//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 (part1) // Story: My Little Pony: Isk is Magic // by keyan88 //------------------------------//         And so the days past. Keyan’s relations with the ponies only seemed to grow, they were remarkably trusting. If only the rest of the galaxy was like that, maybe more than a few problems could be fixed.                  Keyan spent most of his time either watching the ponies' everyday lives through cameras, mildly creeperish but what else was he going to do, and talking to Twilight and her friends about Equestria. He was rather happy when Pinkie Pie told him she was going to throw him “the bestest Welcome to the solar system/planet/equestria/ and hopefully ponyville party" he had ever been to. Where she would give him the “most tasty and delicious goodies in the galaxy," the thought for him to go down was tempting, but he for some reason still didn’t want ponies to see what he looked like.         HIs ship was another matter though, Twilight had asked him to uncloak his ship so she could study it more. After extracting a promise from Luna not to “visit” again, and a similar one from Twilight he agreed. This of course resulted in Twilight asking all types of questions about the design, makeup, and capabilities of his ship. He did his best to explain the aspects behind his ship, but tried to keep the actual technology a secret. He didn’t want to know what would happen to the mostly peaceful planet if repeating firearms, or nuclear fission were to become known.         A few days past Keyan had sent down a second shuttle to pick up his probe. In its place he left a few radios. One each for Luna, Celestia, and Twilight. The only problem with that was Twilight trying to fiddle with the internals and messed something up, causing it to emit a pitch that shattered half the windows in the palace. Celestia played this off by doing politician things, Keyan hadn’t bothered to ask.         All in all Keyan would say things were going well, at some point he would talk to the ponies in person, but until then he was content.         Twilight was currently reading over her notes from her conversation with Keyan a few hours ago The laws behind inter-planetary monetary transactions between two planets of different empires and currency’s fascinated her.                  She looked out her window and saw the sun preparing to makes its final descent to the horizon before the moon showed itself. It was time for dinner. She placed the sheets of paper carefully on the desk and stood up. Trotting her way downstairs and into the kitchen she opened the refrigerator. Levitating some leftovers out while humming a tune that Keyan had played for her a while ago.         After a quick warming spell she sat down at the table and prepared to gorge herself on her 2 day old feast. But just before she could take the delectable first bite she heard the door to the library slam open. Before she could react a soaking yellow pegasus with a blue mane burst into the kitchen.         “Raindrops? What are you doing here, is something wrong?” Twilight asked.         The poor pegasus was clearly out of breath, as her chest heaved with her ragged breathing.         “Everfree… Storm… Too big to handle.. Rainbow… Needs your help.. waiting just outside town.”         Twilight was already out of her chair before Raindrops finished her sentence,         “You can rest here if you want, just don’t get any books wet.”                  And with that Twilight teleported outside town.         Raindrops collapsed in exhaustion. ***         In a flash of light Twilight appeared in the field between Ponyville and the Everfree. She gawked as she saw the towering clouds in front of her.  They were a matte black, and teeming with energy. Flashes of light signaled lighting dancing inside the cloud. Wild storms from the Everfree weren’t exactly unheard of, but one of this size hasn’t been recorded in a hundred years.         A prismatic blur materialized in front of her,         “Thank Celestia you’re here Twi, I need you help” Rainbow said. Her voice was ragged, she was obviously three steps from exhaustion.         “What's happening Rainbow?”         “I don’t know where this storm came from but its sure as hay not anything good. If it hits ponyville we’re looking at major damage. I have the others evacuating and finding shelter to everypony they could. I need you to create some wind or something to keep the storm from blowing towards ponyville.”         Twilight nodded, she knew it was always best to do whatever Rainbow said when she went into her “captain” mode.         “Alright Rainbow, I’ll do what I can. But I can’t hold it off forever, what are you going to do to stop it?”         “I’ll come up with something. Right now I have the weather team catching any stray clouds and moving them away from the main storm. Hopefully we’ll get lucky. But all we can do now is to hold off the storm as long as we can to buy Ponyville more time to prepare.”         Twilight nodded and Rainbow flew off to do her other duties. Twilight started to concentrate and her horn started to glow with magic. Then it suddenly burst into a blaze of lavender light as magic poured into her horn. A gale suddenly picked up, blasting the storm. After a few seconds Twilight managed to halt its forward movement, but the act of keeping up the spell for the amount of time Rainbow Dash and the town would need would be quite a feat.         *****         Rainbow Dash’s body was running on fumes. Her muscles were being forced miles passed their limits as she fought to keep the storm contained. Her wings burned as she dodged another lightning bolt, the passing current making her mane stand up on edge. Rarity would have nothing short of a fashion freak-out.         She grabbed a stray cloud and pushed it in the direction of other weather-team members. Cloud Kicker, Cloud Chaser, Flitter, and Thunderlane were near her. They were in similar states to her, their strangled breathing cutting through the wind.         “TORNADO FORMING!!” Flitter screamed, her warning reaching Rainbow’s ears.         Rainbow turned, and sure enough there it was, the funnel had already started to form. This was bad, really bad, if it touched down, flying debris from the Everfree would be added to the list of Ponyville’s problems.         “Team!, form up on me! We have to provide counterspin to that tornade to stop it!” The rest of the Weather Team quickly formed up behind her. With a wave of her hoof she signaled the advance and the formation of pegasi shot forward.         They quickly picked up speed, accelerating towards the imposing funnel.         “Prepare for entry!” Rainbow shouted back.         The next second the team burst into the tornado, flying in the opposite direction of its spin. Immediately they were battered by the raging winds, a few ponies were immediately sent spiraling out of control.         Rainbow grit her teeth as she forced her wings to keep flapping, forcing herself to keep moving forward. She could feel the tornado losing power, but it was still a dangerous foe.         She winced as she heard a few more cries of alarm as pegasi were thrown from the tornado. Rainbow didn’t even see the lightning bolt. *****         Twilight watched as the weather team disappeared into the infantile tornado. She couldn’t help but watch in fear as pony after pony were thrown from the tornado. Luckily most of them were able to catch themselves before hitting the ground, the more unlucky ones ended up being caught by the others.         A sudden burst of light signified a lightning bolt's presence. She hardly noticed that though, she only had eyes for the cyan speck that was sent hurling from the depths of the storm. It was moving far farther, and far faster than the others. Very few weather ponies saw it, and none could react fast enough.         Twilight watched helplessly as her friend plummeted towards the ground.         A sudden burst of adrenaline sent nigh-princess like amounts of magic into her horn. She cried out in pain, her horn felt like it was going to explode, but she doggedly held onto control.         With a shout of rage a wave of lavender magic burst from her horn. It impacted the storm and hardly slowed down as the clouds disappeared, utterly vaporized. Twilight wasted no time in teleporting in her friends general direction. *** Even not knowing where Rainbow’s crash site was it wasn’t hard to find. A scene similar to Keyan’s probe crash greeted her. Twilight choked back a sob, knowing her friend would not fare nearly as well.  Tears brimmed in her eyes as she caught site of the pegasus, she galloped to her side. Twilight retched as she saw the damage. Thankfully she was unconscious, if not the scene would be way worse. Two of her legs were bent at weird angles, in more than one place. And her side had an obvious indent in it, her ribs were shattered. All this paled in comparison to her wings though. They were attached to her body by little more than a few shreds of skin. Shards of bone peppered the ground and forced their way through skin in more than one place. The majority of her feathers had been shaken loose from the impact, so none of the damage was hidden. Blood was weeping from the wound, staining the ground red. Twilight couldn’t halt the flow of sobs now, She collapsed to her knees next to Rainbow Dash. Using her final reserves of her magic, dredged from the depths of her soul, she teleported them to the ponyville hospital.         ******         The nurses and doctors were initially surprised at seeing the Princess’s protege teleport into the middle of the emergency room, but quickly got over it when they caught site of the critically injured pegasus.         Twilight was currently sitting in the waiting room. She didn’t even have the energy to twiddle her hooves, she had exhausted herself by this time. Her fur was matted by her tears, she wanted to cry more but her tear ducts had run dry.  The others had arrived some time ago, all were in similar states. Twilight looked up as a door opened and the doctor stepped out, following him was Princess Celestia. Twilight immediately felt hope well within her. “Princess!” She exclaimed, throwing her hooves around her in a hug, “I didn’t know you were here! Rainbow must be alright now, thank you soooooo much.” She waited for a response, but when she didn’t get one she looked up. Her heart shattered as she saw the Princess's expression. “Sit down Twilight.” Celestia said. Twilight’s back legs collapsed from under her. Celestia continued, “In my time as princess, I have delivered bad news far more times than I wish I had to. I have seen ponies' hearts and souls break before my eyes. Know this Twilight, this is one of those situations I wouldn’t wish on anypony, evil or otherwise.” She took a deep breath, “Rainbow Dash will most likely not survive. and if she does she will not fly again. The damage was just too extensive. Even for my magic.. I’m sorry.” Celestia hung her head. Twilight was speechless, she was going to lose her best friend. And even if she survived, flying for Rainbow was life, one without it was little more than death. Celestia slowly walked away, her hooves softly clopping on the tiled floor. Twilight’s friends wrapped each other in a hug, each quietly sobbing into each other. They suddenly found themselves of their flanks as Twilight stood up. “Princess! Wait! There is still one more thing we could try!” Celestia looked at her student, no a single glimmer of hope in her eyes, “What do you mean Twilight? There is nopony who could help.” Her voice was weak. “Not somepony Princess. Some person.” ****         Keyan was in deep in sleep. He was currently in the middle of a rather nice dream involving some awesome strippers, mass amounts of isk, and blowing things up in awesome explosions. But sadly it was not to last.         The blaring of the alarm forced him from his slumber. He struggled with his sheets for a few moments before managing to reclaim his balance.         “AURA WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!!”         “Sir, Twilight Sparkle is requesting an immediate conversation. She claims it's an emergency.”         Keyan nodded,         “Put her on the loudspeakers.”         A beep signaled his command had went through.         “KEYAN PLEASE ANSWER!! I NEED YOUR HELP!!” The voice of Twilight sparkle rang throughout the ship.         “Easy on the ears Twilight, what's the problem?”         “Rainbow had an accident! She's going to die Keyan! You have to help her!”         All traces of happiness from his dream vanished.         “What happened?”         “I’ll explain later. Just please send your shuttle down. PLEASE!” Keyan thought that even a rock would be able to pick up the sheer amount of desperation in Twilight’s voice.         “OK OK, its coming down now, where should I send it?”         “To the hospital.”         “Do it Aura. Now tell me what happened.”         Keyan listened in silence as Twilight recounted the events leading up to her plea for help. When she finished the both of them sat in silence for a few moments before Keyan said,         “The shuttle will be arriving in 30 seconds Twilight. Are you worried about anyone else seeing it?” “The Princess cleared out everypony else except for the doctor and a few nurses, but they have been sworn to secrecy. It's also the middle of the night, everypony else should be in bed.” Keyan nodded to himself. “Listen Twilight, I want you to know I’ll do everything I can to help Rainbow Dash. She’ll be fine okay?” Keyan heard a sniffle come through the radio, “Thanks Keyan, you’re… you’re a good friend.” Keyan smiled, a very very slight smile, “Good to know Twilight. Good to know.” *** Twilight stood with her friends and both princesses outside. Luna had arrived a few minutes after Twilight had radioed Keyan. She looked over to make sure Rainbow was still unconscious on a gurney next to them, she was, he breath was ragged and strained. Everypony had did what they could and had managed to stabilize her condition as much as possible. They watched as a familiar shape descended from the sky. All of a sudden a grey pegasus with blonde mane appeared. “Hey everypony! what's that thing coming from the sky?” Everypony else jumped, “Derpy!? What are you doing here! you should be in bed!” Twilight hissed. “Oh well, Dinky had a nightmare so I had to lull her back to sleep. Then I looked out the window and saw this thing in the sky. Then I went to go see what it was. Then I saw all of you standing here. Then I said “Hey everypony! whats that thing coming from the sky?”, And then I’m here.” As she finished, her eyes started to drift in opposite directions.         Twilight covered Derpy’s mouth with her hoof,         “Listen Derpy, Its hard to explain. But Rainbow’s been hurt, really badly, and we asked an alien for help.”         Derpy was silent for a few seconds, processing the information. Her expression suddenly drooped,         “Oh no, not Rainbow. But at least you have help right?”         “You’re not surprised by the fact that we asked aliens for help?”         “Well I am, but it doesn’t make sense to freak out about it.”         Twilight shrugged, “Well, the thing you saw is one of his ships, he's gonna pick up Rainbow Dash and help her. I need you to not tell anypony about this alright?”         Derpy nodded, “I pinkie promise” she said, following with the standard Pinkie Pie promise.         “Well, then I guess you can stay. Just be quiet and don’t do anything okay?”         Derpy nodded again.         The group then watched as the ship gradually became bigger and bigger, before Keyan;’s shuttle landed on the ground in front of them. Derpy looked in awe as she saw the ship up close.         With a hiss the shuttle’s door opened. Keyan’s voice suddenly burst from the speakers,         “I’m sending out a gurney. Put Rainbow on it and then all you can do is wait.”         Punctuating his sentence a very high tech hovering gurney emerged from the shuttle.         Three different shades of magic covered Rainbow, gold, dark blue and lavender, as she was slowly levitated from one bed to the other. They very carefully placed her down on the other with infinite care.         When she was finally settled they all watched silently as the gurney started moving back to the shuttle. None of them could predict what would happen, or if Keyan would actually keep his promise, but all of them know its their only chance.         The door started to close with a hiss.         “Listen girls, I know you’re worried, but I’ll do my best to help Rainbow okay?”         They all silently nodded.         Just as the door was about to close an orange and purple blur shot into the closing gap. Before anypony could react the door closed with a final hiss and the shuttle began to lift off immediately.. The only other sound in that split second was two fillies screaming,         “SCOOTALOO!!”