When Lightning Strikes Twice

Chapter 2: The Storm

Static hated the thought of flying right into the center of a storm. Everything that could possibly go wrong swirled around his mind like a hive of angry wasps, stinging his mind and leaving it shot from overactive nerves. Shaking his head, he slammed the door of his personal locker shut, causing an echo that rang through out the empty locker-room for a moment. Thunderlane flinched at the sound and glanced towards Static, who was on the bench behind him.

"How you holdin' up?" The dark-grey pegasus asked in a concerned tone.

Static shrugged and cracked his neck to both sides.

"Not very well... but there's no avoiding it. If I lose this, I'll hear about it for years." He said, stifling a nervous chuckle.

Thunderlane nodded.

"Yeah, face your fears and all that, right?" He said, forcing a smile.

Static replied with his own fake smile and nodded.

"Yep... face my fears..." He said, a shiver coming down his spine.

The two exited the empty locker room and took in the view of the Weather Station. The structure was mostly made up of bright colors and old Equestrian architecture, but the colors were dampened by the growing darkness, and only shades of the former colors stayed. This only worried Static further. The fact that they were doing a potentially deadly task in the dead of night with no supervision made him want to just quit and go home. But it was true, so many things were riding on this job. With a shake of his head he continued away from the locker room and out of the large entrance, taking in a deep breath of fresh air and the calming view of Luna's moonlight.

Rainbow Dash had said Thunderlane counted as good-enough supervision, but Static knew better. Thunderlane was just as worried as he was, despite the fact that a thunder storm was not his worst fear. Something about the night seemed off to both of them, like things were destined to go wrong. Static forced down a nervous gulp and looked to Thunderlane.

"This is... pretty stupid, huh?" He said, trying to make light of the situation.

Thunderlane nodded and let out a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah, l-lettin' the degenerates do the dangerous work?" He said.

Static frowned upon hearing his statement. They were degenerates. All of the other pegasi had made it on time, why couldn't they?

Rainbow probably hates us both. Just trying to kill us... Static thought, now shaking from his nervousness.

"Well..." Thunderlane said with a sigh. "Are you ready?"

Static simply nodded and spread his wings, which were chilled and shaking as well.

With one swift movement of each of their wings, the pegasi took off. The night air chilled Static even more than he already was, adding to his massive amount of nervousness. After a few moments of flight, he looked to Thunderlane.

"You've got the coordinates, right?" He asked shakily over the gentle breeze.

Thunderlane nodded and held up his foreleg, where a small collection of characters had been etched with a quill. Static couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the numbers and responded with a nod of his own. Suddenly, the faint roar of thunder echoed off of the night sky, causing Static to stumble sideways in-flight and whimper nervously.

"Or we could follow that..." Thunderlane said, his tone shaky as well.

Static cleared his throat and tried to return to a somewhat calm demeanor before nodding and hovering into the direction of the sound.

* * *

There it was. After just a few short minutes, the two pegasi arrived in front of a large spot of black clouds. The clouds hung menacingly just outside of their hometown, Ponyville. Each one was flickering with light, as the bolts of lightning danced underneath each one, constantly flashing across the blackened sky, creating showers of sparks and assorted colors against the night.

The two weather ponies only had one objective: get the clouds back to the Weather Station. When a cloud became too dangerous, it had to be taken back and carefully taken apart by a professional. One false move could cause the whole cloud to erupt in an explosion of electrical energy. Static had even heard of deaths on the Weather Service for that reason, which only added to his fear. The dark-blue pegasus glanced to his friend, who replied with a nod, and made his way to the roaring patch of clouds. The quantity of the clouds wasn't too much of an issue, it was more the clouds themselves. They had conveniently joined together into two large clouds. But the larger the cloud got, the more electricity it carried.

"Wow... Dash wasn't kidding..." Thunderlane said, approaching the group of clouds closest to him.

"Yeah..." Static replied nervously under his breath.

Positioning himself behind the cloud, Thunderlane gave it a gentle push with his forelegs, causing it to float away from him slightly. The pegasus stopped and glanced at his hooves.

"I think it's safe." Thunderlane said, his tone less shaky than before.

Static was able to calm himself slightly upon hearing this as he positioned himself behind his own cloud. His composure was completely lost as a large bolt erupted from the cloud and struck the air just below him. He instantly jumped back, his eyes wide and his breathing heavy and irregular.

"Woah! Dude, you alright?!" Thunderlane asked, his expression terrified.

Static paused and glanced down to his coat and forelegs. He wasn't twitching or shaking uncontrollably. The bolt must have missed. With a deep breath he gave a simple nod and hovered towards the cloud once again, giving it a gentle push. Just as Thunderlane's cloud had done, it hovered away from him slightly. He turned to his friend and gave a slight smile, his nerves almost leaving his body completely.

"It's actually not that bad." Static said in a cheery tone.

Thunderlane smiled and began slowly inching his cloud across the night sky, in the direction of the Weather Station. It was then Thunderlane made a realization. His ears quickly perked up and his snout twitched as he took in the scent of the air. Static noticed his concerned expression and turned to face him.

"What's up?" He asked, his nervousness returning.

Thunderlane put his hoof up to silence Static as he continued to examine the air. A cool breeze swept across the dark-gray pony's coat, slowly turning from a breeze into a small gust of wind, signalling that it was picking up.

"Wind..." Thunderlane muttered under his breath.

Static raised an eyebrow.

"Wind?" He asked.

"Wind." Thunderlane replied, his voice slightly louder.

Static turned his head and took a breath of the night air as a breeze swept over his coat as well.

"Nothing wrong with a little wind..." Static said.

Thunderlane shook his head.

"No, dude. Wind is bad. If it picks up, these clouds are going to fly all over the place!" He said, his tone growing more worrisome.

Static's heart fell in his chest as his eyes went wide.

"All over the place?! Are you serious?!" He said, terrified.

Thunderlane shook his head.

"It'll be fine, just... just keep them moving, the station isn't far."

The wind slowly began picking up, turning into full fledged gusts, that moved some of the nearby white clouds across the sky. A shiver ran down Static's spine.

"Are you sure?! It's picking up fast!" He shouted over the growing gusts of wind.

Thunderlane shook his head yet again, and pushed his roaring thundercloud against the force of the wind.

"Keep moving!" He said sternly as the wind picked up even more.

The two pegasi were now fighting to keep even themselves afloat against the strong gusts of wind. Despite the wind however, they continued trudging along, pushing the clouds across the sky as the air relentlessly attacked their faces. Static's composure was slowly falling as the cloud beneath his hooves continued raging, nearly striking his back legs every few seconds. He suddenly stopped and backed away from the cloud.

"I don't think I can do this." The dark-blue pegasus said, staring nervously at his cloud as the strong wind battered his face.

Thunderlane stopped as well and glanced to his friend.

"What about 'facing your fears' and all that?!" He asked angrily.

"That was bull shit! I was just trying to make myself feel better!"

Thunderlane growled and narrowed his eyebrows.

"We're, like, a couple minutes from the facility! Just suck it up and push the friggin' cloud!" He shouted over the wind.

Static shook his head angrily, his thundercloud inching closer as the wind picked up even more.

"I just told you yesterday how afraid I am of storms, and now you're going to tell me to suck it up?!"

Thunderlane quickly noticed the cloud moving closer to the dark-blue pegasus.

"S-Static..." He said, a chill slowly running down his spine.

"No, dude! It's messed up! You see, this is what happens when you open up to anypony. They don't even give a shit!"

"Static!"

"No, Thunderlane, Piss-off!"

The night sky went silent as Static turned back to face his cloud, but with one final gust of wind, the cloud rushed towards him and swallowed him whole. The air instantly escaped Thunderlane's lungs as his friend was pulled into the roaring cloud.

Static immediately screamed in pain as the first bolt of lightning struck his coat, sending a tingling and burning sensation up his spine and throughout his body.

"Static!" Thunderlane shouted, his breath finally coming back to him.

The dark-blue pegasus couldn't speak, only scream in searing pain as the numerous bolts of lightning that had been trapped in the cloud, unleashed their energy on him, tossing him around the dark cloud like a rag-doll. Thunderlane shoved his thundercloud away and briskly flew over to Static's cloud as he was continually struck by the bolts of lightning that inhabited it. The ghastly screams of pain from his friend sent chills down his spine and brought tears to his eyes.

"HELP ME!" Static managed to say as the bolts struck him, over and over again.

"I-I don't know how!" Thunderlane replied, his mind going into full panic mode.

The dark-grey pegasus shoved the cloud harshly, trying to free his friend from the electric prison that was torturing him, but to no avail. The cloud simply moved farther away as Static continued rolling around, his body now glowing from the electrical energy stabbing at his coat. The shove, however, had a negative effect, as the cloud started to glow a bright red.

"Oh shit... I'm sorry, man!" Thunderlane shouted, backing away from the cloud.

"S-SORRY?!" Static replied frantically.

Within a matter of seconds, the cloud exploded, sending a massive, booming, roar of thunder across the night sky along with a shower of bright sparks. Static's unconscious and charred body flew from the bottom of the cloud at an intense speed, surrounded entirely by dimly glowing sparks. Within seconds, he flew from Thunderlane's view, and back down to the surface. The dark-grey pegasus searched around frantically.

"Static?! Oh shit man, no!" He shouted, sheer terror taking over his voice.

Static's sparking body continued flying with a massive amount of speed. After what seemed like hours, he finally dropped onto the roof of a bright-red barn, crashing through the roof and sending debris in all directions. After crashing through a numerous amount of wooden rafters, he collided harshly with the ground below, putting a dent in the ground and sending dirt flying in all directions. The sparks still continued to dance around Static's coat as he let out a weak groan, his eyes held shut tightly. The dark-blue pegasus twitched for a few moments before resting his head on the cold dirt floor of the barn, slowly sliding out of consciousness.