Riders on the Storm

Riders of the Storm

Prologue

Supercell

Houses shattered. The once liveable structures reduced to matchsticks and rubble. Their inhabitants dazed and numb. Lives shattered. These were all sadly familiar things to Michael Dougan. The Secretary of State saw pictures with them every spring. Every year, tornadoes would hit at least one major city in the United States. Though the severity was not always the same, it always occurred at least once.

There was something different about these, however.

For the most part, these pictures looked like something out of a history book. They were not color pictures, nor were they completely black and white. They were sepia toned and not entirely clear, as though they had been taken with a camera from the early 1900s.

There was one item in the pictures that differed from those in a history book, however: ponies. Rather than people wandering about dazed, or hugging their loved ones and crying, or even just sitting on the ground, rendered completely numb by the destruction around them, there were ponies, and not the kind found on Earth. These were sentient, sapient, once-mythical creatures.

More than that, they were sentient, sapient, once-mythical creatures who had near complete control of their planet’s climate. Yet they had been hit by a tornado - no, by multiple tornadoes. Something was wrong here.

“Have your scientists been able to draw any conclusions from the information we've provided?”

Dougan looked up from the photos, and was greeted with the sight of a navy blue alicorn princess sitting across from him; a sight that would have prompted him to immediately resign and have his head examined had he seen it three years ago, before the Portal Event and First Contact. Even now, it was something he was not quite used to. Three years later, and ponies were still a rare sight. Princess Celestia, the older of the two rulers, was extremely reluctant to allow anything from Earth into Equestria and vice versa, and very few individuals had been allowed to cross from America to Equestria or the other way around. The Griffon Imperium had been little better.

“Only about the strength of the tornadoes,” Dougan responded to the princess, setting the pictures on the table in front of him. “Normally destruction on this scale would suggest winds of two hundred miles per hour or more, but taking Equestria’s building methods and materials into account, it’s unlikely that either of these had wind speeds of more than a hundred and fifty miles per hour - that is, about two hundred and forty kilometers per hour.”

Luna’s brows furrowed at that, and she frowned a little. “Is there nothing more you can tell us?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Dougan said with a helpless shrug. “Your guess is as good as ours, when it comes to the cause of these tornadoes. We haven’t had the opportunity to visit your world for more than a few days, let alone learn about the mechanisms that drive its climate.”

“No, I suppose you haven’t.” Luna’s expression remained unchanged, but the secretary could swear that he saw a flicker of frustration in her eyes - not directed at him, but at someone else. “But perhaps some collaboration is in order. Whatever is causing the recent anomalies in Equestria’s climate could easily spread across the whole of Equis, and possibly even propagate through the portals to Earth. Aiding us in finding the cause would be as much for your benefit as ours.”

Plap. A thick folder landed on the middle of the table. The princess’ horn lit up, and the folder hovered over in front of her.

“Project Windrunner,” she read aloud from the cover.

“The president is of a similar opinion,” the Secretary of State informed her. “That folder contains an outline for our plan of action. Preparations are already underway. All it needs is the approval of the Equestrian Crown and we’ll be ready to proceed.”

Luna opened the folder and skimmed over the first page inside briefly, before setting it down and giving Dougan a thoughtful look. The Americans had not known about Equis’ climate situation until just a few days ago, yet they already had a plan ready. Either they had a plan for literally every situation that could possibly crop up, or they were doing more than just jumping at the opportunity to finally get to Equis; they were diving at it.

The dark alicorn suppressed a smirk. As much as her older sister had been stonewalling the United States lately, as well as their neighbors, the latter was most likely the case.

“I will need to discuss it with my sister.”

“Of course,” Dougan nodded amiably. “If you are going to approve it, your highness, I suggest that you do so soon. As you said yourself, we don’t have even the slightest idea what could be causing this. It could be something simple that will fix itself, or it could be a global catastrophe just waiting to happen.”

Luna nodded gravely. “Indeed, Mister Dougan. I have every intent of expediting the process. Whatever action we are going to take, we need to take it as soon as possible.” She looked down at the folder again, thinking back to the devastation wrought so far. To think those had just been weak tornadoes…

“Every moment that is not spent trying to discover the cause and remedy it is a moment that the situation could escalate further…”

--

Thunderheads loomed unnaturally low in the sky. Lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the dark, eerie green sky. Thunder rolled across the land like a wave, with ominous gusts of wind following on its heels. The pitch black clouds turned day to night as they passed overhead, reaching from near the ground to tens of thousands of feet into the air. They seemed oddly squeezed together, as though the storm was clay on a giant potter’s wheel, shaped and spun by enormous hands into a cylindrical, near-hourglass shape.

Had this storm been on Earth, the wail of sirens would have been heard for miles around, warning everyone in earshot to seek shelter immediately. But this was not on Earth. This storm hovered menacingly above the outskirts of Ponyville, Equestria.

And so the only sound was the howling of the wind and the rumble of thunder.

Ice began to pour from the malevolent clouds.

These were not the light crystals of snow that blanketed the ground during the winter, nor were they the icy raindrops that occasionally wrapped the land in a thick straightjacket of ice. These were hard, thickly layered hailstones, formed more than an hour before, circulating again and again in the storm before they finally grew too heavy for the wind to support.

The stones of ice fell to earth with nearly enough force to crack an earth pony’s skull. They tore through the leaves of trees and shrubs at the edge of the Everfree forest, crashing to the ground with a chorus of sharp klaks as they fell into pools of water left behind by the rain. Twigs and shards of tree bark began to fall as well, separated from the trees by the hammering hail. Smaller saplings and bushes swayed visibly with the force of the falling ice.

But hail was just the beginning.

As the storm moved ever closer to the small town, a small protrusion began to extend from its base, quickly becoming a menacing funnel hovering in the sky. The wind beneath the storm further intensified - a warning to beware the beast that was soon to be born. The residents of Ponyville paid no heed. Many were mesmerized by the awe inspiring sight, and remained where they were, watching it. No one connected the black pillar of wind and clouds with the pictures of rubble and ruin in Las Pegasus and Stalliongrad that had appeared in the newspapers.

The funnel extended further and further down towards the ground. Leaves and twigs began to swirl about below it, picked up by the gusts sent down by the forming twister - a mere whisper of its true power. The swirling debris moved beyond the edge of the Everfree, and bore down on the lonely, cozy looking wooden house just beyond. The funnel cloud thickened rapidly and dove down towards the ground. The cloud of debris swirled faster and grew larger. Grass and dirt were ripped up by the intensifying wind. For a moment, it seemed like the monster’s violent birth would occur right on top of the little house by the forest.

Then, at that very moment, the storm seemed to hesitate. The funnel halted its progress, though it did not shrink or recede. The dirt, grass, and twigs that flew about in the air suddenly fell to the ground, abandoned by the wind that held it aloft. When the lowered cloud passed over the cottage, the wind at ground level was only powerful enough to make the structure shudder and groan, which nonetheless frightened its rather shy inhabitant.

Mere seconds after passing over the small house, the funnel cloud rapidly finished its descent.  The ground below seemed to explode as the column of condensation and wind struck with all the force of an exploding bomb. A cloud of dust, mud, and debris rose into the air, surrounding the bottom half of the funnel like a cloak, and making it appear all the more menacing. The wind rose to frighteningly high speeds, producing a loud, all-encompassing roar like that of a passing train.

A tornado had been born...and it was clear now where it was heading.

Slowly, the mood in Ponyville began to move from fascination and wonder to worry, and then to fear, as its denizens began to realize what was happening. As the roaring twister grew ever closer and louder, one of the onlookers, a bright white mare with a dark purple mane, began slowly backpedalling deeper into the town, unable to tear her eyes from the storm bearing down on her home. Other ponies around her began to follow suit, steadily moving faster and faster; trying to get away from the dark, roaring beast that was rapidly approaching, yet still unable to completely shake off their awe and fascination.

Suddenly, a ball of ice shattered against the ground mere inches from brown stallion with an hourglass on his flank, causing him to give a startled shout.

In an instant, there was panic.

Hooves galloped wildly as the ponies fled. Multiple screams pierced the air. Other voices shouted from the doors of homes and shops, frantically urging friends, foals, siblings, and parents to hurry to safety. Some ponies remained perfectly still in the street, seemingly paralyzed with fear and wonder by the alien sight before them, unmoving even as the twister came closer and closer and as hailstones began to fall from the sky.

The tornado continued to approach.

--

The door to the Carousel Boutique burst open, and a white mare quickly ran inside and slammed it behind her. For a moment, Rarity stood with her hoof on the door, panting with exertion while her heart raced uncontrollably.

When her pulse calmed to the point that she could speak again, Rarity looked up and prepared to shout for her sister, but stopped short.

Sweetie Belle was sitting just a few feet away, right next to two other rather familiar fillies - one was a pegasus, the other an earth pony. Scattered about them were various cutting implements, glitter, glue, and a roll of exceedingly expensive lace that had been decidedly ruined.

Right now, however, Rarity did not care about that fact in the slightest.

What she did care about was the fact that the three fillies were looking wide-eyed out the display windows at the front of the shop. At first she thought they were merely looking at the many ponies running about outside, but then Rarity noticed two things. First, there was no sound of galloping or frantic yelling outside.

Second, everything had gone silent, so silent that her ears were starting to ring.

Then everything went dark, as though someone had just extinguished the sun. Simultaneously, the boutique began to shudder, and a dull roar began to sound, quickly growing in volume until it began to cause Rarity’s ears to hurt.

The mare did not turn around to see. She did not need to. She knew exactly what the three Crusaders were looking at, now.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Rarity bolted from the door and shouted to Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom at the top of her lungs, but found that she could not even hear her own voice over the roaring monster outside. The three fillies did not budge. They were terror-stricken, staring at a sight that Rarity did not dare turn around to see. Seeing this, Rarity sent a surge of magic to her horn, and bodily lifted the trio into the air with a telekinetic spell. As she did, every one of the display windows exploded, sending razor sharp shards of glass where she had stood mere moments before. A virtual wall of wind howled into the store, buffeting everything about. Above the din, Rarity thought she could hear Opalescence yowl from wherever she was in the building.

With the fillies hovering in the air in front of her, the mare ran as fast as she could into her kitchen, where she tore open the pantry and shoved herself and the three younger ponies inside.

Now plunged into total darkness, the four ponies sat huddled together in fearful silence. They felt the boutique begin to rumble around them. The glass bottles on the shelves surrounding them began to rattle against one another and the walls shuddered and shook. The sound of tearing lumber and breaking glass reached them from just beyond the pantry door.  A sudden crack startled the ponies, before they realized that it was just a container in the pantry that had fallen to the floor.

Above it all, the tornado howled furiously as it set about tearing the shop apart. The roar began to reach a crescendo, as did the shaking of the walls. Rarity clenched her eyes shut and hugged the Cutie Mark Crusaders closer to her as an ominous groan echoed through the walls around them.

Then, just as the noise reached its maximum, the walls of the pantry tore away, and a furious blast of wind tore at the four ponies.

A scream reached Rarity’s ears. She never realized that the scream was her own.

--

I’m not gonna make it.

The thought ran through Applejack’s head again and again as she ran alone through the streets of Ponyville, desperately trying to get back to the farm, to her farm. She could feel the wind change direction around her, and could hear the rumble of the dark, alien monster behind her. The sound was growing louder, and the wind was getting stronger. The thing was moving fast, far too fast for her to ever hope to outrun. Yet she did not dare stop to find refuge in one of the structures nearby. She could hear the sound of whole houses and stores exploding into masses of splinters as the twister passed over them. The farm pony was certain that trying to hide would only further guarantee death.

And so she continued to run.

But inevitably the wind began to grow stronger and stronger, and Applejack found herself slowing down, despite all the effort she was putting into trying to get away. The howling wind was now loud enough that she could feel the beginning of a headache coming on.

Panting and straining against the gusts pushing against her, Applejack struggled towards the front of a rather familiar store that looked like it was made of candy. Now slowed to a trot and forced to work for every step, she laboriously inched to one of the pillars that held up Sugarcube Corner’s awning. The orange mare wrapped her forelegs around it and held on for dear life, aware that if she were to let go now, she would be unable to walk at all. She tried to bring her hind legs up to it as well, but the ever strengthening wind began to pull her away from the pillar, and she could only grip it with her front hooves. Without quite knowing why, Applejack looked back...and saw nothing but a swirling, roaring mass of coherent darkness that filled her entire field of vision.

It was the single scariest thing she had ever seen.

She desperately hugged the pillar with all her strength, more afraid than than she had ever been, even more than when she had faced down Nightmare Moon. Something tugged at her head, then suddenly she began to feel the wind even more acutely. She realized right away that the monster storm had taken her hat.

Then her hooves slipped a few inches.

Applejack snapped back to look at the pillar again. She was holding on with all her might, but her grip was beginning to fail. Suddenly, she saw movement in front of her. Somepony had opened the blinds on the window. Applejack looked up as was greeted with the sight of a familiar pink pony mare staring wide-eyed at her from inside.

For a brief moment, the two mares locked eyes with one another as Applejack’s hooves continued to slip. Then, with a soft pop, her hooves left the pillar completely.

Applejack screamed as she was hoisted up and into the maw of the storm, but it was lost in the twister’s triumphant howl.

--

Silence. It was completely silent, save the sound of quick, shallow breaths.

Rarity still clutched three young fillies close to her. All four ponies had their eyes shut tightly, still unwilling to open them. All of them had matted coats that had been soiled with dirt and small pieces of grass and wood, and their manes had been wildly blown about by the now departed storm.

A small whisper of wind tickled Rarity’s fur, accompanied by the chirping of a nearby bird. Slowly, cautiously, the mare opened one eye, then the other, and took in her surroundings. The three fillies covered by her stirred as well, peeking out from behind her forelegs. The elder unicorn sat upright with wide eyes and gazed at her surroundings, seeing but unable to comprehend what she saw.

The Carousel Boutique was gone, just...gone. Every wall, door, and window had been stripped away along with nearly everything within them. Of the pantry that Rarity and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had taken cover in, there was nothing left but the door frame, left behind as an insult to what the shop had once been. A few various pieces of cloth and the ruined remains of dresses and suits were scattered about the floor and the ground around what had once been a proud place of business. The only furniture left was Rarity’s fainting couch, and it was soiled by rain and debris and had two broken legs. Sitting atop it was a ruffled and twitching but apparently unharmed Opalescence.

The unicorn spend at least ten minutes taking in the sight around her, but still found it impossible to comprehend the magnitude of what she was seeing. Everything was gone. Not just a lot. Not almost everything. Everything was gone.

Beginning to feel a bit dizzy, Rarity looked down at the three foals beneath her. They looked back with wide eyes, unsure what to think or how to react. The sheer scope of what they were seeing went even further beyond their comprehension than it did Rarity’s.

The white mare looked from them back to the ruin surrounding them, and her daze began to fade. Her breath hitched, and her eyes began to tear up. Unable to bear the sight any longer, she lowered her head and began to cry quietly.

-

Applejack had heard plenty of stories about ponies (and even a few about humans) who had a near-death experience. Often, the survivor in question would think or say something profound after awakening, or right after the event passed by. Evidently, she was not one of those ponies. Her first thought was anything but profound.

Huh...I figured Elysium’d have softer ground…

Somewhere at the back of her mind, she realized how little sense that even made.

The wind blew gently over Applejack’s fur, and the sound of rustling apple tree leaves reached her ears. The mare snapped her eyes open and bolted to a standing position. Her head whipped back and forth as she rapidly took in her surroundings. Then she stopped with a disbelieving expression on her face and sat down.

She was on the farm...less than a hundred yards from her house...alive...and not even scratched.

Applejack remained sitting for a moment. She blinked, then she blinked again. Then the world went black as something slipped over her head with a soft whump. The orange mare very nearly jumped right out of her skin before realizing that it was not, in fact, another swirling storm swallowing her whole. She reached up and yanked the object off her head and looked at it.

Her level of disbelief jumped even higher. It was a hat, her hat; soaked, dirty, and a little crumpled, but completely whole.

The earth pony stared at the hat for a good while. Then a smirk appeared on her face. She snickered, then chuckled, then giggled in an uncharacteristically girly fashion, then fell into a fit of hysterical laughter so severe that she nearly fell over.

Then reality came crashing down like a hundred tons of bricks.

Applejack wheezed mid-laugh, as though she’d been bucked in the gut, and collapsed into a gasping, crying, violently shivering heap as she realized the enormity of what she had just been through. She remained in that position for a good while, and took no notice of the front door to her house slamming open, or of the galloping hoofbeats approaching and skidding to a halt, or of the soft yet deep voice of her older brother inquiring about what had happened.