Twilight called behind her, using a foreleg to shield her face from the rain. “Once we make it off this cliff, we can head back to town!” “Shouldn’t we find shelter or something?” Fluttershy asked. The thought of making the long trek home in this weather seemed understandably troubling. “That would be a great idea, Fluttershy,” Twilight replied. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re going to find much shelter out here. I didn’t see any caves when we came up the trail, and I really don’t think that forest would be a good place to stay until the storm passes over,” Fluttershy and the others glanced to the side, looking to the small view of the treetops below they could get from their position against the cliff. The unicorn was probably right. Even without the risk of one of the trees near them being struck by lightning, who knows what kind of wild animals they would find down there. Suddenly, Twilight paused as something fell and rolled by in front of her. She looked to the side, only to see a rock settling in place in the mud. As she turned her gaze ahead again, she could see more rocks rolling down from the cliff beside her. “What’s that sound?” Pinkie asked from the back of the group, drawing attention to what sounded like a low rumbling. Before anyone could speak up any further, Twilight yelped and jumped back as a large cluster of rocks and mud sailed past where she just was. She looked up, only to widen her eyes as she saw a multitude of rocks falling down the cliff side and taking the unstable sediment with them. “Mudslide!” Everyone broke out into as much of a sprint as they could manage as rocks and piles of dirt started coming down and bouncing across the ledge they were on. It was like the cliff was coming down on top of them and trying to knock them off into the forest below. While most of the group managed to keep ahead of any rocks falling around them, some of them had to dip around or jump over some to prevent themselves from being hit. The smaller pebbles falling down felt like hail against their frail bodies, which was probably a fair comparison considering the horrid weather around them. Rarity shrieked as she was forced to run to the side to dodge a pile of mud sliding past. Once she got clear of the first obstacle she was trying to avoid, another swiftly took its place. Soon enough she was running back and forth and jumping in place in a desperate struggle against Mother Nature. “This is not the peaceful outing into the wilderness I was expecting!” She whined fearfully, making an attempt to toss some of the larger rocks out of her way with her magic. From appearances alone, she wasn’t faring too well. As she was running for her life, Twilight looked ahead and saw a break in the falling rocks. Apparently, she had reached the slope that would carry them back to ground level and away from the cliff. “Yes…” She smiled widely as she saw that she had made it. With how close the others were behind her, she had no doubt in her mind that everyone was going to make it out of the danger zone with no problem. “AHH!” A high pitched scream pierced the air from behind her. Twilight turned around and gasped as she was met with a sight that made her heart sink. While most of the others were close by and near enough to the end of the mudslide that they were ok, Rarity was still way behind, and close to the edge of the cliff to boot. She was dodging back and forth, barely managing to keep herself from getting plowed over by the waves of mud and rock that were sailing past her. “Rarity!” Twilight exclaimed while reaching for her trapped friend. As they saw the white mare in danger, some of the others set their gear down and started fighting against the flow of rocks and mud and slowly made their way toward her. Rainbow Dash seemed to be leading the charge, with Applejack and Blue Bolt not far behind. Rainbow Dash ducked under a large boulder before hopping over a flowing stream of mud in her way. Progress was slow in the making from having to find a safe path, but she was determined to reach her friend in time. “Hang in there, Rarity! We’re coming to get you!” Rarity darted her eyes around in a panic as she found her path forward blocked by a long and continuous stream of mud and other debris. It was like a river of dirt was keeping her from moving any closer to the others, and the way behind her was still a rocky minefield of doom waiting to happen. “Help me!” She pleaded while struggling to find a way to duck around the many rocks coming her way. Suddenly, Rarity froze as she saw a cluster of rocks and mud heading her way. There was seemingly no way for her to jump over it or move out of the way without hitting something else. Rainbow Dash quickened her pace as she saw the same thing that the unicorn had. However, no matter how hard she tried, there were just too many rocks in her path for her to just rush forward and close the short gap to her friend. “No!” Rainbow yelled as she expected to watch her friend getting blown off the mountain. Before she lost all hope, however, a blur of color came from the side and charged straight through an opening in the falling obstacles. Rainbow and the others looked and saw Blue Bolt throwing his own safety out of the window and making a break for the trapped unicorn. Rarity turned her head away from her impending doom just in time to catch a glimpse of the stallion as he jumped into the rolling mass of mud that was keeping her trapped. He somehow managed to make a second leap, carrying him out of the flow and crashing into her. “Get down!” Blue Bolt exclaimed while putting all of his weight into shoving the unicorn aside. The momentum he gave her was enough to send her out of the path of the rocks; and although she had a painfully rough landing, she wasn’t in any immediate danger. Blue Bolt, however, was another story entirely. As she grunted in pain from her abrupt landing, Rarity looked up to see her heroic savior. What she wasn’t prepared to see, however, was the sight of the wall of rocks that was meant to hit her slamming into the stallion instead and sending him off the side of the cliff. “Blue Bolt!” She gasped. Another blur of color to her side made the unicorn turn her attention away. She looked ahead just in time to spot Rainbow Dash rushing past and making a leap to reach the falling stallion. “Blue!” Rainbow exclaimed in a panic while desperately reaching for him. By some miracle, she managed to grab him by a foreleg before he fell completely out of reach. But as she spread her wings and tried to get back to solid ground, she swiftly learned that her luck had run out. The fierce winds that were just slowing their pace down before were now blowing her toward the forest below. She could barely even hover in place, let alone gain the few inches of height she would need to reach the edge of the cliff again. “What are you doing?!” Blue Bolt asked while looking up to the cyan mare in shock. “Saving your tail!” Rainbow replied through gritted teeth. “Gah… and it would be really awesome if you could help a little bit!” Blue glanced down to his wings before looking back to the other pegasus nervously. “I’m… not sure if I-” “Rainbow Dash, look out!” Rarity and the others yelled from above. The pair turned their heads, only to be met with the sight of another large cluster of rocks heading straight for them. Rainbow Dash yelped in surprise and beat her wings as hard as she could to overcome the wind, but it was far too late to do anything meaningful. *Thwack* Twilight and the others watched in abject horror as the two pegasi were smacked out of the air by the falling rocks and sent hurtling down toward the forest below. They both screamed, and Rainbow Dash tried to break her fall with her wings, but before she could halt her momentum, the top of a tree did it for her. As the fearful screaming ceased and their bodies fell out of sight under the canopy of trees, only the sounds of the mudslide mixed in with the constant thunder and rain overhead. However, it seemed as though the mudslide was coming to an end. The number and size of the falling rocks decreased vastly, along with the amount of mud coming off the cliff side. When the ponies deemed it safe enough, they all ran over to the white unicorn and joined her in staring wide eyed over the edge where their two friends had just vanished. There were no signs of either pegasus anywhere except for a few broken branches on the trees, and even these visual indications disappeared behind a maze of leaves and bark and darkness. Fluttershy slowly walked closer to the edge of the cliff, staring down in shocked disbelief. She expected to see her cyan friend popping back up any minute with Blue Bolt either in her forelegs or over her back or something else heroic of that sort. Rainbow Dash always faced adversity and came out the other side with a smug expression on her face and a triumphant cheer, but the more time went by, the more Fluttershy started to doubt. As the forest below remained relatively motionless and the thunder crackled around her, the yellow mare felt tears streaming down her face and disappearing amid the rain hitting her. “RAINBOW DASH!”