Weathering Storms and Magic
It was common knowledge, among the Weather Patrol, that wild weather coming in from the Everfree Forest was to be reported and handled immediately. The dangers posed of mixing the wild natured, cumulus clouds with the rather benign weather manufactured by the pegasi was immense. It had only been allowed a few times in Ponyville’s history, and usually only in times of drought or water shortage.
Rainbow Dash had just been finishing her patrol, after her more-than-a-few minutes break in a tree on Applejack’s family farm, when she’d spotted the rogue cloud racing towards the puffy white clouds dotting the sky, the ordered cloud coverage for the day.
After her breath caught in her throat, she’d rapidly rushed into action, approaching near Sonic Rainboom speeds as she raced back to the Weather Patrol HQ to inform them of the rogue storm heading in. Even a small one could quickly overwhelm just one weathermare, she’d needed help to round this cloud back up to the Everfree.
But the Weather Patrol was noticeably understaffed today, and before they could call in anypony that had been taking the beautiful day off, the glowering, rumbling storm cloud had nearly reached Ponyville. While it hadn’t released a bolt of lightning or a drop of rain yet, it was clear from the flashes from within and the sagging, bloated shape that it would be a doozy of a storm if it ever made it to pony-made weather.
So while the other weather mares were summoned, Rainbow Dash had gone to the only other smart person she knew, an ‘egg head’ purple unicorn by the name of Twilight, and that was when Twilight’s organizational skills came into play.
“Okay Rainbow Dash, we’re going to have to try to pull that cloud away from the other Ponyville clouds right?” Twilight asked, her magic already levitating a few books about weather phenomena into her bags, and while simultaneously creating a checklist on a piece of parchment held into the air. Multi-tasking from a multi-tasking expert.
“Twilight, if that storm reaches Ponyville’s weather, then everypony who is outside today is going to be in danger! This is the kind of killer weather that we can’t plan, it just happens!” The rainbow-maned mare exclaimed with hoofs thrown into the air, her wings beating frantically behind her as she hovered over the unicorn.
“Well…who else would be better at rounding up that storm than Applejack? You go get her, I’ll get Rarity to help with any magic, and I’ll swing by Sugarcube Corner to tell Pinkie Pie to get Fluttershy to help her start warning everypony out in the park.” The unicorn ordered, each statement accompanied by the scrawling of her quill against the checklist parchment.
“You got it Twilight!” the pegasus said in relief, shooting through the door and leaving her trademark rainbow in her wake, the prismatic trail arcing gently over towards Apple Acres.
“Spike, take a letter!” She said as her assistant came into the room rubbing his eyes, having been awakened from his afternoon nap. The baby dragon quickly snapped to attention, pulling his quill and parchment from…somewhere, and readied to write to Princess Celestia, “Go for it Twi.”
“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight began, pacing back and forth while scanning the walls of the library for any other related books that might help them in their most recent plight, “I am writing to alert you to the presence of rogue weather approaching the pegasus created weather above Ponyville. We are going to be using all the tools we have at our disposal to take care of this threat, but we may have to resort to magical means in order to help everypony here. Please do not be alarmed if you sense a great deal of magic coming from the area surrounding Ponyville, we’re doing all we can in order to prevent a terrible storm. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Twilight…Sparkle,” dictated Spike back to Twilight, finishing the letter before inhaling and puffing his cheeks out, and then sending the scroll by dragonfire to the Princess of the Sun. Then, squaring his shoulders, he walked past Twilight.
Spike puffed his chest out comically, and started out the door, “Alright Twilight, let’s go help- Hey!” The dragon’s courageous walk out the door was interrupted as he was picked up by a purple telekinetic aura, courtesy of the magical librarian of Ponyville, and set at the foot of the stairs.
“Sorry Spike, but I need you to stay here and look after the library if the storm gets bad. Make sure Owlowiscious is alright, and close the shutters to the windows, or at least the ones that have them!” She called to her favorite assistant over her shoulder, galloping towards the pink party pony’s place of popular party production.
As it turned out, Pinkie Pie was already ready to go, waiting for Twilight Sparkle at the door, and dressed in a yellow rain jacket that was covered in little ducks. She even had on a pair of matching galoshes.
“I was wondering when you were going to show up Twilight! At first I thought I should get the party supplies ready, but then my back itched, and when my back itches it means something bad is about to happen and my friends are looking for me, so I looked outside and saw that dark cloud, and thought, ‘Oh, we have to go out in the rain! This is a great chance to use one of Rarities birthday presents!’ So I got my favorite rain jacket on and came down here and here you are!” The pink party pony said in one quick breath, eyes shining with excitement. Her persistent optimism could be a drain at times, but at key moments like this it was just another encouragement that they could handle anything as the Elements of Harmony.
Twilight was not quite as enthused about the situation as Pinkie, but seeing the pony prepared to go, as well as perplexed about her unfathomable Pinkie Sense, Twilight just shook her head and said, “I have to go find Rarity, you get Fluttershy and start telling anypony you find in the park that they could be in danger! We’ll try to head off the storm there, before it can get any worse.”
PinkiePie nodded and bounced off in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage, her curly mane flying out behind her with every…bounce. Twilight shook her head and quickly turned in the direction out of town.
Twilight’s next stop was Rarity’s Boutique, though all the lights were off and all the windows shuttered, and as Twilight tried to open the door with her magic, it was locked as well.
“Shoot, I guess I better just head to the park, and meet up with the oth-”
CRACK-BOOM-Oom-oom-oom.
The bolt of lightning and accompanying thunder had sent Twilight jumping into the air, her legs flailing beneath her in a comical fashion as she galloped down the road in the direction of Ponyville Park. The lightning and thunder had sounded close, almost in unison, which to her analytical mind meant the storm was nearly on top of Ponyville!
However, some fortune shined upon Twilight as she crossed the bridge, spying a fine, white, pampered coat coming down the road towards her with a smaller white filly scampering just behind.
“Oh Twilight dear, it’s good you’re here. We were just having the most wonderful day at the park, when all the sudden Sweetie Belle noticed this grey cloud speeding towards Ponyville.” The mare paused to throw her mane back into position; she couldn’t afford to be seen without her natural poise. “Well, I didn’t have a good feeling about it, and trusting my mare’s intuition, decided it might be best to head back to the Boutique before the rain comes down and ruins our coiffures,” Rarity finished with her affected accent, hoof waving in the air at all the appropriate moments while barely noticing Twilight gasping for breath, though Twilight wore a relieved expression at finding her unicorn friend so soon.
“It is going to be a bad storm, isn’t it…” Rarity tutted, her eyes turned with worry up to the sky again. “Sweetie Belle, instead of going to the Boutique, I want you to head over to the Library. Twilight, I assume Spike is making preparations for the storm?”
Twilight nodded, finally catching her breath, “Yes Rarity, he’s getting the place ready just in case we can’t stop the storm. We still have a chance though, with our magic, Rainbow’s weather mare skills, and Applejack’s wrangling, we should be able to pull the storm back out over the Everfree Forest!”
At the mention of the Everfree Forest, Rarity raised her hackles a little, “But ah, wouldn’t that be ah, dangerous?” Her eyes darted to Sweetie Belle, her biggest fears being exposed with that little moment.
“We don’t have time Rarity, you weren’t the only ones in the park, and more than a few ponies could get hurt if the wild weather turns into a real storm over Ponyville!”
Twilight noticed the little white filly was looking up past her with a gaping mouth, “Twilight, you better hurry if you want to stop the storm, because it’s almost here!” Her tiny white hoof pointed at the storm, its bloated, swollen shape flattening a little, as if it were eager in spreading as much of itself as it could over Ponyville.
Nodding at one another, Twilight and Rarity turned and ran back the way the more fashion inclined pair had just traveled, their hooves echoing off the bridge for a few moments while some of the more sensible ponies started closing up shop for the day at the approach of the menacing storm.
“Okay girls, here’s what we’re going to do,” Twilight held a small map of Ponyville in her magic to one side, and her checklist to the other. Spreading the map flat against the picnic table, she raised her eyes and felt her apprehension grow at how close the storm had moved.
CRACK-BOOM-Oom-oom-oom.
Twilight flinched, then flinched again as Rainbow Dash struck her on the shoulder, “That’s two for flinching, Twilight.” She laughed, and let the unicorn carry on, getting serious once more.
“Right, so here’s what were going to do,” She repeated, shaking her head a little to clear her thoughts. “Applejack, Rainbow, you two are going to be working in tandem. Applejack, see if you can lasso part of the cloud and start pulling it away from town.”
“Can do, Twi.” Came the accented reply from Applejack
“Dash, use all your aeronautical expertise to try and coordinate your appropriate flight movements to assist Applejack.”
“My aero whotical what?” said Dash, with a hoof rubbing behind one ear.
“Try to fly in a way that will make the cloud easier for Applejack to move it!” Twilight exclaimed with exasperation.
“Oh, gotcha!” The weather mare blushed and smiled, her wings perking up and stretching, ready to go.
“Rarity, stay with me, we may need to use our magic to help push the storm. Pinkie, Fluttershy, you two start checking to make sure the park is empty, and that the path out of town is clear too.” The yellow pegasus nodded as her mane blew gently in the rising wind, while the sugary earth pony gave a comedic, smart salute in her raincoat and matching galoshes.
“Oh, Pinkie, I um…I really like your coat. Ducks are cute.” The pegasus said in her soft, sweet voice, preferring to walk beside the bouncing pony while the pair swept the far side of the park. They could still see Rarity and Twilight from their vantage point, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash were out of sight.
Pinkie laughed, “I know! I love duckies; they remind me…of me sometimes! Crazy with quacking on the surface, and paddling like crazy underneath! Wait…that’s not right is it?” The pony stopped in her bouncing to cock her head and think, while Fluttershy had lowered her head to a squirrel that had scampered down a nearby tree, “Little one, there’s going to be a bad storm, make sure all your friends and family are inside okay?”
The squirrel nodded, stuffed the acorn he had been holding into a cheek pouch, and then darted up the nearest tree. Soon, a few other squirrels were leaping to other trees in the park to spread the message.
Pinkie bounced over to a table full of young colts, some slouching on the bench slats while a few sat on the table itself, “Hi! Listen, there’s going to be a bad storm and-”
“We’re not afraid of a little rain, Pink-eye,” said a brown colt with a bass guitar for a cutiemark, as the rest of his friends started laughing at the harebrained remark. Their laughter was short lived as they looked over PinkiePie’s shoulder, the party pony continuing with her warning about the storm, while unbeknownst to her a certain yellow pegasus was staring at the colts, freezing them mid-laugh with her icy stare, “-and I just thought, if I were going to hang out somewhere, I’d make sure it was cool, and dry, and OHMYGOSH someplace big enough to throw a party!”
Pinkie reared back and threw her hooves in the air in her party pose, caught up in the moment, while the colts all vigorously nodded their heads, staring past the earth pony and conspicuously missing a bit of color from their muzzles.
“S-sounds good, P-pinkie,” said the colt who’d traded the insult. “Y-yeah, we’d better g-get going!” His blue-dyed friend chipped in, all of them jumping to their hooves and galloping out of the park.
“Alright! PinkiePie saves the day again!” She lowered herself back down and turned to the Element of Kindness, “Ready to keep going?” Fluttershy nodded and walked beside the bouncing pony, headed towards a family hurriedly starting to pack up their picnic.
“Yeehaw~! Get along everypony!” Applejack crowed as she loosed her lasso, the looped end spiraling up and capturing a corner of the cloud. As if sensing imminent defeat, the cloud struggled even more to join with the Ponyville clouds, the single rogue cloud having now spread into an impressive flat-topped anvil of rumbling, threatening darkness. The earth pony grappled with the rope for a moment, clenching it tight with her teeth and pulling with all her considerable strength honed from years of apple bucking.
“Alright AJ!” cheered on Rainbow Dash, as she sped by, keeping the sneaking tendrils of storm cloud from getting away. To herself, she exclaimed, “But now it’s my turn!” She could see Applejack creating furrows in the ground as the storm pulled her forwards, no matter her attempts against it.
Lowering her head and streamlining her body, the pegasus rocketed in an ellipse around the storm, shoring it together into a column. She kept her speed well within her limits however; now would NOT be the time to instigate a tornado. As she rounded the curve of the storm, the wild weather decided to strike back against its tormentors, spearing out a forked bolt of lightning towards the weather mare.
Applejack called from the ground with worry, echoing the thoughts of the two unicorns observing below, “Dash, are you-”
“You did not just try to shoot me down, stupid storm!” came an angry yell from rainbow streak in the sky, dodging the bolt with ease and skimming in towards the cloud with a wing, raking the side and unleashing a short deluge of water that emptied the cloud of some of it’s menacing power.
As if it understood it had suddenly done exactly the wrong thing, the cloud shied away from Rainbow every time she drew close, leaving Applejack with plenty of slack to pull the storm away from the Ponyville weather, now being attended to by a few summoned weather mares. Among them was a straw-maned grey pegasus named Ditzy Doo, who paused in her cloud collection duties to shout a cheer of encouragement to Rainbow Dash.
As Ditzy Doo cheered however, the momentum of the cloud she’d gathered pushed it towards the encircled rogue weather, now almost totally embraced in a rainbow colored band. The single Ponyville cloud made it to the edge of the storm, and before either the pair of unicorns and earth pony below or pegasi above could do anything, the storm reached a smoky tendril of weather out and snatched it.
At once the whole demeanor of the storm shifted. Where it had been like a fox, trying to sneak into a chicken house and make off with a hen, it now turned into a wolf among a fold of sheep. The storm billowed outwards, the pegasi magics used in creating the innocent white cloud now feeding the wild magics of the storm. Several bolts of lightning, more than should have come from any regular storm cloud, fired out at Rainbow Dash and sent her darting to the ground, a panicked look on her face. Fearing to receive a bolt in reprisal, Applejack unfastened her lasso from the stormcloud and quickly joined up with Rainbow, Rarity and Twilight.
Now free of restraints and pursuers, the storm spread outwards again, the bottom falling out as sheets of rain fell free, accompanied with the flash and boom of lightning strikes.
Twilight raised her eyes upwards and appraised the situation mentally, running through a checklist while the storm mutated and grew exponentially. What had been a grumpy rainstorm that would have drenched a few blocks was now a near-maelstrom strength cyclone spewing bolts of lightning with all the ferocity of a love scorned alicorn!
We can’t push it with our magic; the storm is too big and strong for that now. We can’t lasso it or use wing power to move it; the risk for electric shock is too high.
Perspiration formed on Twilight’s forehead as she thought, though it was quickly washed away by the slanting downpour, the violent winds lifting her short bangs while the rain matted the rest of her fur tight against her.
Rarity called out through the rain, “Twilight, dear, maybe we should do something instead of just STANDING HERE IN THE RAIN?!” She stamped her hooves impatiently, mane now stuck to the side of her neck, to say nothing of the mascara running down her cheeks. All the Elements of Harmony shared in that look, except for PinkiePie, whose ducky covered rain jacket kept her mane from getting drenched.
Twilight sighed, and dove into her impressive magical repertoire.
If we can’t push it or pull it, maybe I can teleport it somewhere else. But I can’t teleport something as abstract as a cloud…I’d have to gather it together…
The unicorn’s vivid purple eyes snapped open as her logical mind systematically called forth all the parts of the spell she’d need. She’d never performed a spell like this, but she knew she could do it. It was just a simple reformulation of several smaller spells into one big one. There was one big hook to her plan however.
It will be necessary to include an end destination to the spell…but I don’t want to send it anywhere in Equestria…
Several thunderbolts in quick succession landed in close proximity to the backpedaling sextet of equines, sending Rainbow into the air once more, “We’re not afraid of you stupid storm!”
At Rainbow Dash’s taunting, the storm sent even more bolts their way, causing Applejack to remark, “Gee, way to go there partner!”
“Hah, guess I should keep my big mouth shut huh?” Dash retreated to the group, sheltering a trembling Fluttershy beneath her wings.
“Alright, enough!” Twilight stated finitely, her eyes glowing white with the surge of magic she drew from within herself to wield. The other ponies gathered behind her while she cast her spell, wrapping each of the necessary spells together in a nexus of magical activity.
One: A gathering spell, to bring the storm together.
A swirling double-helix of fuchsia magic leapt from Twilight’s horn, spearing the cloud with ease and leaving a floating pool of violet, pink, and dark blue magics swirling behind it. With a flick of her horn, the unicorn sent the pool spinning, creating a large, multi-colored vortex above the storm that started sucking the fringes of the magically-enhanced storm cloud within.
Two: A binding spell, to keep the storm together during the teleportation process.
As the double-helix of magic stopped spiraling from Twilight’s horn, it shifted to a spray, as if a magical garden hose were attached to her head. PinkiePie’s eyes shone as she let out a loud oooooooh…before an orange hoof was stuffed into her mouth, courtesy of Applejack. Twilight, eyes still aglow with her namesake Element, ‘sprayed’ the thunderhead, whose lightning bolts had ceased in the momentary confusion, with a light purple aura until the whole storm radiated the hue. As the tail portions of the tempest began picking up speed into the vortex, the gale-force winds resumed and the storm lashed out at the ponies, one bolt that was sent directly at the group was blocked by a light-blue magical shield, barely brought up in the nick of time by Rarity.
However, the white unicorn sagged with the effort, her specialties in magical revolving around levitation and scrying spells. Fluttershy darted from beneath Rainbow Dash to support Rarity’s weight, with the help of Applejack and PinkiePie, “Oh horsefeathers, don’tcha go an’ faint on us now!”
“Just a momentary lapse in my grace, Applejack, nothing more,” said the white unicorn, fanning herself with a hoof while the group’s attention turned back to the Element of Magic. Twilight had just finished painting the entire storm with the binding agent. The magical agent let the other parts of the spell know what was being gathered, and for the final part, what was being done with it.
Three: The teleportation spell. Usually used for persons or solid objects, which was incredibly difficult in it’s own regard; to send a dispersed object such as a cloud was almost unheard of. Thus the layering of the spell, which required the target, gathered as densely as possible; the magic necessary to teleport the item; and finally the end destination, whereupon the magic would collapse and the object would ‘pop’ into being at the location described.
Twilight had to set about gathering the magic necessary for the teleport. The near literal typhoon had by now been sucked into the magical vortex she’d created, painted a dark, menacing gray and flashing from the contained lightning within. The unicorn had been successful in the spell weaving thus far, the bands on her horn pulsing white and fuchsia…but the veins in her neck and forehead betrayed the strain. Her mind raced, summoning any mote or iota of magic it could find in her, and finding none, the spell itself began to feed off her body, sustaining the spell with her life. She exhaled with a gasp, her face growing pale and knees trembling slightly as her life force attempted to sustain the ever burdening magical power.
Rarity, the only other magic user, saw what was happening and tried to rush to her aid, but her own legs failed her, screaming as she leaned on Applejack, “Twilight! End the spell! STOP! TWILIGHT!”
Her scream of concern seared into Twilight’s consciousness, activating something deep within, which grabbed onto that scrabbling magic and guided it to a nub of cold, empty nothing underneath the folds of her id she hadn’t known existed. Furrowing her brow, the unicorn took a deep breath and grunted with exertion, the nub almost slipping from her mental grip before she was able to thrust through, her mental lance opening a channel of unimaginable breadth and depth in her mind. It was as if she’d stumbled into the very abyss of the sky, and was floating away from all touch or semblance of reality.
Only twice previously had Twilight experienced the icy cold rush of magic that enveloped her body now, lifting her off the ground and imbuing her with an ethereal halo. The first time had been when she had activated the Elements of Harmony with her own ‘spark’ to defeat Nightmare Moon, and the second had been when the Elements had overcome Discord and returned him to his stone prison, undoing the chaos the chimera had unleashed.
Both times she had been helpless under the wash of power, but with her own intrusion into torrent, the literal flow of magic; she was able to control and manipulate how and what she actions she undertook.
The storm had become frantic, almost constantly lit from within as it sent its energy outward, seeking a target, any target. It swirled together, continuously growing denser and more solid under the influence of Twilight Sparkle’s magic, and she was now able to sense how and what she was doing.
Such a rush of otherworldly power manifested in Twilight Sparkle much the same way the Royal Sister’s magical influence manifested; her mane began to billow and shift from organic hair into the majestic, celestial veil for which both Princesses were famous. And as Celestia embodied the birth of the day with pinks, greens and blues, and Luna with the starry night sky, so did Twilight’s mane embody her namesake. Her mane swirled with navy and purple tints of a coming night, with a lone strip of light pink that would have signaled the final glimmer of a setting sun. A pair of wraithlike, insubstantial wings fluttered and wavered into being above her back as well flapping silently. Twilight’s sudden shift from the friend they’d known to a near alicorn appearance led all of her friends to respond with only gaping jaws and silence.
Thus truly embodying the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle turned her attention to her spell, unaware of the changes in her physical appearance.
Knowing it had been defeated, the storm had given up raging or ranting, and simply glowered in a sphere of cloud-matter in the center of the vortex, almost accepting it’s dim fate. Almost…
Twilight’s brain reached through the flow of magic, searching for a place to send the dwindling ball of rogue weather; like a net she combed through the flow, but still felt as if this storm were due for no place in the world of Equestria. The storm must have sensed her concentration, and had bided those few, brief moments well, as a point of lightning emerged and took aim. CRACK-BOOM
However, with that obtuse action the storm had only sealed its fate. As the bolt collided with Twilight, the flow of magic folded, warped, and connected in a way she couldn’t understand in the span of moments she remained attached to the river. Two points connected, almost random instances in time and space, and the spell was completed, ejecting Twilight from the river of power, the surge of electricity also severing her connection with the flow of magic.
The nexus started to close, the edges of the spiral folding inwards like the petals of a flower, and the storm summoned one last burst of wild magic, tearing a brief, temporary hole in space-time with it’s flare of lightning, removing something from where it was being sent and throwing it at the Elements of Harmony in one last, parting fit of resistance. Then, with a snap, crackle and pop, it was gone; all the remained was a smoking crater directly in front of Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight’s mane, eyes, and eerie wings all disappeared or shifted back to their normal appearance, to the delight of the other ponies who swarmed in for a victory hug. Despite the cheers from her best friends, and the hugs and pulls to her neck and body, Twilight wore a look of shock. Her eyes were still shrunk to needle points, and her mouth hung agape slightly.
A hoof waved in front of Twilight’s muzzle, trying to get her attention. “Hey Twilight, helloooo! Girls, is she alrighty-wighty?” PinkiePie asked, turning her head upside and up into the unicorns stare.
“I think she’s just stunned from the magical overload, especially after such an extraordinary performance!” exclaimed Rarity, ever the flatterer.
Fluttershy provided an explanation, peering over the edge of the crater at what had absorbed Twilight’s attention, “Or she could um…be concerned with uh…that…”
The other ponies gathered at the crater’s rim and joined in Twilight’s shocked expression, all of them staring down with wide eyes at a smoking, glowing black sphere wrapped with runes, rocking to and fro slightly before settling at the base of the crater, completely upright and still.
“Wh-what in tarnation is that?” Applejack drawled warily.
“I...I don’t know. Quick girls, I’ll move it to the library, you clear the streets ahead of me. I- We don’t know what this...thing is capable of..” Twilight thought quickly. The other girls nodded in agreement, and quickly moved towards town to distract any of the gathering townsfolk while Twilight set about testing the impact area to see if it was safe to even move the item.