Swift Wanderings

I heard explosions as I dashed away. I continued full-out sprinting, even if startled, my saddlebags clenched in my teeth, my cloak still inside them. I heard another sharp crack as a tree exploded, wincing as it showered me with splinters. I could feel myself beginning to hyperventilate as smoke filled the air.

This was terrifying. I felt a terabble heat on my tail. The tuft was on fire, slowly burning. With a yelp, I stopped, dropped, and rolled, thankfully putting the fire out. I had been running down the steep slope, and had now reached the ground.

The fire was even worse down here. Small animals fled beneath me as the heat grew. I could hear birds shrilling desperately overhead. I tried to take a deep breath and calm down, but erupted into a fit of coughing as I inhaled the acrid smell of ashes and smoke.

I looked around for a way out of this nightmare. There was fire everywhere, slowly encroaching.

My ears pricked up as I heard a small trickling sound.

Water!

Water meant a stream or river of some kind. A stream or river meant a wet spot that I could hide by from this terrible fire. I jumped up, trying to find a clear path. Leaping high, I managed to clear the worst of the flames. Small flames licked at my shaggy fur as I rolled, trying to put them out.

I could still hear the water, although it sounded less like trickling and more like an open faucet. My eyes were burning, and I coughed heavily as the smoke invaded my lungs again. I galloped forward, following the flow of critters as they scuttled, scurried, and hopped away.

I poured on speed as the fire grew behind me. I plowed through a few small shrubs in front of me, and barely skidded to a stop.

A flow of water fell over a steep cliffside and disappeared in a cloudy mist, at least a hundred yards below. A small waterfall, but water all the same. It looked like somecreature had come up, and just scooped a huge chunk out of the surrounding land. It was nearly perfectly circular, with few hoofholds.

The forest continued along the cliffside, as far as I could see. Down is not an option, so around it is.

I turned to gallop to an easier way down to the crater of water (and small river preventing the crater from overflowing), but I barely made it thirty feet before the foliage in front of me erupted into flames. I reared up, stopping just short of a scorched face. I backed up as the fire inched towards me.

My hind hooves made contact with the wet rocks surrounding the waterfall, and I nearly slipped. Gasping in surprise, I realized that I could just wait the fire out here, on the rocks. If I kept low, the smoke wouldn’t bother me, and the fire likely wouldn’t reach me here.

A tree exploded in the distance.

Then another.

Another exploded, still far away.

With an ear splitting crack, a tree exploded right beside me. I staggered back, staring in shock at the burning sap splattered across my right side. Small curls of smoke rose from it as it burned my skin and saddlebags.

Another tree exploded, startling me. I jumped.

My heart rose into my throat as I struggled for a hoofhold on the slick rocks of the waterfall.

My back hooves skidded across the slick surfaces of the rocks, and I dangled, until I lost my grasp on the stones.

I slammed my head into a rock, and as I tumbled down the near-vertical cliffside, the sap burning my skin. My vision blurred as my head was slammed again, and again, and again.

Slam.

I’m sorry . . .

***

Joy sat up sharply.

Something is very wrong. She thought. She didn’t know how she knew, didn’t know why, but something was terribly wrong. The dark clouds outside didn't help her panicked state either, as they had still not been cleared out.

Joy jumped as lightning flashed across the sky, followed by one of the loudest cracks of thunder that she’d ever heard. She heard screams from the Istallion restaurant upstairs as the lights sputtered.

The lights flickered and died. Concerned, Joy, lit a candle and held it up as she made her way through the house.

A knocking on the door prompted her to hurry towards it. A royal guard was there, his wings tucked tightly to his sides.

“Good evening,” Joy said, “to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Being one of the more. . . unusual residents of Manehattan had lead to a couple of visits from the royal guard.

“Good evening, Ma’am.” The guard said. “I’m here to let you know about the electrical storm. There was a malfunction in the Cloudsdale weather factory, and a large amount of electrically charged storm clouds have spread across Equestria.”

“I know, it’s terrible!.” Joy said. “Do you know what happened now? How to fix it?”

The guard removed his helmet. “I’m not at a liberty to say, Ma’am. I am to tell you to stay inside, as going outside is potentially deadly.”

“I’ve been told.”

“Are there any other establishments in this fine building?”

I nodded. “There’s an Istallion restaurant up those stairs.”

He trotted up the stairs. On autopilot, Joy trotted to her kitchen. She set a kettle on the stove, and quietly thanking Celestia that her stove was gas, not electric, she turned it on. Gas spewed out, and she lit it with her candle.

The kettle boiled quickly. She sat, with a cup of black tea on the table in front of her, watching lightning flash and crack.

***

A small white shape tumbled down a tall cliffside, the nearby waterfall sending a light mist over it’s shaggy coat. A pair of well-worn saddlebags fell beside it, and a green hat partially covered it’s head.
The shape hit the ground hard. It lay there limply as blood pooled from a large gash in its head. The right side had no fur, and the visible skin was badly burnt.

Its chest was still.

There was a loud shuddering sound.

And.

Then.

Swift.

Breathed.