The windigo could feel the pull of one of its kin, coming closer. But it wasn't right, something was really wrong with its brother.

Rainbow Dash's head shot up, her wings flared and she was gazing sightlessly at the roof of the train car. She could see the storm ahead, she could practically taste the lightning boiling inside it. She shook herself, trying to correct her senses.

"What's the matter, Dash?" Twilight and her mate were nearby, the changeling still a little bit of a mystery to Rainbow Dash. She liked him as a friend but didn't even really know him enough for it to feel right.

"I keep getting mixed up. I think I can feel things, like the storm, weather… but it comes through all wrong. Before, I thought I could taste lightning… lightning shouldn't have a taste!" Rainbow clopped a hoof on the floor.

"Synesthesia." Twilight exclaimed happily, her nerd showing. "The introduction of the windigo to you has probably given you some new senses and your brain doesn't know how to classify them." Twilight saw the completely lost look on the pegasus' face and grinned wider. "You don't know how the new information should be sorted and you are trying to slot it into what you already know."

This helped a little, Dash could almost follow the idea. "So this sinnysia-."

"Synesthesia," Twilight corrected.

"Yeah, that. It will go away?" Rainbow Dash felt that pull again and looked up, staring through the roof again.

"It should, as your brain becomes used to the new input it will start to classify them. Then you will be able to really start leaning on them to find what they can do." Twilight was pulling out some paper to start writing on, taking notes on her friend's behavior.

Gel got up and stepped over to Rainbow Dash, the mare barely noticing his presence, so focused was she on the sky over the city ahead. The changeling settled down again. "Rainbow, you are probably going to have a fight ahead."

The words startled Dash and she looked to the apparently teleporting, to her, changeling. "Uh, yeah, I guess."

"Sit down and close your eyes, they are no use." Gel had experience with this, with managing all kinds of odd senses, odd for regular ponies. At the odd look from the pegasus he grinned. "Just do it, alright? It can't hurt and there is nopony who will laugh at you."

"Alright…" Rainbow curled up again, folding her legs and wings. She wasn't ready for it when the changeling flowed over her and pinned her in place.

"Relax, this is to block out other things. I won't squeeze or play with you, I promise." Gel's words got the pegasus to stop struggling, at least. "Now, there are no sounds in here, nothing to look at, feelings are negligible-."

"You are tight." Rainbow couldn't help herself, she had to fill the void with words.

"I am, but I am uniformly tight. You can ignore that. There is nothing in your mouth to taste and not a scent will pass your nose. Now feel, reach with that new feeling and tell me what you can, of the world around us." Gel's voice was soft in Dash's ears, but thanks to the silence he was imposing it was impossible to get away from.

"The clouds feel angry, I can taste-." Rainbow was starting to feel but got cut off.

"They don't taste, you are tasting nothing. Use other words, make some up if you need to."

Rainbow Dash inhaled deeply, feeling for the clouds again. "Squishy, they are sludgy and slow." She reached further. "The rain in them is fat, expectant, it wants to fall." And she could feel it. It wasn't any of her senses that she normally relied on, Gel was quite effectively keeping those under wraps. But she could feel. "Windigo. He is making the clouds… oogly, squidgy. He burns with anger, he can see me and is… confused." When Rainbow opened her eyes Gel was not on her, she realized the sounds of the train had returned at some point, that smell and touch had changed, but she hadn't noticed it she had been so focused.

Gel beamed at the pegasus. "It's a start, we can do this more if it will help, and I promise to be a gentlestallion." The offer got a snort from Rainbow Dash.

"This is pretty awesome…" Rainbow reached for that new information, finding it still there and now a little more distinct from her other senses. There was still bleed-over, but she was slowly growing more accustomed. "So what is the plan?"

"The plan, Rainbow Dash, is that we find out what these creatures want and see about giving it to them." Princess Celestia weighed in on the new conversation. "But I fear they will want-."

"Anger, hatred." Rainbow cut the alicorn off, her eyes unfocused. Then she realized what she had done and looked shocked at herself. "Err, I mean, sorry Your Highness!"

Celestia shook her head. "No, your insight into this is valued, so they feed like changelings?" The blue pegasus tilted her head and then nodded. "Then we must direct them to other creatures to feed on, such emotions are not native to Equestria."

"It's pushing out, pushing its power into ponies… the one in the Crystal Empire wasn't this strong…" Rainbow's eyes were wide and staring in the direction of Canterlot, just ahead.

"Then we must guard ourselves against it." Celestia began to channel power into her horn, emotional magics were never good to play with, they had a tendency to completely change a pony. She reached slowly to the surrounding ponies, finding a few oddities. Gel, Twisty, and the few of her guard who were changelings were nearly impossible to access, their emotions were cast in stone within, she hoped they would prove naturally resistant to the windigo. Rainbow Dash was something else, her emotions seethed and raged, amazing considering how calm she looked. But every other pony aboard wore their emotions like any other pony.

Twilight watched her teacher and peer weaving magic, strong magic. She felt it delve into her and wrap a cocoon around her feelings, meshing them and locking them in a constant state. It was both surprising and not. Twilight couldn't actually feel surprise thanks to that same cocoon, she couldn't feel anything except what she had felt just at the moment it was woven.

Gel was first to comment. "What… what just happened? I can't feel anypony!" He looked quickly to Twilight, the changeling looking lost until a wing folded around him. "Twilight?"

"Gel, Gel it is me, relax, what's wrong?" Twilight was rubbing the changeling's cheek with a hoof, her snout inches from him.

"I… I can see, but everything feels wrong, you feel wrong and… what happened?" Gel was terrified, it was like the color had just drained from everypony in the room. Well, except Twisty and two of Celestia's guards.

Princess Celestia was a little surprised at the reaction from the changeling. "I sealed everypony's emotions, it should afford us all protection from the windigo."

Gel was never so aware of how much he had relied on that sense before, to identify and quantify those around him. It wasn't until Twisty came to his side he was able to stop trembling. "You have cut off one of his senses, it seems." The queen put a leg over the goo-changeling's withers. "I hope this doesn't take too long to fix."

Twilight had pressed her snout against Gel, whispering words of reassurance to the stallion. They seemed to work, between them and her presence the former drone seemed to regain some of his faculties.

"I need to get out, I need to fly!" Rainbow Dash flew to the door of the train, everypony could sense something strange about her.

Fluttershy picked it up first. "She didn't flap her wings… she… she made a wind." The blue pegasus was gone from the train, escaping out the door and soaring on a combination of the best thermals she had ever felt and wings that seemed practically weightless in the perfect flying conditions.

Magic ended up being the best way to carry all the fruit back to Ponyville. It took the rest of the day for the ponies, all now linked in a way that had them constantly smiling to each other, to return. What they found was shocking. The town itself was wrapped in a blizzard. Ponies were rugged up in warm clothing and still arguing, barely heard over the staggeringly strong winds.

Muffins led the parade, pushing the storm back from around them with her magic and having to spend a lot of it just to accomplish the small task. Their first target was Applejack, still behind her fruit stall in the main town square and looking about as stubborn as a pony could ever be. "Applejack!" Lyra made her way over, floating one of the fruit with her.

"Yeah, whadda you want?" Applejack was annoyed, nopony was buying her fruit.

"I… uh, wanted you to try this awesome new fruit. First one is free!" Lyra held out the vaguely peach-like fruit.

"It's not an apple." The orange mare glared at the definitely-not-a-pome fruit. "But I guess it never hurts to try the competition." She took up the fruit and bit into it. The flesh of the fruit immediately went to work, lightly drugging the mare and urging her to continue. "'s not terrible. What is this from?"

Lyra watched as the earth pony gulped down the rest of the fruit, seed and all. "Oh, we call her mother, but I don't think there is any real name for it."

Applejack's mind raced. She felt a little odd inside, her belly giving a little gurgle as she burped. She smiled at the odd feeling spreading out inside her. "What is… ohhh." Applejack flopped into the snow and grinned with an unguarded look on her face. Lyra plucked the stout mare up and from the cold ground. "Where are we… what's that song?"

Lyra's musical training was little, but she could direct a simple tune through herself to the mare. "You like it? Can you sing along?"

Applejack's world was all kinds of sideways. She felt drunk, but focused. Notably, her bad mood had evaporated completely and she was suddenly wondering why she was out in the snow when she could be inside. The song in her head grew stronger and she lifted her voice, her real voice, and started to sing a dirty limerick along to it.

The unicorn carrying Applejack flushed; Lyra had never heard the honest and reliable Applejack sing this kind of song before.

"Under the old apple tree!" Applejack sang, her heart soaring with spirit. She flopped sideways out of the grip of Lyra and continued. "Is where she first showed me!"

Vinyl lifted an eyebrow at her lover returning with a singing Applejack. "What the hay?"

"She showed me her spot and she called it her plot!" Applejack's grin was from ear to ear as she felt the music inside surge more and more, as more ponies returned with friends and family.

"Don't ask, I am thinking a touch of hypothermia kicking in with, well, how good it feels to not be angry all the time." Lyra lifted her hooves up and tried to cover her ears. What was worse is that other ponies seemed to be joining the intoxicated mare.

Applejack tilted her head back, blushing hotly. "But it looked like an arsehole to meeeee!" She flopped down on the cleared ground, laughing and rolled onto her back.

The song in Vinyl's head was roaring. So many new ponies all adding their own little slice of self to it, even though not intentionally, made it start to stagger a little under the weight. "Tavi?"

The earth pony was instantly by her lover's side. "What is the matter?" When the unicorn tapped her head, Octavia knew what she meant. "It is a bit ghastly, shall we play?"

"What, all of this?" Vinyl's eyes were wide, could she really… play, all these ponies, like an instrument? No sooner was the idea loose than it was guiding her thoughts. "Okay, let's get this going. I need a beat…"

Applejack was grabbed, but not physically. She looked around as the sensation came again and she turned and looked directly at Vinyl Scratch. "What the… hay…" Her mind was suddenly a thumping beat, heavy and hard, it made her smile at how regular, dependable, it was. Her brother was beside her suddenly, sister too. They all sang the same beat.

The noise in Octavia's head had gained some regimen to it, her lover had found the most rock-steady ponies in town to carry the bass. Fluttershy would have been perfect for the start of this melody, the cellist pondered, but she had a better melody to weave.

Cheerilee blinked, she could feel a sweet tune wrap through her mind. It grew stronger as she followed it and it warmed her delightfully. She wasn't sure how, but her students had gathered around her, lifting their minds to the music too.

"Awesome." Vinyl had the start, she had a beat, she had a rhythm, now she needed to mix it. Grabbing for the music Octavia had woven from the ponies that had come from school, she began to build a song from it all.

Octavia worked, weaving more tunes from more ponies and offering it all up to her mate. She was almost in awe of what Vinyl was doing, she was conducting and creating all at once, composers would give anything to do what she was doing.

The music spread, the tree in the far distance heard this new song in the making and wept, internally of course, at how wonderful her new children sang. She knew they would not all remain her children, but she realized how right Tree Hugger had been to ask this of her.

With each pony added to the music, the noise lessened and was drowned out. Even those not yet part of Vinyl's work were drawn in. Above them, however, the music was not appreciated.

The windigo was furious, it tried to stir up more and more blizzard but the singing ponies ignored the cold, warming themselves with togetherness and friendship. It fled. It had to. There was scant food for it here.

In the distance, it could feel its brother feeding well and decided that maybe it should join him. It felt something else, something like but unlike itself, but that was okay, its brother had found a feast!

Author's Note

The baddie forced to run away in the face of friendship? What is this, My Little Pony?

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