//------------------------------// // Bolted // Story: On The Run // by InsaneWubWubs //------------------------------// Spike relaxed himself on the luscious green grass upon the hills off the coast of Ponyville. It was a beautiful day; the sun was out with not a cloud in the sky; probably because the Pegasi needed to gather any clouds they could find. With Spike stood a rather prepared looking purple unicorn, ready to tackle a brand new spell. “So what this for again…?” asked Spike. “Well Spike, I decided that I want to contribute to the community more and Rainbow told me that the weather team needed to produce a massive amount of lighting clouds and stockpile them for next week’s storm. I figured I should help charge the clouds!” replied Twilight. “And you plan to do that how…?” “Well, there was this lightning-discharge spell in one of my books! Turns out, it was used by ancient royal guards in this craazzyy battle of some sorts.” “Good luck.” Twilight began to concentrate on her horn, charging it up to perform her electric discharge. Her horn began to glow immensely, eventually creating sever layers of magical glow surround her horn. The ground began to shake and any light around them dampened, making it seem as if the powerful horn was the only source of light. “Spiikee…geettt…baaackk...” muttered Twilight, holding her horn down, clenching her teeth and forcing her eyes closed. “Will do!” Spike ran away and hid behind a nearby rock and peered over. Twilight raised her head, holding her horn up high. “Here…goes!” The unicorn impaled her horn in the ground, causing the light to seal within the crater. The ground shook to the point where Spike’s teeth began rattle. After a short while of rapid shaking of the ground, everything calmed down for a moment. Twilight held her horn in the ground. “Was… was that all?” Asked Spike, cautiously. “Nope.” Replied Twilight. Twilight closed her eyes once more, let out a heavy grunt, and activated the main part of the spell. The ground busted open in several holes filling the hillsides. Light and lightning itself rocketed out of the pores in the landscape. An enormous flash of light erupted from the hole where Twilight stuck her horn. Spike flew up from behind the rock and into the air, holding his backside as it almost caught on fire. “OWW!! OW OW OW!” Spikes yelp of pain distracted Twilight, causing to look up and ask, “Spike?” A bolt of lightning barely missed Twilight, slightly burning her coat, causing her to stumble of control and right on top of a lightning pore. “TWILIGHT LOOK OUT!” Twilight looked down, and sidestepped, attempting to dodge the bolt that was coming for her. At first it seemed like she got out in time, but the bolt made a slight curve. Twilight was sent spiraling backwards, her coat charred slightly. *** “Hey doc, she gonna be okay?” “She should be fine; she got lucky it wasn’t a direct hit and just a graze.” Twilight opened her eyes to a bleary vision of a cyan body next to a white body. “Look, she’s waking up.” “Hey Twi! You’re finally awake. Don’t make me worry like that anymore! I had to quit practice to see you.” “Oh, hey Rainbow… arrgh, my side hurts…” Twilight touched her side to find out that she has several bandages wrapped around her. “The rest of the gang were too busy to come, Applejack had to go harvest these special apples, Rarity got requests from Sappy Shores and Howity Towty or something like that, you get my idea.” Twilight nodded. “Twilight you may leave tonight. I’ll leave you two alone now.” The doctor stepped outside. Twilight and Rainbow looked to each other. Rainbow smiled. “Spike told me it was some kinda spell that lost control.” “Yea, but I’ll get the hang of it soon enough.” Twilight smiled back like she knew what she was talking about. She really wanted to learn the spell; it’ll save her cyan friend a lot of work, as well as every other Pegasus of her weather team. And it would make herself feel a lot better about herself, plus making a great letter to Celestia on how helping friends and asking for nothing in return is… well, magic. “Heh, as long as you don’t make me freak out about my hospitalized friend, I’m fine with what you do.” “You got it Rainbow.” Twilight winked back. *** Twilight flew to the top of the Town Center with her new magic-spell wings; the same pair used to boost Rarity over to Cloudsdale. She scanned around Ponyville skies for a while, looking for one large pile of cloud through the night. Her search ended when she found several Pegasi grouping around a fluffy white spot in the sky. She cautiously flew over to the grouping and up to one pegasi, Raindrops. “Hey, excuse me, is this where the clouds are gathered for next week’s storm?” “Sure is!” replied Raindrops, spreading her legs wide open to emphasis the area. “Who’s in charge of this?” “Umm, Rainbow Dash. She’s on top of the pile.” Twilight looked up to her cyan friend, laid back on the clouds, eyes closed, relaxing. She flew up to her. “Hey Rainbow!” “Oh, umm hey Twi. Why are you here?” “I figured I should help you ponies out by supercharging the clouds!” Rainbow blinked at her like she was crazy. “Now how do YOU plan on doing that?” “I taught myself a new spell, just for the occasion!” “The same spell that hospitalized you… “Rainbow gave a concerned look. “Hehe…” Twilight looked at her friend sheepishly. “I practiced it a lot! I did it several times and mastered it, if I do say so myself. “ Twilight looked over to the far away hills, now almost completely destroyed from the countless times she attempted the spell. Her friend sighs, and allows her to perform the spell. “EVERYPONY LISTEN UP!” The Pegasi look to Rainbow. “My friend Twilight here, is gonna charge the cloud pile. Everypony, move back!” The Pegasi flew back and watched in awe as Twilight powered up her horn once more, causing the same light effects and glows. She sticks her horn in the cloud pile, and released the energy into the cloud as she did with the ground when she practiced. The cloud soon became the home of thousands of volts of electricity. The cloud pile began to have the excess electricity fly around itself, but Twilight still wasn’t done shocking the cloud. Unable to stop charging the cloud, she continued until the cloud was overcharged. Twilight, along with every other pony, gasped at what happened next. The cloud burst open, sending bolts of lightning directly at every pony in the area, exploding in a barrage of deadly electricity. Some ponies saw the lightning as it came out and had time to see what hit them, while others noticed it too late. Oh no oh no! This wasn’t meant to happen! The nearest pony, Raindrops, looked at the bolt headed for her. Her life flashed before her eyes; I now pronounce you, husband and wife. Look darling, It’s a beautiful baby boy! Happy 24’th birthday darl- Her thoughts were caught short as the bolt hit her right in the neck, causing her to silently gag and fall to her certain death. Each pony was struck with the lightning, the energy that flowed through them was at such a great number that it instantly fried them inside and outside, basically cooking them alive. The pegasi let out horrible screams of pain as they spiraled out of control and started to fall towards the ground, leaving a trail of smoke behind. They began to drop like flies, falling to their doom. Rainbow cried out in awe. “OH MY GOSH!” She quickly jolted down towards the falling ponies, attempting to catch them or at the very least cushion the fall. There was no way she could cushion or catch every Pegasus that fell; a few could not be saved, whether it be from the fall or the bolt itself. After all, if a simple graze hospitalized Twilight, what would a direct hit do? Twilight hovered above the cloud pile, mouth ajar and eyes tearing up. She looked at the trail of the fallen Pegasi as they fell, thinking, wondering about what would happen next. Twilight though about if she could return home or not. She thought about what she could possibly do when guards showed up to her front door asking for “Ponyville’s Most Wanted.” She thought about how she could never show her face in Ponyville again. After she finished thinking, Twilight flew away into the night, crying about the horror she has brought to these ponies. She flew away, behind the buildings, and found herself a secluded spot up within a thick, sturdy tree inside the Everfree forest. Rainbow looked up at her friend who flew away, and gently whispered “Twilight…” before dashing off to catch another Pegasus.