Chapter 16: Bad Weather in Texas
Zodiac had recently returned from the Changeling Kingdom and had now found his very first crush which was none other than Ocellus, but not before returning to Canterlot did he get a letter from Nathan claiming that he wanted him to come over to the Crystal Empire to meet up with him because his second trip was to Dallas and see how humans lived, but he didn't even know that this trip would be one that he would actually not forget because it was going to be a frightening day. Anyway, he had just gotten off the train, which was the very first one he had ever ridden on since most of the time he had only ridden in Celestia's carriage as transportation and flew everywhere since he was a Pegasus, but anyway he was on approach to the Crystal Palace to meet up with Nathan.
As he walked through the city, he was quite astounded at how beautiful and shiny this place was, even the ponies here were crystal and shiny as well, as was the roads, houses, businesses, etc. he couldn't have seen so much beauty and wonder put into one whole kingdom. But he couldn't picture the looks of it during King Sombra's reign for he saw it as horrific and evil.
"Wow, I've never seen such a beautiful state of the art kingdom in my life, why didn't Mommy or Aunt Luna take me here before in the first place?" he thought as he edged closer to the Eiffel Tower like palace that Cadance and Shining Armor ruled from, he approached the entrance and knocked, the door soon opened and he was greeted by not Cadance and Shining Armor nor Nathan, but rather just two crystal guards who stared down at him.
"Hi there." said the guard.
"Hi, I'm Zodiac, Princess Celestia's son, is Nathan there?" Zodiac nervously asked with a gulp afraid that the guard wouldn't let him in.
"Hmm, I did hear about you, but I don't remember getting any notice about you coming over here to see the future captain." This made Zodiac tremble, but luckily behind him approaching was Shining Armor with Flurry Heart in his hoof and he had a smile on his face.
"At ease guards, he's fine, he's just here to see Nathan." he said, "Return to your duties."
"Yes sir." one guard said and they went into the deep corridors of the palace as Shining Armor approached Zodiac and his smile not leaving his face.
"Well it sure is a pleasure to welcome your first visit to the Crystal Empire Zodi." he said.
"Thank you, Shining Armor." Zodiac said before Shining Armor motioned him to come on into the castle.
"I take it Nathan invited you here so he'd take you to Dallas right?"
"Yes sir, as a matter of fact, I have a bag here full of snacks in case it would be a long trip." Zodiac said showing a snack bag to him.
"Here, Zodi, why don't you keep an eye on Flurry Heart for me while I go find him, okay?" Shining Armor said as he handed little Flurry Heart into his hooves, Flurry was really excited to have Zodiac hold her.
"Okay." Zodiac answered as he watched Shining Armor head up the stairs and vanish temporarily, as he was waiting for Shining Armor to come back with Nathan, he looked down at Flurry Heart who stared at him with giggles and a happy face as usual.
"Hi Flurry, remember me?" he cooed, Flurry Heart reached her forehooves up to him signaling she want him to hug her, Zodiac could quickly see she had already starting taking to liking him so he wrapped her in his forehoof and hugged her.
"You love me don't you, you little timberwolf." he said as he tickled her backhoof making her laugh, that's when he heard laughing coming from the top of the stairs, he looked up and saw Shining Armor with Nathan walking beside him.
"Hi Nate." Zodiac said.
"Hey there Zodi, ah' see Flurry's taken a likin' to ya'." Nathan said.
Zodiac looked down to see Flurry Heart playing with his Wonderbolt outfit and giggled, "Yeah Nate, I think you're right."
"Well you ready to experience a day of human ways?" Nathan asked.
"I've been waiting for this for a week."
"Well, let's get going." Nathan said, Zodiac gave Flurry Heart back to Shining Armor.
"You all have a good time." Shining Armor said.
"Yes Dad." Nathan said, and he and Zodiac went out the door, as they stood in front of the Crystal Heart that held the portal of which only Nate could activate, he stood ground because he needed to set some things straight with Zodiac because Zodi was heading for a different world and thing were going to be different.
"Now Zodi, before we depart, ah' need to set some rules with you because ah' took mah' parents and the others here once and did the same with them. First of all ah'm going to have to change your name because human names are not like pony names and if everyone there heard your real name they will laugh at you, so your name for today will be Zack Langley."
"Okay." Zodiac answered.
"Secondly, the way humans thrive is not the same as ponies do, the weather there is not made in a factory, it's made by drafts and currents in the atmosphere and you will not be able to sit on clouds there. Thirdly ya' will be a human yerself and therefore will have to walk on two legs like me and you will not have any wings and neither will ah', lastly you will see some things that you will not find here in Equestria, so ah've made arrangements to have mah' former nuns from mah' old orphanage help guide ya' through it and you will get to meet two of mah' friends there as well, understand?"
"Got it Nate." Zodiac said.
"Okay, ah'm about to activate the portal." Nathan said walking up to the Crystal Heart and placing his right middle and index fingers on it, after he touched it, the heart shot out a swirling tube of light and it flashed all around Nathan and Zodiac.
"Zodi, ya' might want to cling on to me tightly, this is going to be a fast takeoff." Nathan said. Zodiac could feel the strength of the portal shake the ground beneath him, so he did what Nathan said, ran up to him, and clung to him as tightly as he could. Suddenly, they lifted off the ground and began to pick up speed as they entered the tube.
"Hold on tight, Zodi!" Nathan screamed and they were soon sucked in out of the Crystal Empire and onto Dallas.
The street that the Lone Star Orphanage rested on was going through a typical afternoon, people in their cars driving by the building and a new generation of orphaned children that were being taken care of by Amber and Lucy, now the years had passed and they had now reached middle age around their 50s now, but they still had the power of God's love and planned to keep spreading His word and put it in the minds of children until it would be time for God to call them home to Heaven.
Anyway, it was a typical afternoon, but there was a low pressure system developing in the west and was going to produce a really severe thunderstorm that would bring hail, damaging winds, and even the possibility of tornadoes to the Dallas area, so Amber and Lucy decided to make best of whatever time they had before the storm hit they hoped though that the storm would just dump some rain only though. As they were lining up all the children from playing outside and back into the building for Bible lessons, they were interrupted by a vibrating sound, which scared the kids, but then a portal light appeared and out came Nathan and Zodiac.
"Nathan, is that you dear?" Amber asked.
"MS. FANNING!!!!!!!!!!" Nathan said with joy as he ran up to her and hugged her, as well as Lucy.
"My goodness, you've gotten tall." Lucy said.
"So how's Equestria coming along?" Amber asked.
"Well, ah've brought a new kid with me, Zack come here, ah' want ya' to meet mah' old nuns." he said, Zodiac looked in a mirror that was in a playhouse and saw that Nathan was right, he was a human, he saw that he had no wings and was wearing shorts and a tank top that resembled the Wonderbolt outfit he wore in Equestria and had on Z striped sneakers and black socks, he was stunned at this body he was in that he didn't even hear what Nathan said, that's when his surprised trance was snapped out when he felt a hand touch his shoulder, he looked over and saw Nathan smiling at him.
"Didn't ya hear me, ah' said mah' old nuns want to meet ya', come on." Nathan said, but just as he predicted, Zodiac was having trouble balancing on his legs and couldn't even move his feet, so Nathan had him lean on him for support and helped him walk over to Amber and Lucy.
"Ms. Fanning, Ms. Brown, this is Zack Langley, he's new." Nathan said trying his best to not make them know that Zodiac was a pony that he had brought from Equestria, but they were not buying it because they knew he had been there for so long and that anything or anyone he brought with him for visits would be from there.
"Nathan, we can actually tell he's from Equestria, so you don't have to cover for him, but we'll keep his human name so the children don't pick on him okay?" Amber said.
"Yes Ms. Brown." Nathan said, Zodiac then smiled at him.
"Nathan you sure are a great friend." he said.
"Thanks Zodi." Nathan whispered.
"Okay, why don't you two come on in and get something to eat with us before I take you all out." Lucy said.
"Sure thing." Nathan said, Zodiac was hungry too, but he'd never experienced the stuff that humans eat, especially meat products since there was no meat in Equestria.
As they walked inside with the others, Zodiac could quickly smell the spicy scent of what appeared to be some kind of stew, Nathan knew what this stew was because it was his most favorite thing to eat, it was gumbo and the person that was cooking it was born and raised in New Orleans and got a job as the orphanage's cook. Now Nathan loved this, but since Zodiac was new to the human world, he was going to get a first glance at how the humans ate.
Once he and Nathan found a place to sit, they were served bowls of fresh gumbo right out of the pot and smelling good of herbs and spices and before too long everyone else got their share of the gumbo as well, however as usual, the nuns always had the kids say grace before eating.
"Alright everyone, let's bow our heads and close our eyes." Lucy said.
"Nate, what are we doing?" Zodiac asked.
"We're blessing the food, do what she says." Nathan answered, Zodiac was not sure why it had to be blessed, but did what Nathan said and went on bowing his head and closing his eyes with him and the rest of the children.
"Lord Jesus, we come to you today on behalf of this meal that has been made, we pray that it gives the nourishment and strength that we need. An we pray that this storm that is about to hit will not be a bad one, that it will just rain and give the plants good life and nourishment as well dear God, and we pray these things in Your Son's Holy name, Amen."
After the prayer was said and everyone dug into their gumbo, Nathan pondered about something that Lucy said, something about a storm about to hit the city. Zodiac on the other hand was enjoying his fresh bowl of gumbo, he had never had it before or even tasted it, but it was delicious much to Nathan's surprise. Just as he was about to dig into his food, he heard the sound of thunder rumbling outside and looked to see that the sky had turned a scary blackish-blue color, Nathan sure wasn't notified about this, so he turned over to Amber.
"Ms. Brown?" Nathan asked, Amber walked over to him.
"Yes Nathan?"
"Ah' thought ya' were gonna take Zack and ah' around the city so he could see how humans thrive, ya' didn't tell me that there was a storm today though."
"Well dear, I'm sorry, I know I should've told you before, but there was just no way I could send a message to you about it though, sorry Zack, but I'm afraid we might have to cancel until the storm is over."
"What?!" Zodiac asked in horror, "I didn't come here to hear you throw away a good time."
"Sorry sweetheart, but we can't cope with the weather." Amber said, "now come on dear, eat up."
As he and the other children were eating, Lucy switched on the TV to the local news where they were covering the severe weather that was about to hit.
"Covering Fort Worth, Dallas, and all of north Texas, CBS 11 news at noon starts right now."
"Right now we are tracking severe weather rolling in, let's tune in to Larry Knight in the CBS 11 Weather Center."
"Hey Nathan, why weren't we told about this?" Zodiac asked as he ate.
"Ah'm not sure." Nathan said as he stared at the TV.
"As you can see on radar, these storms are producing massive cells which will bring quarter to golf ball sized hail and now we've just gotten word that this storm has spawned rotation and looks to be very tornado productive."
Zodiac was now scared, he was used to seeing storms rolling through Canterlot from the weather factory, but he was not used to hearing or even seeing storms predicted to be this bad, nor did he ever hear about hail, he didn't even know what hail was.
"Hey Nathan, I heard them say something about hail, what's that?"
"Hail, mostly referred to as hailstones, are balls of ice formed when thunderstorm updrafts are strong enough to carry water droplets to above the freezing mark in the level of the storms, but hailstones are not typical ice balls, they are like rocks falling from the sky and strong enough to break windows and even kill people."
Zodi gasped, "So if you ever see hail fall, always seek shelter."
As if right on cue, lightning flashed outside and thunder began to rumble loudly, then everyone could hear the rain beginning to fall, now this was weather Zodiac was used to, but then suddenly there was a flash of lightning and then a loud boom of thunder that caused a power surge in the room then the TV showed a black screen that popped up a message, then the Emergency Alert System played, Zodiac cringed in fear at what was happening, he was not hoping that a trip that was supposed to be good suddenly turn scary, as for the other children, they were panicking and crying at what was happening as well, but the nuns did their best to try and keep them calm.
"The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a tornado warning for, northeast Denton county in Northeast Texas, northwest Dallas county in Northeast Texas, and southeast Collin County and Northwest Texas, effected until 4:30 PM Central Daylight Time." said the announcer, and much to Nathan's horror, they were in Dallas county which was one of the counties that had been placed under the warning, then suddenly, the storm sirens outside began to wail loudly as the rain began to pour even harder like a waterfall.
The NWS announcer continued, "At 12:30 PM Central Daylight Time, National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado and destructive winds up to 90 miles per hour, if you are in the path of this storm, seek shelter immediately and stay away from windows and doors."
Just then there was big bang and then the power went out, all the children began screaming as Zodiac went to Nathan's side of the table and cling to him in fear, Nathan wrapped his arms around him and did his best to comfort him, that's when Amber came up with flashlights with which she gave one to Lucy as the children, along with Zodiac continued to scream in terror.
"Alright children, don't panic, stay calm, we're going to line up calmly and head to the storm cellar." Lucy said as Amber gathered them all up one by one. Zodiac was so frightened though, that he couldn't even get up, so Nathan had him lean on him in comfort again.
"Shh, it's okay Zodi, we're going to be fine." Nathan said as he held him against his shoulder as they walked with the other children and the nuns to the shelter, suddenly............
"BOOOM!!!!!" there was a loud crash, Nathan turned around to see a tree branch had busted one of the windows open and fell into the room causing two tables to get knocked over and spilling food on the floor also breaking bowls and cups as well. Nathan could sense that the tornado they just mentioned was rapidly approaching the area the orphanage was in, Zodiac could get the same sense as well as he stayed cling to Nathan.
"It's coming, EVERYBODY GET TO THE SHELTER, QUICKLY, QUICKLY, GO, GO, GO, GO!!!!!!!!!!!" Nathan screamed as the children started running to the double doors that led into the shelter. Amber quickly unlocked the doors and opened them, she then waved her arm having all the panicked and terrified children down the stairs until the last three in were Lucy, Nathan, and Zodiac she then closed the doors and locked them. Still carrying a flashlight, she followed the rest of the crowd into the shelter, once there, she stood beside a lantern with a box of matches and struck one on the box and lit the lantern which was powerful enough to light up the entire shelter.
Up above them, the winds increased speeds and there was soon a loud rumble like a stampede of elephants, the children including Zodiac were really scared now, but as the nuns sat with the frightened children, Nathan sat beside Zodiac and did his best to comfort him the same way the nuns comforted the others.
"I want my mommy!!!!" Zodiac whined, "I'm scared!!!!"
"Shh, it's going to be okay Zodi." Nathan said.
"No, it's not okay!" Zodiac exclaimed.
Nathan stood strong in his bravery because he knew along with the nuns one thing, "Zodi, as scary as it looks, you have to have hope."
"Hope in what?" Zodiac asked as tears went down his face.
"Hope that no matter what we go through, God is watching over us."
Zodiac suddenly felt warmth as Nathan gave a warm smile.
Soon, Nathan had everyone get into a circle and he prayed.
"Lord Jesus, we come before ya' today in this terrible storm, we pray that ya' will watch over us and keep us safe as this tornado blows through that it'll hopefully miss us and that this storm will blow over quickly, amen."
As they sat in the cellar and waited it out, the rumbling from the winds above outside grew stronger and soon they could feel it, a strong tornado EF2 to be precise was right on top of them and just like that, the whole building was engulfed in winds and lightning as Zodiac held onto Nathan tightly as Amber and Lucy kept the other children safe around them as the tornado moved right above them and feeling its mighty power shake the whole building and then a chunk of the ceiling suddenly collapsed and fell on the floor, luckily, no one got hit.
But suddenly, the winds died down and the rumbling stopped.
Zodiac and the other children were still extremely terrified at what they just went through, so Lucy decided to be the first one up on her feet and walk up to the door and unlock it, but when she unlocked it and took a look, she was shocked to see so much damage to the orphanage.
"Amber, you better come and look at this." she said, and Amber soon got on her feet and saw the damage as well, they had never seen such damage in their lives.
The ceiling tiles on top had collapsed and were not only showing broken and snapped wires, but also water from the rains leaking through, the children's rooms were covered in broken glass and flipped furniture, and the room they were eating in earlier had flipped tables and broken bowls and tons of spilled gumbo all over the floors. The walls were cracked and the insulation inside were hanging right through the cracked pieces of wall.
Amber and Lucy were awestruck and wanted to hold back tears over the fact that their orphanage was completely destroyed, they then turned their attention towards the children.
"Kids, it's okay you can come out now, it's over." Amber said as she started crying, Lucy comforted her. As for the other children, including Nathan and Zodiac, they were no better as they looked at the damages and horror that was brought upon their home by mother nature. Some of the children started crying as they saw the damage done to their orphanage while Nathan and Zodiac went outside where it was worse as it poured rain. Telephone poles were snapped and had fallen causing wires to scatter everywhere, cars were toppled and stacked up on one another, houses were flattened as families who lived in those houses could only stare at their now destroyed homes in grief and anguish, the sounds of crying and agony could be heard as far as the interstate while police cars, fire trucks, and ambulance sirens wailed and lights flashed, this was the most terrifying day for Zodiac, but for Nathan it was worse because he started crying at the look of his former home.
Zodiac saw Nathan on his knees crying at what had just happened and because of this he felt that he should return a favor and walked over to him, he then put a hand on his shoulder.
"How could this happen, mah' first five years of mah' life ruined, taken away!" Nathan said as he cried.
"I'm sorry Nate." Zodiac said.
"It ain't yer fault Zodi, ah' think it was just not a good time to come here." he said, then they hugged and both started crying as it zoomed away from the now destroyed Dallas and back into Equestria where Chancellor Neighsay could feel that the first part of his scheme worked and chuckled evilly.
"Good, now that storm I created for the human world has worked, Zodiac is now miserable for his poor monkey friend, and tonight, it'll be worse as I complete my vengeance on Twilight and Celestia."
He then cackled as the camera zoomed out of his quarters.
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
664 users online
947,513 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
oh cool
xd77 i have a question are you going to work on more chapters for your story Scootaloo's Royal Adoption now and is this really the last chapter for this story?
9018748
Sorry, but SRA has been cancelled.
9018766 wtf why
9018748
And no this isn't the final chapter.
9018769 then why did you mark this story as complete
9018769 i hope you reply to my two new comments, i am not talking about this one, but the ones before this one
9018771
Because after chapter 20 it'll be done.
9018768
Because it's been so long of that story, that I've slipped out ideas for it, so I'm pretty much blank on SRA.
9018814 then mark this story as incomplete, so people know you are still making chapters for this story
9018816 ok but please don't delete that story
What could Neighsay be up to?
Awesome
9018845
There's only one way to find out.
9019417
I just hope Neighsay isn’t after Nathan as well
Heck, who knows what Shining and Cadence will react to their son getting kidnapped by a racist pony who wants a school to shut down
9019483
Nope it's just Zodiac that he wants, he just wanted to make Nathan miserable by destroying something very important to him.
9019579
Oh, okay then