Thorax woke to the sound of thunder.
It rolled in the distance, although, judging by the frequency of each lightning strike and subsequent boom, it wouldn’t be long before the storm was upon them.
He had two choices, wait until the storm was over to venture out for the Crystal Empire, or take a chance on the storm not being all the way here yet and start heading there now.
Waiting was definitely the safer option at first glance, since they wouldn’t have to worry about decreased visibility from rain, or any mishaps with some form of lightning. On the other hand, they would most definitely arrive at nighttime, something Thorax had desperately wanted to avoid. He sucked at flying in the dark.
“Spike. Spike, wake up.” The dragon stirred and sneezed a small burst of flame in his sleep. Cute. He shook him lightly again, and this time he opened his eyes.
“Thorax? What’s up?” Thorax shook his head and pulled Spike out of the bed.
“It’s about to start storming. We’ve got fifteen minutes before it really starts if I had to guess.” Thorax grabbed his saddlebag and quickly fastened it using his magic. “I think we should head out now if we want to make it there before the middle of the night, and avoid the storm.” Spike yawned one more time before stretching and spreading his wings.
Thorax smiled and hoped they would make it.
The storm was literally a malevolent force. Or at the very least, it certainly felt that way.
It seemed like it was almost chasing them down, which, while quite odd, would not be totally unbelievable. The faster they flew, the faster the storm came upon them, and it seemed to be generating a white noise sound, akin to a powerful static buzz. Eventually, they were out of energy and were overcome by the storm, and relented to simply fly to a nearby cave and wait out the rest of the thunderstorm.
Unfortunately, as they’d not anticipated being stuck there, they had no wood to start a fire, and only a few things they might have been able to use to start one. In the end, Spike used an old comic book as some kindling for his fire breath, and used a few rocks lying around to contain the fire and protect it from the rain.
“This stinks. We leave out early to avoid the storm, and here the heck it is,sitting directly on top of us.” Thorax sighed and shook his head. “Sorry I woke you up for nothing Spike. Looks like we have to wait it out any way.” Spike offered a small smile, and moved slightly closer to Thorax to pat him on the shoulder.
“It's alright. Not like you could’ve predicted what would happen. Besides, at the very least, it should pass before night time. And even if it doesn’t, my fire lasts for a while, so we’ll be fine either way.” He produced a piece of paper and a quill to write with, enchanted with a Twilight-approved infinite ink spell from his coat pocket, and began to write.
Dear Twilight,
I hope you’re doing well as I may not be home for a week or so. Thorax received an invitation from Shining Armor and Cadence to spend some time in his old room at the Crystal Palace, and he invited me to come along with him.
We were stopped on our way there by a mysterious storm that seems to be almost following us. As of me writing this, we’re waiting for the storm to pass or dissipate within a cave. If you could, maybe pack me a few things and send them to the palace for me? I didn’t pack anything ahead of time.
Love,
Spike
He looked over after sending the letter off to Twilight, and saw Thorax looking quite downtrodden. Spike frowned and tried to figure out what to do to comfort him.
He clearly blamed himself for their getting stuck in the storm anyway, so trying to convince him otherwise would just be a waste. A hug would do little to reassure him, and despite how much he enjoyed them, he didn’t seem to be in the mood for jokes. Spike rubbed his temples with an irritated growl. The annoying static was back. It seemed to be getting louder and louder the longer the storm went on. If only the stupid rain would just go away.
Suddenly, the static reached peak loudness, causing him to fall over, completely debilitated by the sound. He desperately grabbed at his head, wanting the noise to end. He was acutely aware of Thorax shaking him, but he found himself unable to respond in anything but choked gasps. After about twenty seconds of the static, it began to fade away to the subtle background noise it was before, leaving a very disoriented Spike to pick himself up with help from Thorax. He opened his eyes to see what appeared to be a completely clear sky outside the cave.
“Thorax, look! The storm’s over!” The dragon began to walk towards the cave entrance before stumbling and coming to a stop. Thorax walked over to help him steady himself before responding.
“Yeah, it was really weird. All of a sudden, you fell over and I started hearing this weird buzzing and then the storm just disappeared. Are… you okay?” Spike nodded and took a few more steps, finally having refound his balance. He stamped out the fire and picked up the “burned” comic book to throw it away, before he noticed something. The comic book was entirely fine.
Despite minor ash on the cover, the book was exactly as it had been before he set it on fire. Not even the edges were singed. He took only a brief moment to note that he needed to test that again at a later date, before walking back to the cave entrance to continue the flight towards the Crystal Empire with Thorax.
If only he’d checked the contents of the book before pocketing it. The spells inside may have been a tremendous help for what comes next.
Oh, what comes next, you ask?
Well, that would be telling.