Chapter 1 - Act I - The Storm Cometh (Revised)

Chapter 1- The Storm Cometh

"If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm."

                                                                                                     -Frank Lane

Solar System Sol, Equus, Equestria, Ponyville, 1:22 pm, Tuesday, 2nd of April, 2205 AC

It had been raining all day.

For most ponies, this wouldn't seem much of a problem however Twilight Sparkle was not like most ponies and she knew something was wrong. She just didn't know what.

Twilight sat on a small cushion, looking out of the raindrop spattered window into the raging monsoon outside. The sound of heavy rain pattering nearly drowned out all other sounds and the whipping of tree branches coupled with the howling wind through the tight cracks of Twilight's home gave the impression of some unnatural battle being waged outside. The Pegasi had been combating the storm ever since it had started and had been met with little success, Rainbow Dash had visited Twilight's library several times during the day, soaking wet and dripping onto the floor she had reported that the weather teams were having extreme difficulty trying to stop the storm. For some reason the clouds had not been moving as easily and wouldn't disperse when bucked by a Pegasus, Twilight had been pondering this anomaly all day.

Now again, most ponies thought only Unicorns possessed magic but again Twilight was not most ponies. She knew that all three types of ponies had magic in their own way. Unicorns could manifest their magic and use it to manipulate matter or even reality, of course there were limitations to what could be achieved. Earth ponies had subtle magic that increased their stamina and overall strength and also had a connection with nature. The branch of Ponies being inherently good at farming and gardening, Twilights friend Applejack being a prime example of this. Finally Pegasi had their own branch of magic that allowed them to fly easily and to manipulate weather bodies, the only theory that Twilight could come up with was that something was tampering with the magic of Pegasi.

Shaking her head Twilight trotted over to her bookcase and attempted to levitate a book on Pegasus weather magic down from the top shelf but found it rather difficult to do so, the book suddenly felt like it weighed much more than it should and it dropped from the shelf. Breathing a bit heavily and suffering from a slight headache, Twilight realized that whatever was tampering with the Pegasus' magic must be doing the same same to Unicorn magic and possibly even Earth Pony magic.

The moment that Twilight came to this conclusion a rainbow-maned Pegasus burst through the door. Rainbow Dash was looking very tired and very wet, she stumbled through the door, closing it with an unbalanced kick of her hind leg. She limped over to the rug in the middle of the library and collapsed on top of it, Rainbow looked up at Twilight whom stood astonished.

"Hey, Twi," she said in an exhausted voice. "Really bad weather outside huh?" Then her head dropped as the last once of strength left her, breaking out of her shocked state Twilight rushed over to her side.

"Rainbow!" She said with worry. "Rainbow, are you okay?" The Rainbow Dash didn't respond.

She must have passed out from exhaustion the purple Unicorn thought.

"Spike," Twilight called. "Spiiiike!" The purple Dragon in question came racing down the stairs.

"What is it Twilight?" Spike asked worryingly, he'd been on edge ever since the storm had started. His eyes widened as he caught sight of Rainbow.

"And what happened to Rainbow Dash?" Twilight shook her head.

"No time for that! I need you to take a letter to Princess Celestia!" Spike nodded and gathered up a piece of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink. He then looked to the purple Unicorn and nodded.

The Unicorn in question cleared her throat.

"Dear Princess Celestia" She began "No doubt you have noticed that there is a large storm raging in Ponyville and the nearby Everfree forest. The storm has lasted a day and a half despite the efforts of the weather teams, I have gained reports from them that the clouds are becoming increasingly hard to manipulate and won't disperse as easily as before, in turn I myself have been experiencing trouble with my magic. The simple act of levitating a book is now beyond me, I believe that the storm and the weakening magic are connected, something needs to be done. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle" Spike finished writing the words seconds after they had been spoken. The Dragon then rolled up the paper into a scroll and breathed a plum of emerald flames on it, the scroll swirled and was enveloped in the green Dragon flame and disappeared.

Twilight walked back over to the sleeping form of Rainbow Dash and sat down next to her with her legs tucked in under her.

"Let's hope the Princess can fix this" she said to the rainbow-maned Pony that was all but dead to the world.

                                                                   ~~*~~

Solar System Sol, Planet Earth, Canada, Nova Scotia, Lower Sackville, 8:29am, Saturday, 15th of February, 2012 C.E

It was bright and sunny outside, birds

were chirping and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

At first look, this didn't seen all that unusual but the people of Nova Scotia knew that at this time of the year there was always something falling from the sky. Whether it be rain, hail, or snow there was always something, especially if the weather channel actually reported that they could expect rain. When that occurred the resident Humans of Nova Scotia closed their windows and reinforced their doors, then they lie in wait for the coming hurricane.

But today was bright and sunny dispite the forecast the previous day.

Jason Miller was standing at the end of his home's paved driveway, Jason was a sixteen year old male Human. He had light brown hair and silver eyes and stood just slightly above the average height for his age, gender, and species. Currently he was staring up at the bright blue sky looking for storm clouds that where suppose to be there as a warm breeze ruffled the leaves of the trees near him.

Jason and his Uncle Haydn had planned on using the predicted weather to their advantage. Jason's uncle owned a ranch but recently he had been plagued by local coyotes, the pair had been counting on the weather to force the wild dogs into their den where they would have made easy pickings for the two hunters.

This explained Jason's current attire, he was dressed in a pair of sturdy combat boots and camouflage patterned cargo pants that were tucked into his boots and a camouflaged jacket completing the look, the latter sharing the pants pattern of grey's, blacks and full greens. The clothing was made for the moist, cold and dark climate that the Canadians were accustomed to, not the dry, warm and bright day in which that Jason was currently looking at.

Jason looked up and down the street, almost no one was up and about at this hour, especially on a weekend and those who were glanced confusingly up at the sky. Jason thought for a minute.

The storm must be coming in the form of a flash storm, He thought.

It was entirely possible, Nova Scotia experienced flash storms before. The day would start out looking nice, then suddenly the clouds would be upon them and the monsoon would rage.

Jason pondered this as he stood in the the pleasantly warm atmosphere, a warm breeze tickling his face and carrying the sent of pine trees and the subtle sent mixture of gasoline and car emission that was omnipresent in the world these days.

Suddenly the world went a bit darker as a cloud moved in front of the sun, Jason was thinking of how he may have been correct about the flash storm when a clap of thunder from behind confirmed it. Jason turned around and was met with a swirling mass of grey clouds that covered the sky, it silently spread overhead of Jason, coming with it a cold wind that promised that the dry ground would not stay that way for long.

Jason stared up at the brewing storm, glad he was correct his correct assumption about the flash storm. It meant the hunting trip could go on as planned and Jason could spend time with Haydn rather than staying home with his much less favourable father. Jason grinned to himself as the rain foreboding wind tore at his his body and the sky crackled with the fantastic power of lightning.

Jason looked to the sky again only to find his vision had gone white. Not only his vision but the rest of his senses seemed to have stopped working, even his brain seemed to be shutting down as his white vision was slowly turning black as his brain slowly lost its grip on reality. The last thing his brain registered was proof of the fact that his hearing was still working as his ears picked up the crashing sound of molecules colliding forming the sound process known as thunder.

The Humans of Nova Scotia and the world went about their business as usual, completely unaware that one if their own has been lost to something other than the grip of death.