A streak of light flew across the dark and cloudy night sky, soon followed by a deafening boom and a spine-chilling crackle. The sound rang throughout all of Canterlot, practically shaking homes and the ponies who lived inside them.
And in a quaint little house, on the end of the block, there was a talented little unicorn filly known as Twilight Sparkle cowering underneath her blankets, covering her eyes and clutching her favorite stuffed toy tight - hoping that the storm would end soon. She wanted to stay up all night reading, even though she should be sleeping, but she couldn't even do that because of the horrible weather outside. It was so scary! Why did the weather ponies have to do this?
Then, all of a sudden, at the same time, the light streamed across the sky once again and the loud noises rattled the city, causing young Twilight to shriek and whimper, nearly falling off of her bed whilst moving away from the terrifying bellows coming from up above.
"Twily? What're you doing up?" a voice said.
Scrambling out from underneath the covers and peeking out carefully, the lavender filly opened her mouth to respond, but as the scary booms from the sky echoed once more, she let out a loud whimper and descended back from whence she came.
"The storm, huh?"
"Uh-huh." Twilight answered from below her navy blue star patterned duvet, refusing to come out.
"Aw, come on..." She felt a sudden sink in her bed as the voice sat down on the mattress. "It's not that bad, y'know."
"Yes, it is!" she argued, her voice squeaking at the last word. "It's scary." Another crackle erupted from the clouds once more and she let out a light whine.
"It's just rain."
"No, it's not!" Twilight defended. "Rain is for going out and playing in the puddles, or reading about in books, and there's no scary noises!"
The voice chuckled and underneath her blankets, the filly pouted and hugged her doll tighter, continuing to wish that this awful storm would pack up and leave already. She didn't like it. The scary noises reminded her of the things she had heard on the spooky Nightmare Night movies that she might've accidentally watched (for Science!). What if a spooky stallion with a melted face would pop out from the window and foalnap her?!
"It can't hurt you, Twily. It's outside and you're safe in here." The voice chuckled and lifted up the blanket, causing Twilight to cower away. "Espicially under this blanket of yours."
The young unicorn couldn't help but let out a light giggle as she noticed her older brother, Shining Armor, making a silly face as he stared at her, in obvious hopes to cheer her up.
"C'mon, Twily, it's nothing to be scared of."
However, the colt's words were brushed off by his younger sister as she let out another yelp when more booms and crackles descended from the sky whilst the bolts of light decorated the clouds in a menacing way.
"See?" Twilight defended, sticking her tongue out at Shining Armor. "I told you it's scary!"
Rolling his sky blue eyes, the snow white unicorn took his little sibling in his hooves and gave her a reassuring hug. "It's just thunder and lightening." he murmured. "You've read about that in your books, didn't you?"
Without a moment of hesitation, the filly nodded. "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about The Weather - Foals' Edition." she said proudly, with a wide smile. "I even read the dictionary and index in the back."
"So you know that it can't hurt you, right?" Shining inquired, with a grin.
"Well," Twilight stuttered and cast her brilliant violet eyes down. "Yes, but..." Another boom and yet again, she shrieked.
"I get it, I get it, it's scary." her brother said, letting out a sigh. "And it's cool, Twily. You don't have to hide."
"I... don't?" she questioned, her eyebrows knit as she glanced back up at Shining, who let out a chuckle and playfully mussed her mane.
"Nope."
"But-" she hesitated and fumbled her hooves. "Like you said, it's only weather." She frowned and gave an adorable little scowl. "And I'm scared of it."
"A lot of foals are." the unicorn colt assured. "I was."
Twilight let out a gasp and looked up at her brother, who seemed absolutely fearless! After all, he went to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns too, and The Royal Guard Military Camp! He wasn't supposed to be afraid of anything!
"You were?" she asked in disbelief, getting a laugh from her brother.
"Yup." he replied. "Only I didn't have a super awesome big brother to make me feel better." He grinned, and gave Twilight a playful tousle of her tri-colored mane once more. "You're lucky, Twily."
Letting out a light giggle, the lavender filly gave a small smile, only before the thunder continued and she whimpered.
"And who's this?" Shining questioned jokingly, lifting up his sister's beloved stuffed toy with his magic. "Why, Miss Smarty Pants! So very nice to see you this evening!" He smirked and he adapted a falsetto to his voice, in order to pretend in giving the doll a voice. "It wasn't a problem, Shining Armor, I'm just glad to be out from underneath those stuffy covers!"
Twilight laughed, fetching her most favorite thing in the world (aside from books, that is) from her brother's grip and held the toy tight, her smile a little bigger now.
"Miss Smarty Pants doesn't sound like that." she teased.
"I beg to differ, Twily." Shining playfully countered, the smirk never leaving his face.
The two siblings shared a laugh only before the thunder attacked once more, causing Twilight to whimper and nuzzle closer to her brother, clutching onto Smarty Pants as if it were for dear life. Her fear didn't really matter - she was only seven, it was natural for a foal her age to be frightened of this kind of weather.
"Hey. What if I told you something that would make the storm seem not so scary, huh?" Shining offered, looking down at his scared little sister, who nodded in response. "Alright then. It's a poem I heard."
"A poem you heard from Cadence?" Twilight teased, knowing very much about her brother's crush on her foalsitter.
A light blush formed on Shining's snow white cheeks and he scowled. "Maybe." he muttered in denial. "Now, do you wanna hear the poem or not?" His sister gave him a nod in response and the unicorn colt cleared his throat, beginning to recite the words carefully and simply...
"Pitter-patter, splish-splash goes the tiny little raindrops.
It's calm.
Quiet.
All I hear is raindrops.
I sit in silence by the window, watching as the drops paint onto the window.
It's peaceful and I adore it.
Although, there's a crash, a boom.
The ancient Weather Ponies of days past are arguing.
We claim this as thunder.
Their screams are the booms.
And the lightening are their tears.
This fighting will cease soon.
It's natural.
All ponies fight.
But they can be healed, with the calm power of love ponies spread one to another."
Shining glanced down at his little sister and grinned. "Get it, Twily? Even if you're scared of the thunder, I'm always gonna be there for you."
"So..." Twilight hesitated. "There's old Weather Ponies in the clouds?"
The snow white colt chuckled and shrugged nonchalantly. "According to legend, yeah." he replied. "Supposedly, the first Weather Ponies of Equestria all were so dedicated to working - they got lost in the clouds." He smirked. "Brings a new meaning to getting your head stuck in the clouds, huh?"
"Did weather ponies really get lost in the sky?" the lavender filly inquired, her eyebrows knit.
"Nah." Shining Armor declared. "Some legends aren't really true, they're just myths."
"Oh." the studious foal said quietly. "So no matter how bad the storm gets, you'll always make sure I'm not scared anymore?"
"Of course, Twily." he promised, with an assuring smile. "Now, come on, it's late, you oughta be sleeping."
Twilight pouted and crossed her forehooves over her chest, sticking her lip out and giving puppy eyes to her older brother. "Can't you read me a bedtime story?" she questioned.
Unable to say no to his little sister, and not just because of her adorable protesting expression, Shining Armor let out a sigh of mock defeat and chuckled. "Fine, Twily. One story."
"Two." the filly argued.
"One or none."
"Two or... um..." Twilight fumbled over words, unable to rhyme. "Two stories!" she argued.
Smirking and shaking his head playfully, the elder unicorn gave in. "Fine." he said simply, levitating a book over with his magical abilities. "But they're gonna be short stories."
And as Shining Armor read to his little sister (who fell asleep in the middle of the first story), throughout the night, the storm subsided into nothing but a simple calm & peaceful drizzle of raindrops decorating the windows of their home.