Don't Fear The Storm

The wind brushed through her mane in a wild gust. She felt it moving every hair on her body, felt her tail dancing along its rhythm. Rainbow Dash felt a grin come upon her face as she took it in. Beneath her hooves she felt the soft surface of the cloud she stood on, as it, too, was carried along the gale.

As she played with the goggles she wore for protection, her eyes were fixed on what would be the greatest storm in Equestria’s history. The weather ponies had planned for this all winter and now, with spring’s arrival, it was finally time. As the sun ever so slowly crept up from beyond the horizon so far behind her, she could only stare at the black wall of clouds that moved towards her.

She was alone with it.

Rainbow Dash shivered with excitement. The cyan pegasus lifted one hoof and let it move through her mane, making sure not a single strand would fall into her face. Red or orange or yellow, she needn’t any of them in her eyes now. This was going to be her moment, her storm.

The wonderbolts often trained in rainstorms, refining their maneuvers under the most dangerous circumstances. So, of course, the more dangerous a storm, the easier it would be to refine herself. It was simple, and with her ability and knowledge of the weather, this would not only be the perfect exercise, it would also be easy.

Of course, pretty much all her friends had told her that flying into the most massive hurricane to ever move across Equestria’s sky was dangerous, but she was Rainbow Danger Dash. This was her moment, her storm, surely.

Yet the pegasus pony found herself quaking and a fearful voice came from the depths of her subconscious. She was too far from Ponyville, all alone and if something would happen, then nopony would be able to help her. Those were the things her friends had told her and she’d laughed it off. Another laugh escaped her, louder than the wind. All the world should hear her, for she wasn’t scared.

The wind, the distant thunder and her laughter were the only sounds and she found herself unable to stop. She needn’t fear, because this was nothing to her. She was an Element of Harmony, the best flier in Ponyville and all-around a most magnificent mare. There was no need to fear anything.

The wind picked up and she shook her hooves and wings, readying herself for the take-off.

Her storm, her moment, that was how this was going to be. And yet she felt more and more nervous the closer the clouds moved. They looked like a monstrosity of smoke, water and electricity, its maw opening to swallow her whole.

A few clouds, one or two bolts of lightning tearing through the sky, and the thunder making itself heard through the thick glass of a house’s window, that was how storms in the equestrian central plains usually went, but as the sound reached her ears, the sight grew in front of her eyes, she knew that this was far more than that. It was like a wave of black smoke slowly creeping forward and the roar of its electrical discharges would’ve scared any pony more faint hearted than her. This was THE storm of the century.

“And you’re going to be mine,” she said with a confidence no other pony could have mustered up.

What new moves she had thought out and prepared rushed to her head, every moment of training came to mind. She was ready, she did not need to tremble, but she did.

The wind became stronger, and Rainbow Dash looked to the ground, where the few trees that plastered the landscape moved with the wind, agitated. Within the storm, the gale turned the clouds into twisters and she could make out how bolts of lightning went through and past them.

“You can do this,” she said, her voice shaking more than she wanted it, too. Nopony was watching, but she still wanted to look as brave as she felt herself to be.

The daring pegasus took one more breath. “The Thunderbolts are doing this sort of thing constantly, and Daring Do also managed to go through at least one big storm. And she had her wing broken, and needed to protect a baby. You’re Rainbow Dash. You’re Rainbow Dash.”

With that she pulled the goggles down on her eyes and put some weight into her legs as she used what strength she could muster to kick herself off the cloud. The mare spread her wings to catch the wind and caught it swiftly.

She approached the stormfront with careful beats. Her heart felt heavy, her breaths slow, her brain stopped thinking. Moments passed in a matter of eternities. This is your moment, she told the brave pegasus she knew herself to be. With nopony to watch, she would master the storm. So, with only seconds before she reached the black and bright of her training ground she shifted her weight a bit. Catching the right wind, she started to drift upwards, her hoof barely touching the dark grey clouds’ edges. One moment passed, then another. She went up and up, ever closer to the sky beyond. At least until she was close to the highest of highs, where no more clouds moved across the sky.

Before she reached it, Rainbow Dash took a sharp dive into the dark. Suddenly, water was splashing across her face and a split second later, a bolt of lightning ripped right through the rain to her side. She barely noticed it though, as all around her even more bolts struck through the sky.

The feathers on her wings were wet and heavy. Every beat felt more heavy than the last, like rocks attached themselves to her, but there was only rain. There were so many raindrops on her goggles that she could only barely see and the wind was blowing so hard against her, she barely managed to control her flight path. Even so, Rainbow Danger Dash roared with laughter. This was what she lived for!

She beat her wings again and again, did a barrel roll, then another. Rainbow Dash took assessment of the air around her, how it felt, where she could catch a bolt.

Her instincts were honed from all her years as a weather pony. Bolts of stray lightning were basically accidents waiting to happen and after getting struck by one too many, a pony usually managed to learn how to anticipate them. Or, if their name was Derpy Hooves, started to wear strange apparel that would serve as a conductor for electricity. Rainbow Dash was even better than the former, because she the sky was her realm and even under these circumstances, she could navigate without a problem. That was just how good she was.

Rainbow Dash did indeed feel it. The friction in the air and how it released electricity, she could make it out a split-second before it happened. It was like the hairs on her body stood up, a cold shiver ran through her. She couldn’t stop herself from laughing, she was so happy tears were coming from her eyes and the rush of adrenaline became her entire world.

She started to twist her body, sent herself into a spiralling motion and suddenly the cold of the storm was gone.

There was a heat all around her as she spun forwards like a drill. A bolt of lightning engulfed her for one split second, but before the heat became too much, she shifted her weight again. Amidst the chaos of the storm, she caught another gust of wind that carried her upwards.

For the shortest of moments, she felt like she was burning, like she was lightning incarnate, blazing across the dark and the cold. None could see her, but she knew the feeling for what it was. And then the rain was all around her again and the cold wetness engulfed her body and drenched the heat from her. Her smile left her as she flew upwards again. It worked, she thought dully. “It worked,” she mouthed, unable to comprehend how she was able to pull it off.

Twilight had told her that this sort of technique only worked for Stormrider dragons, that nopony, no griffon, no bird, no creature of the skies could do the same. Yet here she was, and she’d done the impossible. She was all she expected herself to be.

Her heart’s beat calmed down, she felt the rain’s weight on her, the strain of the stunt on her muscles. Yet the pegasus turned for a looping, only barely catching something in the corner of her eye. A wondrous sight she didn’t quite believe to be there. Yet as she turned her head, she made out that fabled creature Twilight had told her about.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t scared, for she heard the dragons’ roar and knew that it, too, had been carried here by the magnificence of this raging hurricane. Not only that, but Rainbow Dash almost felt happy, because someone else was there in the distance, doing tricks between the lightning and the rain.

As she took another gust upwards, she managed to sneak a better look at the giant lizard. Its own, feathered wings beat against the wind with electricity engulfing the whole beast’s body. It turned and rolled from one lightning bolt to another, much like a dancer, so utterly magnificent, so profound. Rainbow Dash almost felt jealous of how natural its every move seemed, how unafraid and unexcited it looked by its own greatness.

That darn dragon was a better flier than she was.

Then, she herself turned downwards again. Once more she wanted to be like lightning, once more she wanted to feel the heat brushing against her coat. She could be like the Stormrider. No, she could be better. So she went down, ever quicker. At the same time, she tried to feel the air, feel the electricity oncoming. Once more, she caught a glimpse of the dragon, but this time it was hovering in the air, watching her. Eyes the color of lightning met hers, glittering with curiosity as the young pony attempted to imitate its dance.

And then, for the briefest of moments, Rainbow Dash felt it, and at the same time didn’t. She felt the heat, she saw the light and she heard the thunder crashing against her ears, but that was it. Suddenly her eyes were turned upwards, rain and dark clouds all around her. Suddenly, she felt nothing and her wings wouldn’t move.

What? she heard herself ask, but not with her mouth. Her thoughts were spiralling into nothingness, even she could not make them out.

Rainbow Dash was falling, and there was nothing else there. She felt no pain, heard no sound, saw only how the clouds got farther and farther away from her.

No, she thought and tried to lift her hoof, tried to make a grab for them, for someone. Help, she begged but nopony heard her, not even the daring pony named Rainbow Dash.

It didn’t work and suddenly she felt a sharp pain going through her body as everything went black, if only for a moment.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes again and the clouds were still above her. She felt blades of grass touch her skin, mud clinging to her. Her sight was reddened and slowly turned darker. For a moment she felt nothing, couldn’t breathe. Then there was a distant pain and to the nothingness, there came a cold, slowly crawling through her body. It was an indescribable feeling and with it came the weight of sleepiness, the want for rest.

She blinked, or passed out, only to open her eyes to the sight of a giant, red lizard covered with spines, its feathered wings shielding her from the rain. It looked at her for but a moment and then moved its claw closer to Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t fear. …”

It was a voice, but whether it was her own, the dragon’s, a friend’s or a parent’s, she didn’t know.

And as the blackness finally took over, another voice called out to her. It came from the farthest reaches, from the very end, and it beckoned her to wake up.