The silhouette of a pegasus stood majestically on the high bluff, looking out over the forming weather system some way distant to the west. The first of the deceptively gentle breezes that heralded the onset of the storm tousled his mane and rippled his feathers.
A veil of clouds was being drawn progressively across the late afternoon sunshine, as the azure sky was ushered prematurely from sight, portending the fury that was preparing to be unleashed.
“I know somepony has got to be on watch” he said with a sigh to nothing in particular, “But why me, and why today?”
Today, as every buckball fan knew, was the pivotal match in the season’s playoffs. As an avid fan, he had tried desperately to swap this duty with all the other weather ponies on his shift, offering to take double shifts and even resorting to bribery, but all to no avail. He had drawn the short straw, and nopony was going to help him out.
Of course, weather ponies didn’t always post lookouts when a storm came through, but today was unusual; the Cloudsdale weather factory was experimenting with a new technique for making lightning storms. The previous method that had worked for countless generations was dependent on resources that were starting to become rare in Equestria, and efforts had been directed into developing a more sustainable alternative. Although scientists believed that they had probably managed to formulate a new production method that replicated the old fashioned lightning storms in every detail, there was still a degree of concern.
With expectations running high, the first of the new class of lightning storm was being rolled out over a large uninhabited area to the west of Canterlot, known unofficially as the weather factory’s test range, and lookouts had been stationed at key points along the route, just to be safe.
Staring out through his amber eyes, the dark grey pegasus kept his vigil until he felt that the buffeting from the wind was starting to get a little too uncomfortable and then unfurled his wings, giving the area under the advancing cloudfront one last good look before taking to the air. Suddenly he stopped; it could be that the wind was whipping up dirt into his eyes, but he thought he saw a speck moving under the deepening shadows.
He stopped, shook his head and stared a little harder, looking for confirmation of what he thought he had seen. There it was again; two small light colour dots contrasted against the deep darkness of the storm behind them. He knew that it was feeling uncomfortable where he was, so could only imagine how difficult it must be flying further within the storm’s grip. He checked again to see that his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, then sprang into the air, turning into the storm rather than heading away from it as had been his original plan.
The winds grew stronger and more unpredictable as he moved further in, the tiny spots he could have so easily overlooked now showing they had wings and starting to show hints of colour; one appearing to be lavender blue whilst the other was vanilla. It was the lighter coloured one that was having real trouble in the unpredictable and unceasingly violent winds, whilst the other was trying to protect it.
The dark grey stallion fought against the elements and once he had just about got close enough to see the fear in their eyes, a lightning bolt shot out from the cloud and scorched through the air with the sound like all nature being ripped apart. The vanilla pegasus screamed and its wings folded up as it began to tumble towards the ground.
Speeding forward with a power he did not believe he possessed, he dived to reach the falling pony, its terrified young screams ringing loudly in his ears even over the relentless roar of the wind. Reaching out, he gripped the struggling filly with his forelegs and fought to regain height where he could meet up with her lavender blue companion above them.
“That way!” he shouted over the intensifying sound bearing down oppressively around them. The mare nodded and fought to make headway as she had been directed. The filly had stopped struggling now and was holding on tightly to her rescuer who was silently praying he had the strength to get the pair of them out of this building maelstrom.
Just then, another lightning bolt flashed close by the fleeing ponies causing them all to jump while the filly gripped on even more tightly, sobbing uncontrollably with fright. He would liked to have comforted her, but was too busy saving his energy for flying, the closeness of the last lightning bolt spurring him on to getting out as fast as he could.
“I … I don’t think I can make it!” the mare cried out, panic evident in her voice.
“You can’t stop now!” he shouted back, “Keep going!”
He knew they couldn’t consider landing because the crosswinds nearest to the ground would be so violent that they would be dashed into the jagged rocks beneath them if they tried, so had no choice. Every wingbeat was a hard won success in their desperate struggle, but no matter how hard they pushed, they seemed to be simply staying still.
Another lightning bolt crashed menacingly as the storm grew in self-confidence, as if toying with them like a cat with a pair if terrified mice. This time it sounded further behind them, providing at least a small sliver of hope that they were pulling away from the dangerous heart of the storm. The mare seemed to understand too, and the pair of them flapped harder than they thought possible, boosted by the thought of having to make progress, slow though it was.
They toiled away, the mare risking an occasional glance at the filly hanging grimly onto the strong forelegs that embraced her tight to the body of the dark grey stallion, her small eyes scrunched tightly shut as they drew away from the storm wingbeat at a time. He, in his turn, watched the lavender blue mare intently for a few seconds, analysing her flight pattern to determine how strong a flyer she was, and whether he thought she could make it. She was tiring; it was going to be a close run thing.
It wasn’t just the strong winds, but the buffeting that made their escape particularly difficult, and worse, their progress to outrun the black-hearted storm was diminishing by the minute.
He looked back to the tiring mare, then down to the ground, scanning left and right, making regular sweeps of the landscape as it slowly unfolded below him, searching desperately for any signs of shelter. He knew they needed a large slice of luck and needed it quickly, or she would be sucked into the storm and pounded to pieces and then probably slammed to the ground for an encore. That was something he didn’t want to consider too closely.
As if in answer to his prayers, he saw a plateau emerging from the rock strewn landscape below, bordered on one side by a steep ridge that snaked over the landscape, probably the sides of a dried up riverbed. Focusing more closely on the long deserted riverbanks, he became gradually aware of some dark patches. “Caves?” he dared to think. He took another sidewards glance at the mare who was now clearly starting to lose the coordination of her wingbeats and looked about to fall out of the sky. There was no choice now; he signalled to dive.
The dark grey stallion led the mare down, the prospect that he may have found an answer to their dilemma spurring her on. Another lightning bolt jolted the pair of them, and the mare gasped, momentarily losing her focus and began to fall. The stallion knew he couldn’t save both ponies and wasn’t prepared to drop the terrified filly, so called out, “We’re almost there! Hold it together!”
Somehow his authority penetrated through her mounting panic and she fought to regain a steady wingbeat, looking back over to him with a nervous smile that barely covered her fear.
“Come on! Those caves down there! Right ahead of you!” he gestured, not certain himself if they were even big enough to accept the three ponies, or if they were even caves at all. If he was wrong, they wouldn’t have long to reflect on his mistake.
As an experienced weather pony, he anticipated the difficult terrain and trimmed his wings in advance of an updraught that rushed up to meet him. When it hit, he was ready for it and kept the right way up as he sped towards the mouths of the caves speeding up towards him. He wanted to look back and see if the mare had anticipated the updraught, but knew it was more important for him to focus on his own landing, seeing as he had direct responsibility for the filly clutching tightly to his forelegs.
He was almost on top of the cave entrances now; the first was blind, so he kept going to the second praying hard for it to offer even the most tentative refuge; he was too low and too slow to recover height and fly away now if it wasn’t.
The second cave entrance turned out to be more a trick of the light and offered nothing; all hopes now pinned on the third and final cave. He started seriously thinking what he could possibly do if this also turned out to be useless as had the other two; his options were exhausted, this had to work!
As he approached the final cave he could see it extended in at least a short distance and backwinged furiously to burn off the last of his speed as he prepared for landing in a confined space, mindful to leave room for the mare following closely behind.
He offered a final prayer to Celestia and held the terrified filly tightly, realising that he wouldn’t be able to land on all four hooves if he was to keep her safe. He pulled up sharply, dipping into the cave mouth as his rear hooves thumped onto the solid rock floor. The shock of suddenly being out of the murderous wind coupled with his additional landing weight made his legs buckle as he absorbed the unpleasantly severe jolt of the landing.
Still holding protectively to his precious cargo, he knew he had to move quickly to get further into the cave so the mare could have a bit more space for her approach. He strode back into the darkness further in the cave, but a sharp pain in his hind leg forced him to abruptly shift his weight, and he had only limped back a few steps before the shape of a pegasus mare blocked out the daylight.
Next thing there was a clatter and scraping of hooves as she misjudged her landing, skidding then overbalancing and finally crashing into the wall of the cave. Fortunately, ferns and climbing weeds adorned the walls and she had a much softer landing than hitting solid rock. At the very least she was winded, but she was out of the storm.