30 Days/ 30 Stories

by Fenton

Eye Of The Storm

One last wingbeat, and I’ll be there. Just one more wingbeat. I push as hard as I can, and finally, I can get through.

Everything is so calm. There is no sounds, no birds chirping, no wind blowing through the leaves. It feels like death itself. Or at least, what I imagine death to be like.

All of my body aches, and I need to be functioning at one hundred and twenty percent for this. I won’t have a second chance.

I take a short moment to rest my tired muscles, and to think about my last conversation with Twilight.

---

“Rainbow Dash, reporting in.”

“Dash, you’re here,” says Twilight.

I can feel her relief at seeing me safe and sound.

“What’s the news?” she asks.

I look away for a moment. I don’t want to reveal my failure, so I try to sound as professional as possible. Fortunately, my years in the Wonderbolts have trained me for that.

“We have managed to deviate the storm two degrees to the West. It should avoid Baltimare.”

“Thank Harmony,” she exclaims, before her expression freezes.

I know this face.

She quickly runs to her desk, full of papers, reports, and calculations I couldn’t even start to understand in one thousand years.

“No, no, no…” she whispers loud enough for us to hear.

Anypony can see she is anxious. It’s not that hard, with her ears folded and her wings tightly closed to her sides. But only her closest friends can see how deep her anxiety runs. This is her panic face.

I prepare myself for the worst.

“The storm is about to hit Canterlot in six hours!”

The room was already quiet before she spoke, but somehow, the silence sounds thicker now. No one dares to look at the others. Their eyes flee the terrible facts. Canterlot is about to be hit by the biggest storm that even Celestia and Luna have ever recorded, and we won’t have time to evacuate the city.

This is going to be ugly.

Twilight is the fastest to recover. “Rainbow, can you do anything more?”

She looks deeply at me. She wants to believe. She hopes the Wonderbolts still have a trump card up their sleeve.

We don’t.

“Twilight, I… I’m sorry, but this storm is nothing like what we know. Half of the team has been injured trying to stop it, and we only managed to slightly alter its course.” I lower my head. “I’m sorry.” I grab a jar in my saddlebag and give it to Twilight. “At least I’ve got a sample.”

I wish it could make up for my powerlessness.

Twilight doesn’t waste any time. She practically snatches the jar from my hoof and goes back to her desk. She probably hopes to find a way out of this madness. I hope so, too.

Meanwhile, my mind wanders to the princesses.. Even if the capital city can’t be completely evacuated, I know they will still try to save some ponies. It will be up to them to decide which ones.

I don’t envy their position.

Five minutes go by. Ten. After fifteen minutes, Twilight faces me, and she looks relieved. She’s probably found a solution.

She also looks terrified. Even more than before.

---

My wings feel less tired now. I should be ready.

I gain as much altitude as I can, still in the eye. Going higher would put me at the mercy of the winds again.

It’s funny. I never thought I would end like this, performing a trick that’s only ever been for ponies’ entertainment. This time, all of Equestria is the crowd, although I won’t be able to hear them cheering.

I take one last breath, then I dive.

I expected it to be hard, but it’s easy breezy. There is nothing to hinder me. The air is so thin I even have to slow down a bit if I don’t want to trigger it too early.

As I plummet towards the ground, I think about my friends, about my family, about all the ponies I’ve met. I hope they’ll remember me. Not the pony I was, but the pony I tried to be.

I feel the air resistance strengthen, and I know that’s my cue.

I shift my body, bracing for the strong impact. I’ll probably break multiple bones here, but I could care less.

A wingbeat, and I bounce against the air, the exploding sound of the biggest Sonic Rainboom I’ve ever done ringing in my ears.

I barely have time to look back at my best work before I’m in the storm again.

I’m pulled in every direction, drawn and quartered by the winds, torn roughly apart like a toy between careless fillies’ hooves.

Something hits my head, and everything becomes dark.

---

Darkness surrounds me. I can’t even see my own body. I just... feel it.

I’m exhausted. A good nap sounds about right, but there are little sparkles flashing here and there, blinding me. Somehow, closing my eyes doesn’t do anything.

I don’t know how long I try to avoid the sparkles. Wherever I turn my head, they keep reappearing.

I want to cover my eyes with my wings, but when I try to move them, I feel tremendous pain running up my whole body.

I scream, but no sound comes out.

I hear a sound.

The sparkles turn purple. Or have they always been purple?

I don’t know.

I don’t care.

I just want to sleep.

The sparkles become bigger. They melt. I see a blurry purple shape. It comes closer and it engulfs me.

It feels… nice. And warm. It also feels familiar.

I grasp the purple form, and I feel my back getting wet.

I hear a voice in the distant, calling my name.

I tighten my grip on the purple form. I see it clearer now. It’s a face, a face I’ve already seen.

It was a Sparkle after all.

Author's Note:

This one is very late. When you try to experiment with timeline and first person narration, there is obviously a lot more space for mistakes, awkward phrasing, and inconsistencies.

Thankfully, Ranmilia helped me a lot on this one. If it's better than usual, that's thanks to him.

Hope you liked it.

See you tomorrow.

Comments

[Dreadnought]

You know August has 31 days, right?

Dreadnought

[Fenton]

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Thank you!

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