Disturbance in the Skies

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 7: Moon's Eyes

Chapter 1

Author: Quillfeather

Something felt wrong within the air, something vulgar, something…. A cyan pegasus looked up from a cloud she was pushing out of the way. She was just about done with her weather duty when she had noticed the weird way the area felt to her. Narrowing her eyes, she looked off into the distance and spotted dark clouds accumulating near Canterlot.

"Huh? I thought I cleared all the clouds, well at least the Canterlot team should've too," she mused.

A voice from below bellowed up to her and she looked down to notice Twilight Sparkle. The young purple unicorn looked like she had just run miles to find her friend as her mane was crumpled and her pelt was sleek with sweat.

"Rainbow Dash, you have to come see. Something is terribly wrong," the purple unicorn said. Concern dripped from the entirety of that sentence. Rainbow Dash bucked the cloud she had been pushing until it dispersed and then landed on the ground wondering what Twilight was talking about. She was officially done with cloud duty as should every Pegasi in the workforce. Seeing that Canterlot's skies were filled with rain clouds seemed to prove they weren't though. Next time she saw their team she'd give them a talking too, especially since she had been a head of the team that dispersed those clouds earlier.

"What's this about something being wrong? All I've noticed is some pesky dark clouds near Canterlot," she said. Without even waiting, her friend burst at her all her worries. Rainbow Dash had to flatten her ears to keep them from ringing.

"It's just that! The sky was clear a minute ago and now it seems like something dreadful has happened. Clouds don't just appear out of nowhere!"

"What are you taking about Twi, it's probably just rainclouds. Even Canterlot needs rain every now and again. The team probably just got lazy and allowed the clouds to come back."

"Still it worries me… The rate at which they appeared isn't normal," she finished while looking off towards the mountain range that held up the castle that Ponyville was under. Seriously, at times it worried her the extent of the purple unicorns knowledge on clearly Pegasi duties. Not everypony knew about cloud structures and what was normal for a cloud. Even at times she faced a whole new cloud formation that caught her for a loop to categorize.

Looking at her magical friend in concern she rolled her eyes. "If you really want, I'll go check it out, but I'm pretty sure they are just rainclouds. I need to go give those Pegasi a talking to anyways."

"Really, you'd do that? Thank you so much Rainbow," Twilight said as her mood lightened up and her eyes went back to the pegasus.

Knowing that somepony would go and investigate seemed as if a load was off her shoulder. Something was wrong and she could feel it to the very tip of her horn. Rainbow Dash had a point though. It could always just be storm clouds, but then again, those were usually planned by Celestia herself and Cloudsdale, so as nopony would get wet and sick. Usually, the whole kingdom was given a pamphlet saying when it would rain over their lands. Ponyville relied on its weather team to notify them every week on what was to come, but Twilight got her news straight from the Cloudsdale press. Nothing was scheduled today and that worried her.

Well the mysterious clouds weren't going to check themselves and so the rainbow maned pony flew off. She decided it was okay to take her time and so, Rainbow Dash arrived after a brief ten minute flight. It had been an easy go for her, but as soon as she neared a two mile radius of the city, her flight was beginning to grow hard. She had just gone under the storm clouds and the wind had considerably picked up. The wind flung her about in all directions and so she had to grit her teeth and strain through it. She was used to storm winds, but these felt different. Whatever, a storm is a storm. Seriously, Twilight is just taking this whole thing too seriously. Just because there was a mistake this week on the Cloudsdale press doesn't mean she has to totally freak out at a big cloud hovering over Canterlot.

Almost as soon as she had finished thinking that a lightening bolt slammed itself right in front of her. Rainbow skidded to a halt quickly out of shock then realized that wasn't the best thing to do if lightening was coming down. She did, however, lay her ears down flat to her skull as the thundering boom came. Within it, she swore she heard something scream. I should probably land before I get my wings blown off.

Her cyan hoofs touched carefully inlaid stone after descending. The storm was still brewing above and had yet to let down its torrent of rain. In front of her was a bridge and farther ahead was the castle where Princesses Celestia and Luna lived. Rainbow tucked her wings together and cantered off down the bridge and through the streets of Canterlot. She had been here only a few times, but since the Gala she knew the streets fairly well. As she flashed by houses and towards the ever growing doors, she noted the loss of colorful fur around her. Still, she continued her run through the city. If anyone knew what was going on, Celestia did, but she was hoping to find somepony to tell her instead.

A pleasing aroma made her stop suddenly and turn to her left. It was a restaurant that still had it's doors open. Looking around once more, she figured she had nothing to loose. She was soon inside the place and found nopony inside. The inside was decorated with stone and wood full of intricate designs that pleased the eye. Artificial grapevines laced the beams throughout the entire building. Wooden tables with ornate backing chairs were scattered around for the customers to eat upon. All in all, it looked like an Italian restaurant and smells complimented everything perfectly. Still, nopony was here and looking at the decoration wasn't going to help with anything. It was the empty chairs where hot food was still steaming from the tables that interested her. Whatever had happened had made ponies leave their fresh meals in an instant without even taking a bite. What in Celestia's name was going on here?!

Chapter 2

Author: Quillfeather

As her purple eyes watched her friend whisk away towards Canterlot, she felt an ever growing dread set in. "What am I going to do? Something is wrong, I know it," she said out loud to nopony in particular. When she had been in Celestia's care all that time, the Princess never allowed storms of such stature to become real without warning. Even then, the storms were light and nothing made her horn feel tingly like this.

A sudden eruption of light and sound made her jump. Lightening had descended from the clouds, but something about the sound made her rotate her ears to see if she could hear it again. What she had heard sounded like somepony or something had screamed. Waiting a few beats, Twilight narrowed her eyes. This was definitely a weird event to put on her list of things she'd seen in her life, right next to when she'd achieved her cutie mark and facing the legend by the name of Nightmare Moon.
Not hearing anything more, Twilight's nerves still stood on end. It was time for some research. She turned around and then ran towards the library without looking back. She prayed that Dash would be safe and would return soon. The information the Pegasus could tell her would greatly help even if it proved her worry to be worthless.

The door to the library burst open when a magical field pried it and the purple unicorn ran inside not a beat later. A green and purple dragon looked up from the books he had been shelving and gave confused look to the unicorn. "Spike, I need you to look for a book on cloud formations and 'The History of Equestria', please," she said kindly, but with enough edge from her worry that made the dragon step on it. When Twilight needed research done fast she always called on Spike to help her find the books faster, not that she couldn't do it herself. Twilight knew where everything was shelved in the library by heart, but at times like these her mind went astray and she could never remember correctly. Also, sometimes the books were shelved in places that were so easy she didn't think about it.

Within a few minutes, the unicorn was flipping through the pages of the cloud formations frantically. She shook her head repeatedly and mumbled to herself as she went through the tome as the dragon watched curious.

"Umm, what are you looking for Twi," he asked confused. His friend had gone through the cloud book several times to no avail.

"I'm trying to find a cloud formation that looks like the one over Canterlot," she said without looking up to speak.

The dragon cocked an eyebrow as he took a look outside before putting his eyes back on the pony. "So, you're still up to that? I told you, there is nothing to worry about. It's just some rain clouds that we didn't know about, is all," he said looking on as the book was finally allowed to rest on a page about thunder storm cloud formations.

Nothing looked like the one outside, but Twilight didn't stop her search. Instead of continuing on with the cloud book, she had opened the history book. Its pages were worn from time, but the golden edges still shone as if newly painted.

"That's what Rainbow Dash said too, but something just doesn't feel right about this. Ever since I first saw them starting to form about Canterlot without dissipating, my horn has been practically humming with magic energy. I don't know any storm being able to do that, do you Spike?"

"Well, no…, but I still think you're taking this way too seriously. You know how you are. You take things way too serious when in reality they are small. Seriously, don't let this get to your head."

Twilight didn't even hear him as she stopped at the page she had read before, the one telling about Nightmare Moon's coming and the Elements of Harmony. She only stopped because it was the page that always caught her interest, even as a filly. After having her fill and a brief smile, she continued her search and only found one thing close to what was happening outside the windows and she didn't like where her mind was going.

The picture was of a black outline of an alicorn. Within the outline was another alicorn whom looked to be in immense pain and had noticeably different designs for a mane and tail. Lacing from the outline's horn, was a black mist that was carefully drawn with calligraphy pens. Within it, black harsh lines representing lightening came out. Underneath the picture, beautiful bold letters spelled an ancient word she had never seen before. Thankfully, the description after the word was in a language she could understand.

'When this spell is cast it is not necessarily known by the alicorn that it has been done. A regular thunderstorm ensues, but has magical properties that can be felt, seen, and heard. Any strong negative emotion is portrayed within the real dimension with the magical properties. Usually, these storms are a bad omen because the alicorn that has created the spell is suffering internally and should be looked at immediately. The only living alicorn to have gone through this particular event is Princess Luna, now called Mare in the Moon. See Legend of Nightmare Moon for more information.'

The purple unicorn reread the passage and then stared at the picture in horror. How could this be happening if Princess Luna was back to normal? Could she have sent Rainbow Dash into Canterlot only to face Nightmare Moon again?! By this time, Twilight was noticeably shaking and Spike touched her shoulder in response.

"What's wrong Twilight, you look like you've seen a ghost," he said jokingly.

Purple eyes then laid on him and he quickly stopped his joking attitude.

"We need to get the others, Dash is in serious trouble!"

Chapter 3

Author: Quillfeather

Bang, baa-ng, clop! Blue ears perked up as soon as the sound was made, followed by a head swiveling to the right. Dash's eyes looked towards what looked to be the checkout counter. Right behind it led some stairs up into a second level and whatever the Pegasus had heard had come from that general area. She tiptoed to the side of the counter, ready to pounce or run determining what she needed to do. Her heart was beating so loudly that she could hear it in her ears. As she got closer, grey colored fur could be seen. Rainbow Dash extended her wings to show how big she was to the potential threat in front of her after taking a jump to get closer to the being.

"Hah," she exclaimed as he came just about two feet from the pony. It stared at her in complete bewilderment as if it was about to scream. Upon closer inspection, Dash could tell this was a business pony. He had on his head a black top hat, an eyeglass on his left eye, and a black mustache that helped to complete the look. Right now it looked like he has just fallen from the stairs based on his flailed body.

"Oh, good heavens, don't kill me," he cringed as he took in the rough looking Pegasus. The storm had ruffled her wings and mane enough that she looked like a wild pony, not a resident of Ponyville. Dash narrowed her eyes at this and puffed out her chest.

"Who are you? Are you a spy," she asked indignantly.

At this, the pony seemed to loose all fear and his shaking stopped. He righted his hat and puffed out his chest as well, as he got onto all fours. "For Celestia's sake no, but I could ask you that same question. My name is of no importance. What are you doing about when Princess Luna called an emergency," he asked now with his full dignified and pompous attitude showing through.

"I was checking out the storm. I'm a resident from Ponyville and several of us have wondered what was going on. Now what's this about an emergency called by Luna?"

"Oh, that explains a lot. Well, most ponies have evacuated, gone to the castle, or are hiding within their homes. We don't really know what's going on either, but I advise you to get the flank out of here if you know what's good for you." He looked at the cyan Pegasus as if looking down on her and that she was only a waste of his time. With his final words, he flicked his tail in her face and clambered back up the stairs to go hide under a bed.

"Well thanks anyways," Dash said as he closed the door. She didn't care if the cowardly stallion heard her or not. Taking one long last look around, she went back out the door only to find it pouring. Fog had begun to set in and the castle was almost barely visible. A new task was set in her mind: go to the castle and speak with the Princesses. If anyone knew what was going on they did, especially Luna because she had been the one to notify the civilians of emergency protocol.

Soon her hooves were tromping on the stone pathway again, but this time she knew where she was exactly going. As she got closer to the castle she noticed a few things that set her on edge. First, the fog. It seemed to envelope everything in its path and now the only reason she knew where she was going was by the feeble light coming through the cloud cover. Second, weird shadows were everywhere and one she swore was the image of a manticore staring right at her. It didn't help either that her eyes like playing tricks with her anyways, but now there were sounds with the images she was seeing that made her heart beat frantically. C'mon Dash, keep it together.There's nothing there. Once, when she had gotten close to something that looked like another pony, she'd run up to it, only to stop herself short because she had almost run into a lamp post. The third thing she noticed was that there were sounds besides thunder bouncing off the walls no and again. These seemed to fit the creatures she saw which didn't help her mental psych very well. Soon, she found herself shaking like a leaf, but before she could do anything about it, a loud roar made her turn around with wings flared. Her fear had melted with determination to face whatever was behind her.

When she looked up though, she wasn't happy at all whom her opponent was and took off for the castle at a full gallop while flapping her wings to gain more speed than a regular earth pony could even hope to achieve. What had set the brave pony into a fluster was a towering shape that mirrored the dragon that had been sleeping in a cave that the mane six had to help move. However, this one was black and had wispy features just like the fog. One would take it that it was only the mind messing with someone, but it was the enormous lighted green eyes that made sure no one took it by mistake. As it saw Dash curl tail towards the castle, it roared again and flapped mighty mist like wings. It flew towards the pony and stopped to land when it was but a foot from its victim. Claws smashed into the stone, sinking deeper into the ground as the full weight of the beast landed.

Having about enough with running, Rainbow Dash flew into the air just in the knick of time before a mighty cloudy tail whipped under her. Within seconds, she had opened the door of the castle by sheer force and closed it as the dragon let loose a torrent of flames as bright as the sun. Dash found herself blinded for a second from the intensity of it, but luckily nothing on her was scorched. Turning around from the doors, she rubbed her eyes before looking into the main chambers.

Ponies of many different colors littered the floor. Some were chatting while others were trying to get some sleep. In the midst of it all, a dark colored pony could be seen running into the chamber towards Dash with wide eyes. All the guests within the castle had stopped what they were doing to look at the cyan Pegasus with about the exact same expression. Looking to her sides, she noticed several guardsmen near the doors with her. It seemed they had helped open and close the doors with her which was the only way physically possible for a pony like her to even get in. Several of them nodded to her with a brief smile or two before going back to their posts, some looking out the side windows, which would explain when they knew she was coming.

Hoof steps right in front of her alerted the Pegasus that the pony she had seen enter the chambers was right in front of her. Her eyes traveled up the form to find a dark purple alicorn with a moon for a cutie mark. A wavy star filled mane confirmed that this was Princess Luna. To Dash's surprise though, she looked rather banged up and worn out as if she had just come out of a fight.

"If my memory serves me right, you are Rainbow Dash from Ponyville," the Princess spoke with the strain of talking on a normal level peeking through. She was still trying to talk like a normal pony like she was taught to from the Nightmare Moon festival a while back. Before, she had been using the Royal Canterlot Voice that dated back about a thousand years in customs. From what Dash was hearing, the effort was going rather well and she was happy to note that the ponies around them seemed to be going about their business without cowering in fear from the moon affiliated alicorn.

Rainbow Dash bowed and then replied to her princess. "That's my name and don't wear it out."

"Well I'm glad you're safe, but why are you here?"

"I noticed the clouds from Ponyville and at Twilight Sparkle's pleading; I came to check it out. I thought it was only a regular storm cloud and was going to ask someone in the city to tell me so, but I found nopony anywhere. I then came towards the castle and was attacked by that dragon. It shot a freaking beam of light at me for Pete's sake!"

At this, Luna's eyes seemed to widen a bit, but then went back to normal and a long sigh came out, urged on by the fact by what the dragon had done. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. However, I have to tell you right here and now that that is indeed not a normal storm. That's why I told everypony that it was an emergency and to seek shelter."

"Well, then what's going on?" The cyan Pegasus looked intently at her princess whom was looking so depressed that it kind of unnerved her.

"I would urge you to go back to Ponyville. I will see to it that a fleet of guardsmen Pegasus will take you back unharmed."

At this Dash knew that Luna was trying to keep something from her and she wasn't having anything of it. If Canterlot needed help it was going to get it. She didn't like getting half a story and she knew Twilight would not be happy with the answer she got later. Right then, she stamped her hoof which caused the dark alicorn to look at her in surprise. "I'm not going home until I know what's going on."

Luna took in the Pegasus and was about to open her mouth open in reply, but she suddenly turned her head around and swiveled her ears. Rainbow cocked her head in confusion, but then she heard something that set her on edge. A scream of rage echoed through the many halls towards the main chamber. Every pony within looked up again just as they had done when she had entered.

"You're going back home now! Guards cease this Pegasus and get her to safety then continue back on the evacuation schedule immediately," Luna barked before running up the stairs she had just come from and disappeared.

Immediately, guardsmen flew down from the rafters and took hold of Rainbow Dash. "No! I'm not going until I get a proper answer! Princess Luna! LUUNA," she screamed as she began to kick at the stallions and mares in armor trying to grab hold of her. She bucked and folded out her wings, flinging the ponies around. "Miss, you have to come with us. Don't make this harder than it needs to be." Several more ponies came down and the group finally managed to get a hold of the Pegasus.

"Luna, come back here and tell me what's going on! Luna! For heaven's sake, Princess Celestia, anypony, tell me!" At this the ponies around her merely looked on and some even seemed to shrink back in fright. Soon, she was up in the air, the doors to the castle opened with the effort of other guards, and the Pegasus was slowly coming out into the fog filled sky. Before being completely taken away from the view of the castle doors, a bright light shot out of it and through the many windows surrounding the castle. Growls from within the fog suddenly grew louder. As she got farther up in the air a dark shape could be seen being thrown onto the stone pathway. It looked up at her and then ran back into the castle at amazing speeds. Another light shot out, but this full of dark tinting, coming from Luna herself.

Eventually, the guardsmen had her several feet outside of Canterlot and her bucking had stopped which was a relief for them. Well, now she was being taken back to Ponyville with absolutely nothing to tell Twilight other than the weird way Luna had acted and how weird the storm was inside. She turned her head towards a brown looking Pegasus holding her right hoof. "You wouldn't know what was going on either would you?"

Green eyes looked at her and then back towards the direction they were going. "Not at all. All I know is that we have to take you to Ponyville. What the Princess says goes, sorry."

Rainbow huffed at this and would've crossed her legs if they weren't being held apart by the Pegasus guards. "Lame."

A sudden eruption could be heard from behind them, one as if something had charged through stonework. She'd gone through several building made of the stuff to know that sound. She turned her head as far as she could get it to see what had made what her ears had heard. A tower of grey smoke erupted from the central of Canterlot and the outline of an alicorn could be clearly seen. An enormous white light appeared around it and the heat emanating from it could easily be felt. Dash blinked her eyes several times to get rid of the imposed image in her eyes. When she could see again, she looked to where the alicorn had been, seeing scorch marks lay about the area as if an intense flame had just hit the area, leaving nothing in its path. "What the hay?!"

Another form full of dark energy then came towards the lighted figure and slammed into it, causing it to fall back into Canterlot. After a brief few beats the force of the impact hit the Pegasus group hard enough that it tossed them towards the forest floor below and a dirt path. She felt the grip on her slacken and she forced her hooves free, but it was too late for even her powerful wings to get her into a safe landing. Something hard hit the back of her head as she struggled to gain altitude. Immediately she saw stars and then nothing. Her body continued to barrel towards Equestria, gaining speed as it went.

Chapter 4

The door slammed in Spike's face as he got up to follow Twilight who had just bursted from the room. There was nothing for it, if Twi felt like she had to rush she was going to. She was a bit stubborn even if she denied it. Sighing with a bit of a laugh, he opened the door back up and ran to catch up with the already fleeing unicorn.

Her hooves just couldn't go fast enough. Where she was headed was the place closest, and probably home to the best pony to get the whole gang together. She was headed to Sugarcube Corner to find Pinkie Pie. The beating of her heart sounded drums in her ears as she barreled through PonyVille. Several ponies had to dodge out of her way to avoid being thrown by the purple unicorn. Some even shouted out to Twilight to slow down or even ruder comments that weren't meant for young filly ears. None of it fazed her. When she had something on her mind it would keep nagging no matter what and everyone in Ponyville knew a tad about that since the event when she had gone crazy over having her assignment turned in late.

Finally, in what seemed like hours, she reached Sugarcube Corner. She slammed the door open with a bang. Everyone inside stopped their conversations and what they were doing instantly to look up at the insane spectacle in front of them. A very tired dragon entered behind Twilight, not having four legs made it harder for him, but he had caught up nonetheless.

A pink colored mare behind the counter was unfazed and wore a huge smile on her face at the sight of her friend. "Hey Twilight, what brings you to Sugarcube Corner?," she said and quickly grabbed a tray of chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes with rainbow frosting. "I bet you wanted some of these, right? I just made them and the smell can probably be smelled a mile from here. Who am I kidding? It's probably a billion gazillion miles! Or maybe ev-"

"Pinkie, I need to talk to you about something important."

"Oooh, so you didn't smell my goodies and come running to get some?," Pinkie Pie said with a solemn expression while she put the tray down.

"Pinkie, I need to talk to you," Twilight said with an apologetic smile. She had said everything with a hurried rush which apparently had made Pinkie take everything wrong. "And after, I'll have some of those."

With that Pinkie's face instantly changed to that of interest and full blown happiness like it usually was. "Okey-dokey-lokie! Let's sit down at that table in the corner."

Twilight nodded and walked over to the table. Pinkie Pie quickly joined her after bouncing towards the seating arrangements. They both sat down, while Spike nabbed one of the cupcakes with the rainbow frosting, and then followed suit.

"Okay, what's up? You look like a bunny on too much sugar," Pinkie giggled.

"Well, I noticed some weird clouds suddenly appear above Canterlot so I asked Rainbow to go take a look."

"They weren't in the Cloudsdale Press?"

"Exactly. So she went and I decided to go see if I could figure out what kind of formations they were. I found it in a history book and it was connected to Nightmare Moon. Apparently, that kind of cloud happened before she was completely changed."

"Wait, so that means you sent Rainbow in a cloud made by Nightmare Moon?! I saw Princess Luna though at Nightmare Night and she didn't seem to be crazy loco in the head." Pinkie Pie spun her hoof around a side of her head to exaggerate what she meant.

Twilight had to hold back rolling her eyes. Instead of doing so, she nodded. "I know, but there is no doubt that something is going on. The cloud can only happen when an Alicorn triggers it. It means that I just sent Rainbow into that storm without warning. We need to all go get her, that is if you want to."

"Are you serious?! Of course I'm coming! We need to round up everyone and rescue lil' Dashy, right now!" With that, Pinkie's expression became that of seriousness. She got out of the chair and grabbed a hold of Twilight and Spike's neck and wrenched them to follow her. What was left of Spikes cupcake promptly fell to the floor and he eyed it with loss and a poor attempt of reaching it as he was pulled along by a pink mare.

Twilight was soon having to run to keep up with Pinkie, who was headed towards the next closest friend of theirs, Rarity. Spike had finally gotten a hold of Twilight enough to now be able to sit on her back, after running with the pair frantically. Her magic had helped him along as well, but she hadn't stopped to see what she was doing.

The Carousel Boutique was in their view within a few minutes, as was the door being flung open by a crazy looking Pinkie Pie.

"Oh my," exclaimed a white unicorn with a rather beautiful purple mane. Red reading glasses adorned her face and various fabrics littered the floor. Rarity was the in the middle of laying out next season fashion line, the environment being enough proof.

Pinkie didn't waste one minute, promptly jumping towards her friend. "Dash is in super duper mega double trouble!"

"What's this?" She took in Pinkie's form as it leaned a tad too uncomfortably for the mare to handle. "Rainbow Dash is in trouble?"

Twilight and Spike walked in, the door closing with purple magic from the unicorn. "Yes, she is and we need to go get her. Pinkie and I are rounding up the group and then we are going to Canterlot to find her. I fear that she is in more danger than any of us realizes."

Rarity looked at her purple friend and then at Pinkie. "Well if our friend is in trouble we must help. If I may ask, what exactly is the problem?" As she said this, she took the opportunity to take a step away from the intense pink mare whom had not yet settled down. In fact she'd probably be foaming from the mouth if she were a Diamond Dog, which didn't happen to Pinkie that much. Intensity like this, other than that of happiness and joy, really didn't happen to the pony that much. Certainly, something terrible must be afoot if her friend was acting like this.

"Twilight thinks that the clouds above Canterlot are caused by an Alicorn, most likely Princess Luna, and Rainbow Dash is there right now," Spike explained as eloquently as he could muster. He always tried to act as gentlemanly as he could around his crush.

"What clouds? I-," Rarity began to say as she took a look out of a window with rather expensive looking curtains hanging down the sides. "Oh my, those are rather strange."

"There amazingly evilious clouds and Dashy is in them! We need to go help her," Pinkie Pie urged.

"I agree. Just let me organize a few things first." With a few waves of her horn, all her measuring tools and sketch books were put back in order, but her fabrics continued to litter the floor. There was no way she was going to mess up her brainstorming so quickly. "Alright, I'm ready."

With that, the three ponies and one dragon took off to continue gathering the elements of harmony.

As they ventured out into the sunlight again, a loud boom erupted from the mountains. It shook everything in Ponyville and even made several ponies fall to the ground. Twilight looked up after steadying herself, hoping it hadn't come from Canterlot. Her hopes fell instantly as a dust cloud could be seen in the sky from the middle of the land where the royal city was located.

"Oh dear, we simply must hurry. Something is definitely happening in Canterlot," Rarity chimed, causing Pinkie and Twilight to look at her and finally closing their mouths in turn after that awe filled scene.

Twilight's assistant instantly wished he could use his teleportation fire to poof them all where they needed to go, but he knew that was something that wouldn't happen today and probably for years to come. Instead he tugged at Twilight's mane. "C'mon already, we need to hurry up and get Fluttershy and Applejack." With that, Twilight nodded and they took off again, but this time at a full gallop. Fluttershy's hut was the next on the checklist, but some whistling off to their right after passing the town square, caused them to stop. A bark soon followed and the four friends looked over to see Applejack waving a stick. Her dog was wagging its tail madly, awaiting its owner to throw it again.

As if she could feel somepony staring at her, Applejack looked up while her dog quickly took the stick with a smile. "Hey guys. What're ya'll doin'?" Her green eyes looked at them all with a bit of a confused expression. Their hooves were stained like the grit of the road; even Rarity had a splotch or two on her hooves. Even their manes were in a bit of disorder, especially Twilight's. Pinkie was the first one to approach one of the friends they needed to find. "Were looking for you silly willy, and Fluttershy! At least we don't have to go all the way to Sweet Apple Acres to come get you," she said in a sing song voice. Rarity looked at her friend with a bit of confusion. She had been approached by the mare in a whole different tone, but when it came to Applejack, suddenly it changed. Instead of asking, she merely shook her head and looked at the orange mare and her dog.

"Wait, ya'll are lookin' for me? Well 'all be. I'm here now, so what's so importan' that you're all roundin' us all up?"

Before anyone could say anything, especially Twilight Sparkle, Rarity cut in. "I'm sorry, but you must simply come with us to Fluttershy's house and on they way everything will be explained. That explosion from earlier is the reason why we must hurry," she said and then began to canter down the road. With nothing left to say, the troupe began to follow her. The orange farm pony told Winona to head back home, and then raced off with her friends.

As they all went towards Fluttershy's hut, Applejack was informed and finding out that Rainbow was in potential trouble made her hooves go that much faster.

When the group arrived at the yellow and pink maned Pegasus' place, a familiar looking bunny was being chased around. The thing after it was a flying Fluttershy who had a carrot in her mouth, most likely determined to force the fluff ball to eat it. Seeing such an aggressive moment from her was a rare site, but it was still somewhat disturbing. Twilight had actually witnessed Fluttershy using karate on a huge bear once and thankfully nothing as weird as that was occurring.

The bunch watched the happenings for a bit until eventually Angle, the bunny, hid in a rabbit hole. His owner stopped by the den and was about to do something about this when Rarity coughed to get their friend's attention.

Fluttershy looked up at the group with a start. "Oh my, I'm sorry if you have been standing there long," she said softly. With a flap of her wings, she was next to them and Angle quickly made a break for it into the house before she could see.

"What's going on?"

"My dear, it seems Rainbow is in trouble-"

Applejack quickly cut in at this. "And we gotta go save her rump before something happens. Twi here told us all about it because of her research."

"R-r-really?," Fluttershy stammered with a quizzical look at Twilight.

Spike put his hand on his chest as he began, "Yeah, the cloud formations look a lot like when Luna first became Nightmare Moon. There are supposedly bad things in them and stuff."

"B-b-bad things?!" She seemed to shrink a bit at that and her voice dropped several notches in volume.

"Yeah and-"

Twilight sent a look of anger towards Spike, instantly shutting him up. With a sigh she took a step towards Fluttershy. "We don't know if it's going to be that bad, but I do know that we need to go get Rainbow out of there before something happens to her. Even if it's a regular storm, the conditions for flying aren't that great, especially with lightening and pelting rain pouring down."

With this the yellow pony lifted her head up and a determined look came upon her features. Rainbow was one of her closest friends. Without her, she would've never discovered her talent for caring for animals or have gotten her cutie mark, not to mention the courage to even fly. "I guess we better get her then."

"Certainly we should. Everypony ready? It's quite a long way to Equestria without wings, I'm afraid. How about we go take the train?," Rarity chimed in as she saddled up near Fluttershy. She was quite happy with her friend for not trying to back out like how she had done with dragons. Thank goodness Spike hadn't ventured into what the monsters could be. That seemed to be the only exception really for Fluttershy, dragons. Those beasts were terrifying in her eyes, except Spike who was a baby. She still had the courage to face one months before though and Rarity, along with everypony else, still couldn't get over that fact. Their timid friend had stood up o her worst fear just to protect them. She really was a true friend.

Everyone agreed to Rarity's thought and so they began to trot and then jog towards the train station.

Chapter 5

Everything hurt. Pain radiated throughout her body and only darkness stared her back in the face. Opening her eyes, Rainbow could see forest and rocks all around her. She had landed right next to a path leading up the mountain towards Canterlot. Guards were scattered around her, some stirring just like her, but others still unconscious. They seemed to be in the same amount of pain as her, but luckily for them all they were Pegasi. They were built for durability just in case they fell from hundreds of feet up. That didn't mean they couldn't break bones as some of the guards were finding out. One had a leg twisted at a wrong angle and another had his left wing hanging limply from the side.

Slowly she got up as best she could and realized that she could stand without feeling like she was going to keel over right then. She plopped onto her rump quickly so as to get the pain off her right foreleg. Looking at it she knew it wasn't broken, but for some reason she couldn't move it. Rainbow stared at it blankly for several moments until a voice broke her spacing.

"So what'd you mess up?" A sing-song voiced chimed next to her. Looking up, she saw a light brown guard staring at her in concern. Her body was littered with scrapes, some bleeding, from what she could see due to the armor. The guard let out a puff of air which made her realize that an answer was expected. Blinking several times, she answered as best she could. "My left front leg hurts and I can't move it. I know it's not a break, believe me I've been through that before," she explained. "Let me take a look," the guard said. She looked over her and prodded around lightly with her hoof. The guard stopped and then whistled before directing her attention towards the cyan pegasus.

"Well it looks like you dislocated your shoulder. Easy fix I suppose."

The sound of hooves announced the presence of yet another guard. He gave an uneasy smile towards her before looking towards the other guard.

"What is it?"

"I need your help pushing this shoulder back into place, Sparks."

With a knowing glance he went behind Rainbow.

"Alright we're going to put your shoulder back and...it might hurt a bit."

"A bit?" Rainbow didn't like the sound of that, but she gritted her teeth waiting for the pain to smother her again. She wouldn't give into crying to easily or screaming for that matter. She was the best flier in Ponyville and could clear the sky in ten seconds flat. She was too prideful to show her pain and today wasn't an option. The cyan pegasus nodded and looked straight forward.

With a nod of their own, the guards went to their duties. The stallion gripped Rainbow's sides, holding down her wings, to the surprise of the pegasus. Before she could register this fact enough to buck, the mare pushed the shoulder together. Rainbow Dash sucked in her breath as tears welled up in her eyes and then the pain was gone as quickly as it came. Sparks and the mare let go of her and backed off a step to give her space. "There, good as new," the mare said. "Uh, thanks," Rainbow said as she scratched the back of her head.

Sparks began to walk away to check up on other things after giving her an apologetic smile. The mare nodded, but stayed. Not knowing what else to say as the awkward silence began to deepen, she got onto her hooves. Her shoulder was still sore, but it would do. Thank Celestia she could still walk after a fall like that. That brought up a question she wanted to ask though. "So, uh, what caused that boom?"

"The name's Cinnamon, and that 'boom' came from Canterlot. As to what caused it, that is top secret as of now."

That answer wasn't going to fly with her at all. Top secret after it blew them all out of the sky? She snorted. "Listen here, I'm not some stupid filly that needs her mom to hide behind. Whatever it was just blew us out of the sky and I think that's reason enough to know what it is if you know." She stamped her hoof in anger. If she had to, she'd beat the crud out of these ponies until she got the answers she wanted. Several of the guards tending the hurt ponies, looked towards her and one had the audacity to shake its head at her.

"It was from the Princesses," Sparks uttered as he came towards them after tending towards the pegasus with the broken wing. Cinnamon shot him a glare, but he paid her no heed. "The Princesses? Why would they cause that?," she asked confused. The stallion sighed. "They don't mean to cause anything that is playing out. Something is wrong between the two, but Princess Luna has been keeping any of us from knowing. To tell you the truth, I'm getting the feeling that we'd be better knowing."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The Princesses were keeping secret about why they were potentially destroying themselves even though lives were at stake. Yes, it was a monarchy Equestria was under, but they would never hide something this troubling from their subjects. They were though. Rainbow stood in there in shock. To think just checking on a bunch of storm clouds like this led to a discovery of this caliber.

"So where do we go from here?"

Cinnamon snorted back at Rainbow and flicked her tail. Her attitude was really starting to get on Rainbow's nerves.

"We follow our orders and take you back Ponyville. None of this concerns you."

What? Go back to Ponyville after learning that the real problems were in Canterlot? Was she insane. Apparently, but Rainbow narrowed her eyes. "Fine, I have plans anyways," she chimed. Her plans were to talk to Twilight who would want to know what was going on. She was Celestia's student and wouldn't fall for this nonsense of it only being the guard's problems.

The stallion seemed to want to say something, but Cinnamon cut him off. "Alright, Sparks is everypony tended to?"

"Yes ma'am. We can't fly though because Mist broke her wing."

At this, she nodded and then turned to stand in front of the group. It consisted of Mist, a grayish pegasus with violet eyes, a rather ruddy red fellow who's leg was pulled up in a makeshift splint, a light blue stallion, Sparks and his light yellow and orange build, and Rainbow herself.

"Fine, we will walk and take this pony to Ponyville. From there, we will gather any guards present and make our way back to Canterlot. There will be no resting until I give the order. Stay vigilant. Is that understood?"

Neighs answered her and they hobbled together to form a group. They were a pathetic looking lot, but they quickly formed an escort party. It wasn't as awkward as before though because no one was pulling on her legs. Mist stood on her right, Sparks on her left, the light blue stallion was helping the ruddy red, and of course Cinnamon was in front. Apparently she had taken it upon herself to become leader from what her violet eyes could see. With Canterlot to their backs they began to make their way towards Ponyville which was a long way by foot.

Rainbow turned towards Sparks. "So who died and made her leader?" Instead of the orange stallion answering, Mist piped up. "Cinnamon is the next in line to become Captain of our fleet. She has proven herself several times, even fighting off Nightmare Moon until she passed out to keep Celestia safe." As she explained her eyes seemed to go distant. She blinked and turned towards Rainbow with a light grin.

"Really? She did all that?"

"Eh, she got lucky sometimes, but that's how the Equestrian troops work since there are no major battles to be fought," Sparks shot in. "Still a guard of Equestria worthy of our respect."

If she was such a great pony why was she acting like a butt head. Seriously at first she thought she was all nice with her helping fix her shoulder an all, but now it was a different mare she saw. No matter who she was, the cyan pegasus didn't like her.

"Whatever, she needs to cool off."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what seemed like hours of trekking, her hooves were beginning to throb. There was only so long she could walk without feeling as if she needed to cut her feet off even if she was Rainbow Dash. She wasn't the only one hurting though. The rest of the group had their ears and necks drooping except for Cinnamon. The mare was dragging her feet though. The whole group needed to stop and rest.

"Hey Cinnamon, mind stopping for a bit, we're all a bit tired back here," she asked.
With that it seemed someone had thrown a switch or something with the pony in front of her. The brown pelt tensed up before a glare was shot in her direction as she turned her way. "Does lil' Rainbow need a rest? Can't keep up the pace and need a nappy wappy?"

The cyan pegasus blew air through her nose. She didn't need to fall for this. She just had to keep calm.

"No, actually it looks more like your crew needs one."

At this anger sparked in Cinnamon's eye. The way it snapped so suddenly instantly gave a good explanation as to why this mare's name was what it was. It could be sweet, but be suddenly sharp out of no where.
"I don't need a 'prisoner' to tell me what to do with my squad."

"Prisoner? When did I become a prisoner? Are you crazy, lady?"

Mist edged her with a hoof and a glance to calm her down. It didn't work.

"As far as I'm concerned you are at this point."

"What?!"

Before Rainbow could continue on, Sparks took a step towards his leader. "Cinnamon, she is nothing more than a villager. Why so harsh?"

With Sparks' interjection, Cinnamon looked towards him and shook her head. "Can't ya'll take a joke," she spoke and then turned around. From there she flicked her tail to order them to continue on as she began to walk. Rainbow was left to wonder what was wrong with the pony in charge of her.

"We head a few more miles before we hit the hay. Fillydelphia should be coming up within then," Cinnamon spoke up. With that the squad seemed to have a pep in their step again; everyone except Rainbow Dash.

Sure enough, by the time the sun was setting, they had reached Fillydelphia. The city was full of bustle even at this time of day. Carts were being loaded with grocierys, party's were going on, and the park was being used. Everything was just as it would during the day. It was a bit different than what Rainbow Dash was used to, but she was just glad to reach civilization.

When they approached a hotel, Cinnamon went inside, but everyone else stayed outside just in case there was no room. Rainbow's eyes looked around until she felt someone else's burn into her fur. Turning her head to the left she noticed an inquisitive little filly unicorn. Her horn was aglow with an illumination spell so she could see. It lit up her purple blue face to show deep blue eyes which brimmed with curiousity. Dash gave a sheepish smile towards her and waggled a wing at her. At this the pony smiled and seemed to get enough curouge to take a few steps towards the troup.

"Hi," her little voice called out. Night was finally around the city, but the glow dutifully did it's job.

"Hi, what's your name?"

"L-Luminescence," she stuttered shyly. Seeing that Dash wasn't seeming anything but unfriendly at that she had the courage to go on. "What's yours?"

"The name's Rainbow Dash."

Luminescence giggled at this. Dash looked to her sides to see if the guardponies had any reaction. They were leaning against the walls of the hotel or next to the various stands selling food. No one was paying any mind to her, but her ears still got a bit hot.

"What's so funny?"

"Your name matches your mane and tail."

"So?"

"Actually I find it very funny too," an all too familiar voice said behind her. Cinnamon had finally come out of the hotel and had a smile plastered onto her face of sheer amusement. The filly grinned wider at the comment. Dash merely huffed. She would rebuke the filly with making fun of her own name, but looking into those cute eyes stopped her. Luminescence was already so shy and perhaps someone else had picked on her as well.

"I see where you're getting. Heh, I think it's a bit funny too, but once you see me pull off a rainboom believe me it makes up for the name," she said while feeling a bit too touchy than she usually did.

Cinnamon regarded her and seemed to approve with the way she was handling the comment. Of course all Dash could go on was a blink, but even that meant something when the guard was full of spice.

The guard then took a step forward. "Everyone in the troop, return to the hotel," she said with a normal voice, but power seemed to resonate from it. Even over the road noises and city squabble the ecompiment was back in a heartbeat. Seeing that everypony was accounted for, she opened to door for them. "The innkeeper will give you your keys. Everyone already knows whom they will be rooming with I'm sure. Rainbow Dash will room with me for safety reasons." All the guards went inside without so much as a squeak. They were all tired and the road hung heavy on their hooves.

The leader looked at Dash and the filly and then went inside. Knowing that Cinnamon expected her to come in a minute, Dash looked towards the Fillydelphian. "Well I gotta go Luminescence. Nice getting to meet you," she calmly said feeling just a bit awkward. Luminescence's eyes seemed to grow sad knowing that this pegasus was going to leave. "Oh, okay, bye Rainbow Dash," she said. The little filly waved goodbye and then began to trot down the now dark streets. Her little light allowed the mare to follow her new friend for a few minutes until the light vanished around a corner.

With a flick of her tail, she too went to her 'home' for the night.

When she entered the dimly lit reception room, she noticed Cinnamon talking to two of her squad. It was the ruddy colored pegasus and Mist, both of whom had hurt themselves in the fall. Both had new bandages on and this time slings. A nurse had definitely seen to their wounds and now they could rest easy knowing the bones would set right. Looking over at them she hung back, unsure if it was proper to intervene.

"She's alright you know." The voice caused Rainbow to spin around in fear only to realize it was Sparks speaking. His eyes glittered with amusement as she ruffled her feathers back into place. "I guess so, but she can be a real jerk," she spoke.

"That seems to come with the job nowadays. Everyone gets rough and tough if they are relied on by so many day in and day out. Why don't you spend dinner with Mist and I. I hear the place here makes fantastic broccoli soup and I doubt I'm the only one here needing some energy."

With nothing else to do, she walked towards a sitting area which served as the small hotel's restaurant. The hotel itself wasn't that big as it was situated in the old part of downtown. However, the place had the feel of an ancient wise building that was acquired in well furnished mansions years ago.

Mist waved them over and gave each a menu. "Sparks it seems you brought a friend. Hey Rainbow Dash, I hope you don't mind sharing this tiny table with us. It seems their fresh out of tables for four."

Dash took a seat and the menu offered to her. "You can just call me Dash if you want to," she smiled. At this, Mist seemed to grin absurdly. Finding this a bit too much like Pinky, the pegasus looked at the contents of the menu. Reading through the dishes and the descriptions that accompanied them her stomach rumbled. It'd been since breakfast since she ate and that didn't count as much because it was only a piece of toast to get her by for the first weather duty. She hadn't counted on being out so long. Thinking back she couldn't believe how much had happened since then too. She'd done her weather duty, went to Canterlot, was thrown out of the sky by an explosion, and had since been traveling with a group of guards by hoof. To say the day had been adventurous would be an understatement.

After deciding on what she wanted to eat, a strawberry salad with strawberry sauce, she looked at the only friendly members of the squad she had met. Sparks seemed outright comfortable in the seat he was in. His cup kept having to be refilled with water about every five minutes and his mouth never seemed to shut up. Mist seemed a bit more tame than Sparks and entered her input when necessary. Her eyes watched every movement though as if she was calculating what would happen next. All in all the two of them amused her. Still weren't as awesome as herself, but still pretty cool nonetheless.

"So, Dash, what is your lifelong dream," Mist asked as she turned her surreal eyes towards the cyan pony. "Oh, that's easy. I want to be a Wonderbolt," she said enthusiastically. Dash stretched her wings out and her eyes shined as she voiced this while Mist and Spark looked on with an amused expression. This story they had to hear.

Chapter 7: Moon's Eyes

Her coat was dripping with sweat. Looking up, her blue eyes saw the monster standing before her for just a minute. This thing was what she had been chasing all day and the reason why Canterlot was in chaos. She took a step towards it and it let out a neigh of laughter. It seemed to relish the look of the grand princess before her as bruises and cuts laced her body. All of the pain that had been inflicted upon the moon princess was a sign of heavy fighting. In fact all of it had been the cause of the being in front of her; a monster.

“Ma’am are you ok,” questioned one of the newly arrived guards that were now standing attention by her side. She didn’t even look over to them as she nodded. Fiery eyes then met hers and Luna swore she saw the pupils retract considerably and the fire die for a second. The creature looked bewildered about why it was here in the first place as it took in the castle. When it trained its wild eyes upon Luna, a scream of utmost pain exploded the corridors. With that, it closed its eyes and ran. The monster went through a pair of grand doors enlaiden with a golden sun. Promptly, the doors slammed as Luna stared after the creature that had left so distraught. She needn’t worry about Celestia’s corridors because her sister was absent. If anything, she could fix anything later on, but right now her priorities led her to use her magic to seal the creature inside.

With her magic carefully placed, Luna's form relaxed just a bit as blood and sweat dripped to the ground around her. Her celestial mane was in a frenzy minutes before, but now barely waved in the nonexistent wind. A name laced its way out of her mouth, but no voice came out as she stared at the closed door. Instead, a sigh escaped her. She couldn’t believe this was happening to Canterlot. It had been a great land before her reign of terror and Celestia had fixed it. Now another evil was ensnaring the city and this time Luna was alone to conquer it. If only her sister were here to help her, but she was having bigger problems at the moment.

“Guards we wish for you to stand guard while thou is away,” Luna demanded, slipping back into her old ways. The guards did what they were told instantly and saluted the princess as she walked off.

The castle was in ruins. As she walked through the hallways, pieces of the walls were all but a stone mess on the floors. Whole pillars were turned over and doors were ripped off their hinges. Her blue eyes took it all in, but didn’t do anything about it. Mending the broken castle would have to wait till the threat was taken care of.

As her hoof beats hit the stone floor, a hush fell from the room she was coming towards. Actually it was more of a grand entrance into the castle, but at the moment it was so much more. Rainbow had seen Canterlot’s ponyfolk hiding away from the danger that was now sealed within their very protection. Luna had made a magic seal upon the place to make sure none of the beings inside were hurt, but that didn’t stop the fear.

Taking a deep breath, she turned the corner to see her subjects. They all looked at her expectantly. She cleared her throat before she let them know what was going on. “My dear ponies, the threat is still at large. Please continue to carry out your business.” Those words took all her strength and by the end of it her body began to tremble as did her voice. Exhaustion was hitting her finally. Even an alicorn, it seemed could succumb to it.

“Your Majesty, please come rest,” a white earth pony said as she ran towards her princess. Luna took in the mare with tender eyes. “I need to continue to keep you all safe. Celestia would’ve done so.”

Sadness lit the white pony’s eyes. “Celestia would’ve taken a rest to make sure she could do just that.” A weak smile lit Luna’s face and she nodded. With the pony showing her the way, she soon made it to a bunch of pillows that had been thrown together to make a makeshift bed for anypony needing to sleep. From the looks of it, the bed had been made from the assembled ponies given pillows and blankets. They dipped their heads towards her and many of them were smiling or looking away in shyness with a grin upon their faces.

Doing as she was told, Princess Luna lay upon the pillows and said thanks before she drifted off to sleep. She had been shown such profound love from these ponies; it was so much different from before her imprisonment. The times had indeed changed and she was hoping that it would stay for the best.

As she slept, some of the ponies began to bandage up their princess as best as they could without disturbing her. Her dreams were not allowing her to rest very well though. Instead, they were full of nightmares of the sun being swallowed up. Luna missed her sister; she missed the peace of Equestria she had come to know since her return. When would this madness end?

The ponies finished helping Luna as best they could and then went over aways. The white earth pony looked at them all. “She’s been working herself to death. Whatever it is that she’s fighting I say is pretty darn hard. An alicorn is hard to hurt, much less cause it to almost pass out.”

“And why are you bringing this up? It’s not like we don’t know what Princess Luna is doing nor that the threat is a bad one,” a gruff pale green unicorn bluntly said. He wanted to get to the point and that was that.

The mare looked at the stallion annoyingly. “What I’m getting at, if you’d just let me finish, is that we need to go look for some help. Remember when Nightmare Moon, Discord, and the Changeling Queen wanted to invade and destroy Equestria? Celestia called upon some ponies….what were their names?”

A motherly looking earth pony spoke up at that. “You’re talking about the elements of harmony. Their bearers reside in Ponyville.”

The green unicorn looked at the white mare in astonishment. “How in the hay do you propose we get to Ponyville without that insane fog killing us all? You all saw how that rainbow manned Pegasus almost got eaten by a dragon. The guards haven’t even come back yet!”

The hope that had begun to spring into the group’s eyes left as if a fire had been blown out.

“He’s right you know. It’s best just to wait,” a pink Pegasus said and then walked off to talk to some others about dinner preparations.
Even with this the white pony that had brought up the topic didn’t lose her thought. Somehow they were going to figure this out and get some help for their poor princess. Celestia was gone for some reason and Luna wouldn’t say which brought up another thought she wanted to investigate. It was time for some snooping even though her princess had instructed them not to leave the safe barrier. She had heard the fighting sounds coming from where Luna had come from. Answers were farther in the castle and they needed to be investigated, especially since it was all she could do due to the fog.