Twilight's Time-off

Chapters

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day4
Day 5
Epilogue

Day 1

-OR-

The Perfect Plan

“Rarity, do we have any more water?”

“Oh really Spike, we ran out two hours ago! When you volunteer to go gem-searching, you simply cannot complain when you don’t like it!”

Spike simply grunted. Rarity turned back to the dress designs laid out in front of her. Spike unearthed more jewels, jewels glinting a tauntingly subtle aquatic blue in the unrelenting sun. Rarity looked up for a moment and marked the location of more gems with a stick. Spike dropped some gems in the wagon and collapsed next to her. He heaved in cool bliss underneath Rarity's parasol like a sputtering machine. Rarity glanced at him, and sighed.

“I’m terribly sorry Spike, I don’t know what came over me. Let’s take a break, shall we? See if we can find some water around here,”

The unicorn's mind was already flooded with water. It hissed subliminally, then paused expectantly. Next, it gathered itself to hit a roaring crescendo and finished with a fading rumble. The back of her head echoed all over again with ebb, break and flow, the constant cycle of the sea. Fwsshhhh... fwsshhhh.... She could hear the way her hooves thumped and sank into the golden sand too, and the gulls which called out over blue silence for their comrades. She could hear the wind- a cool ocean breeze thick and salty with sea spray- and the viciously real simoom blowing dust through her snowy white coat.

“So what do you think, Rarity?” asked Spike after a long silence. The sudden question startled Rarity out of her reverie.

"Pardon?" She asked, blinking as the bright, dry landscape before her came rushing back into her eyes.

"You know, that plan I was telling you about? What do you think about it?" It was tough; in one hoof, she had to prepare for an accidental summer, but in the other, she still heard the waves whispering in her thoughts. “I mean Twilight needs it! She’s done nothing but study since the princess gave her a break... from studying!”

“I don’t know Spike... it doesn’t seem like an awfully good...”

The pony's words trailed off but her ears perked up, caught on a sound just above the wind. Spike heard it too, and recognised it instantly. It was the sound of a pony, a pegasus to be exact, plummeting like a meteor through the sky. It was getting louder and louder. The next sound they heard was a hearty thud as the pegasus zoomed over their heads into the dust before them. The dust settled, revealing the fallen body of Rainbow Dash.

“...IDEAAA!” cried Rarity, glowing anticipation “It is decided, Spike, I shall take you on, but we’re going to need Rainbow too,”

“What?” said Rainbow, getting to her feet.

"How the hay did ya'...?"

The dry wind rustled through the apple trees and tousled the tablecloths shaded below. It was nice here; Sweet Apple Acres was one of the few places in ponyville that still had any clouds. Yet it was strange here; these clouds seemed to push the blue sky further away than ever and they moved almost as if with intention. It was a nice effect, but Applejack preferred to focus on the tables they had set up in front of them. It made her feel less small, and she didn't trust anything scavenged from the Everfree Forest anyway.

Still, Applejack was glad that the accident in Cloudsdale hadn't plunged her farm into the same drought as the rest of Equestria, and other neighbouring countries too. In fact, since these everfree clouds controlled themselves, she actually had less work co-ordinating with the weather team than usual, hence giving her the time to find herself in the situation she was in.

"Um, Applejack, this is Pinkie we're talking about,"

"And I just love apple pies! especially the crust -ooh! and especially the filling! and..."
Applejack stopped Pinkie's mouth with a hoof. "so yer tellin' me you ate six whole pies in two seconds?"

"Mmm-hmm" she replied.

"Fluttershy?"

"Well, it was really more like two and a half, but, uh, it can be two if you want it to..."
Applejack gave in. In retrospect, it was foolish to challenge Pinkie to a pie baking/eating contest, no matter how fast she was at baking. All the other contest had probably been bad ideas too. "Alright, Pinkie, you win, what do you want me to do?" Applejack declared as she lowered her hoof.

"Woohoo! I just have so many ideas like making you bake me cakes or do my chores or... I've got it!"

"No," stated Applejack firmly. She had refused the first time she heard it, and wasn't feeling any more inclined now.

"But you promised, silly, you said you'd do anything,"

Applejack turned to Fluttershy for support, but she had already put a table between herself and the others and was using it to shield herself from attention. Applejack turned back to face Pinkie staring her down like an especially exuberant wolf would its prey. "Fine," and with that, Applejack surrendered. It was a shame, she really could have used Pinkie's help clearing pests from the orchard, but she was forced to resign herself to playing Pinkie's silly pranks. Applejack began clearing the tables and and bringing them back inside, trying to ignore Pinkie while she still could. The hyperactive pony was bouncing and giggling about how this was going to be the greatest prank ever and how much fun they were going to have...

"Um, actually Pinkie, I was just wondering, if it's okay with you, if I could help too?"

But this, Applejack could not ignore. Fluttershy had seemed almost as averse to the idea as herself- it just wasn't in her nature... so what had changed? Had adding another pony really made that much difference?

"Are ya' sure about thi-"

"Of course Fluttershy! the more the merrier!" and with that, it was decided.

Fluttershy was helping. She wasn't just hiding in a tree being afraid of getting caught. She definitely wasn't afraid of what Rainbow Dash would do if she caught her spying, and there was absolutely no way she was trying to wriggle her way out of the situation. Nope, she was definitely using both her eyes to observe Rainbow Dash through the binoculars and punctiliously keeping record of precisely what actions she was currently occupied with. And she was absolutely certainly not trying to escape.

"Pinkie, can we go now?" She asked in a wobbling whisper

"Of course not silly! it's only been five minutes!" The pink pony replied just a little too loudly.

Rainbow had done little in all of five minutes -whatever else she did was hidden behind her fluffy, white walls and out of sight. However, there was a wagon parked on the ground, so the pair watched, curious. Fluttershy felt frozen anyway(ironic in this heat), as the slightest motion might shake the branch she perched on. The way Pinkie’s bush rustled beneath her only locked her muscles tighter. She trained her vision on Rainbow’s house instead, searching for a glimpse of the elusive pegasus.

At last, a sighting! Rainbow emerged to deposit a suitcase in the wagon below. Soon after, she came out with other things; a colourful ball (deflated), an umbrella of sorts, some kind of board. Fluttershy recognised this board. It was a cloud board, a device for riding only the sicknastiest tropical weather formations, the likes of which are not seen within the tamed Equestrian skies. This meant only one thing to Fluttershy...

"The Bahamares!"

"Huh?"

"It's where Rainbow always loved to go cloudboarding back in Cloudsdale,"

Suddenly, a wellspring of regret swelled in Fluttershy's chest. It was as if she could sense Pinkie's next move, as if whatever her plans were, they just got a level grander. Maybe it was the silence, the way Pinkie stopped moving. It was like she was suddenly doing nothing, or worse, as if she had begun thinking, or maybe it was the buzz Pinkie constantly exuded that had become noticeably more intense. Whatever it was, Fluttershy didn't like it, and spent the remainder of the dramatic pause thinking of a way to undo what had been done.

"This... is... PERFECT! Fluttershy, pack your things. We're going to the beach!"

But it was too late.

"Ohno ohno ohnoohnoohnoohnoohno!" Angel just watched Fluttershy pace up and down the cottage. Sometimes it was best to let these things play themselves out, sometimes it was better to intervene. This time, a little of both. When the right moment had come, Angel hopped up to Fluttershy and thumped her leg with his foot.

"Oh Angel you've got to help me!" She cried suddenly, almost catching Angel off-guard. Calmly, Angel mimed putting on a stetson and crossed his hind legs in a familiar pose. "Yes, you're right Angel, we've got more important things to consider, but how are we going to convince Applejack to...?"

"Fluttershy! Are you home?" called Twilight, opening Fluttershy's front door. She smiled from the portal with Owlowicious on her back. Fluttershy smiled back at the pair and dissembled all traces of her previous conversation. As Angel bounced away to other business, Twilight proceeded to make herself comfortable on Fluttershy's couch. "So how're you doing Fluttershy? How was you're trip to Cloudsdale?"

"Oh, it was ok..." Twilight seemed almost aglow with excitement.

"I'm glad you didn't get caught up in that mess over at the weather factory, that would have been awful,"

"No, I'm alright..." It was almost as if she had some spectacular news.

"Actually, with the princesses tied up with all this weather business, I've got some time off from my studies, which is why I have a favour to ask of you; I'm going away for a week and I was wondering if you could take care of Owlowicious while I'm gone? I'm afraid he's got a bit of a cough, so he might need some special attention," The owl on Twilight's back seemed to shudder from some internal affliction.

"Oh, that's fine..." Fluttershy had already guessed; Twilight was going to go to the Bahamares with Rainbow, of course. "I think I've got some medicine somewhere..."

"Thanks Fluttershy! Unless, you wouldn't want to come with me, would you? I'm sure you'd love the Neighchelles!"

"The... the Neighchelles?" ... except this was not the Bahamares.

"Yeah... Spike suggested it. The princess's busy with the weather crisis, so I'm free to go travelling! So what do you think? if you're not busy that is..."

"Oh, no I'm not..."

"Not busy? That's great! we've got so much to prepare... Oh! can I help you pack? I just finished reading The Joys of Packing!" Twilight was rising from the couch when Angel intervened. He jumped onto her back next to Owlowicous and began to glare at Fluttershy. "Oh, uh, hello Angel," Twilight said, before slowly sitting back down.

"Um, actually Twilight, I meant to say that I'm not, uh, going to be available for a while... if it's ok with you, I mean..." She almost felt bad when she saw Twilight's ears droop; she wanted to take it back, but Angel was still eyeing her. "In fact, I've got to uh, go get some... carrots right now so uh..." Angel's stare was unrelenting "I think I've got to go now...?" Angel allowed an imperceptible nod and suddenly Fluttershy was gone. In fact, she hardly had time for any departing wishes. As Twilight set about her fare-wells to Owlowicious, the bunny began to breathe easy. At least he could relax.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was soaring towards Sweet Apple Acres. Thoughts were rushing through her mind like the wind was through her mane. She wanted to convince Applejack to stay in Ponyville, but going overseas for a few days would probably solve her problems quite easily. On the other hoof, the Neighchelles were an awfully long way away, and she needed to find somepony to look after her animals while she was gone. If all her pony friends left on vacation or otherwise, she would still be left defenseless in Ponyville, and she certainly didn't want that. And what about Owlowicious? She'd have to take care of him wherever she went.

When she got to the acres, she found AJ and Pinkie Pie. She told them of this change of location and she discovered the pair virtually packed and ready. Applejack was pushing to leave ahead of Rainbow, and with Big Mac finally back from negotiating weather rations in Canterlot, she was at ease leaving the farm. Pinkie was messing with the fireworks, sacks of paper and the party cannon and Fluttershy herself looked on nervously, her mind tumultuous with complex thoughts and considerations. In the end, she said nothing, and the other two assumed her presence on their trip. As it always happened, Fluttershy had her decision made for her when Applejack volunteered Big Mac to care for the animals.

Rarity almost considered encrusting it with jewels and hanging it on her wall; but no, that would be silly- everypony would know her plans. Instead, she rolled the paper up and slid the little keystone into its designated home in her suitcase (the large purple one with the three diamonds below the handle). Looking about her workroom, she saw desks coated in notes and an army of bags lined up at attention. Had somepony chosen to ask her, she could detail the contents of all of these things exactly, every facet burned into her mind after hours of scrutiny. She began to clean the place,musing how her plan would make even Twilight proud.

Rarity heard a voice calling- Twilight's, coincidentally. "Coming!" Rarity called back as she descended into the boutique. She found Twilight already inside, staring at the bare shelves and stacked mannequins along the walls, the cloth-filled boxes pushed behind the show-room curtain, the drawn blinds and the desolate looking-floor. She seemed a little lost, Rarity noticed. "Please excuse the mess Twilight, I've got a little business trip to Manehattan soon and I've packed up the store for the interim," she said as she led Twilight through to the kitchen, where it was sunnier.

"You're going away too? So is Rainbow, and Applejack and Pinkie have already left... weird," Half of this was news to Rarity, but she dismissed it for now "It must have something to do with the accident at Cloudsdale because suddenly everypony's disappearing!"

"Yes I know, dear. Did you come here for something?" Rarity asked, anticipating the response.

"Oh, of course, I just stopped by to say that I'm going on a long research trip tommorrow. It's short notice, but I'm really looking forward to it!" Yes, me too, thought Rarity. 'Research Trip' had been Spike's idea, but Rarity had seen more, Rarity had seen opportunities, she saw Twilight having the best vacation she could possibly have, and this was too good to miss. Everything was in place, everything was ready, and it was about to begin.

"Well, you'd better rest up, darling, it's a very long trip," suggested Rarity "...I imagine,"

Blue. Everything Twilight Sparkle could see was blue. A blue ocean that rippled with blue waves. A cerulean sky fading to cyan where it met the sea. Even the clouds held an azure haze from so far away. In fact, Twilight herself was a little blue. It was true, she was excited; and indeed, she didn't give them much notice (nor receive it), but to think that every single one of her friends had other places to be and other things to do was simply depressing. She and Spike would be all alone on a tiny island in the vast sea doing research. And yet... it was worth it; without a doubt.

Peering downwards Twilight thought she spotted a flock of sea-birds on the wing, but lost them in the sun-speckled water so far below. Eventually, she bored of searching and swung her gaze forwards through the blustering wind to squint towards the prow. There, an aquamarine unicorn stallion levitated a brass telescope before his eye. "How long until we arrive, captain?" Asked Twilight.

"See fer yerself, lass" the captain said, levitating the telescope in front of Twilight. She took the device into her own magic and looked through, one eye squeezed shut and the other wide open. Scanning the horizon, she saw them: the Neighchelles; a trail of rocks thrust off the sea floor by the inferno deep below the earth and yet looking like a stain on the pure ocean surface. The furthest island away was Oupost Island, with the steaming Black Atoll, their destination.

The archipelago bathed in a soft green tint of shallow coral reefs that contrasted with the the unfathomably deep sapphire waters everywhere else. In the blue, like in the Everfree Forest, cold mysteries prowled. Shadows would steal the breath from reckless ponies in a blink and rumours or legends -Twilight couldn't tell which- were given birth away from curious pony eyes. Twilight shivered. considering how fast they traveled, they might make it in another hour. She thanked the captain and went to wake up Spike. It had been a long trip, after all.

Last chance. The books were in the bag, and the bag was locked tight. Spike had offered to carry it, but Twilight gave him a lighter one instead. He acted offended, but they both knew Twilight could levitate all the bags and Spike too, if needed. He had tried 'bumping' the bag, so it rolled down the steep path, so he could retrieve it, and so he could claim the books had fallen out, but Twilight had stopped him. Maybe she was getting suspicious? Who knows? They had crested the hill, crossed the jungle path and trekked along the coastal cliff. After thirty minutes of walking Spike was running out of time. He needed a distraction, and as they rounded the last bend and the cottage finally came into view, he found one. Only one, however.

"Miss Sparkle? A pleasure meetin' you," Spoke the distraction with the black and white stripes. The zebra landowner trotted off the veranda and raised her hoof to the air. Twilight high-hoofed her, restraining a giggle of delight, the high-hoof was the traditional equivalent of an hoof-shake in the Neighchelles. The landowner shared a little of her joy. "Higher and Drier Cabin welcomes you miss, but first, a few issues desire some sortin'..."

It's now or never, Spike! He grabbed the book-bag- not too quickly! and sauntered (he made sure to saunter) into the... Wait, the keys! Spike grabbed the keys, unlocked the door, and rushed NO! too fast! ...strolled calmly into the cottage, carrying a pile bags with (he began massaging his arms the second he was out of sight) ease. He was in. He (Oh Celestia the bag is- no wait it's ok the padlock keys are right here) unlocked the bag, retrieved the books and began walking. He sped past the cushioned hammock in the living room, past the bamboo table, the shower with its shell for a head, went out the back doors and onto the balcony where he laid the books in a single file that exceeded the length he could physically use.

He took a deep, deep breath and... FWOOOOOOSH! There went The Unabridged Guide to Tropical Fish, there went The Complete Phylogeny and Ecology of Corals, sixth edition and there went A Comprehensive Treatise on Magical Marine- (Oh no I'm running out of breath).... Spike barely finished torching the whole thing, and watched wistfully as the smoky message rose up and away over the top of the house. It began to dawn on him, between heaving breaths, that they actually had a very long balcony indeed. It was a good thing Twilight cared so much about rules, Spike would hate to explain this to her and Celestia.

Spike had called it 'R&R', apparently. Rarity liked that, or maybe she was just making all that hideous noise over his success in whatever-it-was. Rainbow, on the other hoof, was asleep; or rather, she was trying to be. She was curled up on the sheets like a patch of blue sky in the clouds, drifting peacefully into- a thunderclap burst through Rainbow's ears, flinging her back into the hotel. The bathroom door was still quivering as Rainbow groggily inspected the room. Rarity was taken aback, she noted, and had her eyes fixed on the point Spike had disappeared into. The pegasus groaned, partly to muffle the sound of Rarity's complaining, and slumped back into the soft, white mists... She thought she smelt smoke in the room, a cloying kind, like bad breath. Once again a miasma of chatter, of clattering hooves and the rustling of paper saturated the air. It was like a wind or an updraft or... whatever. Rainbow gave up. She hadn't slept for a whole day of travel, and there was no point starting now.

"Finally awake, I see?" commented Rarity. Rainbow tried to mumble something snide, but just mumbled unintelligibly. "Good, I need you to go see what you can do about this weather before it gets dark. Bridle Bay doesn't have any official weather control so you're free to do as you please. Spike, I know you're not feeling well, but you're required to keep tabs on Twilight for us. As for myself, I've opened negotiations with the town council and I'm going to see what we can sort out with this beach. Is everypony ready?"

"Ready!" said Spike, standing at attention.

"Yeah, yeah," said Rainbow.

"Perfect. And Rainbow, I don't want to see you with that cloudboard of yours, we've got a job to do, remember?"

The wind pressed eastwards but Dash, tapping her cloudboard as she thought, was set on the burning cumuli in the sunset west. South was an option; a closer, easier option with boring stratus clouds, and the wind would push her over the Black Atoll, where a pillar of steam dissolved into the breeze. It was too hard to think here, so Dash considered moving somewhere where the air wasn't so thin or so persistent.

She started her search at the Black Atoll, south-east of Bridle Bay, which looked like an eye on the face of the Ocean, and moved past Needle Point, a steep head of rock that sealed off Guardian Bay from the town. Her gaze swept over Bridle Bay itself, passing over the long, sandy beach at the bottom, up the hills where the tallest buildings pressed intimately into the jungle and across to the west, the oldest part of town made of squat, sturdy limestone. Almost due north of her was another forested headland with its ruined watchtower up in the hills that defined the western edge of Bridle bay, where Dash could land within the canopy. She examined the jungle, searching for partings in the trees that might signal the path was below and saw... Fluttershy?

Rainbow did a double take. She could have sworn to Celestia that, standing out like a star against the deeply verdant tree tops, she had seen a yellow pegasus with pink hair fluttering in place. Rainbow might have sworn to Luna that this pony had been looking right at her, too. She needed a closer look and virtually a nose-dived to get it, but then she saw nothing but green. Fluttershy, or whoever it was, had disappeared.

Rainbow did a backwards loop and punched through the trees, unable to quit so soon, sending a shower of leaves to the ground below. There, in the mottled orange light of the forest she paused and set aside her board. Rainbow was surrounded by a knot of plants. Gnarled trees strung with moss soaked vines pervaded every inch of vision and her ears where assault by an anarchic orchestra of bugs. That pegasus could be anywhere, even...

Dash spun around to look behind her. Nothing. She dived into the understory and twisted her eyes upwards, downwards, side-to-side. Brown leaves, that was all. She, quiet as an owl in flight, snuck up onto a branch and, prowling down its length, pounced around the trunk. On the other side, she managed to scare a finch off its perch, but no more. This was getting silly. She began to glide about the vegetation, finding flowers, animals, and plenty of leaves, but no pegasi.

The air was growing chilly. As Rainbow Dash went to collect her board, however, she saw something. Shining in the pink evening light, a feather floated through the air, held aloft by the breeze. Dash wasted no time and she snatched it between her teeth, then, returning to her board, examined it. It was a large feather, the colour of daffodils and smelled a little fruity- definitely the pinion from a pegasus pony. Good enough. Dash tucked the feather into a crevice in her board and set off. She'd have to fly fast to make it to those cumuli by nightfall.

Despite all the things stuck in her wing, Fluttershy worried most about the thing that was missing: the very last feather. Panicking, crashing, scuttling away with a stinging pain; her recent misfortunes looped in her memory again and again. She sighed- this didn't mean she was grounded, but flying would be slow and difficult for the next few days. Those weren't the only things on her mind, either. She trotted along the muddy trail slowly, so that every joint wouldn't scream at her, and tried to picture the long, hot shower she would have when she got back to the lodge at last. She corrected the fantasy to exclude the preening lotion... They had gone so quickly, she had left the lotion at home... No time for such thoughts. Rainbow was still crashing through the trees like a winged elephant, and if she got caught spying, Pinkie's plans would be ruined, and what would happen then? Fluttershy sighed and tried to speed up. Maybe Pinkie would know what to do.

To that effect, what was Pinkie doing? Fluttershy had left the forest on the headlands and emerged on the western side, where Pinkie had booked them into a lodge. Pinkie was suspended high in the air by helium-filled balloons, and seemed to be talking to coconuts? At the same time, Applejack performed baffling operations on a device at the tree's base and rummaged through a box of tools. Fluttershy trotted down through the streamers hanging like vines off the vines and the flowering decorations decorating the flowers under a canopy of balloons and an undergrowth of party tables. As she passed the party cannon, with barrel still smoking and overheated, she almost tripped on a long red piece of fabric that was lost among the explosion of colours. Finally, she emerged from the jungle onto a small sandy beach with long, gentle waves and began to approach Applejack and Pinkie Pie, who had now moved on to the next coconut palm. "What's going on, girls?" She inquired.

"Hiya Fluttershy! we're just-"

"We're gettin' ready for tommorow, sugarcube. If y'all want to help, could y'all go speak to the owner, High Stakes, in them cabins over there? Where'd RD go, by the way?"

"Well, actually-"

"There she is!" Pinkie shouted, pointing to a rainbow streak across the sky "Ooh! quick, get the camera Fluttershy, We need you to take some pictures of Rainbow Dash!"

"Um..."

"...It's by the cannon," Stated Applejack flatly, pointing back into the trees. Fluttershy then trotted back the way she had come, not wasting any time. Applejack gave Pinkie a look of discontent; Fluttershy was clearly limping, yet Pinkie was still the boss. "Pinkie..."

"And don't forget to bring some balloons to help you fly!" Shouted Pinkie.

"Pardon?" Applejack hadn't noticed anything wrong with Fluttershy's wing.

Applejack much preferred this noise, the hum and clatter of busy ponies, griffons and zebras, to Pinkie's. High Stakes could cope with her randomness now. Even the violent crashing of the waves were drowned out by the cry of the hawkers in Bridle Bay's market quarter. Under the flicker of torch-light, Applejack perused the dragon's hoard of fruit obscuring every inch of the stalls that held them. Elsewhere, merchants competed in shouting matches over whose wares were the finest, cheapest or most exotic. Another place, though strangely empty, was being invaded by its neighbours to store barrels and crates of bottles and boxes of potions and powders of herbs. Applejack looked behind the chaos, however, finding a shop stocked with coconut products. Here, among this mess, she saw Fluttershy. Well I'll be, thought Applejack, not realising Fluttershy-branded products were still floating around. Taking a closer look, she saw two more such products, and a curious live butterfly in a jar.

"Excusin' me, miss," Said one of the hawkers digging into a barrel for another bottled potion. The farm filly caught a glance of the bottle's barrel-mates, powdered heart's desire among them. Remembering her mission, she purchased it, sealing the transaction with an high-hoof, and pushed back into the throng. Before Applejack could get a final glance at the coconut shop, however, the crowd swept her away.

The river of shoppers trickled down the night markets with the pressure of the ocean, giving Applejack no chance to inspect the pearls, the curiosties of the sea or even the griffons' reeking mountains of fish. Without helping it, Applejack washed up before the fountain in town square. The islanders diffused here, giving Applejack a chance to admire the torch-lit gold spouting from the mouths of a pair of seaponies. They were perched on a gushing tower of coral and encircled by the writhing body of a sea-serpent, most of which was hidden in the shadowy basin. Behind it was town hall, the oldest building in Bridle Bay, supposedly built more than a thousand years ago.

Whimsically, Applejack trotted up. It was no wonder how it had held its ground against the march of time, she saw. The entire outer wall was made of seamless white marble, and supported by buttresses like ancient jungle titans. Applejack had no trouble envisioning it's age, either, from its worn, rounded edges and its green skin of lichen and moss. Looking up Applejack could see a glossy brown wooden balcony, dressed richly in tapestries and flags of many different colours. It seemed much newer than the stone it inhabited. Overall, the building gave her an impression of some of the dodgier sectors of Canterlot.

Applejack went in, and suddenly the waves, the clatter of the crowd, the fountain trickling only meters away went quiet. Like the outside, the inside was a smooth, white marble. Yet, also like the exterior, two floors of wooden partitions and a mezzanine held up by thick, square basalt pillars seemed tacked on. Part of this effect was the carvings made into both the railings and the columns, depicting a long sea serpent with a carving of the royal sisters and fanciful or strange sea creatures respectively. The floor and roof, by contrast, was bare white.

Applejack marveled at how clearly she could now hear the conversation in the building compared with outside. Voices wafted over the mezzanine's decorative balustrade and echoed against the basalt columns. She leaned into the sound subconsciously, before her guilt at eavesdropping caught up with her. Nah, can't be, thought Applejack. She thought she'd heard Rarity's voice among them.

It was quiet, dark and cold, mostly. Across the shivering waters, flecked with the fading torch light of Bridle Bay, the wind quivered and whipped. The stars stared down from above -objective, impassive and neutral. Behind her, Needle point shrank away into the dark horizon. Rarity tightened her jet-black velvet cloak and stared down the darkness for a glimpse of the Black Atoll. She got nothing. It all seemed... off. No, that was the wrong word... Empty was better. Rarity was on a boat, in the middle of nowhere, doing nothing. It felt empty. She couldn't stare hard enough.

-Thump- Rarity's heart skipped a beat as the rowboat came to a sudden and complete stop. "We've arrived," stated the oarspony, an earth stallion of very few words. Two splashes matched two other disembarking unicorns.

"You- you don't honestly expect me to get out do you?" She asked.

"'Course. Why not?" asked Starwisp, who was already a foggy three meters from the boat. "Tha water's warm this season!'

"I don't want to get my hooves wet, and besides, it looks muddy."

"Oh, that'd be okay then. Say, where'd Lemon Leaf get goin' to?" The other unicorn had disappeared it seemed. Starwisp returned to Lemon Leaf's side of the boat, and looked about. "Could you please check tha boat's other side, miss Rarity?"

"I don't see why we're wasting our time, she's prob-" Suddenly a slimy, shaggy creature leapt onto the boat!

"Blaaarggh! Oogleboogle!" cried Lemon Leaf, whilst Starwisp sunk her weight on the boat's opposite edge. Rarity jumped in fright, tripped, stumbled and fell off the side and into the sea. Lemon Leaf practically laughed the seaweed off herself, echoing Starwisp's untempered howls. The disgraced mare righted herself and attempted to gather the shards of her dignity, yet with cloak, coat and mane both wet and sandy, there was only so much she could do. The water really was very warm, however.

"Hmph. Well, let's get on with this, shall we? Tell me about this ghost ship again," She commanded.

"...When tha ghost's bells ring from tha blackest sea, tha ship shall sail to claim its fee... That's what 'Post islanders whisper, and tha shipwrecks are somehow always washin' up here. If anypony thinks tha prophecy's comin' true, they wouldn't dare go near tha waters!" Said Starwisp.

"Spooky don'tcha reckon! And durin' tha Itch too!" added Lemon Leaf.

"I see. Well shall we prepare? I suppose we're stuck doing that until the pegasi arrive..."

Luckily, it seemed mere seconds before they heard the flock of flapping feathers. Rarity watched a crimson pony float down with a hoof held above her head, introducing herself as Blue Dawn, the leader of Bridle Bay's weather 'wardens'. Rarity paused, and awkwardly matched the high-hoof on offer, sealing their acquaintance. Rainbow Dash, who had also come, was foaling about with the other fliers, including a griffon or two, and apparently didn't hear when Rarity called out to her. It didn't matter, though, since everything else was ready.

It was time to begin. Those clouds went there, and there is where the shredded sails would billow in a ghostly wind, and the barnacle encrusted hull rent with gaps of pure void... the unicorns joined their powers and Rarity's vision took form. A haunting green light ebbed and flowed from the centre of the Black Atoll, turning the dark mist into neon beacons easily visible from the coast.

From above this neon radiance, Rainbow Dash saw Spike. "Hey, Spike!"

"SPIKE?" the ghost ship almost sank. Rarity opened her eyes, barely keeping hold of the spell. Then Rarity saw Spike. Spike was supposed to be with Twilight! She wanted to flip, to blow a fuse at this irresponsibility, but now was not the time, and she was a professional. Rarity forced it down, focused and pulled through, completing the spell. The fashionista then took just a moment to compose herself and admire her work. And then she flipped. She sprinted through the waves and snatched Spike out of the water. Holding him so he couldn't escape, she fumed "What in Celestia's name do you think you're doing, Spike? where's Twilight?"

"Uh... the water here's good for my scales...?" he stuttered, then added quickly "And Twilight's asleep!" Rarity simply dropped him in the water and stormed off back to the boat. Unequivocally, she was done here, and couldn't wait to be rid of this ghastly place. "Wait! uh... heh, heh, can I get a ride back?" ventured Spike, but Rarity didn't answer. However, Lemon Leaf did gesture to the boat with an inviting shake of the head. Spike eased himself on, aware he was in hot water, so to speak, and trying to crush the nervousness spreading through his chest. As they left, the sturdy oarspony rang a bell three times, its chimes flying clear over the waters to the sleepy town beyond.

Yep, thought Rainbow when she saw Rarity deflect Spike's gaze. Rainbow knew what was going on here, Rainbow could see the disappointment in Rarity's eyes that the unicorn wouldn't let Spike see. At least they were talking now, and this meant Rarity's tantrum was sure to wear off soon enough. They slogged inside single file and Rarity, typically, threw herself dramatically on the bed. Rainbow was having none of it, and just sat on the same couch where she had dropped her luggage. Silence ensued, then obstinately continued to ensue. Rarity moved like a corpse, Spike sort of shuffled about the room, as if looking about for a reason to stay. Rainbow looked from one to the other from her place on the sofa, and got fed up pretty bucking quick. She had to break the silence.

"So, uh... I found this feather today," she began

"How in Equestria is a simple feather going to help us, dear?"

"Well, thing is... it might be Fluttershy's," they didn't quite react. Not yet. "I found it in the forest," she concluded, drawing the object from a bag beside her. Holding it in her teeth, she showed it to the two in the room, drawing quizzical looks from both. Rarity took it in her magic and inspected it closer. She tossed it to Spike.

"Smell it," she said. Spike replied with blank confusion. "Well you don't expect me to, do you, we don't know where its been!"

"Right. Uh," Spike smelled deeply. "It smells... fruity, I guess?"

"Like peaches and mint?" suggested Rarity. "It's Fluttershy's own special blend from the ponyville spa..."

"Didn't Twilight say Fluttershy was busy?" Spike replied. Rarity took the feather again. She smelled it herself, and her eyes widened as if the fragrance had smacked her.

"Busy doing what, I wonder..."

Three o'clock. Three o'clock! Twilight paced back and forth, back and forth. She could have worn through the balcony and fell all the way to the water had Spike been any later in coming home. A waning crescent moon was only just rising over Guardian Bay's easternmost edge, and soon enough, the sun would follow. If Spike had been any later... It was bad enough she had lost all her books somehow, but this worrying was driving her insane! What was going on? Twilight Sparkle heard the door, as quietly as it could be done, open. It was ten past three. When she heard the scratching of dragon claws on the wooden floor, Twilight stood absolutely still. She gathered her magic, chose just the right spot and...

"Spike!!" The little dragon nearly jumped out of his own scales. When he spun to see Twilight behind him, still crackling with magic, he crumbled. When Twilight began her lecture, his heart sank with heavy weights of guilt.

"I- I..." He couldn't think of a lie, nor could he tell the truth. Luckily for him, Twilight relented.

"Get some sleep," she said, "We're doing research tommorrow and I need you up early," Spike complied. At least he could do that well enough.

Author's Note

Now with (minor) edits!
- Tried to clarify some things
- changed island name
- spelling and grammar
- formatting
- fiddled with the prophecy

Day 2

-OR-

Madness, Mishaps and Midnight Meetings

An auspicious occurrence can sometimes be observed across the Neighchelles. Nopony can predict when it happens, just as few know why. They call it the Congregation Ichthyic, an ancient name from an old poem, or the Sea Itch, the more common local contraction. It is marked firstly by a surge in the amount and variety of sea creatures around the archipelago. Next, the waters around the Black atoll, off the shores of Embassy island, gradually heat up. When steam begins to rise from those same dark waters, the Sea Itch is officially declared. It is also marked, or so they say, by terrible luck out on the sea.

Two weeks ago, fishing griffons reported unusually large catches. A week and a half ago, ponies noticed unusual species on their dives. A week ago, Embassy islanders began to feel the rising warmth in the waves. Half a week ago, it was final- the black atoll was steaming and a columnar cloud was conspicuous from half of Outpost island. One day ago, Twilight Sparkle arrived to document this phenomenon that attracts researchers, tourists and collectors from Equestria and beyond.

Or it would, if anypony knew when it would happen, or even that it happened at all. Imagine Twilight’s joy when Spike struck upon this unique opportunity. Imagine her crestfallen expression when settling in to her temporary home to find all her books gone and all her friends ‘busy’. Spike was the exception of course, but even his presence was scarce this morning.

Now, the eternal student, Twilight Sparkle, found herself alone in Guardian bay as the first light of day dispelled the night’s lingering chill. She had every stone, crag and cliff to herself. Thinking there was nothing and no-one to stop her from doing whatever she wanted, she immediately collected note pad and quill. Her science couldn’t wait so, as the saying goes, she dove right in.

It was mid-morning and the unicorn let her eyes roll along the sides of the bay. Her body floated back towards the jetty on the water’s warm undulations. She saw a soaring cliff-face above her, with a thread of stairs laced from the platform below to her cabin pressing up against the cerulean sky. The balcony hung off the precipice as if it might launch out over the ocean to one of the verdantly crowned spires littering the bay from Needle Point to the Quiet Bluff. These moss-headed stone giants were the guardians for which the bay was named. Their reflections rippled as petals and leaves drifted down through the calm, protected air from the forest above.

Twilight heard the gentle scratch of dragon claws on old wood. Chilliness ran through her as she rolled in the water and simultaneously aired her wet back and wet her sun-soaked belly. Facing the cliff, she saw her assistant scuttling down the winding staircase like a crab sprinting for the sea. He skidded to a halt at the end of the jetty, already apologising for his lateness.

“And what have you been doing all morning?” Twilight asked as she planted her hooves on the cracked jetty’s surface. “I’ve been waiting here since sunrise,”

“Uh... long shower?” Spike suggested. Twilight planted her face in her dripping hoof. The dragon was relaxed at the best of times but even then this was surprising.

“Honestly Spike! Well, as long as you’re here...” Twilight tossed the dragon the notebook she’d been keeping records in. “Start taking notes,”

Pulling herself from the water, she began recalling the species she’d seen during the morning’s dives. Spike recorded Twilight’s words with little more sound than quiet hmms and the scratching of the quill. Slowly but steadily, the notebook filled with words. Such diligence was rare from the little dragon; too rare, Twilight suspected.

“...Actually, scratch that. It was really more emarginate I think... Spike?” Twilight faced her assistant, who was still scribbling intently. “Spike, are you even listening?”

“Uh-huh....” Spike kept writing.

“SPIKE!” The dragon almost dropped the notebook this time. Twilight snatched it sharply and scrutinised its pages. “These terms are all misspelt! And I never said this! Is there something you’re not telling me? You’re not usually this quiet,”

“What? No, everything’s fine, nothing’s wrong at all. Promise,” Spike said, throwing his claws up in defense. Twilight narrowed her eyes.

“Hmm... Well pay attention then. I’ve marked one hundred and two different species in this bay so far, and we’ve got a long way to go in recording them yet.”

“Oh Dear... This won’t do at all...” Rarity whispered as she leaned closer to the precipice overlooking Twilight in the bay. The unicorn seemed like a purple speck from this height and her notebook was only discernible through binoculars. Rarity quickly crept back from the edge; heights didn’t often work out well for her. As she reversed, she nearly bumped into Rainbow Dash, who was leaning restfully against the trunk of a tree.

“Rainbow! This is no time to be napping!” She hissed, poking the pegasus with her horn.

“Ow! What was that for?” Rainbow replied as she jumped back from the invasion. Rubbing her side, she glared at Rarity. After too much flying for too little sleep, Rainbow’s aching wings disliked more discomfort.

“Get ready to steal those books, darling. Twilight’s down there...” Rarity shuddered to think of it “...studying, and as her friends it is our duty-bound obligation to rescue her. Spike could send the signal any second now,”

“Uh-huh,” Rainbow rolled her eyes, but nonetheless began her stretches. In one smooth and lengthy motion, Rainbow Dash extended her feathers as far as they could go. Up and down her wings she felt the pleasant ache of stretching muscles and the gracious sigh as she let them loose. Under the warmth of the tropical sun it did feel glorious, but her wings itched for the wind as always. Dash crept closer to the edge of the cliff and whispered “Why are we doing this again?”

“Because, my dear, Spike has come under Twilight’s suspicion, and if we don’t divert attention away from him, our whole opera- Ah! There’s the signal! Go go go!”

Rainbow caught a fleeting glimpse of the emerald spark near one of the stone spires in the middle of the bay. A second later, the whipping wind against her wings only barely kept her controlled nosedive for the jetty from becoming a spiralling freefall into the bay. In truth, she aimed a little closer than the jetty, spreading her wings before she hit the water to streak across the surface with a trail of white water in tow. This slowed her just enough to successfully grab the notebooks before disappearing again in a rainbow flash. From atop the cliff, she watched Spike and Twilight re-emerge from the water, none-the-wiser for the theft that had just transpired before flying back around to meet Rarity.

Rainbow fluttered down onto a scene full of strange tension. Rarity was locked onto the scene below and there was not a sound above the breeze. With all the satisfaction of dousing the smouldering ashes of a dying fire, Rainbow let the notebooks fall. The soft patter of paper on dirt wrested Rarity from her vigil on Spike and Twilight. Sapphire blue eyes slowly drank in the things set out behind her.

“Finally, darling. I’ve been waiting here forever,” She said. Rainbow flared her wings but the unicorn continued before she could express her offence. “But I see you’ve brought the books at least...” A crack split across Rarity’s porcelain face, widening and widening until it threatened to split her face in two. When it reached its limit, it split apart and an unrestrainable giggle came flooding forth. “This is perfect!” She squealed between bouts of mirth “Ooh, it’s just as planned! Now, fly me back to town hall. But not too fast, darling, I don’t want to ruin my hair.” Rainbow rolled her eyes and lifted the unicorn off the ground.

By the time Rainbow found herself half-buried in a cloud, she was surprised her eyes hadn’t rolled right out of their sockets. Rarity’s instructions were very specific. When Twilight appeared on the beach, Rainbow was to make the weather as absolutely perfect for her as possible. For such an experienced weather pony, Rarity assumed such a task would not be hard. She was right; the task was far too easy. When a distinctively purple coat appeared on the far end of the bay, she almost considered flying in the other direction. She reasoned this might still be somewhat fun, however.

Rainbow slowed her cloud to a drift above Twilight’s head, too high up for her to notice. Just as planned, Twilight was heading for town. With Spike on her back, they travelled wordlessly but diligently, as if talking was just another of many distractions. Rainbow moved in closer, and very carefully peered down to make eye contact with Spike. She gave him a nod. He... paused for some reason, holding her gaze almost pleadingly, and nodded back. Whatever. Dash disappeared quickly and waited for Spike’s signal.

“Uh, Twilight?” she heard Spike venture.

“What?” Twilight replied tersely. She obviously wasn’t too pleased about having to replace all her work.

“L-lovely weather we’re having?”

“I guess so,” she said. Rainbow looked up and saw the sky couldn’t possibly be bluer. “It’s hotter than I expected,” Rainbow leapt into action, which is to say she shifted the cloud about a metre, between Twilight and the sun. Pressing her ear against the cloud, she waited for Twilight’s reaction... and kept waiting. If Twilight had responded at all, she had done so too quietly to hear.

Rainbow flipped onto her back and gazed at the sky, still shockingly blue and speckled with tiny tufts of cloud like her own. She flipped onto her hooves and looked across the beach, vacant save for a few lifeguards and some of last night’s pegasi enjoying the space. The town was active, but too far away to discern anything cool. She turned back to Twilight, drifting closer for a better view. And closer... and closer... soon, Twilight was close enough to lick. Twilight stopped walking.

“Umm.. excuse me?” She said. Rainbow didn’t reply, instead she just let the cloud continue drifting away. Baffled, Twilight resumed walking, then, in a couple of silent flaps, Rainbow realigned the cloud over her friend. Again, Twilight stopped. Again, Rainbow did nothing, but it was growing harder to suppress a giggle. Once more, she repeated the process.

“Hello? Is somepony there? I’m a little tired of this, thanks,” she called, glaring at the cloud through narrowed eyes.

“Hey, why don’t we go swimming?” Spike asked suddenly. He didn’t let Twilight hear the worry behind his voice.

“We, just were swimming, Spike. All I want is to replace my books and go,”

“Come on, not even for a little while?”

“No! it’s too windy anyway,” The cloud began moving. Twilight watched it position itself between herself and the wind, providing a modicum of protection. “Hey!” she called “What do you think you’re doing?”

“...” The cloud just floated, white and innocent as a snowflake.

“Ugh, come on, Spike, let’s keep going. At least walking will shake this salt out of my coat,” Very soon, Twilight found herself subject to a downpour issued from the obnoxious mystery cloud. With the salt, the rain washed away the last of her patience. Growling like a hound, she disappeared in a purple spark. Using a reaction time honed over years of high-speed flying, Rainbow flipped the cloud. Hanging off the bottom, she was grinning madly at Spike. Spike looked back with a mix of horror and confusion, worried that Rainbow had lost it completely.

The sky flashed purple and Rainbow dug her way inside. Twilight landed ungracefully, almost certainly staring at the cloud like it was some unholy abomination.

“Argh!” she cried, and galloped away with Spike. Rainbow waited until she was just far enough away so she couldn’t hear her peals of laughter. Though doubting that what she’d done fit Rarity’s idea of perfection, she was perfectly happy with the results.

One wingbeat drove the cloud apart and propelled her into the radiantly blue sky. She soared into the free air like a bird from a cage. The forests where she last saw Fluttershy lay on the other side of the bay, and Rainbow’s curiosity called her there. The best part was that Rarity would probably never notice a short flight over the woods. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?

It was the beat that met her first. A kind of thump-thump that was felt rather than heard. Trilling flutes, warbling guitars and foreign instruments new to Twilight’s ears flowed from the town like warmth and light. As she galloped up to the street, she saw musicians, dancers, singers and all manner of performers competing with hawkers and artisans for the attentions of countless passers-by. Twilight slowed going from sand to pavement and looked about. Vibrant energy resonated in the air like bright sunlight compared to the quiet shaded serenity of Twilight’s perch in Guardian Bay.

It seemed like one of those times when everypony would randomly break out in song... and made Twilight seriously consider braving whatever rogue weather effects instead.

“Okay Spike, tell me if you see any book sellers. If we’re lucky we can get out of here before lunch,” She sighed, and dove into the crowd.

Twilight now walked Titan avenue, which should have run the length of the bay and deposited her on the west side of town, where shops were numerous and diverse. As she walked, she saw something strange blocking her path appear. Scales rendered in a white that seemed to twist and swirl tore away from the ground. Curving out of a knot of indistinguishable origin, it terminated in a terrifyingly pointed maw. Claws that made the very air bleed terror slashed at the ground on either side. At least, this is what the pegasus team buzzing about with delicate brushes were trying to achieve. Yet despite this gruesome spectacle, Twilight’s attention lay on the other side of the cloud sculpture.

“Did you see that...?” She asked.

“Huh? Oh, wow, look at that,” Spike replied vaguely. Twilight didn’t have time to contemplate Spike’s strange behaviour while desperately trying to crane her neck around the obstructive artwork. It was a vain attempt, however; the sculpture consumed the width of the avenue, and circumnavigation was blocked on either side by lines of buildings. Twilight even reluctantly dismissed teleportation due to the crowds. She envied the pegasi and griffons gliding over it like it was nothing, and wondered at the equally nonchalant earth ponies, zebras and occasional fellow unicorns casually diverting up a side street.

“Excuse me, sir, but did you see the other side of this sculpture?” She had to ask a bearded griffon standing nearby. She was stumped.

“What's to be seein’, miss? Tha back of tha serpent is like tha front: scaly and wet,” he said in a thick, bubbling accent. Twilight was about to correct him, but “I can tell you’re not from ‘round the islands,” he continued. “Maybe there be some tings you ought to be knowin’ ‘bout tha sculpt that might catch your interest...”

Like a confused animal caught in a bright light, Twilight listened to the griffon wax lyrical on the virtues of the vapour melon, a magical fruit that creates clouds for the distribution of its seeds. Gesturing to the green and white husks below the sculpture, he explained how certain tricks and potions could be used to deploy their clouds in certain shapes, and how this was applied in street art and Neighchellois culture. While this was all very interesting, it took some time before Twilight realised that she was talking to the griffon who sold the things. She didn’t have words sharp enough for an edgeways insertion, unfortunately.

“You’re a ‘Questri, aren’t you?” the griffon asked at last, but even then cut in first “I’ve been seein’ your kind aplenty these days. Maybe it be tha Sea itch, or tha ghost ship appearin’ or anytin’ else under tha sky, but you sure make yourselves visible,”

“Wait really?”

“Sure as tha mountain slopes, miss. Why just now I was seein’ some parade headed by a ‘Questri paradin’ up Coral lane,” The griffon gestured to the street heading uphill on the other side of the sculpture.

“You did? Spike! SPIKE! we’ve got to go!” She called to the dragon who had slipped off her back during the talk. “Thank you so much, but I’ve got to go now,”

“It’s been a delight, miss,” Said the griffon, holding his claw in the air. Twilight slapped it with her hoof and by the time Spike had found her, she was already galloping up Pacific street, which ran parallel to Coral lane.

She had to hurry to catch the parade, after all. If she didn’t, how would she know if that was the same cloud, the same stripes, the same jagged edges she knew? Nothing had been right since her arrival on this island, no, since she ever decided to come at all. Every instance of ‘bad luck’ paced across her brain back and forth, back and forth. As she moved up Pacific street, hoping to intercept Coral lane, she could sense herself getting closer to the one clue she could possibly grasp, and maybe find out why, how this had anything to do with Rainbow Dash.

“Hurry up, Spike!” she called.

Lovely, Rarity thought to herself as she craned her head to envision the entirety of the sea serpent. How absolutely perfect that one lousy cloud could block off the entire road, she thought. The serpent was a blemish on her design, a flaw in her perfectly cut plan. She had seen this creature before, on a fountain and inside town hall, as well as decorating various sections of her hotel. She hadn’t realised that its likeness appeared spontaneously wherever it caused enough disruption. Some self-mocking part of her brain reminded her how this would account for its ubiquity, at least.

But if this was a simple flaw in her plan, there was something else, an unchecked crack threatening to shatter it into so many worthless pieces. The crack was simple: somepony, for some reason, put this here, and reportedly, they were parading around with pictures of Rainbow Dash.

Rarity shifted her sun hat to block out the glaring whiteness. By accident, her hair was sent tumbling over her eyes. She didn’t bother fixing it, even with her hair as chaotic as the local style required. On the other hoof, she did risk a glance in the direction of the beach, imagining to see Twilight playing in the deserted waves through a gap in the shops. Whether she chose to enjoy sand or civilisation, however, Rarity had taken certain precautions against recognition. Once again, she checked that her dress covered her cutie mark.

In the other direction was Coral lane. Rarity had to set a fair pace if she was to catch up to her mystery opponent. She set one hoof after the other, and the path seemed to stretch up and away like it was trying to flee to the sky. It seemed to vibrate and flow with a river of bodies, with bright blotches of green, orange, purple, and a very familiar blue floating through it it. Breezes blowing off the ocean seemed to breathe dynamism into the scene and hinted encouragement into her steps. It seemed, all in all, like a pleasant day.

Rarity was passing through the shadow of one the eye-catching bodies, discovering a moving platform bearing a symphony of colours -and a real symphony besides. Not long after, the shadow had disappeared, the only colours were reds and oranges, and the music had been replaced with cries of panic. It became a chaos hard to describe in detail. There was a pressing heat that dyed the world red. There was noise, a beast in itself made of pounding hooves, screams, crackling wood and somepony calling a name she didn’t catch. Finally, there was ash or rain, something dark in the sky with something falling from it. Already Rarity found herself backing off from a distant blackened scene, unaware of her once-azure dress catching at her hooves.

A fountain seemed jump out behind her, and Rarity narrowly avoided an impromptu bath. She twisted, landing her nose in a soft wall of white. Foam drowned out the fountain and poured out of a side alley. Rarity stepped back and stepped around it, examining the offensive castle as if it might attack at any moment. Coming half-circle, she observed something else. A purple pony was rapidly approaching her from the side. The world spun then rushed away to her sides as she bolted away.

She took a left, maybe two. She didn’t know where she was anymore. She was just following her feet, which now seemed compelled to climb. Constant adventuring with her friends had prepared her enough physically, but nopony told her she had to like it, especially now that her disguise was torn and dirty. She ruminated for a while. Today had been her idea, all part of the plan. The festivities had all been arranged between herself and Bridle Bay’s mayor, a lazy stallion determined to let somepony else manage his town. Between the weather, the virtually private beach and the culture in town, it should have been a pretty good day. Instead, it had been torn to shreds by a mystery pony advertising Rainbow Dash for inscrutable reasons.

When Rarity had walked along the top of town (past her hotel, changing to a new, red dress) and began trotting down towards town hall again, she passed a contingent of locals slowly squeezing their way out of some secretive nook. It was barely one pony wide, but somehow they found space for their flags and banners: sky blue with the full spectrum of colours arrayed along them. They were selling soap, it seemed. Rarity didn’t want any.

Rarity took a right. There was a brief pause of darkness and quiet in the side street. She met the light once again on the street straight up from Town Hall. The ache in her hooves made her glad the walk was downhill. A distant popping echoed between the limestone buildings, which Rarity recognised as fireworks. However, she was caught off-guard by the sudden appearance of Spike. She hadn’t seen where the little dragon had come from, but he was suddenly rushing up to her. It was a relieving sight, at least.

“What was that noise?” Twilight asked, “Spike? Spike?” but the narrow space between the buildings was empty except for herself. She faced back towards the narrow strip of sun that marked the entrance to the alley. When she emerged into the small plaza, she looked down the hill. A burnt ruin marked the origin of the noise she’d heard, but her dragon assistant was nowhere to be seen. She called his name again, but her words just dissipated under the hum of the crowd. She looked around the plaza. It was full of shocked ponies milling about and recovering, but it was dominated by the fountain of foam, slowly oozing from its confines and spilling down the hill.

Twilight recalled wading through the alley with foam enveloping her totally. The space was grey, surprisingly fragrant, and disconcerting. It was like the thickest fog imaginable, likewise, she wasn’t sure if she imagined some of the things she saw in there. She had dived in with Spike in her the pursuit of her target, that much she knew. Inside she caught flashes of every colour, blurred and darkened, rushing past. Among these phantoms was something pink and bouncing. When she emerged Spike, who had been padding along behind her... she had assumed was still behind her. Twilight had looked up and down the hill and set off to explore a side-street. Both Spike and whoever she was chasing must both have disappeared into that wet, grey space.

Everything seemed too convenient... but she needed more information. She saw a pony with a wide hat and a dirtied blue dress gawking at the tower of foam. Something stood out about her, so Twilight decided to begin her search there. However, she had barely started approaching when the stranger began to run. Twilight watched her messy purple tail wave about behind her before heaving a disappointed sigh.

Undiscouraged, she turned to another local. She asked about the parade, but was treated to a tale about a ghost ship. She asked about the dragon, but was rather regaled on oceanic politics. She even asked about the pony who ran from her, but instead was informed on how little the Neighchellois disliked staying on topic. Amongst other cultural insights, that is.

Despite needing to know so much, by the time she heard the distant echo of fireworks, she was no closer to knowing any of it. She looked to the sky, following the echoes to the west part of town. It was empty but for a pegasus cloud which was apparently uninterested in dousing burning floats. She wondered if it was the one she had grappled with at the beach.

The blue sky calmed her, let her contemplate her next move. Her eyes fixed on the cloud and on the pegasus clearly sitting there, alone in the be blue. Something seemed familiar about her. Maybe it was her stance, or the movements of her wings, but she was too far away to discern the details. She briefly considered what a great view such a pegasus would have... Then it hit her. A second later the plaza flashed purple, and Twilight was gone.

“A-aren’t you little close to the edge...?”

“That’s tha plan, miss ‘shy,”

“But what if she...” Fluttershy almost didn’t dare even peek over the edge. The cloud seemed to slide like quicksand under her hooves and curled all the way up to her shoudlers. The clear skies above didn’t say much, but that was ignoring the flock of similar clouds dotting the air on the long fall to Bridle Bay. High Stakes, however, must have been well aware of the drop from her position.

High Stakes, who owned the lodge they stayed in, stood on her front two hooves with her back two waving at the sky. The gold coin she wore matched her cutie mark and swung in an erratic circle from her neck, and often its twine would brush against her tinted flight goggles or the beads tied to her grey and yellow mane. Her wings would sometimes flick at the air in slight corrective motions. Something between a grin and gritted teeth was fixed on her mouth. Fluttershy sat as far as she could from High Stakes, imagining the second she would tip over the edge.

“But what if Rainbow Dash sees you?”

“Yeah, that’s tha plan, that’s how I’ll lead her away,”High Stakes said, as she pirouetted on one hoof to face Fluttershy. Suddenly, the cloud gave way and High Stakes disappeared. There was silence on the cloud as Fluttershy padded her way to the spot where High Stakes had vanished. Risking a glance over the edge, she confirmed that it was a long way to the ground indeed, but saw nothing of her missing companion. When she turned back to the centre of the cloud, the sight of High Stakes lying in the mist and casually blowing cloud circles almost sent her over the edge herself. Fortunately, she only yelped.

“Oh my... miss Stakes, you startled me,”

“Beggin’ your sincerest pardons, miss ‘shy,” She said, and blew another cloud circle. She flapped her wings and leapt back to the edge of the cloud, blowing a wave of loose cloud in Fluttershy’s face. “Hey who’s that?”

“That’s...” Fluttershy grabbed a pair of binoculars lying on the cloud with them and put them to her eyes. “That’s Twilight! Quick, miss Stakes, hide!” Fluttershy retreated from the edge and ducked into the mist. High Stakes squinted at the indistinguishable purple dot slowly pacing down the beach. She grabbed a pair of binoculars for herself to examine closer. Soon, she began to chuckle.

“You’re sure havin’ interestin’ friends, miss shy,” she said.

“Huh?” asked Fluttershy, removing her hooves from her head.

“Come look what your friends are doin’,”

“...That’s weird...”

High Stakes and Fluttershy lay side by side for a while, watching Rainbow Dash and her weather antics with Twilight. It seemed like an odd kind of prank to play, but Fluttershy still wouldn’t put it past Rainbow. What was really strange however, was the way that Rainbow just flew off. Twilight was galloping away, Spike trapped in a soft purple shimmer behind her, leaving Rainbow’s cloud behind. Rainbow seemed to watch her for a while, just sitting there. When Twilight was almost on the edge of town, Rainbow just rose into the air, paused for a second, and flew off in the direction of High Stake’s cabins.

“Huh,” Stakes said. “Guess I won’t be lurin’ anypony to tha lodge today after all,”

“Yay?”

“Hmph,” High Stakes flopped once again into the mist and began playing with her coin. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was watching Twilight as she arrived on Titan Avenue. Further up that street, it wasn’t hard to discern the waving blue flags of Pinkie Pie’s procession. It was Pinkie’s job to lure other ponies to the event at High Stake’s lodge, but she also needed to avoid their other friends. Warning her about their friends’ whereabouts was Fluttershy’s job. Fluttershy flicked her view back onto town hall, and was relieved to see Rarity was still on the balcony, apparently in conversation with an official. After quickly searching for the purple flag somewhere within the cloud, Fluttershy signalled Twilight’s presence to Pinkie.

“All your friends are ‘Questri’s, yeah?” Asked Stakes, who had resumed practice of the ancient art of blowing cloud rings.

“Um, pardon?”

“Like, from tha mainland. Equestrians,”

“Well yes, I guess...” At this point, the outline of a sea-serpent had blossomed mid-way through Titan avenue, eliciting a quick ‘heh’ from High Stakes.

“What’s it like?”

“It’s... nice,” This was the part where Fluttershy began waving the white flag to signify Rarity’s departure from town hall.

“Nice? Yeah, that’s what my friend was sayin’ too,”

“Your friend went to Equestria?”

“Actually, she’s there right now, was hopin’ to run into yourself, actually,”

“M-me? No, that can’t be right...”

“Yeah, her shop on the west side of town’ll show you. Her adoration of you’s plastered on every wall.”

“And... When will she... Be back?”

“Oh, by the end of the week, at least. I’ll be expressin’ my jealousy to her for a while after that. I’ve been wantin’ to explore ‘questria since I was a filly,”

“Oh... my...” They didn’t talk much after that, just watched the ponies of Bridle Bay conduct their festivities. By the time Pinkie was adding the bubble mix to the fountain on Coral lane, High Stakes had decided it was time to return to her cabins, and glided quickly away. Next, the float caught fire, sending black smoke into the air and causing many fliers to douse it with their clouds. This cleared her line of sight somewhat, but left her feeling alone and vulnerable.

She watched Pinkie as she travelled up Pacific street, then squeeze through a series of narrow alleys to avoid Rarity. Rarity was meandering around the upper areas of town like a coconut drifting on the tides. She checked back on Twilight, still wandering through the Coral lane plaza, engaging the locals for some reason. Fluttershy wondered where Spike was, and swept her view through the plaza looking for him. She kept searching, and searching and... She had lost track of Rarity.

She snapped back to the upper parts of town, running her eyes up and down its crooked streets. Nothing. She looked back to where Pinkie would be. She was still struggling through a crevice between two buildings, hopefully. Around her, nothing, Rarity was somewhere else. She looked to the hotels on the upper edge of town and found more of nothing. The thin air on this cloud rasped its way up and down her throat. Pinkie was emerging from the alleyway when she finally found Rarity.

Rarity had changed dresses to red, Fluttershy had been looking for blue. Now Rarity had appeared right on Pinkie’s street. She desperately waved the white flag, pointing it northwards, crying for Celestia to make Pinkie see it. She did. She ran down another alley, emerged into the next street over, still galloping like an out of control wagon. South! South! Fluttershy signalled. She watched Pinkie bounce down the hill, following the road down with her eyes. Something purple caught them, something small, purple and green. She continued waving the white flag, this time in surrender, and quietly backed off from the edge and huddled in its centre.

Finally the sound of fireworks snapped her out of it. She could see them rising over the cabins in the west before flowering into sparkling balls. Releasing the breath she had been holding for what seemed like hours, she crept back to the edge. She wasn’t really looking for anything this time, she just wanted to confirm that it was safe. After all, her job was done now, she could return to the ground couldn’t she? She began to descend in a delicate balance between her desire to reach the ground and her fear of doing it too dangerously. She had almost landed on one of the rooftops when the world, briefly, flashed purple.

With her wings resting on the wind, Rainbow Dash hovered over the forest below her. Floating amongst the green crowns of the trees were thatched roofs, brown and rough. The feather she had found in the adjacent woods lingered in the back of her thoughts. This must be where Fluttershy’s hiding, Rainbow concluded as she swooped in.

Below the canopy it was shady and quiet. The muffled sound of waves diffused like distant music through the trees. Scaffolding propped up cabins that leaned on the shoulders of arboreal giants. Lichen-robed rope-bridges tied them together. Rainbow landed on a well-kept dirt path, made stone-solid by countless troddings. Most of all though, Rainbow gazed in awe at the colourful decorations all around her.

Applejack walked by, and in the split second it took for the hammer she held to hit the ground, time stood still.

“Applejack?”

Applejack bolted. Rainbow, as it were, dashed in pursuit.

Though errant branches would whip at her wings, Rainbow was aerobatically inescapable. What little ground Applejack had between the tables and stands of balloons, she was quickly losing. She galloped up a wide set of stairs that clattered shakily as they bore her to an upraised cabin. Rainbow shot straight for her like a bullet, but hit only stairs. Applejack had slid under an uneven step at the last second and was leaving Rainbow in the dust.

“Hey! Get back here!” Rainbow demanded.

Rainbow drove her wings onward, but again Applejack lost her. Rainbow had gotten caught in the web of stilts supporting another cabin. As she un-knotted herself, rattling from above sounded Applejack’s successful ascension into the cabins. Rainbow got out, looped over the structure and surged over the bridge that swung with the earth pony’s bounding. There was a thump, and for a split second, everything was a blur. She got her! Rainbow saw the wooden furniture still rocking from the impact and felt one of Applejack’s hooves between her own... Before it was gone again, and the knock of hooves against wood was rapidly receding. She lost her! But not for long... Rainbow instantly resumed chase.

The rooms and bridges were turned into an obstacle course; one in which Applejack applied her sure-hoofedness to always slightly outpace Rainbow.

“Applejack! Why are you doing this?” She cried during another unsuccessful lunge.

“Sorry, Rainbow,” was all she got, echoing behind Applejack just as her tail disappeared behind a corner.
Finally, Rainbow cornered her in a bedroom, but Applejack leapt out a window. A pegasus in goggle had caught her fall, but surprise had blanked Dash’s mind just long enough lose track of her. She spotted AJ’s stetson in a crowd of staring ponies and swept in to chase her out. She would have caught her then, if not for that goggle-wearing pegasus flying recklessly with fireworks.

Applejack was off again, running up and around deeper into the forest when Rainbow finally lost her. The thick, low branches here forced her to the ground. Rainbow listened carefully for hoofbeats hidden under the lively insect chorus. -CRACK!- Rainbow turned to see something crashing through the bushes back into the more open space beyond. Rainbow galloped on, seeing her opponent shrinking in front of her as she struggled through the thickets. She passed Applejack’s hat caught in a branch and she was free. Nothing would stop her now that she knew all the earth pony’s tricks.

It became mad sprint to the finish. Applejack made straight for the coast with Rainbow Dash on her tail. Up ahead, just as the trees gave way to the beach, hung a red curtain. Rainbow was getting closer and closer and almost had Applejack just as passed the veiled. It was if the very air was buzzing in anticipation of this moment. Rainbow zoomed straight through, unthinking, the other side completely unknown...

Suddenly there were crowds, flashes of photography, fireworks, music and above all, cheering.

“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!” they shouted, hundreds of them packed onto the beach in front of a little stage made of planks and sand. Rainbow pulled up into the sky against a shower of confetti and praise. She floated down slowly, tentatively, among the waving flags showing herself on her cloud-board. Setting down in front of everypony, she thought to herself, what?

“Fillies and Gentlecolts, I present to you, tha hero of Equestria, Rainbow Dash!” announced the pegasus who was bearing the fireworks earlier. She had swapped to a fashionable pair of sunglasses now, incidentally. The cheering erupted with renewed vigour. The pegasus trotted onto the stage and up to Rainbow. “Tell us, miss Dash, will you be savin’ lives and fightin’ crime ‘round our fair Bridle Bay?”

Rainbow gazed out at the crowd just as they gazed back at her. The same eager look was copied over and over their faces; pony, griffon and zebra alike. The only thing she seemed able to think was, again, what?

“Uhh....” Rainbow looked back to the announcer, whose expression was hidden behind her tinted glasses. “You can bet your bits I will! Awww yeah!” The crowd burst into cheers and their collective stamping almost broke the stage.

Rainbow grinned and posed before her admirers, staring her fans straight in their adoring eyes. She did this doubly so when she came across Applejack, who was blushing guiltily and sweating under the heat of the sun. Dash contemplated how Applejack would need her hat for this sun, recalled where it had caught on a branch and realised she needed to get to it first. Rainbow held that stare defiantly, wishing she could tell AJ, you’ve won this round, but I’m still getting my answers...

How did he end up here? It was dark, smelled like seaweed and he was pressed against something warm and fuzzy... and pink -now he remembered. Spike had been walking away from town hall when he had seen Pinkie Pie and she had tackled him into a barrel. Ouch. he checked- yes, the letter was still there. Having started something of a fire in acquiring this letter, he was loathe to lose to something as trivial as weak wrists.

“Spike!”

“Pinkie Pie? What’s goi-?”

“Shh!” Spike mouth became the sudden recipient of Pinkie’s hoof. “How much do you know?” Pinkie launched into a whirlwind of questions until the barrel buzzed with interrogations. “Do you know about Applejack? And our plans for Rainbow Dash? Does Rainbow know? And Rarity? What have you seen today? Is Twilight still purple?....” and so the questions continued like a freak rainstorm. Spike had to slap Pinkie’s hoof out of the way before he could get a word in.

“Pinkie! I don’t know who else’s seen you, but we found Fluttershy’s feather in the forest yesterday, that’s all!” Spike said. Pinkie gasped so hard the egdes of the barrel whistled with air.

“Oh no! That means Rarity might get suspicious and tell Rainbow Dash not to go to the party and then Dashie won’t sign the letters and SPIKE YOU’VE GOT TO HELP ME!”

“...What?”

“Please don’t tell Rarity anything! I’ll do anything!”

“Anything? Anything at all?” Pinkie nodded, an action felt more than seen. The possibilities rushed through Spike’s mind. Dreams of chores done and piles of food, however, were soon blown like dust off the one thing weighing down his mind. He could still feel the sharp edge of the princess’s letter poking into his side. The next moment passed in silence. Spike grabbed the letter.

“I received this letter from the princess about an hour ago and...”

“Yes?”

“It says ‘I’m sorry for involving you in this, Spike, but it is incredibly important you do whatever it takes to prevent a situation. It is a far more fragile matter than I imagined. Remember to tell nopony.’ ” For what it was worth, Spike held the paper up to Pinkie. “And the thing is... I need to fake my own death.”

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!”
Pinkie almost tipped over the barrel with her out burst. After that, she was speechless.

“Please,” Spike said “This is really important and... I don’t think I can do it myself...”

“Bu- what about Twilight? and Rarity? and everypony else? And, and HOW?”

“Twilight doesn’t need to know! and it’ll only be for a few days,”

“But Spike- oh no! Are those the fireworks! I’ve got to go- meet me at midnight in the forest and make sure you don’t die until then!”

“Pinkie, wait!” but she was already gone, out of the barrel and bounding down the street. The fireworks crackled away somewhere far off as Spike crawled out of the barrel. Free at last, he took a deep breath and kept walking along the street, unsure of what to do next. Luckily for him, Rarity soon made that decision for him.

“Spike!” she called, rushing up to him. She was disguised in a red dress and a broad-brimmed hat that covered her face from a distance “Spike, there you are! What are- are you alright Spike?”

“Uh, totally fine, why?” He lied

“Why? Why Spike you look absolutely horrid! It’s as if you’ve seen a ghost or something. Really, has something happened?” Rarity leaned in with concern, as if she was inspecting a gem for flaws.

“Really it’s nothing! Geez!” Spike spat, stepping back from Rarity’s attention and turning his cheek in rejection.

“Spike! I- no matter, where’s Twilight, I thought you were supposed to be with her? And you haven’t seen Pinkie Pie around anywhere have you? I’ve been hearing whispers...”

“I don’t know, and no. I’ve been wandering around trying to find you,”

“Ah- very well then. In that case, you absolutely must keep a low profile- you never know who might be wondering around these streets...”

Behind a cool, shiny glass lens and a tube of brass, Twilight Sparkle monologued. It was like watching a coiled in its own tension, hissing and ready to strike at whatever ventured too close. Fluttershy, thankfully, managed to escape the bulk of her tirade, though it did sting during her own brief lecture. Now Twilight focused her rant through the telescope onto Rarity and Spike, who were outside, talking on the street.

Fluttershy and Twilight were, it is worthy to note, in Crystal Clear’s emporium of optical instruments and glassware. The shop was as comprehensive as a dictionary in its catalogue of scopes and glasses, but far more useful in defining the word ‘fragile’. Crystal Clear himself had an unfortunate habit of both overstocking and overcrowding his shop, and a short temper for those who didn’t appreciate those facts. One such poor soul was arguing with the shop owner over a toppled vat of binoculars somewhere further inside the maze. Overall, Fluttershy felt the tempers in this shop were hot.

“Flutteshy, why’d you come here without telling me?”
Twilight asked, having finished her ‘I can’t believe Spike would lie to me’s and ‘What was Rarity thinking’s asked “Is this some kind of joke? What are you guys up to?

“Um, I don’t really know,”

“What do you mean you don’t know, how can you not know?”

“Well, I came here with Pinkie. I don’t know why, but Rarity came separately,”

“Pinkie!? Pinkie Pie’s here too? Good heavens, what’s Pinkie doing here?”

“I... don’t know either, she says it’s a secret”

“Fluttershy!” Twilight groaned. “Why’d you come at all?” Fluttershy just remained silent and looked at the ground.
“Let me guess, you don’t know? Sweet Celestia, Fluttershy, what do you know?”

“Well I know Applejack came with us, and Rainbow came with Rarity- Oh! And also Pinkie’s doing something with Rainbow right now. It’s some kind of party, I think...”

“Oh Luna, I think I’m gonna have to write this down,”

“Would you like me to get a pen?”

“No, you stay here, I’m going to need your help if I’m going to figure this mess out. Try to remember everything you’ve seen Rarity or Pinkie do up until now,” Said Twilight. There was more crashing in the back of the shop. Apparently the fight back there had escalated somewhat. Twilight didn’t seem to notice. She was peering back through the telescope and muttering under her breath. Fluttershy, conversely, seemed quite concerned.

“Uh, Twilight” She tried to get Twilight attention with a nudge of the hoof.

“Have you thought of something?” Asked Twilight expectantly, dropping the spyglass she was watching with.

“No, it’s just that...” Suddenly there was an almighty crash.

“OUT! EVERYPONY OUT!” screamed Crystal Clear, barging through his own delicately arranged goods dragging a struggling earth pony with him by his tail. He unceremoniously tossed the unlucky patron out onto the street before turning on Twilight and Fluttershy. He shot them both a look so serious that when he exclaimed “YOU TOO, LADIES!” they found themselves on the streets almost from pure shock.

“What... was that?” Asked Twilight as the shop door slammed definitively behind them.

Fluttershy instantly dived for cover. It barely saved her from being spotted by Rarity or Spike. The pony pair had realised they were out on the street in the open, exposed to observation. That, combined with their unusual entrance into this setting made them especially prone to attention. The fact that Spike and Rarity were standing not ten metres away from them only made the situation exponentially more risky. Likewise, Rarity turned face and ran- at a leisurely, lady-like pace, of course. Spike, after gathering his wits, ran up to Twilight.

“Meet me at the tower in the forest at midnight” Whispered Twilight as she began to trot towards Spike. Fluttershy let out a quite eep from behind the store sign and tried to ignore the looks she was getting from passers-by. While she snuck away, she could hear Twilight shout “Spike! Where’ve been! You’ll never guess who I ran into today!” and “...That's right, Zecora’s cousin! Who knew I’d find her here? I’ll tell you, she’s...” and then they faded off into the distance.

Three knocks exactly, spaced two seconds apart each. Rarity recognised the signal that Spike was at the door, but she didn’t expect the heavy thump that followed it. As she unlocked and unlatched the door, Spike slumped straight through, barely avoiding an impromptu date with the floor.

“Oh my, Spike, whatever’s that matter?” She inquired

“Twilight’s been-” Spike yawned long and deeply “She’s been working me into the ground since this morning... I’m exhausted,”

“Well then you simply must take a seat dear, rest your little feet.” Rarity lifted the little dragon onto the sofa near the window. He curled up comfortably and seemed ready to fall right asleep “But first, tell me- What’s Twilight been up to?”

“Wha-? Uh, studying, I guess... you know Twilight,” murmured Spike.

“...Studying?”

“Uh-huh...” Spike yawned again. “Are you sure this is a good idea Rarity? Twilight seems pretty keen on the science,”

“Oh, don’t be silly, that’s just the tiredness talking! You know as well as I that Twilight deserves a break and that we’re the ones who’ve got to give it to her. We simply need to change our approach... perhaps something a little more direct. Spike do you think-?” but it was no use. Spike was sound asleep. And I thought I’d had a rough day... Rarity thought to herself.

Rarity had indeed had a rough day. For all her perfectly ruled charts and schedules, nothing ever seemed to go according to plan. She hardly had enough of Twilight’s organisational prowess to keep an entire celebrating town from disaster, yet it had fallen on her anyway. Rarity had to admire in some way the mayor’s talent for dodging responsibility, even if it placed all the pressure, the criticisms and acclaim, on the back of one mare.

In the end she was proud, she supposed. She had created a work of art out of the town, a dangerously chaotic work of art that failed to impress the one pony it was meant to. For now, Rarity was glad it was finished. She had more important things to worry about, such as how to entertain Twilight tomorrow, or the whereabouts of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash, luckily enough, presented herself in typical Rainbow Dash fashion when the pegasus slammed into the hotel window like a misguided bird. Rarity had left the next window over open to avoid this exact eventuality and wasn’t impressed. Wearing her most sarcastic glare, Rarity guided her friend a metre to the left so she could fly in properly.

“Rainbow Dash.” She stated without letting up the gaze for a second. Rainbow had almost made it all the way to the sofa when she noticed.

“What?” She asked as she flopped down next to Spike.

“Oh, nothing. I was just marveling that I can see you now, I thought you might have been invisible for a while, Rainbow,”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, how else can I explain the fact that I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of you since this morning? You couldn’t have possibly abandoned me when I specifically told you how I needed your help today, could you?” Rarity began to advance before Rainbow could escape. “Why, all this stress shall ruin my coat!”

“Hey! That’s not my fault! Do you know how many autographs I’ve had to sign? I’ve been flying around all day!”

“Wha- AUTOGRAPHS? What in the world have you been doing Rainbow! We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile!” Rarity squealed. She was mortified that Rainbow could be so careless. Rainbow, fittingly, couldn’t care less.

She replied, with a wave of the hoof, “Lighten up! It was way more fun than messing with Twilight,” then closed her eyes and collapsed. Rarity was speechless, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do a lot of stamping her hooves and huffing before turning around and leaving for the opposite end of the room. Soon, however, she returned, and threw a bundle of fabric in Rainbow’s face.

Rainbow sat up, the bundle falling onto her hooves. “What’s this?”

“It’s a disguise darling, you’ll need it tomorrow. I don’t need to remind you how important this is, do I?”

“Ugh, fine. But I still don’t see what the big deal is,”

“The Big Deal is-”

“Could you two keep it down! I’m trying to sleep here!” groaned Spike.

“Look what you did, Rainbow, you woke up Spike,”

“I woke up Spike, you’re the one-”

“Oh, FOR PETE’S SAKE!” cried Spike, hopping off the sofa “Why don’t you two stop arguing and start doing something? Look, it’s dark outside already, don’t you have that ghost ship thing again tonight?”

Rainbow and Rarity looked at each other. “I suppose you’re right,” said Rarity.

“Yeah, I guess” Rainbow mumbled. “But hey, shouldn’t you be getting back to Twi?”

“Nah, Twilight won’t be-” Spike stopped mid-sentence, his face widened with realisation “Actually, on second thought, I gotta go- bye!” and suddenly Spike was gone.

“What was that all about?” Asked Rainbow.

“I have no idea, darling, but let’s get to work, shall we?”

The forest shivered in the gentle sea breeze. This place was nothing like the dark silence of the Everfree- rather it literally buzzed with singing insects and a sweet melody seemed to warm the humid air. It was wild and vibrant, yet concealed secret dreams and desires. One could get lost here, but never feel alone. For Fluttershy and Owlowicious, it was a good place to think.

The usual miasma of concerns played out in her brain. Thoughts of responsibilities and her friends’ opinions whispered among themselves in the back. Somewhat more prominently, she worried about flying, compensating for a missing feather and navigating through the dark. In her mind’ spotlight, however, was what High Stakes had mentioned about her friend in Equestria. Surely it was coincidence, surely she wouldn’t meet her anyway, surely... But Fluttershy’s gut fluttered with nerves anyway. She still hadn’t brought the subject up with any of her friends.

The living air washed over Fluttershy’s feathers while a lonely fall stretched away beneath her hooves. It was like the view from a cloudsdale balcony; long, empty and unkind to the wingless. Even to pegasi like Fluttershy this weightlessness and familiarity was therapeutic. It felt like there was nothing to do but fly- no responsibilities to uphold, no promises to keep, no demands to be fulfilled. There was but one proviso: It felt like running away.

“Twilight wants me to help her, I’ve already agreed to help Pinkie and I still haven’t talked to Applejack about that pony yet... Oh, Owlowicious, what am I to do?” Fluttershy asked as they drifted through the trunks at random.

“Who?” the owl replied. Under Fluttershy's care and in the warm tropical weather, Owlowicious had recovered from his cough greatly.

“I know I can’t return home, not yet, but if I stay here I might end up disappointing everypony and then they’ll all get mad at me and... Owlowicious? Where are you going?” Owlowicious had banked to the left and was rapidly disappearing between the branches. Fluttershy tried to follow but Owlowicious was far better suited to navigating at night and soon the pony had lost him. She pushed her way past the canopy and sat herself down among the leaves to try and get a better view. There was no sign of him, however.

Fluttershy wondered how long it would be before Pinkie or Applejack came looking for her. Back a High Stakes’ cabins, the two earth ponies were writing letters and signing them with copies of Rainbow’s Autographs. Out here, under the twinkling stars and enormous free flowing clouds, Fluttershy could wait forever. Pinkie, on the other hand, wasn’t known for her patience. Twilight would also be expecting her under the old watch tower. Fluttershy turned her head inland to the hill where its ruined walls lay twisted in strangler figs.

Branches rustled and snapped as Fluttershy returned to the forest below. She was about to set off in search of Owlowicious again when she heard somepony call her name. She turned to see who it was, imagining to find Applejack picking her way through the undergrowth. Instead she saw something flying through the trees, blurred with speed. Next thing she knew, Rainbow was chasing her like a lion after an injured antelope. Escape was futile, and Rainbow soon had her pinned to a tree.

“Uh, hi Rainbow?”

“What’s your game Fluttershy?” she demanded “Why are you all here? I’m not letting you escape like Applejack did until you answer all my questions. So, what’s this prank Pinkie Pie’s got on for me about?” Fluttershy tried to turn away and avoid the questions, but she had no chance of escaping Rainbow. She whimpered, and to her old friend, it was clear what was going to happen next. Groaning, Rainbow gently removed her hooves and the two of them floated down to the ground. “Better?” Rainbow asked.

Fluttershy just sort of nodded.

“Seriously though, I get that Pinkie’s into pranks and all that, but why’d you three follow me all the way out here? We’ve got serious business going on,”

“It was Pinkie’s idea mostly, I- I don’t really know what she’s thinking...” Fluttershy mumbled as she scratched at the leaf litter.

“Yeah, that’s kinda what Applejack said too. Speaking of which, AJ found it pretty fishy that you wanted to join in too... You don’t have some kind of plan going too, do you?”

“Umm, no...”

“You do! I knew it! Spill it, Fluttershy!”

Shoot, Fluttershy thought. She was really cornered now. There was a sense of absence as she tried to grasp the words to explain.

“Well it’s complicated...” Fluttershy began, but Rainbow didn’t let up. “But, uh, I can’t really go back to Ponyville unless Applejack...”

“Huh? Are the Apples mad at you or something?”

“No, it’s just... really complicated, OK?” Fluttershy tried to turn away, to use her ample pink locks to hide from her worries. Rainbow wasn’t about to give up, but she got the message.

“OK... but if you really wanna go home, why don’t you just mess up Pinkie’s scheme? Actually, I’ve got a better idea- why don’t we prank Pinkie back? With us working together, I’ll bet we can get her good!”

“I don’t know, Rainbow, what if Pinkie finds out?”

“Oh, come on, Fluttershy! When are you gonna start standing up for yourself? Besides, pranking ponies is fun and useful,”

“Well, maybe...”

“Yes! Alright, here’s the plan...”

Spike’s sneeze lit the forest in a viridescent blaze. Cold snakes of brine slithering down his scales kept the sleep from his deprived eyes. If only it was as useful to his health. This, and the pollen laden jungle atmosphere, set Spike’s body up to betray him and expose him to anypony in the forest that night. Rainbow Dash, he knew at least, would be likely to be flying overhead tonight and he didn’t feel like explaining why he would be in the forest. Spike sneezed again.

Scrambling through the bushy undergrowth was hard at times, but Spike dragon skin protected him from the scrapes that would shred a regular pony’s coat. Soon enough, he reached the leafy path which carried hikers from the bay to other parts of the island. The dragon wondered how he was going to find Pinkie but, sure enough, Pinkie bounced up to him as if she were dancing to some unknown beat. Spike was unsure if she remembered why they were meeting or if she was just being Pinkie.

“Hi Spike!” She yelled far too loudly. Spike cringed and held his claw to his mouth in a plea for quiet. “Oh, sorry,”

“Have you thought about what I said?” Spike asked.

“Yep! And I’ve decided to help!” Pinkie announced as the pony and the dragon began walking the forest path.

“Really? That’s great! I mean, this really helps a lot, Pinkie,”

“You got a letter from the Princess, silly. That’s super-serious business... there’s just one itsy-bitsy thing... If Twilight finds out, you know she’ll be heartbroken. We can’t let that happen.”

Spike stared up at Pinkie’s beaming face. Even now, she maintained an irreducible vitality that shone in the darkness. Yet somewhere in the unflichingness of that smile, or maybe the exact crease at the edge of her eyes, or possibly in something mysterious just below her the surface of her eyes, there lay a grave seriousness. Or maybe it was hope. Or both.

Spike wished he could let all his secrets bubble out and explode right there, to confide in her all the ridiculous tasks he’s been instructed to perform. He knew he couldn’t, he had promised not to, and he forced the words back down his throat. Luckily for him, something about Pinkie’s boundless optimism was infectious. Instead of breaking into incomprehensible elaboration he smiled Pinkie’s huge, subtly determined smile.

“...About that,” He wanted to say thanks, but didn’t have the words, “I think I might have a plan...”

“Okie Dokie Lokie!”

For a while, Pinkie and Spike whispered, so that the darkness wouldn’t carry their words. They discussed the details of how, when and where. A death-at-sea would be best, Spike insisted. Pinkie wanted most of a day to prepare. They discussed their plans and their friends’ plans. They discussed Twilight. By the time they were interrupted by Applejack, they were almost at the bay end of the trail. Spike disappeared into the bushes whilst Pinkie and Applejack made their way back to their lodgings.

“Have ya’ found Fluttershy yet Pinkie?” Applejack asked, which was answered with a thoroughly positve ‘nope!’ “Ah just hope that filly ain’t gone runnin’ into no trouble in these here freaky woods. Ah’ll go look for her, you still got plenty more o’ yer letters to sign...”

Under a sinking sun, Twilight had ‘fallen asleep’. ‘Early start tomorrow,’ justified it, even though it was barely five. Spike soon snuck away, as expected, and Twilight ‘woke up’. Not that she had been sleeping in the first place.

First, she lit a lamp; she’d need the illumination. Second, she stood before the mirror, musing on how formless the glass seemed. Third, she drew the runes, carefully, exactly, not a line out of place. Fourth, she considered again whether this would really be a good idea.

Twilight Sparkle stared her reflection dead in its purple eyes, glimmering with reflected flame. It was a challenge of sorts, a dare to break the rules with her. Then, with a final glance towards the door in case Spike decided to make an unexpected appearance, she used her horn to power up the spell. Final checks were complete. Twilight took a deep breath, told herself she could do it, took a step back and leapt.

About a second later, Twilight was rubbing her head as cracks of energy dissipated across the force-field spell like vibrations along a spider’s web. Staring back at her, with an identical look of pain and disbelief was her reflection. The only difference was, her reflection hadn’t hit the force-fieldand was sitting about a metre too far forward, outside the magic circle. Twilight could barely restrain her joy, but avoided another head injury by not leaping skyward in celebration. Besides, she was only half done.

The unicorn erased one line of runes and the shield disappeared. The second line was written backwards, so that in the reflection it read correctly, just as the first line had been invalid through the mirror. Twilight backed up and positioned her reflected self inside the reflected circle. In an instant and a purple flash Twilight was face-to-face with a perfect doppelgänger. Both were panting and sweating, but equally doubled was the look of accomplishment on both their faces. Most importantly, both were on the same side of the mirror.

A few choice spells and a come-to-life later and she was perfect; a fully autonomous, indistinguishable replica of herself, ready to do her bidding and fool her friends. “Alright Twilight, what do you have to say for yourself?”

“I sure do love Books!” Well, it was almost perfect, but it would do. She attached one of a pair of tiny earrings to mirror Twilight’s ear and another to her own. With these she’d be able to keep tabs on her doppelgänger’s whereabouts and listen in on her conversations. Twilight put Twilight to bed and teleported away.

Almost everything was in place. At the base of the ancient watch tower, Twilight waited. It was a brooding kind of place to wait. This tower, now crumbling and choked by figs, was rumored to be the oldest building of the entire archipelago. Some even said it stood tall when Equestrian explorers first discovered the islands so many years ago. Now, as then, the jungle that swamped most of the island was trying to squeeze through every crevice, like rainwater. Now, however, the greenery had gotten inside, and the black tower sported a green head and a twisted brown coat of strangler roots and lichen.

Owlowicious, to her delight had found her near instantly, having seen the flashes of her teleport spell, no doubt. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, took her time in turning up.

“Fluttershy! What took you so long?” Twilight asked.

“Oh it was nothing, I was just looking for... Owlowicious...”

“He’s right here,” Twilight stated, gesturing to the bird on her back.

“Oh,”

“Look, it doesn’t matter. I need you to explain to Owlowicious that I need him to keep an eye on Spike. I tried, but he doesn’t seem to get who I’m talking about,”

“Oh, that’s easy...”

“Also, from now on, I’m going to need you to try and dig deeper into everypony’s plans. I can’t investigate it as easily without drawing suspicion, so I’ll just try to hide and observe. Chances are, if you find something and need to tell me, I’m going to be nearby, got it?” Fluttershy nodded to Twilight as she momentarily detached her attention from the owl. “Excellent. Thanks Fluttershy, but I think we should wrap this up quick. I wish we had more time to talk about this, but I think I heard Applejack calling your name...”

And so, the two discussed what little they could. They talked about notebooks and strategies. They talked about their friends. The game, whatever it was, had changed. Twilight had started playing, and regardless of if she won or lost, she knew she would uncover her friends schemes before the game was done.

Author's Note

Edits:
- formatting
- spelling and grammar
- Tweaked some hints
- Tweaked Neighchellois accent
- changed island name

Day 3

-OR-

Wednesday

Mist, thick enough to swim through, blanketed the streets of Bridle Bay. It flowed in rivers between the buildings, but began on the ocean and moved uphill. As Applejack held the letter delicately between her teeth, she could taste the moisture clinging to the paper. The scent that wafted from the leaves enclosed was making her heady and hot. Luckily, she had taken the counter-potion to negate the worst of its effects, but it still left her feeling somewhat affectionate. The letter slid into the letterbox quietly, but with a satisfactory woosh like the sound of wind between the trees. Applejack allowed a yawn as she moved onto the next house.

Applejack dug her muzzle into her saddlebags, catching another deep whiff of the spicily scented letters within. She drew her head back out, moving to focus on the... Something collided with her, and both objects toppled. Letters poured out of her saddle bags, fluttering onto the damp ground in a mess. Applejack looked at the thing she had just collided with, profuse apologies already leaping to her lips. She saw a light blue pony wrapped in elaborate clothing and a wide-brimmed sun hat quickly coming to her own senses.

“Ah’m mighty sorr-”

“Applejack!?” the mysterious mare said.

“Beggin’ yer pardon? Do ah know you?”

“Uh... Why yes! We met at the gala remember?”

“Ah remember, sure. Ah remember the only ponies ah met that night were my friends and that one wonderbolt. Now, how in tarnation do you know my name?”

“Ah, well you see...” The pony before her bit her lip delicately. The gesture, as well as her accent, seemed familiar to her somehow...

“Wait, Rarity? Is that you?” The pony before her was silent for a moment, mouth agape, before sinking her head in defeat.

“Yes, you caught me,” Rarity responded, as the coat-changing spell dissolved to reveal the Rarity Applejack recognised. Rarity locked eyes with Applejack, her gaze was intense but pleading, expertly crafted. “You won’t tell anypony anything right?”

“Sure, what’s there to tell? Why... Why’d you want to keep this secret anyhow? What’re you hidin’ Rarity?” Once again, Rarity dropped her gaze. She was cornered now.

“Shall we take a walk?” she asked, calm as a still pool of water. Applejack chuckled as she prepared to proceed into the mist.

For some time, neither talked. Applejack left her duties for later and simply trotted beside her friend, waiting for her to make the first move. Rarity avoided eye contact, instead she watched the sea pensively. So early in the morning and with the fog so thick, the streets of Bridle Bay were lonely and quiet. They were traveling towards Needle point, and were almost half way by the time Rarity broke the silence.

“So what are you doing in a place like this, dear?” She asked.

Applejack, who was not to be taken so easily, replied: “Well, ah’m not supposed to tell ya’,”

“Why ever not darling? Not even the slightest hint?”

“Sorry Rarity, but ah promised Pinkie not to tell ya’ anything,”

“...Pinkie? She’s here too...?” The edges of Rarity’s lips began to curl upwards, while Applejack’s lips flattened. Their trot slowed to a stop somewhere in the middle of Titan avenue. Little trace remained of the previous day’s festivities, despite extending well onto the night. It seemed strange that things could be forgotten so easily.

“Look, Applejack, we obviously can’t go on like this,”

“No m’am,”

“With all the secrets and lies, it has to stop!”

“I reckon’ ya got the right of it there,”

“So let me put this to you straight- what do want to keep this from Pinkie?” Applejack chuckled, a little too loud it seemed, and Rarity blushed. “I mean, it’s just so hard to tell what that filly’s-”

“Don’t you fret none now, Rar. I won’t tell your secrets if you don’t tell mine to Twilight and the others.”

“...Why of course, dear! I wouldn’t dream of it. That would be disastrously duplicitous,”

“Heh, ah’m gonna assume that means yes, but if’n you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some things to take care of.”

“Yes, you go, darling, and we simply must catch up once all this nasty secrecy business is taken care of, hmmm?” Rarity called as Applejack disappeared into the mist. The earth pony waved back as best she could, but soon she was engulfed in a veil of white. Rarity, listening to the hoofsteps fading away, was bound for town hall the moment they disappeared.

For a while, Applejack was content just to deliver letters. She walked through the quiet streets while the night’s coolness lingered and the mist gradually dissolved. The town she discovered was not the one she expected. Sturdy paved streets supported frail-looking bamboo houses. The various inhabitants, be they pony, zebra or griffon were slowly growing more active. In patches of forest which occasionally burst through the rocky ground, choruses of song birds greeted the rising sun. It was a far cry from ponyville’s dirt roads and sturdy wooden abodes, or from anything else she’d seen before.

Suddenly there was an explosion. Something white came rushing out of a manhole infront of her. With curling claws and eyes that flashed with lightning, the serpentine shape dwarfed the tallest of building around it. Applejack stumbled onto her backside in shock and barely found the air in her lungs to scream. Then came the laughter and she knew she’d been made a fool of.

Rainbow Dash fell out of some place behind the monster laughing herself to tears.

“Rainbow! What the hay are ya’ playin’ at?” Applejack demanded.

“You should see the look on your face!” Rainbow said between bursts of laughter, “You were sooo scared,”

Rainbow wasn’t letting up on the hysterics any time soon, so Applejack took the chance to examine the thing in front of her. Against the mist, it seemed to shadow her ominously and threateningly. On closer inspection, it was made of vapour just like that which filled the air around her. She kicked it with an experimental hoof and discovered it went right through. “What in tarnation is this?” she asked

“Vapour melons!” It looked like Rainbow had finally calmed down and gotten to her feet. In fact, she quickly flew up bucked the creature’s head from existence, shouting “Alright Fluttershy, you can come out now,”

“Oh, thank goodness, I thought- Applejack?”

“You too, sugarcube? What’s going on here?” Rainbow Dash floated down beside Applejack, leaning an elbow on her back.

“Can you keep a secret?” she chuckled. Applejack looked at her friend, and at Fluttershy too, who was slowly trotting towards them from some nearby bushes. She didn’t like the sound of this and she was sure her face showed it. “Come on, it’s just a little prank,” claimed Rainbow.

“You call this ‘little’?” Applejack asked, craning her head vertically

“It’s the legendary sea serpent. Once Pinkie sees this, she’s gonna go crying for her momma pie... but it needs a little work. So, you want in?”

“Look, sugarcube, ah don’t know what you think is goin’ on, but ah’m only helpin’ Pinkie ‘cause ah lost a bet, ya hear? Ah don’t want nothin’ to do with your scheming,”

“Heh, whatever, just don’t tell anypony, escpecially not Rarity,” Rainbow spread her wings, ready to launch off.

“Wait, Rarity?”

“Do you know what that pony’ll do to me if she finds out what I’m doing? Speaking of which, I’ve gotta jet, catch you guys later!” With a rustle of feathers, Rainbow shot into the sky, dispersing the rest of the cloud serpent on her way. Applejack watched her go, slowly shaking her head. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was watching silently at a distance. Applejack turned towards her, an unimpressed look adorning her face.

“And what about you, Fluttershy?” The pegasus scratched at the ground and began her ritual whimpers before Applejack interrupted her “Don’t you worry, ah’m not gonna ask you to tell me why you’re part of this, seems everypony’s got some secret now days,”

“Actually, Pinkie wanted me to tell you that she needs some supplies,”

“What sort of supplies?”

“Hardware, she said.”

“Hardware? Well, we better get on with these letters then, wanna help?” Fluttershy nodded as they cantered off down the street.

Rainbow Dash swerved between limestone buildings, eliciting the cries of nearby fliers as the flashed past. The mist had cleared now, so she kept low, letting the buildings on either side hide her rainbow trail. Within a clichéd measure of time she was at town hall, landing on a balcony with a spin and a flourish. Posing in pride for just a second, Rainbow was unceremoniously yanked inside by Rarity.

“Rainbow! Big news! I just ran into Applejack and she told me Pinkie’s in town too! This... this changes everything! My plan... it’s... you- you’re not surprised at all, Rainbow?”

Rarity looked to be in distress- her dress was piled around her hooves and her mane was uncharacteristically undone. All around the room were racks of clothes at some phase of completion while needles, thread and lengths of exotic fabrics dotted a nearby workbench. Whatever she had done to borrow this room from the mayor, Rainbow was impressed. And no, she wasn’t surprised at all that the rest of their friends were here.

“Uh... Oh. Really? I totally didn’t know that,” she said with far too little enthusiasm. Rarity totally wasn’t buying it. She stepped forward so close Rainbow could feel the breath from her nostrils. Her eyes locked onto Rainbow’s and drilled into her soul with a diamond-tipped gaze. Rainbow searched for something to look at that wasn’t interrogating her and tried to put on her most innocent smile. Before long she felt a bump as the wall was pressed up behind her.

“You knew! And you didn’t tell me? Wha... How could you Rainbow? Doesn’t Twilight’s happiness mean anything to you? And where were you this morning? you weren’t-”

“Flying!” Rainbow cried before she drowned in questions, “I was out flying out of sight of everypony, you know, practicing my tricks,” Rarity backed off a little, though her eyes grew no less intense.

“Hmph!” she snorted, turning her head, “Just please be punctual next time, dear, we’ve got a lot to do today.” Rarity turned to one of her clothes racks. That subtle hum filled the air as Rarity sparked up her magic. Like lightning, a garment streaked off its hanger and hit Rainbow like an ocean wave. When she opened her eyes she was covered in the drab uniform of a taxi mare. Another spell tucked her mane and tail away from sight.

“Now hurry along, Rainbow, the carriage is already outside.”

“Yeah, yeah” she mumbled as she glided out the door.

Rainbow met Twilight outside the Ocean Breeze Spa & Bath. The building was sculpted to look like a bright pink shell, was choked in a cloud of floral perfumes and constantly played a tacky recording of the ocean through some hidden speaker. Being perched high against the mountain however, it had a powerful view of the sea mottled with the shadows of clouds passing overhead.

Rainbow touched down just in time to see Twilight trotting out the double doors with Spike waddling quickly behind her. She seemed to be smiling, relaxed and not focussed on anything in particular. Rainbow directed a little nod at Spike and the two of them quickly climbed into the small two-seat carriage.

“Hello,” Said Twilight Sparkle.

“Uh, hi,” Rainbow replied, but in a voice too deep and gruff to recognise. The wind started to pick up as Rainbow Dash began to pull them into the air.

“Where are we going? I bet I have a book about it.”

“We’re going to the shipwreck, remember?” Spike told her. He gave his friend a quizzical look, but she just looked back with the same smile he’d been seeing all day.

“Shipwrecks are often caused by inclement weather or rocks hidden below the water!” She replied enthusiastically. Rainbow Dash risked a glance back at Spike, who shrugged, just as confused as she was.

“Uh, how long until we get there?” He asked, watching the buildings below them whipping past in a blur.

“We’re actually here already,”

Rainbow came to a halt next to a fenced off swathe of green. Twilight oohed and aahed when she looked to her right. There, embedded in the hill and swamped in vines and moss, was the skeleton of an old galley. To the left, the mountain sloped downwards and away, terminating finally in the docks and the waves lapping at the ships coming and going. Again, the view was superb, comparable to the one they had left behind at the spa.

A unicorn in an airy rose-coloured dress came galloping up to the trio. She quickly shuttled Spike and Twilight out of the carriage and along the dark, iron fence. Rainbow watched as they turned into a boxy wooden hut that marked the entrance to the fields beyond. As soon as they had disappeared from sight, she shot off into the air, carriage and all.

“...With banners in the, uh, the lunarian style,” The unicorn in the rose-coloured dress was saying. Resting against her horn was a pair of large,dark sunglasses that obscured most of her face. Her coat was pale pink, but her mane and tail were concealed beneath a large sunhat and the folds of her dress respectively. “And over there, miss, is the tour group you will be joining. Congratulations again on winning the Neighchelles super fun package!”

The unicorn handed over a pair of tickets and pointed Twilight towards the tour group. It was headed by a tall brown stallion leaning against the reception counter and talking animatedly to his batch of tourists. Once Twilight had left for the group, the other unicorn swiveled and left the other way. Only once she had heard the door click behind her did she look back to see Twilight walk off with the tour. Somepony was missing, however. A second later, the door clicked again and Spike stepped out into the sunlight.

“Spike, wha? Go keep an eye on Twilight!” The unicorn said in an harsh whisper.

“Sorry, Rarity, it’s just that I’ve got a cold.” Spike shot a tongue of green flame from his nose for emphasis. “And I wouldn’t want to burn that old ship down,”

“Oh dear, very well then, it can’t be helped. How did Twilight take it?”

“She didn’t seem to care,”

“I see, that’s... fortunate,” Rarity glanced back into the building, but Twilight was long gone and couldn’t be seen through the fence either. “Why, she’s been remarkably cooperative today... I dare say conjuring up an imaginary prize for her has been my best idea this trip. Now, come along Spike, we’ll try find something else for you to do,”

Spike and Rarity set off into town, Rarity dissolving her disguises as they began to blend into the crowd.

Twilight peered through the greasy window with her violet eyes. It was blurry, but she could make out something pink fiddling with the things inside. She heard the clanging and banging of metal on metal as well as various other mechanical noises. On top of it wall some some kind of high-pitched singing filtering through the shed’s wooden walls.

Softly, so as to not attract attention, Twilight slumped against the partition, clinging to the sliver of shade provided by an inch of overhanging roof. The shed was pressed up against the water, removed from the shade of nearby trees. Also, despite the cooling effects of the ocean, it was humid and the bright sun was searing hot. Twilight wished she was in the shed’d presumably cool interior, but she needed to extract Pinkie Pie first.

And there was the crux of the issue.

While Pinkie still occupied the shed, Twilight had no hope of fully examining what she was doing or why. She needed to be stealthy too. Prowling around somewhere was Applejack, which effectively doubled the number of things she had to keep her mind on. Again, she peered into the shed, standing on the tips of her hind legs to glimpse through to the pink pony within. Carefully, she slid a wrench on one of the high shelves a little closer to the edge.

Her plan was simple. She’d, using a wind spell, buffet the shed so that the wrench fell from the shelf triggering: A- Pinkie’s pinkie sense which would cause her to step back from whatever she was doing; and B- a bag of saw dust to tip over (which, combined with the wind spell spilling through the cracks in the shed would fill the air with a cloud of dust). She would then magically unlock the door before introducing a swarm of bees (prompting the nose-itch pinkie-sense reaction and driving Pinkie to leave the shed for one reason or another) to the shed’s interior. This would be coincided cleverly with Applejack’s next appearance, so that when Pinkie left the shed and picked up Twilight’s carefully laid trail of candy (including some throat soothers and other healing substances, just in case), Applejack would follow her (Which her observations told her would occur with 90% confidence). The trail ought to be long enough for Twilight to enter and observe the shed, take notes and then lead Pinkie towards town with more candy to commence more observations.

Slinking around the corner of the shed, Twilight spotted Applejack. She was trotting calmly along the shore with a red toolbox held between her teeth. Twilight calmed her mind and let the familiar hum of magic surround her horn. She enacted the plan. Everything went exactly as predicted, and soon she was peering around a corner at Applejack galloping towards a distracted Pinkie Pie.

“Perfect,” she hummed to herself, and entered the shed... moments before being driven out by a swarm of angry bees. Almost perfect.

Having rid herself of the bees, Twilight stepped into the shed properly. Just as she had seen before, every surface was coated in a slick layer of grease and dust. Complimenting the sunlight suffusing through the windows and the cracks in the walls and roof was a candle burning low on a bench on the far side of the room. A smoggy industrial scent mingled oddly with the smell of salt from the sea, just as the hot humid air outside mingled with the cooler still air within. Tools, cans of paint or other, more suspicious chemicals and hardware supplies of all kinds crowded in disorganised piles along the benches. Finally, occupying a good portion of the, admittedly large, shed was Pinkie Pie’s work project.

Twilight took notes on the sleek, metal body, the gears and pedals linking to what looked like a tail and the pointed triangles aligned along mechanisms front. She worked efficiently, then disappeared in a flash of purple light.

Was it her imagination, or was Applejack seeing purple flashes? A trail of candy was suspicious enough as it was, but she didn’t need phantom lights confusing her. ‘Pinkie,’ she had said; ‘this is suspicious’ she had tried to tell her, but she had given up on that fairly quick. When Pinkie Pie saw free candy, mere strange circumstances were hardly going to deter her. Applejack resigned herself to watching over her friend and watching out for tricks or trouble.

Applejack and Pinkie were being led through a familiar part of town. There were no market stalls almost collapsing with wares here, but she recognised the building’s style on either side. Here in the daylight and with the crowd reduced greatly, she could see the imprints of shellfish in the limestone walls. Similarly, the shops housed within seemed cool and welcoming compared to the streets glaring in the sun. One shop, particularly iridescent, bore the name 'Crystal Clear’s emporium of optical instruments and glassware' in large, shiny letters on the window.

Applejack would have been glad to see the candy trail end, despite the fate that certainly awaited them. Her face was starting to ache from all the awkward smiles she made to passers-by. Luckily, what she saw in the distance had the potential to signal her relief.

“Pinkie, look!” she whispered as if she were pointing out some dangerous animal. She stuck her hoof towards the end of the street and the unicorn with the purple dragon trailing behind her. Rarity seemed to be trotting towards an unknown destination while Spike laboured unstably under the weight of several large rolls of fabric. Thankfully, Pinkie actually looked. Sharply, instantly, she gasped.

“They must be the ones with the candy,” She cried, “Let’s follow them!”

“Are ya’ sure that’s such a good...” Applejack’s words were lost as Pinkie galloped away. She stomped the ground in frustration and began to follow.

Not long after, they had lost the pair but retrieved the candy trail. It had taken them around the back of town hall where a heavy looking door sat on it’s rusted hinges. It was sitting somewhat ajar, with a line of bon-bons leading around the door and into a room inside. Applejack carefully paced her way around the door and into the shadowy chamber. It turned out to be a small library with shelves lined with dusty books and a table in the centre. This table was where Pinkie was enjoying the fruits of her chase: a pile of assorted sweets that she munched upon distractedly. Suddenly, the door swung shut behind them with a creak and a bang.

“It’s stuck!” AJ whispered as she strained against it with her back hooves. “Dang... Rusty... Hinges! looks like we gotta get out another way if we don’t wanna attract attention,”

The room had gone rather dark with the light of day cut off, but still some light radiated from the door on the other side. Applejack snuck around to peek out the door, seeing the same open hall she had entered on her first day on this island. The door emerged under a colonnade that skirted three edges of the room, with the last, opposite her, holding the exit. AJ looked back at Pinkie, who was busy making chewing and giggling noises. She slunk out the door and began edging along the wall to her right.

Rarity whinnied as she carried a pile of maps back to the mayor’s office. The slippery stallion was currently out. In fact, there was nopony currently in town hall except herself and Spike (as far as she knew). The weight of the task ahead of her was crushing. She had never faced down such an enormous body of planning or paperwork. Setting the pile of wrinkled, brown paper on the wooden floor, Rarity leant against the balcony to try and collect her thoughts.

For a brief moment, she locked eyes with an orange pony glancing out from behind a column. Applejack disappeared in a flash. Rarity stared down the column her friend had vanished behind until Applejack inevitably reappeared. When she did, they held their gaze long enough for Rarity to give her a look that could only mean ‘what?’. Applejack returned with a shrug and followed up by putting a hoof to her lips. Looking about furtively, Rarity leaned out and waved her hooves in a shooing motion, causing the intricately carved balustrade to creak under her weight. Applejack pointed to the door she had just come from and performed a bounce they both knew all too well. Despite her best efforts the clacking of her hooves echoed about the chamber. Rarity couldn’t help but put a hoof to her exasperated face.

“Oh, Spikey-wikey, could you do a favour for me?” She called as she headed back into the workroom.

Pinkie Pie looked about the dimly-lit room and didn’t see Applejack. Then, she poked her head out of the doorway behind her and saw Applejack.

“Hey-!” Applejack cut Pinkie off before she could say another loud, high-pitched word with a lightning-quick hoof to the mouth. She let out a gentle shush and motioned for her to be silent. Floating through the hall’s cool air was the muffled conversation of Rarity and Spike, and Pinkie nodded vigorously in understanding. Applejack pointed to the exit on the other side and the two began creeping along the left wall.

It was not long until the conversation above seemed to be reaching some sort of crescendo. Suddenly they heard a door swing open and the hurried scraping of dragon claws against the wood of the mezzanine above. The pair froze against a column, waiting for Spike to pass. There was a yelp, a thump and flurry of paper before Pinkie saw a number of maps twirling their way onto their floor. Pinkie and AJ exchanged panicked looks as they began the retreat back to the library door. Luckily, they had left the door ajar and managed to slip in without making a noise.

Two pairs of eyes, one blue the other green, peered out of the crack in that door. They followed Spike as he scampered down the staircase at the far end of the hall and up to the field of fallen papers. Then the eyes shrank into the room for fear of being noticed.

“What should we do?” Applejack whispered.

“You stay here and look for a secret exit, I’ve got a plan...”

“A secret what now? Pinkie... where’d you go?” The room was already empty, and Applejack saw no other option but to do what Pinkie said. Reluctantly, she began to examine the walls and bookshelves.

Pinkie Pie was out in the hall, hidden from AJ and Rarity by a column but not from Spike. Spike was staring at her, head cocked in confusion.

“So I did hear-” Pinkie motioned for quiet. Spike proceeded in a whisper.

“Oh, right, I bet you don’t wanna attract Rarity’s attention, huh. So, uh, you ready for this afternoon? I don’t know how I’m going to-”

“I need you to distract Rarity so Applejack and I can escape,” Pinkie motioned in an elaborate waving of hooves before Spike could speak any further.

“Come again?”

“Applejack’s in the library and we need to get out through that door before Rarity finds us!” Pinkie waved even more vigorously.

“Huh?”

“We need to escape! Help us!”

“You’re trying to... get out?” Spike was rewarded with an enthusiastic nod. “And... you want my help?” Another nod. “Well, why didn’t you say so? Sure thing, Pinkie Pie, the door’s just over there,”

Pinkie responded with a dramatic feint and pointed towards the workroom where she’d heard the unicorn’s voice from. By chance, at that very moment they heard Rarity call out.

“Spiiike!” she sang “Whatever is taking you so long?” Hoof steps echoed around from above as Rarity made her way to the railing. She peered down to see Spike peering back amid the scattered maps.

“Uh, just a minute Rarity, I’ve just gotta collect all these maps,”

“Well do hurry up about it, we’ve got lots of important things to do,” Rarity said as she trotted back inside her room

“Actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about,” He gave Pinkie a claws-up and, grabbing the last of the maps, ran off up the stairs. Pinkie returned to the library.

Inside the library, Applejack had pulled one of the bookshelves out slightly and was examining the wall behind it. Pinkie snuck in without a sound.

“Hey Applejack, my plan worked!” she exclaimed as quietly as she could. The sudden noise caused Applejack to jump a little.

“Pinkie Pie, where’d you come from? And where’d you go? And what were you doing?”

“I was enacting my plan, silly and- ooh! Is that a secret doorway?”

“Yes, wouldn’t you know it. I jus’ found it here behind this bookshelf. Looks like somepony blocked it off for some reason.” Pinkie Pie peered around Applejack at the dusty wooden door. It was still blocked from entrance by the furniture, but the shelf had been swung out just enough for a clear view.

“Alright, let’s get out of here,” she declared suddenly, and without another word (though not without a confused glance from Applejack) the two left the room.

Twilight briefly glanced down from the window to scribble down some more notes. Though her primary interest was the schemes of her friends, she couldn’t help but take special note of the architecture and design of the building. It had a primarily rectangular layout with two storeys of rooms. Above this was the curved roof inlaid with a set of large circular windows on each of the four faces. It was there, nestled against one of these windows, that Twilight Sparkle was watching her friends sneak about town hall’s interior and carefully noting their interactions. Especially curious to her, however, was the design of the balustrade circling the mezzanine.

It took the shape of a winding serpent, of a sort she’d seen before. She’d seen it as a cloud sculpture yesterday and she need only look towards the plaza before the hall to see it again, coiled about the fountain. This time, however, as the creature twisted its way to the centre of the rail, a spot opposite the entrance, it met with a carving of the royal sisters positioned on either side of a large disc. Twilight knew such a design was not used flippantly, and it made her wonder whether the sea serpent had some historical significance. On the floor below this device was a lectern supporting and ancient looking book, which Twilight thought might contain some wisdom on the subject.

Twilight looked up from her notes just in time to see Pinkie emerge from the room at the end of the hall. Applejack and Pinkie had already gone in and out of that room a couple of times each. Even now they continued to move slowly and cat-like, despite their presences being well-known to both Rarity and Spike. Twilight watched in interest while her mind buzzed over ways to subtly force another confrontation with Rarity and Spike. Luckily, fluttering away slowly through the humid tropical air was the perfect pony for the job.

“Fluttershy!” She hissed as she dragged the pegasus over in a haze of purple light. Fluttershy began to squeak with surprise and protestations, feebly attempting to escape Twilight’s magical grasp.

“I need you to fly into town hall for me, no time to explain,” Twilight commanded and teleported her to the front door before she could respond. She turned her attention once again to the hall’s shady interior. I was just in time to see Fluttershy meet with Pinkie and Applejack as they were approaching the final leg of their escape. Meanwhile, she also saw the door to Rarity’s room swing open, revealing the last of her friends, a cyan pegasus, inside.

The trio on the ground floor seemed alerted as soon as the door first clicked. They scattered. Applejack made a mad dash for the exit, whilst Pinkie and Fluttershy made for the cover of the colonnade. When Rainbow stepped out of the room she seemed a little tense, as if she were about to leap into the air at any moment. She crept over to the railing and leant over, using her natural pegasus lightness to reduce the sound of her hooves below a whisper. Twilight made some careful notes, both on Rainbow’s behaviour and the timing of both pegasi’s appearance, then settled in to watch.

Rainbow stopped for just a second as the door before her swung open. For a fleeting second she saw- or imagined- the flick of a yellow tail disappearing into the nook that marked the hall’s main entrance. She had certainly heard somepony running. More to the point, she thought she’d heard two sets of hooves traveling in different directions. She didn’t need to be Twilight to figure out what that meant. She hushed Rarity and Spike before glided through the threshold and leaned over the balcony, extending her blue feathers in readiness. Hoof by hoof she climbed on top of the balustrade and looked down on the empty marble floor and basalt pillars beneath her.

Piercing the still air was the creak of an opening door...

“Aha!” Rainbow accused, her wings beating against the air as she came to a stop beneath the mezzanine. The accusation melted out of her face, however, when all she saw was Flutterhy, hovering near a side room, trying to make herself small.

“Fluttershy?” she hissed, “What are you doing here? I thought-” Rainbow cut herself off there, thinking there might be ponies listening in. As if in answer to her suspicions, Rarity’s voice rang over the chamber.

“Rainbow dear, what in the world are you doing?” she called with an hint of uncertainty in her voice.

“Uh...” Rainbow looked at Fluttershy, who was staring back pleadingly. She was torn between betraying Fluttershy or surrendering her to Rarity’s machinations. After all, if she wasn’t here to help Rarity, why was she here at all...?

“...Nothing!” She called back. She gave a shooing motion to the grateful Fluttershy and began wafting her way back into upper floor airspace.

Then, she heard another click from somewhere deeper in the building. Her heart skipped a beat as she launched into action, zooming past Fluttershy into the room beyond. The air whooshing about her billowed through what little space there was inside, tossing papers into the air and rattling a door embedded in the side wall. In even less time Rainbow rushed through this opening, arriving in the next room while it still rang with the sound of yet another door slammed shut in haste. Once more, Rainbow took the side door, which led back out into the hall, throwing it wide open to come face-to-face with Fluttershy.

“Flutter-? Outta my way, where’d Pinkie go?” Rainbow whispered as she tried to push her head past. Fluttershy had her wings outspread, obscuring much of the chamber beyond, but that didn’t stop Rainbow from glimpsing a pink blur disappear through a door in the hall’s far-right corner. Rainbow shoved he friend aside without much resistance and picked up the chase once again.

Making diagonally across the hall she finally came to what seemed like a simple conference room. A long, polished wooden table dominated the room with a pair of cabinets on the far end. Slit-like windows spilt golden sunlight across the floor and shiny wood. The room had three doors: one on the wall to her left, the second she had come through, and a third on the same wall but nearer the far end of the room. This door, opening apparently to another room behind the end of the hall she’d just left, suddenly produced an hollow knock from its opposite face. Tirelessly, Rainbow pounced upon the portal and pulled it wide open.

She found herself taunted by a bookshelf blocking her path and a quiet suppressed giggle from somewhere in the dim room beyond.

Fluttershy quietly slipped into the room Rainbow had just flown out of. It seemed to be some kind of office. It had a small but ornate desk near the slim windows, a smattering of bamboo seats and a row of cabinets along one wall. By way of hiding places it was rather poor. The cabinets looked too heavy to move and had no large spaces inside them, the chairs were to skeletal to provide any cover and the desk was to open to properly protect anything from sight. Regardless, Fluttershy crawled her way under the desk, covered her eyes with her hooves and tried so very, very hard to make herself invisible.

There was some kind of shouting happening in the hall’s main chamber. Mainly the noise was attributable to Rainbow Dash, trying to lure Pinkie out by taunts or tricks. Rarity’s voice was in there too, appealing to the stubborn pegasus for calm at the very least. Occasionally too she heard Spike’s words drift in and out of hearing, franticly trying to convince Rainbow that nopony was in the hall except for them. Once, she thought she even heard Pinkie’s maniacal laughter. The voices came and went from different places around the hall, often accompanied by the clattering of hooves or the slamming of doors.

There was a tapping on the window behind her, causing Fluttershy to practically leap from her skin. It was Applejack, signaling for Fluttershy to open the window.

“What in tarnation’s goin’ on in there?” The earth pony inquired once the window had been opened for her.

“I don’t know, it’s utter chaos! Rainbow seems to have gone mad or something1”

“Consarn it. Alright then, sugarcube, ah’ve got a plan,” Applejack passed a ball of wet dirt into Fluttershy’s hooves. “Ah hate to do this, but if get that stuff into Rarity’s hair, she ought to distract everypony good and long enough for y’all to escape,”

“What? but-”

“Ah know, sugarcube, but trust me, this’ll work and you’re gonna have a hard time gettin’ Dash distracted otherwise,” Applejack reassured in an understanding tone. Fluttershy eyed the mud hesitantly, finally nodding gently in acceptance. She was sorely regretting fluttering through those doors at Twilight’s command. “Good on ya’ Fluttershy, now go, we better not waste any more time,”

It was then that Fluttershy heard something in the next room over, the one closest to the library. Her realisation of how lucky she had been so far was accompanied with a startled meep. Instinctually, she flew in the opposite direction, clutching the mud to her chest and quickly exiting through the side door. The room she entered had papers strewn about the floor from Dash’s windy invasion. It was much like the room she had left, but the pile of books and paperwork gave it a much more lived-in atmosphere. Silently, she closed the door.

She did this just in time, apparently, for she soon heard the clicks and creaks of somepony entering the room. This was quickly followed by another, then a pause, then one more.

“There’s nopony in there, Rainbow,” She heard Spike say out in the hall.

“Argh! I swear I had her this time! Rarity! Keep watching the entrance, she’s definitely in here somewhere!”

Fluttershy retreated from the door and began making for the next one. She had crept about halfway across the room when-

“Hiya Fluttershy!” The high pitch greeting almost made Fluttershy drop the mud, as well as freezing her in her tracks. “Hey, watcha got there? Is it mud? Are we making mud pies? How about mud cake? Or are we going to throw it in Rarity’s hair to distract Rainbow Dash so we can escape? I hope it’s mud cake, I love mud cake!”

“Uh... throw it at Rarity?”

“Great idea Fluttershy!”

Pinkie led Fluttershy to the door to the main hall. Just as Rainbow said, Rarity was standing before the main doors, looking stressed and annoyed. The actual task was a quick and efficient affair. In a moment where Rarity was distracted by Dash’s antics on the other side of the room, Pinkie slipped out and with a mighty swing flung the mud high into the air. In a second she back behind the cover of the door. The following pause, by contrast, was surprisingly drawn out. Fluttershy waited anxiously, dreading that Pinkie had missed, but finally came the piercing shriek that echoed loudly through every room in the building. Rarity screamed and screamed and screamed and Pinkie grabbed Fluttershy and sprinted out the door. The pair met with Applejack outside and the trio galloped away from there, leaving the screeching unicorn and the persistent pegasus far behind.

Spike spun about the second the screaming began. He saw Rarity galloping about uncontrollably, flinging flecks of mud across the white marble floor. He started to run over, but Rainbow got there first.

“Pull it together Rarity! Where did the mu-”

“I meet with such a fate and you just expect me to pull it together!?” Rarity quickly reverted to more melodramatic moaning. “My mane is ruined!”

In the corner of his mind, Spike was briefly aware of of the main doors scratching the floor as they opened, but he chose to say nothing. Instead, when Rainbow had forsaken consoling the fashionista, she noticed the heavy doors letting in bright sunlight to shine through the hall. She found the stain where the mud had fallen from the roof, but Spike pointed out that nopony could really tell how long it had been there, especially with all the shaking they had been making thee building do lately. Rainbow was still suspicious, but it would do to protect his secrets for what little time remained. Finally, he had an idea.

“Uh, Rarity? I think I know what we could do to help fix your mane. There’s a spot where all these minerals bubble up from the earth and it’s really good for your follicles...”

“Huh?” Rarity sniffled as she looked up at the dragon, “Where?”

“The Black Atoll,”

The air had cleared considerably since the misty morning. Instead, high in the air, fluffy mountainous clouds drifted over the mid-day sun. Fluttershy and Applejack were lying back on a pair of hammocks by their lodgings. Though the fan-like fronds of palm trees protected them from the direct sun, they still had decent view of the sky over the nearby ocean. In the distance, over the breaking waves and rustling trees, they could hear the clangings and whirrings from Pinkie’s mystery shed. Of course, they weren’t allowed to see the ‘surprise’ inside, but that bothered them little in this moment of peace.

“So ya say Dash rides about on those things with some kinda board?”

“Yes, the clouds in Equestria never reach that size, even over the Everfree forest,”

Applejack certainly knew what cloud-boarding was, but as an earth pony she’d never concerned herself too much with pegasus sports. She preferred a game of hoofball more than anything else and could honestly say she was quite good at it. By contrast, Fluttershy wasn’t really an adherent to any sort of sport but had learnt more than enough in her conversations with Rainbow Dash.

“They sure seem mighty far away... I wonder how they’re doin’ back home? D’ya reckon they fixed that weather problem yet?”

Fluttershy didn’t respond instantly. She tried to let the gentle rocking of her hammock calm her before she pressed forth, like a lullaby. It succeeded in soothing her fluttering nerves, but didn’t make her feel much braver. “Um, actually Applejack, can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead, sugarcube”

“Well, it’s just that when we get back I kinda need a favour,”

“You know I happy to oblige with whatever ya’ need,”

“Oh, well, you see, I sort of need you to hide me for a while...”

Had Applejack been able to instantly stop swinging and look up at Fluttershy, she would have. As it was, her attempt to inspect her friend only aggravated the hammock’s once gentle arcs. Typically, her companion wasn’t looking back, but was instead frozen with anxiety and thoroughly avoiding eye-contact. Applejack wanted to be sympathetic, but she wanted answers more.

“Why in Equestria would you want that?” She asked as non-accusingly as she could.

“It’s, um, a long story... I mean, you have to do it if you don’t want to, it’s just that...” Fluttershy trailed off into mumblings.

“Now, don’t fret it, Fluttershy, you’re always welcome down at the acres, hiding or not.”

“Really? Thank you Applejack!” Fluttershy looked visibly relieved at the acceptance, and Applejack couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. Still, it had been a strange few days and she wondered if she’d ever find out what was going on with anypony.

Vaguely, the pair was aware that the noise from further down the beach had ceased. Soon, bouncing along the sand like some animals jump from the water was Pinkie Pie. She announced that the surprise was ready and all but physically dragged Fluttershy and Applejack down to her shed.

“Surprise!” Pinkie yelled as the shed was coming into view. Indeed, Applejack and Fluttershy were quite surprised. What they saw floating a few metres away from the shed was a large a stately boat, much too big to have come from inside. The front was mostly taken up by a deck while the back had a cabin and a ladder to the roof. Suddenly Pinkie was already on board, dressed in a sailor’s coat and hat. “We’re going on a cruise!”

“Where to?” Asked Fluttershy as she floated on board.

“The Black Atoll!”

Pinkie’s vessel cruised towards the edge of the atoll, where the water suddenly became darker and shallower. She could discern, through her brass spy-glass, another ship on the atoll’s opposite edge. It appeared to be empty except for a diminutive purple dragon. Ducking inside the cabin, Pinkie gave the ship’s horn a single, long honk, startling Fluttershy and Applejack. As expected, a wisp of green flame shot up from the other boat, flickering like an ethereal flag in the breeze. After a little more searching she spotted Rarity floating through the deeper waters in the atoll’s centre. Everything seemed to be in place, so she surreptitiously slipped down the hatch that led below deck.

Meanwhile, Spike was leaning over his own ship’s railings, eying Rarity nervously. The ferry was mostly abandoned by the superstitious island folk and Rarity had sent Rainbow away to tend to Twilight’s transport, so there was only Spike and the ship’s captain currently on-board. He rapped his claws over the metal railing, trying to lose his nerves amidst the repetitious clangs, but still the butterflies flittered through his stomach. The sea was mostly calm within the atoll, but still it rippled in the wind. It was between these ripples that he spotted the grey triangle gliding like blade through butter. He almost leapt over the railings then, but restrained himself as he saw it come closer and closer to Rarity.

On the other boat Fluttershy also eyed Rarity with worry, wondering if Pinkie knew she’d be here. Distracted as she was, she barely registered the sound of Applejack splashing in the water, and certainly didn’t see the triangle cutting menacingly towards the unicorn. Not, at least until it was too late.

She gasped when, suddenly, the triangle rose from the waters to reveal a snout dotted with twin, uncompromisingly black eyes and terminating in a maw armed with rows of jagged teeth. Even from this distance, she heard Rarity’s scream ring out loud and clear. Fluttershy watched, frozen in place by shock, as the shark closed in on the pony. Briefly, she noted something small and purple dive off the boat on the far side of the atoll and begin a desperate swim towards the shark.

Spike was making good time. He had timed his rescue attempt well, and though the aching exhaustion was building in his arms and legs he knew he’d get there just in time.

“Hang on... Rarity! I’m coming!” he managed to yell between mouthfuls of seawater.

Spike came up to the side of the flailing unicorn. Rarity barely had a chance to utter a cry of surprise before he leapt against the monster’s snout, holding it shut with all his might.

“Spike?”

“Go!”

Rarity went, swimming all the way back to the boat as Spike thrashed about with the creature in the water. The fight churned up the water as if it were boiling, sending a cloud of black silt billowing around the battle ground. Despite the creature’s spasms, Spike held fast, beating its eyes and nose with whichever appendage he had free.

“Save him!” Rarity commanded the captain before she had even touched the ship’s hull.

The captain looked down at her with pity. “It’s too shallow, miss. We’d be runnin’ aground...”

At that same moment, on a different ship, Applejack was calling Fluttershy’s name. “Fluttershy! FLUTTERSHY! You’ve got to save Spike! you’re the only one with wings!” The words barely registered with her until Applejack doused her in a powerful splash of seawater. “FLUTTERSHY!”

The rivulets of cold running down her forehead briefly snapped her to attention. She looked, her face and mind both blank, at the orange pony in yelling at her in the water.

“GO!”

Blinking, she nodded and flew. Even then, flapping as hard as she could, she doubted whether she could do anything against the wild, writhing bodies. She worried she wouldn’t be strong enough to pull Spike away; she worried about her missing primary feather, even now making her flight lopsided and awkward; and she worried about what had been planted below the waves in this very atoll. Despite all this, Spike, somehow, seemed to be winning. Even more encouraging was the Rainbow streak she saw rapidly closing in on the boat ahead.

It was Rainbow Dash, and as halted above the deck of the ferry she was assaulted by Rarity’s incoherent screams.

“Rainbow! Spike! Shark! Save him!” She wailed. For just a moment, Rainbow did nothing, gazing over the water in confusion. After that, the situation hit her like a bolt of lightning. Instantly she was an arrow directed at the raging aquatic battle. She could feel the sound barrier resisting the force of her wings that made her cover the distance in the blink of an eye. Nearing the shark and the dragon she spotted Fluttershy approaching from the other side and prepared to slow down.

Suddenly, there was an explosion.

To Rarity and Applejack, watching at a distance, they saw a white sphere emerge from the waters and burst free with a sound like thunder. Both pegasi were sent spinning off in opposite directions like carelessly tossed pieces of trash. Even the shark shot up into the air with Spike flailing helplessly, still attached stubbornly to its face, as it sank back into the smoke and away from view.

For Rainbow and Fluttershy, hurtling through the air with limp bodies and ringing ears, it didn’t take long to figure out what happened. Those had been their vapour melons, still raw and unsculpted, that had burst beneath the waves and sent them spinning away. Rainbow managed to right herself in the air quickly and dived back into the clouds. She swooped and spun and searched for Spike, but neither he nor his predator where anywhere within the grey world inside the cloud. In the strangely calm silence that followed, the clearing clouds cast rainbows in the sunlight and the explosion’s rippled faded across turbulent water. There was nothing else for Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash except for their ringing ears and the rising dread in their hearts.

And not long after, while Applejack still looked slack-jawed over the atoll, Pinkie Pie slunk up from the hatch in her boat and tried to look shocked.

Twilight dragged her hooves through the doors of her cabin, entering without even pausing to wipe her muddy hooves. Neither the vibrant plant life nor the awe-inspiring view her cabin offered seemed as attractive to her as flopping onto her hammock and closing her eyes. It had been a long day for Twilight, both mentally and physically.

She had her notebook on her mind, as well as literally held within her head by her teeth. In it, she had recorded all the comings and goings of her friends, plus extra information she could gather from the locals and notes on her theories to explain their behaviours. She had made excellent progress, but was still far from an answer. It didn’t help that they all disappeared somewhere for the afternoon, forcing Twilight to seek other ways to occupy her time. The last pony she had seen had been Rainbow Dash, apparently playing superhero around town.

Just inside the door Twilight found two different bodies of paper; A scroll, and a newspaper. She leant down and scooped these up with her mouth, too tired to attempt magic. One by one she dropped them into her saddle bags next to the envelope she had sneakily acquired off Applejack. Her frantic morning gave her little time to examine the envelope then and by afternoon it had slipped her mind. As she lethargically and mechanically trotted for the hammock’s sweet bliss, she quietly pondered what might be inside.

First thing was first however. When she finally slumped into the hanging fabric she set her eyes towards the door. Moments later, coming through like a faithful pet, her doppelgänger trotted into view. This was what had run her ragged all day long, an even now seemed to taunt her by possessing a youthful energy she sorely missed. It was not easy sustaining a magical mirror clone, but this way she could see and feel everything it did should she choose to. Its services had been more than useful, but still Twilight dismissed it with an astounding sense of relief, as if she had just dropped an heavy weight. It turned into a glowing wisp and twirled towards the mirror it rose from like a leaf in the wind.

After a brief rest, Twilight decided to open the envelope, reading it by the orange sunset glow. Though the stationary itself was rather plain, albeit somewhat thicker and grainier than normal paper, it was sealed with a little pink heart. Twilight whiffed a strange scent rising from it, something floral and spicy that she couldn’t identify.

The letter rather simply said:

Meet me before the Hibiscus Hotel at daybreak, Friday morning. I’ve got a surprise for you~

Love, Rainbow Dash

The letter aroused Twilight’s curiosity for a number of reasons. Content-wise, Twilight knew that the Hibiscus was the hotel Rainbow and Rarity were staying at, and she doubted Rainbow would sign anything ‘love’ (the last letter she had gotten from Rainbow was signed ‘awesomely yours’), not to mention this mysterious ‘surprise’. A hint of disapproval leaked into her thoughts when she analysed the hoof-written letters themselves. They were done in Applejack’s messy, spaced out cursive (virtually illegible compared to her own) rather than Rainbow’s equally messy but somewhat more angular style. However, though clearly a fake, the signature matched Rainbow’s quite well. The last thing Twilight took notes on was the scent, much stronger now the letter was opened. It worked its way up her nostrils and somehow began doing strange things to her head. Focusing, she put the letter down and wrote a note to do some tests on a sample. She had read enough stories to guess what the result might be.

Next, she opened the scroll, a standard letter from, surprisingly, Princess Celestia. It said:

My most faithful student,

I regret to inform you that I require Spike for some important diplomatic business. The matter is urgent, so I have already sent Spike on his way. I am aware that you are abroad and hope his absence won’t impact too dearly upon your travels.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia.

This one confused her more. There were no inconsistencies nor any mysterious odours. It was a simple, and apparently genuine letter from her mentor, summoning Spike away for business. She was a little saddened by the news but knew that if this was really the princess’s will, then it must be for a good reason.

Twilight contemplated this for quite some time, swinging back and forth in her hammock. It did explain why Spike didn’t return with the rest of her friends, who had now locked themselves away in their respective lodgings, but whether it related to his recent strange behaviour was another question. Twilight dropped these thoughts just as she dropped the scroll itself and reached down for the newspaper.

It was growing dark, so Twilight resigned herself to reading by violet horn-light. Between the crumpled, black-and-white folds of the islands newspaper, Twilight found little that was useful or interesting. There was regular gossip; events she was already aware of, such as the reported ghost-ship; and the usual ads and notifications. High Stakes Lodge, she noticed, was running some sort of tour deal.

The one thing that really caught her interest was the front page headlines. Cloudsdale Calamity Culprit Chased to the Neighchelles, they read above a photo of Cloudsdale choked in storm clouds. As she scanned the article below, she gathered that the pony responsible for the disaster at the weather factory had apparently fled Equestria. They had originally traced their suspect to Ponyville, of all places, before she evaded authorities and was reported to have purchased a ticket to the Neighchelles.

This news scared Twilight. She knew Fluttershy had been in Cloudsdale during the accident, and now she was here. Fluttershy rarely travelled, so that in itself was suspicious. But, thinking back towards her interactions with Rainbow back at Town Hall, Twilight began to suspect that the meek pegasus was holding back more than she was letting on.

By the time Twilight was done with her ruminations, it was well into the night. pleasantly cool air billowed through the open doors to the balcony, bringing the scent and sounds of the ocean in with them. Up above, the stars were slowly growing brighter as they traced their hemispherical paths across the sky. Though her mind was whirling with new information, Twilight began to let the comfortable hammock rock her gently to sleep.

Pinkie Pie led the way up the spiraling staircase to their rooms amongst the canopy. It had gotten dark surprisingly quickly here, thanks to the ridge of rock to the west. Up above, High Stakes had apparently lit a series of lanterns that hung loosely from the building’s beams and flickered with an entourage of moths. The yellow light they cast contrasted warmly with the rising cold and gathering dark. Just like the moths, the three ponies sought the comfort of these lights. Their ascent was made in silence, save for the rhythmic creaking of the stairs and the drip drip drip from their wet bodies.

Pinkie’s ‘shark chase’ had left them all drained of will and soaked in brine. The hours of wandering had achieved only one thing- separating her group from Rarity and the others. Not a moment had passed when she did not want to say the one thing that would surely cheer them up, but her promise to Spike forced her to hold her tongue the whole time. Now, as she nudged open their cabin’s bamboo doors, she finally decided to speak up.

“You know what will cheer us up?” Fluttershy and Applejack wearily looked at each other, then back to Pinkie. “A good laugh!”

“What d’ya have in mind...?” Applejack said as she shuffled through the door way to the round table in the centre of the room. This was the table they had spent hours at writing fake letters and tracing copies of Dash’s autograph they had acquired the previous day. Even now it was strewn with spare papers and stained with wayward ink.

“I think we should continue with the prank,”

“WHAT!?” A shocked silence hung about the room and Pinkie was frozen in place by Applejack’s vitriolic stare. Eventually it was broken by Fluttershy, who ran out of the room crying. “Pinkie Pie, have you lost your mind?”

“No please, Applejack, Rainbow will appreciate this, she really will! Trust me.”

“How the hay d’ya expect me to trust ya when ya won’t even tell me what in Equestria y’all are up to?”

“But... you promised...”

“Ya know what...? Fine.” Applejack stood up, turned, and began to leave.

“Wait! I’ll tell you, just please don’t go...” Applejack hesitated. “Have you heard of ‘shipping’...?”

The ‘shark’ hit the beach with a metallic clang. Spike could hear the sound of the waves washing about the hull and reverberating inside to produce a tumultuous roar, like thunder. Spike sat in the bicycle seat breathing heavily. He was glad to be free the constant pedaling to power the machine and the swaying motion it produced. Dizzily, he clambered out of an hatch in the top and slid down onto the sands outside.

Predictably, the beach was empty, but it was also dark. Looking up he could see veins of stars peeking through tufts of clouds. Directly in front of him was a tall, foreboding wall of trees that marked the start of the forest. Somewhere between those trees’ leaves, an owl hooted softly.

“Spiiiiike!” He heard somepony hiss from amidst the trees. “Spiiiike! Over here!” Spike ran over to the source of the voice, a tall fern just beyond the tree line, and found Pinkie’s fluffy face peeking out of it. “Spike! Thank Celestia you’re safe!”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s just that when we were fighting it was so intense and then there was that EXPLOSION and I got you inside the shark and I got back onto my ship and everypony was worried and I spent hours trying to search for you, but really I just didn’t want to confront Rarity at all but then we didn’t find you and I think that just made everyone even sadder because now they think you’re...” Pinkie stopped talking as if her sentence was a train hitting a cliff. “But the important thing is you’re safe!”

“Oh, right... so how is everypony?”

“They’re getting along,”

“And they don’t suspect anything?”

“Nope, you’re in the clear,”

“Phew... Then I guess we better get going huh?”

“Yep! Hop on!” Spike leapt onto Pinkie’s back and the two of them crept away into the forest. High above them, a branch rustled as something took flight.

Their journey first took them to the Hibiscus Hotel. Its smooth, tiled reception was well-lit and friendly. The walls beneath the high roof were decorated with depictions of the sea-serpent in bas-relief. Soothing piano music hung around the air like pleasant scent. Both the check-in and concierge desks were empty, and the only other occupant of the room was a griffon who seemed to have collapsed on top of a round, cushioned seat for reasons unknown. This made it easy for Spike to use his guest key to unlock the Hotel’s doors and sneak through to the stairwell.

After some climbing they arrived at Rarity and Rainbow’s room on the next-to-last floor. Spike dropped onto his belly and tried to peer under the door while Pinkie pressed her ear carefully against the wood. It was dark and quiet inside, presumably because their friends were asleep. Spike produced a photo of him and Twilight from somewhere and checked the writing on the back one last time before slipping it underneath the door. Spike hopped back onto Pinkie and they slipped away themselves.

The next place they went to was the post office. The streets of Bridle Bay, cast in reddish torchlight, were full of shadows and riddled with alleys. There were plenty of places for Spike to hide when the occasional nocturnal denizen came trotting or flying by, and the darkness amplified the sound of their presence far before they came into sight. They made their way downhill until they could hear the steady gurgling of the fountain before town hall. Turning down a side-street, long since abandoned by goers to the night-markets, they found the post office shedding its light onto the cobblestones underneath a red striped awning.

Luckily, Bridle Bay had an all-night postage service, but they hadn’t come here to send any letters. Pinkie gently awoke the dozing stallion behind the counter and negotiated a cancellation for the newspaper delivery to Higher and Drier Cabin, where Twilight now presumably slept. As they left, one of the poles supporting the awning wobbled as a silent flier took to the air once again.

Finally they made it back to the beach where Spike had left the shark. The tide was a little lower now, so Pinkie helped Spike slide it back down into the water and helped him climb up to the hatch.

“There you go Spikey! Need anything else?”

“Huh? I don’t think so,”

“Will you be coming up tomorrow night?”

“Sure thing!”

“Okie Dokie Lokie! Bye! Have fun! Good luck!” Pinkie said as she pushed the contraption into the waves. She watched as the tail began waving and it powered its way out to sea. When it finally sank beneath the water Pinkie sighed and began the journey back to her bed. She didn’t notice it, but once again the rustling of branches could be heard over the wind and the waves.

Author's Note

Edits:
-formatting
-Spelling and grammar

Day4

Day 4

-OR-

In Which the Skies Begin to Darken

Slowly, Rainbow Dash emerged from a deep, dreamless sleep. It was like emerging from a deep dark sea, and shaking off her thin blanket with a wing felt like letting the heavy water drain out of her cyan coat. She lay on her side with her wings outstretched behind her. The gentle morning coolness washed over her, bringing her back to life. Opening her eyes, she saw Rarity, still asleep, in the bed opposite.

As silently as she could, she shuffled off the mattress and landed lightly on the floor. She trotted over to the window and stuck her head through the curtains. The previous night they had closed off their windows to try block out the world while they tried to comprehend what had happened the previous day. Neither had known what to say to ease the grief and eventually Rarity had gone for a long shower to clear the salt from her mane. Long before the rain-like sound of her ablutions had finished, Rainbow settled beneath the sheets and escaped from the waking world.

Now that the waking world was back, grey clouds blotted out the sky and muted the vibrancy of Bridle Bay. Whitecaps out over the ocean spoke of stronger winds than the day before and a fogginess out on the horizon hinted at approaching rain. Watching the movement and life outside felt like it wasn’t there, as if the world ended at this pane of glass.

Rainbow withdrew from the window and trotted about the room’s half-light. She really had no idea what to do, as the impact of Spike’s death made everything insignificant by comparison. That was when she spotted the photo lying by the door.

She went over and picked it up with her mouth. Fearful of waking up Rarity, she returned to the window and placed it on the sill where she could see it in the light. It was a photo of Spike and Twilight at the spa they had visited yesterday. Spike was hugging Twilight around her neck while she looked happily at the camera. Flipping it over, she found some writing on the back that said “Have the best vacation possible! You deserve it!” Rainbow didn’t recognise the writing on the back, but presumably it was written by photographer.

“Rainbow, darling?” Rainbow heard from behind her. Even afflicted with drowsiness, Rarity’s elocution was precise. “What in the world are you doing?”

“Oh, uh... Morning Rarity. I found this,” Rainbow replied unsteadily as she twisted out of the curtains. She held the photo between her teeth and let it float away in an haze of blue light. “I think Spike dropped it,”

“Oh,”

“There’s, uh, something on the back,”

“Oh...” Rarity flipped the photo over a few times more, as if she were trying to memorise it. At last she looked back up to Rainbow Dash. “Darling... you’re crying...”

Words do not do justice to the outpouring of emotion that followed. Suffice to say, there were tears. Rainbow confessed to having placed the vapour melons in the water that day and cursed her own idiocy. Rarity tried to tell her that it wasn’t her fault, and that it was she who had led Spike towards the shark. In the end, the words could not lessen their grief, but it helped them to get through the first of many hours when they thought Spike was gone forever.

“Twilight can’t know.” Rainbow said suddenly as her tears began to recede.

“No, absolutely not,”

“What should we do?”

“We should make sure she really does have the best vacation possible.”

Fluttershy didn’t know when she arrived, only that she did. She had gone out in the morning to get some air and gather her thoughts. Even with her thoroughly battered wings, the wind had picked her up and whisked her away. Fate or subconscious desire had drawn her to the dark stain on the ocean where she saw Spike die the previous day. Now she stood on a lump of coral at the edge of the atoll while the waves churned about her hooves.

She didn’t mind the waves slapping at her legs or the wind pulling at her hair. Even now the water was warm and held a strange sort of calm. It was the calm before a storm, one she could discern approaching on the horizon.

A vague purpose drew her towards the centre, to the exact spot she had last seen Spike. She dived into the turbulent water, somewhat tempered by the coral circle of the atoll, and groped about blindly. A hoof bumped against something round and smooth, then, returning to the surface, Fluttershy saw the green and off-white globe of a vapour melon bobbing in the water. She regarded it fearfully, as a weapon of destruction that could cause so much pain. It was utterly inert, slowly drifting away from her.

With a renewed sense of purpose she dove, again and again. Soon the water was filled with a little flock of green and white balls, all drifting in the wind. But at times, the melons would not dislodge so easily and Fluttershy was forced to dig and pull in the mud until her will finally prevailed. These times Fluttershy rose to the surface gasping desperately for air. Her throat stung with lungfuls of seawater that came spluttering up and running down the corners of her mouth.

She was cold, and her mane and coat were stained brown by the sand and dirt sifting through her hairs. In the wetness, Fluttershy could hardly tell she was crying. It was hard to tell if she had even stopped crying since last night.

I just want to go home... She thought to herself, and suddenly that thought resonated. She didn’t care what forces were after her, she just wanted to be back in Equestria, back in Ponyville and far away from these sharks and these insane pranks.

But despite all this, she couldn’t. She couldn’t leave her friends and she didn’t want to be alone if she did. Despite all this, she still needed Applejack’s help to hide her and needed her other friends for support. Despite everything, the fact of the matter was that they weren’t leaving so neither could she.

Not unless...

When Fluttershy watched the vapour melons, now a good way out of her grasp, she remembered Rainbow’s prank. She had wanted to scare Pinkie. She had wanted to scare her so badly she gave up her plans and ran back to Equestria. Had she succeeded and the prank had not gone so horribly awry, Fluttershy might now be on her way home. And if she were home, safe, and in the company of her friends, then it might be that she she wouldn’t be so overcome with guilt and grief. At the very least, she might escape that pony.

She wanted to let the cursed fruit drift away forever, but instead she found herself gathering them up, one by one, and flying them away to somewhere safe.

Somehow, Rarity had managed to shuffle Twilight off Outpost island and onto Eternity island, the largest in the Neighchelles. For this simple thing, she was grateful. In all likelihood, she would be there all day, possibly checking their markets laden with treasures from far off lands or visiting the harbour to gaze at the ships that brought them. Either way, it was one less thing to think about. She was free to plan Twilight’s tomorrow and refine or expand her collection of disguises.

If only she could actually focus on anything.

There was nothing to distract her. Rainbow was away in a vain attempt to clear up the clouds with some of the island’s weather wardens. In reality, Rainbow was probably away doing whatever she liked, but cloud clearing was what she had told Rarity. Meanwhile the mayor and his officials had kept their distance. She had told them enough of her situation and then they muttered some apologies and ‘gave her space’. She wasn’t sure what she’d prefer, if they kept her busy or left her to her grief. So she stared at her rented workspace idly and tried to weave some ideas out of air.

Behind her, out in the hall, she heard the groaning rasp of the hall’s door being forced open. Next, she heard slow hoofsteps advance into the building. Rarity got up to see who it was. When work was impossible, distraction was the only course. The pony she saw wandering into the centre of the marble floor was Pinkie Pie. Though she looked less energetic than usual, like a slowly deflating balloon, Rarity didn’t know whether she knew the news about Spike or not. She had seen another boat at the atoll, but hadn’t gotten a good look at who was on it. Hesitantly, she retreated back into the work room.

Pinkie Pie was just feeling the worst. Fluttershy had disappeared and Applejack wasn’t talking to her, even though she had totally not done anything wrong... right? She didn’t know. Thus she had been reduced to wandering. She had been talking to the locals, shoring up her plans for tomorrow and sharing a laugh. Most were excited to talk to a ‘questri’ and Pinkie Pie sure loved to talk, but for some reason it wasn’t working like usual. If anything, the smiles she received only seemed to add to the weight in her chest.

And then she came to Town Hall. There was a why, that much she knew. Maybe she wanted to escape the strange, pointless smiles that seemed to press on her outside, or maybe she wanted to return to the last guiltless place she had in her memory, or maybe she was searching for something.

Without noticing, she had her eyes cast down onto the smooth white tiles and the dirt clinging to the cracks. There was nothing there for her, so she looked up. Up on the second floor, near the right-hoof corner of the building, was a blue-coated unicorn in a flowing dress and a rather large hat. She was leaning on the railing and looked away when Pinkie noticed her. About her, there was a sense of purposelessness, as if everything she had tried to do had only added to her burden. There was also something about her face, tired and gloomy, that told her that the burden was large indeed.

“Hey!” Pinkie called “Wanna hear a joke?”

The unicorn seemed startled that this pony had chosen to address her. “Uh, well, um...” She stumbled over the words nervously. “Uh, yes... why not?”

“Alright! So there’s this dog... or was it a marmoset? No, it was a dog and he goes into a telegram office. He takes out a form and writes ‘Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof.’ So the clerk, she examines it and says ‘There are only nine words here, you could send another ‘woof’ for the same price,’ “ Pinkie paused as she about to deliver the punch line. “ ‘But’ says the dog, ‘that would make no sense at all!’ “

The unicorn chuckled softly, almost trying to hide her amusement. “Charming,”

“My pleasure! You looked super bummed, so I just wanted you to know that even when you’re down, you never know what’s going to happen next! And that’s something to hope for.”

“Oh, why... Thank you, I suppose you’re correct,”

“No problem! Oh! I better be off, see ya!” And with that, Pinkie Pie trotted out of the room. Rarity watched her go as randomly as she had come. She wondered if, after all, Pinkie had seen through her disguise or whether she would have said the same thing to anypony. It didn’t really matter, because her words had helped in their own way. She dissolved the disguise spell and went back into the work room, picking out a roll of fabric as she went.

Twilight lay on a cushion with a book of poetry. She was positioned just inside from the balcony where she could see the ocean and the huge spires of rock that rose from Guardian Bay. Tiny flecks of debris flittered down from their leafy crowns and made a diagonal path downwards in the wind. The last crack of blue had long since closed up in the sky as the wind had grown stronger and stronger. She was somewhat glad that her friends had suddenly decided to settled down for the day, even if only so she wouldn’t get caught out in the weather. Their respective moods had puzzled her, however. They seemed sad, but about what she had no clue.

In truth the book she was reading only contained one poem, but it was a long one. She had managed to extract it from the library in Town Hall. It was a copy of the book that lay on the lectern as, she had discovered, it had for many years. The poem within described much of the island’s history, from its first colonisation by a group of storm-tossed pegasi who were part of the exodus from the original pony homeland, to its annexation by Equestria many years later. Much of the poem was taken up by a struggle between a brave pony hero and vicious sea serpent. The serpent was said to rule the waters around the island and wished to drown all those who lived upon the land.

Apparently the poem had quite an effect on the culture of the Neighchelles. For one, the practice of high-hoofing as the traditional equivalent of an hoof-shake was introduced by the poem’s hero. It was meant as a symbolic gesture of seeking higher ground, safe from the threats of the sea, by working together. This was also the poem in which the term ‘Congregation Ichthyic’ was originally coined, as another one-off quip of the hero. It amused Twilight somewhat to be finally returning to her original reason for her trip.

Behind her, she heard feather ruffling. She turned about to see Owlowicious quietly alseep on his perch. Since Spike had left, she had felt more comfortable letting the owl stay with her, instead of hiding him with Fluttershy. However, she had learned some very confusing things from the owl since. When she had received the princess’s letter summoning him away, he had expected the owl to give up his duty of spying on Spike at night. Somehow, Owlowicious had defied logic and spied just so.

The owl had come to her with a map in the morning, a whirlwind of hooting feathers. When he had finally gotten Twilight’s attention, he pointed out three locations where he had followed the dragon. The first was a beach on the other side of the island, next was the Hibiscus hotel, and the third was the post office near town hall. Confirming his claims, Twilight received no newspaper that morning, a service the post-office usually ran. Were she on Eternity island as her mirror-clone was (whom she had hidden away at a movie theatre and put to ‘sleep’) she’d have had no chance to see the day’s news. As it was, the paper she picked up told briefly of some tragedy out at the ‘haunted’ atoll. With all her friends accounted for, Twilight didn’t know who it could possibly have been referring to.

Twilight turned back to her book. There was a lot of interesting secrets in this poem, and she didn’t intend to squander this opportunity to plunder them.

When Pinkie Pie had left their cabin late at night, Applejack had followed her. She was sure the pink one was up to something, and this was the night she found out what. She had followed her out into the forest, to a seemingly random patch near the coast. Pressing her back against the gargantuan buttress root of a tree, she strained her ears to listen. She listened carefully, in more senses than one. If she moved, let a hoof but slip into the blurry mesh of leaf litter and small plants, she could give away her position. With it, any chance of finding out what was really going on would be lost.

“Nope! She just came back all soggy from somewhere and trotted back inside for a shower. She’s not the talkative type, you know,” Applejack heard Pinkie say. Her high-pitched voice cut through the darkness and the roaring of the jungle insects like a needle.

“...” By contrast, whoever she was talking to was altogether quieter and harder to hear. What she could gather from the conversation was Pinkie telling her mysterious correspondent exactly what had been happening that day.

Finally the talking stopped and he heard two bodies moving in different directions through the leafy floor. The louder one moved with a four-beat swish back along the route to their lodgings. This she assumed to be Pinkie Pie, heading back to sleep. The bipedal other, heading on a slightly different trajectory, would meet with a forest path in about a hundred metres, one that would take it back to town. First, Applejack stayed perfectly still, waiting until the noises had passed, then she crept after the other hoping Pinkie wouldn’t notice her absence.

It wasn’t long until she herself had reached the forest path. The clearer ground had a soft, moist covering of leaf litter that absorbed her hoof-falls like cushions. This allowed her to move faster and more comfortably as she sought to catch up with her quarry. When she got closer she saw a squat, somewhat pudgy shape and fell quickly into a low crouch. When she got even closer she...

“Spike?” She whispered to herself. The thing before her was unmistakably a dragon, and definitely the one Pinkie had been talking too, but she saw Spike get eaten by the shark. Even if he had somehow survived those teeth he certainly should have drowned.

“Hey, uh, you!” She called, unsure what to make of the situation. The figure turned, paused for a second, and ran. “Hey! Git back here!” Applejack cried, giving chase.

The affair was over too quickly once Applejack had the fugitive pinned beneath her hooves.

“Who are ya’? What’re ya’ doing?” She said, glaring down at her captor angrily. Even in the darkness, Applejack could see that whoever this was looked exactly like the friend she had though she’d lost.

“Uh... I am a ghost! I have come to haunt you from beyond my watery grave! OooOOOooOOh!” The dragon moaned, undulating his voice theatrically.

“Sugarcube, you ain’t fooling nopony. Now... Spike... can it really be you?”

Spike nodded, then, realising the action might be difficult to perceive in the darkness, complimented it with a simple ‘yes.’

“Ah... Ah don’t understand. What the hay was the hoedown at the atoll all about?”

“Well, if I tell you, you’ve got to promise to keep it a secret, okay?”

“Cross my heart sugarcube,”

“Thanks, Applejack. You see, I got this letter from Celestia...”

Applejack let the door swing open almost of its own accord. She saw Pinkie in the room beyond by the light cast from the lantern behind. Pinkie stared back, wide-eyed and stunned.

“Pinkie, we need to talk.”

Author's Note

Edits:
- formatting
-spelling
-reworded some stuff

Day 5

-OR-

The Perfect Storm

The insistent hum of the rain was transformed into a few distinct patterings by the forest’s canopy. Even so, their combined clamour drowned out almost every other sound. Only the waves of shushing from the leaves or the distant peals of thunder survived the sonic onslaught. Fluttershy lay awake in her bed, listening to these sounds.

There were still a couple of hours before sunrise, so all she saw was darkness and the occasional flash of lightning. The air was cold and clingy, filled with moisture, while the scents of petrichor and bitter, battered leaves wafted about her nostrils. Electric light cut through the wide windows and briefly silhouetted the shadowy thing outside. While the others had slept, she had painstakingly endured the ever-strengthening deluge to craft the wavering creature and two more besides. Now that she was back in bed and dried of rain, it was time to enact her plan.

She pushed her back hoof out the window to touch the dark cloud waiting there. With as much force as her frail body could muster, she kicked it, aiming, in a sense, for the energy stored within. It glowed white for a second with an inner light, then went dark. Fluttershy scrambled back into bed so as to not arouse suspicion and listened once more.

There was a series of cracklings and rumbling that traced a path downward and out of her hearing. Briefly it re-emerged at some point below the cabin, but soon disappeared. Again it came back, this time growing louder and louder. The crescendo ended with an horrifying crack and a flash of light that seemed to turn the night into day. The creature outside with long pointed spines, sharp drooling teeth, and eyes that flashed white and menacing, came sharply into view. This first roar woke everypony up, then it flashed again and once more to burn its visage into their eyes.

“Dragon!” Fluttershy screamed convincingly. Even aware of the ruse, she felt her heart begin to race. “Everypony run!!”

Pinkie and AJ stumbled out of their beds and bolted for the door, with Fluttershy close behind. They barreled out into the rain and onto the slippery platform beyond. Suddenly, another creature lit up, lights welling up from it’s throat like fire. Instinctively they swerved away, galloping over a rope bridge that swung precariously in the wind. The next platform had a wide, straight staircase that they were forced to tumble down haphazardly. Somehow, they landed in the mud at the bottom unscathed and quickly shot off down the path to town.

They had gotten to the ridge that separated them from the town when the dragon flashed into view for the third time. Applejack twisted her head to look behind her, aware that the rivulets streaming across the path might undo her footing at a moment’s notice.

“Hold up!” She cried at Pinkie, who was a few paces ahead. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

“Oh no! What if the dragon ate her?”

At that moment they heard a desperate crying as Fluttershy ran headlong at them out of the rain. “What are you waiting for, girls? Run!” But when Fluttershy tried to dash past Applejack, she got stopped by a hoof.

“Something’s not right about this...” She said, as Pinkie and Fluttershy stared at her like she had gone mad. Applejack stood still, looking back at down the path they had just run up. Icy torrents of rain washed over them all, rinsing the mud out of their coats and eyes.

Another flash of lightning penetrated the trees, casting the forest into columns of black and white like piano keys. Applejack did see the silhouette of the creature supposedly after them, but it remained where it had been the last time it had flashed into the corners of her eyes. “They’re fake! These dragons are cloud phonies!” She declared at last.

“W-what?” Fluttershy stammered.

“Who would do such a thing!?” lamented Pinkie Pie.

“Ah don’t know, mighta been Rainbow Dash... But ah know somepony’s tryin’ to scare us away, and it almost worked...”

“Oh, that makes sense. Hey, while we’re up, wanna go ship Dashie with eveypony in Bridle Bay?”

“You still onto that?”

“Of course! It’ll be a blast! And besides, you promised.”

“Fine,”

“Whee! Wanna come to Fluttershy?”

“O-okay,” Fluttershy whimpered. Previously, she had stayed well out of the conversation.

“Double whee! Ready everypony? Let’s go!”

As Rarity awoke she became aware of a noise. There was the wind and the rain and the sounds of the storm outside generally, but these only roused minor interest in her. The sound that drew her attention had the same kind of foamy texture as the sound of rain, but had a completely different tone. Was it... cheering?

She went to the window, the apparent source of the noise, and looked out. What she saw didn’t encourage her; a thick veil of rain obscured most of the town such that she couldn’t see the ocean. Looking down, she saw the buildings that disappeared into this fog and the dark streets that wound between them. It was in these streets that she spotted the crowd, somehow braving the rain. Though they were far below, she could still discern some rainbow-coloured signs waving about. Listening closely, she imagined she heard them chanting ‘Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!’

Rainbow Dash yawned behind her, stretching out and rustling the white linen she lay on. “Good morning, darling, I think you should come see this.”

“Huh? What’s going on?” Rainbow asked, pushing herself onto her hooves.

“I have absolutely no idea...”

Rainbow trotted over to the window and peered out. Suddenly the crowd erupted into a roar. “Woah,” She muttered as she backed away. “What do they want?”

“From what I can gather on such short notice...” Rarity peered down at the crowd once again. “They want you.”

“Why? I didn’t ask for this!” Rainbow began to cradle her head in her hooves.

“I did tell you to keep a low profile...” Rarity muttered quietly.

“We don’t have time for this! What if Twilight finds out and then we have to tell her about Spike? Argh! What can I do to make them go away!?” Rainbow seemed about as fragile as a house of cards. The last thing she needed now was a rabid crowd of followers with unknown intentions.

“I suppose we shall just have to think of something.”

“Ya’ still sure ‘bout this?” Applejack asked as she watched Rainbow Dash sink back into the hotel room. The noise of the cheering was deafening, and Fluttershy was huddling against Applejack’s side in response.

“This is going to be the best prank ever, Applejack! Just wait and see...” Pinkie said from Fluttershy’s other side. Applejack decided to do just that- wait and see.

With so many warm bodies close together, the cold rain was fairly tolerable, but what stuck out was the smell. Not all, but enough of the creatures in the crowd had brought their letters. By some supernatural foresight, the concoction they had been soaked in also repelled water, leaving it almost unaffected by the rain. With so many of the papers close together, the odour seemed to amplify until it was suffocating. Even after another course of the bitter anti-potion, the smell seemed to head directly to her brain. The effects on the unprotected then, was a thing to behold.

In a land where the gender ratio was so skewed, polyamory was not exactly unusual. Both homo- and heterosexual partnerings were of course fully accepted and whilst cross-species romances were rare and sometimes questionable, they were far from illegal. Nonetheless, seeing an entire island of ponies, zebra and griffons of every gender all clamoring madly for the love of one pegasus had Applejack floored. While Rainbow Dash was, admittedly, an attractive pony, and while her presence on the island had so far gathered a great deal of admiration thanks to Pinkie’s ministrations, it made her wonder just what was in that potion Pinkie had brewed.

As the cheering of the died down again, Applejack began sensing some unease amongst the crowd. It was as if, appropriately for the weather, a cold wind had blown through their ranks. She heard murmurings that they had been tricked, that it was all some cruel joke on their hearts. Pinkie seemed to see this too, and Applejack saw her whispering messages to those gathered near her.

“What are ya up to, Pinkie?” Applejack asked with narrowed eyes.

“Oh, I’m just telling them that Dashie wants them all at once,” Pinkie almost fell over giggling at that.

“Riiight, and what-” She was cut off by the crowd gasping. Applejack looked up just in time to see a rainbow trail disappear into the clouds overhead. There was almost a panic rising about the crowd when suddenly Pinkie stood on her hind hooves and made an announcement.

“Everypony! Only united will Dashie ever accept you! We must follow her as one to prove our love!” She cried with much theatricality. There was a pause as the crowd seemed to process her words. Then, all of a sudden, Applejack was swept off her feet by the moving crowd.

Twilight stood atop a roof and looked out into the wind and rain. For some distance she saw the tiled tops of Bridle Bay’s various buildings and the gaps that indicated the paths between them, but the town seemed strangely empty of inhabitants.

She teleported to the next roof top, panicking for a second as she tried to keep her balance on the wet surface. The force of her spell sent a small spray of droplets fanning away from her. Again, she looked about, but still saw nopony but a lone earth pony galloping through the rain. This was ridiculous. She teleported back onto the ground and huddled beneath the awning of a closed shop, one of many.

A single shop still had it’s lights on. It sold coconut products, and, intriguingly, stocked some products from Fluttershy’s brief modeling stint. Twilight ran inside, ringing the little bell suspended above the door. The shop was warm and, more importantly, dry. Behind the counter at the other end of the room was a bright yellow-eyed pegasus with a mane and coat similar to Fluttershy’s. It occured to Twilight that that might explain the Fluttershy merchandise displayed in the window, except that the base of the pegasus’s mane was black, as if the pink was actually dyed in.

“Oh! Mornin’, welcome to Coco’s Coconut castle! You’d be tha’ first visitor I’ve had all day, miss.” Said the pony behind the counter, her head bouncing up from a magazine she was reading.

“Ah, yeah, morning. I’m sorry, but I don’t suppose you’d know where everypony is today?”

“Couldn’t be sayin’, miss. I’ve only just got back to tha’ bay recently myself. I’ve been travellin’, you know,”

“Oh. Well then, would you mind if I stay in your shop for a while? It’s awfully wet outside,”

“Make yourself at home.”

Twilight nodded her thanks, closed her eyes and powered up a spell. The darkness seemed to rush past for a second like wind and suddenly she could see through another pair of eyes. She was in a carriage with another unicorn, soaring through the air thanks to a pegasus. Despite their disguises Twilight knew they were Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Bridle Bay climbed up the hill on the left and disappeared towards the sea on the right.

Twilight, in the body of her doppelgänger, sat for a while in silence, looking out the windows and trying to figure out where they were. It took her a moment to realise that, through her reflection’s eyes, left and right were reversed. When she realised that, she figured they were over the centre of the town, heading east. Suddenly they swerved and Twilight felt her second body get thrown against the side of the carriage. As she gazed towards the place they were avoiding, she briefly saw a crowd of ponies. Soon, however, the view was swept away by a building’s wall.

“Where are we going?” She finally decided to ask.

“Twilight!” Rarity yelped, apparently surprised that Twilight actually said something coherent. Her mirror clone’s repertoire of phrases were not Twilight’s finest work. “We... are... going... to...”

“Town Hall!” Rainbow butt in, already changing course for it.

“Why yes! There’s this quaint little library that’s a must-see!”

“Excuse me, miss, but you wouldn’t happen to be a- from Equestria, I mean.” Twilight was jolted back into her original body by the shopkeeper’s interruption. “Oh, much apologisin’, miss, just that you were all quiet and I thought if we were talkin’...”

Twilight looked back at the pegasus, Coco, and shook her head to clear it. She had emerged from behind the counter and paused with one hoof raised in the air. This was the first time Twilight got to see her cutie mark, a coconut cracked open near the top. “No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have taken you’re hospitality for granted like that.”

“It’s nothin’, miss, honest.”

“Yes, well, I am from Equestria. Ponyville, to be exact.”

“...Ponyville? Really? Do you know Fluttershy?”

“...Yes, she’s one of my best friends,”

“She is? Could you, I mean if it’s possible, not that I’d expect it of you or anythin’, but maybe you could... sorta... introduce me?”

“Yeah... I guess,” The moment those words left Twilight’s mouth, Coco’s face brightened like a light. The next moment, amidst a bout of frantic squealing, she fainted. Twilight would have gone to check on her, but something else caught her attention. Outside the shop, running as fast as his legs would carry him, was her assistant, Spike.

Twilight watched him go, stunned by surprise, before snapping back to attention. There was a flash of purple light and suddenly Owlowicious was flapping in front of her, hooting in annoyance. She just pointed at Spike and watched him flap off after him. Only then did Twilight check on the fainted pegasus and, seeing she was fine, teleported away.

She appeared on a roof in the centre of town, near where she thought she saw the crowd. Twilight found herself surrounded by it and its racket. She considered herself lucky she hadn’t appeared right in the centre or she might have been crushed. Even from this distance she could smell a smell she recognised. The results of her test had confirmed her suspicions that the smell was a kind of love potion. This particular potion grew exponentially stronger as the concentration increased, resulting in the bizarre crowd surrounding her. She counted herself lucky again that she knew a spell that could clear her mind of it’s effects.

She spotted Pinkie Pie bouncing about the crowd, shouting words of encouragement to the love-struck throng. Nearby, she saw Applejack trying to push her way out of the crowd. Finally, she spotted Fluttershy, utterly out of place among so many strangers. With a subtle, magical tug on her mane, Twilight alerted Fluttershy to her roof-top lookout. Fluttershy glanced about the took to the air. The wind was so strong, even among the sheltered streets, that Fluttershy stuggled to make forward progress.

“Twilight!” Fluttershy called when she finally made it. The two of them slunk towards the centre of the roof, out of sight.

“Fluttershy! What in the world’s going on here?”

“It’s Pinkie’s prank. She plans to ship all of Bridle Bay with Rainbow Dash, whatever that means,”

“Oh dear,” Under normal circumstances, Twilight would have considered the notion ridiculous. At that moment she had to take into account the fact that it was working, though. “Alright, thanks Fluttershy,”

No sooner had she said that than had Twilight flashed away. Fluttershy shivered in the rain for a moment before she returned to the side of the the roof. As before, the crowd flowed through the streets like hot tar. Fluttershy, not seeing any way to push back in, nor having any particular inclination to, flew. She didn’t fight the wind this time, she let it take her far away. Briefly, vaguely, she was aware of Pinkie calling out to her.

Fluttershy didn’t so much fly as spread her wings and instantly regret the decision. She tumbled through the air past Town Hall flapping her wings like an hummingbird. There were brief periods when she righted herself and felt the wind lifting her up by the wings; there were other periods when she dived towards the ground and saw little water droplets falling in slow motion about her. Finally she regained control and came to a soft landing while a cold gale blasted across her face. Her brief, tormented journey had landed her on the western edge of town, near the old docks.

Fluttershy grasped the edge of the corrugated iron roof with her front hooves. Warehouses reverberating like drums in the rain lined up around her. Her wings were thoroughly pressed against her sides, quivering from both fear and cold. She had just been planning to maybe get to the head of the crowd where she could breathe. Now she remembered why she never took a job in weather. For a long time she simply clung to where she was, frozen.

What interrupted her paralysis was the hooting of an owl. She leant out over the edge of the roof and saw the little brown creature hopping along next to a warehouse’s wall. It was Owlowicious, and she would have rushed down to scoop him up and out of the rain had she not spotted something even stranger. Further up the street, heading towards the forest that lay between the town and High Stakes’ lodge, was Spike. Again she would have rushed up to him, but just barely had she noticed him that she heard a violent clanging from the opposite direction. Instinctively she turned to look at it, seeing a barrel rolling about in the wind, before she turned back.

Spike was gone. Owlowicious had disappeared too, somehow. Fluttershy hovered down the leeward side of the building and galloped out into the streets. Spike remained gone no matter how many rusted corners she poked her head about. Apparently, he had disappeared.

As she huddled against a wall and listened to the wind whistling between iron sheets, a thought occurred to her. Spike was almost certainly dead, so she must have seen... a phantom. The weather matched the notion far too accurately, and Fluttershy’s mind vacillated between fleeing and hiding. She began to hyperventilate, not least because of why she thought he might have come back. She could almost hear his moaning voice in her head, accusing her... her and Rainbow Dash.

Then that thought stuck with her and she had an idea. She clung to it, more desperate than ever to find a way off this island quickly. If she could scare Rainbow badly enough, then it seemed as if everypony else would follow...

Pinkie held a hoof over Spike’s mouth. ‘Pinkie! Just the pony I needed!’ He wanted to say, but instead it came out as "Mmph! Mmmphmmphmmmmmph!"

“Shh!” Pinkie commanded, dragging Spike down the gap between two warehouses. “Fluttershy’s nearby. You don’t want her ruining your secret, right?” Unfortunately, Spike didn’t have a chance to answer that question before Pinkie pulled them both somewhere dark and cramped. It felt like another barrel.

They stayed there, motionless and silent, while rain dripped down onto them through the wood. The steady thrum of the rain and the quiet whistling of their breathing was all the sounds they could hear. Again, Spike felt himself pressed against Pinkie’s fluffly tummy, which rose and fell steadily with her breath. His back was crushed against an uncomfortable piece of wood. Suddenly Pinkie twitched a little.

“Oh! She gone now, you can come out Spike. See ya later, I’ve got some ponies to ship!”

“Pinkie, wait!” But by some mysterious Pinkie magic, she was already gone.

“Need somethin’, sugarcube?” Spike twisted about to see Applejack trotting up to him. “Ah followed Pinkie hereabouts, thought ah might be any useful.”

“Applejack! This is horrible! we need to get as many ponies to high ground as we can, ASAP!” Spike cried, running up to her.

“Come again?”

“I’ll explain on the way, let’s go!” Spike hopped onto Applejack’s back and they galloped off into the centre of town.

The mist had gotten so thick it was almost dark. Rarity and Rainbow were trotting up an unlit street on the east side of town. Their plan was to lure the horde of lovers away from Twilight and then, if possible, lose them. As they trotted slowly between rows of unfamiliar houses it felt as if they were the ones who were lost. Then came the noises.

“Raaainboow...” It moaned. Both ponies stopped. The voice that had rose up behind them sounded nothing like the crowd they were running from. “Raaainbooow...” It moaned again.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” Rainbow demanded, twisting about.

“Whyyy....” The voice sounded distant and hollow, and seemed to be coming from different places every time they heard it. “Why didn’t you saaave meee....”

“Save who? What are you talking about?”

“Darling, I think we should get out of there,” Rarity whispered, huddling close to her companion. Together, they would have done just that if not for the shape they saw floating towards them out of the fog.

“You killed me, Rainbow...” It said, and they both turned towards the little dragon shape approaching slowly. It was motionless, and its feet didn’t touch the ground. Suddenly there was lightning and it cried out in a screech “YOU KILLED ME!”

“No, no! I-” Rainbow shot away, her departure marked by an immense rainboom that rattled windows and disintegrated the clouds around her. Normally, Rarity would have been angered at the thought of Rainbow deserting her, but her stunt had cleared off the fog and whatever had been haunting it.

A second later, the rain resumed with a splash and slapped Rarity back to attention. She stared out around her, unsure of what to do or where to go, until she realised Rainbow had just given away her position to every creature within a significant radius. Whatever was happening, she had to find her. Recalling what she could, she set off west in pursuit of the pegasus.

She had barely walked a block when she noticed something stashed behind a bush. It was the fragments of a globe, once striped in green and white. Inside was the gooey, steaming flesh of a vapour melon. It dawned on her that she had been fooled, that somepony had tried to trick Rainbow into fleeing for whatever insidious scheme. The fog made sense now, as did the apparition of Spike and its sudden disappearance. With renewed urgency, Rarity set off once more.

Not long after, she was again disrupted in her pursuit, this time by the crowd of ponies she had previously been trying to avoid. But without Rainbow, such an endeavour was pointless. Concerns forgotten, she ran up to Pinkie Pie, whom she spotted bouncing along at the head of the crowd.

“Pinkie Pie!” She called, pushing through the crowds edge until she reached the clearing at the front. Suspicion of the spicy smell surrounding them made her struggle past all the more.

“Oh heya Rarity!” She responded cheerfully.

“I have to talk to you!” She was shouting to be heard over the crowd’s constant roar.

“What about?” Pinkie Pie wasn’t slowing down, and neither was the crowd behind her. It was a little difficult to maintain eye contact with her incessant bounce.

“I think somepony’s after Rainbow! She just got scare off by some cloud-trick!”

“Huh, something like that happened this morning, I wonder who could it be?”

“I don’t know, but we have to find her before they strike again!”

“Okie Dokie Lokie! C’mon everypony, let’s ride!” The crowd once again bloomed with approving cheers and picked up speed to match Pinkie’s. Moving from a trot to a canter herself, Rarity felt a nervous about chasing after Rainbow with such a large following. However, a legion of fans seemed like a far worse fate than whatever had just beset them in the streets. After all, if the saboteur had their way, it might be bad for both Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

When Spike and Applejack saw Rainbow Dash streaking over the sky above them, cutting a trail through the rain, they quickly agreed they could use her help. Changing direction, they headed back west, towards the jungle where they had seen Rainbow’s trail disappear. They made good time, and soon found themselves surrounded by trees. It was at times drier and muddier here. It lacked the usual chirping of insects, the creatures of the forest driven into hiding by the rain.

The pair spread out, trekking through slippery and prickly terrains as they looked for signs of the pegasus.

“Rainbow! Where are you?” Called Applejack. The sound seemed to disappear quickly between the trees, as if gobbled up by some omnipresent spirit.

“Rainbow!” Spike called, not far off.

Suddenly something streaked out from the trees like a dart and tackled Applejack to the ground. It was Rainbow Dash, and her face looked desperate, eyes darting about rapidly.

“Applejack, it’s Spike! I think he’s haunting me!” In reply to this, Applejack just chuckled.

“Now where the hay didya get that in yer noggin?”

“There he is!” She cried, sticking a hoof out in the direction of Spike, who was scrambling to clear a log lying on the forest floor. She was about to jet off once more when Applejack adroitly grabbed her tail in her teeth. Rainbow stopped in mid-air and promptly fell into the mud with a splat.

“Let go! It’s me he wants!” She cried, trying to pry her tail out of AJ’s jaws with a hoof.

“What...?” Spike said, finally arriving at the group. “Oh, right, I’m not dead Rainbow.”

“You’re not?” Rainbow said, twisting to look at the dragon. The fear and panic drained out of her face as she saw that Spike was telling the truth. “But then what was all that with the moaning and the floating?”

“Uh... Look, I need you to attract as many as you can to the old watchtower on top of the hill. Think you can do that?” Spike said, wasting little time on explanations he could not give.

“Yeah, why?”

“There’s no time to explain, we just need to get everyone to higher ground.”

“Got it!” And so Rainbow flew off again, quickly clearing the canopy. AJ and Spike then nodded to each other and split, Spike following Rainbow uphill, while Applejack began to slide down, back towards town.

Not long after her departure, Applejack heard a thump, and a wave of fog engulfed her. She slowed to a squelching halt, wary of falling down obscured pits or tripping over unseen obstacles. She heard a squeak somewhere deeper in the fog and followed it, treading carefully through green bushes and trunks coloured dully by lichen. It wasn’t long before she heard the awkward stumbling of another presence in the forest.

She briefly noted the split vapour melon on the ground as she came ever closer to whoever it was. She was expecting some passing local whom she could warn towards higher ground, but instead she found Fluttershy.

“A ghost! I- I saw a ghost!” She began to mumble incoherently once Applejack came into sight. Not this again.

“T’ain’t no ghost, sugarcube, Spike’s alive.” Applejack delivered the line with calm reassurance. The fog was thinning out again and Applejack noticed Fluttershy had a few more vapour melons bundled into her saddlebags.

“He is?”

“I was talkin’ to him just a second ago.”

“Oh my goodness.” Something changed in Fluttershy’s expression at that moment, as if she had exchanged one kind of dread for another. Applejack didn’t have time to dissect the gesture, however.

“Sugarcube, I’m gonna need your help rounding up the citizens of Bridle Bay.”

“Huh?”

“We need to get as many to the old watchtower atop of that there hill as soon as we can.”

“Wha?”

“I know it’a a lot to take in right now, but we don’t have much time, now let’s go.”

“Bu-”

For the second time, a sonic rainboom spread it’s prismatic shockwave over Outpost island. Even through the thick clouds it shone its dancing light down on Bridle Bay. It came from a hill to the northwest, practically clinging to the mountain. At the sight of it, the crowd picked up speed, barely suppressing a full-on gallop.

It was tiring for Rarity to keep up, and she was always on guard lest she slip on the cobblestone road. More than that, she was always peering down side streets for glimpses of whoever might be Rainbow’s assailant. They had come to the west side of town, where the buildings were taller and more densely packed, so it became difficult to catch sight of much as the streets flashed by. The rain, now harder than ever, was driving down in buckets and hardly made anything easier.

They reached the edge of town, where the streets suddenly gave way to forest and muddy paths. The trees stood like soldiers staring down at the buildings they dwarfed. Despite this, it was the mud that made Rarity the most nervous- despite her already ruined mane- but she was soon forced past her concerns by the flood of eager Rainbow Dash admirers. Rarity was actually fortunate to be one of the first to walk this path, as every hoof or claw or paw placed on the path only made the dirt looser and stickier. Soon they were upon the old watchtower, with its vine-entwined stones and its dark, curving walls. Spike was waiting there for them, as was Rainbow Dash.

“Oh hey Spikey!” Pinkie called, prompting Rarity to snap her head around to see who she was talking to.

“Spikey Wikey! You’re alive!?” She said, virtually tackling him to the ground. “But, how?”

“It’s a long story,” he said, trying not to blush. “But right now we need to get everyone we can into this tower.”

“I’m on it!” Called Pinkie as she directed the crowd through an arched doorway set in the dark wall. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash was flying about, trying to do the same while also keeping her distance. Kept aloft by slow wing flaps, Rainbow looked exhausted by two consecutive rainbooms. She was looking out over the crowd, still marching up the hill without qualm or question. Something occurred to her, and she swooped down to Spike.

“Spike! We hid Twilight down in the town, she’ll have no idea!”

Alarm flashed across the dragon’s face. “Oh no! Go find her, I’ll stay here.”

“On it!” She was about to go when she noticed all the faces in the crowd watching her, ready to follow blindly. “Everypony listen to the dragon, got it?” She shouted somewhat aggressively. Most of them nodded submissively and those that didn’t were trapped too deep in the crowd. Rainbow shot away.

“Okay everyone, move along!” Spike said almost immediately, waving his claws in an orderly fashion. Meanwhile, Rarity and Pinkie Pie exchanged glances.

"Wait, where's Rainbow going?" Rarity asked as she and Pinkie watched her soar out of sight.

“And what about that meanie pants who’s after her?” Pinkie said.

“Oh my, you’re right. There’s no telling what they’ll try next.” Rarity switched her gaze between Spike and the direction Rainbow left in. “Though I’d hate to get my hooves muddy again, Spike does seem awfully in control of the situation.”

“Then let’s go!” And suddenly Pinkie Pie was away. Rarity had little choice but to follow.

Spike only noticed they were gone once Fluttershy and Applejack came running up to him. By then the crowd had fallen into a rhythm and had accepted their time apart from their idol. Pleased by the way they seemed to be lining themselves up throughout the musty ruin’s remaining rooms, Spike allowed himself to be distracted by his new company.

“Alright, we’ve gathered up as many townsfolk as we can find. It wasn’t many but I think that’s all of them.” Applejack informed him. Both Applejack and Fluttershy were panting from running around so much. “Where’d Rainbow go?”

“She went into town to go get Twilight... and I think Rarity and Pinkie went with her,” Spike said, looking about for the earth pony and the unicorn. “Actually, they’ve been gone quite a while,”

“Think somethin’ mighta happened to them?”

“I don’t know, we better go check.” Applejack nodded in approval and quickly asked some locals to handle the crowd for them. They set off back down the hill, unwilling to waste any more time.

For some reason, Twilight refused to let go of her book. Rainbow tried pleading, she tried arguing, she tried physically taking the book from her possession but Twilight’s magical grip was far too strong. Rainbow gave up. Twilight loved books, and if she was going to be weird about it, Rainbow was going to let her. But what really infuriated her was the unhurried trot she seemed unable to deviate from. Twilight seemed to obstinately deny any idea that there was a threat at large and she was too heavy for Rainbow to push or carry. After all, she had just performed two sonic rainbooms. Thus the walk away from the Town Hall library had been mind-numbingly slow.

“Come on, Twilight!” Rainbow almost screamed.

“After I finish this chapter,” the unicorn replied, polite and calm.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” Rainbow had Twilight by the shoulders and was shaking her back and forth, but Twilight seemed not to notice.

“Rainbow!” Suddenly Pinkie Pie and Rarity were running up the street towards her, coming from the direction of Town Hall. “We’ve been looking all over for you!”

“Yeah! You’ve got a bunch of weirdo stalkers who are under the effect of- wait, no...”

“The ghost from earlier was a trick! Somepony’s trying to get to you!”

“Yeah, that’s the one!” Pinkie agreed.

“Guys, help me get Twilight out of here, she’s being all weird.” Rainbow called back. The wind seemed to be picking up, sending the pages of Twilight’s book fluttering from chapter to chapter. Twilight was unfazed, apparently.

“Rainbow!” This time the call came from the other side, and they saw Applejack and Fluttershy running towards them with Spike riding on Applejack’s back.

“Applejack! Fluttershy! You guys gotta help me with Twilight!” All six of them gathered around Twilight as she continued her snails-pace journey.

“What’s wrong with her?” Applejack inquired. Meanwhile, a nearby light came on in a shop.

“I don’t know, it’s like she’s blank or something.”

“Stop!” And out of the shop stepped Twilight Sparkle. Everypony turned to look at her, then back to the clone standing among them.

“TWO Twilights?” Pinkie blurted out. Twilight ignored her, then with a quick flash from her horn dismissed the clone. It whisked away back to the mirror it came from with a trail of purple sparkles. “Oh, that’s better.”

“Now, what have you six been playing at?” Twilight began to stalk towards her circle of friends. Framed by the wind and the rain, it made for a formidable sight. “For five days you’ve been avoiding me, playing out your crazy schemes.” No-one seemed to be able to look Twilight in the eye.

“Uh, Twilight, this isn’t really the best time for this,” Spike spoke up.

“And you! I received a letter from Prince Celestia herself telling me you’d disappeared somewhere. What was that, a forgery?”

“No, Twilight, please, it’s hard to explain...” That was the moment when somepony else stepped out of the shop. It was the pegasus, Coco, and in the yellow light being thrown out her window, she stared at the foreigners hazily. She wobbled as if she had just woken up from something. From their half-open position, her eyes slowly widened into a look of awe. Fluttershy was looking back at her trembling, then suddenly screamed and bolted down the street. Everybody gave chase.

They were headed back towards Town Hall. Rainbow, as usual was the first to catch up to her. “It’s her! It’s her!” Fluttershy wailed.

“It’s who?” Rainbow asked, but she could get no coherency out of her. Applejack, then Pinkie Pie soon came up level with them, with Twilight and Rarity close behind. Coco was also giving chase, and catching up.

They ran around the side of Town Hall, when Fluttershy abruptly turned right, heading towards the beach. The ploy did little to deter their pursuer, who chased them out onto the sands, rippled by thousands of tiny impact craters. Still Fluttershy ran, out into the empty space on the coast in a panic, and still Coco followed with determination. The sea was at low tide, so there was a long way to run before they hit the water. Further down the beach, some kind of shark seemed to have run itself aground near the town. Beyond it laying a sandy plain filled with flotsam and jetsam half-sunk into the sand. Even beyond that lay the sea, which seemed to be rushing further out every second...

Twilight was the first to skid to a halt. Rarity, closest to her, was next. Spike called something to Applejack and Pinkie Pie and they too, stopped. Rainbow was last, slowing herself with a flurry of wing-beats. Fluttershy barreled onwards, apparently unaware of the dangers ahead while Coco barreled after her, unaware or uncaring. They were heading straight for the receding tide and the massive, rising shadow out on the distant ocean. It was so big, it’s head was turning amongst the clouds.

The Sea Serpent of the Neighchelles had returned.

“Is everypony OK?” Twilight asked, coughing up stubborn traces of salt. She faced the ground, allowing strings of water to drain from her mane while she tried to return to a steady breathing pattern. Seven replies came to her, though it sounded like more in the echoey chamber. All but one were begrudgingly affirmative, as if the answers weren’t as sure as they pretended to be.

Twilight turned towards the origin of the single, neutral, ‘eh...’. Rarity was crawling up out of the water, bemoaning her tossed and tangled mane and the salt clinging to her coat. On the bright side, her hooves were no longer as muddy as they once were. A smirk crossed Twilight’s face. For Rarity, there really was no excuses not to look her best.

At last everyone had landed themselves on the rocky ground and affirmed that they were all, for the most part, unharmed. Applejack was mourning the loss of her hat, though. Twilight let herself look around the cavern. It was made from lumpy, sometimes sharp, limestone, but most of the walls were not white. Instead they were a dark blueish colour, or vaguely green-brown or sometimes other, gaudier colours where scraps of living coral or seaweed attached themselves to the wall or roof. Directly beneath her hooves was a mat of barnacles, which poked somewhat painfully into the softer parts of her feet. These were intertidal creatures, she realised, suggesting that this cavern flooded periodically.

Before them was a calm pool of water, apparently unaffected by the chaos outside. It was large, perhaps twice times the size of Ponyville’s swimming hole and took up most of the cavern. The cavern’s roof sloped down to meet it at the far edge, before rising high enough to accumulate some shadows and curving back down to form a wall behind them. Within the pool, constellations of small, bright lights lit the cavern with a bluish glow. Some were moving, circling somewhat aimlessly around the water, but most were static. Behind them, curving organically into the wall, was a tunnel.

Twilight almost felt ready to collapse. Only adrenaline kept her legs from buckling underneath her. The memories she had of how they had arrived here were confused at best. This was unsurprising considering how confused the events themselves were. Step by step, she rewound her memories.

They had just risen up and crawled out of the end of a coral tunnel that started somewhere deep undersea. That much was easy, as the ascent had been relatively peaceful. Before that, the waters had been spinning and churning them with unpredictable power. Spike had been shouting 'deeper! deeper!' while Twilight struggled to weave a shield strong enough to withstand the mounting benthic pressure. Before that, Twilight had been standing in shock, staring into the distance as the wind blew rain and sea spray into her face. First it had been the serpent rising on the horizon, then the colossal wave that had blotted out sight of everything else.

Twilight rubbed her horn. It ached so bad she thought it was going to fall off.

As they gathered up, the attention fell upon the stranger in their group. Coco’s mane was a little darker now- apparently the seawater hadn’t been good for her hair dye. Twilight and her friends formed something of a wall around Fluttershy, while Coco stood somewhat apart, staring.

“Who are you?” Applejack asked accusingly.

“Oh my, I’m Coco... I-I’m her biggest fan.”

“She’s crazy!” Fluttershy blurted out suddenly. “She caused the weather accident in Cloudsdale!”

“Is this true?” Asked Twilight. The other five shared murmurs of incredulity amongst each other.

“Well, yes, but... I was just wantin’ to talk to her so badly!”

“She chased me all through Cloudsdale and broke the cloud machines!”

“I wasn’t meanin’ to! I just thought you might be hidin’ in one...”

Twilight lifted her face to her hoof with an audible smack. “Why in the world would you do that?”

“Because with Fluttershy bein’ so beautiful and graceful and, oh my, and with me bein’ so... not so... I was just wantin’ to talk...”

“Now listen here, yer-” Applejack was about to launch into a fierce tirade, but Twilight stopped her.

“Easy Applejack, there are more important things right now.” Twilight turned to Spike, who was standing right behind her. “Spike, think you can send a letter to Princess Celestia in here?”

“It won’t work here, but there’s a chamber up ahead where the smoke can escape.”

Twilight nodded and looked towards the tunnel. The eerie light of the cavern seemed unable to pierce its depths. Butterflies flittered about her stomach; there was no telling what awaited them down there.

“Alright then, let’s go. Coco, I want you to stay close to me at all times, got it?” Coco averted her eyes and kicked her hoof at the ground, but acquiesced. “Okay then girls, let’s go.”

The journey further into the caverns was relatively quiet. Spike and Twilight discussed things, but by some taciturn agreement neither raised their voices above a murmur. The other six were silent. A constant dripping noise permeated the tunnels along with other watery sounds that echoed from unknown places. The air was very still, humid and stiflingly hot. It smelled, unsurprisingly, of seawater. Against the hard ground, try as they might,the sounds of their hooves could not be muffled, making them somewhat uneasy. Combined with the strange shapes and shadows cast in the light of Twilight’s horn, the walk was very strange indeed.

“So Celestia’s letter was true all along, huh?” Twilight asked Spike, who was sitting in his usual position on her back. Coco was trotting obediently to her left, alternating between looking admonished and stealing glances at Fluttershy behind them.

“Uh-huh,” Spike casually pointed Twilight down another tunnel with a claw. It quickly opened up to a chamber with a large hole and a narrow path skirting its edge. The sound of splashing water could be heard deep down.

“In that case I suppose I owe you an apology. I kinda lost my temper back there.”

“Ah, no worries! I’m sorry I had to be so secretive about it.”

“Yeah, what was up with that? What have you been doing this whole time?” Twilight turned down another tunnel, this one with a little stream running down its side. Tiny fish darted about in the stream, wriggling frantically just to keep still in the current. It bothered Twilight that they were going down much more often than they were going up, though their path did seem more or less straight otherwise.

“I’ve been attending the Sea Serpent’s court,” Spike said with a bit of a smirk.

“You’ve been attending the Congregation Ichthyic? How’d it go? Did you take notes on the fish? On anything?” Twilight’s voice was filled with incredulity and excitement. She struggled somewhat to keep herself from drowning him in questions.

“Not well...” Spike’s voice was downcast.

There was a moment of silence as they entered another chamber, this one riddled with passageways, but only one of them large enough to pass through. Water flowing out of the smaller holes splashed into the chamber loudly, gathered in a rippling pool and flowed out over the entire floor of the exit path. Once they crossed the passage, they tread down it slowly, avoiding the slippery trails of seaweed that hung like hair from cracks in the floor.

“He’s crazy!” Spike started up again, “He wants to drown all the islands of the Neighchelles and he made me fake my own death!”

“What!? Oh...” The gears of Twilight’s mind, as if a missing member had finally found its place, suddenly began to spin. “That makes a lot of sense.”

“What sense? Why would anyone- horrible monster or otherwise- do such a thing?” Twilight had been thinking in terms of her friend’s behaviour throughout the last couple of days, but Rarity had obviously interpreted her statement otherwise. Twilight risked switching her focus from her footing to the unicorn, who was gingerly placing her hoof into the stream. She was furthest up the back, next to Rainbow who was using her wings to stabilise herself. Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy formed another cluster closer by.

“He... really hates ponies,” Spike said. “That was why Princess Celestia sent me instead of somepony else. She wanted me to stall him from making any threats until she had sorted out the weather business and could come talk to him personally.” Weather was one of Equestria’s biggest exports. The crisis caused by the weather incident was no laughing matter.

“But then why such secrecy? Why didn’t you tell anypony?” Rarity asked.

“Celestia didn’t want anybody to panic. Most don’t know the truth about the Sea Serpent, so while it was an option she decided to keep it like that. I could’ve told Twilight, but I thought she might find out about you guys.”

“Well, I- Wah!” Rarity never got to finish her sentence, for her hoof suddenly slid out from under her. It would have sent her crashing to the ground had Twilight’s magic not caught hold of her. Unfortunately, the shift in weight Twilight unconsciously made in catching her caused her hoof to also slip. She didn’t crash into the ground, but her attempt to balance herself ended in her sliding backwards down the slippery path on a mat of seaweed. Rarity did end up tumbling down the stream, and she brought everypony else down with her.

The walls rushed past in a blur. Below her, Twilight’s hooves slid and jumped over the slimy floor. Her balance didn’t last long; soon she was on her back, trying to see where she was going. Her horn-light revealed little but a long black tunnel that grew steeper and steeper. It did reveal to her the white, frothy patches that marked bumpy rocks rather than smooth seaweed. As best she could, Twilight avoided these, but that didn’t stop her from accruing a host of scratches that stung viciously in the salt. She screamed through the whole of the death-defying descent, as did everypony but Pinkie, who seemed to be having the time of her life. Finally Twilight saw light and the tunnel spat them out over another glowing lake. They landed in the turbulent patch where the waterfall met the surface, except the pegasi, who managed to untangle themselves and hover in the air above.

For the second time that day, Twilight found herself dredging herself up from a lake in a strange cavern after a terrifyingly chaotic descent. She hoped it wouldn’t become a pattern.

“Is everypony okay?” She asked again, somewhat less sure of herself this time. She was met with a number of groans of discomfort and one excited yelp. Fluttershy floated down in jolts, her feathers in complete disarray. Rainbow Dash and Coco were in similar, though better, conditions. Rainbow in particular seemed to be lamenting the loss of a few of her blue ones. The other ponies had equivalent injuries and their scratches, though shallow, seemed to be profuse with blood running down their wet backs. Spike, on the other claw, looked to be fine.

“Are you sure this is the right way, Spike?” Twilight groaned.

“It’s just up ahead,” He assured.

The cavern they were in was much larger than that in which they had first emerged. It was so large that the roof disappeared into darkness and was only visible by the bioluminescent lights shining there, some undeterminable distance away. It seemed to open up considerably further on and was dotted with a chain of little islands arranged like stepping stones. They appeared as dark splotches against the glowing water. It was almost as if they had discovered a secret sea complete with a secret starry sky.

The rock they stood on was smooth and flat, unlike the barnacle-encrusted tunnels they had gotten used to. It felt relieving to be able to lay one’s body against it and let one’s aches work themselves out. It was also nearly perfectly level with the water, so that whatever small rippled occurred on the lake would wash over the rock like tiny waves. This island, like the many others in the chamber, was perfectly round and it seemed impossible to have formed naturally.

The air was even hotter here than anywhere else they’d been, to the extent of the chamber being visibly misty. The space and soaring darkness also made the place seem supernaturally quiet, despite the roaring waterfalls pouring into the lake behind them.

“C’mon girls...” Twilight said, picking herself up and forcing herself to go on. This time they travelled without speaking at all, swimming or flying between the myriad of islands to get to the other end of the chamber. They travelled in three groups: Twilight, Coco and Spike at the front; Rainbow and Rarity in the middle; and Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy trailing at the rear. It was a slow affair. The exhaustion they had all been holding back was catching up with them. At last the reached the final island, which slept not far from the point where the cavern opened up. They could see now the cave was much larger than they had originally imagined, with the array of islands that diffused out around them barely covering any real distance.

“What do we do now?” Twilight asked. She could see no way to continue without swimming far further than they had been until then.

“This is it, we can send a letter now,” Spike said. Twilight let out a little ‘oh’ and summoned a scroll and quill.

“In that case...” She had barely gotten past the ‘Dear Princess Celestia,’ when the water in front of them started rising. It bulged upwards and darkened like some strange organic mutation. Alarmed, Twilight began writing faster and even finished the letter before a wave crashed into them and knocked the stationary out of her magical grasp. The paper began to sink and disintegrate while the quill floated away down the cavern. Twilight almost cursed at her misfortune, but when she saw what had made the wave she was speechless.

Twilight managed to find her hooves on solid ground once more while water drained off every side of the platform. It splashed down a metre or so into the receding lake. Before them, with barnacles encrusted on his skin and seaweed tangled in his beard, was the face of the Sea Serpent.

“Ponies,” He rumbled. The sound of his voice was deep and deafening. Twilight could feel the vibrations in the stone beneath her. His eyes, each bigger than any of ponies they gazed upon, were like glistening stones. The air escaping his nostrils was warm and smelled of fish, and came and went in long, slow breaths that felt like gales nonetheless. He looked towards Spike, an action that inspired instinctual, paralysing fear in the dragon. “Dragon,” said he, “Why have you brought these pests into my castle?”

“We were trying to find our way out!” Spike shouted as loud as he could. He had to, or else the Sea Serpent wouldn’t be able to hear them.

“Hmmm... Let them find their own way out. I’m sure the sharks would love to assist them,” What followed could only be interpreted as the serpent’s version of a chuckle, and involved shaking throughout the cavern and waves rising out of the depths.

“Excuse me, sir,” Twilight said, as politely as she could while retaining at the correct volume. The serpent fixed his paralysing gaze at her next, causing Twilight to stop mid-sentence.

“These creatures annoy me. Let us go, little dragon, away from their presence,” A claw appeared from the water, sending another large wave over the top of the platform. There was some panicked yelling as the ponies’ hooves lifted off the stone and dangled in the water. Meanwhile, the claw arched overhead, blocking out the starry ceiling, and reached towards Spike.

“No, wait!” Spike cried, paddling away from his impending fate. It was no use, as a finger had soon scooped him up delicately and begun lifting him into the air.

“Drop him!” Rainbow demanded, taking to the air and rushing after them. Even she could not prevent the rest of the claw folding over the dragon, sealing him inside. She threw herself against the scaly appendage, striking and pushing with her hooves in an attempt to free Spike. A simple flick of the claw was all it took for the serpent to send Rainbow flying off into the distance. The Sea Serpent began to recede back into the water, causing the lake to swirl perilously around him as he disappeared.

Twilight leapt after them, calling out Spike’s name. She dived into the water and let herself be swept under by the current. Everypony else looked on expectantly, as best they could without falling prey to the churning water themselves. The lake began to smooth, all that was left of the serpent being a column of bubbles eliminating itself against the surface of the lake. Suddenly there was a purple flash and Twilight appeared amongst them on the platform.

“Sharks...” She muttered before they could ask. Her voice was heavy with shame.

After the comforting and assurances were made to Twilight, it became apparent that the group was trapped. Rainbow was sent to scout around nearby for an exit, but she returned finding nothing- not above water anyway. It might have been possible for the pegasi to fly out the way they came in, but they still would have needed Twilight’s magic to leave through the pool they had originally come out of. After the storm and the trials they had faced within these caverns, none of their wings were fit for carrying anypony, either. And teleporting back through the labyrinth was only inviting disaster. So, like bugs in a bottle, they sat on their little island and waited. It was a moot point, however, as nopony was leaving before they got back Spike.

Twilight sat on the edge of the island, back legs dipped into the water, looking at the place where Spike had disappeared. She had her back to the other six, who were gathered at the island’s centre, more or less facing each other. Coco had been banished to sit nearest Twilight, while Rarity and Rainbow formed one and Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy formed another distinct clump. As before, Coco was trying to get a better look at Fluttershy while Fluttershy tried to hide behind Applejack.

“So what do we do now?” Applejack asked no-one in particular.

“Wanna play tic-tac-toe?” Pinkie asked. She tried scratching a grid onto the platform but had little success. It was probably for the best, since Pinkie was legendary at the game. “Hold on, almost got it...”

“I say we should try tempt the serpent back here with... whatever it is that sea serpents desire,” Rarity said.

“Are you kiddin’? Only way we’re ever gonna see big scaly again is if we go after him. What’re ya gonna use to tempt him anyway? Our tails like ya did with that fella in the everfree forest? If ya didn’t realise, he doesn’t seem to care much for personal grooming.”

“Well, I was simply voicing an opinion, you needn’t be so rude about it. But for what it matters, I have no intent of ruining my mane once again chasing after a creature that would likely kill us without even noticing!” Rarity punctuated her statement with a snobbish flick of her snout.

“Would y’all listen to yerself? Yer worryin’ about yer mane in a place like this?”

“Actually, I’m kinda with Rarity on this one,” Rainbow Dash said, pushing her chest forward defensively. “We have no idea where that guy went and it looks like it’s pretty easy to get lost around here.”

“You never know until you try!” Pinkie added before returning to her scratching.

“I could probably get some of the fish to help,” said Fluttershy.

“I’m, uh, goin’ with her on this one,” put in Coco, pointing towards her idol.

“I still say it would be safer and more effective if we stay here and make him come to us.”

“And ah say that wouldn’t stand a chance of working!”

“Would you guys stop it!” Twilight had twisted about and was glaring at the ponies arrayed before her. Rainbow Dash and Applejack, who had gotten to their hooves, promptly sat down. Rarity leaned back a little from her previously aggressive stance. Pinkie and Fluttershy both snapped to attention like they’d been slapped. Coco just looked surprised. “You’ve been at each other’s throats for so long you’ve forgotten that you’re meant to be friends! The only way we’re going to get out of this mess is if we work together.”

“...Mighty sorry, Twi. We’ve just been so high-strung lately...” Applejack mumbled. The others quickly followed suit, forming a little hum of apologies.

“That’s okay, but listen: Rarity’s right, we’re much better off dealing with the serpent in here,” Rarity might have stuck her tongue out at Applejack when she heard that, but settled for looking smug. “...but Applejack’s also right, in that we’ve no chance of getting him here unless we follow him.” Applejack’s and Rarity’s expressions suddenly switched places. “So here’s what we’re going to do...”

Twilight and Rarity gripped the shark with their magic. Fluttershy gripped the unicorns with her hooves. There was something about its dark, beady eyes that rendered them surprised when even Fluttershy managed to solicit the shark’s help. It dragged them almost vertically downwards while the bioluminescent dots around them sped past alarmingly fast. Unlike before, Twilight had cast a water-breathing spell which afforded pressure resistance too.

Twilight and Fluttershy both relished the chance to inspect the lights more closely. Their abundance was matched by their diversity. Jellyfish, angler fish and octopi lined with bluish dots all floated through the water in great numbers. Other, stranger things cast the lights too: colony of gelatinous things Twilight called pyrosomes and areas that just seemed to glow of their own power. There were even some alien creatures neither Twilight nor Fluttershy had the knowledge to identify. As they descended, however, the numbers of these light grew smaller and smaller, until at last they were traveling through inky darkness.

After they had been descending through pitch black for some time, the shark began to turn. It began to move horizontal and, by the faint light cast by magic, they began to see the hints of a tunnel around them. There were hints of other things too, but those are best left unmentioned. Every now and then, Rarity left behind a blue-white beacon to guide their way back.

At long last they began to turn upwards and the shark slowed down. By the light of their magic, the ponies could see the scaly side of the serpent. When it seemed they were near the surface, Twilight and Rarity both let go. The floated up to the air, but remained suffocated in shadow.

“...and yet you still saved the creatures of the islands...?” They heard the serpent grumble.

“I couldn’t let them drown!” came another voice. It was undoubtably Spike. The girls might have exchanged excited looks, but all they knew was that they felt each other twisting in the water.

“Then I will simply try again.” the serpent stated flatly, sending agitated rippled through the water even so. Twilight lit her horn, bathing the cavern in a purple glow. They could still see nothing but darkness in the cavern, but it managed to create a pool of purple light around them and illuminated the serpent. The serpent held Spike in his claw before his eyes, as one might hold a fruit for inspection. Nevertheless, Spike seemed minuscule in comparison to his organic platform. The serpent seemed not to notice them.

“Hey, ugly!” Twilight called out. “I think you’re stupid!”

“And beards are so last season!” Added Rarity.

“And I, um, think you’re a meanie?” Fluttershy whimpered feebly.

Slowly, the Sea Serpent turned its head and regarded the creatures floating in a pool of purple light. Spike stumbled to the edge of the motionless claw, eager to see his friends but worried at how their plan was playing out. “And why should I care about the opinions of ponies?” The serpent asked. Contempt oozed out of every word.

Twilight was at a loss; this was not the reaction she’d been expecting. Typically, sea serpent were dangerously proud creatures, so damaging their ego was a good way to goad them. She looked to her friends for support, but they seemed just as lost as she.

“Because... We’re the elements of harmony?” Twilight shouted.

“...you?” The serpent asked. Though his face showed little in the way of expression, his voice spoke of surprise and disbelief.

“That’s correct! So you better take us seriously!” Twilight yelled back.

“You defeated Nightmare Moon?”

“You better believe it, buddy!”

“Then I will DESTROY YOU!!” The Sea Serpent roared so loud it shook rocks loose from the ceiling. He rose from the water and Twilight had just enough time to see him close his fist around Spike before he bore down upon them. His jaw, lined with yellowed but extremely sharp teeth came crashing down just as they teleported away with a flash and an electric crackle.

Again and again, Twilight and her friends vanished before the serpent could touch them. They popped in and out of space along the route they had set. Every swipe of claw and every gnash of teeth saw them disappear once more like an overly-nimble insect. The serpent swam faster and faster, tearing apart his own cavern to reach the evasive ponies before them. But Twilight simply teleported further and further away each time. It was taking its toll on her, though, and she almost missed the point when they had to begin teleporting towards the surface.

Up upon the platform, where Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Coco waited anxiously, they could feel the world start to rumble. The water began writhing like it was in pain and it took them every effort just to stay on solid ground. Finally they saw the water bulge, slowly at first then explosively as the head of the serpent broke free into the air. Trails of mist and surging currents washed over his body as somewhere, high above him, a purple star twice flashed briefly into existence. It flashed again next to them, leaving a heaving Twilight, and two ponies clinging to her like nothing could make them let go, behind.

The serpent settled back into the water and stared at the creatures before him. Unlike his steady expression from before, the rage, the uncontrollable fury burned unmistakably in his features.

Twilight and her companions retreated back along the island chain but the four who had previously stayed scattered to the sides. The pegasi angled upwards while the earth ponies moved between the platforms, clearing the gaps between them in a single bound. All four of them shouted their own particular brand of insult or taunt. The serpent, caught between five different targets, raised his claws out of the water while filling the air with another ear-splitting roar.

First, he swept his empty claw down towards Pinkie Pie. She swerved and dived into the water, barely escaping the strike that shattered a platform like it was made of glass. Pinkie emerged from the water some distance away, but the Sea Serpent seemed not to notice. He had already switched targets and was swinging his claw upwards, where Coco buzzed through the air.

While Coco struggled to avoid the serpent’s attempts to swat her, Rainbow Dash actively sought out the other claw. It was curled into a tight ball, and was swinging in time with the serpent’s body. Within it, Rainbow could faintly hear the Spike’s frightened wails, but it was mostly lost among the roars and booms of the serpent and his motions. She struck it like a lightning bolt, stabbing with her hooves again and again against the scales until they were forced to yield. She couldn’t get the fist to open, but she did attract the serpent’s singular attention. The fist turned and tried to backslap her, but every time it did, Rainbow looped out of the way with ease.

The serpent’s head flicked towards her, creating hurricanes within the cavern. He lunged forward, trying to snap his jaws around her. Rainbow accelerated towards the wall, then swooped away to the side. Propelled by his blind rage, the serpent smashed into the rock. Cracks raced along the wall with the sound of thunder. In certain places, water burst forth and boulders showered down. Rainbow twisted and twirled to avoid the perils of this storm, but her battered wings betrayed her. A jagged chunk of rock shot out from the miasma of dust and vapour, clipping her wings and sending her spiraling downwards. Below, Applejack galloped and leapt to try catch her.

The Sea Serpent pulled away from the wall. His eyes narrowed onto the three ponies fleeing from the destruction further down the chamber. Sinking into the water with surprising calm, he launched himself forward like a striking viper. His body arched through the air before crashing into the narrow corridor and its path of islands. The platforms crumbled under his weight. He tore a gash into the water as he lurched forward, sending white screens of it flying up against the cavern walls on either side. Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy all screamed and galloped forwards harder, knowing that they were inevitably trapped.

Suddenly Coco appeared around the serpent's side, flying fast alongside the creature’s face. She ignored the thrashing rope-like body behind her and banked sideways, crying out Fluttershy’s name with fear. She dived directly into his eye, digging all four hooves into its gooey, glistening surface.

The Sea Serpent reared backwards, crying out in pain and anger. His charge came to a halt and he brought his claw up to protect the delicate organ. Spike, a tiny purple dot compared to the writhing monster, sailed through the air as the claw finally released him. Dazed, but not defeated, Coco shot forth and scooped him up before he hit the water. She swooped down and deposited him next to Twilight, who had stopped to watch in awe while the sea erupted around her.

“Spike! Spike, are you alright?” She asked, as soon as she noticed him. Spike moaned. He looked sick and barely conscious, but definitely alive. A letter appeared in the air beside Twilight, protected by a sphere of purple light. “Spike, I need you to send this letter, then we need to hide.”

Spike’s eyes opened a wedge, as if fighting against something determined to keep them shut. Twilight levitated the scroll in front of his mouth. Spike drew a deep breath and shot a little ember of green flame at the paper. It caught, and soon the fire was eating its way up the curled-up missive. Smoke gathered within the magical protective sphere before Twilight dismissed the spell. The glittering smog shot up towards the sparkling darkness and was soon lost from view.

“Thank Celestia,” Twilight whispered, pulling Spike into a hug.

Meanwhile Coco had been distracting the Sea Serpent. The was a boom followed by a scream as the monster slapped a claw against a wall and Coco grappled with the air to try and control her flight. An orb shot directly upwards from Twilight’s horn, exploding in mid-air and painting the cavern purple. It escaped the attention of no-one, and all eyes briefly fixed upon Twilight. In that brief moment she and those around her vanished once again. Likewise, the pegasi and earth ponies still in the cavern fled as silently as they could. For a time it seemed like the Sea serpent was alone in his castle, surrounded only by the sounds of crashing water and the echoes of his battle.

Rainbow and Applejack hung on the edge of one of the last remaining islands. They barely let their heads breach the water, breathing steadily through their nostrils. One of Rainbow’s wings beat to keep her steady in the water while the other was folded gingerly against her back. Deeper in the cavern they could hear the serpent swishing through the water, searching for his vanished prey. They could feel it to, as every movement sent undulations that pushed them up and down the island’s flat side.

Rainbow pointed to the frothing water nearby, where a newly-formed waterfall terminated. It was directly below the site where Rainbow had led the serpent against his own castle. Applejack nodded in understanding and the two began to swim towards it as quietly as they could. The waterfall could well hide them from both sight and hearing, and the rougher wall might prove a place to pull themselves from the water.

stroke by stroke they swam, passing between islands, some chipped or completely shattered, that rose like a forest from the water. Between the columns, and when the waves allowed, they could see the sea serpent gliding through the water like a ship. The sight of him made them move neither faster nor slower, their fear of attracting attention and their fear of being in the open balancing each other perfectly. At last they reached the curtain of water, where the roaring splatter of the waterfall masked any noise they made. They found a shelf of rock and pulled themselves onto it, uncaring that the waves drenched it periodically.

“How long d’ya think it’ll be?” Applejack dared to ask.

“I don’t know, Canterlot is pretty far away,” Rainbow replied.

They could see the serpent if they looked carefully. He was scanning the walls, his gaze crawling up and down the side of the cavern, peeking into holes and crevices. Luckily he started across the lake from them, nearer where Pinkie Pie had last been.

“Hey guys! Were ya talking about me?” Pinkie asked, somehow suddenly joining them on the shelf.

“Pinkie, keep it down!” Rainbow hissed angrily.

“Oops, sorry,” Pinkie whispered.

The three ponies looked on anxiously. When they dared, they discussed different hiding places, but usually ended up agreeing that they should stay where they were. The Serpent methodically made his way around the chamber, growing closer to finding them with every second. When he was about halfway across the chamber they slipped back into the water and started to swim. The waterfalls had restored the water level to equal with the height of the platforms, but it still rose and fell unpredictably.

As they were crossing the gulf of destruction that lay in the centre of the cavern, a small fluorescent fish began to dart around them. Pinkie Pie watched it, entranced, as it wove in between their legs. Suddenly it shot out towards the Sea Serpent faster than the eye could see. Pinkie could trace the trail of rippling circles it left behind, as if an invisible stone had been skipping across the water. Pinkie had to suppress the urge to call out to it as she watched it go.

Not long after, the Sea Serpent began to turn. It wasn’t hard for him to spot the hot pink, orange and rainbow-coloured mares against the cool bluish water. As they watched him swivel, the three ponies froze in the vain hope he might miss them, but then he started moving towards them, slowly and with purpose.

“Run!” Rainbow yelped, though perhaps she should have cried ‘swim!’, because that was what they did. They turned away from the serpent and began flailing down the corridor, panic rising in their chests. A malicious grin spread across the serpent’s face, revealing his sharp, yellow teeth. He picked up speed, crossing the chamber and bearing down upon the three in what felt like seconds. The ponies flung their legs through the water, but they were ill-equipped for aquatic travel and they moved painfully slow. They could feel, though they dared not to look, the serpent right behind them when...

“CEASE!” A voice echoed through the chamber. The serpent spun and looked behind him, froze for a second, then slowly sank into the water.

“Princess...” He said. Rainbow, Pinkie and Applejack turned, but they were unable to see much more than the Sea Serpent’s tangled mane. “...You’ve returned...”

“That we have, Magnet,” Said the princess, loudly but regally. The three in the water began to make their way around the side of the serpent, so they might be able to see what was happening. “We are aware some of our subjects are nearby?”

“The elements of harmony...” The serpent said. Finally they caught a glimpse of the alicorn hovering above the water. It was not Celestia, as they had expected, but Luna with her dark blue coat and elegant starry mane. “...those who sealed you away a thousand years ago.”

Luna’s eyes flicked to the trio in the water, then towards Twilight and the final two elements as they teleported into view. Above, Coco glided down from her hiding place and fluttered to a stop next to them. Applejack soon swam up and joined too, along with Pinkie and Rainbow.

“These are not the ponies that sealed us away, Magnet, these are the ponies that freed us.” Her words reverberated with the Royal Canterlot Voice, making addressing the gigantic creature a simple matter.

“This cannot be! The prophecy... Is this a trick? You seem different, princess, are you feeling yourself?” There was anger seeping into his voice, but also concern.

“Peace. We feel more like ourself than we have in a thousand years,” Luna replied, wearing a stern expression. Conversely, Magnet’s face was contorting ever more into rage.

“No! These elements have affected your mind! They must be destroyed!” He turned upon the eight, rising from the water and growling a low, foreboding growl. Ice ran through all their veins.

“We said CEASE! WE COMMAND YOU!”

“No, princess, I do this for you, you shall see...” Magnet drew back his head and slowly widened his maw.

With blinding speed, Luna dived down past the serpent to meet the eight in the lake. Magnet lunged, but his teeth met with a sparkling blue shield. He roared and tried again, but succeeded only in making dull thunks.

“Come hither quickly, my little ponies,” Luna said, wings spread and forelegs outstretched. One by one she held them in her magic, raising them from the water as the serpent’s attacks grew more and more furious. They each shook themselves off once they were fully in the air, glad to finally be dry and, presumably, safe. Suddenly the shield vanished and Magnet’s claw came slashing down, but all that happened was a mighty, resounding splash.

Luna was already rocketing vertically through the air, cutting it like a needle. She held her subjects in a trail behind her that followed her every move exactly. Below they saw the serpent writhing like he never had before and rising impossibly towards them, defying all gravity. The dome of stars seemed to flatten out as they approached and then winked out existence as chunks of roof obstructed their view. Suddenly, they went altogether and Luna’s path acquired twists and unpredictable turns. They could see nothing, but they could feel the air tearing past blisteringly and they could hear the rumbling serpent below like an earthquake.

Suddenly there was a pop and light returned to them, Still they rose, and below they could see the Black Atoll and the ocean filled with ships’ lights while the storm raged threateningly about them. Luna halted in the air, allowing the cold altitude to settle in compared to the relative sauna in Magnet’s castle. Luna and those she supported looked down onto the ocean below them. As they watched, the leviathan serpent broke from the water, sending waves outwards to pummel the ships. To their surprise, the ships began to turn towards the raging monster, and a few cannon blasts ringing out could be heard, even so far away.

“What is this madness? Why do they not retreat?” Luna asked.

“My bad,” Pinkie said sheepishly.

“Then we must stop them!”

Luna plummeted back towards the sea, she swooped between the ships, dropping somepony off on each of them. On the seventh and last ship, she landed herself with Twilight and Spike.

“Stop this madness! Turn this ship around!” Luna commanded, but her voice went unnoticed. All around them ponies, zebras and griffons dashed about, pulling on ropes and carrying things. Amidst the chaos and the noise could be seen a few rainbow banners and could be smelt a familiar, spicy smell. “Turn about! We command you! You stand not a chance against the serpent, We implore you, turn!” But her words went unheeded.

One ship did stop in a sense: Rainbow’s ship. From it could be heard a cry of joy and all activity otherwise ceased. But the winds of the storm were powerful and the currents were dragging them towards the monster. Up ahead, Magnet slithered upwards, readying his claws to obliterate the oncoming boats. Every gargantuan flex of his muscles sent small tsunamis crashing over the attackers. Most of the ships already had some damage, from the storm or otherwise; broken masts, holes in the hull and even small fires counted among the fleet’s injuries.

“I have no choice...” Twilight heard Luna utter beneath her breath. She closed her eyes and made her horn glow.

The sea went calm. The storm lessened to a drizzle, then stopped. The air filled with a thick mist that faintly smelled of musty decay. Even the sea serpent Magnet paused in his rage. All seven boats sat still in the water, though none could see another through the fog.

A bell rang, clear and strangely beautiful, like ripples over a still pond. Something could be heard parting the water. There were whispers, or perhaps there were not, of strange words that nopony recognised, or perhaps they did but didn’t want to. Leaning out from the ship’s railing, Twilight thought she saw something sliding past. The sight sent a shiver own her spine. Meanwhile, Luna stayed perfectly still and perfectly calm, eyes closed and face blank.

“No...” They could hear Magnet say on the other side of the mist. “Princess, please no. I’m sorry I doubted you, please forgive-” and suddenly there was silence. The storm resumed. It was night, Twilight realised- it had been difficult to tell after so long underground- and like many a night it was dark and stormy.

“He was a friend of mine, once,” Luna explained once all the ships had been herded back to shore. Twilight and her friends were sitting in Town Hall, which was wet but surprisingly still standing. Much of the town had been dragged out to sea by the serpent’s gargantuan waves. Thanks to Spike, the townsfolk survived mostly unharmed, but were mourning the loss of their homes and businesses. “During the dark times. The sea is a very dark place, and the moon has always held more sway over it than the sun. He was smaller then, and not so full of anger. I suspect he has become too lost in the past. I will see him again, but I doubt you will.”

“Wow, I mean thank you, princess,” Twilight said, looking up at the alicorn. She, like her friends, was bent over the conference room's wet table. It was the least they could do not to fall asleep. “Thank you for rescuing us,”

“It was the least I could do, Twilight. I understand you came to this island to recuperate, correct?”

Twilight chuckled. “Actually I wanted to study the Sea Itch, but things sort of got out of hoof.”

“Either way, you must be tired. I will carry you back to your lodgings, I insist.”

“I think we would all like that very much,”

Author's Note

That took a while

Edits
-formatting
-chapterfied epilogue
-spelling etc.

Epilogue

Epilogue
-OR-
Day 7

“So let me be gettin’ this straight. You went to tha mainland, caused an international weather crisis, came back, still got to meetin’ your idol, saved her life from tha legendary serpent of tha isles, met tha princess and made it out alive?” High Stakes said incredulously to her friend, Coco.

“Oh my yes, it was mighty excitin’,” Coco replied.

“Well did you get to talk wit’ her?”

“Oh my, yes, she was everythin’ I exoected her to be.”

“And meanwhile, I get stuck housin’ tha whole o’ Bridle Bay ‘cause my lodges were tha only ones not knock flat by that wave.” High Stakes gestured around her, where hundreds of townsfolk milled about living their various lives.

“How did your lodge survive, anyway?”

“Gotta live the high life, baby! Gotta be takin’ tha risks!” High Stakes smirked.

“So, sheer luck then?”

“You be keepin’ my cousin outta this! He is not takin’ credit for another of my wonderfully planned successes!” The two pegasi shared a laugh at that.

“Too bad those ‘questris had to leave so soon...” Coco said to break the pause that followed.

“Wait, they’re gone? Coco, why didn’t you tell me? I never got tha chance to be tellin’ miss Applejack that I found her hat!”

The End
-OR-
And they lived happily ever after (as far as I know)

Author's Note

Edits:
-Chapterfied
-tweaked titles