28 Days To Armageddon

The next day brought a cold, wintry atmosphere to the town. While it didn’t snow, it may as well have. Apparently, the weather factory in Cloudsdale was on the blink. Fixing it could take some time and, while it was broken, the Pegasi had no control over the conditions. It was bitingly cold in Ponyville, while also being blisteringly hot in Manehattan. Storms pestered Vanhoover, and Las Pegasus experienced a severe drought. The weather was weird all over Equestria, but for our intrepid investigators in Ponyville, nothing stopped them. They were determined to clear Twilight’s name, receive an antidote, and rid her of the Lycantropy illness.

For Mist, the mission had become extremely personal. Though she’d only been friends with Twilight for a short while, she’d known the purple pony all her life. She worshipped the ground Twilight trotted on back at Celestia’s school. Her mind was filled with the thrilling idea that, someday, she could become just like her. She wanted ever so desperately to be smart, inventive, and creative like Twilight. But now, with her friend beset by this terrifying sickness, she wanted something more: to be her idol’s source of hope. She knew that, somewhere deep inside the werepony, the real Twilight was lying in limbo. If she could infiltrate Twilight’s mind, she might be able to pull her out.

Yes, she thought as she wrapped up warmly for the day’s business, I will find you, Twilight!

The investigative team poured forth from the Ponyville police station, with the sergeant directing traffic. He ordered them to split up and look for clues along the main thoroughfare of town. His reasoning was that Twilight would have to have left something behind in her haste to destroy Sweet Apple Acres. He also deduced that somepony should have seen something. So, he ordered Rarity, Fluttershy, and Mist to search one part of the road, with himself, Rainbow, and Pinkie covering the other. All important evidence was to be placed into bags, labeled correctly, and taken directly back to the station.

Thus, Mist found herself with two new acquaintances. Unfortunately, in her small time in Ponyville, she had not been able to get to know Twilight’s friends. It was easy to speak with Twilight, as she felt a deep personal connection with her. But when it came to these new ponies, she was a bit shy. She had originally wanted to meet Twilight in order to learn how best to make friends. Now that she was on her own, she felt like she’d lost a pivotal social support beam. But Rarity and Fluttershy were very kind to her, and soon enough, she found that she was building connections with them.

“…oh, darling, and when the store said they were out of brown fabric, I nearly had a heart attack!” Rarity exclaimed at the end of a lengthy story regarding the material. She then fell into a burst of infectious giggles. These quickly spread to the other two and, before long, they were all on their backs laughing.

“You’re such a card, Rarity!” Mist said, wiping tears from her eyes.

“Oh, thank you, darling,” Rarity responded, “but we really must be getting on with our search for clues.”

“Considering Twilight’s new residence in The Everfree Forest, I don’t think we’ll find any,” Fluttershy pointed out. “I mean, unless she stormed through here in the blink of an eye.”

“That’s what I don’t get,” Mist said, “The Everfree Forest only stretches out in back of town. It doesn’t get anywhere near Applejack’s farm. The trees and animals on her property all bend to the will of Equestrian magic. The clouds are placed by Pegasi, and the weather as well.”

Fluttershy sat down, looking very deep in thought. Her blue eyes closed, opened rapidly, and then closed once more. Her pensiveness was just as infectious as Rarity’s giggling had been, so the other two joined her. They racked their brains for an answer, but could come up with nothing but hollow theories. Mist offered that Twilight had gained the ability of super speed, but Rarity pointed out that there would be traces of that such as knocked over barrels, broken flowers, etc. Then, Fluttershy put forward that the Lycantropy could make Twilight invisible.

“But that’s not possible, either,” Mist said, “any magic user worth his salt knows about magic residue. Invisibility is useless in battle, and also in trying to stay hidden. A unicorn’s aura automatically puts off small beads of liquid like material. It helps protect the horn and strengthens the magical bond between the pony and whatever’s being affected. A consequence of this is that the beads fly everywhere, especially if a pony shakes his head too much.”

“Well…it was a thought,” Fluttershy said.

“It was a good thought,” Mist responded kindly, “but unfortunately, there’s no trace of her residue on our part of the street.”

“What about the other part?” Fluttershy asked.

“Nope,” Mist responded, “I can scan the whole street with my horn. I detect a LOT of different residues, but nothing that could lead us to Twilight.”

Suddenly, Rarity spoke up. “I know that this is a tad bit random, darlings, but…do you think the weather factory problem has something to do with this?”

“I don’t think so,” Mist said, “Twilight can’t walk on clouds. Not even the Lycantropy could give her that power.”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m saying,” Rarity clarified, “I’m saying that if somepony is attempting to frame Twilight…”

“…then they could have knocked the weather factory out!” Mist exclaimed.

“Wait…I don’t follow you,” Fluttershy said, “how would the weather factory being on the fritz help frame Twilight?”

“Didn’t you ever hear any stories of wereponies on Nightmare Night when you were a filly?” Mist asked.

“I…um…never had anything to do with Nightmare Night,” the quiet Pegasus responded timidly.

“Oh…well…it is said that wereponies thrive in the most chaotic and nonsensical of conditions,” Mist explained, “since we know Discord is safely entombed in stone back in Canterlot, that can only leave one explanation.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Somepony IS framing Twilight, and destroying the weather factory in order to do it!”