Applebloom saw the endless torrent of rain from her window plink against the glass and roll down the pane. The drought had finally broken in a flash flood caused by the weather team responsible for Ponyville, and was planned to be followed up with straight days of rain, giving the landscape the water it desperately needed. It was the afternoon of the first day, but the grey clouds and undetectable sun made it difficult to tell what time it was unless you were staring at a clock.
Big Macintosh plodded around the side of the barn dressed up in a yellow windbreaker with a heavy load of burlap sandbags and a shovel in tow, tossing them all in a big pile at the doors with hardly any effort.
"Another day and a half ah' this?" Applebloom asked herself,
"Ah, don't worry yourself too much young missy! This storm is a drop in the bucket compared to the howler's we faced back in my day! It would rain for two months straight! Had to swim to school, had ta use a boat to pick apples in the lower fields. Crazy weather ponies didn't know what they were doin' back then. Heck, that's one of the ways I got so good at swimmin' too! No pony would've been able to tell the difference between me and a merpony if they hadn't a seen ma' legs." Granny Smith said,
"So what did you do to pass the time?"
"Well, let's see now... we would...oh! That reminds me, don't go swimmin' it's too cold out and you'll catch your cold without proper ice water training."
"Huh? I thought you said you would swim all the time in the rain."
"Course we did! But, like I said, the crazy weather ponies didn't know what they were doing back then, they boiled the water, had it nice and hot, but by the time it reached the ground, it was like swimmin' in a warm bath. Nowadays it's too cold. I woulda gone up there and told 'em how to make rain myself, except I was too busy enjoyin it."
Granny Smith laughed at her own joke, remembering a couple of other odd bits about her fillyhood.
Applebloom looked back to the window, Big Mac was finished placing sandbags around the doors and Applejack hollered in through the doors. "Hey Applebloom! Grab your coat! Ah need your help getting some stuff from town before the roads flood! Granny, man the fort till we get back!"
Granny Smith responded with a "Will do!" and tossed Applebloom her coat and pushed her out the door.
Outside, the ground was covered in an inch of water. Because of the Apple's prepping for the rain to finally come the already loosened earth sucked up plenty of water and turned it into slick deep mud.
"Hey AJ, can I go check on the club house? I wanna make sure there aren't any leaks."
"Go head sugarplum, just be careful not to fall, and meet us back along the road, Big Mac's taking it slow with the cart, and he doesn't want it to get bogged down on the way in or out of town."
Applebloom bolted for the cutie mark crusader clubhouse, a bastion from boredom and things uninteresting. Scrambling up the ramp and through the door, she called out for her friends, and was met with the single drip of water plinking against the wooden floor. The small leak was nothing to fret over, she counted the time it took for one drop to fall, and then the second. It took nine seconds. "Well, it is only for two days, we can fix it after the rain stops."
Slow going on the road to Ponyville, Applejack had her hooves pressed firmly against the rear end of the cart and was putting as much effort into keeping the back wheels from sinking at all.
"Need any help?" Applebloom asked, "Not now sweetie, on our way back maybe. Why don't you run ahead, go check on your friends? These rainy days are long and I don't want either of you catching sick by staying out longer than you need to be. Same goes for you too Mac, once we get this to town, I want you to find a place to keep warm for at least twenty minutes."
Applebloom perked up, That's a perfect chance for me to go see Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell!. Applejack looked down at her sister, wearing a grin that stretched clear across her face. She couldn't help but smile at the sight as well.
Bolting through the streets of Ponyville, water was much more of a problem in town than it was out on the farm. On some streets, there was a solid foot of water which came up too her stomach and around her neck if she wasn't careful.
Swimming partially to Rarity's Boutique, Sweetie Bell was pressed firmly against the window, and waved eagerly when AppleBloom came into view. Once inside, the she pulled off one coat and shook the other before hugging her friend.
"Are you surviving?" Applebloom asked, wringing out her coat onto the floor.
"Me? How did you make it here? I thought we would've had to make a giant boat with all the animals on it if this rain didn't stop."
"Ah had to swim a little to get here, but, have you seen Scootaloo? I went by her house, lights were off,nopony home. I thought she mighta ducked down over here with you until the storm clears up." Sweetie Bell shook her head.
"Nope, I haven't seen her since we met up two days ago. And I was awfully tired last night after getting back from the beach."
"Well, where is she?"
"Maybe she's sleeping?"
"Nah, I banged pretty loud on her door, bucked it to make sure she could hear. She ain't home."
"She's probably out then, probably to get something to eat or something."
"Well, maybe Pinkie's seen her, she always knows this kind of stuff."
"Hey Rarity! Me and Applebloom are going to go find Scootaloo! We're off to see Pinkie!" Sweetie Bell yelled.
The ivory unicorn came down the stairs and looked at the pool of water beneath the dripping filly which came clear across her showroom floor.
"Out you go!" she said, contempt directed at the water which managed to reach the bottom stair.
Both Applebloom and Sweetie Bell were drenched through the fur and to the bone by the time they reached Sugar Cube corner, they couldn't even feel the ground until they finally rested on the cement stairs leading to door. Pulling on the black handle, they darted to different sides as a long green diving board fell outwards and Pinkie walked out wearing an inner tube, floaties, goggles, and diving flippers. "Hi Pinkie!" the both said.
The pink mare was silent for the first time, intensely focusing as she reached the end of the diving board. Bouncing one, twice, and finally jumping out after the third time, she gracefully doing a double front flip with a half twist. She burst up out of the water to the applause of Applebloom and Sweetie Bell while they both treaded water.
"Hiya girls!" she said, spitting out a stream of water. "What's up?"
Applebloom and Sweetie Bell shivered, climbing out of the water and onto the diving board. "We-we're looking for S-s-s-cootaloo. S-s-s-seen her?" Sweetie Bell said between her chattering teeth.
"Not since she walked by really mopey yesterday! I would've gone out and helped, but I was really busy and the ground was lava! I imagined that she was a vicious lava monster, trying to suck down innocent ponies into the burning pits of the Ponyville volcano."
"Do you know where she went? She's not at home." "Well, she was saying something about Rainbow Dash, and how she never showed up, and then she was crying. I called out to her, but she was really, really focused and I even put a muffin on her back, but she didn't even notice! How could you not notice a pony putting a muffin on your back? It was a vanilla frosting cupcake,with sprinkles! She especially didn't notice that it fell off, and I had to run back here and grab a new one. But when I looked for her, she was nowhere to be found! It's like she disappeared!"
Applebloom and Sweetie Bell stared at Pinkie in horror.
"Again?"Sweetie Bell asked Applebloom
"Wasn't that like the fifth time or somethin'?"
"Sixth, no, seventh."
"Man, Scoots must be really upset."
"Think anypony else has seen her?"
"We could ask Rainbow, she might've seen Scootaloo later and apologized."
"I don't think you'll be able to ask her." Pinkie Pie said, performing the backstroke
"Why not?" Applebloom asked
"Cause she's super busy, not like I was, but I mean, super, really busy. And oh, look! There she goes!"
All three ponies looked up, they couldn't see her because of the cloud cover, but her agitation to the clouds made lightning burst from all around her, and the three earthbound ponies could see her silhouette.
"How do you know that's Rainbow Dash?"
"Because what other pony would be flying through lightning?" Pinkie Pie responded cheerily.
"Good point, but how are we going to talk to her? We need to find out were Scootaloo went." Sweetie Bell said, watching Rainbow Dash leave a trail of erupting lightning clouds behind her.
"I guess we'll have ask around, or wait it out." Applebloom said disheartened.
"Applebloom? Applebloom!" Applejack yelled, The orange mare was treading through the water when she finally spotted the three of them on Sugar Cube Corner's porch. "There ya are! Come on! Storm ain't letting up, we gotta get these supplies back to the farm or be rained out!"
"AJ! We can't find Scootaloo!" Applebloom said, jumping into the water towards her sister.
Applejack grimaced, hearing the worry and fear in her sister's message.
"What's this about yer friend?"
"Scootaloo's not home, Pinkie said she hasn't seen her since yesterday, and she said she was really sad because Rainbow Dash didn't show up again!"
Applejack looked to the sky and scowled.
"Rainbow Dash, I am gonna tear you a new one if you forgot about Scootaloo again." Looking back down at her sister, "How many times has it been, wasn't this the third? Fourth?"
"Seventh!" Everyone shouted.
Applejack froze, That featherbrained showoff. Applejack thought to herself, her expression turned to anger as she scanned the grey skies.
"Where is that no-good, so called Element of Loyalty anyway? I am gonna make sure she never forgets that little filly ever again." Applebloom looked up, hearing the clouds belt out thunder as Rainbow Dash made another pass through the clouds.
"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack yelled "Get yer frilly, blue hide down here right now so I can smack ya! You forgetful no-good cloud for brains! Why'd you have to forget about Sco-"
A crack of lightning struck Rainbow Dash in place, they all watched as she plummeted from the grey clouds with her mane smoldering from the blast until she crashed into the flooded streets of Ponyville.
"Rainbow!" Applejack yelled
She looked down at her shaking sister, "Applebloom, tell Big Mac I'm gonna be a while, then get home and get near a fire-your shivering like ah thought you would. Sweetie Bell, go home, I want both of you to not worry about you're friend. I'll make sure I find out what's up from Dash."
Applebloom tried to protest but the mixture of Applejacks anger and fear for Rainbow Dash silenced her before she could even mutter "But-"
Sprinting through the streets kicked up plenty of water, soaking her already wet mane as raindrops pounded down from the skies as Applejack ran to her downed friend.
She was barely floating above the surface, No, nononononono! she silently screamed, fishing her out of the water. "Come on, Dash, wake up! Wake up! I know you've been through worse, come on! A little lightning ain't got nothing on ya!"
Rainbow Dash's colorful mane was scorched black along the backside of her head and her aviator goggles were cracked and flooded. Pulling them off, Applejack couldn't tell if the fall was too much for her friend to take. "
Tears added to the mix water from the skies, the streets, and the droplets from their wet fur. Applejack placed a hoof on Rainbow's chest and cried out when she felt it rise just barely. Desperately looking around, no pony even had cast a glance out their window or peeked through their door when Rainbow crashed,
"Help!" Applejacked sobbed, cradling Rainbow Dash in her hooves "Help! Anypony! I need some help!"