The strange pony.

Howl! Rainbow Dash started awake, then groaned as she looked at the clock.

"It's three in the morning!" She quietly grumbled. The Everfree had been acting strangely since the start of the week. Strange shadows following you around, quick whispers you think that you hear and nopony's there. And now the Timberwolves were howling for the third night in a row. They'd been acting really strange this year. She wondered why. Then she thought of what had happened yesterday. Twilight suggested that Rainbow and the other four should sleep over at the old ruins - the castle of the Sisters, and they all agreed. And so the six friends were at the Sister's castle library, trying to find a book that explained what was happening.

**Howl!* "Another one. Why don't those wolves quit it?!" Rainbow shouted the last part, while throwing a book she was skimming towards the floor. Twilight caught it.*

"I know. This howlin' ain't letting me sleep a wink." Applejack had said, yawning at another book. "And those shadows give me the willies."

"The only thing that I can think of is that a year ago after those horrible plants of Discords' came, the same thing happened. But why then? Why now?" Twilight had asked.

"Once upon a time, a lone pony controlled everything in the Everfree. No-pony knows her name, but after she died, her ghost came back to battle those Timberwolves, and keeping every pony safe by howling right back at them. Ooooh."

"Pinkie, where did you find that?! Get out of the fantasy section and help us."

"Okie dokie lokie, Twilight."

That story stuck in her head. Rainbow heard the wind, she had started to call it, howl back at the Timberwolves'. She got out of bed, curious. She was almost alone, as she was in her own wing.

"Is it true?" She quietly asked sleeping Tank. He snored. She boldly (or was it foolishly?) got up and flung her wings out dramatically, in a way that Rarity would be proud of. She was about to leap out of her window when she heard another Howl! She flinched. She built up courage (or again, foolishness?) and leaped out of the window, towards the Everfree. Then the responding Howl! launched her back a bit. It sounded like more of a wind howl then a Timberwolf cry. As she adjusted her direction, she wondered aloud "What or who make such a loud sound if it wasn't just the wind? Who IS this pony?" She spotted a clearing close to where she thought that the sound was. She slowed and stopped on top of a tree, and marveled at what she saw. A pony wearing a black cloak was making a wind circle around her in a dust devil of some sort. Then the Timberwolves Howled at the pony. The dust devil type thing howled back. "What - the - heck?" Rainbow whispered in awe. The the moon was high up the sky, and the Timberwolves backed off, giving one more Howl! before running in fear(?) of the terrifying HOWL! that was given in response. The pony sagged from, what Rainbow thought, the stress of howling what Rainbow thought all night, and almost fainted after they left. The pony recovered and walked slowly into the forest. Rainbow decided to follow the strange pony.

"Is it really true?" Rainbow whispered. She flitted from tree to tree. The pony stopped a bit away from the clearing, and then took the cloak's hood off. Rainbow studied the - mare! She looked too solid to be a ghost. She was tan all over, Rainbow noticed, even her mane was tan, and when she was howling earlier it looked like the Princesses, although now it was extremely flat against her, but Rainbow assumed that it was because she was working so hard, probably all night. Her cloak was covering her cutie mark. She seemed familiar. Why? The mare flowed through the Everfree like nothing was there. "How?" Rainbow whispered. Rainbow followed her all night long, across the forest, always keeping out of sight and hearing. The mare stopped in sight of Zecora's hut. Why there? Rainbow slumped in exhaustion on a tree. Stallion, was she tired! She was so tired that she fell out of the tree. She pictured what would have happened if she wasn't so tired.

Rainbow lightly touched down behind the mare. The mare turned around, and was startled by Rainbow. The mare's green eyes widened with surprise. Rainbow gawked at the mare. Something prodded her in the back of her mind. Why does she look familiar? The mare backed away slowly from Rainbow. Rainbow was about to assure her that she was a friend, but her hooves were stuck. She looked down, and saw that the ground was crawling up her legs! She looked up at the mare to plead that she help, when she saw that the mare was concentrating on what was happening, staring at its progress, not backing up anymore. SHE was the one doing this. The ground stopped at her flank. The mare sat down. She was gasping.

"Did he send you?" The mare asked. Rainbow sensed a mixture of admiration and fear, when she said 'he'. How that was possible or how she sensed it, she didn't know. She turned her mind to the question.

"Who?" Rainbow asked.

"Never mind." The mare said, relieved. She looked Rainbow up and down.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm Rainbow Dash, and I'm sorry that I startled you, but that was AWESOME, what you did there!" Rainbow replied, exited.

"How much of that did you see?" She asked, suspicious.

"Just the last few howls. How did you do that?!" Rainbow asked in reply.

"Good." The mare replied. The ground crumbled away. The mare whispered to herself, almost sounding like multiple voices coming from her mouth. Rainbow strained to hear the whisper. The mare then turned to walk away, but then Rainbow stopped her.

"Can I help you?" Rainbow asked the mare. The mare weakly chuckled.

"Nothing you could help with." She sighed. Rainbow couldn't tell if she was annoyed, or just tired. "Good bye now." She walked towards the edge of the clearing. Wait, is this a dream, or a memory? She asked herself. Rainbow fell into a restless sleep, trying to find out where she had seen the mare before.

Earlier........

Zecora was making up a something to help her sleep. That last howl had frightened her. They had never been that loud before. She hoped that her friend was ok. There was a knock at her door. She opened it to find her friend and the one called Rainbow on her back, fast asleep.

"Ah, hello, my friend. Come in, you must. It looks like the rainbow has found the dust." Zecora smiled. She ushered the two in. Rainbow slid off of the mare's back, and then she set her cloak down onto the hook. "Are you two all right? You've never come here at this time of night." Zecora stated. The two talked about what had happened that night. "It has happened again? You should know that this one is persistent, my friend. Please, sit, come spend the night here. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you, my dear." Zecora said.

"I know, but I can't risk them finding me. I can't go back." The mare stared off out the window. They argued some more, and eventually Zecora won. The mare slumped in restless sleep. Zecora sighed. When will she stop? She thought, more or less.

That morning........

The sun greeted the three in the morning. The mare and Zecora got up at first light. Zecora wave goodbye to her. Rainbow woke to the wonderful smells of breakfast. Wait a minute. This isn't my house. Then everything came back to her. Zecora walked in and saw Rainbow. "Ah, good. You are awake. Would you like a little cake?" Zecora was carrying a plate of pancakes. Rainbow's mouth watered.

"Yes!" Rainbow snatched the pancakes and stuffed one after another. Zecora walked back into her kitchen. Rainbow noticed the cloak was on the hook. The distinctive symbol was on the clasp, a foaming beaker. How she knew that, she didn't know. "Where's the pony that was howling last night?" Rainbow asked between gulps.

"I do not know. If I did, I would have told you so." Zecora smiled, pointing outside. Rainbow dashed outside. She. Looked for the mare. She found the clearing she'd found last night. The mare was there. But before she could get to her, she heard a Whoosh! A dart shot into the mare. She fainted. Rainbow looked at where the dart had come from. Two stallions decked in green came out of the bushes. Rainbow didn't even think, she just acted as she scooped up the mare (she was so light!) and flew across the forest, towards the Sister's Castle. The stallions tried to follow, but they were earth ponies and soon got lost in the forest. As Rainbow flew across the Everfree to the Sister's castle, she wondered who this pony was, and why she'd take her to Zecora, of all ponies. How much did Zecora know?