//------------------------------// // Thunderhead (Prompt 100) // Story: Thirty Minute Ponies: Silly, Sad, and Sweet // by Stereo_Sub //------------------------------// Prompt: Around the World in 100 Days “They said I couldn’t, Dawn. They said I was out of my mind. They called me a fool for trying. Well, guess what?” A beige, magenta-eyed mare looks down out over the vast, roiling expanse of slate-gray water beneath her and smiles. “All I have to say is, who’s the fool now?” She turns and fiddles with the tangle of ropes inside the hot air balloon’s basket, gently coaxing them slightly higher into the air. After all this work, it would be rather anticlimactic to touch down in the middle of an ocean. “I never doubted you, Daring.” A pale pink mare returns the smile and reaches out a hoof, gently caressing Daring Do’s cheek. “I was with you from the beginning.” She giggles. “But I will enjoy seeing the look on Professor Duster’s face...” “Oh, don’t get me started!” Daring growls, smacking her hooves together. “That stuck up, musty-smelling, boring old coot is probably gonna lose his false teeth when he sees you and I riding back in like the heroes we are.” She bends down and quickly consults a map bolted to the side of the basket. “Which, if I’m right, should be in a little under three hours.” “Four days under the deadline,” Rosy Dawn replies, smiling. “You always were an overachiever.” “Hey, adventuring is serious business,” says Daring, puffing up her chest proudly. “I might not have many standards, but when it comes to exploring, you won’t find a better mare for the job.” “I guess I can agree with that,” Dawn says, giving her partner a playful nip on the cheek. She turns, putting her head on her forehooves and looking out over the water, almost wistfully.“Wow. We sure had some times, didn’t we, Do?” Daring nods. “We sure did.” She closes her eyes, the waves of memories forged during their breakneck trip around Equestria and beyond washing over her like a warm rain. The laughter, the love, the narrow escapes... Daring and Dawn, faces covered in reddish warpaint, shouting angry yet nonsensical war cries as they fend off an enraged tribe of Araqubi monkeys armed only with a broken oar and their wits... Daring and Dawn, sweating in fear as they sneak past the den of a sleeping Ursa Major, a bag of rope and an oil lantern in tow... Daring and Dawn, bowing humbly as they’re crowned Honorary Duchesses of Un Zadula by a ancient, stony-faced tortoise bedecked in vibrant regalia... Daring and Dawn, smiling as they share a kiss in the light of the fading sun over the Dreadborn Desert... Daring and Dawn... “Daring?” The query is anxious and tinged with fear. Do blinks, jolted out of her reverie by her friend’s tone. “What’s up, Dawn?” She looks around, frowning as she notices the sky seems to have gotten quite a bit darker since she had last checked. Surely the sun hadn’t set that quickly... And then she sees it. Looming on the horizon like some terrible titan of old, moving slowly but inexorably towards their feeble airborne vessel: a gigantic black thunderhead, swollen and plump with destructive rain and lightning. Daring gasps, instinctively grabbing Dawn and pulling her tightly against her chest. The pegasus manages a weak grin. “Guess ol’ Dusty will have to wait a little longer, huh?” Dawn tries to smile back, but it twists partway through and ends up a terrified sort of half-grimace. “I... I’m scared, Do,” she whispers, holding her lover tighter. “W-what are we going to do?” Daring Do bites her lip. In times of trouble, when her back was against the wall, she could always be counted on to have a parting quip, a reassuring whisper, or a witty retort ready and on hoof. But now, with her own mortality and that of the mare she loves hanging in front of her like a fragile gossamer string, she’s at a loss for words. She swallows and envelopes Dawn in her wings, closing her eyes as the storm looms ever closer. “I... I don’t know, Dawnie. I just don’t know.”