On Feathered Wings

by Tarath

Chapter 2

The dark clouds rolled overhead as she ushered the small raccoon family inside their den-- the rustling of the wind making her mane whip about her face as she quickly moved onto the next. Giving the family of opossums a solid nudge with her snout to get them moving.

“Oh please hurry.” She urged them as they hopped into the safety of their little woodland home. “There isn't much time!”

All about her wind chimes sounded, bird gourdes conked, and the occasional loose bag of depleted feed went spiraling off into the air. Not that Fluttershy noticed. She was too preoccupied. Her friends needed her.

“Oh, oh my, please get inside!” The wind was ripping past her, howling as it bent through the swaying trees-- showering her yard in green leaves. It didn't stop her from seeing a small fox kit quickly into it's hole. Having to resort to charging it-- scaring it into hiding. “P-Please forgive me..”

To say she was in a panic would be.. somewhat of an understatement. Any normal pony would be scared. Her? She was terrified. And the sight of all her critters, bounding about in confusion as the storm began to cross over her home upon her arrival was enough to drive her to tears.

“The birds..” She glanced up, scanning the branches of the tormented trees. The birdhouses on top of her posts. The swaying and clonking gourds she carved for them. All of them empty. Not a single panicked chirp to be heard. “W-What happened to the birds?”

There was a tug against her mane, and she almost shrugged it off as a stray limb flying through the air. But it persisted, which made her spin about in shock. “A-Angel Bunny..?”

The white furred rabbit let go of her pink mane-- looking at her with scared, pleading eyes before he turned towards her house. The cottage with the window shutters flapping noisily. Creaking against the building wind and sheets of heavy rain that was beginning to ripple across her disorderly yard.

“But.. the critters..” Her eyes scanned around the burrows. Seeing the frantic forms of skunks, rabbits, squirrels-- all running about in circles. Their wild scared eyes lost to reason. “I.. I can't leave them Angel Bunny..!”

He tugged again-- just as the crack of lightning shattered the sky, sending a tree no more than twenty yards away falling to the ground. The shock of which made her heart stop, and the scream she gave rivaled that of her animal friends. While deer jumped and bucked wildly, a badger broke from the clearing and into the woods. Disappearing inside the underbrush before Fluttershy could even mouth a protest.

Her knees were shaking, her wings were latched against her flanks. There was a mind numbing fear crawling through her core-- rooting her in place. Making her shrink against the wet grass as the wind and the rain threatening to send her tumbling.

All around her the animals screamed. They stormed about in frantic circles, knocking over lawn tools and feeders, each other, and even trampled Angel Bunny. Sending the white furred rabbit into the mud and muck with a squeak lost in the howling winds. Her body screamed to flee. To run inside the house and hide under the table. The animals were sure to die. They weren't meant for this weather-- spoiled as they were on Equestria's tamed nature.

But they were her friends. Every bit as much as Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and the others. They trusted her, despite everything in their body probably telling them to do the opposite. She'd healed them, fed them, looked after them.. What was she if she couldn't do that now?

There wasn't enough time to think. She had to make a decision. She had to mare up and take charge. Something in Fluttershy snapped, and a familiar feeling rushed through her veins.

“EVERYONE LISTEN TO ME!”

Somehow, even over all the rain and wind, almost every critter within her cottage yard all came to a stop-- turning their scared and shocked eyes upon her in one motion. Even as she bolted for her home up the hill, kicking open the door with a mighty rear of her back hooves.

“Inside! NOW!”

There was a moment of dead silence before, as one once again, the woodland creatures in her care that were too afraid to find their respective dens stampeded up the grassy yard and through the wooden doorway of her house. Filing past her as she galloped over to the nearest window and slammed the wildly flailing shutters to a close. Latching them in earnest.

By the time she worked around the house and secured the ones that mattered, she was drenched and wind had swept her mane back with leaves and twigs sticking from it at odd angles. Forcing the door to a shut against the rushing wind, she caught sight of hundred year old oaks snapping at their bases. Bending to the will of the wind till they looked like they'd break clean in half. It was a relief when she got the door shut. Watching them fall and suffer was every bit as painful as knowing some of the creatures out there were abandoned. Abandoned by her.

Latching it securely, she spun about, sinking against it's frame with a shuddering gasp. Her living room was crowded with over a dozen animals. Deers, squirrels, that skunk family, even a snake or two. And they were all looking at her from their respective hiding places. Peering out with scared and wide eyes.

She imagined she looked pretty frightening right now.. “I-I'm sorry..” She wheezed, feeling sick all of the sudden. The adrenalin pumping through her was always short lived.

Angel Bunny bounced over and into her lap before she could manage to say anymore-- grabbing her neck with a fierce bunny hug as the splintering of wood outside echoed through the dark and eerily silent home.

Fluttershy's tears streaked down her already wet face.

“What's happening..?”

•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•

Inside the library was a mess, her notes and books ruffling in the strong air current that flowed through the open door she swiftly kicked shut behind her. She was worried at first.. but then remembered that this was the mess she left it in. She really was a messy pony.

Messy pony or not, that didn't stop Twilight from raising her horn and cleansing her wet and matted coat of all the rain water that soaked her to the bone. Leaving her clean of the mud, dirt, and leaves that had pelted her since she sprinted from Rarity's empty beauty shop.

Now she was home, and nopony was here. No Spike. No link to Canterlot.

No link to Celestia..

There was a constant banging of her bedroom window slamming itself repeatedly against it's frame-- probably already shattered by how hard it was railing against the wood. A quick and simple spell fixed that problem-- her horn flaring up mid stride and shutting the unseen window, repairing any broken glass, and shuttering itself in mere seconds. Then the rest of the windows followed suit almost instantly. A series of dull thunks and mechanical latching sounds filling the empty building.

-Now- the library was almost completely silent.

“Twilight? You still with me?”

She didn't hesitate to answer, her horn already shifting through books on the shelves-- tossing those she didn't need down to the floor as if they were nothing. “Of course. I'm back at the library. The rain is getting rough here. So's the wind. Where are you?”

The pegasus' relief was felt instantly-- and a pang of worry flowed through the unicorn in turn. Rainbow was scared. ”On the road to Applejack's. Just outside of Ponyville.”

Sheesh.. Rainbow really was one fast flier. “Good. You're making good time.”

It was then that she heard a distant wailing. A distant churning thunder that didn't disappear, no matter how long she held her breath. “Do you... hear that?”

She held her breath again, a tingle of fear racing down her spine as she examined the sound in her scientific way-- trying to filter out the wind that was howling through the branches of her library home and pulling at her latched, secure shutters.

“I can't hear anything up here. What's it sound like?”

She wasn't imagining it.. it wasn't the wind. No storm should sound like that. No storm -she'd- been through before sounded like that. “Must just be the wind.. I've never seen it this bad before..”

She silently hoped Rainbow didn't detect her lie outright.

“Alright Twilight. Think.” She said this to herself, rather than to her linked friend. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine what book she was looking for. What tomb she needed to attract. What would have the answer that would put this new fear to rest.

A moment passed, and suddenly the knowledge came to her. With a burst of speed she galloped to the other side of her library-- horn already doing the work for her in chucking books from the desired shelf. Till one fit the right weight, look, and feel of the old dusty book she needed.

“A-Alright.. I -think- I'm at Sweet Apple Acres now.”

If she made it that far without seeing one.. “Thank goodness.. What do you see? Do you see the storm clouds?”

“Uh.. No.. But I can go higher.”

She retracted the book to her, holding it up and giving a hearty blow against it's cover. Sending dust floating from it's title.

“-Only- if it's safe enough to, Dash.” They weren't in the clear just yet. Just because Dash didn't see one didn't mean it wasn't out there. Those sounds weren't the wind's doing. “If you're having trouble flying at this altitude, going higher is only going to be more diff-”

“Wait!” There was a tone to her voice that made Twilight freeze-- before her mind snapped back into her current action. The book that was still hovering in the dimmed light of her horn's glow.

It was a tattered and old copy-- obviously an edition or two behind the one back in Canterlot-- but it was sure to have what she needed. It slapped itself upon the nearby table, and the wick candle lit itself almost in tandem. Twilight was lucky she was a unicorn.

“The weather is shifting!”

No..

Unnatural Natural Oddities and Phenomenon of the Everfree Forest

“Alright, lets see.” The title page flipped open-- followed by dozens of other pages written in older pony dialect-- all whirling past in a single blur. Years of dangerous study flowing across her gaze. She'd read this book before. Somewhat remembered what she expected she'd find.

The dusty old book stopped flipping through it's own pages-- a written description of the anomoly only witnessed by explorer ponies within the Everfree forest's untouched-by-magic borders. The physical description was paired with an artist's pen scribbled sketch. A whirling mass of pure wind, cloud and debris was depicted. With trees shown flying through the air. Ground and rock ripped from it's place and carried with ease into the sky.

“I'm just north east of the farm! I must of overshot it.”

Twilight's eyes were torn quickly from the image-- scanning the bullets of notes that lined the introductory page.

• It's unnatural arrival patterns are easy to spot even to the most unfamiliar of ponies. Proceeded in most documented cases by advancing natural “thunderstorm fronts”, the cyclone's approach is easily audible from several miles in any direction. Sounding by most accounts akin to the stampeding buffalo in the wild Southwestern lands of our fair country of Equestria, increased by incremental volumes.

“Somethings not right...”

This was it. The Princess was right. This was no ordinary storm. This was something.. something -natural-. Something magic could not control.

“R-Rainbow Dash..” And by Celestia.. it'd only grown louder. Burying it's terribly hum into Twilight's memory.

“That noise..”

She felt Rainbow's concentration waver. A brief feeling of understanding and confirmation registering to Twilight's subconscious before a numbing fear echoed through their link. It blended with Twilight's, and she had to blink her eyes to bite back tears.

“What do you see Rainbow Dash?”

Pivotal moments were spent with Twilight hovering over this book, her eyes unfocused on it's page-- flittering between the font and the crude drawing. Please be wrong. Please be wrong. Please be wrong.

A cold fear resonated through the link. “Tornadoes.. Lots of them!”

•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•

“Boy howdy. It sure is lookin' mighty rough out there.”

“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh barely looked up from the oats he was busy eating at the kitchen table. Apple Bloom didn't even acknowledge she was there.

The Apple family kitchen was cramped enough for the three of them, but even Applejack had to admit the place had taken a turn for the worse as of late. Dirty dishes were piled in the sink, the counters hadn't been wiped down in a good week, and the floor could go for a sweeping and a mop.

She briefly filed those chores onto the list of other things she had to do. Making a disgruntled moan as she slumped into a chair opposite her huffing little sister.

“I swear Rainbow told me we had clear skies all week. I reckon I ain't rememberin' it right or she's gon' and made a right mess of things on this one.”

“I'd say you're just not rememberin' it right.” Big Mac murmured, chewing on his oats nice and slowly. “Your friend does a fine job with the weather 'round 'ere, even if she's peculiar when goin' about gettin' the job done.”

The pride in Applejack took a wee bit of a sting at that, her voice dropping a little lower. “Darn straight she does, but my memory ain't -that- bad.” At least, she was pretty sure it wasn't.

“May I go to Sweetie Belle's after the storm?” Apple Bloom sounded every bit upset, with her front legs crossed across her chest and that scowl still on her face. “We've got business to be tendin' to.”

Before Applejack could answer, Big Mac took care of it. “Not 'til you finish them chores. And I don't want to hear no whinin' over it neither. You're the filly that wanted to go apple buckin' instead of taking care of what needed to be done this mornin'.”

So they were both getting fed up with this surge in attitude lately. Apple Bloom had always been a handful, but was a good filly at heart. Still was. But she was getting older. And getting older normally made the cutest foal into the most stubborn filly.

“Oh that would be great!” The maturing youngster threw her hooves in the air-- rolling her eyes. “Just what I want. A cutie mark of a freshly made bed. Or wait! Maybe a pretty feather duster would be better!”

Applejack's eyes narrowed, “Oh simmer down little Missy. No way no how is your special talent cleanin'.”

The filly's hoofs smacked upon the table-- eyes glaring daggers. “Yer darn right it's not! It's something not borin'! You wouldn't know nothin' about that, would ya AJ?”

“And what in tarnation is that supposed to mean?”

“We can't all be blessed with the dignified, ultra-rare talent of apple pickin'!” Apple Bloom waved her front hooves through the air in some silly fashion. “How fascinatin' and interestin'!”

“That fascinatin' and interestin' talent of mine is what puts bits in our wallets and food on this table.” She could feel her teeth grinding against one another. Her little sister was going over the line.

Outside, a flash of light and loud rumbling thunder shook the mugs on the countertop.

“Yeah, right. I guess that's why we're eatin' old oats and borrowin' berries from Fluttershy, isn't it?” Apple Bloom wasn't pulling any punches. “Maybe -I- should go stay with auntie and uncle Orange for a while. At least there I can eat fresh food.”

Her hooves slapped upon the table before she realized it-- the chair skidding out from under her. “Yeah!? Well maybe so, but I don't think you need to be goin' nowhere for a while! Why don't you just mosey on up to your room and see if being grounded is your special talent.”

Big Mac had long since rolled his eyes and just gone back to chewing on his oats-- while her sister had leaped to her hind legs in her chair with her front hooves planted against the table. Fury racking her shoulders.

“You can't ground me! You ain't ma', and you ain't Granny neither!”

Applejack would respond in kind, leaning over the table till she was nearly nose to nose with her younger sibling. “I may not be Granny but I'm older, smarter, and know what's best for you.” She lifted one front leg and pointed her hoof towards the hall leading to the stairs.

“Now go to your--!”

There was the sound of a loud smash-- and shattered glass sprinkled across the kitchen floor; instantly silencing Applejack and making both the fillies jump and move back from the kitchen window.. or what was left of it. A massive limb from what could only be an apple tree was stuffed through the porthole-- swinging about as the torrential wind outside yanked and snatched at it in a frenzy.

No sooner did Big Mac manage to spin around, dropping his bowl of oats on the floor, did it surrender to the wind's desire and sweep itself back outside. Disappearing in the twirling, dark sheets of rain that were whipping across the farm-- and filling the already disorganized and messy kitchen with a glistening sheen of rain water.

Nopony spoke for a few moments...

“What.. the hay.. was that?” Apple Bloom had fallen from her chair, but was staring at the ruined remains of the kitchen window-- remaining on the floor.

The roar of the storm was enough to make it hard to hear her little sister, but Applejack moved past the shock long enough to hear the whimper of Winona at her hooves. The little dog curled up and shivering in fear.

“I reckon this ain't no regular storm.” Big Mac turned upon his sisters-- looking Applejack dead in the eyes. “Think it's wise we move to the cellar.”

Applejack gaped towards the window a few more moments before she nodded. Eyes blinking back and forth between her brother and the fierce storm brewing outside..

“Yeah.. Yeah. Sounds good.” She brushed her toppled over chair out of the way, kneeling down to usher her sister over. “C'mon sugarcube.”

And without a single protest-- their fight either forgotten or on hold-- Apple Bloom scampered under the table and beside her sister. Clearly disturbed. “T-The cellar?”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac stepped around the two ladies-- moving towards the front door. “It's 'round the side of the house so we--”

“Gotta go outside?” Apple Bloom was shivering on one side of her and Winona on the other, and Applejack couldn't blame either of em. The sounds of this storm just weren't natural, and they could hear another window upstairs break and dull thuds as heavy objects battered against the roof.

“Just stay next to your sister!” No sooner did he undo the latch to the front door did it swing inwards and slam against the wall, making Winona yelp. “Let's go!”

Big Macintosh was first out the door, and he had to lean into the wind just to move against it. Applejack quickly moved in behind him, standing in the wash of the air that ripped against them as the Apple family moved out upon their porch, then down into the wet and flat grass.

Apple Bloom was at her back leg, pushing into her sister-- and she could feel Winona moving beneath her. Keeping up with her master.

The cellar doors were around the side of the barn house-- which creaked and shuddered against the strongest gales Applejack had ever see. No sooner did Big Mac undo the lock to the wide, thick wooden door did he yank it open by the knotted rope tied to it's handle. Exposing the stone steps leading down into the dark.

“Everypony inside!” He shouted at them over the wind, but Applejack only understood him by reading his lips. She looked down and gave her sister and push with her hoof before another with her snout. Watching her little filly run down the stairs with her dog on her flank.

Big Macintosh busied himself trying to haul the door back up-- pulling it against it's rusty hinges. The wind was making it difficult, but he dug his legs in and pulled with all his work horse might. Bringing the door to it's mid arch.

“Down you go!” He muffled at her, his teeth biting into the thick rope. She went to do as he said, before a flash in the distance caused her to pause.

A rainbow trail was cutting through distance clouds, diving out of sight before she could even affirm what she was seeing.

“Rainbow's out there!”

Her brother hadn't seen it. He was too busy staring her down. “Ya can't do anything about that! Get down the stairs now!”

She wanted to protest, but his eyes scared her as much as the storm had. Never had he been so serious, and the sounds of planks ripping themselves from their house above them tore into her conscious.

Applejack only glanced up into the dark sky one last time before ducking her head and entering the cellar. When the thick wooden door was pulled to a close behind her brother, there was an immediate rush of silence and pitch black dark that enveloped everything.

•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•

Weather ponies were prepared for everything. It was a mandate. A requirement set into being by the higher ups of Cloudsdale. A rigorous year long program that kept her from striking it out on her own for far longer than she would've liked. A constant, boring daily drill on what sort of clouds were best for whatever sort of days. Which ones needed to be bucked and which ones needed to be allowed to float on by. One couldn't count the number of times Rainbow had fallen asleep during those classes. The only times she could enjoy herself were during the in-the-field training days. There she showed just how capable she was in the air. Even if she had a lackluster drive for the “job” of cloud clearing. It was a stepping stone, she reasoned. She needed to get by with the bits so she could make a name for herself.

But there were breaks in the mundane lessons. Some of the pegasi found them distracting. Needless. But Rainbow welcomed them. Certain trainers would break out old books and point out moments in Equestrian history of particularly violent weather systems, or famous weather phenomenon that were tamed by their breed of pony. Some were small time. Odd dust storms in the rolling plains of the southwest. The occasional tropical storm that would blow in from untamed seas. Nothing particularly amazing by her standards. But there were others. Others that hadn't been touched by pegasi, out of caution or out of rarity. A large majority of these storms were just reported from other lands. From within the gryphon kingdom for instance. Only one place in Equestria offered these strangest and most deadly weather shows. The Everfree forest.

Magic was non-existent there for over a thousand years. Within the magically tended to lands of the kingdom, the weather was closely maintained and watched after. Through subtle magic or through less subtle weather ponies like herself. But tales crept out of the dark forests, where no such safety nets existed, of thunderstorms beyond imagining and squalls that flooded rivers and collapsed hillsides. She was most fascinated by one legend in particular. Of a system unlike any other. Where rolling cyclones of wind spread mile wide swaths of death and destruction in what was considered the most violent natural occurrences of weather.

Dreams of grandeur got to her even then, and she imagined herself wrangling in one of these storms. Flying into their centers and choking the wind out of them till they returned to the sky in shame. She asked her teacher all manners of questions. Drilled him on every eyewitness account. Every experiment that had been done to recreate one of these “tornadoes”. Her teacher, a retired pegasus mare herself, was not at all happy to see Rainbow only paying attention during these lessons. “You'll never seen a tornado in Equestria.”, she had said. “Not even if you fall asleep like you do in class and forget about the weather-- like I'm sure you will.” Time passed, and she graduated among the lowest of her class. That same teacher made sure she didn't get a chance at Canterlot's mostly non-existent weather team. Nor Manehatten's, which was reserved for the best of the best. By the time Dash blinked, all the big cities' rosters were full.

There were a few choices. A few small villages here and there, mostly in the middle of nowhere. She narrowed her decision down to two. Ponyville and Hoofington. A town north of here. Closer to the capitol and even a smidgen bit bigger than the one she settled on. The only thing that swayed her decision to chose this place was knowing that her childhood friend Fluttershy had moved here. That and the massive forest that was but a short flight away.

Her teacher seemed annoyed. Thinking Rainbow would no doubt fly into Everfree forest and try to be the first to topple some unnamed weather pattern. But by then Rainbow had lost the drive to gain fame through wrestling a tornado or whatever came out of those cursed woods. She was absolutely -sick- of weather. The pay was reasonable, the sky schedule seemed easy, and it wasn't terribly far from Canterlot or Cloudsdale.

Now where was that old crone? Rainbow Dash wished she was here. Hovering a hundred feet in the air over Sweet Apple Acres. Most certainly within Equestria's borders. Staring, horror struck, as three of the mythical beasts rolled their terrible masses towards her. Towards her home. Towards -her- town.

“Are you certain!?” Twilight sounded absolutely mortified. Apparently she had some idea what they were dealing with. How, Rainbow wasn't sure. But it made it easier to convey just how serious things were.

“Positive. I can see the funnels from here.” The two on either side of the center one were going in opposite directions-- curving around the orchards below her. “Twilight.. one's headed right through Sweet Apple Acres. It'll hit Ponyville!”

A dark object flew through the sky up ahead of her, and a second of focusing on it gave away it's form as that of an apple tree. Or at least part of one. There were leaves everywhere, Rainbow noticed. Slapping against her flanks and face along with the rain.

“I...” Twilight seemed to be struggling to think of anything. “I don't know what to do..”

Rainbow didn't have time to waste. She looked down, spotting the red house of the apple family. It was hard to tell through the haze, but it seemed to be losing most of it's roof from how hard the wind was blowing. It seems so much calmer up here..

“The other two will miss the town.. At least by a little bit. Do you know if any of the other farms were evacuated?”

“Probably a few, yes. I was able to send some fliers out to the farms to let them know to take cover.” Twilight was starting to calm down a little. Which was good. Her panic was getting to Rainbow. “I thought you could warn Applejack, but I didn't realize how little time we had. Or what we were dealing with.”

Applejack..?

Rainbow again looked upon the farmhouse. She couldn't see any lights in the windows, or movement for that matter. Were they down there?

“Alright Rainbow.. You know about these things, yes? Did they actually teach you how to stop them in Cloudsdale?”

Rainbow reached up to double check her goggles, making sure they were snug against her eyes. Then doubled their tightness till her eyes hurt. Didn't want them flying off during this..

“About them, sure. How to stop them? No.”

She didn't give Twilight more than a moment to respond before she arched up through the air before diving down towards the ground-- straining her wings to gain the needed speed. The wind rain and errant leaves rushing past her in a roar.

“Then I don't know what we can do..” She sounded desperate. Dash didn't blame her. But she wasn't a pony for giving up. Not to weather of all things.

“I'll think of something.” No she won't. She's just going to fly in there. She's going to do what she does best, and it'll work out in the end. “Just hang on!”

With a mighty flap of her wings, she angled out of her dive and went speeding across the apple tree tops-- holding her front hooves out before her face as she focused on the middle funnel. Watching it cross through the apple orchard like an unstoppable force. Sucking up trees, hay-bales, and picket fences like they were foal toys.

“Rainbow, what are you doing?”

… What in the hay -was- she doing?

She kept flapping her wings, struggling for more speed. The funnel in the distance came into focus. It's ugly dark spiraling body growing bigger the closer Rainbow got to it. The noise was deafening, but she could hear her heart pounding. Even as the world grew darker and darker and the wind began to batter her from all directions.

50 meters out.

The roof of the farmhouse rippled and buckled before exploding upward in a massive burst of timber-- retaining most of it's shape before the wind ripped it to sharp pointy shreds.

25 meters out.

One of the biggest trees on the farm went rolling across the grounds-- it's massive trunk shattered in half and split up the middle. It's branches crumpled against it's body like they were pressed against it by a mighty hoof. It rumbled and rolled like a disfigured log. Beneath and behind her in seconds.

10 meters..

A deep breath was all she had time for, and she felt the wind struggling to pull her out of her determined drive-- and she gave it no quarter. She angled her wings to take her up, and she turning into the swirling mass of pure wind. Disappearing inside it's body not as fast as she would've liked.

She was instantly thrust into the most chaotic scene she'd ever witnessed. Apples, wood, grass, leaves, farm posts, dirt-- everything this monster had consumed swirled about within it's body, following it's swirl in an almost awe inspiring display. It was within this debris field where Rainbow filed in tow-- going faster than the rest of the passengers. Which meant she had to struggle to avoid what she could as best she could.

She urged herself to fly faster, to keep ahead of these turbulent forces. That roof had resisted. It'd been destroyed quite viciously. So would she. She squinted her eyes even though they were safely behind the glass of their goggles. Pushed her wings to the extreme even as leaves and Celestia-knows-what-else pelted against her feathers and hide.

Faster, Rainbow! She bared her teeth, pushed forward-- felt her mane and her tail whipping against the wind. She wanted to breath, but her lungs felt compressed despite the deep breath she tried to hold on to. She couldn't get air in here. Give it your all or you're going to lose it!

She could barely see, but she felt the air pressure skyrocket. The cyclone's body was at it's widest. With the largest of the debris beginning to fly out of it's walls and back into the rest of the world. Probably tumbling through the air hundreds of feet about ground.

This was where she wanted to be.

She leveled out her spiraling ascent-- fighting against the natural uplift of the wind to keep on the proper trajectory. An amazingly hard feat, but nothing she couldn't handle. Updrafts were her specialty.

It was all about the speed now. She could see the trail of her rainbow circling the wall of the tornado. As her wings beat against the air, she managed to watch as it caught up to her. Flying into the multicolored wash of her own slipstream. From outside it would look like a lasso around the neck of a bucking bull-- struggling to keep the beast from ripping free of it's grasp, slowly tightening. Choking it of it's much needed air.

She felt something big whip past her-- followed by a torrent of leaves. No doubt another tree. But she was so close. So desperately close. The funnel was constricting upon it's widest point. Cutting itself off from the clouds above that helped fuel it's fury. All she had to do was hang in there.

But she needed air..

She struggled. She beat her wings like she'd never done before. She ached and felt everything beginning to grow numb. Dark spots bled through her vision, making even her bright rainbow wash lose much of it's color. She was losing consciousness.

With a sharp pitch of her wings, she altered her path so that she, too, was ripped from the funnel. Feeling all control of her flight painfully torn from her, she went spiraling out into the sky. Amongst the many planks of wood and tree limbs she'd flown beside for little more than a minute.

It was then that the pressure in her chest lessened, and a deep breath of air wracked her-- jolting her system and making the dark spots recede. The numbness faded into an uncomfortable tingle, and she felt her wings twitch before she could flap them helplessly for a few moments in her uncontrolled tumble. Within seconds, she righted herself, and slowed her descent-- still hundreds of feet above the earth. Panting for the life of her.

I'm alive..

Rainbow glanced down at herself, still struggling to take in air. Her front hoofs patted against her body. Checking for injuries. For gaping wounds. Anything.

She was okay.

Her attention turned to the tornado-- who continued to howl and rampage over the farm towards Ponyville. At first she was afraid she'd done nothing, but she saw around it's funnel's top was a tight ring of multicolored flight wash. Still spinning with the spiral's walls until.. miracoulously, the funnel began to lose it's darkened color. Starting from the ground, the tornado began to tear itself apart. It's choked inner core imploding upwards until it reached her lasso. Where it faded up into the overcast, quick moving sky. Her colors vanishing right along with it.

I did it.. I did it.. I did it! Despite the painful gasps for air, the soreness in her wings, the headache that was beginning to flood her oxygen starved mind with pain, Rainbow Dash was laughing. The first pony to take on a tornado, take it down, and live to tell the tale.

I can't believe that--“Rainbow!”

Twilight's voice was loud enough in her head that Dash was momentarily stunned-- reaching up to clutch at her skull with a sharp gasp of pain. The unicorn's presence reflooded through her head-- and it was in an absolute panic.

“I-I'm here! Geez!”

Twilight must of gasped-- because Rainbow somehow felt her do it. She had about decided that this spell was far creepier than she cared for.

“Oh thank Celestia! What did you just do!?” Now she sounded mad. That felt weird too. “One second you're there, telling me you're about to do something, and the next thing I know I completely lose you. I thought you were -dead-!”

Rainbow did too, but she wouldn't admit that. She let her wings slow in their flapping. Feeling her altitude begin to decrease. “I did it Twilight! I flew straight into the funnel and bucked the hay out of it!”

“Wha-!?” Twilight sounded stunned. It was enough to make the pegasus fill with pride. Surely that alone would reassure Twilight she'd managed to pull it off. “You.. You did..? Seriously? Rainbow, that's incredible!”

“Yeah. It was. Gosh Twilight I wish you could've seen it!” She reached up, pulling her goggles off her eyes-- feeling like they were about to bulge out of her sockets with how tight they'd gotten.. “The other two. I don't see them anymore.”

“Don't worry about them.” Twilight sounded more relieved than she'd ever heard her be in the year and a half they'd known one another. “The pegasus ponies I sent out to warn the other farms got back and told me they saw them crossing across the countryside. They're going around Ponyville as we speak.”

Now -she- was relieved, visibly slumping in the air as she shut her weary eyes. “Thank the Wonderbolts.. You should've seen em Twi..”

“I can.” She quickly replied, her voice sounding shaky but none-the-less happy. “They're literally -that- close. Hopefully everypony is alright out there.”

Everypony was going to be okay. Because of her. She'd done the impossible-- saved the town, no doubt. But..

Rainbow's eyes opened in a panic.“Twi.. Sweet Apple Acres is gone.”

There was a pause and a dark worry crossed the link between them. “I.. was afraid you'd say that..”

“I'm going to go back there. See what I can find. Maybe they had a cellar.. or-or a basement.” She was already fluttering her wings and turning to dive as the fear settled in. “I think I remember Applejack mentioning it once.”

“Alright. I've got the messenger ponies here still. I'll send them that way as soon as I can... But it's still so bad out..”

Rainbow glanced up at the sky as she soared above the ground. The sky was still dark. Filled with lancing arches of lightning and rolling clouds. Not to mention the pouring rain.

“Hold onto the fliers.. Let me see what I find first..”

She soared across countryside, beaten and ravaged with uprooted trees and torn, muddied ground. It took her a moment, but she realized that she'd rode that tornado for close to a mile. It probably was within viewing distance of Ponyville before it finally gave up the fight.

Nearly a minute later, the wide path of destruction opened up upon the outskirts of Applejack's farm-- with a massive gap missing from the normally orderly lined up apple trees. Not to mention the non-existent picket fence that had once marked the property. The ground was a sea of stumps, downed trees and tree limbs. Apples spread all about. She could only increase her speed, zooming above the remains of the farm as parts of their home began to jut out from beneath the mountains of trees.

She crested that final hill, overlooking the core of Sweet Apple Acres, and the cold reality set in. There was nothing spared. The tornado had cut a path clean through the center of the farm. The dirt road was all that was recognizable, and even it looked torn up and like it'd seen better days. The Carrot Top farm was in the distance. Mostly intact, with a bit of damage to their roof all she could see. The Apple family home however..

All that remained was the foundation. Spires of broken wood, painted red, stuck from all around it. Nothing but a facade of the building that had once been there. It looked like something from a nightmare, but it was real. If there was anypony inside that building before it was hit, Rainbow doubted any would still be alive.

They got out Rainbow. They got out. She swallowed, kicking off against the air with a sweep of her wings and headed for the home of one of her best friends. Unsure what she'd find.

But.. But then she saw them. A dark, winding figure in the distance quickly joined by another. Then another miles off to her left. Then two more further off to the right. They danced their wicked dance and roared their mighty roars. Looking every bit as dangerous and imposing as their siblings which had passed by earlier.

“No.. No no no!”

As if to answer, the family of twisters simply came into better focus. The wind picking up in kind-- rustling the leaves that remained on all the dead trees that surrounded her.

“It's more of them, isn't it Dash?”

Rainbow didn't have to ask how she knew that. The wave of crushing defeat that ran through her at their sighting surely crossed that link between them. She didn't have to say a word.

“Six.. Seven maybe.. They look smaller than the last group.” She strained her eyes, trying to ignore the rebuilding fear in her heart. “Twilight.. I can't take them all..”

She'd barely taken out one. As good as Rainbow was, this many-- even if she let those skirting around the town go-- would kill her. There wasn't any way..

“Unless...”

“The Sonic Rainboom?” Could Twilight read her mind? “With this wind? I don't know which option would be worse, Dash.”


“Then what Twilight?” She was already beating her wings, pushing herself up in the sky. Leaving the house of her best friend behind-- battered and in pieces. Possibly with her still in it. “If I don't do something, Ponyville will look like Sweet Apple Acres right now. I can't let that happen.”

Twilight seemed to give in through their connection, probably frantically looking over her books. Looking at whatever she had at her arsenal. “Alright... You just be careful Rainbow. You hear me?”

Rainbow flew higher and higher, spiriting herself up into the dark clouds and straight through them. The flashes of lightning were blinding up here, but she made it through without being fried. One stroke of luck to add upon the mountains of it she accumulated earlier.

“I will.”

The goggles went back on, and the straps wear tightened yet again. Up here the sky was bright. There was no storm. Just an endless see of clouds stretching out as far as she could see. Dark, flashing, and rolling like an upset ocean. But the sun made it all better.

Rainbow Dash looked up at the glowing orb for a few moments until she had to look away-- blinking at the dots that fluttered across her eyes. She almost forgot how pretty Celestia's gift was. After all this, she'd never take another clear sunny day for granted.

With a final half loop, she dived down into the clouds below her. Back into the dark. Pumping those wings, even as they screamed the protest against it. Never had she attempted her patented trick on anything but the most perfect of weather conditions, but she didn't have a say this time. Thems were the ropes.

The rush was familiar, even with the rain hitting her so painfully. She felt the pull of the air against her mane. The flapping her of tail in her wake. She stuck her front legs out like she was diving. Diving into water, but instead all she could see below her was the ruined farmland she left moments before. With four new funnels rolling across it's already destroyed orchard.

She narrowed her eyes behind the goggles she wore-- feeling the resistance in front of her build. She made the only adjustment she could-- pointing her dive towards the center of the group's path. She'd hit it just before they did. Giving them the full brunt of the shockwave that accompanied her best move.

It was the last thing she could do before that final burst of speed, pushing herself down as fast as her wings could carry her. Any moving now would ruin the dive. It'd be too late for the Apple family farm. Too late for her friend if she was still down there. And if she failed to do this, it'd be too late for so many ponies in Ponyville..

She focus hard. She had to. She pushed herself to her top speed. Feeling her cheeks pull back and her gums burn against the rushing air. The white barrier flickered across her vision. Just against her hooves. Pushing to stop her from this mad dive. Would she be able to pull out of it?

Don't worry about it. You gotta stay in the zone Rainbow. You have to.

The barrier expanded-- it coned around her and flickered about her body as she stared at the ground. The rapidly approaching ground. Littered with apples and a destroyed livelihood. It was now or never.

She tucked her legs close together and stretched them out, trying to flatten herself as much as she was able to-- feeling that white sheet pushing to keep her from breaking through. But she was relentless. She flapped her wings, she surged forward, she would not relent until her friends and family were safe.

The sky exploded into color.