The Time of Storms

Normally whenever she had occasion to approach the Castle of Friendship, warm feelings would be stirred up in the heart of Applejack as she basked in the memories of all the good times that she'd spent there with Twilight and the others, but this was so far removed from a normal situation as to be almost comical; all she could think about was what had seemingly happened to Rainbow Dash back at the farm, and as the balmy evening finally gave way to a cold, onerous night and darkness encroached upon Ponyville the pearlescent glow of the moon cast intimidating shadows across the town. Nowhere was this more apparent than with the odd spires and turrets of Twilight's crystal palace. Applejack shivered, though it wasn't entirely down to the falling temperature.

Despite Rarity's attempts to improve her she wasn't much of a stickler for social niceties at the best of times, but dishevelled and out of breath as she was – with the events of earlier weighing on her mind and the oppressive waxen glare hanging overhead – Applejack used her stout withers to practically barge the heavy golden door off of its hinges. “Twilight!” she said, shouting into the inky blackness of the empty lobby. She took a few steps inside, feeling uneasy as she did so, so used was she to polished, translucent columns rather than this obsidian nothingness. Was Twilight even at home? The castle seemed to her to be deserted. Had Twilight and Spike been called off on some emergency mission by the Cutie Map? “Twilight, are you here, sugarcube? Something awful's happened to Rainbow Dash and I need your help. Twilight?”

The only response was her own voice depressed voice returning to her, echoing mockingly off of the walls.

After a few fitful moments in which all Applejack could do was sink further into her anxiety, padding restlessly at the floor with her forelegs, Twilight – looking a mite worn-out herself – appeared from another room, an old oil lantern coiled in her telekinetic embrace. She was wrapped up in an elaborate dressing-gown that clearly had Rarity's name written all over it, and she could barely keep her heavily-lidded eyes open. It was obvious that she had been in the process of winding-down for the night.

Any thoughts that she might have had about rebuking her friend for boorishness, however, were forced from her mind when Twilight saw Applejack properly for the first time and realised the distress that she was in. She rubbed her eyes in order to clear the film of gunk that had collected there. “Applejack, what is it?” she asked, suddenly awake, suddenly alert. “What's wrong? Did I hear you say something about Rainbow Dash?”

“It all happened so fast!” Applejack said breathlessly, the words tumbling out of her mouth as she bounded up to Twilight and threw her forelegs around her. “There was some kind of a storm, but not a normal one. One of those freak things that comes out of the Everfree Forest every now and then. Rainbow Dash was flying toward me and-”

“-AJ, whoa, slow down,” Twilight said, placing a hoof on her friend's shoulder to try and relax her. Her eyes were forced open still further in surprise when she felt the hard knot of tension that had taken root there. “I can barely understand what you're saying.”

Urging herself to calm down – a near-impossibility after what she'd seen – Applejack took several deep breaths until she felt that she was able to speak clearly. “I saw Rainbow Dash struck by a bolt of lightning at the farm, Twilight. She was … it was going to hit me and she threw herself in front of it.” At this, her voice began to crack and her eyes welled up with tears once more.

For a moment, Twilight didn't know how to react, almost coming to the conclusion that she hadn't heard her friend's words properly; when the weight of what Applejack had said finally settled upon her, she felt her eyes widen in horror and the first prickle of tears. Terrible visions of having to tell Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and the others what had happened swam through her mind. How would her parents take it? And poor Scootaloo? “Oh, Celestia. Is she-?”

“-She was … I mean, one second she was there, and the next she was just gone, you know?”

“Gone? Uh, knocked out of the sky and landed amongst some trees, you mean?” asked Twilight, still not entirely following what Applejack was saying. I'm still asleep. This just has to be some kind of ghastly dream.

Applejack shook her head quickly, and it soon became apparent to Twilight that it was not simply a gesture to indicate a negative. She was trying to get her muddled thoughts back into some kind of order. “I mean, she was gone, poof-” she made an expansive gesture with the hooves of her forelegs “-kinda like what happens when you teleport.”

Utilising her sister-in-law's much-vaunted relaxation technique, Twilight fought to stem the rising flow of hysteria that she felt building up inside of her like a wellspring. Left untended, it would soon bubble over and cause her thinking to become muddied, and she needed to keep a clear head now more than ever before. She knew that it was important to keep two key facts in mind: the nature of pegasi, and the nature of Rainbow Dash herself. “Okay,” she said slowly, setting the lantern down on a convenient nook as she devoted all of her focus to the possibilities turning over in her mind like the cogs in some vast machine, “we know that pegasi react differently to storms than other types of ponies because of their weather magic, and we also know that Rainbow Dash is more attuned than most to the environment around her.”

“Attuned?” asked Applejack, blinking away her tears. “What do you mean?”

“Her abilities are partly innate and partly the result of her years of intensive training. Remember when we trying to teach her the history of the Wonderbolts?”

Slowly, Applejack nodded, though she didn't entirely comprehend where Twilight was going with this. “She passively absorbed the information while in flight. Don't all pegasi do that, though?”

“They do, but Rainbow Dash is a little bit more perceptive than most.”

Her face registering the confusion that she felt, Applejack said tersely, “That's all well and good, Twilight, but what does it actually get us? I mean, is there a point to any of this?”

“A normal pegasus might very well have been killed by the lightning bolt,” Twilight said patiently, making allowances for her friend's outburst, “but one who happened to be in possession of an enormous reserve of particularly potent weather magic might have been able to use it – subconsciously, perhaps, if they were unusually sensitive to the ebb and flow of the world around them – to pull off a move similar to a teleportation spell. It's something that I've theorised about before, but I've never had a chance to study the practicalities of it.”

“So,” said Applejack slowly, slow-burning rays of hope beginning to rise within her, “you think that Rainbow Dash might still be alive?”

It was Twilight's turn to nod. “Alive, but displaced. Lost somewhere, anywhere, in the world.”

“Then, we have to find her!” Applejack said ardently, already itching to get moving. She would quite happily tear the world apart just to see that smug look on the pegasus' face one more time.

Holding up a hoof to attract her attention, Twilight said, “I know, but where do we even start? I'm clutching at straws here, Applejack, and even if I am right it still means that Rainbow Dash could be literally anywhere in Equestria. Or beyond, depending on how powerful the storm was.”

“Actually,” said an all-too-familiar voice laced with just the faintest traces of girlish cracks, “I'm right here.”

As one, Applejack and Twilight turned toward the door to see Rainbow Dash standing in the threshold, bathed in moonlight and sporting a wide cocky grin that practically split her muzzle in two.

The two friends looked at each other, then back at Rainbow Dash. “What?” they said flatly in unison.