I was just lonely ...

by Rune Caster the First

Hurricane Havoc

The solar alicorn’s words sent a shiver down Rainbow’s spine.

“H-Hurricane? But they’re just in old mares’ tales, they’re not real. Are they?!” she stammered. The blue alicorn nodded gravely.

“They are real,” she answered, “but because pegasi in Equestria help to control the weather: very few ponies have ever seen one.”

The hurricane struck Flutter Valley … with a crash, rumble, and tremendous roar.

Chaos happened (I’m not talking about you, Discord).

As if a paralysis spell had been broken, the Flutterponies began to panic and run around screaming. The Mane Six, Spike and Starlight joined in: momentarily bereft of rational thoughts and reason in the onset of the disaster. Their reactions were only natural.

Trees were ripped from the ground with unbelievable strength and sent whirling through the air. The Flutterponies’ homes and other buildings were being shredded to pieces as easily as if they were made out of paper. The rain poured down in an unbelievable flood: it was like a whole lake or river was being dumped down from the sky.

“EVERYPONY!” Luna had to shout at the top of her voice to be heard above the hurricane’s uproar and the panicking ponies’ cries of fear. “THIS IS A MEMORY, IT CAN NOT HARM YOU … AS YOU CAN SEE.” The Mane Six, Spike and Starlight stopped mid-panic, and stared at the lunar alicorn. Twilight took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. In 1…2…3, out 1…2…3.

The purple alicorn eventually felt calmer, and as she did: a few things became rather noticeable.

1) Water cascaded around the group of friends, yet they stayed perfectly dry.

2) Bits of broken trees were being flung everywhere, but they never got hit.

3) The wind blew with the force of a blasting spell, but the most the ponies felt was a strong breeze.

“Girls, Spike, Luna’s right. We’re in no real danger”, Twilight said to her friends, who all looked very relieved.

“But what about them?” Fluttershy asked, gesturing to the panicking Flutterponies. The poor sparkly-winged ponies were frightened and confused, all but one.

The Flutterpony Queen was doing her best to quell the panic and save her ponies: blasting falling trees away from Flutterponies, using temporary barrier spells against the floods, and levitating the colts, fillies and foals towards her.

“Come here, everypony! NOW!” Queen Rosedust shouted at a volume, akin to the Royal Canterlot voice. She was standing in the central square, covered with frightened little ponies who were whimpering considerably. Clusters of terrified Flutterponies ran towards their leader, who then began to count them quietly. “50…51… Great, everypony’s here”, Rosedust murmured. “I know a spell that can protect us, but I’ll need the help of all of you to do it.” Her kin replied by giving little cheers and cries of ‘okay’ and ‘let’s do it’.

The Flutterpony Queen smiled encouragingly, before closing her eyes. The other Flutterponies closed their eyes and concentrated too, even the foals. Their horns and wings glowed with green-blue magic, which then turned pure white. Glittering trails of white light zigzagged from horns and wings through the air, sketching a crystal-like shield over the inhabitants of Flutter Valley.

Starlight and Twilight stared in wonder and awe at the massive shield spell. They’d practiced casting shield spells in Starlight’s magic lessons but never seen one as complicated as this.

An enormous crash of thunder broke them out of their trance of wonder. The hurricane was still howling and shrieking but the rain was lessening. Soon, it had stopped raining, and the floodwaters had mostly gone down. The freakish winds slowed as the storm moved on, and the dark grey clouds gave way to a cloudless blue sky. But the devastation remained.

Flutter Valley, home of the Flutterponies, was completely destroyed.

The Flutterponies themselves lay in a sprawled huddle on the ground, alive but exhausted. Their shield spell had protected them for the majority of the storm, only recently dissipating under extreme magical stress. One by one they opened their eyes, and gazed around. Some of them start to cry, others just looked bleak or blank with shock.

Most of the Flutterponies stayed huddled around their queen, while a few gingerly inspected the destruction: looking at destroyed buildings and trees, finding smashed possessions etc. Queen Rosedust tried to cheer them up by smiling, but her smile was shaky and her eyes held similar gloom.

Blue Joke drifted away from Rosedust and walked over to the shattered remnants of a building. The foal suddenly saw, to her dismay, her beloved butterfly plushie lying under a fallen tree trunk. Blue Joke tugged her plushie loose, and gasped in horror. The toy was smashed, and ripped nearly to shreds. The blue Flutterpony foal began to quiver, and then erupted into loud, heartbroken sobs: a pitiful sound to hear.

Fluttershy followed her first instinct: which was to fly over and give the poor foal a hug … well, try to. The yellow pegasus’s hooves went straight through Blue Joke, to her dismay. But Blue Joke wasn’t the only pony who was howling brokenheartedly. Chrysalis had started crying again: the renewed sight of her ruined home seemed to drive her back into utter misery.

After everything they’d seen, Starlight and Twilight felt deep sympathy for the dark changeling. The purple alicorn walked over to Chrysalis and then, together with her student: gave her a big hug. Now Chrysalis wouldn’t normally allow ponies to embrace her like this, but she felt too upset to complain about it.

Meanwhile, Blue Joke cuddled what was left of her plushie, and tried to think happy thoughts. A pair of large golden hooves took the blue foal and hugged her gently.

“There, there, Blue Joke”, said Rosedust softly. “Everything is going to be okay.” She then raised her voice so that everyone can hear her. “Everypony, it’s not the end of the world. This is a terrible disaster but it can be sorted out.” The queen looked around at all of the Flutterponies in the area. “Is everyone all right?” she asked. The butterfly-winged ponies looked pretty bedraggled: all wet, shivering, despairing and stressed. They murmured among each other for a few seconds, before one stepped forward to affirm that.

“Yes, your highness, we’re all relatively fine … a bit wet but that’s it. No injuries,” he said. There were audible sighs of relief from those nearby.

“Queen Rosedust.” A new voice spoke up. It belonged to a green pony who was twitching her wings, and glancing up at her horn anxiously. “I just tried to cast a spell to dry myself … and nothing happened! I think that something’s wrong with my magic. Look at my wings!” She stretched out her wings as she spoke, and to her kin’s (and the dreamers’) horror: they were no long beautiful and sparkling … just transparent and dull.

This discovery caused total panic. A lot of Flutterponies were shrieking, trying to cast spells, and finally sitting down horror-stricken as the terrible realization dawned on them. The realization that they’d spent all of their magic on maintaining the shield spell, and now were powerless. The Flutterpony Queen tried talking but her voice was lost in the clamour.

“STOP!” she shouted, at long last. There was silence. “Thank you”. Her voice was quiet again. “There’s no need to panic. As I said before: this mess can be sorted out. You remember my two good friends: Celestia and Luna, the alicorn princesses of Equestria?” All of the Flutterponies nodded slowly. “We can go to them, and they can help us repair our home, get our magic back, and take care of us until then.” The green Flutterpony who’d discovered the loss of magic, then spoke up again.

“How do we get to Equestria without our magic? Without magic, our wings are useless!” she said. The queen smiled.

“Not all of us lost their magic entirely”, she said, her horn glowing. “I have some magic: not a lot, but enough to get us to Equestria.” Smiles broke out on faces that were gloomy before. Rosedust spoke with both conviction and certainty. “Believe me, I know my friends well. They will help us.” The Flutterponies cheered. Pinkie Pie grinned at the sight of the now hopeful faces.

“It’s good to see them smile again”, the pink party pony said, bouncing happily. The scene of happy faces suddenly began to blur and fade like mist on a bright, sunny day. Eventually, it was all gone, and the dreamers were standing once again on the barren, wrecked landscape of Chrysalis’s nightmare.

Author's Note:

I don't like doing sad chapters, they make me feel depressed, but it's necessary for the story's plot.

I assure you that the story will become more positive in the future.

Comments

[GamePlayer64]

Happy to see a new chapter but will not like who betray them.

[AlphaRidley]

I'ma go out on a limb and guess that they probably don't get the help they're looking for.

Good chapter as usual.

[Razzy]

Nuuuu, never count on ponies!