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                        Lost Colony                        
                    -by CrimsonCadenza-                    
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                       Hollow Peaks                        
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Hollow Peaks
Once opun a time in the magical land of Equestria, there was a village nestled in the north. On the tallest mountain the community of Hollow Peak grew quickly as rare magical gemstones were discovered. The ponies were isolated from the rest of the world by terrible weather that plaque the mountain valley. The only way to reach The Hollow was a series of hoof-dug tunnels.
One day, a terrible earthquake collapsed the path and sealed the ponies from the rest of Equestria. Knowing they faced their doom without the supplies of neighboring communities, Velvet Rider the strongest flyer in the village volunteered to brave the storms and bring help. She set out with what few provisions the village could spare and promised to return.
For three days she navigated past ice twisters, dodged hail the size of barrels, and even fought off a pair of snow wraiths. On the third night she set down to make camp in a cave. Exhausted she collapsed as soon as she had made fire. Several hours had passed when she awoke to the sound of hoofbeats clopping against the cold stone growing lou-
“Hey Twilight!” Pinkie Pie shouted.
Pinkies sudden appearance and loud greeting had made Twilight scream in surprise and drop her book on her library floor. Annoyed she turned to face her ever-smiling friend. “Pinkie what have I told you about sneaking up on me like that while I’m reading?” Twilight levitated the book and gave Pinkie a gentle boop on the head. “Twilight this is an emergency!” Pinkie grabbed Twilight by her shoulders and shook her. “I don’t know how many candles to put on princess Celestia’s cake!”
When Twilight had stoped shaking she put the book down and considered what Pinkie was asking. “Are you asking me how old the Princess is?” she said.“Yes! Oh please nopony will tell me.” Pinkie pleaded, desperate. “I don’t know Pinkie. She has to be at least a thousand because of Luna’s banishment. But records from that time are hard to come by.” The Question had taken her by surprise. How old was the princess turning? When was she born? It had simply never come up between them.
Pinkie’s face got deadly serious. “If the cake im baking for the princess doesn’t have the right amount of candles when she blows them out her wish may not come true. And if her wish doesn’t come true then she might get depressed. And if she gets depressed she wont want to raise the sun and Equestria will be plunged into eternal darkness For-ever!” Twilight rubbed her temple. She sympathized with pinkie. Not too long ago she had imagined similar things happening if everything wasn’t perfect. “I.. don’t think that’s goanna happen. But if it means that much to you I’ll just ask her.” Twilight said.
“Oh thank you Twilight! The future of Equestria rests on this party being absolutely perfect!” Pinkie glowed. “Don’t mention it. Now where is Spike?” Twilight asked. “Yo!” came a lazy reply. The dragon was sitting in a seat supported by a few thick books so he could reach a table with a checkerboard on it. Opposite of him sat Rainbowdash. She held a look of pure concentration as her hoof hovered over the board.“Come on Rainbowdash you’ve been stalling!” Spike said annoyed. “Rainbow? How long have you been here?” Twilight asked as she approached their game.
“About ten minutes. Wonderbolts are in their off season and the weather team cut me lose today. So I came over to see what you were up to.” She shrugged. “You had that thousand yard stare you get when you’re really into a book. So me and spike picked up a scrimmage game.” Dash Smirked menacingly and moved her piece. Spike looked unimpressed and moved. “Checkmate.” He said, leaning back into his chair.“Ou Ou! Play me next! Me next!” Pinkie screamed, momentarily forgetting her party planning.
“Darn it spike, how did you do that!” Dash protested. “Normally I play board games with Twilight.” He smiled at her. “You should see how mad she gets about Monopony.” Dash floated over to Twilight while spike and pinkie went at it. “What are you reading anyway Twi?” Dash flipped through the pages, and stared at the cover. “Lost Colony? That’s a boring title! But this Velvet rider sounds awesome! Is she anything like Daring Doo?”
Twilight grabbed the book in her magic. “I couldn’t tell you I just started. But it’s a real treat to find a book I haven’t read yet. This copy just came from no-where. For all I know it could be the ONLY copy.”   
“Whats it about?” Rainbow asked. “Some old pony tale about a secret community that vanished without a trace.” Twilight said.
“Doesn’t really sound like my usual thing. But, when you’re done I might give it a try until the next daring doo book comes out.” Twilight marked the page she had been reading and put the book back on her shelf. “I would be happy to. I always encourage others to expand their literary horizons. Now how about that letter Spike?” She asked looking back at her assistant. “Huh? Oh yeah. Give me a second.” Spike said before moving his piece. “Checkmate.” He said flatly. “No offense you guys, but Twilight is normally more of a challenge.”
“None taken Spiky Wikey! You’re really good at this game!” Pinkie said while ruffling his head spikes. Spike picked up his pen and quill and looked at Twilight expectantly. “Feels like we haven written a letter to the princess in a long time.” He said. “Ready when you are.” Twilight thought of what to say for a moment. “Dear Princess Celestia…”
Later that evening, Twilight had found some time between her duties to read some more of the book Cadence had loaned her. The sun had set over Equestria. As she settled down to read she smiled thinking about everyponies reaction to Celestia’s letter. When Twilight had first seen the number her jaw fell open and she silently showed her friends. Pinkie’s eyes went wide and she raced off saying something about needed more candles. Rainbow had quipped that she thought her parents were old. Spike had taken it rather well, saying that there were dragons who claimed to be even older then that. She got under a warm blanket and magically started her fireplace as the chill of the night air drifted in from a nearby window. She pulled the book from her shelf and returned to the page she had left off on.
Several hours had passed when she awoke to the sound of hoofbeats clopping against the cold stone growing louder by the moment. “Hello? Is anypony there?” Velvet called out into the darkness. Suddenly a violent wind whipped through the cave and blew out the last flames of her fire, leaving only smoking embers. “Show yourself!” She said, hoping her voice didn’t betray how terrified she was.
Magical light filled the cave. For a moment Velvet flinched away as her eyes adjusted. When she looked back she was surprised by who she saw. “Tender Brook?” She asked confused.
The old unicorn mare looked horrible. Her eyes were sunken and bits of frost hung from her wispy aqua mane and a nasty scar had been bandaged over her cutiemark, a yellow cross over a bubbling brook. She wore a snow tunic that was torn in many places, almost useless against the cold. Her light suddenly blinked out and her body hit the floor of the cave hard. Velvet scooped her up and brought her closer to the embers of the fire. She used the last of her firewood and got it going again. Tender Brook gasped and wheezed but didn’t regain consciousness. How had she managed to follow Velvet all the way from the village? In the Hollow she was a simple medicine pony who cared for their sick and injured. How she had braved the storms outside on foot Velvet did not know.
Velvet tried to go to sleep but she kept checking to make sure the medicine mare was still breathing. She was just about to close her eyes when she saw Tender Brook staring at her. The old mare sat up, shaking. Velvet offered her blanket which she took graciously. “Why in the realm are you out here?” Velvet asked.
Tender coughed. “A few days after the Earthquake, Sovereign held a special council meeting with Hollow Peaks’s leading ponies. I had a seat being our only medical mare. Sovereign Illusion said it was time to declare a state of and emergency. He told us that if we continued to be cut off from the outside world we must learn to survive with what we had… the Gemstones.”
“What about them? They’re pretty but you cant eat them.” Velvet said.
Tender Brook Smiled “No you cant. But they can be used to grow food. Even in the mountain valley. Sovereign discovered that the gems not only improve a unicorns magic, they can be used by pegasi and earth ponies as well. But at a terrible cost.” Her smile vanished. “These gemstone are a product of dark magic. He demonstrated on himself, it was amazing if I do say so. He could make it snow inside, he grew a stalk of corn in a bucket of dirt in seconds and even turned one member of the council into the opposite sex for a time. But afterwards, his eyes became sickly green and his mane waved like it was flowing with magic. I didn’t think much of it then, but I’ve heard stories about dark magic users. The Council took a vote, and elected him as acting Overseer until the emergency was over. When I suggested the stones be moved to make a new tunnel or remove the caved in parts of the pathway Sovereign rejected my idea. He told me he had faith that you would return with help, and for the moment I was satisfied.” Tender Brook stood up stiffly. “But then things changed. The whole town began to act very strangely after they began to wear the gemstones. Ponies were bumping into things they should have seen. Forgetting where they were, stopping in the middle of conversations to just stare blankly off into the distance and resume talking like nothing happened. It began to be a problem when ponies were getting hurt. So I paid our new Overseer a visit. I heard shouting coming from upstairs, so I let myself in. It was Crimson Ember, Sovereign’s daughter. They were arguing about the Gems. She said something about refusing to be a mindless slave. That piqued my interest so I got closer and I used a spell to hear more clearly. Sovereign said this was all a part of the plan, that they needed to wear them, that only they could control their power. At this point I got too close, my hoof pressed against a squeaky board and they went silent. I heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs and ran. I don’t know if they saw me, but they’re sure to know it was me know. I didn’t know what else to do, so I left town. I hoped by some miracle you would find me. Or that I would find civilization somewhere out here. But as luck has it I found you, by you’re your firelight.”
Velvet looked at the mare with uncertainty. What had become of her home in such short time. She remembered her mother and father, her neighbors, the foals who played hoofball on the dirt roads. All know possibly under the spell of a madpony. “I don’t understand. Why would Sovereign do this? He was a teacher at the schoolhouse, he used to tutor my sister.” Velvet said. “Why would he trick ponies into being slaves?”
“Tender Brook, I thought this light might be you.” A new voice called from the mouth of the cave. In unison Velvet and Tender Brook turned. A silhouette with green eyes was approaching them, when it stepped into the light of the dying flame Velvet recognized Crimson Ember, a Pegasus mare with a light red coat, curly white mane with a single pink stripe in it, and a phoenix with wings spread as her cutie mark. “Oh my if it isn’t Velvet Rider, you know I knew you might get turned around out here. But I never thought you’d be this close to home.” Crimson walked beside the fire and circled them like a predator. Velvet noticed the purple gem that she wore on a metal tiara. “It’s a good thing we didn’t put our trust in you.” She spat.
“Why are you doing this? Those stones are effecting every ponies mind. We don’t have to use them! We cant find a way out of the valley!” Velvet protested.
“You still think the plan is to get help? Ha ha.. Listen you’ve missed a lot. So If you don’t mind I will be taking both of you prisoner now and we are going back to Hollow Peak.” Crimson said.
Tender Brook stepped in front of Velvet defiantly. “We will not be going back until this madness ends. Whatever you’re father is up to, he is not thinking clearly, and by the look of that tiara neither are you.” Tender Brook said.
“I would love to tell you what his grand plan is, but that would be a little clique don’t you think? Besides, I wasn’t giving you a choice. You’re the best medical mare in a thousand mile radius. So lucky for you Daddy sent me to find you. As for you Velvet, I don’t know what she’s told you. But you’ll die for certain trying to fly around this valley. Brave effort, but ultimately not helping.” Crimson said “So either you come along or we fight, I win and have to drag the two of you back. Which I really don’t want to do, its cold and blah blah blah I’m sick of this mission already.”
Brook looked back at Velvet. Her eyes asked a question. Velvet nodded and prepared herself for a fight. “Hmm Okay then.” Crimson said. Suddenly her gem began to glow and her eyes became dark green with purple energy flowing from them. Behind them the cave suddenly collapsed sealing the entrance and trapping them inside. Crimson’s eyes returned to normal and she grinned. “You know I love being able to do that now.” She said. “No were to run ladies.”
Tender Brook’s horn began to glow. She turned back to Velvet reaching in her snow tunic and pulled out a scroll. “Take this, find Tempest!” She shouted. Before she could say anything she Pointeded her horn at Velvet. “What are you..” She heard Crimson say before her whole world was swallowed by blinding white light.
Twilight looked up from the book at the sound of the library door opening. She looked around her chair at the entrance. Starlight Glimmer was levitating a scroll in her magic and looked surprised to see her. “Oh hi Twilight, sorry were you reading. I didn’t think anypony was up this late.” She said.
“That’s okay Starlight. How was your trip to see Sunburst?” Twilight said.
Starlight blushed a little. “He’s just amazing. For once it was nice to just spend time with him instead of researching a new plan to save Equestria. Two years ago I would never have imagined how great life could be.”
“That’s great to hear.” Twilight said laying the book down, making sure to mark her page this time. “I know how what you mean to. My life was so.. ordinary before. Besides being Celestia’s student, I didn’t know how shallow and lonely I was until I stepped out of my comfort zone. And well.” Twilight waved at the castle with her hoof. “It paid off.” Twilight smiled.
Twilight and Starlight walked out of the library together giggling as Starlight told her about her week with Sunburst. Twilight made her way to the kitchen and brewed a fresh pot of coffee. “You want some?” She asked Starlight. “No thank you. The train ride back made me sleepy. Besides I promised to help Pinkie Pie tomorrow. She randomly showed up at the train station and asked me if I could levitate one thousand twenty five candles. Too be honest I don’t know if I can, that’s a lot of things to keep track of. But she basically begged me to.” Starlight said.
“let me guess, you Pinkie Promised?” Twilight said cocking an eyebrow.
“A what?” Starlight asked.
“You know.. Cross my heart and hope to fly..” Twilight offered.
“Stick a cupcake in my eye? Yeah she did do that.” Starlight said.
“I wonder why she didn’t ask me. I don’t know if I can do it either but normally ponies come to me for magical help.” Twilight asked, taking a sip of her coffee. “Well I asked her that. She said you were busy reading ‘for fun’ and since you became a princess you don’t get a lot of time to do that any more.”
“I guess that’s true. I just got this knew book. It’s the strangest thing because I don’t remember ever owning it or even seeing it before. And I’ve read this entire library before.” Twilight said. “Is it possible you just skipped it the first time?” Starlight asked. “Possibly. But not likely. I want to see how far I can get in it before going to bed tonight. There will be plenty of work the next few days to get Celestia’s party together. So I want to spend a little ‘me’ time before everypony goes crazy trying to make things perfect for the birthday.” Twilight said.
“From what I’ve heard. You’re normally the one who goes crazy trying to make things perfect.” Starlight said with a smirk. She yawned and started walk for the door. “Well I’m going to hit the hay. Goodnight Twilight, I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t stay up too late reading, I may need your help with those candles after all.”
Twilight smiled and finished her coffee. The caffeine gave her the energy to stay up a little later. When she had made her way back to the library she saw Owlicious had woken up and perched on her chair. He twisted his head all the way backwards as she approached. “Who?”
“Oh I just want to finish up this chapter then head to bed.” She said as the owl flapped down to the table. She lifted a hoof and gently petted him under the beak. He closed his eyes and cooed. “Who Who.” Twilight found the book where she left it and pulled the blanket back over her while Owlicious got warm from the chilly night air by the fire.
“That was a nice trick. Too bad you’re so weak right now, or maybe you could have teleported yourself too.” Crimson Ember said to the now unconscious Medicine Pony. She was being levitated by a dark aura of magic next to Crimson as she flew back to Hollow Peak. “Wherever you sent her, I hope you realize it wont matter. She will die out here.” Silently she hoped that Velvet Rider did not die. But chances are out here in the cold and the monstrous whether one little pony couldn’t survive.
A nights walk had taken her back to the town where changes were already underway. The Townsfolk were busy constructing new buildings with the new magic of the gems. It was a slow laborious process but her father had decided to renovated the town from its tradition wood-style homes with stone structures make from bricks carved from the very mountainside. In the plot where a home had been, their very own crops were growing at an astonishing rate. At this rate, they could be fully self sufficient. If they wanted, they would never have to have contact with the outside world again. It was a curious thought. These ponies who she had grown up with seemed to look at her with fear now. How had it all come to this? When it was all said and done would they be happy? Would she?
She brought Brook to her Father who was using the town communal center as a base of sorts. When she entered she notice the pair of ponies flanking his sides. She couldn’t see who they were as they wore chrome armor with the Gemstones adorning the breastplate that reflected everything back. As she passed by one she caught a look at herself in his shiny helmet. She turned away and focused back on her father. “Whats with the toy solders?” She asked.
“We have dangers in these lands. Do we not?” Her father answered. Looking up from blueprints of some sort that she couldn’t make sense of. “I see you found her. I hope you didn’t have to ruff her up, we’re going to need our medicine mare.” He said, his voice ruff and horse like a pony with a throat infection.
Crimson shook her head. “No I found her like this. And there is something else.”
Sovereign scowled “What?”
“The Mare that went out into the storms Velvet Rider. She was with Tender Brook. I think she told her what she heard.” She said. “I tried to get them to come back at first but they wouldn’t so I collapsed the entrance to the cave they were in. But then Tender Brook used her magic to send Velvet somewhere.” Crimson said.
Sovereign Illusion cupped his horned head in his hooves and sighed. “Do you know. That EVERYTHING I have planned rests on our not being discovered?”
“Dad, there is no way she can survive out there. If the cold doesn’t get to her the wraiths or weather will. There is no way she ca-“
Sovereign reached over the table and slapped her hard on the cheek. “You do not speak unless spoken to!”
Crimson Recoiled from her father’s strike. Her whole life he had never so much as spanked her, but what she saw in his eyes right now. Scared her. “I had expected she would be dead the first day, nopony returns from those wicked lands. But here you tell me, she not only is alive. But she has escaped with knowledge of what we have done here. Do you know why I shook the very foundations of the world and closed our only path to the realm!? I did it so that we would not be disturbed!”
Sovereign paced back and forth. “It’s not your fault. I know. But we must see this through. Yes, we have to.” He looked back up at Crimson and she almost took a step back. “You realize what I must ask of you.” He said eyes narrowing.
“You cant possibly expect me to go back out there after her? This time it was pure luck because that Pegasus had been getting turned around for days. How am I supposed to find her this time?” Crimson protested.
Sovereign smiled. He pulled a dusty book from his shelf and flipped pages.
“A Scrying spell should work well. It will take time to make. But when it’s done, you will be able to find her if she lives." He said flatly. “And this time. You will not be alone.” He motioned to the two armored ponies. “Go now, prepare yourself. I will send word when the spell is complete. Bring back that mare, and if you cant. You know what is expected of you.” Without another word Crimson walked out the door and away from her father. In her heart she allowed herself to feel the emotions raging in her head. For a moment she allowed a thought that she didn’t dare speak. Before she squashed it, as if her mind were being read. She was in too deep now. She would have to see it through.
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Author's Note
Well this is the first chapter of my very first fiction. Lost Colony is an idea I've thrown around for almost ten years. I had a friend who helped me with many of the story points and characters. It was difficult to adapt it to fit in the MLPverse. That's when I came up with the idea to have it be in a book. Having the FIM characters reading my story hopefully isn't too pretentious. I wanted it to be read organically as the reader reads it, not having twilight say what she is thinking as she reads on. I need some serious help formating, I dont know how to make it single space on Fimfiction, but when I typed it out on a word document it was fine. Yes the Celestia's birthday thing has a point I promise :) Thanks for reading this far and I hope to see you again!
Lost Colony was originally a Halo Machinima series that we never finished (way too much work). It wasn't amazing, but im pretty proud of the later episodes. If you would like to see that please check here: https://www.youtube.com/user/1337OTTER/videos?disable_polymer=1

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                   Cakes and Snowflakes                    
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Cakes and Snowflakes
Twilight woke to the sounds of birds singing their morning songs outside her her library window. With a stretch she attempted to rid herself of the terrible stiffness she felt in her back. On the ground the book appeared to have fallen off her sometime during the night. Twilight lifted it, luckily it had landed on the page she had been reading when she woke up. She hadn't even realized she was falling asleep. Slowly she made her way to the castle kitchen. To her delight she saw that Spike and Starlight were making breakfast together.
"Are you sure those cinnamon rolls are supposed to stay in this long?" Starlight was saying.
"Hey who is the head chef here?" Spike said threatening with a spoon still covered in batter and a chef hat of impressive size.
"You are."
"That's right! They get five more minutes and then.. oh hey Twilight. I went to get you but you weren't in your room." Spike said.
"I fell asleep in the Library last night." Twilight responded rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"Hmm, some things never change." Spike said and continued mixing.
Starlight looked at the time. "Its almost ten, I should probably check on Pinkie Pie." She said ditching her less impressive chef hat. She smiled at Twilight "Save me a roll." And then disappeared into the hallway. Twilight sat down at the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee. And began to read a copy of the Foalfree press that spike must have picked up this morning. She was reading a very interesting article about Filthy Rich's alleged collusion with Yakyakistan, when spike broke the silence.
"You know when she first came here, I didn't know what to think. But now, I sometimes remember that she might not be here permanently and it makes me sad." He said staring into the muddy batter "She's been here so long its almost like having another sister. And even though she was only gone a week I missed her."
"Starlight? Oh Spike, I know what you mean. I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. When she's ready she might leave, but we will always be able to see her I promise." Twilight said.
Spike looked up from his bowl. "Yeah. Sometimes I miss the old days, when it was just you and me living in a tree. Then I start to feel bad about thinking like that." Twilight got up from the counter and hugged Spike making his over sized chef hat fall to the floor. "Spike you should never feel bad about thinking that. Those times were great, not a day goes by that I don't think about Golden Oaks. I even have doubts about these." She said folding out her wings. "Sometimes I think life would be easier or better if I had stayed a unicorn, but it didn't work out like that and I have no regrets about any of it."
Spike looked into her eyes and smiled. "You always know what to say Twilight. I... Hey do you smell something burning?" A wall of smoke started to fill the kitchen coming from the oven where freshly baked treats were being seared to crispy black nuggets of disappointment. "MY CINNAMON ROLLS NOOOOO!"
Ponyville began to stir with commotion as the day began in earnest. Starlight stopped at a stand on her way to Sugercube Corner. Picking up ingredients for a Scrying potion she was making. Her kite had been taken by strong winds and without wings to fly after it she had lost it to the elements. It wasn't the best kite in the world, but it was to her. Outside Sugercube, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were enjoying their summer vacation. They waved to her as they ran past on some sort of childhood adventure. She smiled and waved back wondering what they were up to as she approached the door. Before she could reach out to grab it, the door suddenly slammed her in the face. She fell on her back a giant blob of what appeared to be spongecake and icing had knocked the door off its hinges.
"Everypony Run!" She heard Pinkie call from the balcony of Sugercube. "It's Cakezilla!"
Starlight's eyes went wide as she watched Pinkie dive headfirst into a cart full of hay. She realized that the door was not the only thing that was coming lose. The whole support structure and walls creaked and groaned as if something were pushing it from inside. When the side she was on began to fall Starlight teleported to a safe distance and watched the cakestrophic scene. The roof of Sugercube corner shot up into the sky as if shot from a cannon and the walls came tumbling down on all sides. In its place was the biggest cake the world had ever seen, If the Corner had still been standing it would have dwarfed it. Perhaps the only thing bigger then it in the Ponyville skyline was Twilight's castle itself. Ponies who had seconds ago run away in fear now stood with open jaws. Some were salivating at the sight of such a treat. Starlight herself was trying to comprehend how a cake this size would even be baked when she heard the screaming of an older mare. She turned and saw Mr.s Cake galloping through the ground with her husband carrying their two foals close behind.
"PINKIE PIE! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE." Mr.s Cake yelled.   
Starlight saw a square of hay with goofy glasses and a treachcoat try to sneak off but Mr.s Cake wasn't having any of it.   
"Pinkie I know that is you! We told you we were gonna be gone for fifteen minutes! How in Tartarus did you manage to do... this?" She pointed with both hooves at the remains of their home and business. As Pinkie began to apologize and sob, Starlight kept her eyes up on the sky where the roof had been launched. She couldn't make it out anywhere and wondered where in Equestria it had gone. And for some reason that really bothered her.
A moment later Twilight landed next to her. "What happened I heard something that sounded like an exsplosion." Twilight said.
Starlight didn't take her eyes off of the sky. "No It was just Pinkie Pie."
Twilight seemed to just then notice the giant cake standing where the Corner used to be. "Oh."
Twilight and Starlight had spent almost the entire day slowly moving the giant cake to a new location. Eventually Mr.s Cake had calmed down when she realized what Pinkie was trying to do and with the promise that Twilight would let them stay in the castle, rebuild their house, and reimburse them for the lose of business. Pinkie had been hysterical apologizing and crying. Even now that things were settled her hair didn't quite have its usual bounciness. Starlight had commented that they couldn't reform the building without the roof, but nopony seemed to know where it was. Ponies from all over town stared at the cake, a few tried to touch it to get a bit of frosting. They discovered that was impossible as Twilight had cast an invisible wall around it.
"What do you think is gonna happen to Pinkie?" Starlight asked.
"How do you mean?" Twilight said.
"I mean she took out their house and workplace. Are they still going to let her live their after its fixed?" Starlight said.
"I would hope so, but if they don't she can always stay with me." Twilight responded.
"You do so much for your friends Twilight. Sometimes I feel like I have everything figured out, and then a giant cake destroys a house and I realize there is still so much to learn."
Twilight never thought she would hear that sentence, but given the nature of Pinkie Pie and Ponyville in general perhaps she should have. "Sometimes I wonder if other ponies have to deal with this sort of stuff." Twilight said jokingly. Starlight and Twilight shared a laugh when Twilight felt something cold and wet land on her nose. Her eyes focused inward and she stared confused, Starlight appeared to share the same confusion and both of them looked up to the sky. Without warning a storm was forming above them and from it, tiny speckles of snow. Starlight held out a hoof and caught one. "That's really strange, it's summer."
"Maybe Rainbowdash messed up the weather schedule." Twilight offered. As if summoned by her name. RainbowDash flashed overhead with a team of weather ponies following her lead. They flew into the storm and disappeared from ground view. Twilight flapped her wings to catch up but before she could reach the cloud cover the pagasi were flung back down before catching themselves again. Twilight had to avoid being hit by Cloudchaser and moved beside Rainbowdash who looked absolutely enraged. "Whats going on Rainbow?" Twilight asked.
"Its these clouds! They are too thick to get rid of normally, every time we try to kick or bat them away them just push back! I've been tracking this storm system for miles and it doesn't get any easier." Rainbow said.
Twilight approached the cloud ceiling and gave it a firm push, unsurprisingly the indent she had made quickly reformed and pushed back against her hoof. "Well this is a problem." Twilight mused.
"Ill say, do you know how long it takes to remove snow every winter wrap up? And it looks like we are going to have two this year." Rainbow said as she rubbed her head in frustration. "I've never seen the weather get like this before. I sent a runner to Cloudsdale to figure out what is going on."
Rainbowdash called off the weather team and floated down with Twilight. Starlight was talking to Fluttershy about something that she couldn't quite make out as they approached the ground. "And you're sure he's not responsible?" Starlight asked. "I've never known him to do something so average." Fluttershy said. "Snowfall in Summer is average?" Starlight replied.
"For him.. Yes." Fluttershy said "Besides I haven't seen him in a while. I'm starting to get worried." she said. Twilight surmised she was talking about Discord. It was true. Discord had a habit of not being around when you needed him, and showing up at the worst possible moments. Being a creature of pure chaos, he was at times completely predictable. Stralight looked worried. "Twilight maybe you should ask the other Princesses if they know whats going on." she said.   
"I was thinking the same thing, but right now we need to hide this cake." Twilight said gesturing at the huge problem. "It wont be much of a surprise party if Princess Celestia can see her cake all the way from Canterlot."
After a quick trip to her Library Twilight had found an partial invisibility spell which she and Starlight had preformed on the cake. Pinkie had also set up a tent around it so that it wasn't exposed to the elements. She seemed to be in better spirits then earlier when Mrs. Cake had yelled at her. Twilight sat outside the tent and watched the strange snowflakes fall and pile on the ground. A group of foals was building a snowpony. Twilight was glad that somepony could enjoy it. She personally hated the cold. But the scientist inside of her was curious about the snowfall. When the pony rainbowdash had sent to Cloudsdale returned she reported that they were not making it snow. And more importantly it didn't seem to be isolated to Ponyville. News was coming in from all over Equestria about strange weather. If it persisted soon something would have to be done. But for now everypony seemed to be anticipating the arrival of Celestia tomorrow. She had no-idea that her party was being planned in Ponyville this year.
Inside Starlight was carefully levitating unlit candles onto the top of the cake. Pinkie was looking through a pair of binoculars, which Twilight found strange because she was mere inches from the frosting. "A little to the left... No no no! Go back about an inch! No! Not that far!" She was saying. "Pinkie Pie, I cant do this forever! You have to pick a spot." Starlight said. "Okay Okay, rotate point fourteen by eighty eight degrees." Pinkie responded. "What?" Starlight asked confused. Pinkie sighed and waved her hoof "Just bring it this way until I say stop."
Twilight watched as they positioned the candles and they sank into the frosting. "Wow, I've never seen anypony levitate that many separate items at once." She said Impressed. Starlight whipped sweat from her brow and surveyed her work. "They weren't too heavy, but all together it was hard to concentrate." She said nonchalantly. Twilight suspected that Starlight wasn't brushing off her praise lightly, since coming to Ponyville her student's talent for magic had been increasing steadily. Not that it wasn't anything to shake a ponyfeather at before, she recalled a particularly horrible future that Starlight had helped create when she interfered with the past. She loved Starlight as a dear friend, but sometimes her raw talent... scared her? No she trusted her, there was no reason to afraid she told herself.
Pinkie said goodbye in a hurry. Celestia's party was only a day away and she still had many things to take care of. Starlight and Twilight walked side by side back to her castle. "So I'm not the only one who is still freaked out by this snow right?" Starlight was saying. When Twilight continued to stare off into the distance and not answer she waved a hoof in front of her teacher. "Twilight? Did you hear me?". Twilight came out of her trance. "What? Oh.. uh yeah. It bothers me too. I may have to research what Unicordian weather mages used to do for bad storms if the pegasi in Cloudsdale cant get it under control." She said. Starlight beamed, she was well versed in Unicordian lore. "Maybe I could help. I used to read lots of books about the ancient Unicordians! You know.. when I was enslaving a whole village.." She laughed awkwardly. "Its surprising how much time you have to study when you are the boss." Twilight looked back at her with an expression she couldn't quite read as she opened the castle door with magic. "I'll be sure to let you know. Buuut I think I can handle it. Why don't you take tomorrow off. I know you must be tired from helping me move that giant cake and all those candles." Twilight said with a nervous smile. "Actually I feel okay, might be a little sore tomorrow but I could help you if you need it." She offered. Twilight shook her head. "That's okay, I need a personal project. I've just been reading for fun! Time I did something useful." She grumbled more to herself then Starlight. Twiligh took off with her wings and disappeared down a bend in the hallway leaving Starlight alone in the desolate castle. "Oh-kay." She said outloud. "Guess I'll just head to bed."
Starlight opened the door to her room and sat by her mirror. Adorning it was pictures of her friends and adventures she had been on. In one, her friends from The village were posing in silly ways with her, as if nothing had happened between them. In another her and Twilight were practicing a spell together and smiling. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. Sometimes she hated the pony staring back at her. Even with her mane styled differently, it didn't change who she was. What she had done. As if to banish the thought she started brushing her mane compulsively when she noticed something else in the mirror. A book sitting on her nightstand.
Curious, she went over to her bed and retrieved it. Levitating it up in her magic. When she did something fell out of it, a bookmark. Starlight turned it over to see the cover. "Lost Colony" She read outloud. She was puzzled when she remembered the night before she had seen Twilight reading this in the Library. How had it ended up here she wondered. Perhaps Twilight had finished it and liked it so much she had set it here for her to read. But Twilight had been with her most of the day. She looked at the bookmark on the floor. She hoped Twilight wasn't mad that she had unintentionally lost her spot. The thought crossed her mind that she should return it, but Twilight had seemed to have been insistent on being alone. Instead she flipped the cover open and began to read.
Author's Note
Okay, so I wanted to get this out on the weekend but oh well. The next chapter will be all about the past. Continuing from where Twilight left off. Thanks for reading this far! I really appreciate it! If you have any comments, issues, or helpful criticism I would love to hear it. Lastly, if you are a proof-reader and would like to help me that would be great. Cheers