Shaded Lilly slowly climbed her way back onto the cloud, having almost been nearly blown off by the unbridled winds that had suddenly blasted Cloudsdale and all of its inhabitants. She was lucky she still had the Cloudstep spell, or else she was pretty sure she would have been blown away and fallen to her death. Being a unicorn in a city built for pegasi sure didn't make it easy. As soon as she felt like she was safe from falling, she collapsed onto the cloud, giving herself a moment to recollect the wind that had been knocked out of her chest. Her entire body felt sore, and her heart was pounding from the terror she had just experienced. After a few minutes of collecting her breath, she took a look at her surroundings. Cloudsdale was in shambles. Several of its buildings had been destroyed, (which wasn't so bad, they were mostly made of clouds, after all), but she could see that the Weather Factory had been completely annihilated. And by the looks of the remaining citizens, it was clear that not everyone was as lucky as she was.

Foals cried out for their parents, parents cried out for their foals. Many ponies young and old called out for their friends and families, many of which never returned their pleas. And on the ground, (well as much ground as cloud can be) were dozens of dead pegasi, crushed by the torrents that had blasted the city. Their blood seeped into the clouds, turning into hues of pink and red.

The sight was so horrible that Shaded Lilly puked right then and there, tears pouring from her eyes. Unable to stomach the sickening and deformed bodies of some of the dead ponies she saw, she puked several times, and only stopped when her stomach had nothing left to throw up.

Why did her coltfriend ever bring her up here? Then, suddenly her eyes darted wide opened. Thunder Spark....where was Thunder Spark?!

Suddenly memories began to flood back into her mind as her mind had recollect all the moments of the past week that had led up to this point...

"I don't know about this," Shaded Lilly said, rimming her hoof around Thunder Spark's cutie mark. His cyan mane complimented his golden fur quite well. And those wings....it was those wings and his eyes that made her fall in love with him in the first place. His goofy personality is what made her stay with him. "Oh, come on, Lilly-boo! I've already met your parents, it's only fair that you met mine," he said, booping her on the nose with his hoof when he said his nickname for her.

"But Cloudsdale? But that's so....high! And also, i'm a unicorn! I don't have glorious wings like you do! Besides, what if i fall...?" she asked, lowering her ears in worry. Thunder lifted her head with a hoof. "I won't let that happen, i promise. Beside you have magic, i pretty sure you can figure something out." For a moment, they stared into each other's eyes. Her at his crystal blue eyes and him at her soft, bright green eyes. She finally broke the silence, "Okay." And with that, she leaned in and kissed him.

The next day, she and Thunder rode the balloon to Cloudsdale. Thunder could fly, but he stayed with her as Lilly refused get on the balloon without him due to a slight fear of heights (Not really a fear of heights, though, as what she really feared was falling). The ride up was actually pretty calm, and not nearly as scary as she feared it would be. Granted, it helped to have Thunder by her side. When they finally arrived, Lilly casted the Cloudstep spell on herself, allowing her to walk on the clouds as the pegasi do. She had learned it when she was young, but she always felt nervous about going anywhere high up. She never liked the thought of stepping on clouds. But she learned the spell out of necessity, as she had to learn it to pass one of her exams back in Magic Kindergarten. She aced it, but that paranoid fear never left her.

Lilly took a cautious step forward and took a deep breath. "You can do this. You are good at magic, and the spell will keep you safe...." she told herself before finally walking off of the platform and onto the city. She felt a large relief as the stress left her shoulders as she walked. The fact that she wasn't falling was enough to ease her nerves. "See? What did i tell you?" Thunder inquired with his usual smirk. "Yeah, yeah, don't get your hooves up in bunch..." Lilly said, sticking her tongue out at him. "Not all of us are born with wings, you know." They both chuckled as he lead them towards his parent's place.

It was only by sheer coincidence really that both Lilly and Thunder had cyan colored manes. Though, her coat was black while his was golden yellow. She'd been told many times that their colors compliment each other very much, but that never really mattered to her. Thunder Sparks could have had a green mane with a polka dot coat, and she'd still love him.

His parents were actually pretty great. They seemed slightly uncertain when they found out their son was dating a unicorn, but, they warmed up really fast, and where nothing but nice to her. They had a lot of fun next few days. Then this morning, she Thunder informed her that he had to Ponyville for a bit, to order some that famous Apple Family Cider for his parents. "Hey, i'll be back at noon, shouldn't take too long," he said with a kiss on her lips. "Okay, but be safe, okay?" giving him one last peck on his cheek. "Ah, you know me. I'm the safest stallion in all of Equestria!" he said in his usual bravado. "Uh huh, is that right, 'Blunder' Sparks?" she chided teasingly.
"Hey, come on! It was only one time, i swear!" he protested.
"Uh-huh..." she said giving him an incredulous grin.
He sighed, "Hey, don't worry about it. I'll see you at noon, okay? Bye!"

"I love you!" she called as he left.

"Love ya, too!" he called back.

And then a few hours after that, that huge freaky storm blasted Cloudsdale, and destroyed half the city, killing several innocent ponies. Thunder Sparks was still down below, perhaps he was safe and--

She peaked over the edge and looked below. What she saw mortified her. Even from this high up, she could tell. Everything was gone. What was once lush green forests and hills below, with tranquil streams flowing on by, now was nothing but brown dirt and rubble. And it just went on and on for miles. "What? What the hell is happening?!"

She pulled herself up to prevent herself from succumbing to vertigo. "What? What is it?" asked one of pegasus that was nearby. He had noticed she had looked over the edge, and was curious to see what she saw.

When he looked over, his jaw went slack. Another pony called to him, "Well, honey, what is it? What's wrong?"

"The Forrests, the trees, the grass....the oceans. it all just....gone!"

"What do you mean it's gone?

"I mean it's all gone! Equestria, maybe even all of Equus....it's all nothing but rubble and dirt down there!"

And with that, the remaining citizens of Cloudsdale all flew into confusion and panic, including Lilly.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" a voice suddenly shouted, and everyone froze. Then Lilly watched as a cyan mare with a rainbow colored mane descended before them.

"EVERYBODY NEEDS TO CALM DOWN!" yelled Rainbow Dash. When everypony stared at her in silence, she continued. "I know this looks bad, but you will only make things worse if you start panicking. The Wonderbolts and I will take a team and investigate what's going on down below, but what you guys need to focus on is cleaning up and repairing the city. A lot of ponies died to day. It's only right that we gather the dead so that we may bury them later. Anyone who has any kind of medical experience needs to start helping the injured. I am sure that once we find the princesses and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony, that we will be able to fix this. But we have to work together!" There was a moment of murmuring as the the citizens talked amongst each other, then a grim silence as they got to work.

LIlly watched as Rainbow Dash and a few of the other Wonderbolts began to make their way towards the outskirts of the city. She galloped after them. "Wait!" They didn't seem to hear her. She took a deep breath, and yelled with all her might.

"WAIT!"

They thankfully paused and turned towards her. Rainbow Dash seemed very agitated. "What do you want? Can't you see? We need to get down there, and fast! I need to see anypony is okay. I need to see if my friends are okay!" Rainbow turned to leave.

"Wait! Take me with you!" Lilly pleaded.

Rainbow turned back to her and frowned. "You realize we are really high up, right? You're a unicorn, it's not like you can exactly fly, you know. And i certainly ain't carrying you."

"PLEASE! I beg of you! My coltfriend, Thunder Sparks, he's still out there somewhere! Please, let me look for him. He's my world! Please!!" she begged as unbridled tears fell down her cheeks in between sobs.

Rainbow Dash frowned and looked at her for a moment, before a look of a defeat appeared on her face. "Fine. If you are worried about your friend as much as i am mine, there is no way i can say no..."

Suddenly, Lilly felt her self be lifted up as Rainbow Dash swooped down and grabbed her.

"Please don't drop me," Lilly said, wiping away her tears.

"It'll be fine, just don't squirm so much..."

Author's Note

So, yeah, I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I'll be alternating between this and Voidling of Equestria in terms of uploads, so i'll post updates when i can. My schedule is pretty chaotic, but i will keep working on both of these stories. ^^

I know this story is a bit chaotic at the moment, but that's okay. Everything will start forming up as we move along. XP

Anyways, see you in the next chapter!