//------------------------------//
// 15: The Storm 
// Story: Darkened Shores 
// by Silver Flare 
//------------------------------//

	It was midmorning, and the sun stood imperiously above the distant bank of dark clouds. Standing up on the flight deck, it seemed to Twilight that they plunged straight towards the heart of it. A storm too vast to comprehend. Even more disorienting, the steady current of air caused by the Vigil's movement was occasionally disrupted by a sporadic cross-breeze; cast-offs from the storm itself. "How high would you guess those cloud peaks reach?" Thistle asked as he leaned against the forward rail, squinting beneath the sun's glare.

Sun Shade, wearing her ocular spectrometer, answered immediately. "Oh, fifth cloudline, easily."

Thistle Down whistled through his beak. "So much for flying over it, then." He shrugged his wings. "We never did solve the icing problem."

"Icing problem?" Pinkie Pie inquired hopefully.

"Actual ice, Pinkie Pie." Sun Shade gestured with her parasol. "It gets colder the further one gets from the ground, my dear. We've discovered ice buildup around the turbines at heights over third cloudline, even in direct sunlight."

"A simple fix, we imagine." Princess Luna added. "We know spells of warmth and heat, do we not? 'Twould be possible to make the attempt, at the least."

"Except for the additional tiny fact that this bird wouldn't generate enough lift at those altitudes." Thistle replied.

"Oh yeah," Twilight added. "Air density is as proportional to distance below the tropopause as temperature, isn't it? The engines will have to work harder the further up we fly, wont they?"

Thistle and Sun Shade nodded their agreement. Luna nodded her understanding. 

Fluttershy stopped chewing on her bottom lip anxiously long enough to ask, "Can't. . . can't we fly around it?"

Celestia smiled, taking the young pony's participation in the conversation as a good sign. "Possibly. Captain?"

Thistle sighed. "Well, with accurate triangulation we might be able to measure this thing, but it looks like the edges curve with the horizon. Assuming we're still a day's flight away from the first thunderheads, it'll be like circumventing a small continent."

Rainbow Dash hovered above the deck. "If only the weather team back home could see this. . . A continent made of clouds. . . Cloudsdale could shut down the cloud generators for fifty years, at least."

"Well, we've got the food," Thistle continued, "We can eat for months with the stores we have. We can even purify ocean water into something drinkable if we have to. It's fuel I'm worried about. If we take another week to circumvent this thing, and add another week onto the return trip, we'll be paddling this bird like a canoe the last five hundred miles."

For the first time in awhile, Fluttershy sounded hopeful. "So, we have to turn back, don't we?"

"Perhaps." Celestia answered. "I have no wish to needlessly risk lives."

Luna glanced at her sister in alarm. "Perhaps there exists another way." Everyone turned their attention towards the Princess of the Night. "Should we draw close enough, mayhaps thee and I, sister, can disperse the worst of this storm."

Celestia remained doubtful. "Weather magic can have severe repercussions. . ."

Luna raised a single eyebrow. With calm confidence, she said, "We should at least brave the attempt. You know tis what Father would have done."

Celestia's eyes unfocused, but she didn't disagree. "We have lost the teachings of the weather wardens, but we have learned much since those days, haven't we?"

Luna nodded. "Yet we shall have to reach the cloud banks to attempt to read the storm properly."

"Yes. Yes, of course." Celestia tapped one hoof-shod delicately against the deck to emphasize her point. "Captain, it would be wise to ask your crew to tie down everything that isn't already tied down. Even the stray wind currents we will encounter outside the hurricane will be substantial."

"Yes, your highness." He turned immediately and motioned Sun Shade to accompany him.

Luna reached out a hoof and pulled Twilight in close to her. "In actuality, thy faithful student may have a spell which may assist us."

Twilight found all eyes on her. "I do?"







As the day wore on and the sun drifted closer to the far horizon, the airship finally closed in on the massive storm. Stray clouds floated by, both above and below the ship's position, and the sporadic breeze had grown to a constant cross-wind. Holding a massive pair of flat shields in place, Twilight managed to cut through the worst of the air currents and divert the wind around the airship without compromising its lift.

The flight deck was clear save for three brave figures. Standing at the prow, Celestia threw a concerned glance over her shoulder. "Twilight, how long can you keep this up?"

Twilight's grin was victorious and determined. "As long as you need, Princesses. I can handle this!"

At Celestia's side, Luna nodded her approval. "Art thee ready, my sister?"

"Yes. Let us begin. Just be careful out there."

The pair of alicorns at the very prow of the airship leaned forward and touched their horns together. Celestia's horn began a soft glow, but Luna's remained unlit. Twilight kept half-an eye on them while she denied the wind the pleasure of scooping Aether's Vigil out of the sky. She hadn't been exaggerating, she really did feel as though she could hold off this kind of wind the whole night through if she had to. The mathematically precise angle of the shields balanced energy expenditure and efficiency. And though the winds gusted and shifted, they generally blew from the same direction. Easy.

As the sky dimmed and the first patters of rain began to splash the deck, the airship slowed its approach, coming to a hover just outside the storm itself. Twilight didn't need to fling her consciousness into the gale the way Luna was doing in order to feel its power. Somewhere deep within that massive black wall of clouds lightning flashed and winds howled. It crouched over them like some great elemental beast, a living thing that could no more take notice of the airship than Twilight could take notice of a dust mite. Daunting wasn't quite the word. Yet Twilight's confidence was bolstered by her success against the wind.

Time passed. The sun sank down to the horizon, but it didn't set. Twilight found herself mentally reviewing old and exciting textbooks and losing track of time. She realized with a start that maybe an hour had passed without the sun properly setting. Of course it wont. Both Celestia and Luna are distracted. A subtle feeling of alarm began to creep up Twilight's tail and spine. Has something gone wrong? Shouldn't Luna have snapped out of it by now?

She decided to give them another ten minutes. After ten minutes had gone by, more or less, she decided to give them another five. Ponyfeathers. Keeping her Wind Defense System in place with firm concentration, Twilight decoupled her safety harness from the deck and made her way forward. She had to stop twice to adjust her shields against gusts, helping the airship remain steady. When she closed in on the pair, she noticed that Luna looked like she was miles away; which, mentally at least, she probably was. On the other hoof, Celestia looked strained.

"Princess?" No response. She shook her wet mane out of her eyes. "Princess, can you hear me?" Neither alicorn stirred. Twilight reached out a hoof to touch Celestia's wing.

Instantly Twilight's head filled with a cacophony of rushing wind and frothing waves and constant, grumbling and crackling thunder. She pitched her voice into the din. "CELESTIA!!!" Her voice resonated out along unseen leylines stretching far beyond what she could sense. But without transition Celestia's consciousness was there, surrounding her. Twilight was certain her mentor didn't mean for her mental voice to be as overwhelming as it was. "What is it, child?" Nevertheless, Twilight was flung away from her, snapping back into her own body with a cry.

She rolled a few feet across the deck like a rag doll, all of her attention focused on her fading shields. A gust had slipped through, and the deck of the airship canted a little, juddering beneath her side. An eyelet dug painfully into her ribs, but she had no attention to spare. With an effort of will the shields solidified, the airship righted itself, and Luna's Canterlot Voice shook the deck. "WHAT EMERGENCY TRANSPIRES?"

Celestia regained her poise within a breath. "There is no emergency here."

"THEN WHY BRING US BACK? WE HAD ONLY BEGUN TO UNDERSTAND. . ."

"Please, sister. . ." 

"Ahem, our apologies. Why was our sojourn cut short?" They both noticed Twilight picking herself painfully up off of the deck, and Luna's confrontational tone immediately softened a little. "Twilight Sparkle, art thou hurt?"

Twilight stretched out each leg in turn. "No, I'm fine. It's just that. . . well, you'd both been gone so long, I thought something must have gone wrong. I got worried."

Celestia studied Twilight's shields and nodded in satisfaction. "Why, how long have we been out here, my student?"

"I'm not entirely certain, your Highness. Um, three hours? Maybe more?"

"Hmmm. . ." Luna pulled at her mane in what must have been an entirely unconscious gesture of frustration. "Moments only, as it seemed to us. Yet we are now certain that this storm is a construct."

"As we expected." Celestia responded. "Can it be dispersed?"

"Gah, it would require an age to unravel this cyclone. The pressure systems are both stable and strong. We fear it is being fed by a terrible power."

"We have faced terrible powers together before, dear sister."

Luna's smile made her look positively young. "We have. That we have. However, we could gather no scent nor sign of the storm's maker. It could very well be here, within the eye. It was too cunningly hidden for us to detect."

"And that will make cutting the straight path too dangerous." Celestia scratched her chin in thought. "What's the distance to the far side?"

"Two days, assuming Sir Thistle Down can hold a straight course and a steady pace."

"I have full confidence in our flight crew." Celestia sighed. "Yet if we two are expending our magic keeping the Vigil safe from the storm. . ."

"Prospects against our unseen foe grow dim should it attack, more so in light of the fragile nature of our dirigible."

Twilight interjected with a raised hoof. "Wait, what exact spells will we need to fly through this mess?"

Celestia explained. "A windbreak will be essential, and as you've demonstrated flat planes work fairly well. However, the winds near the core of this storm will be harsh enough to scour an average house down to the floorboards, so focus will be key."

"We shall also require protection from lightning." Luna added. "With proper grounding, a simple lightning rod spell wouldst be easier to manage than a dispersion shield. Either are likely boons any of us can maintain through a day of travel."

"And you'll need the Elements of Harmony." Twilight mused. "And the Elements will need to be ready at a moment's notice."

Luna turned to consider the landscape of clouds before them, her mane damp from the light rain flung their way. The Princess of the Night laughed. "It seems our only safe passage through this quagmire is to expose ourselves, all of us, to the storm's fury and cast our defiance into its teeth! Ha-hah! Such indelible irony!" As she spoke her horn began to glow, ushering in the night.

Twilight scrunched her face up in doubt. "I don't think my friends are going to be okay with this. . ."






"They want you to do what?" Spike wrung his hands, wide-eyed and anxious.

"Oh, I'm so in! This is going to be the ultimate thrill ride!" Rainbow Dash's eyes were wide with excitement. "How could anypony pass up a chance like this?"

"Um, I could pass up a chance like this." Fluttershy offered, curled up on a nearby bench. The bags beneath her eyes made her look tired and worried, as though she hadn't slept well in weeks.

"I'm game!" Pinkie Pie bounced joyfully in place. "It'll be just like a slumber party, except we wont slumber at all and we'll be out in the rain and we probably wont be able to party, but at least we'll be together!"

"You do realize this escapade will be long and unpleasantly dangerous." Rarity pleaded. "Not to mention absolutely devastating to our manes." She pouted.

"There's nopony out here to impress with our mane-dos!" Twilight glared. "From the sounds of it, Celestia will be able to hold off the wind, and Luna will keep the lightning from striking the ship. Plus, we'll all be tethered to the ship itself. I don't think it will be all that dangerous."

Dash hovered in close, "So, why do they need us out there in the first place?" She tapped the crown resting behind Twilight's horn.

"Okay, so it might be a little dangerous." Twilight conceded. "They believe some powerful being must have created the storm, and we need the Elements ready in case it attacks us."

"So long as we can blast first and ask questions later, it sounds fine to me." Dash patted Rarity on the back, earning a glare of her own.

"Hey AJ!" Pinkie Pie snatched the worn stetson off of Applejack's head and plopped it on her own. "Yur tha' only pardner hasn't weighed in in these parts, ya'hear!"

Applejack made a swipe for her hat, but Pinkie danced out of reach. "I swear, Pinkamena Diane Pie, it's a lucky thing you're so buckin' adorable."

"Yep!" The party pony agreed.

Applejack gave up on hat retrieval and started scuffing a hoof in thought. "To be honest, I don't really like the sounds of it. Then again, I reckon I haven't liked the sounds of anything we've been through since we left Ponyville. Ya' see, I don't want to be here at all." From the bench, Fluttershy nodded her sad agreement. "I belong on the farm, with my family and my friends and my small, purdy little hometown. I didn't ask to be an Element of Harmony and get caught up in magic and battles and changeling hives and such. I'm a simple pony at heart, through and through."

"Yet, I reckon it all comes down to the same stitch on the saddle, don't it? We don't pull in no harvest unless we tend the trees. And all the peace and harmony I've come to cherish in my home, well I reckon it needs some tending too." Twilight's breath caught in her throat as Applejack continued. "If harmony needs me to be more than an applebuckin' family girl, then I'm gonna try an' be whatever it needs me to be. 'Sides, we can't very well turn tail now, can we? Not after the hornet's nest we stirred up in Nova Coltia. I say, if the Princesses think we can do it, then we gotta try."

Rarity was the first to throw a hoof about Applejack. "Of course you're right, darling. I couldn't possibly have said it better."

"Well then, I'll be out there with you." Spike's determined glare was betrayed by the dampness in his eyes.

Twilight gasped. "Spike, why? It's so much more sensible for you to stay safely inside!"

"You aren't leaving me behind, Twilight." There was no whining or pleading in his tone. "I'm not going to lose you again. Besides, I'm waterproof, remember? I can hang on to supplies and hand out food. . ."

It was a stretch and he knew it. Twilight nearly lashed out in frustration and anger, just like she did when Spike first suggested tagging along late that night in the Ponyville library. But another memory followed upon the hind hooves of the first one; Spike's expression when Twilight tried to make him stay. And the way he turned his back on her in the changeling hive, because she'd turned her back on him. All that after he had literally saved their hides. Maybe he'd earned her respect in this. Maybe being a good parent, even to a dragon, meant learning how to trust. He certainly didn't act like a baby anymore. Twilight sighed. "I'll see if we can find a harness to fit you."

"Are you serious, Twilight?" Fluttershy's melodious voice quavered with panic. "He's just a baby dragon!"

"You're right, Fluttershy." Twilight agreed. "I could use your help keeping an eye on him."

Fluttershy recoiled, noticing how she'd backed herself into a corner. Her trembling intensified. Then, with a pronounced shudder, she sighed, and all of her shaking stopped. Without another word, she climbed to her feet like a resigned prisoner facing the gallows. "I. . . I guess. . . I suppose you do." Her red eyes were dry. "I guess we have to find out what's on the other side sooner or later."

"The other side of the storm?" Twilight asked.

"Um. . . yeah, sure."






They spent the night hovering out of reach of the storm's winds. Thistle relieved his best crew members and ordered them to rest and eat. Celestia and Luna advised their subjects to do the same. Celestia raised a delicate eyebrow at the mention that Spike would be joining them upon the flight deck, but she made no objection. The Captain made it a point to mention, several times, that the ship hadn't been tested in those kinds of winds. Celestia reminded him that she would be working to keep those winds at bay, and that he should trust her abilities.

The following morning found everyone aboard up before the dawn, gathering supplies in the forehall. Sun Shade had conjured up every safety harness the ship had, but it only amounted to half a dozen. With Applejack's help, Sun Shade rigged up a couple of extra harnesses out of a long coil of sturdy rope. And she tied together a small version for Spike. Although the royal sisters declined them, the other six ponies were provided with bright yellow rain slickers, despite Luna's warning that they would do little good. Snacks were passed around, and Spike got himself what looked like an overlarge fanny pack he cinched around his waist, filled with sustenance. He smiled proudly.

The royal sisters took up spots next to one another in the center of the flight deck. Twilight and her friends unfortunately had to spread out around the railing to find enough eyelets so they could each tether themselves to one. Twilight found herself near the prow, and Sun Shade double-checked her harness and her tether for her before moving on to Spike, tethered behind her. He was staring up at the monstrous storm before them in trepidation. Twilight tried to say 'We'll be fine' with a smile. A thrilled Rainbow Dash offered some reassuring words to Fluttershy, who looked as though she were staring into an open grave.

On the bridge Thistle Down gave the order, and Clouded Gaze eased the airship forward, hoping to cut a straight path through the clouds. The crew collectively held their breath in grim silence. No one moved as they accelerated to a fast clip. Celestia finished raising the sun on their approach, and as the winds picked up a pair of sunshine-yellow shields sprang to life, angled into the wind. Luna's horn glimmered and shone, and a beacon of light extended into the sky; a magical lightning-sink that would draw stray bolts like a magnet, keeping Aether's Vigil safe.

The clouds gradually devoured the sky, blotting out the weak light of dawn and bringing with them a pelting rain that, while uncomfortable, wasn't quite as cold as it looked. Soon, any possible voice or sound was drowned out by a constant, overwhelming roar. All the light disappeared, save for the illumination provided by the sisters' spells and the occasional flash of lightning. A few stray bolts turned mid-strike and vanished into Luna's thin beacon of light. Fewer than Twilight had imagined, anyway.

The deck was instantly slick with rain, soaking everything in a horizontal deluge that Celestia's shields only partially diverted. The only wind that reached them did so indirectly, skirling around the edges of Celestia's shield, but it was still enough to make everyone hunker down against the deck. Rarity tried to keep her mane underneath a plastic cap adorned with a pattern of roses and lilacs, but she gave up in disgust when the wind snatched it away. Applejack noticed, and kept one hoof firmly atop her worn stetson from that point on.

Rainbow Dash exulted in the storm, her eyes bright. She didn't dare take off, even to the extent that her rope tether would allow, but that didn't stop her from spreading her wings and letting the turbulent air slide her around a little. Her excited grin was infectious whenever Twilight craned her head around to look at her. Pinkie Pie started bugging Spike for snacks about ten minutes in, using elaborate and frantic hoof gestures. Spike, displaying more maturity than Twilight had honestly expected, shook his head no. Fluttershy just curled into herself and shut her eyes.

Twilight, with a resigned sigh, pushed her senses out into the storm about them. It felt much the same as when she touched Celestia's wing last night. The force of the storm seemed chaotic and alive; unceasing movement and unending noise. Yet the storm took no notice of them. They were but a tiny leaf fallen into a river, a flake of chaff in a field. The hurricane flailed at the ocean far below and howled its rage toward the sky, but Aether's Vigil slipped through it like a knife. Twilight spared a thought for the crew. It was unlikely that any of them slept. Most of them, it was likely, hardly dared breathe. The tenacity and courage required for such an attempt required a great deal of faith and courage, among other things.

It was difficult, sifting through all of that noise and sensation looking for possible threats, but Twilight kept at it. After the first hour, she even found she didn't have to try quite so hard. It was as though the storm had become background noise, deafeningly loud, but constant enough that her brain had acclimated to it. All she had to do now was keep her senses open for a change, an off-note in the elemental symphony being played about her.

Hours dragged by in the cold and the dark. Flashes of lightning became more and more frequent as Twilight took the time to levitate some of Spike's snacks to the other ponies waiting in wet misery. More hours dragged by, and she distributed food yet again. Twilight found herself trying to push the airship faster with her magic, hoping to speed their progress. They were all going to come down with vicious colds at this rate. Twilight wondered, briefly, if she'd ever come across a spell for giving ponies gills. She actually had to try to keep from breathing in the ever-present water as it pelted the deck and worked its way underneath her useless rain slicker. Luna was right, she may as well have gone swimming with the slicker on for all the good it did. Actually, it might honestly be drier just to swim to shore.

More hours passed. Twilight wished she had some sort of watch that could keep working even when wet. Then she found herself wishing for many, many other things. Most of which were towels, preferably fresh out of a dryer. But through it all, she tried her best to keep her senses open for danger, no matter how overwhelmed and exhausted she might feel. Even if time seemed to stretch out into a soggy, windblown and deafening forever. Had it been twenty-four hours yet? Ugh. was the most coherent thought Twilight could put together.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Celestia's voice, amplified magically, startled Twilight into standing bolt upright, her heart racing. "Please take the shields a moment!"

"Okay!" Twilight realized there was no way she could possibly have been heard, so she nodded, and her horn lit up. Rather than create her own, she simply took hold of Celestia's golden shields, holding firm against the gale. The wind flowed constantly, forcing itself against the shield like a mighty river. Twilight had to brace herself against her tether and splay her legs to keep from being overwhelmed by the sheer weight of it. Celestia's presence withdrew cautiously, ensuring the shields didn't waver. Then she pierced the heavens with her own silver-gold beam of light, mirroring her sister's spell so Luna could drop her own with a sigh.

Oh, she's raising the moon. Twilight already felt weary beyond all reason. After a brief eternity, Twilight felt Princess Luna take control of the shields, and Twilight relaxed. Stretching out her limbs, and fighting a cramp in her hind leg, (Pinkie Pie called it a Charlie Horse, for some reason.) she pushed her senses back out into the storm and steeled herself for more waiting. Is this the worst day of my life so far? Why yes, I believe it is. When the waiting ended, however, Twilight Sparkle found herself sluggishly unprepared.

Twilight had kept herself alert for any possible danger hidden in the storm. This is why she didn’t notice the wind rip the loading crane off of its mount until the giant metal arm had clipped Princess Celestia, sending her to the deck as the crane slid towards Rarity. Fluttershy froze in panic. Twilight focused her will and grabbed the skidding metal arm of the crane with her magic. But Celestia’s shields had vanished when she fell and the winds redoubled, slicing across the deck of the airship like a scythe.

Even though strong ropes tethered Twilight to the deck, she could feel the airship losing speed, itself being spun out of control by the storm. She couldn’t stop the crane skidding towards the guardrail and Rarity, she could only slow it down. Twilight began to see red as she planted her hooves and poured more of her will into her spell. Her vision was narrowing; she could no longer see any of her friends. She heard somebody shout out a warning as Rarity’s eyes widened in panic, and Rarity braced her shoulder against the guardrail and aimed her brightly-lit horn towards the center I-beam on the crane as it slid into her.

Several things happened at once. Another’s magic joined her own, and Twilight recognized Luna’s will as the two of them struggled together to stop the crane. At the same instant, there was a metallic sound like some unimaginable beast squealing in pain as the crane smashed into the guardrail. It was the single loudest thing Twilight had ever heard. She was still straining with all her might, and with Luna’s help finally lifted the crane arm up and over the side of the airship where the wind clawed it into the darkness just one second too late.

From behind her, she heard Pinkie Pie shout, “Spike, NO!” Twilight thought she might faint, but as she gasped in a shaky breath, she saw Spike sliding past her across the rain-slicked deck, his eyes locked on Rarity’s still form collapsed against the dented and mangled guardrail. Spike’s tether rope was still tied around his scaly waist, but the rope near the knot looked frayed. Twilight felt her heart skip when she realized he must have chewed through it.

It didn’t take long to lose so many friends, Twilight noticed, just a couple of heartbeats and they were gone. Yet she seemed to have all the time in the world to note the exact instant when Spike’s eyes changed from concerned to afraid. He hit the guardrail next to Rarity’s unconscious form and lunged for her tether line just as a hard gust slammed into the side of the ship. Spike’s head hit the rail, stunning him as the wind scooped him over the side.

Rainbow Dash was only a split-second behind him, having slipped her ropes when she noticed Spike freeing himself. She slid through a bend in the metal rail and grabbed the end of Spike’s rope in her teeth. She bent her hind legs back to catch the guardrail. For a moment she hung off the side of the airship while Spike reached out to grab her hoof. Twilight managed to envelop Dash with her magic and she started her teleportation spell, hoping to bring them back within reach.

But a great bolt of searing white light struck the ship, sight and sound and senses overwhelmed into silence and emptiness. The feral lightning bolt erased a moment in time and revealed the blank canvas of the universe before creation. Twilight's vision began to clear before her hearing did, colors filtering back into existence. She almost wished it hadn't, because Dash and Spike were nowhere to be seen.

Pinkie Pie screamed into the rain, “DAAAAAAASH!” Applejack had been pulling more rope from her pack, tying knots to try and mount a rescue safely, but now she just stared in dismay. Twilight gasped for breath, she couldn’t quite seem to get enough air into her lungs. Luna looked singed and weary, having redirected the current of electricity away from the ship. Her expression was ashen and ill, but she wasted no time in trying to set herself against the storm once again. Luna summoned a pair of shields, trying to hold off the chaos of the gale long enough for the flight crew to regain control of the Vigil.

Fluttershy glanced around in panic for a few moments. Then she closed her eyes and seemed to reach a decision. “No.” She said quietly to herself. It wasn’t denial, or desperation, only a simple statement of fact. Then she began calmly freeing herself from her own restraints, working the wet ropes free. The slashing rain couldn’t quite mask the tears in her eyes.

Twilight shook her head in frustration. Where had all the air gone? She couldn’t get enough breath in her lungs to protest Fluttershy’s decision. Pinkie Pie made a grab for her, but Fluttershy pushed away from the deck of the ship and let the wind whisk her away. She didn’t even try to fight it. Then she was gone too. Twilight just wanted to collapse, maybe sink into the deck of the ship and disappear if she could manage it. How had things gone so wrong so quickly? Maybe it would be easier to just faint, she decided.

But Applejack hadn’t stopped working. She’d managed to tie one end of a rope to the rail near herself, and the other end to her makeshift harness, even through the rain and the wind and the plummeting ship. Twilight saw her pass her end to Pinkie Pie. At Applejack’s nod, Pinkie began playing out the rope, slowly lowering Applejack towards Rarity’s position across the canted deck. Twilight noticed that Rarity was still breathing, and she felt a small surge of hope.

Pinkie Pie was sobbing openly, but she played the rope out smoothly, staying focused on Applejack. Another jarring shift in the currents of wind slid Applejack several feet to the side, and Pinkie caught the rope and held it grimly. Applejack hit the wall of the cabin, thankfully not hard, and after a moment motioned Pinkie to keep going. Another breathless moment, and then two, and Applejack bumped against the rail and held on. She made her way over to Rarity, and once she got herself braced against the side she began lashing Rarity’s harness to her own. She didn’t seem to notice when the wind snatched her cowboy hat off her head. But Twilight did. It was then that Twilight realized she could see.

The storm hadn’t given an inch, and it still raged on heedless of anything but itself. But they had plunged below the level of the lowest clouds. The wind was throwing the airship as hard as it could towards the black, frenzied waves of the ocean below. Twilight finally found her breath and began shouting, “AJ! Look out!”

Applejack had just started to unclasp Rarity from the guardrail when Twilight’s warning caused her to look up. Then she glanced over the side. She gasped, hesitating for a moment as the waters rushed up to meet them. Then she re-secured Rarity’s ropes and wrapped herself around her friend’s still form, trying to protect her from the impact.

Luna’s shields, a darker black against the deep grey clouds, could only hold off the very worst of the gale. She couldn’t seem to stop the airship’s steep plunge. She kept trying though, her wet mane whipping about her face as she strained against the winds. Celestia stirred at her sister’s side, and then lifted her head, blinking. It was in that moment Twilight felt a thrumming in the air. A hint of gleeful malice, a taste of bitterness that was gone the moment it was felt. But Celestia’s dazed eyes widened in shock, and Luna threw her head back and roared in challenge.

“You!” Luna seemed consumed with inexplicable fury, blue eyes narrowed dangerously, angling her neck around to shout straight at the storm. “I know you, Traitor of Life! We will NOT BE TAKEN SO EASILY!” There was a brief flash of darkness from Luna’s horn, and the winds stuttered and limped as if the storm itself had been taken by surprise.

Luna staggered, but Celestia pushed herself up on three hooves, supporting her sister and keeping her from falling. The ocean loomed frighteningly close, all huge rolling waves and spume. Celestia focused, and shaped a protective light-yellow bubble around the ship just before it hit the waves. Pinkie Pie wrapped herself around Applejack’s rope, holding on for dear life despite the fact that it was tied off. Twilight braced herself, and then found herself out of moments.

The airship hit the water with a deafening crash, dark water parting around Celestia’s protective bubble and flinging itself into the sky. The deck of the airship seemed to leap up at Twilight and flattened her as though a dragon had hit her with a picnic table. For a moment, through the protective spell, it looked as though the airship and her friends were at the bottom of a fifty-foot crater made of water. Then, with a mighty roar, it came crashing down all around them, plunging them under. Twilight covered her ears, squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the end.

The silence and calm that followed was almost more frightening than the terrible violence of fighting the storm. Twilight’s ears were ringing. She opened her eyes to see the deck of the ship still unbroken, and Pinkie Pie’s wide eyes, pupils constricted with alarm. She turned and saw Applejack, still curled protectively around Rarity. Only then did Twilight notice they were all underwater. Dark black ocean lay in every direction beyond the thin yellow of Celestia’s shield, and the surface above was just a fading grey as the ship continued its plunge into the depths.

Twilight watched Celestia’s eyes narrow, and her lips began to pull back into a snarl. The force against the outside of the shield must have been tremendous. The only sound was fast, panicky breathing and low creaks and groans from the ship itself. Celestia’s legs began shaking. Twilight noticed the gash running along Celestia’s flank, right through the middle of her cutie mark, splitting the sun in half in a ragged line where she’d been hit by the crane. It was bleeding slowly.

It couldn’t end like this. Twilight locked eyes with Luna for a moment, and they both nodded together. Luna gently helped her older sister settle onto the deck. Celestia tucked her forelegs under herself and lay on her uninjured hip. Then Luna slowly touched her horn to her sister’s, and she began to share the burden of keeping out all that water.

Twilight knew what she had to do, but that didn’t make it easy. She felt so tired. Physically drained, emotionally drained, even magically she didn’t think she had much left. But her friends needed her. What friends she had left. The rulers of the land she called home were struggling to pull them through this crisis. She couldn’t give up. No matter how tired she was. No matter how badly she was shaking. No matter that everything seemed hopeless. So long as she had even one friend to protect she couldn’t give up. Could she?

Twilight began unclasping her harness. Applejack glanced up and said simply, “Twilight. . .” With one word Applejack managed to convey her concern, her fear, her unwillingness to lose someone else, and her knowledge that Twilight needed to try anyhow. Twilight focused on slipping out of her harness despite her shaking hooves. When she wiggled free, she began slowly walking towards Celestia and Luna. The deck of the airship was canted away from them a bit, but it was only a few steps. The surface above vanished completely. Twilight walked behind the sisters, and wedged her small body between them. Luna leaned into her, stabilizing her against Celestia’s side, stilling her shaking and sharing what comfort and warmth there was to be had with that one simple gesture. Twilight took a deep breath, let it out, and then stretched her neck up to join her horn and her power with theirs.

At once, Twilight could feel the aching pressure from all sides. She couldn’t believe the sheer force of it all. It hurt her mind, caused genuine pain, feeling the weight of the ocean all around her. But she could also tell that they weren’t sinking anymore. Celestia had trapped quite a lot of air within her shield, and even though the airship itself was enormous, it was built for flight. It didn’t weigh as much as it looked. They would float to the surface if they could just hold out long enough.

Twilight couldn’t tell how long they struggled in silence. It could have been hours, or half of a day, even though it was probably only two or three minutes. Without moving her body, her mind writhed with the pain. It was unbearable. It felt like her skull might split. She instinctively needed to escape it, and she began to hyperventilate. She couldn’t do this. Her head twitched to the left, then the right.

Through her rising panic, Twilight felt Celestia and Luna holding on together, sharing the pain and the burden between them. And Twilight noticed that neither Luna nor Celestia actually resisted the pain. They just accepted it, without struggling. Easy for them, being a kerjillion years old. She thought to herself. Yet she took a steadying breath, and tried to stop fighting it. For a while she just welcomed the pain. As bad as it was, it wouldn’t kill her. Pain was only pain. It had its own role and its own uses. It was a part of her, and it belonged to her. Her breathing slowed. Each agonizing second stretched on forever, but she held on.

When they finally broke the surface, Twilight gasped and broke contact. Luna did the same, looking even more exhausted than Twilight felt. A moment later, Celestia’s shield shattered, and the storm came howling back in. However Luna had countered the storm earlier, it hadn’t stopped it for long. If anything, the storm seemed even more violent than before. As the shield fell, a sledgehammer of wind broke across the side of the airship, rolling it dangerously onto its side.

The dark ocean water surged up quickly towards Applejack and Rarity. Applejack barely had time to cover the unconscious Rarity’s mouth with a hoof and gasp her own breath before they both vanished from sight, swallowed by the icy waters.

Celestia and Luna both slid to the end of their tethers, their hooves scrabbling uselessly for purchase against the deck of the ship as it lifted nearly horizontal. Twilight felt herself in free fall for a moment, watching the water surging around the ship. It looked very, very cold. The salty spray stung her nose as her hooves flailed uselessly. Then something snagged her tail and her free fall stopped with her nose just inches from the waterline. Then she hit the deck.

She saw that Luna was mostly submerged, but her tethers held her in place. Princess Luna was being swept back towards the cabin by the current, but even though she seemed able to stretch her head and neck clear of the ocean, the water that crashed against her flew up into her mouth and nose. She sputtered and struggled to turn her head away. When Twilight glanced behind her, she saw that Princess Celestia was practically hanging upside-down in her own harness, and had her tail in her mouth. Up above them all, Pinkie Pie dangled from the other guardrail next to the rope Applejack had tied off.

Twilight pointed to the rope and shouted to be heard over the storm. “You have to swing me over!”

Celestia hesitated, filled with trepidation. The rope hung several feet away, and was dripping wet. All around them ocean water surged and frothed. The wind must have been pushing the airship through the water at an incredible speed. But despite the other dangers, at least the hull of the airship was acting as a windbreak now, shielding them from the worst of the wind and rain. And two ponies were in terrible danger. Celestia didn’t hesitate for more than a second. She began swinging Twilight back and forth by her tail, getting higher with each pass. On the third swing, she let go. As Twilight flew through the air she could feel the wind try to snatch her away from her target and hurl her into the sea. But the gust wasn’t quite strong enough. Twilight snagged the rope in one arm, brought herself close as she began to slide down it, and sank her teeth into the rough, scratchy threads of Applejack’s rope.

Twilight clamped her front hooves onto the rope, and then did the same with her back hooves. Only then did she open her mouth, stretch her neck upwards, and bite further up the line. Like an inchworm she clambered up the wet rope. A distant, detached corner of her mind wondered what the rope was made of, and why it actually tasted good covered in sea salt. She must have been hungrier than she thought. A mad giggle threatened to bubble out of Twilight’s chest, and she forced it back down.

She reached the rail before she realized it, and a pink pair of hooves reached down and hauled Twilight up by main force. Pinkie Pie had already climbed her own tether rope, and now perched on the upper rail in the wind, her hind legs wrapped around the rail to steady her in the pummeling wind. Her wet pink mane snapped in the howling gale like a banner. With Pinkie Pie’s help, Twilight managed to climb up next to her and brace herself. The moment she was set, Pinkie began hauling on Applejack’s rope, trying to pull her back up. Twilight tried to help.

It was like trying to lift a house. They strained, but to no avail. It felt so useless. Twilight hated being such a small filly. Her brother probably could have managed it. But what could she do? Her friends were out of time, and she was out of magic and out of strength. The surging wind caught Twilight from behind and she felt herself slipping. She had to drop the rope to steady herself. She nearly broke down and cried there.

Pinkie Pie turned and screamed over the gale. “We have to think of something!”

Twilight realized in that moment that she wasn’t so helpless after all. Sure she was magically spent, and then some. If she lived through this, she knew she’d have a headache she would never, ever forget. Sure she was achingly tired. But she could still think. And so long as she could think, it would never be hopeless. Twilight remembered Applejack re-securing Rarity to the guardrail before they hit the water. It was probably the only thing keeping them from being swept away in the current, aside from the line Twilight and Pinkie were hauling on. Applejack was a smart mare; she probably wouldn’t untie Rarity’s tether unless she knew somepony was on the other end of the line.

Twilight grabbed the rope and gave it three sharp tugs. She felt two in return. Then the line started moving. “Help me!” Twilight shouted, and the two of them resumed hauling on the rope. It wasn’t much easier than before, but at least it was moving this time. Eventually they broke the surface, a good four or five pony-lengths further down the deck towards the cabin, past the spot where Luna was trapped fighting the current. She heard Applejack gasp a desperate, hacking breath, and then two, despite water frothing everywhere. Twilight sobbed in relief. Rarity was still limp, but Applejack managed to keep her head above water for her.

Pinkie Pie called out. “Applejack! You’re alive!”

Twilight leaned towards Pinkie. “We need to pull them back towards Luna!” Pinkie nodded in agreement, and they hauled with all their might. Foot by foot, Applejack and Rarity drew closer to Luna, and Applejack reached out, grabbing a hold of Luna’s shoulder and hauling Rarity in between them. Applejack positioned Rarity in front of Luna, where Luna could support most of her weight, then Applejack pulled herself in front of them both with her back facing the current to try to keep their mouths clear of the bitter salt water.

The door to the cabin burst inward, and a lone earth pony clambered into view. Sun Shade glanced around quickly, apparently doing an impromptu head count, her raven-black mane quickly clawed by the wind onto unkempt strands. Her expression turned bleak. She glanced over her shoulder, back into the cabin, and shouted some muffled instructions. Then she called out, “Princess Celestia! Where are the others? Spike and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?” When Celestia shook her head slowly from where she hung in her harness, Sun Shade hung her head in sadness for a heartbeat or two. Then she seemed to reassert her self-control. She glanced down at the trio in the water. “What about Rarity?” Sunshade shouted, “Is she alright?”

Applejack replied, “I ain’t sure! But we’ve got to get her inside right away!”

Sun Shade nodded. “There’s five of us here to help, so we should be able to lift the three of you together!” She glanced behind her again. “In a moment, I will throw you a weighted rope. Please secure yourselves to it!”

“Heh, ‘please.’ That’s rich.” Applejack muttered. A few moments later, Sun Shade reached down and lifted a sumptuous silk cushion into view. Another rope was tied around it. Sun Shade hesitated a moment, and then threw the heavy cushion towards Applejack and Luna. The wind caught it, and it spun wide, but Luna’s magic enveloped it and floated it to within reach. Even perched atop the guardrail where she was, Twilight could see the effort it cost Luna to throw even more magic around. She looked like she nearly fainted.

Applejack caught the cushion, untied the rope and dropped the cushion into the current where it was instantly snatched away. A faint look of regret crossed Sun Shade’s eyes then, but she said nothing. Applejack began threading their harnesses together with the rope, and detaching Luna from the eyebolts secured to the deck. It took a minute, and Twilight found herself looking around a bit. This high up, catching the full force of the wind and the rain from behind her, she realized just how cold she’d become. She couldn’t feel her hooves anymore, or much of her legs. She’d stopped shivering a couple of minutes ago, and she was sure that wasn’t a good sign. It likely didn’t help that she’d spent so much of her energy magically over the past day, trying to push the airship along. Her stomach growled again, insisting that she find some sort of sustenance in this crazy situation. Twilight Sparkle scowled at her belly. She was in no mood to be pushed around and bullied by her internal organs.

“You hush.” Twilight told her stomach. “You’re not important right now, so just keep it to yourself.” Her stomach settled down with one last gurgle. Satisfied, Twilight looked up to see Pinkie staring at her, her eyes wide and nervous. Twilight shrugged, embarrassed, and continued looking around.

The wind was no longer chaotic or gusty, not since Luna attacked the storm directly. The wind seemed like a retaliation, a continuous and steady wind that didn’t abate or change, but swept angrily across the endless ocean like a bulldozer. It kept the ship canted onto its side, but it also leveled any ocean swells that might have washed across the ship and pulled them back under water. Instead, when Twilight squinted out across the ocean, all she saw was a nearly flat expanse stretching in every direction. It was deeply unsettling to see so much power and force exercised upon the world.

Twilight hadn’t realized how close she had been to nodding off until Pinkie Pie nudged her, and she startled awake, nearly losing her grip on the wet metal at the same time. Pinkie leaned in close. “They’re ready! Help me lift them up!” Sun Shade was motioning them to help pull. At Twilight’s nod, Applejack undid the last clasp, and Sun Shade slid from sight, presumably to help the other ponies below haul on their line. Twilight and Pinkie pulled hard on their rope, and together Luna and Applejack cleared the water, supporting Rarity between them. Twilight and Pinkie played out some of their slack as Sun Shade’s team gently pulled the dripping wet trio up to the cabin door, where Sun Shade reappeared and helped pull all three of them into the relative safety of the cabin entrance.

None too soon, it would seem. Twilight glanced down to where Luna was tethered just a minute ago, and saw one of the ship’s eyebolts slowly disappear beneath the surface. They were taking on water. They were sinking. Twilight wanted to scream in frustration, burst into tears and laugh hysterically all at once. Fortunately, she lacked the energy for any of those things. But really, how could anything possibly get any worse? She met Celestia’s gaze, and shouted, “I think we’re sinking!”

Pinkie Pie turned towards Twilight. “We’re WHAT?”

Celestia nodded tiredly. Just then Sun Shade reappeared. Painfully tapping into the last reserves of her own magic, Twilight cupped her hooves to her mouth to pitch her voice farther. “Sun Shade! Keep the rope taut! I’m sending Pinkie down! Then tie your rope to this one and send it back!” Sun Shade seemed to understand immediately, and she gave Twilight a decisive nod.

Twilight unclasped Pinkie’s tether rope from the guardrail and urged her over to Applejack’s rope. Crawling across the guardrail was a slow, slippery and dangerous process, but Pinkie managed it without mishap. Twilight wrapped Pinkie’s tether rope around the rescue rope and clipped it back to her harness.

Pinkie Pie said. “Twilight, you’re coming with me, right?”

Twilight shook her head. “I left my harness behind. It’d be too easy for me to fall, Pinkie. Have you ever gone zip lining before?”

Pinkie glanced down at the water, and back towards the cabin before turning back to Twilight. “I never have. But I think I get the idea.”

Twilight took Pinkie’s face in her hooves and looked her in the eyes. “Neither have I! But I hear it’s really, really fun!”

Pinkie thought for half a second before breaking into a genuine, albeit sad, smile. Pinkie nodded and said. “Okey dokey lokey. I’ll see you inside.” Then she pushed away from Twilight and the rail, and slid down the rope to safety. Twilight waited for the rescue team to prep the last rope, and she took another look around. Suddenly a jet of water burst from the side of the airship and into the sky, where the wind tore the jet into droplets and whisked them away, adding to the horizontal rain. All up and down the side of the ship similar jets appeared, as the airship crew began working pumps to try and keep the ship afloat. Twilight felt another small surge of hope, and marveled at how powerful a little bit of hope could be.

When Sun Shade reappeared and gave Twilight a wave, Twilight began hauling the rope back hoof over hoof. She felt a sharp twinge in her shoulder. Twilight cringed as she realized she must have pulled something lifting her friends earlier. She didn’t slow down though, she couldn’t afford to. When she reached the end of the first rope she found a second rope tied to it. She untied the ropes, and wrapped the second rope around her waist and tied it off. For a brief moment she mentally thanked Applejack for teaching them all a thing or two about knots.

She began descending the first rope towards Celestia. She wasn’t a foot away from the top guardrail before her numb hooves slipped on the wet rope and she began plummeting towards the ocean. Twilight wrapped an arm around the rope in panic, but rope zipped through her arms without slowing. That burned. She couldn’t stop her fall on her own. Sun Shade shouted something Twilight couldn’t make out.

Then she stopped falling, just like that. Twilight looked up, and Celestia’s horn glowed faintly, like a speck of sunshine too far away to be called sunshine. Celestia lifted Twilight into the air with the last of her magic, and floated Twilight closer. As Twilight dropped into Celestia’s arms, she grabbed a hold of Celestia’s harness and looked up gratefully into her mentor’s eyes. Celestia smiled tiredly, and promptly rolled her eyes back into her head and lost consciousness.

Twilight’s heartbeat sped up a notch. She had to hurry, and now she had to rescue them both on her own. She’d left a long end of rope left over when she tied the rope around her own waist, and now she used that bit to secure herself to Celestia’s harness. Then she double-checked her knots, pulling on each one. It took twice as long as it should have, even being nestled between Celestia and the deck of the ship, she was so cold her hooves were moving in slow motion, and she kept fumbling the rope, dropping it and having to start again.

When she felt the knots were as solid as she was going to make them, she began unclasping Celestia’s harness from the deck. When she got to the last one she hesitated, then glanced back up the rope tied to the upper rail. Twilight did not want to go for a swim before reaching the warmth of the cabin. So she threaded Applejack’s rope through Celestia’s harness and held onto it for dear life.

With a wave to Sun Shade and a ready wave back, Twilight unclasped the last coupling, and they both lurched downward, suspended between both ropes. The rescue team pulled them in slowly as Twilight played the rope out, but it didn’t last too long. In well under a minute, Twilight’s grip failed, and the rope slipped away from her. As they fell, swinging downward towards the cabin wall, Twilight had a moment to feel thankful they wouldn’t hit the water. But then she rolled her eyes and braced herself as they hit the cabin wall just above the waterline. The impact was jarring, and Celestia stirred and opened her eyes, glancing around warily. She looked down at Twilight.

“Sorry about that, Princess.” Twilight said with genuine regret. She quirked the corner of her mouth back. Celestia smiled weakly, and glanced upwards. The cabin ponies were hauling them up now, the sideways door of the cabin loomed into view, and Twilight sagged in the ropes. For once she could relax a bit and let someone else do some rescuing. Hooves reached out, and pulled them both into warmth and light. Just being out of the wind for a moment was a blissful sensation, and Twilight closed her eyes and sagged against the floor. She lay there bonelessly, exactly the way a pile of books would. She found the energy for a tiny giggle, and then she sighed deeply. She felt someone untie her from the ropes, and she made no move to help. A minute later, she heard the cabin door wrestled closed, and the sounds of the storm cut down to a muffled roar.

Sun Shade gave orders left and right, instructing two figures to prepare a safe space to care for the injured, and another to help string ropes around the above-water parts of the airship to help them navigate the upturned ship. Applejack helped Twilight get to her feet, and as she stood Twilight opened her eyes. She suffered an immediate sense of vertigo. She’d been lying on the wall, and anything not bolted to the floor had slid about in a jumble. Although she was surprised to see just how much of the airship’s furniture was actually bolted down. The tastefully appointed benches and coat racks, umbrella stands and pictures all remained firmly in place, minus a cushion or two. It was kind of. . . freaky.

The rest was blurry in Twilight’s mind. Somebody helped her climb into the mess hall, and settled her down under some blankets against the wall next to the stove. She was so cold, she felt like she could barely move. She felt herself being adjusted, blankets shifted, and she wound up curled around something warm. Eventually she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.