The blackness of the sky was pierced by sheets of lighting. Almost immediately the thunder caused the ground to shake underneath me. Brian wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer as buckets of rain pelted on us.

"I love you," he said and nuzzled his nose against my neck. I could hardly hear him over the rumble of thunder and the patter of rain.

"Thank you for bringing me here," I responded. Earlier today I had been talking to him on the phone and he had been so excited about the forecasted storm. I told him that I hated storms because they always make me feel so . . . lonely. "Why don't I show you how amazing storms are?" he had suggested, and I agreed, mainly for the opportunity to spend more time with him. It's not easy being shy in a country where only the forward, outgoing, and rich girls can win over decent guys. Yet somehow Brian, just another classmate at high school, had broken through my shell, gotten to know me, and decided he liked what he saw. He was the antidote to my boredom, loneliness, and despair.

Now here I was, taking a leap of faith, soaking wet and chilled to the bone, yet thoroughly enjoying myself. The twenty acre lot Brian's dad owned in costal Texas was usually full of trees, Mosquitoes, and burning sun; however, sitting in the driveway, with dark clouds overhead, none of that was able to bother me.

Brian let go of me and lay back on the pavement. "It makes you feel so small, doesn't it?" he mused, "there could be anything out there or nothing at all." I shushed him with a kiss then said, "Don't talk like that. You know it scares me." he gently pushed my long brown hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear, "you know I think you're amazing, and you know I'm glad you're alive."Brian paused then added, "Don't worry about the rest."

The sky was glowing orange through the grey as the sun began to set. I started shivering and rubbed my hands down the backs of my crossed arms. "Do you want some hot chocolate in a thermos?" he asked, "We can get you some dry clothes and sit on the porch if you want."
"I'm fine," I responded, "but I would like hot chocolate."

Brian stood up, his black hair plastered to his head and the sides of her face. His chocolate brown eyes met mine and he kissed me on the forehead, "I'll be right back," he promised then ran inside.

The darkness seemed to press in on me, and my overactive imagination envisioned monsters and ghosts lurking just out of sight. I stood up and twirled around with my arms outstretched, trying to lighten my fear. Just then a bright light lit up the sky and I felt fire coursing through my veins. There was no time to scream, and there was no room for thought within the pain. As for sight, my eyes processed blinding white light that slowly faded to black as I slipped away.

I swam through a dark sea, unaware of time or space. At times I could feel my limbs, solid and reassuring. Yet others times I was nothing, just a blip of consciousness in a vast something. A sudden thud brought me back to life. Cracking my eyes open brought in a violent flood of light. "Ow!" I tried to yell, but it came out as a croak. My body ached. "Brian?" I asked, dazed and confused.

"What are you?" a strange voice asked me and I felt something hard poke my side. I tried cracking my eyes open again. This time I was able to make out a blue smudge hovering about me.
"What the..?" I mumbled, "Are you a horse?"

To my surprise the blue . . . Thing . . . Shot into the sky above me and hid behind a cloud. I rolled over and pushed myself off of the green grass, groaning in pain.

"Oh god I must be hallucinating" I moaned as I realized I was staring at a life-sized pegasus. Slowly it, the blue smudge, descended towards me and asked again, "what are you?"
"Um..." I responded with uncertainty, "a human..."

"Oh, cool!" it said, "I'm rainbow dash! You must be super special awesome because I've never seen anything like you before and you can talk! Can you fly? Trot? Gallop? Walk? Can you do flips? Watch this!" the rush of words was followed by a triple-back-flip-barrel-roll-oh-my-god-it's-moving-too-fast-to-follow flying action. Next thing I knew I was pinned on the ground with the blue Pegasus on top of me. "What's your name?" it asked.

"Caitlyn," I responded, wondering if there was any danger to telling a hallucination my name.

"Ooooh! That's a funny name!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed and I decided, by the squeal in her voice, that Rainbow Dash was a girl. The she shoved her face closer to mine, sniffing me. She lifted up my arms and examined then curiously, then did the same to my legs. "What's wrong with your legs?" she asked. I didn't have time to respond before she fired another question at me, "why are you dressed up? Why don't you have hooves? What's wrong with your mane? Where's your tail?-"

"Hold on! Hold on!" I interrupted, rubbing my temples as I felt a headache coming on. "Let me explain one thing at a time!" Rainbow sat down next to me and stared intently with her ginormous shining purple eyes locked on mine.

"I'm a human," I started, "and this means that I was born walking on two legs, with two arms by my side. I used to live on a planet called earth in a stated called Texas and now I don't know where I am" "Ponyville in Equestria!" she interjected "and I don't know how I got here" I continued, as though she hadn't interrupted, "except I think I got struck by lightning."

"Wait here!" she called out and shot off into the sky, "I think I can help!"

A dark cloud returned a minute or two later, "Hold still!" I heard rainbow dash yell. Then once again I saw a blinding flash, felt a rush of fire through my spine down two my toes, and I blacked out.