Author's Note
This DOES NOT mean I’m canceling Night Wing. I just had to get this idea out of my head. Feel free to enjoy this little teaser of my next story.
The Storm is born
Third Person
Fire raged across the landscape as Twilight Sparkle, a purple Alicorn, soared towards a long mountain range. Huge catapults, works of complex engineering and magic, littered the landscape. Every few seconds a catapult would fling a giant ball of plasma and molten metal over the moutains ahead. Twilight let out a short panicked shriek as one passed by, close enough to feel the heat. Distant thuds could be heard from beyond the mountains and the fiery balls of destruction splashed across the landscape. Screams of pain an anger rose to her ears as she drew ever closer.
She was barely flying as it was. It looked as though half the feathers where missing from her violet wings, and her fur was sticking out in every direction. Her deep blue and light pink mane and tail were flipping violently in the wind, half burned from fire. She was heading to the tallest mountain in the chain, where the peak seemed to split into four large prongs. The prongs were arranged in a circle around the flat moutain top, a single large crystal floating between them all. Even from this distance she could see and feel the power radiating from the glowing crystal. It was like a bright white beacon, illuminating the landscape despite the lack of sunlight. Clouds ,dark and full of ash, were slowly spinning high above the crystal. Everything outside the crystal’s light was cast in an orange light as the sun tried to penetrate the clouds, and fires ran rampant.
Drawing closer to the moutain, Twilight could see two figures. One was a dark blue Alicorn, Luna, the bringer of the night. The other was a brilliant white. Celestia, the bringer of the day. A small smile crossed Twilights face, before she cried out in panic as she dropped the papers she was holding. Thankfully they were all attached together, so she just had to catch them. The wind rushed by her ears as she folded her wings and dropped straight down, reaching for the papers. Relief showed in her eyes as she managed to grab them and pull out of her dive, barely missing the ground.
It only took her a few more minute to reach the mountain top and stumble to a stop. “I’m here!!” She panted before collapsing into her knees, he head drooping down to the ground. Luna glanced over before returning her attention to the massive shield wall in front of the mountain. Celestia let out a grunt of pain as a ripple ran down the entire wall, shaking the mountain.
“Is the spell complete?!” Celestia yelled out over the rumbling. Sweat pooled under her as she and Luna tryed to keep the enemies siege weapons away from the moutain top.
“Yes! I tripled checked everything! It’s a long shot bu-oof!” Twilight fell over as a particularly large ripple ran down the wall, shaking the moutain once more. “It’s the only chance we have!” Celestia cried out in pain at the wall flickered for a minute. Luna simply grunted and flinched. A hush seemed to fall over the battlefield for a second, before the explosions returned stronger than ever. Friend and foe cried out in pain below, thousands of beings from every species waging all out war.
Ponies, griffins, zebras, and thestrals all fought side by side against the enemy, cutting their way through the ground and air forces. Griffins soared alongside pegasi and thestrals, slicing apart their enemies with bladed wings, hooves, talons, and beaks. On the ground, unicorns provided shields for armored Earth Ponies that charged forward with heavy hammers. Some unicorns were teleporting around with knives and swords. Twilight flinched as she saw one such unicorn teleport into the midst of a large group of enemies before detonating himself in a flash of magic. The air stilled for a moment, before suddenly the group of diamond dogs were sucked towards where the unicorn detonated, and compressed into nothing. A few seconds later the faint boom reached the three princesses atop the mountain.
On the other side of the battlefield were huge packs of diamond dogs, ripping apart lone ponies and grounded griffins. Dragons lit swathes of creatures on fire, leaving them to burn to death. Some rolled around in vain, trying to extinguish the magical flames. Other dragons simply sliced through groups with their claws or crushed them underfoot if they were big enough. Storm beasts carried large crossbows alongside minotaurs, or huge hammers that crushed bone and flesh into paste. Some of the storm beasts tossed lightning bolts from their hands that chained from pony to pony, or griffin to griffin. Minotaurs with giant broadswords and huge bronze shields shoved through groups of armored earth ponies and unicorns. And towards the back of their army lay huge metal cannons, firing large balls of hardened slag at the shield barrier around the moutain top. Every time one of these balls hit the shield, it would ripple like it was about to break.
“It’s now or never sister!” Luna cried out over the noise. Celestia looked up and nodded. Luna stepped up to her sister, Celestia, and touched their horns together. With a grimace, golden light flowed up the spirals of Celestia’s horn until it met Luna’s. Then it slowly crawled down Luna’s horn, her flat mane rising into the air on an invisible wind. After a few minutes of this Luna stepped away. Celestia looked even more exhausted than before, but she still held the shield up with her leftover magic.
“Please hurry.” Celestia wheezed out, her legs barely able to hold her up. Luna moved quickly to the floating crystal, placing her horn against it. A mixture of golden and blue light flowed from her horn and was absorbed by the crystal. The crystal pulsed with light every second more magic was added to it, until finally Luna pulled away. The ten foot tall crystal was almost to bright to look at now.
“Has Cadence already done her part!?” Twilight yelled over the rising wind from the clouds above.
“She gave all she could! She need some to protect her kingdom from the winter storms!” Luna raised her voice, trying to be heard. “We will make do! Now hurry Twilight!” Twilight nodded and shoved her horn against the crystal. She winced as it impacted the hard surface, but they didn’t have long. She began to channel her magic into the crystal, and direct the magic inside it to do what she wanted. The crystal began to take on a purple hue, and the cannons on the enemy side began firing even faster. A last push to break through their defenses.
“It’s ready!” Twilight yelled over the gale force winds. “Are you ready!?”
“Do it!” Celestia cried out over the storm. Twilight closed her eyes as tears formed in them. Then, with a single thought, she activated the crystal.
A large purple beam of light shot into the sky and impacted the clouds. A shockwave seemed to spread out over them, sending out a ripple that went for miles as the spinning clouds slowed to a stop. The battlefield went completely still as all eyes looked up. This was the moment that decided who won, and who lost. Then the spinning reversed, gaining speed by the second. The winds picked up again stronger than ever. Anyone in the air was tossed to the ground by the gale. Lightning began arcing across the clouds creating deafening thunder claps. Twilight gritted her teeth as she tryed to control the output of the crystal. The beam of light dissipated, and the storm slowly drifted out onto the battlefield. Then the lightning began striking out. Bolt after bolt fell, like rain. Nothing was spared on the enemies side. Dragons burned just as easily as diamond dogs when the lightning hit them. Screams of pain rang out as the enemy tried to retreat, but there was nowhere to retreat to. The hurricane stretched as far as the eye could see with winds like never before seen. The clouds roiled with energy, ready to release on whatever unfortunate beings got in its way.
Celestia was still holding the wall as a few of the cannons were still firing, trying to stop the unstoppable. She could only handle so much though. With one final crash of metal on magic, the shield fell. A crack louder than all else split the air. Celestia’s mouth hung open in a silent scream as the shield fell to shards. The tinkling of glass echoed over the storm, before one last cannon shot echoed out. The world seemed to freeze as a ball of slag impacted the crystal. Twilight’s eyes widened in horror as cracks spread through the crystal. The crystal that held the power of four Alicorns. A high litched wine filled the air as the ground began to rumble. “Luna! We have to go! Now!” Twilight ran over to Celestia with Luna and used the last of her power to teleport them away. Just as they disappeared, the cracks finished spreading through the crystal. All was silent for a second. Peaceful. Then the crystal exploded, shooting the might of all the Alicorns up into the clouds. The storm seemed to boil where the energy hit it and the sound of ripping filled the air. The clouds turned black before releasing lightning with renewed vigor. Only this time it didn’t discriminate between friend or foe. Hot fingers of electricity raked across the earth, disintegrating all they touched. Now both sides were trying to retreat from the storm, unable to escape it’s grasp.
Three Alicorns watched in horror from a distance. Twilight was lying on her side, crying as her vision faded away. “What have I done....”
“Woah! That was close!” Skyler laughed as he and his friend, Alex, sat in the bed of a silver pickup truck. The old truck sat in the middle of a large field, surrounded by trees on the edges. The two friends were watching as a large storm rolled in, relaxing and chatting after a long day of working in a fabrication shop. The cool breeze stirred up Sklyer’s brown hair and blew Alex’s black hair into his eyes. Skyler’s green eyes lit up as he laughed at Alex trying to pull the hair out of his face.
“I knew I should have got a hair cut last week...” Alex grumbled as he tried to straighten out the absolute mess on his head. “You think we should head in soon? That last strike was pretty close.” He pointed to the smoking tree at the edge of the field.
“We’ll be fine! There’s trees all around us, do you really think lightning is gunna hit us?” Skyler grabbed some chips from the bag between them before sipping on his can of soda. “Let’s just relax for awhile. The breeze feels nice.” He leaned his head back on the cold glass of the back window, letting his tan skin absorb the little light that came through the clouds. A flash of light in the distance prepared them both for the rumble that soon followed.
“Sure is an angry storm.” Alex pointed at the almost black clouds. “Those clouds are darker than I’ve ever se-“ Alex was cut off by the boom of lightningt hitting directly beside the truck. Both men slowly looked over the edge of the truck, eyes widening at the smoldering dirt inches from the back tire. “So uh, I guess this storm doesn’t like trees.”
“Ok ok, fine. Let’s go before we get electrocuted.” Sklyer grumbled as he hopped out of the bed and stepped up into the driver seat. “For the record, there is no way lightning would have struck that close again. One in a million chance.” BOOOOM!! Lightning struck the ground ten feet away, shooting dirt and fire in every direction. “Two in a million?” Sklyer felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to look at Alex.
His eye widened in horror as Alex pointed into the distance, where a veritable rain of plasma was falling from the sky. Fingers of death crawled across the landscape, shaking the air with a rumble as they drew closer. “Time to go!” Alex ran around the truck and jumped up into the passenger seat. “Skyler! Let’s go!”
The yelling of his friend pulled his eyes away from the coming death and he quickly jumped into the driver seat. “Keys!” He yelled as he frantically tried to find them, patting his pockets “Their in the bed!” He suddenly realized where they were, and both of them jumped out of the truck in a race to grab them. The rumble had grown into a stead booming as the lightning reached the edge of the clearing.
“Here!” Alex tossed the keys to Sklyer, who grabbed them and jumped back in the truck. The engine whined for a second as it tried to start, calming down to a steady rhythm as the truck started. “Drive!” Dirt flew from beneath the tires as they gunned for the road in front of the truck. “So, What were you saying about us being fine?” Alex smirked as they took off down the road, seeming to be out of harms way.
“Not a word.” Skyler glared at his friend before bursting out laughing. “That was nuts. Can’t wait to see the weather report for that!” Both of them chuckled as the scenery passed them by. Until a lightning bolt smashed through the windshield and hit Skyler in the chest.
The front of the truck exploded into pieces as it skidded sideways before rolling into the trees. It was quiet for a moment before Alex regained consciousness with a groan. “Skyler, you ok buddy?” Alex looked up, expecting to see his friend but instead seeing an empty smoking seat. “Skyler!” Alex pulled himself through the destroyed windshield of the truck, looking around desperately for his friend. “Where are you!?”