Meteorology

Altonyc

Meteorology

The door opened slightly, and a pair of green eyes stared out at Twilight. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, I'm Twilight Sparkle—”

“Oh, Ms. Sparkle! A pleasure to meet you!” The door opened further to reveal a skinny, ocean-green unicorn with a tangled mane. Twilight smiled, somewhat awkwardly. She never did get used to being recognized by ponies she didn't know—she had trouble remembering that the excitement she and her friends brought to Ponyville affected most in town.

“Yes, and the same to you, Mister...Seagreen, was it?”

“Please, call me Quill. So, to what do I owe this visit?”

Twilight took a moment to choose her words before explaining, “Well, Spike and I took advantage of the peace and quiet that we've been blessed with lately, and decided to finally do a full and complete inventorying of the library. The funny thing is, we found several volumes of a set of history books, but not sequential volumes. The first three, and the fifth, are missing. I asked one of my friends if they knew anypony in town who would own such books, and she pointed me your direction.”

“Ah, Pinkie Pie... I don't know how she remembers so much about the entire town's ponies. Yeah, I do have the books you're looking for... I brought them home for study while I was still librarian, and I suppose I forgot to return them,” he said with a slightly nervous tone in his voice. “Wait here, I'll just bring 'em right out.”

“Wait a moment,” Twilight said slowly. “You said you were a librarian? In Ponyville?”

“Oh, yeah, but that was a couple years ago,” he replied quickly. “Now, let me get those books.” He bolted inside, shutting the door behind him. He emerged with the four books on his back, straining under the weight.

“They're...a bit...heavy,” Quill grunted.

“I think I can manage,” Twilight said as she levitated one of the books off of his back.

“Oh, right, magic... why I didn't think of that,” he mumbled as he levitated the other books. He was starting to float them towards her when the sound of a loud thunderclap caused him to drop them. Twilight lifted them back up.

“Shoot! There was a rainstorm scheduled for today!? Forgot to check. I knew I should have triple-checked the checklist for things to include on a checklist...” She turned to Quill. “Well, I should get going. If I get caught in the rain, these old books might get really damaged.”

“Here,  I'll help carry them back. If I carry some, you can focus more on running than levitating,” he said enthusiastically. Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but he lifted two of the books and was already walking. She welcomed the help, but didn't really feel like having anyone come over to the library. The books were so perfectly organized, and she wanted it to stay that way as long as she could. A pony that could forget about multiple books was not the kind she wanted in her sanctuary of order.

The two arrived back at the library just before the pegasus team started the heavy rainfall. Twilight called Spike over, who tried to help them with the books but found them too heavy to lift without the unicorns' magical help. Twilight set the books down on a table, looking more carefully at the cover of the first book. A Complete History of Equestria, Vol. 1 was visible in a faded gold print. The book was thick—Twilight didn't want to try to guess how heavy it really was—and bound with a very sturdy material.

“So, Quill, if you don't mind me asking... when exactly did you stop being librarian here? You don't look much older than any of my friends, so I figure it can't have been too long ago.” Twilight had a pretty good guess, but she had learned never to make assumptions after the surprise birthday party for Pinkie Pie some time ago.

“I was... relieved of my duties just prior to your arrival in Ponyville. I was the librarian before you, but I must say, you are doing a much better job than I did. I can be a bit disorganized at times. I also had a bit of a habit of... borrowing books for extended periods. I probably have a lot more books back at my home, which I suppose I should return.” He thought to himself for a moment before adding, “Yes, I definitely have some overdue books.”

“I thought this library was missing a few books when I got here.” She looked out the window, and saw the clouds were still being drained. She decided to try to keep a conversation going as she moved the books into their spaces on the shelves. “So, what do you do now?”

“I record. Everything important that happens in Equestria, I write down to some extent. I'm a unicorn, but I never really had a strong talent for magic. But, I found out that I have a good memory, and can write things down in a most expedient manner. So it's a really good fit for me. And on top of it all, there has been an unusual amount of excitement since you came to Ponyville. Incidentally, why exactly did you come to Ponyville? I know it had something to do with the Princess, but I never really understood your reason for being here. I'd like to hear it in your own words for my records.”

Twilight took a moment organize her thoughts before speaking. “I am on special assignment from Princess Celestia to observe and report on the magic of friendship. To assist with this, I have also been assigned as Ponyville's librarian, where I can access numerous books of knowledge and spells to assist in my advanced studies. And really, all my friends live in Ponyville. With my friends, I feel as if I can do anything.” As she was speaking, she noticed Quill looking out the window, and that it had stopped raining. “Well, looks like you can head home now. I'm sure you must be very busy.”

“Yes, busy...” Quill trailed off as he walked towards the door, and Twilight noticed his eyes lingering on one of the bookshelves. She was going to ask him if he wanted to borrow a book, but he hurried out before she could say anything. Twilight figured he must have simply been reminiscing, and put herself to work examining the returned books. They seemed considerably old; the first volume reminded her of Starswirl the Bearded’s scrolls she had seen in Canterlot. She found some amusement in the idea that somepony would take such old books, only to have them gather more dust on shelves.

Dust... Twilight looked closer at the books. While the volumes she already had in her library were rather dusty, the ones just returned were...clean. Spotless! Not just from being moved around a little earlier, no—these books had been flipped through recently. Because Quill had left the library long ago, they should have gathered a great deal of dust from being forgotten in some shelf; she tried to figure why this would be the case;. Driven by curiosity, and a convenient lack of other things to do that afternoon, she picked up the first volume, and began to flip through it.

Fluttershy gently floated her way to Twilight's house, looking around town as she flapped her wings. The air always felt so good the day after a good rain; the air was crisp and clean, and not too hot or cold. And it always seemed so calm, perfect to stretch the wings—especially after an afternoon of hiding from the thunder and lightning. She hated it when the weather team had to discharge the clouds, another reason for her being content to have her place on the ground with the critters.

Fluttershy  fluttered down in front of the door to the library, and knocked gently. She waited a few moments before knocking again, ever so slightly firmer. She didn't really want to bother Twilight, and if it wasn't a good time right now, she could just come back later—

“Oh hey, Fluttershy!” Spike said as he opened up the door. “Come on in.”

“Oh, thank you Spike,” she replied as she entered. “Is Twilight busy? I wanted to ask her a question, but if she's busy, I could always come back later. I don't want to bother her...”

“It's fine, Fluttershy,” the dragon assured her. “She was just doing some reading, so I figured I'd get the door.”

“Oh, she's in the middle of something? I can come back later...”

“No, Fluttershy, she's perfectly available. Actually, I think it would be good for somepony to talk to her; she's been hooked on some books she brought in yesterday.” Spike had been a bit worried about his studious caretaker. She found something in those books that she and the green pony brought in during the storm, and she hadn't walked away from them by the time the baby dragon had gone to sleep. When he woke up the following morning, she was on those same books—he hoped that she hadn't been at them all night, but it wouldn't be the first time she'd lost track of time while working on something interesting.

Fluttershy flew ever so timidly over to where Twilight was sitting at a table, surrounded by thick books. She waited for Twilight to show a pause in thought to ask her question, but saw no such opportunity that could present itself. She would have to interrupt her friend, as much as she felt uncomfortable doing so.

“Excuse, e-excuse me, Twilight?” came the quiet stammer. Twilight jumped, as if she hadn't noticed Fluttershy even come in.

“Ah! Oh, hello Fluttershy. Sorry, you just startled me there. What are you doing over here so late?”

“Late? It's, um, morning...” she said, half to herself. “Anyway, do you think that you could help me with some bears? The weather near the forest has been strange, and they've been having a hard time sleeping. I was wondering—”

“Check the first shelf in the 'Informational' section. It should be under 'A' for animals, or 'B' for bears. Spike can look for you.”

“Oh, no, I couldn't possibly bother him.” Fluttershy flapped over to the area Twilight had mentioned. Fluttershy wanted to get her book and leave—it was obvious to her that whatever her friend was doing, she was very focused. Fluttershy hated bothering anypony, especially her friends, but if she didn't need the bear information, she wouldn't have even come to the library in the first place.

As she was searching the shelves, she heard the front door to the library open violently. She looked over, and saw a rather panicked green unicorn run over towards the shelves where Twilight was situated. He stopped when he saw Twilight, and trotted quietly up to the table—Fluttershy figured he didn't want to disturb her, either. The green pony appeared to read some of Twilight's notes, and his eyes widened. He said something—Fluttershy couldn't quite hear what—and Twilight seemed to react with anger. If there was something Fluttershy hated, it was confrontation. She found a promising book and decided to leave before she had to listen to any more arguing. She was curious as to what could get Twilight so angry at a stranger, though, and the window was wide open...

“Do you realize what you've been hiding?” Twilight shouted at Quill. “This could be big!”

“Yes, it could be very big and important, but only if it's correct!” he shouted back. “You think I don't realize that? It could affect all of Equestria, if the data all lines up. But this isn't something you want to raise a false alarm about. You remember how crazy Ponyville was about Zecora? That was just a stranger who no one knew about. Can you think of the consternation we could cause if word got out about this?” He paused for a moment. “Why I am I even becoming agitated about this. I was just on my way to disproving it, anyway.”

“But that's just it! I noticed your notes, and there were a few connections you hadn't made, and a few you shouldn't have. It all makes sense—”

“Excuse me?” The two ponies jumped at the noise. Spike had walked up to them, and neither had noticed his entrance. “Would one of you mind explaining what you're talking about? I can't work with all this shouting, and I'd like to know if something important is gonna happen.”

Twilight nodded her head, and organized the papers scattered on the table. “Sorry, Spike, let me explain. Yesterday, I decided to skim through some of those thick history books. I wasn't looking for anything, just checking on the condition of the pages. Well, while I was flipping through the pages, I found a piece of paper with some notes on it. I checked the rest of the book, and found a lot of notes. I decided to look at the rest of the books, and found similar notes. Mr. Seagreen here just informed me that they are, in fact, his notes.”

“So...you're upset that he was taking history notes? It's not like he was writing in the books. What's the big deal?”

Quill butted in before Twilight could respond, “There is no ‘big deal,’ and that is the source of our argument. I thought I saw some bad history that might repeat itself, but it won't, and there's no need for distress.”

Spike looked back and forth between the two ponies, face blank. “So...you guys are arguing because something bad might happen? Twilight, if all of these papers are his, don't you think he's spent enough time on it to know what he's talking about?”

“Spike. I have read and re-read these notes. There are some things that don't add up. There are assumptions that should not have been made. There are things that are connected, I know it!”

Quill shook his head, his tangled, sand-brown mane shaking, too, in a delayed motion. “Listen, Ms. Sparkle. I understand you are student to Celestia herself, and must be quite bright, but please. Do you know what I've really been doing since you took over the library? This. I've been reading, and listing, and cross-referencing, and cross-checking, and everything to figure this out—”

“Figure what out!?” Spike yelled.

“I believe we have found connection between nearly every major disaster in the history of Equestria,” Twilight blurted out before the other pony could say anything. She ignored his glare, and continued on with her explanation of what she had found in the notes.

“Conflict is a natural occurrence. Obviously, there are no real wars in Equestria. The land itself was founded by the three races in harmony, and this harmony bred friendship and kindness within its inhabitants. Shortly put, kindness breeds kindness. And, when we're all kind to each other, there is no reason for to fight or have war. However, there are still disasters of a different sort that infrequently plague our land.

“Natural disasters are just that: natural. The pegasus ponies control the weather, but sometimes things happen that we don't plan. We assume they happen for no reason, and can't be predicted or influenced. But, there seems to be evidence of these disasters actually being caused by forces such as magical creatures. For example, think of the blizzard caused by the windigos in the story of Equestria's founding. Discord caused cotton-candy clouds and chocolate rain, and—”

“Wait. You're telling me that all this fuss is about funny weather?”

“Spike, you have to understand.” Quill stepped forward. “If we can find out the cause of something—in this case natural disasters—that can allow us to prepare, we could limit the destruction. Or, better yet, prevent them altogether. These monsters are believed to be natural occurrences and unpredictable. However, after the return of Nightmare Moon, I decided to research Equestria's history in order to prevent being caught unaware and unprepared by a predicable catastrophe. While I was doing this research, I noticed several patterns among the disasters that had occurred in years past.”

“Every time some major calamity struck Equestria, it was after a relatively...unfriendly event caused by ponies,” Twilight continued for him. “I mentioned before that we don't have wars?  Well, we don't have massive, town-destroying wars, but we still come into conflict from time to time. Sometimes, it's just a group of friends arguing and disagreeing, but sometimes it's on a larger scale, such as the Appleloosa incident. If you remember, Discord's return wasn't too long after, and—”

“—and it doesn't make sense for one little event to release a being who'd been imprisoned for over a thousand years,” Quill cut her off. He noticed Twilight's assistant's look of confusion. “Sorry, Spike, let me give you the short version; I have a tendency to over complicate things, and Twilight's mostly repeating from my notes.” He pretended not to notice her indignant expression, and continued, “Basically, we think that maybe, just maybe, bad feelings from ponies can manifest themselves into spirits, monsters, and disasters.”

“Mani-what-now?” Spike hated it when Twilight had him use fancy words in letters, and this unicorn wasn't really all that different.

“When ponies are mean, bad things happen.”

“Oh.” Spike thought for a moment, then squinted his eyes. “Why?”

Twilight explained that all ponies had various magic within themselves, be it earth ponies and their connection to nature, pegasus ponies and their connection to air and weather, or unicorns and their more obvious magic. Even though the notes didn't have a reason listed, Twilight reasoned that there must be another kind of magic that made ponies' emotions affect the world around them. Like the magic of friendship, but the opposite: a magic of conflict and chaos, similar to Discord.

“As an example, Spike, think of the windigos from our Hearth's Warming Eve play. They feed off of fighting and hatred. There must be some kind of magic that allows our negative feelings to sustain certain magical creatures.” Twilight Sparkle spoke with the confidence of a pony who had thought everything through; not an uncommon tone for her. “If we can figure out how concentrated this magic is, we can predict when disaster-causing creatures might come to feed, and prepare accordingly.”

“I took notes of when disasters occurred in relation to large pony conflicts, and found the results to be fairly consistent,” Quill said. “But it could be purely coincidental. I mean, we could only be seeing what we want to see, and—”

As Twilight opened her mouth to protest, Spike spat out, “Okay, okay! I get that you're really indecisive about all this, but this is all a bit too crazy and 'out there' for me. You guys keep arguing, I'm gonna go organize some books or something.” And with that, he hurried off. “You ponies can just be so crazy sometimes.”

The two 'crazy ponies' watched him walk away. Both of their mouths hung open, ready to argue further, but unable to make any sounds. Neither had picked up on the fact that Spike was becoming increasingly bored from their explaining. Twilight was the first to break the silence.

“Mr. Seagreen, we can help Ponyville—all of Equestria, in fact—if we just tell everypony about this. Being able to name a cause, name a fear, could be the first step to stopping damage from random occurrences. Imagine if we were ready for Discord! So many harsh words and bad feelings could have been avoided!”

“I know, I know, but what if we're wrong? I mean, we're probably right, but I don't want to tell everypony something and have it end up being wrong. That would be awful!”

Twilight shook her head. “I thank you for bringing this to my attention, intentionally or not. I will make this knowledge known. I think you're just too indecisive. You need to take a risk. Everypony takes risks from time to time—why should this be any different?”

The two were startled for a moment when they heard a window shut, followed immediately by a quiet yelp. Twilight thought she heard the sound of flapping, and figured it must be her feathered nighttime assistant finding a quieter place to sleep.

Quill turned back to Twilight. “Listen. You know how much the citizens of Ponyville can overreact. Think about Zecora, Princess Luna, that one case of the cutie pox. We don't want to instill mass panic, do we? So, why don't we think up a less startling way to break this news to everypony? I doubt 'Monsters are feeding off your emotions, waiting to wreak havoc' is going to be taken kindly.”

Twilight thought for a moment, and relented. “Fine. But once we find a way to tell everypony, we tell them. No indecisions. Alright?”

As the two ponies sat down to brainstorm ideas, Spike walked over to the window that had slammed shut earlier. He opened it back up, and thought he saw a pink hair float out from where the window had shut. The baby dragon shrugged to himself, and went back to the bookshelves.

Fluttershy struggled to fly as fast as she could. Her training for the water extraction to Cloudsdale helped, but she still was frustrated with her weak flying ability. Thankfully, Rarity's boutique was not far away. Fluttershy was worried and frightened at the thought of monsters waiting to make trouble for ponies, but she needed to help her friend. Twilight had seemed adamant about telling everypony about the monsters, and Fluttershy was determined to help. But she always had trouble being heard, so she decided to ask Rarity to help her get the word out.

Fluttershy knocked on the door to Carousel Boutique, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She hated having to bother Rarity, but this was important. She mentally went over all she had heard, from “this could be big” to “I will make this knowledge known.” As soon as the door opened, Fluttershy started spouting apologies, but was stopped by her friend's confused voice.

“Fluttershy, dear? Whatever is the matter? And I understood you were sorry the first time you said it, and don't worry; I wasn't very busy.” Rarity looked at her friend with repressed worry. It was normal for Fluttershy to be flustered, but she seemed more panicked than usual.

“Twilight thinks she's discovered something important and wants to tell everypony, but some other unicorn is trying to stop her, and I think that we need to help her out! If you're okay with that, I mean...” Fluttershy tried to be calm and explain, but Rarity didn't appear to be any less confused than she had before Fluttershy started talking; in fact, she looked more confused. Fluttershy decided to try to explaining the situation a bit better. She expounded upon the stacks of books and notes, the green stallion who barged in and started arguing with Twilight, and the conversation about monsters.

“Now, my dear, I know it is not polite to eavesdrop, but...thank you thank you thank you! My, this is so interesting. And you're right, of course—we must help Twilight. It sounded like this stranger was having trouble deciding whether or not to tell? Well, I've got a nice little network of ponies who hear and say just about everything in this town—harmless gossip, I assure you—who would certainly be able to help spread a little word around. It's simple, we get word out in town that Twilight found something out, and sooner or later—oh, and it will be sooner, trust me—she will find herself being asked so much that she'll just have to tell everything to everypony, whether this other unicorn thinks she should or not.”

“Oh my, Rarity. That seems really...complex. Couldn't we just tell everyone in the square or something?” Fluttershy liked the idea of not having anypony shift attention to her, but Rarity's idea just seemed too roundabout. “And this seems like something important, that we shouldn't be making light of...”

“Make light of it? Oh, I plan on doing nothing of the sort! I simply wish to get word out in a way that may let Twilight do the explaining. She knows what she's talking about, after all—you sure made it seem that way, at least. And so it's a bit entertaining—everypony enjoys a bit of gossip now and then, right? It will take the edge off her eventual reveal to the public.”

“'Reveal to the public?' That sounds dramatic, doesn't it?”

“Oh please, Fluttershy. I'm not ever over dramatic,” Rarity reassured her. “And with that, I must get started. It's still rather early, so everything should get along quickly. Thank you ever so much for coming to me Fluttershy, and don't worry—we'll help Twilight out just fine.”

In the late afternoon, Twilight Sparkle found herself trotting through Ponyville's bustling marketplace. After spending most of the day double-checking the research, she was rather hungry, and decided to take a break for something to eat. As she was trying to decide what sounded good to eat, she noticed a small group of ponies whispering to each other between furtive glances in her direction.

Twilight just rolled her eyes. She thought everypony had learned their lesson with the Gabby Gums incident, but figured there couldn't be anything really bad they could be saying.

Twilight bought a small assortment of apple-derived baked goods from Applejack, put them in her bags, and headed back to the library halfheartedly. She enjoyed the thrill of working on something important, but Quill insisted he work with her on it. He second-guessed everything, even his own ideas.

“At least he didn't need any convincing to let me inform the princess,” she said to herself. They had agreed that informing Celestia was very important, and Twilight planned to have Spike send a letter as soon as she got back, already organizing the words in her head.

She opened the door to the library, and set her bag on a table as the door slammed loudly behind her. Twilight turned around to see Quill next to the door, peeking out the window stealthily. She rolled her eyes again and started eating. The odd unicorn had been acting like this all day; he was terrified someone might come in and ask about the books. Twilight reasoned with him that nopony was interested in history in the first place, and that he didn't have to worry about scaring anypony—she doubted anyone would believe him even if he tried to explain everything. His mane was messy and tangled, and his eyes were bloodshot; he actually reminded Twilight of descriptions she'd read of insane ponies in the Daring Do series. He didn't exactly look like a sane pony—Twilight wasn't sure if he even was a sane pony.

Apparently, he had been spending most of his time on this research since Twilight arrived in Ponyville. Twilight couldn't understand how the stallion could be so irresolute about something he'd spent so much time working on, but he just couldn't seem to ever decide on anything. She wanted to be respectful of his wish to delay announcing the findings, but he was being ridiculous. There really wasn’t a good reason to hide the information. It didn't point to any impending doom, and she felt it was too abstract to put anypony into a panic.

Twilight finished her meal, and had Spike write her letter as she read it off to him. Quill made quiet protest at some of her wording, but she ignored him. This was her letter to write, and it was fine as it was. After Spike finished writing, he sent the letter and sat down to wait for a response. It came fairly quickly, and Spike gave it to Twilight to read. As Twilight had suggested, she was to leave by train to Canterlot the next day to present the notes and information.

She turned to Quill. “Well, thank you so much for your work, but I think I've got it from here. I'll present the notes to the princess, and she'll know how to tell the ponies of Equestria.”

“Excuse me? The majority of this is my work, I would like to be there to present it to the princess. I haven't been putting myself into this research just so somepony else can come and take the credit, even Celestia's prize pupil!”

Twilight lowered her eyes. “Actually, it was Celestia who requested that only I come. The claims we are making are unprecedented. She says that if they were to come from anypony else, they would get laughed aside. I'm sorry—really, I am—but if you want this to get presented, it's going to have to be through me.”

“I—! You...are right, Twilight Sparkle. I'm not happy about it, but I understand. But, this has practically been my life since I stopped being the librarian. What am I supposed to do now?” Quill was speaking quietly, nearly dumbstruck by the realization of what was happening. This was becoming real. All his work was finally coming to fruition.

“I suppose you can go back to...recording, or whatever it was that you said you did.”

“Oh, right. Sorry about lying to you when we first met. As you've probably figured out, I'm not really a historian. And these books weren't simply forgotten.”

“I know how hard it can be trying something different—I went from the privileged life in Canterlot to living in Ponyville in just a day! Just follow your talent. But please, relax for a bit. You really have been stressing about it, and it shows. I actually have a friend who could fix that mane up for you—”

“No, that won't be necessary. It's always like this.” Twilight grimaced as he said this. “I'll just go back home, and find something to do.” He looked at the quill on his flank and walked out the door, with Twilight closing it behind him. She sat down and sighed, glad to be rid of the rather unexpected company. The excitement of the find was nice, but she now needed to clean up the library before leaving the next day.

She was just about to get up when she heard a familiar voice outside, “My goodness! Please don't mind me saying this, it's nothing personal, but you look just awful. Whatever happened to you?”

“You're Rarity, the pony from the boutique, right?” she heard Quill reply. “I was just doing a bit of overtime studying. Nothing is wrong with me, I assure you.”He seemed slightly put off by the less-than-gracious greeting.

Outside, Rarity was standing wide-eyed at Quill. His sandy-brown mane, not completely complimentary to his ocean-green fur, was a tangled mess. It hurt her almost as much to look at it as it had for her to look at Twilight's mane when they first met. The eyes didn't help with his appearance, either—the whites of what appeared to normally be olive-green eyes were bloodshot red.

“Yes, well... pardon me for my rudeness. I just can't imagine how you stand having your mane like that. You really must stop by sometime and let me fix it for you.”

“No, thank you very much,” he said with an annoyed tone Rarity couldn't understand, and hurried away before Rarity could say anything. She shrugged and walked into the library.

Twilight greeted Rarity, and got back to cleaning up the library. Rarity flipped idly through a book and asked, “So, read anything interesting, lately?”

“Yes, actually. That unicorn you ran into outside has actually been doing research into Equestria's natural disasters for some time, and I just helped him finalize his ideas. I'm actually leaving early tomorrow morning to Canterlot, to present the findings.” Twilight started to explain the monsters and emotion-feeding, but Rarity interrupted.

“Wait—you're going to Canterlot? Tomorrow?”

“Yes. That won't be a problem, will it?” Twilight eyed Rarity with a mixture of confusion and suspicion. She knew she hadn't made any commitments with her, and Rarity didn't normally drop by the library just to say hello...

“Problem? Who said anything about a problem?” Rarity said with slight strain in her voice. “Actually, the mention of Canterlot reminds me that I simply must get back to work. Lovely chat!” Before Twilight could say anything, Rarity galloped out of the library, leaving one perplexed purple pony trying to figure out what just happened.

Rarity pounded frantically on the door to Fluttershy's cottage. She had planned to have Twilight tell everypony in the morning, but that could not be done if she wasn't in town. As Fluttershy opened the door, Rarity started explaining what was wrong with the situation.

While Rarity and Fluttershy agreed that Twilight meeting Princess Celestia was quite in-line with their (Rarity's) plan in the first place, giving the citizens of Ponyville too much time to gossip about something could cause things to get wildly exaggerated. Rarity had been counting on nopony being able to blow so simple a notion as a secret out of proportion in a single day, but the more Twilight was away was more time for the gossip to transform. Twilight would come back from her trip—likely after a few days, as Rarity reasoned that nopony could stay in Canterlot for one mere day—to find everypony expecting big news and ready to panic; Rarity had embellished her story of Twilight's mystery discovery just a bit.

“Fluttershy, my dear—we must convince her to tell everypony before she leaves,” Rarity concluded.

“But, um, Rarity... if Twilight is going to have a big meeting with the princess, won't she leave early?” In truth, Fluttershy was more worried about meddling even further in her friend's affairs, and didn't want to somehow make things worse. “And won't most of the town still be asleep?” Rarity looked at Fluttershy for a moment, then agreed and turned away.

“Well, Fluttershy, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out. At least we tried to help Twilight out. If she ends up finding out we set this up, at least we can say we had good intentions.”

Fluttershy was silent for a moment, then quietly said, “Are you sure everypony won't just forget about this?”

Rarity shook her head, mane bouncing back and forth. “No, especially with Twilight leaving town right after word started to get out. It just screams 'scandal.' Well, I'm sure we'll think of something while she's gone, and calm everypony down before she gets back. That can't be too hard, right?”

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, rolled out of bed, and looked out the window. It was still dark, but she did want to get an early start. She put her saddlebags, loaded with the notes and research, on her back while she brushed her mane. Replacing an apple streusel she'd saved from the evening before with a note for Spike, she walked out the door and trotted towards the train station.

She enjoyed Ponyville in the early morning. The usually noisy and bustling town was quiet and peaceful before everypony woke up. It was nice, being able to actually think without having to block out all the noise, yet to still be out in the fresh air. It helped keep her from feeling nervous.

It was also nice to be taken seriously by Celestia. While Twilight was sure the princess had good intentions, it was disconcerting to feel ignored so often. The Nightmare Moon incident, Queen Chrysalis and the fake Cadance... Twilight supposed that after enough times, Celestia saw the worth to hear what she had to say.

She knew she shouldn't doubt her teacher. More than a thousand years of knowledge and wisdom were something Twilight could only imagine having at her command. It just frustrated her when the princess didn't take her seriously. This would not be one of those times, however—at least Celestia's prompt reply and request suggested as much.

By the time Twilight reached the train station, Celestia had broken the dawn. She paused to take in the beauty of the scene before picking up her ticket. The golden light of the sun spread from Canterlot's direction, traveling slowly towards Ponyville and the Everfree forest. As the light hit the train station, Twilight could feel its soft warmth accompany the new day. She didn't get out early very often, but she always loved the rising of the sun, ever since attending the Summer Sun Celebration as a filly.

Twilight flashed her Canterlot train pass and boarded the train. There were only a few other ponies on the train—most usually waited for a later train, leaving only the few ponies with early appointments to take the earliest train. Sitting down in the train car, she double-checked her organization of the notes.

After making sure everything was in order, Twilight closed her eyes and tried to relax. It was amazing how quickly everything had happened. In what was really less than two days, she was presented with completely new information, drew a conclusion, and was already on her way to show said conclusion to her teacher and mentor. It was happening in a way similar to her discovery of the return of Nightmare Moon, except with a more direct response from Celestia; at least, a response more of the type Twilight felt was appropriate. While she was thankful in the long run for Celestia's assigning her to Ponyville, Twilight would have liked an earlier explanation.

She took a moment to think about Quill. She was grateful for his work; she doubted she would have bothered looking through ancient pony history for something so obscure. She also thought that he was a bit crazy; of course, so was everypony else in that town. But locking one's self away for so much time to work on something wasn't exactly a recognized trait of normalcy. During the short time she worked with him in the library, she noticed he had a way of making the smallest thing seem interesting—to himself, of course. It reminded Twilight vaguely of Pinkie Pie when she was in one of her particularly talkative moods, or trying to figure something out. She smiled at the memory of her friend speaking every little thought about their meeting on the day she arrived in Ponyville. It was incredibly annoying at the time, but without the stress of impending doom, it was a bit funny.

On that note, Twilight turned her thoughts to her friends. She didn't think anypony would worry too much about her being gone, especially with Spike to explain things. Rarity's appearance the night before still perplexed her, however. Twilight didn't mind the short visit, but its brevity and lack of purpose was odd. Rarity would never stop by to chat without actually having a conversation; furthermore, she wasn't the type of pony to be particularly interested in Twilight's work on...anything, really. And the way she had bolted right after Twilight mentioned leaving for Canterlot—

Twilight stopped herself mid-thought. Quill's paranoia must have been rubbing off on her. Rarity just happened to be walking by and stopped to talk out of politeness, and left when she remembered something important. Everypony could be forgetful from time to time. It was probably nothing worth fretting over.

She stretched out on her seat, deciding to get a bit of rest before arriving. A yawn escaped her, confirming her decision to be suitable. After setting her bags down on the floor, she fell into sleep.

At the whistle of the train, Twilight sat up straight as her eyes snapped open. Looking out the window, she saw that the train was rapidly approaching the station in Canterlot. She levitated her bags onto her back, and got ready to disembark. She was grateful that the ride had gone smoothly, nothing like the slow ride with the MMMM. Looking at the station clock, Twilight saw that it was still early, giving her plenty of time to make her way to the castle by hoof.

As she began the uphill climb to the royal district of Canterlot, Twilight looked at the bright and beautiful city around her. Nowadays, the white city found fame in its royal and celebrity inhabitants. In times past, it was renowned for its beauty alone; the city was one of the oldest in Equestria, with architecture of a glorious old age. However, one of its less obvious traits was its invulnerability to unpreventable disaster. All the major problems which afflicted Canterlot were caused by individuals, be they singular like Discord or a leader like Chrysalis.

There was one thing that nagged at the back of Twilight's mind. It had come up that simply knowing the cause wouldn't necessarily fix something. Twilight didn't know of any spells that could gauge pony emotion, and outside of the windigos, there was no information on natural beasts that fed on emotion. Just the trends and connections. Of course, the Changelings fed off of emotion, but Twilight wasn't sure they were of the sort of creature she was trying to find.

As she approached the Royal Tower, Twilight was greeted by Princess Celestia herself. Twilight bowed as was customary, then trotted toward her teacher.

“Celestia, thank you so much for granting me this opportunity to share what I've learned in person, despite however busy you must be,” Twilight said humbly.

“Twilight Sparkle, I can always make time for you. And this is the kind of thing I think you can explain best yourself, not through notes through me to the other ponies.” The voice of the princess was regal as ever, and her ever-flowing mane, caught by the sun, glistened in vibrant multicolor. Celestia's appearance always had a way of reminding Twilight she was in the presence of a powerful being—similar to the powerful creatures she hoped to prove the existence of.

The two walked together towards the tower, Twilight moving quickly to keep up with her teacher's long stride. Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns caught her eye from across the royal plaza, reminding her that she was curious as to just which ponies the princess had called to the tower to hear Twilight's presentation.

“Most of the important, old, boring ponies from the school will be there,” Celestia answered when Twilight voiced her thoughts. “They don't get anything like this very often, especially from young ponies such as yourself.”

“Are there any I will recognize?” Twilight had a reputation around the school before she left for Ponyville, and wanted to know if there was anypony she could count on to vouch for her. She knew there would be no questioning the legitimacy of her findings once she explained them, but somepony familiar would ease some tension.

“No, I don't believe so. These ponies don't teach so much as study.”

“So they're like students?”

“Of course not, Twilight. They simply spend their time studying magic and such, trying to find out new things. You should know that nopony is ever done learning!”

“Right, right...” Twilight knew she didn't always think right under stress. She tried not to focus on the old, powerful audience she would soon be facing. As the two walked through the door into the tower, she asked, “Oh, is Shining Armor back yet? He left for royal guard business a few days ago, and I was hoping to visit him during my stay.”

“No, I'm sorry. He's still away. Cadance is spending some time with Luna today, but I imagine she'd be free tomorrow. I bet she would love to spend some time with you.”

Twilight's ears perked up. “Oh, that would be wonderful! We didn't really get to spend a lot of time together back around the wedding time, minus the whole escaping the secret underground prison.”

Celestia laughed. “Yes, you two certainly were a bit busy to visit, I suppose.” She stopped before a large door at the base of downward-leading stairs. “Here is the door to the assembly chamber. Good luck, and be natural, my best and most faithful student.”

The compliment, though not the first time it had passed through her ears, gave Twilight a small confidence boost. She walked towards the door, which opened on its own, and into the chamber.

Rarity sighed as she finished sewing the last thread through the latest dress she had been working on. Starting a carefully instructed rumor took time, time which Rarity found herself wanting of when she arrived back at the boutique after visiting Twilight in the library. She had worked hard through the night, but it paid off—the dress, she decided, was definitely one of her finer works.

The business with Twilight, she decided, was nothing to get terribly worried about. She was still racking her brain for ways to limit the gossip spread she had started, but Rarity couldn't come up with anything, letting the matter slip to the back of her head. There wasn't any hurry, as Twilight would not likely return from Canterlot for at least another day or two—Rarity still felt a small amount of envy for her friend, visiting the glamorous city.

Nevertheless, Rarity felt good about finishing a project, and decided upon a stroll through town. A celebratory breakfast was in order for finishing such an important commission. Putting on a fancy hat, she double-checked her appearance in the mirror, and left the boutique.

As she trotted up towards town, she noticed a few more clouds than usual littering the sky. Usually, the weather team had the clouds cleared in the morning, but the pegasus ponies appeared to have slacked off today. There had been a rain but two days ago, and it wasn't the right season for draining the clouds—there was always an influx of ponies seeking wet-weather gear before then. Should she have given it more thought, Rarity would have been baffled, but she chalked it up to Rainbow Dash just being lazy.

Entering Sugarcube Corner, Rarity sat down at a table and tried to figure out what treat to eat. While thinking, she noticed a small group of ponies nearby were idly chatting with one another. Ever curious, Rarity perked her ears up to catch what she could of their conversation. She knew what gossiping ponies looked like, and she wanted to see if word about Twilight had grown serious.

“Did you hear? Twilight Sparkle apparently found something so important, she had to leave to Canterlot without telling anypony!”

“Canterlot? Where did you hear that?”

“I...don't know, really. I heard from somepony that she had discovered something, she wasn't in the library this morning, and the connection to Canterlot conveniently popped into my head.”

“You've been spending too much time with Pinkie Pie. But, that does make sense.”

Rarity wasn't terribly surprised they had figured out Twilight had left to Canterlot. There were not many places Twilight would visit, particularly if she had discovered something important. What she heard next, however, did surprise her.

“So, what about that pegasus thing going on? I noticed the clouds, and I couldn't find Blossomforth anywhere this morning.”

“Well, I heard that there was some crazy weather going on up near the northern border.”

“Border? Of where, the Everfree?”

“No. Of Equestria! And they are trying to get pegasi to help control it.”

“Pegasi are traveling from Ponyville all the way to the Frozen North? That doesn't seem likely. Cloudsdale is closer, isn't it?”

“Well, they can't have all the weather stop being made, can they? Imagine if the rainbow factories were shut down! So, I heard they were calling pegasi from all over to help.”

“All for some weather troubles? Must be pretty bad...” The two ponies started walking out the door, continuing their conversation.

Rarity strained her ears, trying to hear more, but to no avail. A rather noisy argument was breaking out at the counter over why in Equestria a grey stallion would need a tub of jelly big enough to fit a pony. Rarity decided to buy a sweet roll as she got up and made her way next to the stallion. She gave her bits to Pinkie Pie while Mr. Cake argued. As she trotted out of the shop, eating her roll, she took another look at the skies and noticed that there indeed were fewer pegasus around town than usual—in fact, she didn't see any. However, if the pegasi really were dealing with a weather problem, Rarity knew one pony who wouldn't be there.

“Ms. Sparkle. Our esteemed Princess of the Sun told us that you have made an important discovery regarding nature in Equestria. We read the outline you sent her, however it would be most helpful to our understanding of the matter if you could expound.” An old, bespectacled mare with a faded blue coat was staring down at Twilight from behind a marble podium. Twilight tried not to think about the other sets of eyes staring at her—watching her—as she prepared to speak. She figured there were at least ten ponies; not a very large number, to be sure, but most looked old and stern.

Notes hovered around Twilight, suspended by magic as she spoke, “For as long as we have inhabited Equestria, pegasus ponies have had control of the weather, creating and maintaining a stable climate, with the implementation of seasons: the warm and luxurious summer, the busy harvest of the russet autumn, the pale alabaster of winter, and spring, the—”

“Get on with it! More matter with less art!” shouted an aged mare.

“Please, Gertrude, let her speak,” the blue mare said sternly. “However, Ms. Sparkle, she has a point. We know this. And you needn't embellish your words so. We are here to hear your findings, not listen to a speech.”

Twilight was quiet for a moment, staring around her. She then cleared her throat, and continued, “However, there have always been incidents of weather beyond the control of the pegasus ponies. These often proved disastrous, due to a lack of understanding and preparation. These 'natural disasters' have been an ignored mystery in Equestria, but I believe the cause has been found. According from the research I've compiled, these natural disasters almost always happen after an artificial disaster—an artificial disaster meaning one created by ponies, such as a war.”

“I'm intrigued, but there are no wars in Equestria, Ms. Sparkle.”

“Not now. But long ago, particularly under the reign of Discord before the coming of Celestia and Luna, there were large wars fed by the spirit of chaos. After the use of the Elements of Harmony, there were no more grand scale wars. However, there have been smaller-scale scuffles between large groups of ponies.”

“So you're saying war causes destructive weather? I appreciate how fitting it is morally, but this is not the case. There simply haven't been as many conflicts as natural disasters. And I don't believe there is any way fighting spirit can directly influence the clouds—it takes innate pegasus magic.”

“It doesn't take a war; periods of disharmony, bad feelings, and antagonistic unfriendliness can also lead to a disaster. Take, for example, the series of unintentional, unpredictable lightning storms that plagued southern Equestria in the time following the banishment of Nightmare Moon. It was as if the clouds were feeding upon the apprehension in everypony's mind following the banishment of their own Princess Luna.

“And that brings me to the direct cause: supernatural beings that feed upon or are otherwise attracted to negative pony emotions. While there are few instances of actual sightings, meaning there is an unfortunate lack of physical evidence. However, the connections are there. I'll give you a few examples.

“First, one you are all familiar with: the windigos. Most ponies simply believe they are a myth, simply serving to drive the story of Hearth's Warming Eve. The events in that story, however, are accurate, and the windigos are real. There are many accounts of them from pegasus ponies who were sent back to scout out the old land, and they are all consistent with one another.

“Second, Discord. He is different in that he isn't merely attracted by negative emotions—he creates them and thrives upon them. This may seem completely unrelated, however, just as there were conflicts between the pony tribes before the coming of the windigos, there were conflicts before the return of Discord. Most obviously was the return of Nightmare Moon. Though she was but one, the pain of exile had bred many dark emotions and feelings within the monster. In fact, it is lucky that our Princess Luna was able to revert to her true self. Nightmare Moon had anger bred from a thousand years of exile—probably as much hate was in her as would be in an army of warring ponies.

“There was also the Appleloosa incident, which created much unhappiness and conflict before its resolution. The negative, discordant emotions from these events, I believe, had led up to the release of Discord from his stony state. Essentially, the negative emotions of ponies, just like in the story of Equestria's founding, led to a natural disaster. I call Discord a natural disaster here because as a spirit, an embodiment of chaos, he is a natural being. Also, a good portion of the chaos he caused was weather-related.”

Twilight stopped after continuing on with further connections and conclusions, and looked around the chamber. She had the attention of several ponies, but they didn't seem to be paying terribly close attention. “I prepared copies of my notes, which I will now pass around to you. I have highlighted other examples of such connections, as well as accounts on strange creatures seen around the same time as natural disasters.”

As the pieces of paper floated around the room, the blue mare addressed Twilight. “Ms. Sparkle, thank you for your time and effort. We ask you now to leave, as we examine these notes and further discuss these findings. We will inform you tomorrow if we reach a conclusion as to the validity of this idea.” She smiled at the young mare. “And please, Ms. Sparkle, do enjoy your stay in Canterlot.”

Twilight bobbed her head in thanks, and walked out of the chamber as the old ponies quietly talked amongst themselves. After she closed the door behind her, she let out the deep breath she had not realized she had been holding. She tried to teach her friends a few things from time to time, but never tried to inform those she considered her greater. Her letters to Celestia, while written to be informative, were always a bit suspect of their usefulness in Twilight's mind, given the vast knowledge of the princess; Twilight assumed the letters were for the good of her friends and herself.

After she calmed down, the excitement of what was happening struck Twilight like an out of control pegasus. She had just presented what could be the most important revelation in understanding Equestria in a very long time. Even if it took time for practical application to come of it, she knew this was a significant discovery. She was still beaming to herself as she walked outside, and noticed it was nearly midday. It had taken longer than she had thought to explain the details of the findings, but figured it was not that long, all things considered. She began the long walk down to Canterlot's city level.

The white city, adorned with gold, was beautiful, but Twilight still thought the ponies who had first built it were not thinking in practical terms with the city's design. The several levels of Canterlot were connected by stairs, and if one needed to travel quickly through the city, it was very tiring. Still, it did make the city defensible in the time when the pony tribes still had distrust towards one another. A time when, Twilight remembered, there were more disasters than feelings of friendship.

Halfway down the stairs, she remembered that she wanted to visit Cadance. Twilight hadn't realized she had only started the walk out of habit, and quietly groaned as she readied herself for the climb back up.

“Go away! I already told you, I'm not home! Why do you—oh, hello, Rarity,” Fluttershy called as the unicorn walked in. “Please hurry and close the door behind you. The cottage is a bit crowded right now, but once the critters finish their food, they'll be out of your way.”

“Are you alright, Fluttershy?” Rarity was all too familiar with her friend's aversion to strangers, but she had shouted quite curtly. “I just wanted to ask you a few things about the pegasi—”

“Oh, it's jut awful. There was a messenger from Cloudsdale, calling all pegasus to the northern border; they said there is a scary weather emergency. And they know where I live, and they keep bothering me to go. I'm not a strong flier, and I certainly don't want any part in an emergency. Oh! Do you think you could make a disguise for me? I mean, if you're not busy...”

“That wouldn't be a problem, dear. But you said there really is something bad going on that is requiring all the pegasi? That seems... very bad.” Rarity pursed her lips as she thought. “Then it must be something bigger than neglected cloud duty. Perhaps a spill of snowflakes? Oh, I hope they didn't make too big of a thundercloud—those can get nasty,” Rarity thought aloud. Noticing Fluttershy's mildly surprised stare, she responded, “I've had several pegasus clients. They don't ever shut up about the weather. I don't know why I remember it, other than repetition.”

“I don't know, and I don't think even the messenger knew.” Fluttershy's eyes widened with worry. “What if it can't be stopped? What if somepony gets hurt? I really should go and help; it's just like when we had to get the water to Cloudsdale, everypony can do their part, no matter how small.”

“Are you sure, Fluttershy? Just a moment ago you were shouting at me just because you thought I was a pegasus coming to take you.”

“I'm sure. I couldn't stand it if any of my friends got hurt. And there are so many wild animals up north, maybe I could meet some new friends. I'll just have to make this emergency fun!”

Rarity was still worried by this uncharacteristic change in Fluttershy's attitude, but decided to go along with it. “Very well, if you're sure. Let me bring you a scarf; it can get awfully cold up north.”

“Thank you, Rarity, but I want to get going right away. Could you find someone to take care of the animals? I don't think we'll be gone more than a day or two, but they still need care.” Fluttershy wanted to leave before she lost her nerve, and she really wanted to prove to herself how much better a flier she had become.

“Don't worry, I have somepony in mind. Good luck!” And as Rarity finished talking, Fluttershy took to the skies. The grounded unicorn watched her fly away, amazed at how much more confident the pegasus had become since they first met.

Despite the odd turn of events, Rarity had obtained what she had come for: confirmation on what the pegasi were gone for. It still made no sense to Rarity, but at least she knew that what she had heard was true. Twilight would have to be asked about this upon her return, the white unicorn decided. But for now she figured she would get ahead on her work. It was always handy to have a few base models done, so she wouldn't get swamped with work like for her last client. She trotted back to the boutique to do some sewing, and ask about a pet-sitter for Fluttershy.

Twilight carefully made her way down the tower where Shining Armor and Cadance were now living after a lovely day. Cadance was still the sweet, loving mare Twilight had always remembered, and the two still got along wonderfully. She figured that of all the mares for her brother to marry, Cadance was the best one.

Of course she had realized all this back after their wedding, but spending a day with Cadance reminded Twilight of just how wonderful she was. Her old foalsitter's spirit and manner had erased virtually all stress Twilight had been feeling over the rapid events of the last several days.

As she exited the tower and passed through the courtyard, she overheard two members of the Royal Guard talking. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but they were talking rather loudly. Twilight didn't focus on what they were saying, until she heard something that caught her attention.

“So, any news from the captain yet? Ever since that scouting party came back, he just up and left for the border to the Frozen North. Took some good guards with him, too.”

“No, not yet. I'm really starting to wonder what's going on up there. I heard that all pegasi were called upon to help, something about a freak storm or something. Don't know why that would concern the Canterlot Royal Guard, but if they captain was called there too, it must be something serious.”

Twilight dashed over and interrupted the conversation, “Shining Armor is at the Frozen North? I thought he was just escorting some important ponies to Vanhoover! What's going on?”

The guards looked at one another nervously. “Well, I don't know if we're supposed to tell anyone—”

“I'm his sister, and Celestia's personal student. You can trust me with this kind of stuff.”

“Well... apparently somepony had been exploring, re-checking some maps of northern Equestria, and she got caught in a blizzard. She made it out, and filed a complaint to the weather team for an unsafe, unscheduled storm. But here's the thing—the weather team didn't have anything to do with it, even though the storm was still well within Equestria's boundaries. They ruled out the chance of prankster pegasi, since the storm was so massive in scale.”

“But why would Shining Armor be needed for a weather problem, if he isn't a pegasus?” Twilight inquired, but she felt she knew the answer already.

“Well,” one of the guards said, eyes darting side to side, “I didn't tell you this, but the cartographer mare said she saw monsters in the skies. Normally, we dismiss that kind of thing, but there have been more reports from ponies in the area about the same kind of thing. They don't always agree on the specifics of the monsters, but agree that they look huge, and stay in the clouds. Cloudsdale couldn't do anything about it, so Shining Armor himself left just a few days ago to investigate.”

Twilight's eyes widened with worry. She turned around and bolted up Celestia's Tower. The guards shouted in protest and confusion, but Twilight simply shouted back “I need to see the princess, it's important!”

Twilight woke herself up in the room in which she was staying. She didn't remember falling asleep, only that it had taken far too long. Her surprise meeting with Celestia had gone over not quite as well as she had hoped. Apparently Celestia felt there was no danger, and Twilight shouldn't worry about anything, and Twilight couldn't do anything to help, and Twilight felt like she wasn't being taken seriously, yet again.

She growled to herself in frustration. She cynically figured that it was the only reason Celestia had taken notice of the research in the first place. While Celestia was involved with Twilight's studies, it was not usual for the princess to show so much interest in her student's work regarding things unrelated to her studies on the magic of friendship.

The lack of light entering the windows signaled to Twilight that it was still night—perfect for her plan. The absence of ponies running about at night meant that it was easier to be spotted by Princess Luna, but Twilight figured her actions would be better understood by the mare of the night than her sister of the sun.

Twilight packed what supplies she felt she would need into her saddlebags, including a copy of the notes on weather monsters. She hadn't remembered any specifics, but she figured it was better to know too much than too little in this case. Once everything needed was packed, she surreptitiously exited the tower, leaving nothing save a letter addressed to Spike—it contained no specifics, for Twilight was sure Celestia would read it, but it would at least let him know she wouldn't be back for several days.

After she slipped out of Canterlot undetected, she took one long look at the city. She knew that what she was doing was dangerous, but she had to see to it that her brother was fine. And of course, the lure of possibly witnessing creatures she had just been reading and theorizing about was too good to resist. And really, if an investigation was going on, who better to help than the pony who knew almost everything factual about it.

However, before she got very far down the mountain Canterlot was situated on, she saw a strange sight. A large pony—likely a stallion—was walking slowly up the mountain towards the city; this was normal, as some preferred to enter Canterlot before the busyness of the day. The odd part, however, was the pony's silhouette. Though the moonlight was faint, Twilight could make out that the pony was draped in a cloak. Once she got closer, Twilight could see through the dark that there were actually many similarly cloaked ponies following him. Of course, cloaks were normal, but it was a warm night. As the two got nearer, Twilight could see that the hood of the leader's cloak was slightly stretched and pointed at the top, suggesting a unicorn.

Normally, Twilight would prefer to leave strange ponies to their own business, but the overall strangeness of the last few days left her desire to indulge her curiosity uninhibited. Once she approached the unicorn, she noticed that he was moving rather stiffly, as were most of his followers. One of these followers gave a loud, pained grunt and collapsed to the ground. The rest of his group helped him up, and the leader turned and said something. Twilight couldn't understand what he said, but could tell that his voice had a painful-sounding rasp in it. She rushed to the group, which had not yet seen her, and used her magic to create a light. As she shone the light on the surprised group of ponies, she noticed that she recognized them as members of the royal guard. She turned to the leader, who had lowered his hood, and found herself face to face with Shining Armor.

Fluttershy had been flying since she left her cottage that morning, and the strain was starting to take its toll. While she knew she wasn't a fast flier by any standard, she had thought she would have arrived at all the other pegasi by now. The air was becoming noticeably colder, confirming her direction to be correct. While it was good to know she was on the right path, she was starting to regret not taking a scarf from Rarity.

Finally, when she felt ready to collapse, she saw the flickering glow of campfires. She landed hard, and walked towards one of them. As she took a break to warm herself, it dawned on her that it was unusual for pegasi to sleep on the ground. While Fluttershy was an exception, most pegasi slept in the clouds, or at least in trees. Tents didn't make much sense, unless they were for other ponies who had joined the pegasi—and a quick glance upward revealed nopony, and hardly any clouds.

While Fluttershy was contemplating this, a tent behind her opened up as a pegasus poked her head out to see what had landed. The pony walked quietly up to Fluttershy, and took a double-take upon recognizing her.

“Fluttershy!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She couldn't believe her eyes, but the tree-tall jump made by the startled pony informed her that she was not mistaken.

“H-hi, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy replied after returning to the ground.

“What are you doing here? I figured you would have tried to avoid this, like when we had to practice flying to raise water to Cloudsdale.”

“Well, um, that's kind of why I'm here. I learned that everypony's contributions are important, no matter how small. I tried hiding, but I decided that I needed to be strong and help. You know, if everypony is alright with that...”

Rainbow Dash was still having trouble believing her eyes and ears. “But—you never—was that you I heard just now? Did you just now get here? All on your own?”

Fluttershy nodded proudly. “That training for the cyclone really helped. I'm a lot stronger now.” No sooner than she said this, she collapsed. Her friend gave a short yelp of concern and helped her back to her feet. “Okay, maybe not as strong as I thought.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked around. “Hey, why don't we get you into a tent? They're pretty warm; I think they have some kind of enchantment, and—”

“Um, sorry for interrupting, but if you don't mind me asking, why are you all in tents? I thought I was one of only a few pegasi who slept on the ground normally.”

“Oh, that. I can explain later. Basically, we aren't sure if the skies are safe, and the weather is unusually cold, even for this area. There's more, but I can tell you in the morning. You need to get some sleep; you look awful.” Rainbow Dash then proceeded to take her friend to an empty tent—several pegasi had returned to Cloudsdale to report—and returned to her own tent. It was the middle of the night, and she was tired—Fluttershy's sudden appearance was very weird, but nothing worth losing too much sleep over. Rainbow Dash curled up in her tent and quickly drifted back to sleep.

Once dawn had broken, pegasi began emerging from their tents, one by one. Fluttershy slowly slid her head out and looked around. There were pegasi from all over, of all hues and builds. Despite this variety, however, Rainbow Dash was easy to spot, partly because of her unusual mane, and partly because of her loud boasting.

“Yeah, you heard right, I'm the winner of the Young Flier Competition. Rainboom? Yeah, that was me. Did I help stop not one, not two, but three major threats to Equestria? Yep, it's all true.” She then spotted Fluttershy, and started to excuse herself. “Oh, sorry guys, I gotta go do something. See you in a bit when we take off,” she said as she trotted towards her friend.

Fluttershy greeted Rainbow Dash with a friendly “good morning” and stepped fully out of her tent. “So, Rainbow, what's going on? Why do they need so many pegasi?”

“The weather here was getting weird awhile back. Like freaky kind of weird. One moment it would've been clear, and the next it there'd be a monster snowstorm. So, two of our top weather teams from Cloudsdale were sent out to fix it up. When they came back, they were in pretty bad shape. They said they'd flown almost to the mountains, but weren't seeing a single cloud. They started arguing, blaming each other for getting lost—I guess the two teams had a pretty hardcore rivalry going on already.

“Anyway, they started fighting, and then BAM—outta nowhere, a blizzard. They tried to break the clouds, but couldn't—they'd kick, and it was like the clouds were moving around them. They said it was as if the clouds were alive! They even thought they heard howls and groans, only the kind monsters make, not wind. Spooky, right?”

“Right...” Fluttershy replied quietly. Something about this seemed familiar, but she just couldn't put her hoof on it. Rainbow Dash kept talking to her.

“Anyway, they came back to Cloudsdale with all their feathers in a ruffle, and some more teams were sent. None of them could do anything about the storms, so Cloudsdale sent that call out. We're all grounded for now because the skies aren't considered safe for sleeping until we figure out this weather. There was a group from the Royal Guard here, but a bunch of them left back to Canterlot. I don't really know what they were up to, but I think they were supposed to figure out what was going on. So we're basically sitting here, twiddling our hooves until we figure out a battle plan.”

“Battle? Oh, my. Isn't that a bit dramatic?”

“Nope, I'm pretty sure that's what we're all calling it. This storm attacks us, so we attack it back—as soon as we figure out how to fight it.”

The two stood around, talking, as the rest of the camp came to life. Some ponies were cooking, while others were singing encouraging songs. Fluttershy now felt she understood the reason for calling all the pegasi, once she saw that even those with talents unrelated to flying and weather were still being incredibly helpful. She was getting ready to ask somepony for some food, when the camp's air was pierced by several shrieks and screams. Everypony looked up, and saw a small group of pegasus flying towards them from the north.

“Help! The storm is coming, the storm is coming!” one of them yelled to the camp as she circled around.

“Ha, finally! I was getting tired of all this standing around!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she took off into the air with several like-minded ponies. She flew high to get a good view, and got a good look at the storm.

It was only about halfway from the northern mountains to the camp, but the mass of dark clouds stretched long and far up and down the range. The clouds looked hard and dark, not soft and puffy like the clouds she used for light snow during winter. She thought she heard faint howls from the clouds, but figured it was only the wind rushing past her as she and her fellow pegasi flew at them in formation. Rainbow Dash felt the familiar adrenaline rush as she sped towards the mass, ready to blast some clouds.

The swarm of pegasi and the dark clouds grew closer quickly, and the two clashed with a sound like thunder. Fluttershy flapped slowly behind, trying to figure out what she could do to help, and regretting her inability to fly so fast. That frustration soon turned to relief, which turned to horror, as she saw what was happening to the pegasi in the front as they clashed with the strange clouds. Pegasi were dropping from the sky like flies, after disappearing into the dark mass. She saw something familiar in the clouds, and suddenly remembered what had been so familiar about the “living clouds.” She turned back southeast, towards Canterlot. She needed help. She needed Twilight Sparkle.

TO BE CONTINUED