“NO!”
Twilight looked in horror as the bolt of electricity struck one of her closest friends. She then buried her head in her hooves and began to sob quietly. “No,no no,no,no…” She chanted over and over, as if doing so would reverse the horrible event that had just unfolded in front of her. But she knew, deep in her heart that Rainbow was dead. Nopony had ever survived being struck by lightning, only the Princesses had done so and that was only because they were Alicorns.
She felt somepony shaking her shoulder and urging her to look. She stubbornly refused and kept her head between her hooves. The pony kept pestering her until she finally looked up. She expected to see the burned and blackened body of her friend on the ground, so she was shocked speechless at what she saw. “Impossible!” She said to herself. She rummaged through her saddlebags until she found her binoculars. She fitted them to her eyes to see if her eyes weren’t tricking her, but her they weren’t.
There hovering far above, was the rainbow mare herself. She looked perfectly fine, not a burn to speak of. She was looking down at her hooves in what seemed to be awe. She then wound herself up, as if to take off from a starting line. “Impossible.” Twilight repeated. “There’s no way she-”
BADA-BBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM
Her thoughts were interrupted by a wash of color blossomed across her vision. Rainbow had done the impossible once again by creating a Sonic Rainboom from a dead stop. The resulting shockwave tore through the thundercloud above her and sent the mailmare on top flying over to another cloud.
“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!” Fluttershy quickly flew up to the cloud to check on Ditzy. Rainbow flew up, a trail of rainbow color following her, looking positively ecstatic!
“Did you guys see that? That was AWESOME, though a corkscrew would have made it at least 20% cooler.” Rainbow exclaimed. She then noticed Twilight. The purple unicorn was staring into space open-mouthed. “Uh…Twilight?” Rainbow waved a hoof in front of her face. Twilight gave no response except to keep staring ahead. Rainbow turned and looked at the other 4 in confusion. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Oh I got this.” Pinkie grinned mischievously. She rummaged through her saddlebags until she pulled out a party popper. She pulled the string and with a loud BANG, a small burst of confetti popped out of the end. Needless to say, the party favor did its job. Twilight jumped so high that her head brushed the bottom of a cloud above them. “Wow!” Pinkie exclaimed. “And I thought that only I could jump that high!” Twilight shook her head furiously and looked around.
“What…where?” She then noticed Rainbow. She walked forward until the two were almost nose to nose. “You,” She said simply, “you should be dead.” One of her eyes was twitching madly. Rainbow quickly backed up.
“Uh girls?” She asked nervously. “What’s gotten into her? She thinks that I’m someone who is dead.” She looked at the others who looked shaken. “Girls?” she asked again almost frantically.
“Rainbow…she’s right.” Applejack finally spoke up. “You should be dead.” Rainbow’s eyes dilated to pinpoints as she sat down hard in shock.
“How?” She asked. “How should I be dead?” She then looked around and saw that Fluttershy was gone. “Where’s Fluttershy?”
“She’s up attending to Ditzy Doo.” Rarity explained.
“Derpy?” The others winced at the mention of the mailmares nickname. “What’s she doing here?”
“She was hopping on the cloud that struck you with lightning.” Pinkie said almost too cheerfully. The others glared at her. “Oh, sorry Rainbow.” She said sheepishly.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Rainbow exclaimed. “What lightning?” The other 4 looked at her as if she had gone insane. Rainbow then proceeded to explain what had happened.
Flashback Rainbow 3rd POV
Rainbow soared through the sky, her wings beating furiously to maintain flight. “Now this is the life,” She thought to herself, “Flying above the clouds, no limits, no restrictions, and not a care in the world.” She looked ahead and saw her friends having their picnic. She wanted to try a new trick she had saved just for them. She flew towards a line of clouds planning to fly through them, do a flip at the end, and from there do a dive into a Sonic Rainboom all while corkscrewing. She grinned and began to accelerate.
And then, from out of nowhere, an earth-shattering boom nearly deafened her. Her vision flashed bright white and her entire body tingled like with the chills, but much worse. Then as suddenly as it had come, all three sensations stopped. She looked around in confusion. “What the bucking hay was that?!” She cursed. Then her body started to tingle again. She looked at her hooves in awe as she felt a sudden rush of energy rush through her. She felt as if she had twice her normal energy reserves. She wound herself up and then using her new energy boost, shot forward as fast as she could.
She shattered the sound barrier with such force that her ears popped! She looked behind her and saw that she had made her 3rd Sonic Rainboom. She grinned in glee.
End Flashback
“…and that’s what happened.” Rainbow finished. Twilight looked thoughtful.
“I have a theory, but it’s crazy to say the least.” Twilight turned to her friends. “Rainbow, you should be dead and you are not. My theory states that you somehow absorbed the electricity and converted it into energy. The only flaw in it is that this has never happened before in history! Nopony has ever survived a lightning strike!”
Rarity spoke up. “Twilight darling, why don’t you write a letter to the Princesses? They might have something on this subject.”
“Rarity that’s a great idea!” Twilight rummaged through her saddlebags and pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill and an inkpot. As she began to write Rainbow looked confused.
“Twilight? Why did you even bring those?”
“One must always be prepared.” She said simply, to which Rainbow snickered.
“How are you gonna send the letter without Spike?” Applejack asked. Twilight answered her question by rolling up the letter and holding it in her magical grip. The glow around her horn intensified. Then with a flash and a pop the parchment disappeared.
“Now all we can do is wait for their response.” Twilight sighed.
Change To Celestia POV
Celestia was reading some legal documents while her sister, Luna by her side when with another pop and a flash, a parchment appeared in front of her in the air. “Now why would Twilight be writing to me at this time?” Celestia wondered. She opened the letter and began to read.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I am writing to you because of a strange anomaly. Today Rainbow was struck by
lightning while performing some tricks for the rest of us, and yet she is not dead.
From what she has told me and what I observed, she somehow absorbed the
electricity and converted it into energy, yet nopony has ever done this before. Do
you have anything on this?
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
Celestia sighed and slumped in her throne. “Sister?” Celestia said. Luna looked over. “Send a message to the camp. Tell them that they will be expecting 6 new campers.”
Luna looked grim. “The time has come, hasn’t it?” To this Celestia only nodded. As Luna walked out of the room, Celestia pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote her response.
My Dearest Twilight,
You must come to Canterlot immediately. I would like to talk to you about what
happened this morning. Please make arrangements to be gone until the end of the
summer.
Your Mentor,
Princess Celestia
She teleported the letter away with a flash and a pop. She then looked out the window and thought to herself, “And so it begins.”