“Hey Rainbow Dash, what’s up with this storm?” Twilight called out from below. Her friend above was busy wiping out a chunk of a large lightning cloud. Rainbow Dash confidently bucked one of the darkened bodies, exposing the sunlight that hid behind it.

“I-I don’t know! It must have formed in the Everfree Forest! We got all weather ponies working on it!” Rainbow Dash called out as she eliminated another cloud. Twilight looked up ready to start barging the cyan pegasus with questions, but Rainbow Dash shot off in an instant to the other side of town. Twilight sighed, but Dash had a job to do. You don’t get to be Captain of the Ponyville Weather Patrol for nothing.

“Come on Derpy! You need to buck it like this to get rid of it!” Rainbow Dash showed her fellow pegasus the proper technique, dispersing a small storm cloud into vapor. Derpy flew up to a cloud of her own to try to replicate the results, but instead shot out a bolt of lightning by mistake. The bolt arched its way to the ground below almost electrocuting a hapless earth pony.

“S-sorry! I just don’t know what went wrong! I’m a mailmare. I’m not cut out for weather duty.” The gray mare apologized to her friend, barely being missed by a lightning strike herself from the darkened overcast.

“Derpy, we need all hooves on deck! The Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow and the skies need to be clear!” Rainbow Dash sternly floated over Derpy, who nervously backed away and went back to tending to the clouds.

“Ugh! It’s supposed to be midafternoon but it looks like the sun is setting!” Rainbow Dash let out an outcry, getting nervous glances from the other weather ponies that darted between cloud formations. Frustrated, she bolted off into the nearest cloud bank, tackling the monstrosity all by herself. Raindrops, another pegasus on duty in this specific part of the sky, made an attempt to try to help out Rainbow Dash but got held back by somepony else. The two exchanged hesitant glances and watched as Dash destroyed the floating lump. They rushed off themselves to target their own clouds, before they could come under attack like Derpy did. Rainbow Dash had removed a lot of clouds in her attack, but by no means did it take a significant chunk out of the storm. Rather she simply scratched the paint.

The storm hung ominously over Ponyville, covering the town in a shady darkness with the exception of the pockets of light that progressively formed throughout the sky. It did nothing more than blocking out the sun for the time being, but was now it was starting to emit lightning in faster intervals. Who knew what could happen next if the storm worsened; Gale-force winds? Tremendous downpours? Thunder the likes that Ponykind hasn’t seen before?

~~~~~~~~~

An hour passed and with every cloud lost the thunderstorm was getting smaller and smaller. Rainbow Dash emerged out of the large mass that still held true in the middle of the storm to catch her breath.

“Hey Rainbow! How much longer do you think this is going to take?” Sunny Delight flew up to her, stopping beside Dash.

“I… I don’t know…” Rainbow Dash refilled her lungs and sat down on a remnant of a cloud, “At this rate… a full twelve hours if we’re lucky. That cluster in the middle isn’t going anywhere soon.”

“B-But night will be approaching soon! If we don’t get rid of it now we’ll have to work through the night and-“

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof to stop her, “I know that Sunny. Things are totally uncool right now.”

“What if we move it?” April Showers interjected between the two mares. No one saw her coming, and in surprise Rainbow Dash fell off her perch and quickly recovered. Dash gave her an annoyed, puzzled stare and Sunny Delight looked just as confused.

“Are you feather-brained, girl? If that would work, we would have done that hours ago!” Sunny broke the awkward silence.

“I’m not saying we kick it completely out of Equestria,” April Showers defended. “If we keep going at it and get it small enough, we can get a bunch of ponies together and push it out of Ponyville!”

“And let it grow back into a monster just to return during the Summer Sun Celebration? No way!” Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs in protest.

“Dash, that’s not what I’m saying!” April cried out, insulted at the criticisms she was getting.

“Actually… that might work!” Sunny Delight smiled, getting an enthusiastic nod from April Showers and a dumb stare from Dash. “Why don’t we just take the storm and push it somewhere else? We could place it over the Everfree Forest and then continue to hit it from there. It’d be a lot better than doing the same above city hall.”

“What? Are you crazy? The Everfree Forest is off limits to outside manipulation! And how do you expect to move it? It’s too big!”

“No Dashie, we get it smaller, and then we move it,” April tried to explain to the cyan pegasus, somehow confusing her more. Sunny brought a hoof up to her face and pinched her snout. “I know it’d be breaking the law, but what choice do we have? This thunderstorm is too dangerous to let it be left unattended. We’re going to have to work through the night; that much is obvious. We’re not getting around that. We might have to work into the morning too, but we can take nightshifts. This storm is already interfering with our schedules as it is!”

Rainbow Dash hovered between the two mares, contemplating the thought. She watched as several ponies tried to do something about the large mass only to come out dazed and confused. The few that were smart enough attacked smaller clouds on the outside edges, slowly advancing towards the center. A light breeze from the waning dark clouds ruffled her mane. The storm was getting stronger even as it was getting smaller. Dash looked back and forth between her friends and storm cloud. Thunder was beginning to start in low trembles.

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash sighed. “I suppose it beats any other option. The second that storm gets small enough to move, we push it into the Everfree Forest and do not let it get any bigger, understand? April, go tell Twilight Sparkle to send Princess Celestia a letter explaining what we’re doing. Hopefully we won’t get in too much trouble.”

~~~~~~~~~

By sunset the rouge storm was more or less contained. The weather ponies were able to get it small enough to relocate, yet what remained was getting more and more violent by the minute. It was already spewing out rain like power washer, and reports are it that if things kept up as this rate it might to turn to hail within the hour. Rainbow Dash encircled the intimidating black puff trying to find the safest place to get a foothold in.

A faint voice called out over a tremble of thunder, “Here should be good!” Rainbow Dash stopped her search and flew off in the direction of the voice. She found Raindrops hovering next to a lightly colored patch that stood out from the rest of the dark gray, already organizing other ponies to get into a formation.

“Hey Rainbow Dash! Have you found any spot that could work?” Raindrops nervously asked the Captain who only responded with a slow shake of her head.

“No I haven’t. This is probably the only place we can push from. Awesome work Dropsy!” Dash cheerfully beamed, patting Raindrops on the back. She awkwardly backed away after the compliment, a cautious smile slowly forming across her face.

“I heard about that plan. In all honesty, I’m completely against it. It’s too dangerous.” Raindrops whispered over the low howls of the storm.

“Yeah? Well I don’t like it either but it beats every other option we have. Come on, let’s do this.” Rainbow Dash deadpanned, worsening the already terrible mood of the other pegasus. A dozen or two ponies appeared next to them ready to start pushing. Dash followed them into formation, and reluctantly Raindrops joined in and the group of pegasi slowly began the long trek into the Everfree Forest.

“For the love of Celestia, I hope this works.” Rainbow Dash mumbled under her breath.

“So who gets the first round of night watch?” A stallion asked out from the squad.

“Not it!” A couple ponies shouted in unison, and the entire formation broke into a nervous laughter. Their laugh was pushed down by a low rumble of thunder, getting the conversation to cease. A crack of lightning soon followed, arching out of the cloud and menacingly towards the ground below. Thankfully they were over the library so the bolt was directed towards the tree’s magical lightning rod. Otherwise it likely would have struck a building, probably setting it ablaze. And they were going to put this storm over the combustible trees of the Everfree Forest? Rainbow Dash had an immediate regret about this decision, but the forest was the closet uninhabited place in relation to where they are, so it’d have to do.

“Hey Raindrops, I want a patrol or two with rainclouds flying around when we get to the Everfree Forest. We don’t need anything catching fire.” Dash tried to hide thoughts behind a grin, getting a skeptical look from Raindrops before she smiled and agreed to the order. It was probably for the best anyway. With the unpredictability of this thunderstorm they needed to take every precaution. Rainbow Dash looked up to a formation of pegasi that kept bombarding the storm with relentless bucking as they traveled. A group of birds followed them, watching carefully at to what was going on.

“Hey, where’s Fluttershy?” Somepony asked aloud. Dash looked around at the group and didn’t see her either. A majority of the ponies shrugged off the question and kept directing the storm towards the Everfree Forest. Rainbow Dash was not one of these ponies.

“What!? She’s not here!? She’s supposed to be with the 2nd Wing! We need every ounce of help we can!” Dash spat in a fit of anger and disappointment.

“Want me to go find her?” Raindrops asked.

“No, I got it. I know exactly where she is.” Dash replied and took off away from the convoy, heading for Fluttershy’s cottage. She took a second to look over her shoulder at the spectacle she left behind: almost eighty pegasi working together, buzzing around the storm cloud and aiding in any way they could. And yet still they were just barely able to keep it under control, if you could call the situation “under control.”

~~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy emerged out of her cottage with a canvas sack of bird seed hanging from her mouth. When the unscheduled storm started, the birds took off from Ponyville to take cover in the Whitetail Woods. Now that it was starting to clear and that the sun was setting, the birds would be returning soon. They’d probably be hungry and tired too. The winds were still strong, but she didn’t mind. As long as the weather ponies kept battling the storm that should die down as well. She looked up at what remained of the storm and saw its size still dwarfed any building in Ponyville. It was also steadily moving to the west. They were pushing it somewhere, but she couldn’t quite put a hoof to where. Fluttershy shuddered at the sound of thunder, but quickly pushed it aside and went off to refill the many birdfeeders.

The first one on her list hangs high above her cottage on one of its many branches, swaying with the wind. Careful not to scare the nearby family of squirrels any more than they already were, she gently flew up and lifted the top of the feeder, slowly pouring in seed from the bag.

“Fluttershy!”

“Eep!” Fluttershy squealed, dropping the canvas sack and spilling the birdfeeder. The family of squirrels squeaked in fear and ran deeper into the treetop; Fluttershy joining them.

“Fluttershy! We need your help!”

The pegasus clung to a branch and trembled, hiding from no one behind her long pink mane. She tried to regain her composure but shuddered as a gust of wind rattled the tree, tightening her grip on the branch.

“Fluttershy, please! We need you!”

The plea was growing wary.  Somepony needed her help, and she was abandoning them. The thought raced through her mind and kicked at her insides. It wasn’t like her to abandon any creature if they need help. Slowly, Fluttershy stood and balanced herself on the branch and walked out to edge, sticking her head out of the canopy.

“Fluttershy!” Sweetie Belle squealed in delight. Apple Bloom looked to her friend and then up to the pegasus, her nervous expression quickly fading. Fluttershy looked down to the two fillies and let out a relaxed sigh. She hopped off her perch and glided to the ground below, careful to avoid landing on the spilled bag of birdseed.

“Um… hello Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom.” Her kind, contagious smile spread to the two, relieving them of what pressure weighed them down. “W-what’s wrong?”

“Scootaloo’s in trouble!” Sweetie Belle cried out. Fluttershy raised a hoof in fright at the sudden outburst.

“Oh no! Where is she?”

“That’s jus’ it…” Apple Bloom commented rubbing the back of her neck. “We don’ know. We got separated in ta’ Everfree Forest.”

“T-the Everfree Forest!? Whatever were you fillies doing in there? You know that place is dangerous!” The pegasus asserted, getting Apple Bloom to cringe and back away. Sweetie Belle stood her ground though, and talked back to her.

“Listen Fluttershy. Why we were there isn’t important, but what is important is that Scootaloo is lost in the forest. You go in there all the time! If anypony can find her, it’s you!”

Fluttershy felt the weight of the burden fall upon her, crushing her under its intensity. So she had just been charged with a search and rescue mission? She once saved a baby duck before, even if it was just floating in a creek. But that was nothing compared to this. What if Scootaloo was injured? Fluttershy would need to bring her first aid kit to make sure any cuts don’t get infected… or worse. What if she broke a bone, or her back? Fluttershy wouldn’t even move her without risking any sort of damage. What if Scootaloo got turned to stone by a…

“Uh, Fluttershy?” Apple Bloom asked. Fluttershy stood in front of them staring off into space, her legs buckling, her breathing erratic. Sweetie Belle let out a depressed sigh and tried shaking the young mare out of her trance, but it was no use.

“Told ya we shoulda gott’n Rainbow Dash,” Apple Bloom aimed at Sweetie Belle. Right on cue, Rainbow Dash landed next to the small group staring daggers.

“Fluttershy! Why aren’t you helping with the storm!?” Dash stomped the ground but Fluttershy didn’t give an answer. Sweetie Belle stepped down from her futile attempt to bring Fluttershy to and Dash immediately shot the two fillies a glare.

“What’d you two do to her?”

“W-we didn’t d-do anything!” Sweetie Belle defended, backing into Apple Bloom who promptly shoved her away.

“Rainbow, Scootaloo’s lost in ta’ Everfree Forest! Ya need ta’ go save her!” Apple Bloom stood her ground, entering a staring match with the already agitated pegasus. Dash took a step back in surprised hesitation, but then let out a slight chuckle.

“You really are Applejack’s sister,” Rainbow Dash snickered, patting Apple Bloom on the head. She turned her attention to Fluttershy who now sat on the ground, shivers running up and down her spine. Dash huffed and simply smacked the yellow pegasus in the back of the head.

“Ow! Why-“ The colored drained from her face when she saw Rainbow Dash standing in front of her. “Oh, uh… R-Rainbow Dash! S-sorry I… I-I’m not with the other w-weather p-ponies. The b-birds…”

Dash raised a hoof to silence her and spoke, “That’s not important right now Fluttershy. Scootaloo is lost in the Everfree Forest and we need to find her!”

“We? B-but can’t you j-just…” Fluttershy stuttered, still afraid that her friend was mad at her.

“Fluttershy, you know the Everfree Forest better than anypony! We need to get going before something bad happens to Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash grabbed onto Fluttershy’s mane with her teeth, giving a tug off in the direction of the forest. Fluttershy let out a deep sigh of defeat, relieving her lungs of painfully built up air.

“Oh, alight. Sweetie Belle? W-what part of the forest d-did you last see her in?” She asked, pulling back on her mane and out of Dash’s mouth. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both pointed off to the west. Rainbow Dash saluted and took off like a bullet straight to where the fillies were pointing.

A second later she returned annoyed, grabbed Fluttershy, and the two flew into the Everfree Forest. Shadows were all too eager to greet them; the sunlight was fading fast as the moon began to take control of the sky.

~~~~~~~~~

Scootaloo wandered between bushes trying her best to avoid any clearings. Her brief run in with a manticore earlier taught her it was best to keep to the shadows. Wind was starting to pick up and thunder could be faintly heard, so she didn’t have to be too cautious about the noise she was making. Manitcores are big and slow and their senses aren’t exactly that great, so hopefully she could avoid another encounter had she come across one. Cockatrices however are another story entirely. The way they could silently sneak up on somepony, how they could fly, see in the dark, and even turn somepony to stone by just looking at them made them the primary thing to be afraid of.

Why did I ever follow Apple Bloom in here? Scootaloo asked herself for the nth time. After the encounter with that manticore the three of them split up, and somehow Scootaloo ended up in a field of wild blue flowers. Something about them seemed off to her though, so she carefully made sure to avoid contact with them. She watched her step to be sure not to…

*CRACK*

“Eek!” Scootaloo screamed, running to hide deep within a bush. The smell of burnt wood filled her senses and light started to trickle through the many leaves. It couldn’t be morning already… it was still night time. Wasn’t it? The filly stuck her head out of her hiding spot long enough to see a small fire off in the distance. Although, there is a chance it could be much closer. The dense foliage made depth perception rather difficult, but nonetheless Scootaloo understood exactly what to do when coming across a fire; run in the opposite direction. And so she did, sprinting at full speed away from light.

…And face planted into the ground.

“Darn hooves! Work!” Scootaloo yelled at herself as she tried to undo the vine wrapped around her leg. The glow of the fire was getting larger, and the orange filly could feel heat pressing against her coat. Struggling still, she tore at the vine with her mouth but to no avail. For a plant she’d normally eat it was being rather stubborn. Every time she yanked with her trapped leg it would tighten ever so slightly, and she could barely tear out the threads with her teeth. The crackle of the fire could be heard more clearly, and so could the sound of more lightning and thunder. A trapped animal, Scootaloo frantically thrashed around on the ground in the desperate hopes of loosening the vine, but everything she did only seemed to tighten the noose around her hoof. Scootaloo’s heart fell deep into the bowels of her chest as watched the bush she had just emerged from slowly begin to burn in a bright orange.

And then it stopped. Shadows quickly returned to retake what they had lost. Rain poured down heavily from above dousing the flames, and almost drowning Scootaloo. She brought her hyperventilating self out of the now muddy ground and looked up to the sky which had just saved her.

“Thanks,” she sarcastically mumbled.

“That was a close one!” It replied.

Wait, what?

“I’ll say. That fire almost got too big for us to handle,” spoke another voice.

Wait, ponies! There were ponies above her! Scootaloo took a deep sigh of relief and fell back into the muddy ground. She didn’t care now that she was saved. She didn’t care about the rain that continued to fall from the weather ponies’ raincloud. She looked up through the canopy expecting to see her saviors, but couldn’t. It was too dark, and regardless the ponies must have been above the canopy itself. And if she couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see…

“Hey! Wait!” Scootaloo cried out, her voice raspy and weak. “Please! Help!”

“Come on Cloud Kicker. We need to keep patrolling. There’s no telling where another lightning bolt could start a fire.”

“No! Come back!” Scootaloo’s plea went unheard. Whoever it was above her left, taking their raincloud with them. Now she was wet and cold, lying on the muddy ground, tied to a bush. Secretly she hoped the fire could start again. No, she wanted the fire to start again. It’d bring back the pegasi and she could try to get a word out. A surprisingly loud roar of thunder shook the forest and brought Scootaloo to her hooves before another downpour began, this time it wasn’t caused by a pony.

Reluctantly, Scootaloo crawled back into the partially burnt bush to take some sort of cover from the coming thunderstorm.

“Hey wait a minute…” Scootaloo whispered to herself. Any sort of sound to break the drumming of the thunder was comforting her, whether it is her own voice or sound of herself breathing. “Why is somepony controlling the weather in the Everfree? Isn’t that against the law?”

Scootaloo stuck her head out from the underbrush. The field of flowers that was previously in front of her was gone, completely consumed by the flames. An ominous blue haze lingered above the ashes of the wildflowers. Scootaloo walked out into the recently made clearing, which was now turning into a pile of soot from the rain. She looked down to her hoof, still entangled in the vine but now covered in the sticky soot. She had about three meters of distance with her new chain and her body was covered also covered in mud.

“Eh… probably shouldn’t be breathing this in…” Scootaloo snorted into the cloud, dispersing the blue vapor around. She turned to go wait out the storm in the bush when a snapping sound made her freeze in her place. The sound wasn’t lightning; no it was too quiet to be lightning. Thunder couldn’t do that kind of noise, and neither could rain…

Something was approaching her.

“Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash cheered, running into the clearing. “Fluttershy! I found her!”

Scootaloo’s heart skipped a beat. Things couldn’t have gone better if she planned it. Rainbow Dash! Right in front of her! Here to rescue her! It was almost a dream come true! No, if it was a dream she’d be flying. That small thought brought with it a self-delivered kick to her spirits. The filly still hasn’t learned to fly yet. Even though she can use her wings for things like riding her scooter for extra air she still hadn’t figured out to get them to work properly. Fluttershy once tried to teach her but things took a turn for the worse. All those poor frogs…

“Scoots, what the hay are you doing out here?” Dash intrigued, her tone of voice deep in disappointment if anything, maybe a hint of anger and pity too. Her face supplied the anger well enough; Dash’s glare piercing through the blue fog that slowly started to lift high into the air. Scootaloo swallowed a lump in her throat and wanted to back away, but didn’t move. She didn’t want to disappoint her idol any more than she already had. Rain water washed down her coat, slowly clearing the mud from her body and giving it a slight shine. Rainbow Dash’s coat and mane shone equally as bright, if not more from the water.

Rainbow Dash still loomed over the filly, expecting some sort of reply.

“Oh thank Celestia! Scootaloo! You’re all right!” Fluttershy emerged out of the woods and stood next to Rainbow Dash. Nervously smiling at her, Scootaloo awkwardly moved aside to put Fluttershy between herself and Dash, only to trip into the muddy ashes.

“O-oh no! Are you okay?” Fluttershy bent down to comfort her but Rainbow Dash still stood, starting daggers at Scootaloo. The yellow pegasus comforting Scootaloo noticed the vine twisted around her leg and carefully began to try and take it off.

“Um… Rainbow Dash? Could you… um… help, please?” Fluttershy innocently looked up. Her brilliant blue eyes could practically get any creature to listen to her, but sometimes she needed to use a little force. In order to avoid the stare, Dash sighed and went over to help untangle the mass of vine clinging to Scootaloo’s leg.

It wasn’t easy. The two spent almost twenty minutes in the pouring rain, inhaling an oddly colored gas, and getting covered in soot. Scootaloo had thrashed around so much the vine somehow made itself into a knot FOUR times over.

“We should get out of here,” Rainbow Dash mumbled, spitting the remains of the vine out of her mouth. “Something about this…” she twisted a hoof in the air for emphasis, distorting the cloud in the process, “…Doesn’t look right.”

“Um… Scootaloo? Do you know what this s?” Fluttershy asked, but her question was surpassed by the crack of lightning high above. She let out a loud yelp before darting underneath Rainbow Dash, further covering herself in the mixture of ash and mud.

“Fluttershy, it’s just lightning.” Dash tried to reassure her friend but Fluttershy clung to her legs like the vine did the Scootaloo.

“Uh, yeah! There were flowers here, but then there was a fire that burned them into… this.” Scootaloo lifted a hoof, soot eagerly clinging to it. Fluttershy felt her heart sink again at those words. Dash took notice as the limbs clinging to hers started shaking erratically, kicking up more of the soot. Fluttershy stuck her head out from between Dash’s legs, making eye contact with Scootaloo. Scootaloo had seen Fluttershy scared before, but nothing like this. Her eyes were narrowed beyond what should be possible, her face drained of all color, and her teeth chattering in between fast paced breaths.

“S-scootaloo… W-what kind of f-flowers?” She asked in a dying voice.

“Hey Flutters, you okay?” Dash brought up a hoof only for Fluttershy to clamp on to it and bring it back down.

“Um… they were about this tall, and they were blue. And there was a bunch of them! They looked weird though…” Scootaloo trailed off, doing her best not to further scare the pegasus who was probably dead by how little movement she made. Fluttershy slowly emerged out from underneath Dash.

“We need to leave. Now. This was a field of Poison Joke,” her words echoing through the rain.

Everypony’s hearts stopped beating at that point. Stone cold glares exchanging between the three of them. Scootaloo had heard stories about Poison Joke, but hadn’t seen any before earlier in the night. All it did was really play harmless pranks on its victims. Apparently Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and a couple of their friends once wandered into a field of the stuff, but they survived. How bad could it really be?

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s expression said otherwise. They both covered their mouths with their manes and stared blankly into space. They were in complete shock. Scootaloo tried to mimic them, but her mane wasn’t long enough to reach like the other two. Fluttershy broke the silence by running over to Scootaloo, grabbing her by the mane in her mouth.

“Hey, watch it! That hurts!” Scootaloo cried out, fumbling free of Fluttershy’s grasp.

“You don’t understand Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash rushed over to them, warily panting. “We need to get out of here now! There’s no telling what could happen!”

“Come on,” Scootaloo joked, obviously not understanding the severity the other two pushed. The blue haze moved uneven with their breathing.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

~~~~~~~~~

It was just after midnight now. High above the Everfree Forest, almost every pegasus in Ponyville was combatting the thunderstorm. With every buck to the single, giant cloud that remained it shot out a violent roar of thunder. It was probably about half the size of Sweet Apple Acres now, but most of it was easily capable of being erased. The main mass in the center however, was not. It was probably twice the size of Sugarcube Corner, maybe more. It looked like every meter of progress the weather ponies made on compressing the storm made it all the more violent. They needed to destroy the center now before things got any worse.

Raindrops looked over the intense cloud formation. April Showers, the mastermind of this plan, was with her trying to figure out what to do.

“Maybe if we all charged it at once, we could pop it like a balloon…” she pondered.

“And have it blow up in our faces!? We could all be killed!” Raindrops looked to the pegasus in disbelief at the suggestion. April kept thinking though. This plan was falling apart.

“Well by what we’ve seen so far, making it smaller makes it more dangerous. Why don’t we just concentrate on the center? Oh wait… then it would grow more on the outsides…” She answered her own question. Raindrops sighed and left April to contemplate what to do. The thunderstorm needed to be erased, preferably now. She charged right up to the main mass and bucked it on the outer edge.

A lightning bolt shot out from underneath the thundercloud. Its curved arch dodged every obstacle on the way down, making contact on the ground below. Some sort of blue haze lingering on the ground reached out and touched the bolt of lightning. Electricity spread into the gas and in a matter of milliseconds engulfing the entire mist. The current that raced through charged the cloud to where it shined a brilliant, blinding blue light. In less than a second the gas burned itself up in the intense wave of electricity, vaporizing itself into the night.

“What was that?” Cloud Kicker asked. “Another fire?”

“I don’t know what it was,” Firefly answered. The two mares had only put out one other fire this night, and as long as the thunderstorm spat out lightning it probably wouldn’t be the last. The two flew their raincloud over the spot where the flash came from, and noticed there wasn’t any more light coming from the area.

“Eh, it must have snuffed itself out.” Firefly huffed, dragging the raincloud away.

“Funny it’d be in the same spot as the last one…” Cloud Kicker added, following her friend as the two returned to their patrol.

Next Chapter: Chapter 02: Senseless Estimated time remaining: 41 Minutes