Third Time's a Charming Wave of Chaos

*WARNING!!: Cheesy book titles ahead!*

-Ponyville Library-

Five ponies and one baby dragon were gathered in the front room of the library that served as Twilight's home in Ponyville. Pinkie Pie was doing her best to sit still, Rarity was fussing over her mane, Rainbow Dash looked worried beyond reason, Fluttershy was waiting quietly, and Applejack was still trying to wake herself up. Twilight was still pacing the room, even after everypony showed up. She stopped suddenly, shocking Fluttershy in the proccess, and turned to look at her friends for the first time since they arrived.

"Thanks for coming, girls. I've been thinking and thinking for hours now, but no explination I come up with seems to make sense." She started pacing again. "I was hoping you'd all be able to help."

Before any of them had a chance to say anything, a book flew from one of the shelves and landed in the middle of the floor. Rainbow Dash picked it up, examining the cover.

"'Daring Doo and the Caverns of Treasure'?" Dash looked back up at her friend. "When'd this one come out?"

"Earlier today." Twilight replied absentmindedly. She took the book from Rainbow Dash with her magic and set it back on the shelf. "Could you keep your mind on the task at hand, please? Equestria may be depending on us again!"

No sooner had the book been replaced, it jumped from the shelf again, this time smacking the purple unicorn in the back of the head. Following the "Daring Doo" book was another piece of literature from across the room. Several other books fell, too, all from different sections of the library and all landing on Twilight. Tiny laughs issued from the empty spaces on the shelves and few sets of eyes poked curiously out from their hiding places, wondering if the books had hit their intended target. The small pile of books burst apart, leaving an annoyed Twilight Sparkle where they had once been.

"All right," the unicorn began, trying to be heard above Pinkie's laughter. Her horn started glowing. "Whoever's there, show yourself!"

The "Daring Doo" book floated up in the air behind her, surrounded in an orange aura. The five other ponies watched in wonder as it hovered over to Twilight and nudged her shoulder. As she turned around, the book twisted in the air and smacked her in the face. The other books that had fallen rose into the air next to it, all bathed in the same faded orange glow. They each darted after the other ponies. Applejack was the target of "On the Farm" while Rarity held her own against "Dressmaking Secrets", Rainbow Dash tried (and failed) to dodge the "Daring Doo" book that had been tormenting Twilight, which had been replaced with a ferocious copy of "Spell-casting for Intermediates", Fluttershy was being backed into a corner by "Caring For Animals", Spike was loosing ground in his escape from "Rubies, Gems and More!", and Pinkie couldn't get enough of hopping over and under "Instant Party Planning".

Amidst the battle of the books, Twilight managed to catch her attacker and pin it to the ground. Concentrating as hard as she could she managed to round up the rest of them, tearing them from the powerful magical grasp that controlled them. Once the books were returned to their shelves again the ponies moved back to the center of the room. Something caught Fluttershy's eye, though, and she cautiously crept closer to the window.

"Please tell me that wuz yur ahdeah of a joke, Twilight." Applejack rubbed her head where her floating attacker had hit her, now fully alert. The unicorn shook her head.

"I have no clue what just happened, but there was something strong was controlling those books."

"Um, Twilight?" Fluttershy's quiet, panicked words were impossible to hear from across the room.

"Maybe it was just a joke!" Pinkie chimed in happily.

"Twilight."

"I hardly think anypony could set up a prank like this." Rarity said, her voice changing to a worried tone. "Erm, could they?"

Suddenly everypony was talking over eachother with their own theory as to what had happened. After several more failed attempts to get her friend's attention, Fluttershy switched from Normal to Assertive. She took a deep breath and shouted just loud enough to be heard over the commotion. Everypony stopped what they were doing and stared at the yellow pegasus.

"Sorry if I startled you," Fluttershy quickly faded back into Normal, glancing down at the floor. "But I think you should see what's going on outside."

The ponies made their way over to stand next to their friend, following her gaze out the window. They were stunned with disbelief at what they saw. Despite Equestria being the middle of the winter season, there was absolutely no snow anywhere.

"Uh, wasn't it snowing just a few minutes ago?" Rainbow Dash asked to no pony in particular, glancing skywards. "Where'd the pagasi on snow duty g- OH NO!!"

Without another word the rainbow pegasus darted away, slowing only to open the library door before zooming off to Cloudsdale. Twilight and the others stared after her in wonder while the "Daring Doo" book hurled itself at the purple unicorn once more.

-Weather Factory, Cloudsdale-

Rainbow Dash practically kicked the doors open to the Winter section of the factory, expecting to see Derpy and Screwball fiddling with the controls and commands on the countless number of buttons, switches and knobs. What she saw instead stopped her in her tracks.

Parasprites. Thousands and thousands of them all crammed into the room with barely any room to fly around, feasting on the machinery that produced the winter weather. There was little Dash could do, having no magic to distract them nor the instruments needed to lead them away safely. She meerly stared in disbelief. How was it possible that the parasprites were back, especially in Cloudsdale? They hadn't been seen or heard from in months!

"Amazing creatures, aren't they?" came a voice not too far away. It sounded familiar, but Rainbow Dash couldn't quite place it.

"I don't think so." She answered defiantly. "Who's there?"

"You mean you don't remember me?" The voice sounded like it was coming from behind the pegasus now. "After everything we went through?"

"I'm pretty sure I'd remember." Dash turned and unfurled her wings, preparing to jump at the first thing she saw move. The parasprites had now stopped their feeding and were simply watching. A deep laugh issued from somewhere next to her, slowly moving all around until it sounded as if the room itself was amused at her intentions. A box, wrapped in blue paper and tied with a yellow bow, slid out from the shadows in the corner of the room. A present.

"Perhaps this might help your memory." the voice chuckled back. Timidly, Rainbow Dash unwrapped the mysterious gift, taking in a slow breath before flinging the top off.

"What!?" The surprise on her face mixed with horror as she sunk through the cloud floor. My wings?

The last thing she remembered hearing was the wind whipping past her ears as she fell to the ground mixed with the harsh laughter of the voice. The last things she saw were the Parasprites swarming out of the weather factory.

And the last thing she thought?

No way...

-Ponyville Library-

After the disappearance of Rainbow Dash, the other ponies decided to go check up on their own areas. Fluttershy flew back to her home at the edge of the Everfree Forest, Rarity (remembering she'd left the Crusaders at the shop) dashed back to the Carousel Boutique to make sure it was still intact, Applejack was probably back at the farm by now, and Pinkie Pie decided it was a good time to eat candy at Sugarcube Corner. With everypony away for the moment Twilight tried cleaning up the library a little bit. The books, however, refused all efforts to be removed from their position. It wasn't until she had the patience to read the titles that the gears in her head began moving again.

"There has to be some sort of meaning here," She murmured to herself, "but what?"

After an hour more of trying to pick them up, she looked closer at their order on the floor.

"'Daring Doo', 'Instant Party Planning', 'Spell-casting for Intermediates', 'Caring for Animals', 'On the Farm', 'Rubies, Gems and More', and 'Dressmaking Secrets'. What could it mea- Hold on..."

If she was seeing correctly, the first letters of each title were giving off a dark orange glow.

"Interesting. Let's see: Di-" The unicorn stopped there, frozen with fear. Behind her a faint chewing could be heard. As soon as she could move again, Twilight spun to find a large number of adorable, insect-like creatures feeding on her books.

Not again!

-Carousel Boutique-

The shop hadn't been ravaged by Sweetiebell and her friends. That much was clear to Rarity as she stared at the chaos that had been several dresses in progress. Bite marks that were much too small for their mouths to make covered the fabrics and mannequins, as well as small chunks missing from the room itself. She was still wondering what had happened when a loud shout from upstairs made her jump a few feet in the air.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: PARASPRITE REPELLERS!!" came the mingles cries of Applebloom, Sweetiebell and Scootaloo, followed by several thuds and crashes.

"Parasprites!?" The white unicorn exclaimed. "MY DRESSES!!"

She bolted up the stairs to her room, stopping at the sudden silence in the building. There was no buzzing, no excited shouts from Sweetie and her filly friends, no sounds of mass destruction. It was utterly silent. A blinding flash of light issued from Sweetiebell's room, followed by three solid thuds. Then screaming.

"RARITY!" came the frightened squeal of Applebloom. "RARITY, HELP!"

Her screams were cut short by another flash. Rarity took a few steps back.

"No," She told herself sternly. "The girls are in trouble, and you're the only one here. You've got to do this."

She collected all of her effort and courage and set off running down the hall, which seemed to be getting longer with every door she passed. A guffaw of sinister, yet amused, laughter caught her off guard.

“Why, hello there, Rarity.” The door at the end of the hall, her target, slammed shut, and in the shadows two amber eyes appeared. “It has been a long time, hasn’t it my generous little pony?”

There was no mistaking that voice. Anyone would’ve known just from seeing the eyes.

“Tell me what you did to the girls!” the unicorn shouted, her eyes narrowing and her horn beginning to glow.

“You think I did something? Oh, Rarity, I’m hurt.” Discord’s voice mocked sorrow. “Besides, even if I was the one behind what has befallen those three young ponies, there’s nothing you can do to set it right. If I remember correctly, it was meek little Fluttershy who bested the Cockatrice.”

“Cockatrice?” her voice carried fear. “What about the parasprites?”

“Even your extensive collection of formal wear, complete or not, wasn’t enough to fill their appetite.” A toothy grin appeared under the eyes, growing wider and wider the more the unicorn cried out in anguish.

-Fluttershy’s Home-

Unlike everypony else, Fluttershy seemed to be getting the short end of the stick as far as odd happenings. Sure, something would move in the shadows every now and then, or something she needed would go missing for a few minutes, but other than that things were pretty normal.

That is, until the hen-house exploded. Chickens were scattered everywhere around a tall pillar of multicolored smoke. Almost instantly an entire swarm of parasprites burst from the cloud, chewing and devouring everything they could get to. Thankfully, the hens didn’t seem to be their priority meal at the moment. The house, however, was a completely different story. The walls were quickly becoming a smaller and smaller shield each minute, and every second that passed Fluttershy hid herself farther and farther into the only corner left in what once was her front room.

-Sweet Apple Acres-

“Ah... Ah just don’t believe it.” Applejack choked, her throat dry and eyes tearing up.

The parasprites came and went like one of Rainbow Dash’s clouds. Now, there was nothing left of the orchard. Not even a sapling. She, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith were staring at the wasteland that was once their pride and joy. Everything she grew up with. Everything she’d worked with. Not even the surrounding areas of ground were untouched. Applejack was sure glad her younger sister wasn’t here to see this. Even if she’d find out later, at least she didn’t witness it. The feeling of helplessness that surrounded them as they could do nothing but watch was weighing them to the ground, slowing their movements and thoughts. Applejack was almost positive she’d seen a face smiling at her from within the swarm, but she must’ve just imagined it from the shock.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Twilight running up the hill. The unicorn stopped as soon as she caught sight of the once great apple orchard, falling silent for almost ten minutes before AJ snapped her out of it.

“Whut’s the matter, Sugarcube?” she asked her friend sullenly. Twilight jumped a little from the sudden break in silence.

“I know what’s happening.” She stared right into the farm pony’s eyes. “We need to find everyone. Now.”

-Sugarcube Corner-

Pinkie Pie was hopping back to the sweet shop, intent on sampling the Cake's newest confection of sugary treats, when she heard a scream from inside the shop. She flung the door open to find parasprites taking up every inch of the room. The candies were diminished, the treats were close to extinction, and what little remained of the cakes and pies was hardly worth a small nibble. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were huddled in a corner, shaking more than they had when they left the MMMM in the care of Pinkie and her friends. The Party Pony knew exactly what to do.

“Hold on, Mr. and Mrs. Cake! I’ll be back in no time!” With that, she whizzed upstairs to her room. The chest by her bed contained all of the instruments she needed to keep the parasprites at bay until they could all be rounded up. Almost as soon as she reached it, her tail gave a massive twitch. The next second, a colorful blur crashed through the roof, slammed onto Pinkie, and sent both through the floor into the kitchen below. The pink pony smacked her head off of the floor and was instantly knocked unconscious.