The sound of the van fills the ears of both you and your friend, who is also your storm chasing partner, Rainbow Dash. She kept her eyes on the laptop that is resting on a little platform held by an arm attached to the dashboard.
You are on the driver seat, obviously driving. You have your eyes locked firmly on the road, but at the same time, looking up at the dark clouds above.
Tornado season has just peaked in two weeks ago, and still being April, you are bound to catch something. However, tornado warnings have not been notified since seasoning started in central Oklahoma. Only a few minor ones in up north close to Kansas, and down south in Northern Texas. Both are too far of a drive from where you are at the moment, but you do keep a sharp look out on either the radar, or on the local television news report.
“How we looking, Rainbow? The sky looks pretty dark.” You asked the cyan Pegasus as she rests her hoof on the laptop screen. You have taught her how to use the thing. However, she is still trying her best to get use to it.
“There’s a huge spot that looks like it’s right beside us. Hang on.” She speaks while trying to figure out how to use the unfamiliar device.
“You sure, Rainbow Dash?” You asked her as she brings up the picture of a real map to figure out where you are.
“Ugh! No.” She says to herself. Now pressing buttons as best as she can with her hooves. You look to your left side and see the clouds are even darker as she fiddles with the device. “Ah! How do I get outta this?”
“Hang on.” You said, pulling over. At the moment, you’re out in the country side. Only several miles away from the nearest town, which is not too bad. You reach over as you click a couple places as well as typing a few keys to get back to the radar. “Ok, so we’re in Canadian County. We’re in El Reno, and it really looks bad. See this Rainbow?” You said, showing her the screen. “This spot in the dead centre of this radar is where we’re at. The storm isn’t just beside us, it’s right on top of us.”
“Oh. Sorry, bro. Still trying to get use to the thing.” Rainbow scuffs a hoof at the seat.
“Oh no, it’s ok, Rainbow. I can understand. I’ll still teach you how to use this. Speaking of which…” You click off the radar for second to check the weather status. “Darn it, they keep saying it’s gonna storm.” You talk to yourself as you look to your left and notice the very dark sky in the far away distance has turned a very dark green-ish color. That’s not good.
Finally! A notification popped up. Tornado Watch for the following counties, and Canadian happens to be one of them. “Ok, so it says we’re under a watch, and they’ve put ten more counties under a watch too.”
“Is that bad?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“It’s not as bad, but it does tell you to keep a look out and be prepared. A warning means take cover now.” You demonstrated to the blue Pegasus. “So far, it doesn’t say a warning yet.”
*BANG!*
A loud popping noise can be heard from outside, hitting the van by the roof. Rainbow Dash gets spooked and immediately hugs you tight like a teddy bear. You hug her right back as you hear it too.
“What was that?” Rainbow Dash asked, calming down from the unexpected pop.
“I don’t know, but that ain’t thunder.” You mentioned, only hearing a small rumble of thunder from the distance of this storm.
*BANG!*
There is goes again. This time, at a different location outside the van. Rainbow let out a small scream from being startled. “What is that?” She asked again, this time, getting more worried. “Can I go check outside?” She asks, facing you.
“Uh…you sure?” Was all you can ask as she lets out a nod. “I don’t know, Rainbow, I-“
You’re cut off as the blue Pegasus breaks free from your arms, and opens the door. She immediately feels the warm humid air that surrounds her once she steps hoof into the dirt below just beside the road. She investigates, but finds nothing. No other animals on the van. Nobody causing havoc close by. No debris. Just…nothing. What could that noise be?
“Rainbow, can you come back inside, please?” You ask her, getting worried. She ignores you, and continues searching. She starts to slowly walk further and further from the van and gets closer to a nearby tree. Lucky for you, she’s staying where you can see her. The computer then upgrades as two counties are now in the red. Canadian, and Oklahoma county. They have just been upgraded to a tornado warning.
Just from the corner of your eye, a big clear ball falls from the sky and hits the road ten or so feet from the van. Luckily, this didn’t make a loud bang like what you heard a minute ago. You look as you can see it looks like it’s been halfway sunken into the road, only shattered pieces surrounding it.
You look closely as it’s not perfectly round, although it’s clear that it looks like ice. This sends a panic motion to your mind as another one falls right beside it.
Oh no.
“Rainbow! Get in the van, now!” You yell to get her back in.
“What?”
“Now! Come on!”
The golf ball size clear balls are now starting to come down like rain. Rainbow panics and shields her head with her wings as best as she can as she gallops her way back to the van. Golfball size hail now raining down as the rainbow maned pegasus races her way. Dodging all the hail stones raining down from above as best as she can.
Her wings start flapping, and she takes flight, and hurries to the van as if a fighter jet is making its way around the world in less than five minutes.
*CRACK*
“AAAAHHHH!” Rainbow screams and lands on the ground just beside the van. She wastes no time as she stands up, and enters the van, slamming the door shut. The loud banging noise heard from all over the van. Rainbow holds her wing and groans in pain.
“You alright?” You ask her through the noise.
“My wing!” Rainbow Dash groans. “Those things must’ve hit my wing! What are they?”
“That’s hail, and they’re golf ball size.” You said, taking a look at Rainbow Dash’s wing. One of those hail stones must’ve hit her wing hard enough. She’s bleeding. You quickly get up, and look for the first aid kit. “Hang in there, Rainbow.” You tell her as she winced in pain.
You quickly look for the first aid kit in the back of the van. You find it, and quickly move back to the front. Rainbow lays on the passenger side as tears of pain rolling down her cheeks. You take a look at her wing again and see more blood has formed.
“Can I see your wing, Rainbow?” You asked her. She lends you her wing and you touch it as gently as you can. Being that her wings are sensitive.
You rub some disinfect on it as Rainbow screams in pain. “I know, Rainbow.” You say as you can’t help but feel bad for your friend. You rub some moister on it as well to help slow down the bleeding. The van radio then goes off as three creepy beeping noises can be heard. Until a voice comes in.
“The national weather service has issued a tornado warning for Canadian County, and Oklahoma county until 3:45 PM.” The voice on the radio explained. You look at the clock on the dashboard and it reads 3:30 PM.
“A tornado warning? Is that bad?” Rainbow asks as best as she can. Her wing still in shear pain while you do your best to patch it up.
“It’s really bad, Rainbow. Looks like we may be right in the middle of it.” You said as you gently rub the moister on her wing. “How you feeling? Does it still hurt?” You ask your friend as she nods to you. “Sorry, Rainbow. I know it hurts, just bare with me, ok?” You said as you do everything you can to stop the bleeding. Rainbow looks outside the driver side window, and her eyes go wide.
“Um…dude?”
“Yeah?” Rainbow gets your attention as you’re about to wrap the bandage around her scars. “What’s the matter, Rainbow?”
Rainbow points her hoof outside the driver side window. “What’s that?” She asks you. You look out, and you can see from a good distance, dust from the ground is swirling around and is making its way halfway to the dark clouds above.
You stare at it for a certain amount of time until a very small funnel shaped cloud is quickly formed. Soon, this mini vortex grows to a certain size as it finally touches the ground. It’s a tornado. A rather skinny tornado to be exact.
“Is that a tornado?” Rainbow Dash asks as you two stare straight at it from a two mile distance.
“It sure is.” You replied.
“You gonna get your camera?” Dash asks as you stare at that tornado. It travels to your right very slowly. Your mind goes back and forth whether you should go for the camera and film it, or would you rather care for your friend who has been injured in a hail storm. Your mind immediately goes to your injured blue Pegasus friend.
“That doesn’t matter now.” You said as you slowly and carefully wrap the bandage around her wing.
“But the tornado! You’re gonna-”
“Rainbow, it’s ok.” You cut her off as you’re almost done wrapping the bandage around her wing. “That doesn’t matter now. Right now, you’re hurt and I need to patch you up. If this one dissipates before I get finished, we’ll catch the next one.” You said to her.
“You…you sure?” Rainbow asks, wincing a bit in pain as you continue to patch her up.
“I’m positive. I’d rather see you patched up rather than film some tornado while you’re still hurt.” You said to her as you manage to get the bandage around her scars on her wing. You look behind you as the tornado is still going. However with it being so skinny and weak, it is eventually drawn back into its cloud from whence it came.
Now no longer to your attention, and the hail finally stopped, you turn your attention to Dash’s wing. “Can you still move it?” You asked her.
Rainbow gently lifts her wing. She tenses up from the pain, and slowly lets it back down.
“No way can you fly with a wing that’s injured.” You said as you get the bandage out once more. I’m gonna wrap this around you and have your wing right up on you. Let me know if it’s too tight, k?” You ask her. She nods and stands up as you wrap the bandage around your friend. One wing left alone while the injured one is now pressed up against her body. You get it wrapped, but adjusting it to make sure it’s not hugging Rainbow too much.
“How’s that feel?”
“Loosen up a little?” Rainbow asks. You loosen up just like she asked. “Ok, that’s good.”
“You sure?” You ask her. She nods to you, and you put some tape for the bandages on it to help secure it. “Ok, glad that’s over.” You said, now looking back at the dark storm clouds from the driver side window. “Come on, let’s go back to the motel.” You crank the van back up, and get ready to head back to the motel room where you and her have been staying.
“Hey bro?” Rainbow gets your attention as you make a U-turn. “Thanks. For everything.”
“What are friends for?” You ask her, petting her rainbow mane as you drive down the long distance road.
~*~
11:30 PM.
The night has fallen. The weather channel has reported a storm. You and Rainbow Dash are back at the motel room. You have the television on and on the laptop just looking at the radar.
Luckily, this thunderstorm does not have supercells. So you’re defiantly in the clear tonight. Rainbow Dash lays on her bed opposite from you. Her wing still sore from that brutal hail storm.
She lays under the blankets, head on pillow, and is out like a light. You just can’t stop working and let her sleep while you listen to the tv, and hear the thunder rumble at the same time.
You look at the forecast on your laptop for tomorrow. All they’re saying is a thunderstorm will strike. However, what they can predict is that this storm may be a big one. So there is a chance that a tornado may spawn tomorrow.
Rainbow groans as she begins to wake up from her slumber. You don’t take your eyes off the laptop screen.
“Bro, it’s almost midnight. You gonna get some sleep?” Dash asked in a tiring voice.
“Sorry, Rainbow. I can’t stop working.” You say to her. Clicking and pressing buttons. “Looks like we may be in for something tomorrow. The forecast is saying there’s a big storm coming.”
“Tomorrow?” Dash asked as you nod to her.
“How’s your wing?”
“It’s still sore, but it’s getting better.” Rainbow Dash said.
“That’s good. Maybe in a couple days or so, you might be able to fly again.”
“I hope so.” Rainbow looks back at her injured wing. “So…those were hail stones you mentioned that hit me?”
“Yeah. Supercells like the one we’ve been under can produce very heavy rain, hail stones like that, and of course…how can we forget tornadoes?” You said to her. “Although, we weren’t at the base of this supercell. The base is where tornadoes occur. We were just on the edge of it. You got something like that in your world?” You asked her, closing the laptop for tonight.
“No. No, not really. Us Pegasi can literally control the weather.” Rainbow mentions.
“Really? So storms don’t happen on a certain day?”
Rainbow Dash begins to speak. “No, we can actually control the weather ourselves where I come from. We have a calendar and schedule a date for rain, snow, even sunny days. We never, ever spawn in tornadoes to destroy a town on purpose unlike…this world. Although, we did make one to bring water up to Cloudsdale.”
“Wow. I bet it’s defiantly something, huh?”
“Tell me a bout it.” Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes. “So…why do tornadoes happen in this world? How come they can move on their own like what we saw earlier? You can’t stop them?” She asked you.
“Unfortunately, no.” You begin to explain. “In this world, Mother Nature is the queen of this planet. She’s not like this Princess Celestia you told me about, but it’s been around pretty much as long as this planet has. Tornadoes form when warm humid air mixes together with cold dry air.” Rainbow remains silent as she listens to you explanation.
“What happens is that the hot air rises into the clouds from the ground. It updrafts into the clouds, and it gives something that the tornado can feed off of. Then eventually, cold air comes in, and mixes in. That’s when you get these swirling winds, and eventually, you get your tornado.”
“Wow.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes go wide at the full explanation you just gave her. “I have never heard anything like that before. That skinny one we saw, how week was that?”
“That might’ve been either an EF-0, or an EF-1. They haven’t fully confirmed it yet since it recently happened.” You explained.
“EF-0? So these tornadoes are ranked?”
“Yup. What that is, it’s a thing we use called the fujita scale. It was later upgraded to an enhanced fujita scale. What that is, it measures the intensity on the tornado’s wind speed, and destruction. Zero does little to no damage. E-F1 does moderate damage. Windows broken, tree branches broken off. Almost like an E-F0, but they’re a bit stronger. E-F2 uproots trees, roofs from houses are peeled off. E-F3 flips your cars around, well build homes are pretty much about skinned. E-F4 pretty much tears away half of your house…it’s just insane.” You demonstrate to her. “The higher the wind, the stronger the tornado gets.”
“How far does it go? Does it go all the way up to a five?” Dash asks you. That makes you stare at her once she asked that. “What would that be like?”
“An E-F5? Oh man. Uh…” You scratch your head as you begin to explain to her. “Let’s say it’ll turn a neighborhood into a landscape.”
“Are you serious?” Dash asks you.
“No joke. Winds over three hundred miles an hour, it can flatten your house in seconds. It’ll leave nothing but the base. In fact, let’s say it can pick up our van, and throw it a mile away from us.”
“My gosh.” Rainbow said. “That’s just…unbelievable.”
“I defiantly agree.” You say to Dash as lightning lit up the sky for a bit followed by rumbled of thunder.
“Um…what’s the forecast for tonight?” Rainbow asked, getting worried.
“Just an ordinary thunderstorm. I checked the radar, we aren’t getting anything other than this tonight. No tornadoes this late.” You said, getting ready for bed. You turn off the tv as Dash is relieved from hearing that for tonight.
“Alright, goodnight bro.”
“Night, Rainbow.” You turn off the lamp as the both of you drift off into slumber as the rain outside and the air conditioning helps the both of you sleep.
~*~
Two days have gone by and nothing interesting has happened. At least the season had just started, so this shouldn’t be a huge problem. You have only missed one tornado, and that was much further up north. However, due to traffic you could not make it in time.
Rainbow’s wing have pretty much healed up and she can fly again. Fantastic news for both you and her. Though she does manage to stay on the ground. You drive the van near a town that is now Moore, Oklahoma.
A few miles away from the sign, and you should be in it soon. However, you need gas. Luckily for you, there’s plenty of gas stations to stop at. You keep driving while Rainbow Dash is sitting on the passenger side with a book in her wings.
It’s no Daring Do book that she normally talks about, but an Indiana Jones book, rather.
You manage to stop at a local gas station and find an empty pump.
“Well, it’s no Daring Do book, but I guess this book is ok. It’s pretty similar.” Dash speaks as she places her eyes back onto the book.
“I’m glad you like it, Dashie.” You said to her. “I read that book a few times. They even made a movie about it too.” Rainbow chuckles as you said that. “So I’m gonna fill up this van. You want anything to drink or a snack? There’s a big storm heading further up north, we might catch something up there.”
“Water please.” Was Rainbow’s response as she takes her eyes off the book for a second to look at you until she finds her place again.
“Alright, I’ll be right back.” You said turning the van off and climbing out to shut the door while Rainbow continues to read the book.
She gets to a curtain part where Indiana Jones is now in a temple, and a bolder is now after him. He manages to escape, unharmed. “Woah, that was close.” Rainbow mutters as she continues reading.
“I don’t know man, these things happen. All I know is that there’s a storm heading up north.” You said, getting back into the van on the phone as you have your favorite drink and chips. You hand Dashie her water as you also give her some chips as well. She stops reading for a second and takes it, but listens to you talking to someone over the phone.
“Then we might be onto a big one.” You said on the phone as you rest on the steering wheel. “I don’t know how big, Jason. They’re tornadoes. You’ll never know what you’re gonna get. We only missed one yesterday.” Dash continues to stay quiet as you open her water for her as well as her chips. She munches down on one, and also drinks her water. “Well listen man, season just now started. It’s still April. Give me some slack, dude! They really don’t come in till May or June. We’re gonna get it! We just don’t have it, yet!” You continue to speak. “Ok, I’ll let you know if we get anything. Uh-huh, bye.” You finally hang up the phone, and place it in your pocket. “Oh man.”
“Was that your manager?” Rainbow asked.
“Huh? Oh, no. Just someone else who’s pretty much doing the same thing we’re doing. Except he’s out much further up north in Nebraska.” You said, cranking the van and now heading out with a full tank of gas.
“Oh.” Was all Rainbow Dash can say as she munches on a few more chips. You take the laptop from her while she dines in on her snack and proceed to get the radar up while focusing on the road at the same time. “Ok, so we’re in Moore, and the next storm is just miles up on the other side of town. It looks pretty bad. So if we go there, we might get a chance.” You explained.
Rainbow Dash goes silent. She sits up and takes a look at the radar as she can see a huge chunk of red in the direction you two are going.
“You think some tornadoes will form there?” Dash asked.
“You’ll never know. Only one way to find out.” You said, traveling the road at sixty miles per hour. This will defiantly be something.
~*~
Half an hour goes by, and you’re at the location. Ten miles outside or Moore, and this storm looks intense. You’re still on the sunny part while the storm has not blocked that part yet, but this storm is still viewable. You pull over on the side of the road and grab a camera. “Ready?”
“Let’s do this.” Rainbow Dash gets a grin on her face as you fist bump her hoof. You both get out of the van as she stands still the second her hooves touch the ground while you go around the front.
“Ok Rainbow. Keep an eye out for some circulation, ok?” You asked. Rainbow nods as she keeps a look out while you take some pictures.
With a very small breeze, lightning brightening up the sky, and thunder breaking the silence. You take some photographs of the storm while Rainbow keeps a sharp lookout. However, there is no circulation. No signs of dark green sky, anywhere. Perhaps the radar was showing a slight thunderstorm?
Three minutes have went by, and the storm begins to show signs of weakness. To a point where very little lightning and thunder can be heard. You stop taking photographs as you let the camera hang from around you neck.
“I don’t see anything happening.” Rainbow speaks up. This now has you concerned.
“Let me check the radar.” You open the passenger side door and grab the laptop. You check the radar once more. Well there is red, however, it’s light red, and it is now dissipating. “Oh.” Was all you can say as you see the misreading.
“Everything ok?” Rainbow gets right beside the van.
“Yeah, we are in the red, but it’s dissipating. This was pretty much an ordinary thunderstorm.” You say to her, now looking through the timeline. In the coming hours, it shows that this storm will soon be over in what looks like less than twenty minutes or so.
“So…no tornado?”
“Nope.” You close the laptop and take a look at the storm one last time. You look back at the photographs as you have manage to catch an image of lightning touching the ground from a great distance. “Well, even though we haven’t gotten a tornado, I did catch this.” You show Dash one picture you token.
“Oh that’s good.”
“Yeah, least there’s that. I’d say that’s better than nothing.” You said, shutting off the camera for now. “Come on, let’s head back to our motel.” You get back onto the driver side as Rainbow gets on the passenger side. You start the van, and make your way back to the motel.
~*~
The Next Day.
Clouds have rolled in. Although it doesn’t look like any other storm. You and your friend are at the motel as you both sit at your own beds, watching the weather.
“We are now reporting that a tornado had just hit the town of Moore.” The weather man reported. You and Dash continue to listen to the news until Rainbow Dash finally speaks.
“Weren’t we there yesterday?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah, we were. These weather dudes don’t know crap.” You said, throwing a pillow at the tv. You grabbed your laptop and looked at the radar. Looks like more red has got back into Moore like yesterday. However, like yesterday’s storm they had outside of Moore, this one is also dissipating with scattered thunderstorms. “Well then.” You said, closing the laptop after seeing that. “Looks like there’s also no other reports of tornadoes today.” You said as you place the laptop aside and continue to listen to the news.
“Just thunderstorms?” Rainbow can only ask.
“Yeah, pretty much.” Was your only reply as your phone then goes off. You look at the notification that has been sent to you. “What the heck?”
“What’s up?”
You continue to stare at your phone. It reads “Tornado watch in Canadian County Oklahoma until 3:00 PM.”
“Again?” You said, quickly grabbing your laptop without thinking and looking at the radar.
“What’s the matter?” Rainbow asks, now seeing her friend is concerned. You look at the radar, and notice three cells merging into one at Bethany Oklahoma. The town is in the red, and this red has gotten darker.
“Oh snap, it’s headed to Bethany!” Your eyes go wide in shock.
“What?”
“Rainbow. It’s coming.” You turn to her. Her eyes locked with yours once those words come right out of your mouth. “We better get going.” You immediately shut off the tv, and turn of your laptop. Locking the door behind you after grabbing a couple bags and keys.
“How big is it?” Rainbow asked, galloping beside you, following you to the van.
“I don’t know, all I saw was a huge chunk of red at Bethany. This storm looks big!” You said, reaching the van. You toss the bag into the vehicle and start the ignition the second you two are in the van.
You now start to head that way to Bethany as fast as you possibly can without breaking the speed limit the second your own the road. It is now 11:00 AM, and tornado watches can last for hours on end. There is plenty of time to spare, and let’s hope this tornado won’t be too camera shy.
~*~
1:00 PM.
Two hours have passed. You have reached Bethany before 1:00. However, you have been driving around town for a while. The sky is very dark with storm clouds, and you and Rainbow Dash have been keeping a lookout. So far, no circulation yet. “Ok, may need to pull into somewhere so we can find this.” You said, pulling into a parking lot of a store.
You grabbed your laptop as Rainbow looks with you. You pull up Bethany on the radar. The town is in red, defiantly. Although, there’s a dark red circle that is on the edge of town to its east.
“Is that it right there?” Dash points at it. The live radar shows it circling. That’s your tornado about to be born.
“That’s it! That’s it! It’s almost here!” You said, getting back out onto the road as fast as you can. You follow the road to east as you look up at the sky too.
“There it is! I see the circulation!” Rainbow points her hoof at the rotating clouds outside of town.
“Good job, Rainbow! Good job! Get ready! This one’s coming soon!” You said to her, eyes on the road, and still driving. The towns tornado sirens have now been signaled. Warning civilians that a tornado is possible in their area. Finally, you are now just outside of town and onto the country road.
You pull over and immediately grab your camera. You and Rainbow Dash immediately step out of the van, and stare right up at the sky. You immediately start filming the circulation as the wind begins to pick up.
“Ok, come on, baby. Come on.” You mumble to yourself. Dash does not take her eyes off the nerve racking moment.
Clouds rotating on their own. The air warm and humid, and Rainbow can only watch and wait for a tornado to come out of its hiding place in those clouds. Eventually, a funnel cloud starts to take shape.
“Oh here we go.” Your voice breaks the silence as the wind starts picking up. “That’s it, come on.”
The vortex starts to get larger and larger. The trees waving more violently as it reaches for the ground. Rainbow’s eyes go wide as she sees this vortex get bigger and bigger until it finally touches the ground.
It is officially a tornado.
“Oh my god. That’s a tornado.” You say as you and Rainbow cannot believe it.
“Oh my gosh. It’s huge.” Rainbow can only stare at this tornado as it starts to travel to your left.
You both stand there for a good two to three minutes until it is finally time to get back into the van, and follow this thing.
“Should we get moving, bro? This tornado’s moving fast!” Rainbow asked you through the harsh wind.
“You’re right. Let’s go!” You stop filming as you and Dash race back into the van. “Ok Dash, keep the camera on it, ok? I don’t wanna lose it.”
“Gotcha!” Dash does as instructed. She holds the camera with her hooves and with the help of the van door as well as her wings to keep the camera at least steady enough for her.
You press the gas pedal and follow this tornado as it takes a single straight path. Plowing through trees as it uproots and picks up many. Debris flying around the base along with the dust loud.
A big blue flash appears at the base of the tornado. Assuming it blew a transformer on a power line.
“Wait! What’s that?” Rainbow points her wing at a distant location. To you, it is no much, but it appears the closer you get, it is not looking good. “Is that a row of houses?”
“It sure looks like it. There’s that, not to mention a small farm up ahead!” You said to Rainbow.
You keep driving as the power lines spark from the harsh wind. The tornado takes a slight left turn as it travels on the road in front of you two. Tearing two, three, four houses as it does. The row of power lines start to fall. You slam on the breaks, and turn the van very sharply to get out of the way.
Rainbow Dash loses her grip of the camera and almost falls out of her seat to the floor. You grabbed the camera for her. “Sorry Rainbow Dash, we had to get away from those power lines. Are you ok?” You asked her as she groans a bit in pain.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s ok. How’s it looking?”
You aim your camera at the tornado as it destroys a few more houses.
“It’s headed directly towards that barn!” You kept your camera on it more. The swirling behemoth plows through the barn. Ripping it piece by piece along with the silo. You and Rainbow Dash watch in awe as this tornado now destroys the house. Exploding from the wind as debris now flies around all over the place.
“Holy cow!” Rainbow couldn’t believe what she witnessed. Even from a couple thousand feet from where you and her are sitting.
Not long after, the tornado is now drawn back in its cloud. It is finally over. The down power lines now make it difficult to drive to the houses to see if everyone is at least ok. They’re not blocking the road entirely, but at least you can go by them as long as you don’t touch them.
“Is every pony, er…everyone ok?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I hope so. We gotta be careful. There’s no telling what these power lines can do.” You reply, gently driving up the road. Houses peeled from roof to base, trees uprooted, and of course, the barn now almost like a landscape.
There is no telling how many lives have truly been lost, but people have crawled out from storm cellers. A sign that (hopefully) everyone is ok.
“Well there’s people still alive, that’s a good thing.” You said as they watch you drive your van over debris dropped on the road from the tornado.
“So this is what tornadoes do in this world, huh?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking at the destruction this twister left behind.
“That’s right, Dash. It’s amazing what these things can do.” You said, slowly driving.
Rainbow cannot help but feel her heartstrings being tugged by the people who have fallen victim from this tornado that recently passed.
You and Dash pull up the the now destroyed barn as the family runs up to you. “You guys alright?” You asked them, rolling your window down.
“We’re ok!” The farmer said. “Our daughter is stuff on the other side of town! Do you have signal on your phone?” He asked you.
You quickly pull out your phone. Three bars. That’s just enough. “Yeah, I got signal. The storm hasn’t blown out the service tower! You need to call her?”
“Please!” He begged. You hand him the phone as he dials for his loved one. You go to the back and grab two bottles of water.
“Wait here, ok?” You instructed Dash.
“No, can I come with you? Please? I wanna help too.” Dash looks at you in the eye.
“You sure?” Rainbow nods to you. You look at the couple on the phone with their daughter, then back at Dashie. “Ok, hand the bottle to one of them, ok? They could use it.” You instructed. Dash gives an approval nod as you both step out of the van, and hand them the water bottles. “I’m assuming you guys need this?”
“Oh thank you so much, young man.” The farmer says, taking the water bottle and taking a sip along with his wife.
“How’s your daughter? She ok?”
“She’s alright, thank god.” The farmer’s wife replies. “She’s at her friends house and she saw the tornado hit our farm from where she is. She’s so happy we’re ok, and we’re so thankful to have you come and see we’re ok.”
“I’m glad you got to your daughter, ma’am.” You said.
“Speaking of which, who are you? I’ve never seen anything like you before.” The wife has her eye on your friend.
“Name’s Rainbow Dash. My friend and I saw the whole thing from down this road.”
“Did she just talk?” The wife speaks as her husband nods. Unfamiliar that a talking pony is standing before them.
“We sure did. She’s a friend of mine.” You pat her on the head as she chuckles.
“I’m from Equestria.” Was all Rainbow can say to the couple who are unfamiliar with the world she’s from.
“Equestria?” The farmer asks.
“Let’s say it’s a different world unlike this. It’s kinda hard to explain.” Was all you can say to them. “Well, we better get going. We have some work to do. It’s great to see you all are safe.”
“Thank you so much for everything.” The farmer says as you both get back in your van.
“It’s no problem.” You said. “You both stay safe.”
“We will!” You all waved your goodbyes as you start the van. Carefully turning around so you won’t hit the damaged power lines, and you drive off.
~*~
Back at the motel, you review the footage you and Dash have taken of the tornado from earlier. Dash looks outside the window and stares at the pink ish sky as the sun sets.
“Man, I…I can’t help but feel bad for all those people.” Dash says, not taking her eyes off the sky. You set your laptop down and wrap your arm around your friend.
“Me too, Dash. These things do happen, but when they do, we’re defiantly prepared for what might come next. Whether it’s tornadoes like earlier, or the aftermath. People will have each other’s backs in the end.” You said to her. “I know this world isn’t what you think it is when you first came here, but it does have a couple of things that people can rely on when something like this happens.”
“What’s that, bro?”
“Faith, and hope.” Was your answer to her.
Rainbow smiles. “Yeah, in Equestria, whenever something bad happens, my friends and I still have each other. This one time, my friend Twilight got a new castle and she kinda felt homesick. So we touched it up with memories from the Golden Oak library that she use to live at. We used roots from it as the chandelier, and pictures from all the good times we had.”
“Now isn’t that something to tell. I bet she was happy.”
“She sure was.”
“I bet this Twilight is more than thankful to have you as a friend, and let me tell you, I am too. You’re a great friend, Rainbow. Never forget it.” Dash nods to you as you both stare out the window and watch the sunset together as friends.
No matter what storm or other natural disaster comes next. Whether it’s hurricanes, wildfires, or even tornadoes.
Everyone will rely on each other in the end, and that is what will matter most.
Author's Note
Hey all, well, here it is. This story is to try and help me get back into writing. I had it flowing through my head for a good while. I’d say weeks? I do understand it’s very cliche in some areas, but I was really aiming for Oklahoma with this one, cause that state is right into Tornado Alley, and I’m not from Oklahoma. So I had to do my best to do as much research as possible with this. The state where I’m from doesn’t really get very many tornadoes per year. So yeah, I do hope you guys enjoyed it. 
