June 4th. 7:30 PM
*BANG!*
Thunder roars across the sky with lighting brightening it up for only a second with a few flashes. Lyra and Bon Bon are in the living room with the television on. So far, hardly anything is on for their entertainment. Whether it be a sitcom, a movie, or perhaps even cartoons. Whatever is at least interesting in their books, it’s fair to say they can enjoy it, especially with this storm over their heads. With nothing else to do, and pouring down rain outside, all the two best friends can do was just see whether if the storm would either pass, or continue all night.
However, that’s not the case. The weatherman said it would continue like this all night with some very violent storms, possibly tornadoes, even. However, the threat hasn’t reported high enough as far as the two are aware.
The news has confirmed that hundreds of miles west of them, several tornadoes have touched down, and caused significant amount of damage. The highest rating was a three on the enhanced fujita scale by far.
“Have there been any times where you get so board, you wanted to see what’s on TV?” Lyra asked Bon Bon, laying back on the couch.
“All the time.” Was Bon Bon’s reply. Resting her head on her fist. “But when nothing’s on, that just makes it even worse. I thought I was gonna die over boredom.” Lighting flashed across the sky with a little bit of thunder behind it as Bon Bon finished speaking.
“Pff, you got that right.” Was Lyra’s reply as she scrolls through the channel. “Let’s see, what’s on tonight while we wait for this stupid storm to pass?” Lyra talks to herself. The two have been watching cartoons for the past hour, and so far, they are not that interested. Especially when it’s just reruns of popular cartoons that they saw when they were kids. “Darn it, still nothing?”
“Ugh!” Bon Bon buried her face on the chair arm. “I’m gonna die, can you put me out of my misery so I won’t get board ever again?” Bon Bon asks in a sarcasm manner.
“Sorry Bon Bon, I don’t do that.” Loud thunder roars across the sky with lightning as Lyra replied.
“How come we couldn’t go to my place again?” Bon Bon asks, resting her head on her fist once more.
“Cause it was your idea to hang out here.” Was Lyra’s only reply. Bon Bon groans as she then sees what appears to be headlights moving into the driveway.
Bon Bon steps up off her seat, and looks out the window. She could hardly recognize the vehicle due to how dark it is as well as the rain making her view very limited. With a bit of lightning flashes, she can only just make out that it is Lyra’s father. “Hey Lyra, is that your dad pulling in?” Bon Bon asks her best friend.
Lyra steps up off her seat and walks to the window where Bon Bon’s looking out of. A few more flashes of lighting accrues as Lyra can now only just see who it is. “Oh yeah, it is. He’s home early.” Lyra states as she runs to unlock the door for him. He walks in, soaking wet from all the rain. He scrapes his boots on the rug for a brief moment.
“Hey, sweetheart.” He says to Lyra, kissing her forehead.
“Hi dad.” Lyra says to her father.
“Oh hey, Bon Bon. You stay with with us tonight during this storm?” He asked, putting up his jacket while Bon Bon hands him the towel. He thanks her for it while drying himself off.
“Yeah, I guess we got carried away and I just decided it’s too rough for me to head back home. So I’d figured I might stay here till all this blows over.” Bon Bon replies.
“Well I’d be more than happy to take you back home whenever you want.” He says, walking to the kitchen.
“Oh no, it’s ok. I kinda enjoy my best friend’s company anyway.” Bon Bon replies, punching her best friend, playfully.
“Oh yeah? You’ll melt in all that rain. “Oh no, help me! I’m Bon Bon, and it’s raining! Oh my goodness, somebody please save me!”” Lyra playfully mocks Bon Bon.
“Oh shut up, you.” Bon Bon punches her arm a little bit again.
“Hey girls, no need for all that.” Lyra’s father replies while fixing himself some orange juice. “Gosh, I haven’t seen the weather quite like this in a while. I can’t remember when we last had this type of weather.” Lightning soars through the sky with thunder following behind as he finished his sentence while looking out the window as the bushes wave around in the wind.
“What do you mean, dad?” Lyra asks.
“Well I have no idea if you kids heard, but...there’s been multiple reports of tornadoes lately in the past two days. Two or three towns are destroyed further out west of us, and it looks like part of it’s here tonight.” Lyra’s dad replies, drinking his orange juice. “I just pray that we don’t get anything bad enough than what we’re getting now.”
A shiver goes down the two best friend’s spine. A tornado touching down close to them? All Lyra and Bon Bon could do was gulp at the thought of that. Anything can happen in a situation like this. Especially in a storm that might be as bad as this one, if not worse.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Lyra replies, looking out the window. She can only watch as a streak of lightning sores across the sky, only to be followed by a loud roar of thunder. “I hope.”
***
8:30 PM.
An hour has gone by, the storm has not yet blown over. It’s hard to tell whether it’s gotten much worse or has yet to change. So far from the naked eye, nothing has changed. Just more heavy rain, winds, thunder, and lightning. Absolutely nothing else. Thankfully, no tornado. Not yet, at least.
Lyra and Bon Bon are in Lyra’s bedroom looking through some magazines that Lyra has lying around. “Huh, a fashion magazine. I wonder if there are at least few more girls that we don’t know about that’s trying to look pretty, Eh?” Lyra asks, hanging her head over the bed and looking through it, upside down.
Bon Bon is on her phone as she looks up videos online. “Like Rarity? Pff, I don’t think any girl will look as pretty as her.” Bon Bon chuckles.
“Tell me about it. Can you even stand looking that beautiful? I mean, the attention would be nice, but what if it’s too much?” Lyra asks.
“The heck are you talking about, Lyra?” Bon Bon asks, looking back at her.
“I mean, look. I can’t imagine all the boys this chick must get in a day.” Lyra chuckles, showing Bon Bon the picture of a lady in fashion.
“Who knows? You’ll never know with the life of a fashionista.” Bon Bon’s reply.
“Let me guess, words of Rarity?” Lyra asks, holding back a small laugh.
“Nope, not really.”
“Whatever you say.” Lyra tosses the magazine, and looks through her pile once again. Lyra hangs her head over the bed once again as she sits there. Listening to the wind, and the thunder outside while witnessing the lighting flashing through her bedroom window. “You know what? I’m hungry.”
“Hungry?” Bon Bon asks.
“Heck yeah I’m hungry!” Lyra replies, sitting up, and standing on the floor. “Come on, let’s cook a pizza!” She starts heading towards her bedroom door to make an exit.
“Lyra, are you always hungry?” Bon Bon asks her.
“What, I’m never me when I’m hungry.” Lyra replies, opening the door, and stepping out.
“Pff, yeah, whatever.” Bon Bon says with a chuckle, following her best friend downstairs to the kitchen.
***
*Phone Rings.*
“Hello?” Lyra’s father picks up his phone from his pocket.
“Hi, honey. Are you home yet?” Lyra’s mother asks through the phone.
“Hey, baby. Yeah, I’m home. I’ve been here for over an hour.” He replies, hearing Lyra and Bon Bon coming from upstairs to the kitchen.
“Well I’ve been hearing there’s been a few tornado sightings two hundred miles from us, and I just wanted to make sure that you guys knew about it.” Lyra’s mother replies.
“Yeah, they did show the damage they’ve done already, it looks pretty bad. They haven’t said anything about us yet.”
“Ok, well listen. If you don’t mind, do you think you can come and pick me up from work?” Lyra’s mom asks.
“Yeah, baby, I’m on my way right now. I’ll see you later, okay? Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
They both hang up the phone together. Dad turns on the news to see what’s going on. A few tornado sightings can’t be good enough. Especially in this weather.
“Good evening, and welcome back to Equestria News. Earlier today in Appaloosa, a funnel cloud has been spotted, and this tornado that touchdown has been confirmed an EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. Four fatalities have been confirmed, and leaving three, maybe four hundred citizens injured.” The news man reports, showing the damage. “Appaloosa said they’ve never really seen any type of tornado like this. Their last tornado was an EF-1, which only did moderate damage, but nothing as severe as this.” They show a few images of a few houses peeled from the walls, and roofs only half torn off. Trees uprooted and fallen on houses, the list just about keeps going. Lyra’s father is in shock at what he’s seeing on television.
“So far, it has not yet been confirmed which town is under a tornado watch as well as a tornado warning. The national weather service is doing everything they can to report this data. However, we can only confirmed that some activity is moving into the Crystal Prep Academy. The radar has confirmed a supercell is forming in that area, but we cannot identify whether it’ll bring the possible threat to tornadoes. Very heavy rain, and golfball to baseball size hail can only be confirmed. We all might want to bury the hatches out there, folks, this one is not like anything we’ve ever seen from this outbreak.” Lyra’s dad turns the TV off, and he heads to the kitchen.
“Girls?” He replies, seeing them in the kitchen, getting a pizza in the oven.
“Yeah dad?” Lyra replies.
“Listen, I’m going to pick up your mother from work, ok? I’m gonna need you to stay here and hold the fort while I’m gone.” Her dad asks.
“Is mom’s car still in the shop?”
“Yes, Lyra, that front bumper will need some repairs after that accident she had. She’ll get it back in order, don’t worry.” He says, grabbing his keys, and kisses Lyra’s forehead. “I’ll see you in a bit, ok?” Lyra nods to him as he walks to the door.
“Dad?” Lyra gets his attention before he opens it. “If anything goes wrong, what do I need to do? Just in case.” Lyra’s dad slowly steps in front of her.
“Ok, honey. If anything goes wrong, there’s a map that has every street in Canterlot, ok? I don’t know the name of this place, but if you look on the map, it’ll have something that has to do with the emergency centre. They have a storm shelter there where you girls will be safe. If anything else fails, your mom and I will be headed that way too.” He replies. “It’s in the section under maps, and you’ll see a book that says “Map of Equestria” and it should be on the further right. It’s a yellow book. Ok?”
“Ok dad.” Lyra replies.
“Alright.” He says, kissing her forehead, and heading to the door. “I’ll see you in a bit.” He opens the door, and walks out. Shielding himself with his own jacket as he rushes to his pick up truck. He quickly gets in, and turns the ignition, getting ready to leave the driveway.
Lyra looks out the window as she watches her father back out of the driveway, but her phone starts ringing. She gets it out of her pocket to see that it’s her mother that’s calling her.
“Hello?”
“Hi sweetheart, how you doing?” Lyra’s mom asks.
“Oh hi mom. Dad’s just leaving the house, he’s on his way to go get you right now.” Lyra explained.
“That’s excellent, sweetie. Listen, are things alright over there?”
“Yeah mom, everything’s fine.” Lyra replies.
“Ok, just making sure, this storm is getting really bad, I don’t know how-“ The phone immediately cuts out. Lyra gets a concerned look on her face after the call dropped on her cell phone.
“Mom? Hello? Mom, you there?” Lyra looks at her phone to show that there is no longer any signal. “Bon Bon, check your phone, mine just dropped on mom. I don’t have any signal!”
“What?” Bon Bon quickly reaches out her phone. She has no signal as well. “I don’t have any service either.”
With a quick thought, Lyra puts her phone away and races to the front door. She opens it as she stands in the front porch with the wind pushing the heavy rain onto her. Her father has only just backed out of the driveway.
“Dad! Dad, stop! Wait!” Lyra waves her arms to try to get his attention. She even tried to run out into the rain, but he drives off, disappearing into the pitch black street with only his tail lights getting dimmer the farther he goes.
Lyra shields her face from the force of the rain as she hurries back onto the front porch, and walks inside the house. Now with no phone service, there is absolutely no communication to anyone, at all.
“This isn’t good.” Lyra rubs her shoes on the mat while Bon Bon brings her a towel. Lyra thanks her for it and dries her face off.
“Did you catch him?” Bon Bon asks, now getting worried.
“No, I couldn’t reach him in time. I don’t know if it was even too dark for him to see me.” Lyra replied.
“Then we’re stuck here, aren’t we?” Bon Bon’s question made the room fall silent with only the storm outside to break the silence. “Unless this storm blows over?”
“I think it’s far from over, Bon Bon. You don’t think the storm blew out the signal towers, do you?”
“I...I don’t know.”
The two friends stayed silent as they look outside again through a window. One can only hope if a tornado somewhere hasn’t knocked a cell tower down. They hope.
***
Half an hour has passed, worried as the two are ever with no signal, they keep trying again every ten minutes. Bon Bon walks back and forth in stress, even if there is no signal, she at least calls a number, any number. She doesn’t care who it is. It’s as if she at least wants to get in contact with someone, even if there’s still no signal.
Frustrated, Bon Bon throws her phone on the couch cushion.
“Still no signal?” Lyra asks, standing beside the window.
“No, nothing, I...maybe I should try to make it home, Lyra, I don’t know if I can stay here any longer.” Bon Bon says, getting worried. Her leg starts shaking as she sits on the couch.
“No, nuh-uh, you can’t go out there. No way.” Lyra replies. “You can’t go out there.”
“Lyra, will you please calm down? You’re freaking me out, ok? E-Everything’s gonna be fine.”
Lyra looks at Bon Bon, differently. She walks behind the couch towards her best friend. “The heck do you know about tornadoes? You hate storms. You’re the girl that likes sunshine everyday. What can you possibly know?”
“I uh...took that test in science class about them?” Bon Bon scratches her head.
“But you failed that. Plus, that was like last year!” Lyra adds in.
“Ok, Lyra. You’re right, I don’t know about them.” Bon Bon quickly stands up off the couch and walks behind the couch to stand by her friend. “I said that cause you’re freaking me out! I can tell you one thing though, even if it won’t happen now, or five minutes from now, tornadoes probably can’t form here, anyway! This area isn’t even that flat enough for them, right? Even if they do, they always move northeast most of the time, but isn’t this storm headed east or something?” Bon Bon jabbers on.
“I don’t even know, Bon Bon!” Lyra buries her face in her hands to collect herself. “Ok, how about this? Let’s just turn on the weather channel, and we’ll see where this storm is at least headed to.” Lyra grabs the remote from the couch, and finds the news channel.
“I hope to goodness it’s almost over.” Bon Bon crosses her fingers to hope for the best. The two stand there behind the couch as Lyra finds it.
Here we go.
“Thank you for joining us this evening at Equestria News for further update. A tornado has been reported seventeen miles northwest of the Crystal Prep Academy.” Lyra and Bon Bon stand in awe. Finding out that a tornado has been spotted close to their area is something that doesn’t wished to behold. “The national weather service has issued a tornado warning for the Canterlot area.” Shivers go down their spine after hearing the words Canterlot under a tornado warning. This is not good. “Persons in the local areas in or around Canterlot are urged to take shelter immediately once this storm hits. Stay tuned for Equestria local news on this emergency broadcast situation.” Lyra turns off the TV, and drops the remote in fear.
Bon Bon starts to pant in a panic. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!”
“Hey! Hey! Hey! Bon Bon, listen to me! Listen to me, ok?” Lyra grabs her friend’s shoulders to get her attention. “We will get through this, alright? We just have to hope for the best, ok? Alright?”
“B-But, one’s close to Canterlot! It’s coming straight for us! What if it comes near us?!?”
“No! No! No it’s not! Bon Bon, listen to me. Take a deep breath, ok?” Bon Bon does as she’s instructed. She takes in one big breath. “Now let it out.” Bon Bon let’s it out. She does this over and over as it only just helps her. Still shaking in fear that there is now a chance of a tornado spawning near them, Bon Bon takes slow deep breaths over and over. “You good?” Lyra asks her friend.
“Yeah, yeah I’m good.” Was Bon Bon’s reply. “I think I’m ok.”
“Alright, good. Listen, let’s stick together, ok? No matter what happens, I’ll always be here by your side. You’re my best friend no matter what, Bon Bon.” Lyra says all that to Bon Bon to at least calm her down, which it worked, but who knows how long, though.
“Thanks, Lyra, I...feel so much better now.” Bon Bon says as she collects herself more. Lyra pats her on the back.
“That’s good to hear.” Lyra replies, until the sound of tornado sirens have been signaled. The two jumped out of their skins. One must’ve been spotted closer than they thought.
“What is that?!?” Bon Bon asks in a panic.
“Oh my gosh, you’re joking!” Lyra replies as she races to the utility closet. Bon Bon races to one of the windows as she was getting ready to open it. “Do not open those windows, get in here!”
Bon Bon does as she was instructed. Racing in the utility closet as she hands her stuff. “Ok, take these. Take a lantern, a flashlight, and a blanket to protect ourselves!”
“Where do you want me to set them, Lyra?”
“Just hang on to one of them for now, ok?” Lyra replies as she steps down from the shelf.
“Oh my goodness, it’s here! Lyra, it’s here!” Bon Bon panics.
“No it’s not! I gotta get something from upstairs, I’ll be right back!” Lyra says as she races up the stairs while the sirens are still going off. She barges into the office room and looks for that book her dad was talking about. As she was looking as fast as she can, the sirens stopped.
Lyra pauses her searching and looks out the window. “What the heck?” Lyra raises an eyebrow. She can still see that heavy rain dancing on the windows as well as hearing thunder followed by lightning. Bon Bon’s heavy footsteps quickly run up the stairs.
“It stopped!” Bon Bon calls out, entering the office. “Did they change their minds or something?”
“I don’t know, it’s just...they just stopped signaling the sirens. That’s weird.” Lyra replied.
“Maybe there’s a fault on the radar system or something and that it was a false alarm.” Bon Bon suggested.
“That’s your conspiracy theory?” Lyra asked, looking back at her.
“It can happen.”
“Yeah, maybe it can happen. Who you gonna trust, your conscience, or the weather channel? I wouldn’t go too far as to saying who’s right or wrong.” Lyra replied.
“Ok.” Was Bon Bon’s only reply. “But can you see if it’s at least outside?”
“Bon Bon.” Lyra places her hand over her face, and takes a deep breath. “Ok, fine.” She goes to each window and tries to see if IT is at least out there. With only the lightning to help her at least see, she looks through every window she can possibly see out of. The room does not give her a full three hundred sixty degree view. However, she can see how low the clouds are, and the rain is slowing down.
“Ok, Bon Bon, I don’t see a tornado, anywhere. We’re good.” Lyra said.
“Ok, thanks, Lyra. I just wanted to be sure. I’ll meet you back downstairs.” Bon Bon says as she leaves the room. Lyra, suspiciously looks back at the window, and see that the rain has stopped, completely, but it is still thundering and lightning outside. Not having too much thought, Lyra turns off the light, and heads back downstairs.
***
Half an hour has flown by as the storm has at least calmed down from the rain. However, since the sirens went off, there hasn’t been a drop of rain left. Could the storm be over, or could the worse begin already?
Lyra and Bon Bon are in the living room, trying to enjoy a bit of television. Experiencing a few glitches due to the storm clouds blocking the satellite from communicating, but the TV is still at least watchable.
“What’s going on with the TV?” Bon Bon asks as it barely glitches.
“It’s the storm. Signal’s not picking up very well.” Lyra sighed. The TV then suddenly cuts to black, and the “No Signal” sign pops up. The two girls sigh in frustration as a bigger cloud may be blocking the signal. “Great.” Lyra said, resting her head on the arm of the couch.
“Hey, hasn’t it stopped raining?” Bon Bon asks as lighting flashes outside, still followed by thunder.
“Oh yeah.” Lyra says as she sits up, and she walks to the window. “Yeah, I saw it happen a little while ago. I don’t get it, if it stopped raining, why is the storm still here?” Lyra asks.
“I don’t know, but I think I got an idea to pass the time.” Bon Bon said as Lyra looks back at her. “How about a board game? Maybe to pass the time, at least?”
“That’s actually not a bad idea. I was gonna suggest it earlier, but I don’t know how boring it’ll be. Let’s see what we got.” The two begin to race to the utility closet. “Ok, let’s see here.” Lyra digs through some board games. She ask Bon Bon if she’s into either Connect Four, Sorry, or maybe even Yahtzee. Bon Bon would not be in the mood for any of them. Lyra keeps digging until she eventually hears some loud whirling noise as if an object is being swung around. “Hey, Bon Bon, can you turn the TV down? I’m trying to think.” Lyra asks.
“Uh...Lyra?” Bon Bon gets Lyra’s attention. “The TV’s still out.” Lyra gets off the shelf and walks into the living room and sees that the TV is still out, and the whirling noise gets louder...and louder...and faster.
“Wait, if that’s not you, and if that’s not the TV, then...what’s that noise?” Lyra asks. Both of them stand completely still for a solid ten seconds. Lightning begins to flash a tab bit brighter, the dirty dishes shaking, then the house starts to rumble. The two get scared.
“Lyra?!?”
Objects start falling off the shelves on the way to the floor as Lyra rushes over to catch as much as possible. Tornado sirens go off once again as more and more very bright, what might be harsh white to the naked eye lightning flashes light up the sky as the house shakes uncontrollably.
“It’s here! The book, I gotta get the book!” Lyra screams as she hurries upstairs.
“I’ll stay down here and try to pull up the weather channel!” Bon Bon replies with the house violently shaking as if there’s an earthquake.
Lyra barges into the office as the rattling only just stops and everything comes to a total stand still, but it will not last. She tries to hurry up to find that book as the sirens turn themselves off.
“Ok, them sirens can’t make up their stupid minds, can they?!?” Lyra asks herself, being annoyed, but continues to look for the book, anyway. “Ok, where are you?”
“Lyra! Come here! Quick!” Bon Bon shouts from downstairs. The shaking starts once again. “LYRA!” Bon Bon calls from downstairs. Lyra stops what she’s doing, and races out of the office room with the house shaking like mad. She hurries downstairs where she meets Bon Bon. “Lyra! I was just trying to pull up the weather channel! There was still no signal but that popped up!” Bon Bon yells through the screaming wind and house rattling. Lyra can only just see the TV flashing “TORNADO WARNING”.
“What’s happening?!? What does that mean?!?” Bon Bon asks Lyra.
“It means we’re in big trouble! It’s here!” Lyra answered. Windows start breaking from the force of the wind. The girls scream as lights starts to flicker. Lyra gets knocked off her feet, falls down the stairs, and onto the floor below. Winds over a hundred miles an hour have now entered the house as well as leaves and flying debris.
“Lyra! Lyra, I gotta get home, now!” Bon Bon screams and rushes down the rest of the stairs to try and hurry home, but Lyra grabs her by the legs before she can even touch the door leading to the now dangerous outside stormy weather. Bon Bon falls to the floor almost face first as Lyra grabs her and climbs on top of her to make eye contact with her terrified best friend.
“Bon Bon, listen to me!” Lyra said to her through the screaming wind. She pins Bon Bon down on the floor as she looks at her in the eyes. “Look at me! Listen to me, alright?!?”
“Okay!”
“Okay?”
“Okay, Lyra, okay!”
“You’re not going anywhere! It’s too dangerous outside, alright?!?”
“Okay!”
“Alright?”
“Okay!”
The two girls look around as leaves swirl into the house while they enter through the broken windows. The wind screams even louder and gets even stronger. The power suddenly goes out, leaving the two best friends in almost complete darkness with only flashes of lighting barely even lighting up the house. Lyra gets herself, and Bon Bon on her feet.
“Come on, Bon Bon! Get up!”
“Alright!”
“Listen, Bon Bon! Go downstairs, alright?!?
“Okay!”
“Okay?”
“Okay!”
“Alright, I gotta go find something! Come with me!” Lyra grabs her friend by the hand, gives her a lantern, and a flashlight. “Here, grab these, hurry!” Lyra then opens the basement door as she grabs a flashlight of her own. “Go! I’ll catch up with you, ok?”
“Okay, I’m going!” Bon Bon instantly replies. Lyra shuts the door behind her and hurries up the stairs. She gets to the office door, and can only just open it due to the force of the wind. She enters and sees that shelves have been knocked over. The desk laying down, and paper flying out the window. The shelf that Lyra was looking at earlier is facing down, and with only enough strength the has in her, Lyra picks it up, and pushes the books and paper that were underneath it. She tries searching for that book as fast as she can, only to feel that the wind is getting stronger, and is now pulling her by a thread.
Before she can even get sucked out of the window, she catches herself by the frames of the window as she can now see the tail of the tornado behind the trees blowing in the direction it’s spinning. She can only watch as it begins to uproot, and pick up trees as it’s heading directly towards her house.
Lyra uses the strength she has in her to push herself away from the window. She ducks down and searches through the pile of paper, and sees a yellow book that reads “Map of Equestria” as she shines her flashlight on it.
She grabs it, and quickly gets up, but the desk barely pushes her up against the wall. She manages to get out and can only just walk to the door. She grabs the frame of the door and holds onto it. She looks back at the window, and can only watch as the behemoth tornado gets dangerously close and rips out almost the entire wall.
Lyra only just escapes and heads to the top of the stairs as the wind is still trying to pull her.
Bon Bon’s voice finally comes in. “Lyra! Lyra, where are you?!?” Bon Bon calls out. She sees her best friend struggling to get by as she watches in awe while the walls start crackling, and dust from the ceiling falls. “Lyra! Come on, hurry up!” Bon Bon grabs her hand, and helps her down stairs as the tornado rips up more sections of the wall. The two scream in fear and cover their heads with their arms as the house is now crumbling down on top of them.
“Come on! Come on!” Lyra screams as they reach the basement in time before debris from the house begins to crumble. The two hurry downstairs.
“Ok, ok put the lantern up there, ok?” Lyra suggest.
“But where?!?” Bon Bon asks, panicking. The two start screaming at each other for two seconds when Lyra points the flashlight at a hook.
“Up there! On the hook! You see the hook? Put it on the hook!”
“Yes! Yes, I see it!”
Bon Bon puts the lantern on the hook only just illuminating the room with a very dim light. Lyra quickly grabs her wrist.
“Ok, come on! In here!” Lyra leads Bon Bon to the basement guest bathroom. Shutting the door, Lyra begins to instruct Bon Bon to sit down. “Ok, come on. Sit down right here!” Lyra suggest. Her and Bon Bon sit down by a toilet.
“Ok, Lyra? Ok Lyra, I need to get home and check out for my mom and dad, something might happen to them, alright?” Bon Bon says, getting up, but before she can even touch the door...
“No! No, hey! Hey, sit down!” Lyra grabs her and forces her to sit there beside her. “It’s here, alright? Can’t you hear it! It’s here!”
Dust from the ceiling starts coming down. The two scream and cover their heads.
The rumbling suddenly stops. They very slowly look up at the ceiling and begin to question in their minds what might be happening next.
“What the heck?”
“Did it stop?”
A noise starts to fill their ears from upstairs. What appears to be a chair sliding. “Lyra, I think your mom’s home. Ms. Heartstrings!”
“No, that’s not my mom!”
“We’re down here!”
“THAT’S NOT MY MOM!”
The rumbling starts happening again as dust from the ceiling starts falling once again as decorations, possessions, perhaps even debris that may have entered from outside into the house are flying around from upstairs. The tornado must be much closer than they think.
Lyra starts to grab a nearby blanket and gets it over her and Bon Bon.
“Lyra, what are you doing?!?”
“Put this blanket over us! It’ll protect us! Hurry, come on!” Lyra suggest. Bon Bon puts the rest of the blanket over her head, and they make sure they cover their heads too.
“We’re gonna die!” Bon Bon screams, sounding terrified.
“No we’re not! Everything’s gonna be ok!” Said Lyra. The two wait anxiously for all this to blow over while the house is falling apart. The two can only just hug each other close and hope for the best. “Everything’s gonna be ok, Bon Bon. I promise.” Lyra says to her scared best friend. Bon Bon nods her head while Lyra holds her close.
A very loud bang can be heard what sounds like it may have came from upstairs. All of a sudden, everything stops. The house stops shaking, the wind may have stopped blowing. Has it passed?
The two wait a minute as total silence fills the air. “Is that it?” Bon Bon asks. Lyra gets the blanket off of them. She very slowly stands up and slowly walks to the door. She slowly opens it, and reveals rubble everywhere. No wind can be heard nor felt. No more debris flying around. The tornado has finally passed, leaving all this mess behind.
“Yeah, that’s it. It’s over.” Lyra replied. The two start leaving the basement bathroom and start to walk into this mess. “Ok, we need to get out of here.”
The two get startled when the upper floor begins to give in slightly by a loud bang. The tornado must have ripped apart a support or two, and now the upper level can give in at any given moment.
“Come on, let’s go.” Lyra and Bon Bon search with a flashlight to find a way out. The upper floor creaking from above, only being held up by the supports that can turn into rubble.
“Oh great, don’t tell me we’re trapped, are we.” Said Lyra.
“There’s gotta be another way out of here somehow, like uh...” Bon Bon begins to search for something. “Hey, hey is that a hole?”
“Where?”
The two shine their flashlights at it. It looks to be big enough for them to climb through.
“Ok, we have to climb.” Lyra suggest. They get startled with a very loud bang as the supports are falling apart. They start yelling at each other to go on or hurry up. Bon Bon gets some debris to climb on, and gets through.
“Ok, I’m out! Come on Lyra! We gotta hurry, ok?” Bon Bon gives her a hand as the upper level begins to slowly cave in. Lyra grabs her best friend’s hand to help her up, and the upper level collapses with a very loud thud that could be heard from block away.
“You ok?” Bon Bon asks Lyra. She nods as the two begin to behold the damage this tornado has done. There is nothing left of this house. It is now nothing but a pile of debris.
“Oh my gosh.”
“Oh man.”
“The entire house. This is like a nightmare.”
“I can’t believe this.”
They two look around as a small fire was ignited to their right followed by some sparks. This is one sight to behold. It is amazing to see what one tornado alone can do to your house in a heartbeat.
“Ok, we have to go.” Lyra suggest as she grabs Bon Bon’s hand, and the two race down the street to get away from the house. Twigs, branches, and debris from various houses scattered all over the place. As well as downed power lines. “Be careful, power lines are down.” Lyra speaks up as sparks fly out of one of them.
“Ok Lyra.” Bon Bon says as her and Lyra stops for a minute. “Now that you got your map, where are we going?”
Lyra opens it up, and she begins searching for a page that reads “Emergency”. Bon Bon helps by shining a flashlight onto the page. It shows what looks like an emergency care centre in Canterlot.
“Ok, we’re gonna need a ride.” Lyra suggest as she looks to where Canterlot is at. A search light can be seen as they are miles away from the place.
“That’s great and all, Lyra, but, where can we find one?” Bon Bon asks.
“I don’t know.” Said Lyra. “Should we keep walking down the street and just hope to find a car or something?”
“I really don’t like the idea.” Bon Bon suggests.
“I know, but it’s our only hope. If we find a car we can use it to drive down there. We can meet up with our folks if they’re there.” Lyra begins to search for a car while Bon Bon helps.
The neighborhood what now looks like a destroyed ghost town should at least have one car somewhere. Bon Bon shines a flashlight at one covered by debris.
“Lyra, I found one!” Bon Bon calls out. Lyra runs to her, and shines her flashlight at the car.
“Please let there be a key in the ignition.” Lyra praises.
“What, you don’t know how to Hotwire cars?” Bon Bon asks.
“Do you?”
“Ok, good point.”
The two begin to hurry and remove the debris from the car. Lyra opens the door, gets in the driver side, and begins searching. “Ok, key, key, key.” She then opens a flap that would help to keep the sun out of your eyes as the keys fall into her lap. “Bon Bon, I got the keys!” Lyra calls out.
Bon Bon gets into the car with her as she turns the ignition, and the car starts. “Ok, you hold onto this, and I’ll drive us to the centre.”
Bon Bon agrees as Lyra begins to drive onto the street. Being as careful as she can knowing that these power lines are down. She can only just drive out of the neighborhood fine as the two are on their way to the emergency care centre where there should be survivors from this deadly tornado.
June 8th.
It has been a long, hard few days between Lyra and Bon Bon. The two best friends cannot get over what they went through. The memories burnt into their minds, forever.
Both of their houses are destroyed by the tornado, but at least their loved ones are okay. Now in the process of remodeling, the two would have to stay at another guardians house until both of their houses have been built, but the worst of this outbreak is still nowhere near over.
After that night, just a few more tornadoes touched down much further south, and the highest ranking was an EF4 on the enhanced fujita scale.
As of right now, there have been more than one hundred tornadoes that touched down in Equestria, and over two hundred lives have been claimed, but the death toll will still rise the more this outbreak goes on, but it does look like it’s heading out to sea.
Lyra and Bon Bon are on the edge of the east coast of Equestria, and they’re both roommates as well. Living with Lyra’s grandmother until the house gets rebuilt.
Bon Bon’s grandmother passed away the previous year due to cancer, and Bon Bon’s parents suggested that it’s a good idea to stay with Lyra until further notice.
The two are at Lyra’s grandmother’s, staying in the guest bedroom. The sun is shining, but the radar says some bad storms are coming in from the outbreak.
Bon Bon sits at the window and just looks out as if there are things floating around in her head as to why something like this can happen. Especially in her town.
Lyra lays in the bed on her phone scrolling through the Internet. Looking for memes, maybe go someplace to eat, anything to get their mind of things.
“So...found anything you wanna do?” Bon Bon asks Lyra as the sun beams in the bedroom.
“Nothing yet. I was actually thinking we can go see a movie tonight in a drive-in theater.” Lyra suggested.
“Really? How far is that from here?” Bon Bon asks.
“The closest one is nearly an hour away from here. I just wanna get out of the house for a little while to get my mind off things.” Lyra says, scrolling through her phone.
“Yeah, me too.” Bon Bon replies. “So what movies are playing at the drive-in?”
“Well, they don’t have that many choices comparing how one movie theater can bring out a bunch of movies. How about a horror movie? There’s this new one called “Shark Infest”. Maybe we can go see it?” Lyra suggests?
“A horror movie about sharks, huh?” Bon Bon asks. She thinks of it for a second until she finally speaks. “Ok, let’s do it.”
“Alright, it comes on at 9:00 PM tonight.” Lyra sits up and puts her phone away.
“And right now it’s...three o’clock.” Bon Bon looks at the time on her phone. “What can we do for six hours?”
“I don’t know, we can probably think of something to pass us some time.” Lyra says. This one might be a long six hours.
Lyra pulls up the weather radar on her phone as she sees the outbreak has gotten worse in the past few days. She pulls up the location of the drive-in movie theater and sees that there’s some green over it tonight. Any location that is in red or darker can bring in tornadoes, but it looks like they may be ok. However, that is not always the case.
“Should we go? We might be able to get some rain.” Lyra asks.
“I don’t care, I just wanna get my mind off of things that happened a few days ago.” Bon Bon replied. “If it says we’re gonna get rain, then we should be ok.”
“Ok, let’s do this.” Lyra puts away her phone as the two girls begin to get ready for tonight.
***
8:30 PM.
*Bang*
Thunder roars across the sky as lightning illuminated the night sky. However, there is no rain. Lyra drives herself, and Bon Bon to the drive in theater. The storm has just arrived, but not a drop of rain has hit the windshield, nor has it gone through here. The roads are dry as a bone, and the air is really warm.
Bon Bon rolls down her passenger window as she lets the wind from the moving car cool her down a bit while she watches lightning flash and touch the ground from a great distance.
“Looks like the radar was wrong, wasn’t it?” Lyra asks. “It said we’d be in the green, but it looks like it would’ve been a bit worse than that.”
“Could this rainless storm mean that, too?” Bon Bon asks.
Lyra thinks for a moment while she still has her eyes on the road. “Yeah, you got a point there.”
“The weather radar’s a piece of junk anyway. They won’t tell you anything.” Bon Bon said. “They never told us that tornado was coming this way.”
Lyra goes quiet for a second while Bon Bon rests her head on the passenger door, and just looks out the window. The two go quiet for the rest of the trip to the movie theater, until they finally arrive. Lyra drives up to the window.
“Hi, two for Shark Infest, please?” Lyra asks the lady at the window. She pays for the tickets and thanks her after telling Lyra where to park.
Finding the spot, Lyra turns off the car as trailers for other movies start playing. The screen is still visible as lightning flickers from above.
Bon Bon checks her phone to see the weather radar and sees three thunderstorms lurking above them along with other thick clouds in bold red right beside them. One being a very big one that is right on top of them, the second being far out southeast where the beach would be, the third being another system located north or northwest of them which is a similar size as this storm cloud above them right now. This outbreak is moving off into the ocean where it can finally be over. Bon Bon puts her phone away, and watches the trailers of other movies while lighting lights up the sky followed by loud roars of thunder.
“I’ll be right back. I’m getting something from the snack bar.” Bon Bon says, stepping out of the car.
“Ok, Bon Bon. I’ll be right behind you.” Lyra replies. They both get out of the car, with Lyra locking the car doors. They both go to the snack bar and order something as the movie starts playing. Bon Bon sits at a picnic table, hearing the movie from other cars as everyone is laying on their car, or inside it while the film rolls.
~*~
About an hour has passed and the storm has gotten larger. Thunder gets louder, and lighting more brighter. The two continue to sit at the picnic table while the film still plays.
Bon Bon looks up at the sky as a giant bolt of lighting shoots across the sky at speed, followed by yet another loud roar of thunder.
Bon Bon stands up, and heads to the snack bar again. “Excuse me, can I have a soda to go, please?” Bon Bon asks the lady in the snack bar.
She fixes her one, and Bon Bon pays her for it after thanking her. She stands beside it and starts sipping away.
“Hey, you alright?” Lyra asks, standing beside her.
“To be honest, Lyra? I dunno. I know I said it earlier today, but this storm just keeps making me think about that night. I can’t stop thinking about it.” Bon Bon says. “It’s just bothering me so much.”
“Hey, it’s okay.” Lyra replied after she orders herself a soda as well. “Look, if it makes you feel any better. It’s starting to haunt me, too.” Bon Bon looks at her best friend after she pays for the soda after thanking the lady handing it to her. “It was a scary moment, even when the house was crumbling down on us. I still get nightmares about all that.” Lyra speaks as she looks inside the snack bar. A TV plays as she can see it’s the weather. She can only make out what looks like a big storm above their location, but she turns to Bon Bon the second she speaks.
“Yeah, it was dumb of me to say I need to get home when it was happening, was it?” Bon Bon asks.
“Well...yeah, but you were just scared. I was, too. Like I said, next time when another tornado happens, we just have to take cover. We can’t really be outside when one strikes, it’s too dangerous.” Lyra explains. She looks up at the sky and can see from the distance that lightning has struck the ground from a big distance with thunder roaring behind it.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Bon Bon replies sipping her cup as the thunder clapped above them. The two stayed quiet and watched the film from where they’re standing as a shark gets a hold of its victim. “How do they happen?” Bon Bon asks.
“Huh?”
“How do tornadoes happen, or why do they happen?” Bon Bon’s question made Lyra cock an eyebrow.
“Well...” Lyra begins to explain as the two finish their soda. “They just...happen. Once they happen, there’s nothing you can do, but how they happen, I did some research after it hit our houses. I read that warm humid air, and cold dry air come into contact. All the warm air starts to rise into those clouds which causes an updraft. That’s the number one ingredient for tornadoes. Once a funnel cloud forms, all that hot air is getting sucked into that vortex, and when it touches the ground, it becomes a tornado.” Lyra explains. “They just happen, Bon Bon. That’s the way nature works.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, there.” Bon Bon replies.
“Hey, let’s just finish this movie and head back home, okay?” Lyra punches her best friend, playfully. At least getting a smile from her.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Bon Bon replies, chuckling a bit. However, from the corner of her eye, the television starts to glitch out. Bon Bon gets suspicious. She taps Lyra’s shoulder and points at the glitching TV. It glitches to a point where they can no longer see what is going on, and the TV eventually reads “No Signal”.
Lyra and Bon Bon are now suspicious about this.
“What the heck?” Bon Bon mutters under her breath. Followed by a slight breeze of wind blowing in the direction the leads behind the big screen.
Behind it is a flat acre of land with some trees. They start to wave around at the wind. Small flashes of lighting starts to flicker like strobe lights followed by rumbles of thunder. The wind slowly starts picking up. Lyra and Bon Bon just stare at what’s going on. They look at each other, than back up at the sky.
Bolts of lighting flash across the sky. The two can only make out a circulation that is now happening just above them in the landscape.
Streaks of lighting flash around the rotation, continuously, with very loud claps of thunder that sounds more piercing then roars as the wind starts picking up, violently.
“Lyra? What’s happening?” Bon Bon gets scared. Lyra squints her eyes as lighting stops flashing for only a few seconds. She can only make out a vortex forming. “Oh my gosh! It’s coming isn’t it? Is it headed for us?” Bon Bon asks, scared out of her mind as the wind picks up violently.
Lyra can only just see that the vortex is forming bigger, and is on its way to touch the ground much faster. “No. It’s already here!” Lyra replies as the wind picks up even stronger. Sirens have been signaled, and dust from the dirt path is being flown around. People getting suspicious from where they’re sitting as they talk to each other and race out of their cars towards a building in a panic. Bon Bon starts panicking.
“OhmygoshOhmygosh! Not again! Not now!” Bon Bon starts panting franticly. Lyra grabs her best friend and looks at her.
“Bon Bon! Bon Bon, look at me! Listen! We’ve been through this before! We can get through this again, okay? There’s a bunker just across the parking lot from here, just go in there and I’ll meet you there, okay?” Lyra speaks to Bon Bon. She can only nod to her as Lyra screams at her through the harsh wind. “Go! Run as fast as you can, go!” Lyra screams as Bon Bon runs as fast as her legs will take her. Bolts of lighting now light up the parking lot in a harsh brightness as Lyra looks behind her, and sees a giant tornado right before her eyes. She only just slowly steps back as this monster tornado sores across the land heading straight for her. Lyra watches it for only a second in awe at the size of it as she realizes there is no time to be wasted. She has to take cover, now.
The tornado is now heading straight to the drive in theater as Lyra bangs on the glass in the snack bar, getting the employee’s attention. “Get underground! Take cover, right now! Tornado!” Lyra screams as they start running for their lives, and so does she. More people now got out of their cars as the tornado is now ripping apart some trees as it makes its way to the big screen, tearing it apart. Everyone starts running towards the bunker as this giant half a mile wide tornado rips apart the big screen, and tossing cars around as if they’re toys. Lyra runs as fast as she can to the bunker.
The big doors close, but Bon Bon opens a little one to wait on her best friend. Lightning brightens the parking lot as Bon Bon screams for her. “Lyra! Hurry!”
“I’m coming!” Lyra screams right back. She only just made it with a car landing behind her. “Get inside! Go!” Lyra tells Bon Bon. She gets one last look of the tornado before slamming the door shut but the wind pulling the door as she can only just close it with all the strength she has, and locking it. Her and Bon Bon hurry down to the little pit. Everyone telling each other to go and get down. Lyra and Bon Bon find a spot for themselves while everyone holds each other close and hope for the best.
The roaring sound similar to a freight train can be heard from the monster as all the windows from one side of the building explode. Everyone ducks their heads as glass falls on top of them. The two can only hug each other close to protect each other as does everyone else as the harsh wind rips apart the building with debris flying around as well as the lights from the building flickering.
Bon Bon screams in fright as Lyra tries her best to comfort her terrified best friend. More windows break as well as a car smashing through the roof, and landing beside the pit. Everyone screams in fear as they can only wait for this tornado to pass.
With the behemoth being half a mile wide, and nearly two hundred mile an hour winds, there will be no telling when this thing will end.
“Lyra! How much longer?!?”
“It’s ok, it’ll be over soon!”
Lyra and Bon Bon speak to each other through the harsh wind as another car tumbles on top of the first one. Pushing it towards the pit when the railing just stops it.
Not long after that, sparks fly off the big drive in theater sign as the winds rip it off of its stand, and into the building. Sparks fly everywhere as everyone screams in deep fear.
“It’s okay, Bon Bon! It’s gonna be okay!” Lyra says to her best friend as the wind starts to die down, but only leaving a breeze.
Finally, it stops, but has it dissipated? Everyone pants and is shaken up in fear after what everyone has just went through. The lights flicker from above them with debris piled all over the place. No one is hurt, nor buried alive.
“Is that it?”
“Is it over?”
“Where is it?”
Everyone keeps asking themselves. No one can move due to being frozen up in fear. Lyra and Bon Bon look at each other as they can only hope this storm has passed.
***
Help has finally arrived not ten minutes after the tornado hit. The police, fire fighters, and ambulances have all come to the rescue to help everyone out of the half collapsed building. Lyra and Bon Bon look around as they see everything before their eyes.
“Oh my goodness.” Lyra mumbles. She can’t believe it, and neither can Bon Bon. Half of the cars that are in the parking lot has survived this violent storm with only a few chunks of debris on them, and so has theirs, very luckily.
They look above them as the storm hasn’t fully passed. The clouds are still right over their heads, however, only very light flickers of lightning can be seen with tiny rumbles of thunder as this storm moves northeast. Lyra turns around, and she can see the EF-4 from a very good distance away. This tornado has not yet dissipated, it is still traveling strong.
Everyone watches in fear as this thing moves off into the distance where it eventually is no longer visible as far as the eye can see. Unknown whether it finally passed or not, but it is still moving northeast.
“Should we leave?” Bon Bon asks Lyra, but Lyra shakes her head.
“No, I don’t think it’s safe. I’d rather stay here and make sure they give the all clear.” Lyra replies. “I’m not getting picked up by that thing.”
The news van has arrived along with a storm chaser. He makes sure everyone is ok, while the news reports that a tornado had just passed through this location not too long ago.
Ten more minutes have went by as everyone gathers around as well as Lyra and Bon Bon as they listen to the storm chaser make reports about where this storm is.
“As a matter of fact, the tornado that struck this location was considered an EF-4, even though this storm is pretty much almost over, we still have around at least one, two, maybe three hundred miles of this storm left before it heads out to sea.” The storm chaser replies.
“Is the worst over, sir?” The news man asks him.
“As far as I’m aware, I cannot promise that the worst has passed. However, just five minutes ago I’ve been reported one tornado. Not the one that just passed this place, that one is now long gone. There is one tornado just a hundred miles north of here, they said this one. They’ve seen the debris ball is unbelievable. Everything this tornado destroyed launched around seventy thousand feet. They said this one could be ranked an EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale if it does good enough damage.” Everyone gasped from hearing that. “It’s not headed this way, but I’ve gotten reports from dispatch that they’ve never seen any outbreak like this in their lives. This has been the scariest one we’ve seen by far. The tornado that has been reported by dispatch is moving northeast, traveling at forty miles per hour, but the wind speed is right at three hundred miles per hour, and the width of this thing is unbelievable. They said it may only just surpassed a mile wide. That’s the strongest tornado we’ve seen in this outbreak by far, and it’s almost over.” The storm chaser replies.
“Is there anything you can predict before this storm ends?” The news man asks the storm chaser.
“All I can say is this storm is an absolute monster, it’s not behaving like any other supercell that I’ve seen. Predicting a tornado can be close to impossible. They can strike without warning. You could be sitting in your house all nice and quiet. Next thing you know, your house is falling apart by this thing much faster before you even have time to react. It’s a scary thing to experience, but at least we have more warning systems.” Was all he can reply.
The news man shakes his hand and thanks him while Lyra and Bon Bon go to there nearly survived car. They go in the cab but look at the weather radar really quick before they even think about driving home.
“Ok, looks like the storm has passed us. Yeah. He’s right, there’s defiantly something above us.” Bon Bon replies, pointing at the dark red area that is far away from them.
“Must be that EF5 he’s been talking about.” Lyra replies, cranking the car up. “Let’s try and get home safely.”
Lyra gets out of the parking lot, and onto the road as she drives both her, and her best friend home as fast as she can. The nightmare that the two have already went through has scared them for dear life, but at least the two best friends have survived two terrifying nights of deadly tornadoes ripping apart everything in their paths. Now it is all just memories.
One day they’ll both look back, but still remember the terrifying moments when the tornado would rip through the houses, and movie theater. They hope to never experience a thing like that again. They hope.
