//------------------------------// // Gust Front // Story: Master of the Sky // by maxxxxxx //------------------------------// Storm sirens blared all across the town, an ominous wind blew across the land, the dark vanguard of a massive storm who's clouds blackened the sky as far as the eye could see, and the storm was nearly upon them. The air smelled powerfully of ozone from the massive streaks of lightening that ignited within the monstrous storm. The ponies of Ponyville frantically sought refuge in their homes, bracing themselves for the devastation that was to come. “Rainbow Dash!” A voice called out, screaming over the powerful wind. Twilight braced herself against the gusts, her mane whipping in her face. Debris flew everywhere, making it hazardous for the few brave enough to still remain outside, trying to ensure the safety of everyone else. Despite the powerful wind, a pegasus flew through the air with relative ease, her signature rainbow trail leaving an almost perfectly straight path behind her as she descended. “Twilight, how's the evacuation going! We've only got a few minutes before that thing reaches us!” There was a very clear hint of fear in her voice. Twilight shuttered hearing it, but forced her own fears to the back of her mind. “Everyone is inside!” Twilight shouted, the wind growing ever more powerful, she knew Dash was right, the storm would be upon them any minute. “Then you need to get inside!” Rainbow Dash commanded, her voice was laden with concern for her friend, her eyes darting between Twilight and the sky as the last rays of sunlight were swallowed by a dark overcast. “It's not safe here! Let the weather team handle this!” “Rainbow Dash, everyone else is already gone! The weather team has all evacuated! We both need to get to safety!” Drops of rain began pelting down on them, without build up, the torrent of rain fell from the cloud, instantly drenching them, penetrating deep into their fur. The drops fell with so much force their impacts, Twilight felt as though tiny metal pellets were slamming into her, Rainbow Dash however seemed unfazed as the rain rolled off her water resistant feathers. Dash looked around at the sky, ensuring Twilight was right. Satisfied that she could see no other pegasus in the sky, she quickly turned to Twilight. “Y-yeah! Let's get out of-” BOOOM!!!! Before she could utter another word, a powerful, deafening crack of thunder shook the air and ground, leaving their ears ringing painfully. Bolts of lightening cracked overhead and the pitch black clouds completely blotted out the sun, leaving it dark as night. Suddenly, large balls of ice replaced the droplets of rain, each sphere at least the size of a golf ball, striking down relentlessly upon Twilight and Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight screamed as loud as she could, but her voice barely registered over the tremendous sounds of the storm. Her head and back stung agonizingly as the hail continued it's onslaught. Through gritted teeth, Twilight began charging a spell, her horn began to glow. Against the sheering winds, she struggled to Dash's side, leaning in with all her weight to keep from being blown over. “Twilight!” Rainbow shouted back. Seeing the faint purple glow through the ice storm, she opened her wings slightly, allowing the force of the wind to pull her towards her friend, using all her strength to keep from being blown off the ground. The moment they were close enough, Twilight released her spell, a translucent bubble of violet light suddenly surrounded them. Hail bounded off the barrier and the sounds of the storm were dampened. Dash and Twilight let out simultaneous sighs of relief. “Rainbow Dash, what's going on?! What is all this!” Twilight asked frantically as she realized that her home was on the verge of being blown away. She looked desperately to Rainbow Dash, hoping for answers. “I- I don't know Twilight… this storm, it just came out of nowhere! I- I don't know, none of us knew.” Confusion, pain and fear ran rampant in Rainbow Dash's expression, her eyes resting not on Twilight, but on Ponyville behind them. The wind whipped and surged and the hail continued to fall mercilessly down. “Storms don't just come out of nowhere! Something had to cause this!” Anger flashed in Twilight's eyes as she looked up into the clouds. “We'll have to figure it out later! We need to get inside now!” “Something's really not right about this storm Twi!” “I know, but we can't do anything about it here! We need to get inside!” Twilight affirmed. She knew, she knew this was no ordinary storm. But we can't do anything like this! She looked into Dash's eyes for a long moment, she didn't respond, awestruck by the storm until she finally gave Twilight a weak not. Relief filled her chest as she began charging her spell once more. Suddenly, a bright flash blinded them, almost immediately followed by another deafening CRACK! A massive bolt of lightening struck down on Twilight's force field, the sheer power of the blast tearing it apart, the force of the shock wave threw the two ponies like rag dolls, hurling them through the air far from where they were. They landed on the ground with a painful impact, Twilight felt her ribs cracking within her from the force of her fall while Rainbow Dash tumbled along the ground, instinctively relaxing her body for the fall, sparing her serious injury, but her flesh and fur were badly burned from the heat wave from the plasmafied air rapidly expanding upon them. W-what happened? Rainbow Dash weakly struggled to her hooves, looking out across the field, she could see Twilight's limp body laying in the grass. Panic and adrenaline surged through her body, she bolted up and began running through the hail and wind to her friend. “Twilight! Twilight wake up!” Suddenly, all went quiet, the air became eerily still and the ice storm weakly devolved as light flakes of snow gently tumbled to the earth, melting on impact with the warm ground. Despite the ghastly silence, Rainbow Dash galloped as fast as she could to Twilight's side. “Twilight please be okay!” She prayed her friend was okay, as she reached where Twilight lay, she could see her labored breathing and painful groans. Weakly she looked up to Dash. “R-Rainbow...” “Twilight, don't try to talk, you could have broken something, we need to get you to the hospital now.” She tried to keep the terror in her voice buried beneath the relief she felt knowing her friend was alive, but all that bravado vanished as she looked into Twilight's eyes, eyes filled with fear and confusion. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash realized, Twilight wasn't looking at her, she was looking behind her! In a blur, Dash whipped around, looking up into the sky, there, hovering in the air, was a pegasus. A powerful voice boomed like thunder through the air. “Twilight Sparkle! Face me now!”