Of Stormy Nights and Lighting Strikes - Chapter 1
Chapter 1 – Of Stormy Nights and Lighting Strikes
Suddenly, the bed springs gave a loud screech of disapproval as the entire weight of the exhausted mare landed on the right side of the partially made bed. “Hang on” she thought. Her bed was made of feathers not springs.
Before she realised what she had done, a small family of mice, now being refugees fled the disastrous tremor faster than she had ever seen or known a mouse to run before, obviously seeing that they could have chosen a better location to keep warm.
“No! Wait little guys! I-” her eyes followed after them as they escaped the far reaches of the dark bedroom “-I’m sorry… You can stay with me if you like,” the words trailed off as she realised the mouse family were already too far out of earshot to hear her timid little shivering voice. Though she still wished she had the company.
The bedroom was cold, and the only real light that came into the entire room was from the door left slightly ajar leaving a fine strip of yellow candlelight in from the stairway. Fluttershy was now alone in the dark and the only sound which could be heard was the pitter-pattering of the hail bouncing off her roof, and the loud shivering breaths of the unusually resilient mare.
She hadn’t even noticed how she got there, so deep in thought that she had subconsciously climbed the stairs, went through the door… And she was now here? In the cold, laying on her left side a top of her now completely unmade covers. She let out an exasperated sigh.
“No wonder she didn’t show up,” she said as if addressing the bedside table she was facing, not that she cared it wouldn’t and couldn’t listen. “Who would think of a- a friend. Like-… like that,” tears now appearing in the corners of her big blue eyes, how had she been so stupid? She knew that it was a bad idea to tell her, especially in a letter.
She was only a train ride away after all.
She bet that pony wanted nothing to do with her after that, who would? Her very own best friend developing feelings of-. Her inner monologue came to an abrupt stop. She had never really thought of what the word was, in fact she had never felt like this, like ever!
It was only right to tell her how she felt, she thought, attempting to console her deep rooted regret, she might know what this feeling was, even when the yellow mare didn’t. And she would understand that, they were best friends after all, right?
She winced slightly, for the first time that word “Friend” felt foreign to her, almost like it didn’t accommodate the space it once did, leaving her puzzled, she was previously unaware of this change in feeling.
Oh no. She didn’t hate her did she?
No she knew she didn’t hate her, otherwise why make such a fuss to see her? She pondered this for a second, her fellow pony would be back the day after if she wasn’t today, that’s when she was originally going to return anyway.
But she had been so sure she would come back today, for her- She meant as a friend wanting to spend time together, they hadn’t done that lately and it was clear in the mare’s current mood that it was affecting her more than she realised. They’d both wanted to, in fact she was invited to come along for the week. But, the day before they were due to return was going to be the problem.
Hearts and hooves was always a busy day in ponyvile, she couldn’t just leave. She had to make sure that her bird choir was at their best for that day, which meant the week was her only preparation. They were invited to provide music to a sweetshop near the centre of ponyvile to “set the mood” and as much as she wished she could have been elsewhere, she had promised to.
Bonbon had been so insistent that this was “important for business”, especially as Lyra had a knack for scaring ponies away – unintentionally of course – with her wild theories about humans and their, eh. Hands I think it was? That was a pretty weird word not to mention whatever, humans were, she thought. Anyways, she couldn’t just break a promise like that, otherwise what kind of friend would she of been? After all it wasn’t like it was some horrible chore, Fluttershy thought it was a great opportunity. She did so enjoy assembling her many winged little friends for a therapeutic sing song when she had the chance, especially as she hadn’t done so in a while.
It was all going to plan, she was even convinced from her last letter that her best friend – the word made her quiver again but continued the thought – Was going to be back in town later that day. They had started in the early afternoon, when the weather was fairly calm, and had been a good hour when the unexpected happened.
A strike of lightning came down on a nearby tree from the brewing frosty storm that had stealthily been creeping overhead the entire morning. This would of course only have stopped the choir momentarily, if it wasn’t for the sudden gush of cold air accompanied by a sudden down poor, the mixture of which was too much for the birds who took off fleeing for cover.
This caused Fluttershy to spend hours in the mist and later hail of the ever strengthening storm to assemble them all again, only to discover that Bonbon had closed early when she returned. To spend time in the warmth with Lyra no doubt. She didn’t blame her though, it was a day to be spending time with others, to show them how much friendship mattered to each other and share gifts. That’s all it had to be, or at least Fluttershy had always thought it was.
After this disappointment it only got worse. Of course she could have missed her filly friend’s arrival in that time, but after heading down and checking at the ponyvile station she found that no such mare had ever arrived.
Why did her friend have to be a pen pal for the week? It just wasn’t fair, she hadn’t even realised how much it meant for her to be around until she had gone off to Appleoosa, and she would have been prepared to put her bits all in on the idea that the majority of the town now regretted it too.
Lightning struck once more at the instant this thought popped into her head as if to disagree with her, finding it all too enjoyable striking random buildings and trees at sweet apple acres in the absence of the leading ponyvile weather pony.
The cyan pegasus would have beaten this storm into nothing, 10 seconds flat and not even breaking a sweat. So fast. Strong and fearless, she could swear weather was afraid to happen when she was around.
But this wasn’t what amazed Fluttershy the most about her rainbow maned friend. It was her undying loyalty, her support for her friends, her ability to inspire others, these were all things that she had and the yellow mare admired her deeply for, not to mention the strange but blissful sensation she felt when rainbow looked at her with those deep, shining maroon eyes of hers.
She was about to go into another of her daydreams – when another bolt of lightning struck a flowerpot in her back garden, causing her to jump suddenly, falling off the bed onto the floor with a loud ‘clunk!’.
She gasped as her back hit the floor, more due to the drastic change in temperature than the impact. It was absolutely freezing, as if it were merely made of ice and no longer the oak planks it once was.
Fluttershy cringed shutting her eyes tight and eliciting another far more squeaky gasp resembling that of a squee as the floors icy sensation travelled down her spine making her shiver uncontrollably as it did.
However this was followed shortly by a warm, something touching her forehead, like a paw, or a hoof? Could it be? She turned her head and opened her eyes wide hoping for her assumptions to be proven correct.
A small smiling but slightly concerned white bunny was staring back at her standing beside where she had landed, the mare oddly resembled that of a turtle stuck on its back at this very moment.
One of the little bunny’s paws was resting gently on her head, the other holding a small match in order to see her better in the poorly lit room, she seemed to have been dragging something along behind her.
The yellow mare was always happy to see angel especially when she felt alone, but she couldn’t hide the overwhelming disappointment which came over her just then.
“Oh.. uh. Hi angel I-” she stopped as the bunny held up a letter that was all too familiar to her master “-Oh you found them huh?” sighing in defeat, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be reminded of the contents of that particular piece of parchment.
She rolled onto her front, now closer to the bunny and able to feel the faint but welcoming warmth given off by her chosen source of light on her torso. Having that she had somewhat grown accustomed to the cold floor at this point, laying her chest on it seemed far less of a shock to her than her initial landing on her back, but she still shivered a little.
The bunny moved further along her right side in order to stand right in front of the mares head which was now resting on her crossed forelegs. A single tear could just be seen falling from one of the yellow mares eyes in the ever deteriorating light of the dying match. She should have brought a candle.
“Di-…did you read it?” she asked, another tear starting to form in her other eye, as she managed to brush away the previous with a hoof.
Angel nodded sincerely, knowing to a fair amount of certainty what was on her mind. She knew Fluttershy all too well and she also knew there was something between her and rainbow, and had known for a while. She only kept it to herself because she didn’t think Fluttershy had realised it at first. But whether she did or didn’t was not important now, this was the worst Angel had ever known her to be and it was her duty to give all the support as she could.
“What can I do?” she said, the newly formed tear now slithering down her face the light now so dim, her true expression seemed masked in shadow. She began to shiver violently as the match finally expired itself.
Angel knew she couldn’t stay up here, especially in the dark and cold like this. She needed someone to console in and the determined bunny was up for the job.
Fluttershy felt a gentle tug on the end of her left forelegs hoof, clearly indicating for the mare to follow her warm little white friend. Slowly, and shivering once again more violently now, she began to rise allowing her left foreleg to be out stretched, guided by angel as they slowly edged towards the bright light of the stairway.
