1055 AD, January 25th

“Blossomforth, that one should be a little bit more to the right. Little bit more. Yeah, that’s perfect!”

Flying towards a gap in the sea of grey, Rainbow Dash covered it up with a cloud and turned to give it a gentle buck to make sure it stayed there. She hovered backwards to admire her work and turned around to see how the others were doing.

Blossomforth was putting the final touches on her section of the storm while Cinnamon Swirl and Flitter were just about done.

‘Sweet – we got this done earlier than I thought.’

Once her co-workers were done, Rainbow Dash cupped her hooves around her mouth and shouted, “Great job, everypony! Set the clouds to go in five minutes and take a load off!”

Moving towards one of the ‘sweet spots’ of the storm clouds, she bucked it with her rear hooves five times, and quickly zipped around to do the same to several other spots. The other pegasi followed suite, but naturally, Rainbow Dash got the majority of them.

When the final spot had been primed, the expanse of grey clouds rumbled ominously, and Rainbow Dash gave a shudder of excitement. She loved it when that happened; all that power and awesomeness just waiting to be let loose.

“Alright, see you guys later!” Blossomforth waved as she zipped off, apparently in some sort of rush. Rainbow Dash heard her pet dog was sick with the flu or something, so maybe that was it.

The other two, Cinnamon and Flitter, stayed behind to chat. Rainbow Dash tilted her head in thought.

Rarity had a tendency to exaggerate rumours, but it did look like the two were hooking up. If they were, then she wished them luck – Cloudchaser was quite protective of her sister.

‘Speaking of sisters, Scoots has been doing pretty good with her flying.’

Of course, it was far from what most pegasi could do at her age – in no small part due to her underdeveloped wings – but the young filly could reliably glide and she could hover in short bursts, as tiring as it was for her. Still, seeing that smile on her face made all the hours of frustration – Rainbow Dash tried to be patient but it was never something she could truly grasp – worth it.

Seeing as her job was done, Rainbow Dash turned, and flew in the direction of her home. If she hurried she could catch the first few minutes of the I shouldn’t be alive marathon.

She soared across the sky only for mere seconds when something smacked into her flank and sent her spiralling.

Exclaiming in shock and pain, she quickly regained her bearings and hovered in the air, looking this way and that.

“Hey!” She cried indignantly. “Who’s the wise guy?”

However, as much as she looked she could only see Flitter and Cinnamon Swirl, still chatting away. They wouldn’t have seen anything – they were too engrossed in one another. Narrowing her eyes in confusion, Rainbow Dash scratched her head.

“What the heck was that?”

Fwip!

The cyan pegasus quickly did a 180, her wings and the back of her neck tingling, hair standing up on end. Something had definitely flown past her at a very fast pace.

“Alright, cut it out!” Angrily, she looked up and down, scowling. “I know pranks and this is a really bad one! Streak! If that’s you I’m gonna knock you into next week; don’t think I won’t!”

Thunder boomed overhead and she felt her bones vibrate.

Fwip!

“Stop it!” Rainbow Dash spun around again, raising her hooves. “Streak, I am gonna smack you so hard-”

Fwip!

Fwip!

Fwip!

“Horse apples!” Rainbow Dash flinched and jerked backwards as three indescribable shapes sped past her. Looking up, her eyes darted to and fro as the shapes snapped across the sky; they were almost impossible to pick out against the dull background of the clouds.

‘Those are definitely not pegasi…’

They were too skinny and long. Furthermore, she could pick up small lights coming from what must have been their heads. Nopony in Ponyville had glowing eyes. Gulping audibly, she swallowed her rising sense of fear and puffed out her chest.

“Who the heck do you guys think you are? What, you think you’re so tough zipping around like that? Come down here and fight me like a stallion!” She hovered from side to side, punching the air and baring her teeth. “Put ‘em up! Show me what you got!”

As one, the shapes stopped on a dime and hovered in the air, their glowing eyes fixated on her. Rainbow Dash balked and floated a few feet backwards.

It was too dark to make out the finer details, but their wings were bat-like and their arms were long and gangly and ended in four talons. They also appeared to have no legs; their bodies tapered off into long tails which coiled and wriggled. Amidst the thunder, she could hear the beat of their wings.

‘Alright, no… no problem. You got this, RD – you got this. You the mare!’

“Rainbow Dash!”

She looked back and smiled upon noticing Cinnamon and Flitter speeding towards her.

‘And you got back-up! Nothing to worry about.’

The two stopped beside her and looked at the creatures. Cinnamon grimaced; her features were twisted in fright. “What in Equestria are those… things?”

“Hell if I know…” Rainbow Dash did not like how they were just floating there, watching them. “I got blindsided by one. I don’t think they’re here to admire our work either.”

Flitter was nervous, but had a determined expression. “Well, whatever they are, they better watch themselves.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Hay yeah – if they think pegasi are a bunch of pushovers then they’ve obviously never heard of us!”

“M-maybe they’re not here to fight…” Cinnamon shrugged. “I mean, they haven’t actually attacked us, right?”

“I just got blindsided not two minutes ago!” Rainbow Dash argued. “And they’ve been circling me like vultures before you two arrived.”

“Well, they’re not doing anything now though.”

With simultaneous shrieks – a shrill piercing tone that sent shivers down her spine – the trio of creatures swept upwards and dived towards them, their approach punctuated by another clap of thunder.

Rainbow Dash and Flitter glanced towards Cinnamon. The nervous mare grinned sheepishly.

“I stand corrected…”

Rainbow Dash would have made a dry observation on how she wasn’t standing, but was forced to veer off to the side to avoid one of the creatures. She didn’t think those talons were just for show.

The other two creatures went after Cinnamon and Flitter – the latter pulled off some wicked aerial manoeuvres and their attacks missed her by a mile. It seemed as if Cloudchaser had been teaching her sibling a few moves.

Cinnamon was… less impressive in her dodge, but at least she didn’t get a new mane-cut courtesy of their new ‘friends’.

Speaking of which, the one that attacked her had done a 180 and was coming back for another swipe. Pushing her anxiety down, Rainbow Dash smirked and reached up to sweep her mane back.

‘You picked the wrong mare to fight with, pal…’

She pulled back momentarily before throwing herself forwards with a mighty beat of her wings. Accelerating forwards, Rainbow Dash’s eyes instantly adapted to process more information at a much faster rate, allowing her to keep track of her surroundings or namely, the creature that was meeting her charge.

She stayed on course, eyes narrowed in steely determination. The creature’s eyes glowed maliciously as it reared back one arm in anticipation of an easy kill. Rainbow Dash waited until she was mere feet away from a collision before rolling to the side, turned in mid-air, and delivered a hard buck with all four legs as she passed the creature. With a harsh shriek, it fell, spinning wildly. However, it righted itself a little bit after and started circling around.

Rainbow Dash cast a glance towards her friends. Flitter was landing heavy blows of her own, but Cinnamon seemed content to just avoid her opponent. She definitely wasn’t a fighter.

Looking back at her own attacker, Rainbow Dash quickly gauged his distance and speed, and concluded she had enough time to help Cinnamon out.

“Hold on, Swirl – I’m comin’!”

Thunder sounded off once more as she zipped through the air, holding her forelegs out in front. The distance between her and Cinnamon’s tormentor closed with every passing moment until finally, she struck it in the back. Vibrations travelled through her legs and made her teeth shake. The creature had it worse though; it shrieked even louder than the other one and spiralled towards the ground, wings and arms flailing wildly.

“Th-thanks, Rainbow…” Cinnamon gasped out with a sickly expression. She was as green when it came to fighting as Fluttershy.

“No problem, Swirl. No offense, but I think it’d be better if you left the fighting to us and you go get Twilight.”

Cinnamon nodded enthusiastically. “I can do that,” She paused and looked over at Flitter. “Well… I…”

Sensing her distress, Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “We’ll be fine. She’ll be fine. I’m a Wonderbolt in training and so is Flitter’s sister, remember? These things got nothing on us.”

Cinnamon frowned, but nodded. “Okay, yeah…”

Hearing a shriek, Rainbow Dash turned her head and scowled at her returning foe. “Then get flying! Now!”

Cinnamon turned and sped off.

Rainbow Dash turned to meet her opponent from before. It was still woozy from the buck judging by how it swayed ever so slightly during its flight. Whatever these things were, they weren’t very tough; most of their danger came from their talons. As long as she kept away from those, then-

“Noooo!”

Her blood turned to ice as Flitter’s cry was punctuated by another clap of thunder and a horrible scream. She spun around and gawked in horror as Cinnamon plummeted to the ground, a trail of blood following her.

The creature that had been fighting Flitter had broken off to pursue easier prey and it had been successful. It shrieked victoriously and went into a nose-dive, eager to finish the job before the ground did.

The ice in Rainbow Dash’s veins turned to molten heat and her features twisted into an expression of rage. Letting loose a feral yell, she threw herself forwards, her wings almost parallel to her body as she rapidly gained speed. She easily overtook the creature and caught up to Cinnamon, gathering the worryingly-silent mare in her forelegs before spreading her wings to the side.

They burned and strained as she stopped on a dime a few dozen meters from the streets of Ponyville and burned and strained even more as she propelled herself upwards with just as much speed as her descent.

Her head struck the creature.

She guessed that if it wasn’t for her Aura, she would have received a greater injury than a mild headache. The creature wasn’t so lucky if she heard those cracks correctly and was glad to see it fall past her, utterly limp.

Rainbow Dash puffed out her wings and slowed to a hover, panting just as much from the adrenaline rush as the exertion. She looked at the mare in her forelegs and frowned in concern. Four ugly gashes marred her side, leaking ruby red liquid. Cinnamon was conscious but appeared to be in shock; she was staring at the wound as if she couldn’t quite believe it.

“Is she okay?!” Flitter was by her side in moments, brow creased in fear.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I… I don’t know. She’s bleeding a lot, so…” Two shrieks caught her attention and she scowled upon noticing the two remaining creatures quickly approaching. Pausing in indecision for a moment, she quickly pushed Cinnamon into Flitter’s hooves. “Go.”

Flitter blinked in shock. “Say what?”

“Get her to the hospital; I’ll hold them off.”

“I… I can’t just leave you alone!”

“You’re gonna have to if you want her to keep breathing!” Angrily, she thrust her hoof in the direction of the building. “Move!”

Flitter shook her head. “No, you take her; you’re faster!”

“Exactly – they’ll have a harder time landing a hit!” Rainbow Dash shoved her. “Would you just go?! I’ll be fine!”

The other mare opened her mouth as if to argue, but closed it after looking down at the shivering mare in her care. Looking back up, she clenched her jaw in frustration before taking off. Sighing in relief, Rainbow Dash turned towards the creatures and whipped her tail back and forth just as thunder sounded again and drops of water began wetting her mane and fur.

“Hurt my friends, will ya?!” She shouted. “That is totally. Un. Cool!”

She put on a burst of speed so sudden the creature she rammed into didn’t have enough time to blink let alone defend. Her Aura protected her from the initial impact and the talons that raked across her body as the creature struggled to rid itself of her charge. Instead of carving into her flesh, it only split the fur and irritated the flesh, similar to a scratch from Opalescence.

And that cat sure knew how to scratch.

She forced the creature into the thick mass of clouds where the storm gathered strength before she let go, giving it a buck in the belly for good measure, and flew away. Doing a loop, she came back around.

Shutting her eyes, Rainbow Dash inhaled deeply through her nostrils, her other senses becoming more potent as she became Attuned to the storm’s fury. She could sense the disturbances in the air as the creature lashed out, blind in the expanse of dark grey. Allowing her senses to guide her, Rainbow Dash delivered a solid hook to the creature’s face as she zipped past.

She repeated the action again and again until the creature’s resonating thrashes became weak and sluggish.

Just as she was coming around for another hit, the storm rumbled ominously as another body entered its fury. The second creature had entered.

Spreading out her wings and holding back under the cover of the clouds, Rainbow Dash chewed on her lip and wracked her brain for a plan.

‘What would Daring Do do?’

“Heh… Doo-doo…”

And just like that, it came to her.

Lifting one hoof, she stomped down on the cloud and in her mind’s eye, she could see the vibrations spreading outwards, highlighting several spots of potential energy. She quickly flew over to one. Landing on the spot, Rainbow Dash applied her extensive – if she did say so herself – knowledge of storm-making to create a path for the lightning to take when the energy was released. That done, she turned her attention back to the two creatures and waited… and waited… and waited…

A rictus spread across her face as the second creature halted in place, apparently confused. “Gotcha…”

She bucked the clouds.

The smell of ozone filled her nostrils as a bolt of lightning leapt from the cloud and hit the second creature. It didn’t even have time to shriek and simply jerked upright once before going completely still and plummeting, tendrils of electricity dancing across its body. Its companion, however, did shriek and darted to and fro, no doubt in panicked from the bright flash and deafening noise.

With another buck, a second bolt of lightning arced forwards and struck the creature directly in the head. With nowhere to go, the electricity rolled around until its head promptly exploded. Rainbow Dash’s stomach flopped; she didn’t think she’d ever get that pop noise out of her head.

Pushing the bile in her throat down, the cyan pegasus breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the cloud. The past minutes hadn’t been particularly taxing in a physical sense, but now that everything was calm and she was no longer in any danger, the adrenaline supressing her anxiety and fear had gone away. She had to lie down and breathe deeply to get rid of the jitters.

She didn’t wait too long, however; one of her friends needed her.

With but a thought, her Aura stopped resisting the cloud and allowed her to fall through, just as any physical mass would do against vapour. She fell until she was out of the storm’s fury, at which point she spread her wings and headed towards the hospital.

Bonbon hummed to herself as she stirred the contents of the pot, stopping occasionally to take a small taste and add an ingredient. So caught up in her cooking, she didn’t hear the soft clip-clop of hooves on linoleum until a heavy weight was suddenly placed on her back.

“What in…?!” Wondering if Apple Bloom had somehow snuck in and was still intent on finding her cutie mark in selling, Bonbon turned and was met with two golden orbs and a mischievous grin. “Lyra, I could have spilled this!”

“Sorry…” She didn’t sound sorry. “I was lonely.”

Bonbon chuckled. “Dinner’s almost done, honey – ten more minutes and I’ll be in there.”

“That’s like foreveeerr…”

The candy store owner jolted when she felt a hoof circle her side. “Lyra…”

“Hmm?”

Her wife had the entire front half of her body resting on her back in such a manner that anypony who would walk in at that moment could not be faulted for jumping to conclusions.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothiiiing…”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“Does it feel like nothing?”

“Lyra, we’ve talked about this: no funny business while I’m cooking.”

“You were serious?”

“Yes, I was actually. Now, if you don’t mind I’d like to avoid burning the house down. Three times was plenty; anymore and I’ll have to ask-”

Her eyes went wide and she stopped stirring as the weight was removed and a very familiar and hard object was gently drawn across her cutie mark.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“Lyra…” She fought to keep the tremble out of her voice. “Put that horn away before I get the filer.”

“I love it when you get rough…”

Before she could make a comment about her spouse’s sadomasochistic tendencies, there was the deafening sound of something smashing through the living room’s ceiling. Both mares jumped in shock, hesitated for a brief instant, before immediately rushing off to see to the disturbance.

They arrived at the scene in time to see a dark shape rising amidst the cloud of dust, its thin arms stepping on chunks of plaster, wood, and what remained of their worn but homely couch. The dark shape stretched upwards to its full height and two eyes, emitting a white light that penetrated the dust particles, opened up.

With a whoosh, the intruder spread two large leathery wings and cleared away the dust, revealing dark-brownish fur covering every part of its squat body except the hands and head. The head was akin to the angler fish found in the oceans surrounding Equestria; a pronounced underbite filled with long jagged teeth, bulbous eyes centred on both sides of its head, and black flesh with a scaly texture covering what the fur didn’t.

The two mares stared in horror as the creature took a step forwards, spreading its wings threateningly and screeching loudly. It opened its jaws wide enough to fit a pony’s head and a dark purple forked tongue slithered out to whip back and-

A good-sized piece of splintered wood, either broken off from the ceiling or the couch, was enshrouded in a golden aura, yanked off the floor, into the air, and was sent forwards at high speeds into the creature’s maw, the tip piercing the back of its mouth.

Sickly blue fluid spurted forwards and dripped onto the carpet as the creature collapsed, convulsing violently and choking out strangled gurgles for a few terrifying moments before finally going still. The puddle of what could only be blood spread out towards Bonbon’s hooves and she stepped back, mouth agape in horrified astonishment.

Lyra blinked and slowly looked at her wife. “Would you believe we’re covered for something like this?”

Bonbon could only shake her head at the sight.

When Rainbow Dash entered the hospital, she immediately spotted Flitter pacing back and forth in the waiting room, biting her lower lip. Upon her arrival, Flitter glanced up and stopped, her tense wings lowering slightly.

“Rainbow…” She sighed in relief. “You’re okay.”

Despite the dire situation, Rainbow Dash grinned. “Of course I’m okay – this is me we’re talking about, remember?”

Flitter gave what might have been a chuckle, but it came out in an anxious wheeze. “Yeah, I forgot…”

Her grin fading, Rainbow Dash walked in, her hooves leaving wet prints. “How is she?”

“I don’t know…” Flitter shook her head. “They’re still looking at her, but…” She shuddered. “Mother Faust, there was so much blood…”

“Damn it…” She pawed the ground with a grimace. “The hell were those things?”

Flitter shrugged. “They weren’t pegasi, griffons, dragons, or anything. I kinda thought they were some of those bat ponies that hang around Luna, but then I saw their eyes and their tails. I’m just glad they were slow.”

“Fast enough to get Cinnamon…” Realizing her words, Rainbow Dash looked up guiltily. “Sorry.”

Flitter didn’t say anything; she sighed again and trotted over to a couch to sit down, turning her gaze to the wall. Rainbow Dash soon joined her. She reached out awkwardly and rubbed Flitter’s shoulder.

“She’s gonna be fine.”

“Yeah… yeah…”

Twilight reached out with her telekinesis and carefully lifted the white sheet.

For a moment she stared uncomprehendingly at the strange object, but then she noticed a lump of bone and a hole, dripping blue liquid. She reeled back and let the sheet fall, bringing a hoof to her mouth and breathing deeply through her nostrils.

“They…” She swallowed as her mouth filled with saliva; a symptom of nausea. “They just fell out of the sky?”

Bulk Biceps nodded. “Yeah…”

Idly noting that it was the first time she’d heard him say that word so softly, Twilight lowered her hoof and magically adjusted her umbrella saddle. “This is very concerning. Thank you for coming to get me and covering these… things.”

Bulk Biceps shrugged, unbothered by the rain soaking his coat. “Didn’t want any foals seeing it, you know?”

Twilight nodded. “That’s considerate thinking.”

Steeling her stomach, she examined the grisly sight once more. Two creatures of unidentifiable origin were seemingly dead, one mangled from what could only be a deadly fall and the other decapitated. The sheet was quickly becoming soaked from the rain, but that didn’t stop a patch of blue forming where the fabric touched the decapitated creature’s… neck stump.

Turning to Bulk Biceps, Twilight said, “I hate to be a bother, but could you go inform the mayor about this issue? Tell her to meet me at the library; I’ll be studying the bodies in the meantime.”

Bulk Biceps gave a single nod and took to the air, travelling at a speed which belied his incredible mass and small wings.

Not wanting to cause a panic by being seen flying around while carrying a conspicuous object wrapped in a sheet, Twilight decided to levitate the bodies and teleport back to the library.

Her first attempts were met with resistance as her telekinetic hold simply… ‘slipped’ off the creature’s bodies. It wasn’t that they were too heavy, but that her magic seemed incapable of gripping any part of the bodies for more than a few seconds.

‘Odd…’

Choosing to instead pick up the bodies by levitating the sheet they were wrapped in – it proved more difficult than it should have, but was infinitely easier to do – Twilight focused her magic, and teleported.

When she arrived in a flash of purple light, she was surprised to see Spike talking to Bonbon, the latter looking very haggard and wet.

“-came around asking for her so I don’t when…” Spike turned and his eyes lit up in surprise. “Twilight, when’d you get back? What did…?” He noticed the object with her. “What’s that?”

Not wanting to expose him to such a macabre display, Twilight levitated the mass behind her and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Spike, but I need to take this to the lab.”

“What for?”

“I’ll… tell you later.”

“Wait, you can’t go!” Bonbon cried, stepping forwards. “There’s a dead creature in our house! It smashed through the ceiling and now it’s making a mess everywhere.”

Twilight frowned. “A creature?”

“It’s horrible – it’s some sort of fish… bat…” The candy store owner fumbled for the right words. “Thing…”

Twilight thought for a moment before trotting towards the basement. “Come with me.” Bonbon moved followed and so did Spike. “Not you, mister.”

“Why?” He folded his arms in agitation. “Are you hiding something from me? Is that my birthday present? It’s not a book again, is it?”

“Spike, I’m not letting you see this.” She paused. “And what’s wrong with getting a book anyway?”

He stared at her blankly. “Seriously? My whole job revolves around books; why would I read in my spare time?”

With an offended sigh and a shake of her head, Twilight continued towards the basement. “Just… do as I say, Spike. Please?”

He grumbled petulantly, but threw his arms into the air and began walking towards the kitchen. “Fine – I’m getting a sandwich. You want anything?”

“No, we’re…” She glanced at Bonbon. “Would you like something to drink or eat?”

Bonbon shook her head. “Uh, no, I’m fine. Thank you.”

“No thanks, Spike.” Twilight turned and trotted down the stairs leading to the basement. “Now tell me what happened exactly.”

Bonbon exhaled. “Okay… I was making dinner and Lyra came in to…” She paused and Twilight noticed a blush. “She came in to… help.”

Wondering why she was so embarrassed about that, Twilight nodded. “And then?”

“We heard a crash and then this… I don’t know; this monster was standing in our living room. It must have fallen from the sky. Lyra stabbed it in the mouth with a piece of wood and it died. I think it did at least – it was bleeding and it wasn’t moving or anything. So then I said that we should get you, but Lyra wanted to stay and keep an eye on it.”

Entering the basement and depositing the sheet and its contents on the floor, Twilight slowly pulled the cover back. “Did it look like this?”

Bonbon peered at the contents and flinched back, going green. “Yeah, it did. Th-the one still intact, at least.”

“This isn’t good,” Twilight stood over the two bodies, brow furrowed in thought and scientific curiosity. “I’ve never seen any creatures such as this before.”

“Maybe Fluttershy knows?” Bonbon suggested.

“I don’t really want to bring her in here to see… this,” She gestured to the headless corpse. “You know how sensitive she is.”

“Yeah, I guess so. So what are you going to do?”

Twilight levitated the intact corpse onto a nearby examination table. “I’ve already asked Bulk Biceps to have the mayor come over. Until then, I’m going to see if I can find anything out about this creature.”

“What about me and Lyra? What about the monster ruining my carpet? That cost a lot of bits!”

“I don’t have a good mental picture of your home, so I’ll have to fly over and then teleport back here. Unless Lyra’s capable of teleporting more than herself over significant distances.”

“Um…” A wicked blush formed on Bonbon’s cheeks. “Actually… she can.”

“Oh…” Twilight was surprised; it was rare for any unicorn to know how to teleport themselves, let alone do it with cargo – living or not. With newfound respect for Lyra, Twilight said, “Then can you ask her if she can teleport the body to me? If she can’t, then please keep it in your home until I can come get it; we don’t want to expose it to everypony and cause a panic.”

Bonbon nodded. “Okay. I’ll go now.”

Just as she turned to leave, Twilight called out, “One more thing…”

“Yes?”

“Why did you blush when I asked about the teleportation?”

“…”

“…”

“Lyra is very… imaginative.”

“…”

“In bed.”

“Um…”

“You’re quite sheltered when it comes to these things, aren’t you?”

Author's Notes:

Note 1: The Aura is a field of passive magic that surrounds a pegasus' body and protects them from most environmental hazards such as heat, cold, lightning, and the tremendous force and friction from their own flight speeds and subsequent impacts from crashing. The Aura strengthens in direct response to how fast a pegasus is moving, so in the event that a pegasus is unable to avoid a hazard, it is safer for them to speed up instead of slowing down.

Of course, there is a limit to this; typically, an average pegasus' Aura gains no increase in strength at speeds just above terminal velocity. However, some pegasi - Rainbow Dash, Bulk Biceps, most of the Wonderbolts - have abnormally strong Auras, allowing them to achieve extraordinary feats such as the Sonic Rainboom, Bucking Buccaneer, and crashing hard enough to cause shockwaves, particularly useful for the demolition of non-cloud structures.

Note 2: Attunement is the pegasi term for navigating and manipulating an active storm from within, an act which is particularly dangerous, even taking into account their Auras. Pegasi lore often tell stories of certain individuals - referred to as Storm-Bringers - who could lay waste to opposing armies through the act of Attunement. This practise has long since disappeared from modern pegasi culture and it is now only used rarely by experienced weather-ponies when a rogue storm threatens lives.