Weathering the Storm (Myra, Open)

[Evest]

Myra, A yellow unicorn with a red mane, decided today would be a good day to go out and play fetch with Squeaky, her fully grown pet dragon. They fly to the far outskirts of town as to not bother anypony. Things went fine for a few minutes when a freak thunderstorm appears. Myra takes cover under Squeaky's wing as the prepare to ride out the storm, since its too far to walk home and to stormy to fly back.

Myra speaks to Squeaky, "Wow, Its really coming down. I hope no other pony is stuck in this like we are"

Attachments:

[RavenRise]

(bump!) Raven Rise, a light-brown unicorn with a jet-black mane, had decided to get far away to read his hot-off-the-presses new novel. He made himself comfortable on the grass and began reading.

A drop hit his book. "Oh great, I'm sweating. It must be hotter than I thought."

FLASH!

Raven was startled and looked up. Sure enough, a lightning-bolt had hit nearby. The sky was becoming gray.

BOOM!

"A thunderstorm? Now? Ugh, I really should have asked somepony for the weather schedule."

CRACK!

Raven jumped up involuntarily and felt the hair on his mane stand up. He looked for the source of the noise, and felt his heart rate go up to 200 within a second. A skinny tree on a high cliff about a football field away had gone black and snapped at half at the trunk.

"I need to leave now" Raven thought to himself. "I'll hide this here and come back for it later."

Raven buried the book under some thick weeds.

"This is serious... now, all I need to do is calm myself and I can do it." Raven sat down, closed his eyes, and started focusing on his breaths.

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"WAY OF CELES -- RUNIC!"

Twinkle!

His horn was now pulsating with a strong, white glow of magic. More notably, there was now had a big sparkle at the top of his horn. It was radiating bright white light and sparkling vividly, reacting to the atmosphere.

Raven opened his eyes, looked up, and smiled in satisfaction at his own little victory. The sparkle looked alive, and was actually rather pretty.

Then the raining started coming down. Hard. It felt more like hail than rain as it hit him.

"Well, at least I solved one problem. Better get home, I guess. Sheeze, it'll take me over an hour to walk to town. Oh well, the journey of a thousand miles begins beneath the hoof."

Raven resigned as he stood up and started walking/wading back to town, bracing himself against the rain. After an uncertain amount of time, he stepped on something on the ground. It was drowned out, but he definitely heard a squeak.

"What's this? ... a toy? Well it's one scare after another today." Raven connected two and two together. Oh wait! "HEY!" Raven boomed "ANYPONY OUT HERE?"

[Evest]

_{HEY! ANYPONY OUT HERE?"}

Myra is barely able make out a voice in the storm. She believes it had come from the direction that she threw Squeaky's toy. Knowing that its far too dangerous to be outside, she shouts in response hoping that here message makes it thru "HELLO. WHO IS OUT THERE? COME TO MY VOICE, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME"

Squeaky lifts his head out from under his wing and lets out a fire ball as a flair in hopes to help the other pony.

[RavenRise]

"HELLO. WHO IS OUT THERE? COME TO MY VOICE, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME"

Yes, somepony was there! He noticed the Runic sparkle turn bright red.

"...? WHOA!" Raven clearly saw what was unmistakably, a ball of fire past him. Even in this rain, it took a long time for the fire to extinguish.

"... Yeah this is the weirdest day of my life." Back to business, somepony's here"

Raven started walking towards the source of the voice his head high. He had no idea how the pony threw a fireball at him, but it made finding whoever was there a lot easier.

Not even all of the weird stuff that had happened to him that day had prepared him for what he'd see next.

A dragon. A gray, adult dragon, wings unfurled, right in front of him. He was so shocked he didn't even notice the extremely noticeable yellow unicorn beneath his wing. Raven thought to himself at about 50 mph.

"Oh no I'm gonna die. Maybe a stupefy spell would work... who am I kidding? I can't take on a dragon. Maybe if I aim it right... no, no way. Run away? No I'm not fast enough!"

The big dragon seemed to read his face and started flapping his wing. It brought Raven's attention to the unicorn. Raven exchanged glances with the unicorn, then with the dragon. Considering he wasn't dead, and the dragon seemed to be sheltering the unicorn, he figured they were in just as bad a position as he was. He tried his best to maintain his calm as he explained.

"Um, hi there!" He walked closer so he could be heard.

"My name's Raven Rise. I'm guessing you guys are hiding from the storm too."

"See this big sparkle?" Raven pointed his hoof at his horn. "It's a Runic spell. It attracts all magic around me (all pony magic anyways) and absorbs it harmlessly through my horn."


"Lightning is pegasus magic, so we'll all be safe as long as you stay close to me. Also, neither of us can cast magic while this spell is working."

That just about covered it. Raven noticed his mane was soaking and the rain was leaking onto his face. He couldn't leave now, but he still didn't know anything about the unicorn or the dragon.

"Sorry we had to meet under these circumstances. So, we can either wait out the storm here, or start the long walk to town. Or something else. I'll leave it up to you."

[Mortaleredwolf]

Lugh Blackthorn, white grayish unicorn male, was unfortunately caught in this blasted storm while searching for ores. His Tail clung to his umbrella that he held close to his head to shield is dark blue mane. The wind was buffeting him terribly and likely holes were forming in his umbrella.

"Curses and Pixies..." he muttered under his breath. "I knew I shouldn't have strayed too far from town.. or the path." Then he froze up in terror and let out a loud cry before jumping out of the way.

A fire ball that fell from the sky! The heat of the fire evaporated the water around it and nearly hit him.

"What in kings cross...?" Lugh looked around. "There must be a dragon nearby."

[RavenRise]

Raven heard a cry somewhere nearby. Somepony else stuck in the storm?

"Hey! We're over here!"

He didn't know what the range of the Runic spell was, but he wasn't about to test it.

"Hurry, it's dangerous out there! You'll be safe with us!"

[Mortaleredwolf]

Lugh heard somepony just off the way. The fire was extinguished with the falling rain so with his horn lit up he followed the sound of this pony's voice. However as soon as he set off that way his horn's magic dwindled and went out. "what in...."

Then he found them and froze at the sight of the dragon. "A... d...d-dragon!" His eyes blanked out and down he went with a heavy thump.

[Evest]

Myra rolled her eyes at the two ponies before her.

"Both of you act like you've never seen a dragon before"

Myra jumps down of her perch on Squeaky and greets Raven but it was cut short as they needed to get the other pony to safety out o the rain

"Hello, Raven. I'm Myra and this is my pet, Squeaky. Do you think you can lend me a hoof and help drag this one under Squeaky's wing? Squeaky could then start a fire to keep up warm"

Squeaky nodded and fireballed a nice fire. Raven and Myra go out in the rain and start to drag Lugh to safety and warmth

[RavenRise]

Raven's face twisted in an exasperated way at Myra's comment and wanted to tell her off, but he had to tend to their friend first. With Lugh all nice, cozy, and unconscious, he did a brief physical examination.

"He's OK. Just passed out from the shock of seeing your dragon, can't say I blame him. He should come to in about a half hour, but he'll be in no condition to walk."

"So... yeah." Raven looked at Myra, then at the dragon (he was keeping the fire steady), and at Myra again.

"Is there any established etiquette for this kind of situation....? Yeah I didn't think so."

"I guess we have no choice but to wait out the storm. Well, while we're here..."

Raven laid down close to the fire and stretched his hooves towards it. As he did so, the runic sparkle turned a bright red, twinkling peacefully. The fire warmed him up head-to-hoof without making him uncomfortable. Myra followed his lead.

"This is so romantic." Raven said jokingly, trying to lighten the vibe as he thought of something to talk about.

[off-character: fires are always romantic, goshdangit. I don't care who you are, who you're with, or what you're doing. You know it to be true]

"Um... I've never heard of ponies keeping dragons as pets before. I didn't even know they could be tamed. I'm not going to lie, I thought I was a goner earlier. Runic only works for pony magic, and the only spells I know against them are really only effective in groups."

"I figure that squeak toy was from you guys. It must be fun having a dragon."

[Mortaleredwolf]

Lugh awoke abruptly, partially from a horrifying dream and mostly from a large boom of thunder. He froze as he found himself under the wing of a dragon. Though he relaxed a bit when he found two other ponies alongside this dragon. He regained some speech abilities.

"Ah... well..." he stammered, "if... if the dragon was going to eat it would have consumed us by now... right?"

Lugh's fear didn't last long however. His thoughts were brought back to how muddy he now was. Fantastic... his pelt will be a beautiful shade of muffin until the rain stops.

[RavenRise]

"Lugh, you're awake! ...Eating....? OH! You mean Squeaky! The dragon is tame. He belongs to that unicorn over there, Myra. Don't be embarrassed though, he scared me half to death."

Raven walked over to him. He knew a thing or two about this kind of situation from his old military school first-aid elective class.

"Your heart is still weak from the shock, so you'll have to take it easy. Walking back to town is a no-go, so we'll have to wait out the storm here. But hey, at least you have us, right?"

Lugh looked less than pleased with the coating of mud on him, and what he had just said didn't seem to help. He suddenly wished he had done a more gentle job of dragging him away from the rain. How to cheer him up... oh right! His spell.

"Lugh, did I ever show you the Runic spell?" He gestured to the sparkle on his horn, twinkling softly. "It's a lightning rod but for pony magic. It's keeping us safe from the lightning storm, but it also means none of us can use magic. Bummer, I know. I don't know what your magic specialty is, but you should be able to learn it with practice."

There was a boom of thunder outside that made everypony jump. "Oh yeah, we have to stay close to be safe from the lightning. No problem right?"

He looked to Myra and back to Lugh. "We'll, we're all safe, which is the most important. It's all four of us until who-knows-when. Any bright ideas to weather out this storm?"

[Evest]

"Ooooo, I know what we could do. I perfected this new spell the other day that can create marsh mellows. We could make s'mores."

Myra fired up her horn only to realise the Raven wasnt kidding about his Runic spell. The only other thing Myra could think about doing was the one of the few things she knew how to do without magic.

"Oh.... right. Well....... we could..... get toooo.... know each other"

Myra was a bit hesitant in saying that. She was really wanted to get to know these ponies and make some friends but assumed the first thing they'd ask about her would be why she was the color of a multi-flavored sherbet. She thought to herself "Hopefully they won't be too surprised when they find out that there are really four of us here" (Squeaky not counted)

[Mortaleredwolf]

"Eurr.. Tame dragons hm? Usually where I come from dragons... you know.." he coughed and tried to rub the mud off himself. "Pleasure to meet you Myra..." he gave somewhat of a smile though clearly he was still nervous under this dragon.

"ah.." he waved a hoof at Raven. "It sounds particularly a neat spell but alas... I wouldn't be able to learn that spell even if I tried. I'm an enchanter. Like most of my lineage." He jolted and ducked low, covering his face with his hooves from the sound of the storm. "I dislike loud storms.... How about you two?... and um... Msss-mr dragon? Pardon if I can't tell. Never seen a dragon up close." he waddle-scooted away from the dragon's base.

[Evest]

Myra let out a small snicker.
"Squeaky is male and I wouldn't worry about this dragon. He was born a mouse. I doubt he'll hurt you... unless maybe you smell like cheese. Just joking. As for storms, I love them. The rain can be very calming" Then moment that she finished that sentence a large crack of thunder rang across the sky. Myra jumped a bit. "....Thunder... Not so much"

[RavenRise]

The flash of the lightning illuminated something just outside to Raven. Hm, it couldn't be. This wouldn't be the first time though that a short glance of his had been accurate. He pointed his head towards that direction, and.... it was!

Oh wow! It's my book!

Evest and Lugh turned to look at him.

Yeah! The whole reason I'm out in this storm! I hid it in a big weed and it the water must have brought it down here. I forgot all about it!

He walked towards the weed, away from the cover of Squeaky. He grabbed the weed with his mouth, then shook the book loose from it. It feel to the ground with a splatter.

"Good thing I went with the hardcover. WOOHOO!"

The following 10 seconds happened in an instant. A lightning bolt streaked from the clouds, heading for a nearby hill, but changed direction perpendicular to Raven's location.

Everything around them was bathed in a bright glow of blue. The lightning went straight down to Raven and hit his horn. The sparkle of his horn flashed a bright blue, as did his eyes. The lightning bolt was feeding into the top of his horn in a continuous, powerful stream. He actually started to lift off the ground.

The lightning stopped and Raven fell to the ground on his side. The sparkle was still bright blue, reacting madly. Fearing the worst, Myra and Lugh rushed to his aid.

"I'm fine guys! Hold on."

He got up slowly. The sparkle was now a light blue.

"Heyguys, ever felt like everycell in your body was supercharged with energy and you could run 10 miles easy?"

He was noticeably coloured brighter.

"That was a lot of magic for my average-sized body. It'll take a while to dissipate completely, but the only signs you should see of it are random tics.

How do you react to this situation? Raven had told himself that too many times this day.

"So, looks like sticking together was a good call. I guess I'll follow Myra's lead and open up to you guys. Err... I like long walks on the beach. And hugs. in moderation of course!"

There was a noticeable twitch in his flank. He'd never thought that the spell he'd slaved over; translating, solving, and practicing -- in the Institute's forgotten library section a year ago, would have one day saved his life.