Meteorology

by altonyc

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure
Length: 25341

Strange weather and monsters leads to adventure.

Upon reviewing some notes on Equestria's history, Twilight Sparkle discovers something interesting regarding natural disasters in Equestria. Her simple trip to report in Canterlot ends with the start of an adventure into lands beyond the Equestrian border, with the well-being of Equestria itself in the balance!

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-04 20:31:56 UTC

Discovery

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

Unity

Altonyc

Unity

Twilight Sparkle jumped with surprise, and then held her brother in a tight embrace. “Shining Armor! You're alright! What happened?”

He opened his mouth to talk, but could manage only a hoarse whisper. One of the stallions following him spoke in his place. “We were sent north to investigate odd weather patterns and reports of strange beings. When we arrived, we saw that there were already many pegasi camping near the border. I couldn't count how many were there, and there were still more trickling in. We met with their leader, who told us that her top weather teams had run into a storm that they couldn't deal with, and that she had sent out for the help of all pegasi. We figured that any weather considered so serious by Cloudsdale was cause for worry, and decided to send a group—us—back to Canterlot for backup.

“Instead of heading in a straight line for Canterlot, we opted to travel east along the northern border, and then head straight south for Canterlot. We figured that if the storm was still around, we would be able to see it and observe it for ourselves. Well, we walked along the base of the mountains, and didn't see any sign of the storm we'd heard of, so we started heading south. No sooner had we turned our backs on the north than the skies darkened, filled with dark grey clouds.”

“The clouds just appeared, with no reason or warning? Were you doing anything right before the clouds came?” Twilight had a feeling she knew what kind of problem they were facing, but had to hear the answer to be sure.

“We weren't doing anything, really. Well, some of us were arguing about whether Celestia or Luna was the best princess, but that doesn't have anything to do with clouds.” He gave a quiet chuckle. “We were getting pretty heated about it, actually. Seems silly now.”

That response confirmed Twilight's suspicions—to an extent. There was still something not adding up, but she could figure that out later.

The stallion continued, “Anyway, the storm seemed to appear from nowhere, and we were quickly in the thick of it. The sky was dark, and snow and ice was flying through the air all around us. Captain Armor was able to eventually lead the unicorns out by creating a shield around us, but it took awhile. The surprise of the storm made it hard for them to concentrate, and even once the shield was up, there was some snow and ice trapped inside with us. Felt kind of like being in a snow globe. The snow inside settled down, and the other earth ponies and I ran around keeping the unicorns warm and focused and whatnot. Our pegasi were—or are, for all I know—still back at the main camp with the other fliers. Well, we thought we were done for, but we kept working together and making sure everypony was alright. The unicorns kept the shield up while we helped keep them strong and focused, and the storm finally went away.”

Twilight and the group continued walking up the road, and entered Canterlot. As they started the climb towards the Royal Tower, the guard whom she had been speaking with remarked, “Oh, I almost forgot—though I don't know how I could have. The clouds and wind were howling. And not like normal wind howling, but like a monster howling. I thought I saw something moving in the clouds, too, but it was probably just my eyes playing tricks on me.”

Twilight stopped. “I actually suspected as much.” She ignored the looks of surprise on the guards, and simply said, “Listen, you all are tired and sick. You should rest for the night, so you don't hurt yourselves more. I'll go tell Luna that you're back, and what happened—I'm pretty sure she's already seen us, but it would be polite to tell her personally.

Shining Armor opened his mouth to protest, but when he could muster no noise to complain, he motioned for the group to head to the barracks. The siblings continued up the Royal Tower, Twilight to speak with Luna, Shining Armor to meet with Cadance. The two walked up in silence, save the occasional cough or wheeze from the white stallion.

Twilight was glad she had found Quill's work as soon as she did; she would have had no idea what was going on otherwise. But, armed with the knowledge from the books and notes, coupled with the description the guard had detailed, she was sure she knew what was happening. She just had to explain everything to Luna and Celestia—and Celestia had already seen some of Twilight's notes.

“Don't worry, Shining Armor. I think I know what's going on, and how to stop it. Now, go rest up and let Cadance know you're safe. We might end up needing the two of you to help solve this problem.”

Shining Armor looked at her quizzically, but was too tired to really question her. Twilight walked him into his home, then continued on her own to the top of the tower. She knocked on the large double doors leading to the dark princess's balcony, and the enchanted entry slowly opened on its own. Twilight trotted in softly, just in case the princess was busy with something. Luna had gotten much better controlling herself since the Nightmare Night celebration, but she still had a tendency to lose her temper.

Twilight walked out towards the balcony, and saw Luna standing at her usual place near the edge, staring at her. The princess of the night inquired, with only a slight excess in volume, “Twilight Sparkle, is there something you would like to discuss with us? Perhaps regarding the reason you tried to sneak out of Canterlot, or the reason you return with members of the Royal Guard?”

Twilight knew the princess would have seen her return, but didn't realize she had been seen  while leaving. She replied clearly, “Yes. Both, actually. And I believe the two to be related.”

“Please, take a seat.” Luna motioned to what appeared to be a well-worn blue couch. Twilight hesitated, as her limited experience with the princess thus far had not suggested Luna to be capable of being... casual. Luna smiled and, as if reading her thoughts, added, “We have been making attempts to be less attached to the old royal ways—our voice has softened much, has it not? Our chairs of gold and silver were most uncomfortable, and the one called Davenport convinced us to buy a sofa whilst we were visiting Ponyville. We find this seating to be most comfortable. But come now, you did not come to hear me talk about my furniture. Tell us of these recent events.”

Twilight cleared her throat, and began to explain, “As you are no doubt aware, there have apparently been a series of strange storms in Equestria close to the Frozen North. There have also been reports of monstrous sounds and reports that the storm clouds have lifelike qualities. The pegasi that were sent from Cloudsdale were unable to do anything about these strange clouds, and—”

“Wait. How dost thou know of the weather teams' fates? That news was not spread.”

“Oh, you know: hearsay, inferences, and the classified file I may or may not have taken and read when I took Shining Armor back to his quarters. Anyway, I believe I know what these clouds are, and why they are here.”

“Yes?”

“They are windigos, and are seeking food. Most of Equestria believes them to be only legends, but early Equestrian history has so many similar instances of storms breaking out when the tribes were nearing war that I believe they must have existed. And, based on what I've heard and read, I think they still exist. Normally, these creatures stay within the Frozen North, but for some reason they've come to Equestria. Now, I've been thinking things over, and have come up with several theories as to why they are coming south. Among these theories, one stands out to me: they are simply hungry. These monsters have a connection with large-scale, widespread feelings of hatred and disharmony. But, they are showing up at seemingly petty and non-serious conflicts. In most animals, hunger breeds desperation, and the windigos' desperation is driving them to seek and feed off of whatever misgivings they find.”

“I see. And, please forgive us, but may we ask what you are doing?” Luna interrupted. While Twilight had been speaking, a quill and a piece of parchment had begun to levitate.

“Hm? Oh, I'm just writing all this down. I'd rather say this and write it once than have to repeat myself over and over again for Celestia, or a hearing, or anypony else.” The quill started scribbling furiously away at the parchment. “Please, just try not to mind it.

“Now where was I? Oh, yes. The windigos are in Equestria for food—which, if you remember, for them is comprised of negative and hateful feelings.”

“But, Twilight Sparkle, how does knowing why they are here help us understand how to deal with them? You cannot expect all in Equestria to be completely happy all the time; it simply isn't realistic. Yet I will not allow my subjects to fall victim to these creatures.”

“That brings me to my other point. From what I've heard, there are dark grey clouds where the windigos travel. This conflicts with records of Equesrtia's founding, which show windigos and their clouds to be more or less a faded dark blue. I can only assume that means they have been changed from something somehow. Now, we already figured they're here for food, right? I hypothesize that something caused whatever they were feeding on before to disappear, and that something may very well be related to whatever caused the color change in the monsters.”

“And what is this cause? Simply tell us what, and we shall have it dealt with immediately!”

Here Twilight's ears drooped. “Well—that is... I don't know.”

Luna spoke with normal volume, obviously trying to be sensitive. “I see. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, Twilight Sparkle, but without an actual way to stop these creatures, I don't see how it truly helps. We two must inform our sister of this, as well as the older and wiser ponies in Canterlot. Together, we shall find a way to rid our land of these invaders.”

“I hope so, Princess, I hope so.” The unicorn let out an unexpected yawn. “Well, I should probably get some rest. I might be staying in Canterlot longer than I thought.”

“Yes, rest. You shall meet us in the assembly chamber in the morning, an hour after our—my—sister raises the sun.” Luna rose from the sofa. “Now, if you will excuse me, I will return to watch over the night.”

Twilight got up, bowed, and left for her quarters, quill and parchment floating behind her. The night had proved as eventful as the day; sleep would be more than welcome. She entered her room, curled up on her bed, and mentally went over the day's events again. There was something about the pegasi she remembered hearing from the royal guard. If they were all called to deal with the storms, she was sure Rainbow Dash would be there—such a show-off would never pass up an opportunity to exhibit her flying skills. Twilight hoped Rainbow Dash wouldn't do anything too insane or risky; she didn't really need to prove herself, in Twilight's opinion. Twilight was fairly certain she didn't really have to worry about Fluttershy heading towards danger, at least. Sure, she had been getting more confident in her abilities lately, but she wasn't one to chase after danger.

Twilight continued going over things in her head until her eyelids drooped, and finally closed shut. She fell asleep almost immediately, thoroughly exhausted.

Twilight's eyes snapped open. She had been happily resting, soaking in the warm sunlight as it entered her room, when she realized the sun was up. Hurriedly gathering her writings from the night before, she took off for the assembly chamber in a full gallop. Tardiness would not do today.

At the base of the tower, she entered the giant doors into the chamber. Thankfully, she wasn't as late as she thought—almost everypony had arrived, but the two princesses were not yet present. She took this time to walk up a set of stairs into the upper level of the chamber, where all the scholarly ponies were getting settled. Twilight approached the blue mare who had led the earlier hearing of Twilight's notes.

“Hello, ma'am. Will you be leading the listening again?” Twilight asked politely.

The blue mare gave a short chuckle. “Of course, if you call it that. Somepony has to keep them in line. They're always trying to prove who's greatest amongst themselves, even when something more important is going on. I swear, it's as if some ponies have nothing to do but boast of the past once they get old.”

Twilight smiled. “Oh, I don't know if age has anything to do with it. One of my friends is a pegasus, and while you can always rely on her to come through for you, she can be pretty full of herself. But at least she has talent to boast about—once, I met this unicorn who was constantly bragging about all these great and powerful feats she did, when really she was faking. I'll admit, she was a good show-pony, but definitely all talk.”

The old mare laughed. “Oh, that sounds just like my daughter! She grew up here, and I think the power games around here got to her head.” Her face grew somber. “actually... she left a few years ago. Said she had to 'prove herself.'” Twilight stood awkwardly, unsure how to respond. The mare started tearing up. “Oh, the princesses are here. You should get down now.”

“Well that was a bit of an awkward turn for the conversation. I didn't even get her name,” Twilight muttered to herself as she returned to the center of the chamber, refocused. She took a quick glance at her notes, and prepared to address the assembly. Everypony appeared ready so, seeing no reason to waste time, she dove right into her explanation. She essentially told the assembly everything she had told Luna—the identity of the windigos, and why they were likely in Equestria.

She was just beginning to explain that she believed something had cut down on their native food source when there was a commotion from outside the room. Everypony in the chamber looked towards the door, which shuddered with a loud thud. There was another thud, then the door burst open altogether, and a yellow blur flew inside. Twilight gasped as she recognized the figure now lying on the floor.

She rushed to Fluttershy's side. The pegasus was breathing heavily, and seemed to have trouble moving any further. She started trying to say something, and Twilight had to lean in close to hear her.

“Tw-Twilight... all the pegasi, they're... I don't know. They couldn't beat the storm. I'm sorry, I should've stayed and helped, but I ran away. You need to help them...” She coughed a few times, then fell silent.

“Somepony get her to a bed! I can't tell what exactly, but this pony has been through some kind of ordeal. She needs help.” As soon as Twilight had finished speaking, two members of the royal guard appeared seemingly out of nowhere and carried Fluttershy out of the room. She addressed the assembly, including the two princesses. “An army of pegasi couldn't stop the storm. It seems we need to find a way to send the windigos back north, and I have an idea. The spell Shining Armor and Cadance cast to banish the Changeling Army was powered by love; if they could cast a similar spell, I imagine it could have an effect not unlike that of the hidden magic of friendship described in the story of the founding of Equestria. As soon as Shining Armor is healthy, we should see if this will work.”

Twilight galloped out of the chamber, and started the climb to get to Shining Armor and Cadance. She saw Fluttershy being carried away, and the sight caused her worry. While Twilight could tell Fluttershy would be perfectly fine, it was still very disconcerting to see her friend so tired and hurt. She knew she would have to visit her before leaving Canterlot. Besides wanting to be kind for her friend, Twilight was also curious as to what Fluttershy was doing at the Frozen North. Fluttershy wasn't lazy, but was fairly good at hiding. And Rainbow Dash would have been respectful enough not to force her friend to join something so dangerous... Twilight's thoughts trailed off as she reached the door to her brother's habitation. She rapped smartly at the door.

Cadance answered the door. “Oh, Twilight! What's going on? Shining Armor showed up last night, and he can hardly talk!” The eyes of the pink princess were wide with worry. “I'm using magic to help him, but I don't have any idea what happened.”

Twilight walked inside as she started explaining, “There's a lot going on here, but basically there are monsters in Equestria causing blizzards up north. I think I know how to stop them, but I need you and Shining Armor. Do you think he will be healthy enough to travel anytime soon?”

Cadance was taken aback by the news. “Monsters? In Equestria? There have always been monsters, especially in the forests and near the borders. Is it really something that serious or unusual?”

“Well, it's serious enough that Cloudsdale and Canterlot couldn't stop it. However, I think that if the power of the love between you and Shining Armor was enough to banish the Changelings, it should be able to push back the monsters—windigos.”

Cadance dropped her eyes uncertainly, “I don't know... that wasn't exactly normal magic like what we do on command. I'm not sure if we can do the exact same thing again.” She looked up with determination in her eyes. “But I know we can try. With a little magic, Shining Armor should be better by tomorrow. He was in pretty bad condition, but we have powerful unicorns in Canterlot. Tomorrow, we'll go north and send these monsters back to the frozen lands.” She paused before continuing, “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a husband to heal. Would you like to help? Every bit helps him heal faster, and you're pretty good with magic.:

“I'm sorry,” Twilight answered, “but there is somepony else I need to talk to.” As much as she wanted to stay and help her brother, there was more information she needed. Besides, she was sure Cadance knew what she was doing and didn't really need her help. Twilight left the tower and made her way to the city levels of Canterlot.

Fluttershy lay silent on her hospital bed. The amount of flying she had done in just under two days was nothing short of incredible to her; she had no idea she had the capacity within her to fly so much. It would hopefully be a long time before she questioned her ability to fly after this ordeal, so at least there was some silver lining to this whole affair. She still couldn't stop thinking about that image, pegasi dropping like swatted flies from the storm clouds—

Her thoughts were finally interrupted when she heard the door to her room open, and she attempted to turn her head to see who it was. Her muscles were not allowing such movement, however. The sound of somepony walking towards her grew gradually closer, and Fluttershy looked to the side as much as her eyes would turn, and saw Twilight.

“Fluttershy... I know you must be exhausted, and probably a bit scared, but I need to get a better idea of what happened to the pegasi. This could be really important. Can you tell me more about what happened?”

Fluttershy tried to speak as loud as she could, but could still hardly make her voice heard. She noticed Twilight straining to hear her. “I wanted to help, Twilight. I wanted to show that I could fly, and be a useful pegasus. It felt so good helping raise water from Ponyville to Cloudsdale, and I wanted to prove I could be helpful again.” Twilight had moved closer, and Fluttershy could see her friend's poorly masked surprise. “I flew straight from Ponyville to the camp on the northern border. Apparently, everything had been quiet, and nopony was having any trouble. Then, in the morning...” Fluttershy trailed off and closed her eyes. “They were like those things you were talking about with that green unicorn. The clouds were monsters, scary monsters.”

“Please, Fluttershy. I know it can't be easy, but my brother and Cadance and I, along with much of the royal guard, are going to try and send the windigos back north, and I want to know if we should keep an eye out for any pegasi that might need our help.”

“Twilight, you don't get it. There weren't just a few pegasi that got hit by the storm. All of the pegasi got attacked. Well, I guess we were the ones attacking, but there wasn't anything we could do. I...I saw Rainbow Dash be one of the first to enter the clouds. She's the best flier in Equestria, and she couldn't even dent the clouds! She went in...then I saw her dropping straight down out of the storm, towards the ground. The same thing happened to the rest of the peagasi, except those who tried to turn around, but they were too late. The storm—or the monsters in the storm—chased after them. If you want to help the pegasi, you should hurry. I doubt all of them are really badly hurt, but there are just so many...they were flying really high up, and just fell. I never flew towards the clouds, I...I...I chickened out. Like always.”

“Fluttershy,” Twilight said firmly, “you don't 'always' chicken out. You helped send off a dragon, you stared down a cockatrice, you helped defeat the Changelings and Discord! If you hadn't flown away, we wouldn't know about all this. The situation is more serious than I thought—I know the pegasi couldn't break the clouds, because they weren't clouds. But I didn't know that so many pegasi had fallen. I'll make sure we bring as many ponies who can help medically as we can. We need to get the pegasi away from that area.” She thought for a moment. “Actually, they might not be hurt too bad. Pegasi have magic related to weather and flight, so it's possible they weren't hurt too bad by the fall. And if they're frozen, we can thaw them out. I'll do everything I can to make sure they're safe.”

“Thank you, Twilight.” Fluttershy looked at her friend again before closing her eyes. She was tired enough, falling asleep quickly. Twilight exited the room, closing the door silently behind her. She figured that the “good-dreams” spell she cast would be enough to help her friend get some much-needed rest, without interruption by nightmares. She found some hospital staff to discuss the possibility of bringing staff north to help the pegasi, and later made her way back to the Royal Tower to talk with Celestia about quick preparations for the short journey. It wouldn't take more than a day to get to the storm site, according to Twilight's estimates. The way back would be slower, as injured pegasi would likely take a toll on travel speed, but Twilight was fine with that.

As she walked up towards the tower, she wrote another letter to Spike, giving him a short, non-alarming account of what was going on. That thought brought her to thinking about Ponyville, and the rest of her friends. News had a way of traveling fast in Equestria, and she hoped her friends wouldn't worry excessively; Twilight hadn't been away from Ponyville—alone, at least—for more than a few days at a time since she took up residence in the library. She figured the issue would be resolved shortly, she could return home soon, and there would be no reason for further worry. So, she decided not to worry about the present, but to focus on preparations for the departure.

“ '...so don't worry, we'll probably be back in just a few days,' ” Spike finished.

“ A few days? We're s’posed tah wait days fer the weather tah be all controlled again? The trees need water! We just had that storm, but the pegasi never put new clouds up! The acres are gettin’ scorched! If we don' get some rain soon—”

“Applejack, we all know the weather is... less than ideal,” Rarity cut off. “Why, ponies don't usually wear—and therefore buy—clothes when it's warm enough as is. But there simply isn't anything we can do right now.”

Spike read through the letter again, silently this time. When he had received the letter from Twilight, he invited Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie over to the library, as he figured her friends would be curious as to what she was up to.  The weather had been unmaintained for over two days, and the lack of clouds, rain, and pegasi were beginning to cause alarm and worry throughout Ponyville.

“Ah guess you're right, Rarity. An’ I guess if they can grow an orchard in sunny Appleloosa, ahre trees can handle a few more days without rain. It's jus’ a might stressful not knowing, is all.”

Spike couldn't agree more. He prided himself in his assisting ability, but he had no one to assist now. It was nice at first, not having Twilight telling him what to do, but he wanted to be useful.

An excited squeal from Pinkie Pie interrupted his thoughts. “I have an idea! Let's throw a welcome back party for Twilight! We have so much time to get one ready, we can make it really super!”

“Pinkie, how can you think about parties at a time like this? How could that help at all?”

“Oh, Applejack, I'm always thinking about parties! Besides, I'd rather plan a party than sit around, moping about not being able to do anything.”

“Pinkie Pie's right,” Spike spoke up. “We already agreed there's nothing we can do about the weather. Applejack, it's not harvest season yet, and Rarity, you already said that business is slow. Throwing a party might be just what we need to get our minds off this.”

“You're right, Spike,” Rarity declared. “We should put ourselves to use, making a warm welcome back for our friends. I can't imagine Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy could have had a particularly comfortable experience up north. A party might be just the thing to help them wind down.”

Ponyville had been in a state of disarray since the pegasi left. Not only was the weather not being controlled, but other pegasi jobs were being missed. The usual mailmare was gone, and the only other postpony was a decrepit old earth pony who moved much too slow to do his job alone. With Fluttershy gone, many of the small animals were becoming unruly; Rarity had enlisted Sweetie Belle and her friends to take care of the animals, but none of them seemed to have a talent for animal care. At least it gave Scootaloo something to do to keep her mind off of being too young—and flightless—to join the pegasi. She'd been so disappointed when Rainbow Dash had to fly away.

Actually, Rarity thought it was rather odd for the pegasi to be called away in this manner. There should have been somepony who would have kept some pegasi in the towns to keep the weather regulated. The pegasi always had a sense of community and camaraderie which could explain the desire to gather in large numbers, but they were also responsible and diligent in their pegasus-specific jobs, especially weather control.

She shrugged the thought off. Whatever the reason, the pegasi were gone for a few days. The creative process always focused Rarity's mind and helped her relax, so she decided to get to work. The party would need decorations, and the designer would provide.

Twilight prepared herself for sleep. Thankfully, most of her things were already packed up and ready for departure in the morning, seeing as she had never unpacked her items from the night before. She needed only to drift off until morning, which should be easy considering the way things were going.

Cadance had worked wonders, and Shining Armor was already fit to travel. His personal magic would be weak due to the strain he suffered trying to protect the guard, but physically he was fine, with nothing wrong save a hoarse voice. The rest of the guard had been treated by many of the powerful unicorns of Canterlot, and were similarly ready to move. Strong earth ponies from the city and countryside were abundant—there was a constant demand for construction services from the nobility—and the earth ponies had been recruited into a volunteer force of sorts to help carry whichever pegasi would be unable to walk or fly. Fluttershy had suffered no real damage from her ordeal, and would be perfectly fine with just a little more rest.

Finally, to top it all off, the assembly was sure to be convinced of Twilight's claims now. The events occurring had so many similarities to events that Quill had researched that it would be folly to dismiss the connections. Twilight was sure that if her plan for repelling the windigos worked out, it would be more or less proof of the connection between windigos and pony emotions. And if windigos could be truly proven to feed off of emotions, then it may be possible that other such creatures could exist, and if their nature could be figured out—

She tried to quiet her mind. Everything was good and didn't require more thought. She needed to get to sleep, regardless of how excited she was. She closed her eyes, but her thoughts continued to keep her awake. Finally, her mind gave in to her body's demands, and she floated out of consciousness.

The Royal Guard was assembled in formation at the Canterlot gates, Shining Armor and Cadance at their front. The volunteer force for carrying the pegasi was congregated at the base of the mountain, with Twilight checking off names and re-checking the number of volunteers against the estimated number of pegasi.

It would take some figuring out, but Twilight figured all the pegasi could be moved with the help of large wagons. The wagons weren't assembled yet, as there was no path large enough for them. On the way up they would be clearing a large enough path. The trees north of Canterlot weren't nearly as dense as those of the Everfree forest, so it wouldn't be a particularly difficult task. She had the blueprints for the wagons with her, as well as several blank pieces of parchment. If there was anything to be studied, she didn't want to miss it.

It was still night, for the time being, but Luna had risen the moon in full that evening, and it still shone brightly, though now low in the sky. The gathered ponies waited, idly talking amongst themselves. Then, the moon slipped down below the horizon. The sudden darkness brought a hush over the crowd. The light, after several moments of pitch-darkness, began to stream from the opposite horizon.

Everypony looked up towards the castle. Even those gathered at the base of the mountain could see the mane of Celestia, its different colors catching and projecting light from the sun she was rising with a prismatic effect. The princess, forelegs raised and white coat radiant, made for a majestic sight. Though it was a sight common to many, it nevertheless filled them with awe.

They did not stand around watching for long, however. The gates of Canterlot opened, and the guards began their march. The crowd of volunteers cheered and began moving north. From her tower, Celestia observed the massive group, ready to help their friends and defend Equestria from disaster. It warmed her heart everytime she was reminded of the power of friendship. These ponies did not know what it was like, living in a time of chaos and unhappiness. They were different from those ponies of the ancient past, of the age of—and even before—Discord. Those she were watching over now were good, and peaceful. She knew the windigos would be banished for sure—what she didn't know was what would happen afterward.

Twilight flopped down onto the ground. They had been walking nearly all day, and she was understandably exhausted. But this exhaustion was well-earned, for they had reached their destination: a clearing immediately south of the pegasus camp. She looked around her at the strong mares and stallions that had accompanied her, and marveled at their lack of any sign of fatigue. They, she figured, would have no trouble transporting the pegasi; the earth ponies had been stamping down dirt and even cutting some trees to make a path back to Canterlot, and they still looked like they could go on for miles.

Twilight unfurled the blueprints for the wagons on which the ponies were to carry the pegasi. She gave instructions to the volunteer force, and they assembled the wagons from parts they were carrying. Once it was clear there would be no trouble finishing the cart, and Twilight had rested for a few minutes, she decided to walk a bit farther north where some of the bushwhackers had already continued. After only a couple minutes of trotting, she came to the wrecked pegasus camp.

It looked like a storm had hit it—which, Twilight thought, made perfect sense. There were tent poles, rope, and canvas strewn about the clearing, and fire pits that were now small pools of ash-filled water. Twilight looked around, but didn't see any of the trailblazing volunteers. Just as she was ready to turn around, a brown stallion emerged from the edge of the clearing, carrying an indigo pegasus on his back. More noise came from the bushes around the camp, and more ponies came forward. Most pegasus ponies shivering, and some were groaning in pain.

Twilight walked back to her camp, deciding to wait, rest, and see if anypony she knew was found. It was not yet dark, so the unicorns of the Royal Guard started to set up camp while the earth ponies of the Guard and volunteer force headed out to find more pegasi. The plan was to gather the pegasi and start moving them back to Canterlot before luring in the windigos. Once the pegasi were clear, Twilight would start an argument among the guard, drawing the windigos in, and Shining Armor and Cadance would use their combined magic to repel the windigos back to the Frozen North.

She found the tent where Shining Armor was meeting with his second-in-commands, and entered to confirm the plans. A short discussion was all that was needed to ascertain that Cadance and Shining Armor, and Shining Armor’s lieutenants, were still up to the task. The fact that an argument was to be intentionally started was kept secret from the bulk of the Guard, to ensure the negative feelings were real enough to attract the windigos. Twilight had no idea what could get the Royal Guard riled up, but Shining Armor assured her that there were always disagreements to be had among the proud stallions. She accepted the answer as satisfactory, and retired to her own tent for the night. A well-rested mind would be crucial, for she needed to ensure her magic was strong in case of any unexpected problems while dealing with the windigos.

There hung a thick mist in the air the following morning. The sun had barely risen by the time the pegasi were beginning to be taken away. Once a train of around fifty carts had been started, Twilight met with Shining Armor and Cadance. They led the Royal Guard north, past the deserted pegasus camp.

“I hope you know what you're doing, Twilight.” There was a certain tone of uncertainty in Cadance's voice—nopony, even she, had been unaffected by the state of the pegasi. Most of the winged ponies had fallen from a great height, and suffered anything from bruises to broken bones. Thankfully, their flight-related magic prevented any life-threatening injuries.

“Relax Cadance. Actually, be excited! This could be history in the making! There have never been any well-recorded encounters with windigos in Equestria.” Twilight levitated a quill and parchment from her saddlebags. Then, motioning at the Royal Guard she said, “Now, as mean as it may seem, we need to get these ponies fighting.”

“I can take care of that,” Shining Armor croaked through his injured voice. “There are a few subjects that can always get arguments and anger going.” Motioning to one of his men to repeat his words loud enough for all to hear, he asked, “So, you're all familiar with that popular play in Canterlot, Cross-Eyed Lovers? Well, they changed the actress playing the main character, Bubbly Blonde, because they were afraid her portrayal might be offensive! What do you think about that?”

Instantly, the group of organized stallions began shouting in anger at oversensitivity, the betrayal of fans, and many other topics that may or may not have been rational at all. Twilight was stunned by the reaction—she didn't think a group of stallions could get so worked up over a play, especially a romance play meant for the...well...romantics. She figured that, target demographic or not, they were entitled to their personal opinions.

Regardless of how odd the cause of anger seemed, the soldiers were getting quite worked up. Twilight felt a cold, northern wind approaching. She looked up into the sky, and saw a dark mass of clouds rapidly approaching. Her heart racing, she began scribbling away furiously on her parchment, listing every detail she could see, despite having not much to see yet. As the wind grew stronger, everypony began to quiet down, and lifted their eyes toward darkening sky. A terrifying sight awaited their eyes.

Transparent, pale blue, monstrous horses were galloping in circles through the air, whipping up the clouds around them. The frigid air seemed to suggest that snow would soon be falling, however it soon became apparent that these windigo-clouds dropped not the fine snowflakes of Cloudsdale, but pieces of ice. The unicorns worked together to create a protective shield to keep the hail out, and the warmth in. Twilight assisted, but kept part of her mind busy writing notes on every detail about the weather, the monsters, and anything else that could possibly be worth mentioning.

“Well, Twilight, they came. Shining Armor and I are ready—shall we send these creatures away before we are frozen?”

Twilight finished several lines of notes before replying, “Yes, Cadance. This should work, but be ready to leave in a hurry if it doesn't.”

The couple nodded, bowed their heads towards one another, and focused. Magical power swirled around them, just like when banishing Chrysalis. Twilight had to shield her eyes from the intense light, but could hear the windigos above slowing down. Then, with a piercing sound, a wall of energy quickly expanded from the loving ponies, and Twilight opened her eyes to see the windigos being violently cast north through the skies. She could not tell exactly how far they would fly, but she could tell that the angle and velocity suggested that they would not be coming near Equestria again.

The air grew warmer, and the wind stopped blowing. Shining Armor and Cadance appeared strained from the amount of magic, but everypony seemed unharmed. There was much cheering by all, with many friendly hugs of relief exchanged. Twilight embraced Cadance and Shining Armor, laughing in relief. She knew her brother and Cadance would be successful, but actually being in the storm had been a harrowing experience. It was worth it, however: Equestria was safe from an icy threat, and Twilight had gleaned valuable and tangible information on the windigos. After a few moments of celebratory jubilation, Twilight, Cadance, Shining Armor, and the Royal Guard regrouped, and headed back to Canterlot.

It was a job well done, and they would be back in Canterlot by nightfall. The weather of the white city was unicorn-controlled, but Twilight was betting that her friends in Ponyville would be happy to have weather control back, even though it may be a day or two before pegasi were back in flying shape. There would likely be questions asked of the pegasus leadership as to why so many pegasi were called, with no plan in place for the weather of the cities under pegasus-controlled weather.

However, it would be time before an inquiry was initiated. Right now, it was time to get the pegasi healthy, and return Equestria to normal. The ponies marched away, leaving the deserted campsites behind them. Had they waited longer, they may have seen a pair of pupil-less blue eyes watching them, from shadows as black as the creature's body.

Infiltration

Altonyc

Infiltration

“Twilight Sparkle, you have once again proven your immense value to Equestria. Not only did you discover an explanation for a mysterious aspect of our world, but your quick thinking may have quite possibly saved the land from the worst winter it has ever known.”

Twilight's heart swelled at the praise of her mentor. She was always modest, but that didn't stop her from taking pride in her abilities. After her run-in with Trixie, Twilight made sure to never be a show-off; she did, however, learn that it was perfectly acceptable to have powers to be proud of. Whatever did happen to that silly pony...

“Now, my student, I think it's time you get back to your friends in Ponyville. I believe they're expecting you,” the princess said with a knowing look.

She must have already sent Spike a letter. “What about Fluttershy? I thought the doctors said she was still a bit 'out of it'.”

“Oh, all ponies take some time getting readjusted when they haven't been on their hooves or wings for any length of time; I recall receiving a letter about a certain Rainbow Dash some time ago. In any case, Fluttershy is likely already at the train station waiting for you.”

“That's good to hear! I guess I'd better get going, then. Goodbye, Princess Celestia.”

“Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle. Don't forget to write!”

Fluttershy stood at the train station, expectantly watching the station entrance. As much as she wanted to get home, she didn't want to be rude to Twilight. Also, she didn't want to make such a journey alone, especially after this particular stay in Canterlot. Normally, she didn't mind the city because nopony seemed to give any attention to anypony else, making it easy to avoid notice. But, this particular time, she felt as if she was being watched the entire time. When she left to come to the train station, she had constantly checked to see if she was being followed, but never saw the same pony around. But I know I was being watched.

Upon seeing Twilight enter the station, Fluttershy hurried over to her friend, wings flapping strong as ever, and held her in a friendly embrace.

“Twilight, I heard about all you did! Facing down the windigos, that must have been so frightening!” She released her friend and trotted alongside her towards the train.

“Well, I knew my plan was going to work, but it was still disconcerting looking into all those eyes of the storm. The windigos are absolutely fearsome.”

As the two started to enter the train, they heard a galloping from behind them. Fluttershy looked, and saw a red mare running for the train. As the hurried mare entered, she bumped hard into Fluttershy, nearly knocking her down to the ground.

“Hey!” Twilight shouted. “That wasn't very polite! Come back here and...” Twilight looked around the train car and saw nopony in it. “...apologize? Come on, Fluttershy, let me help you up. Even around here, there are some crazy ponies.” She helped lift her friend to her feet, and the two sat down in the train car. Fluttershy took a glance around, and noticed an envelope laying on the floor.

“What's this?” she wondered aloud while picking it up.

“What's what?” Twilight got up from her seat and levitated the envelope in front of her face. “Hm... Not a normal envelope; I can't tell what it's made of, but it's not paper. At least, not the kind of paper we use in Equestria.”

“It probably belongs to that mare. She was in such a hurry; she must have dropped it. I'd better return it.”

“Yeah, and maybe you can get an apology out of her while you're at it. She wasn’t exactly thoughtful, plowing into you like that.”

Fluttershy shrugged tentatively. “Oh, I'm sure she had her reasons. I don't want to make a fuss—”

“Fluttershy,” Twilight curtly interrupted, “She wasn’t watching where she was going, and you could have been hurt. You can't just let everypony walk all over you... literally.”

“Oh... alright,” Fluttershy said in ironic submission. “Um... where did she go?”

“Let's go to the end of the train, then from there to the other end. We'll have to see her if we sweep the entire train.” She walked towards the back of the car, Fluttershy quietly following behind her, and began the search. At least it's something to pass the time.

However, after sweeping the car from back to front, the mare was still nowhere to be found. There were many ponies on the train, but none of them resembled her. Nopony they asked had any idea where she went; in fact, it was seeming as if she had disappeared into thin air. Ponies in one car said she had passed through, but there were none in the next cars that had even seen her.

“I don't believe it. It's not possible to just vanish without a trace. And she was an earth pony, so it isn't like she could have just flown away.” Twilight furrowed her brow, trying to puzzle the situation out. “It just doesn't make any sense.”

“Maybe she, um, left the train before it took off?”

“No, the train left rather soon after we got on. And why would she have been so rushed to get on if she was just going to get off? This all seems very suspicious.”

“Suspicious? I’m sure plenty of ponies are always in a hurry.”

Twilight shook her head. “Something just isn't adding up. And after the Changeling incident, I've learned to be a bit more wary of suspicious happenings.

Fluttershy dropped her eyes to the floor. “Well, we don’t know anything about her, so I guess we’ll just assume she’s normal, and not dangerous or scary at all.”

Twilight seemed to miss the hint. “Yeah, knowing more about that mare would help us to understand what's going on here. Wait! You have that letter, right?”

Fluttershy picked up the object the mare had left behind. “The one she dropped?” she spoke around the envelope.

“Yes, that one! Why don't we...you know...”

Fluttershy's eyes grew wide as she realized what her friend was suggesting. “Oh, Twilight, how could you even think about invading somepony's privacy like that? We can't just go reading somepony else's mail; what if it's something personal? What if she finds out?”

“I can reseal it with magic. Listen, I know this isn’t like me, but something about that mare just seemed... off. I know it’s not right, but I’ve just got a bad feeling about this. It would make me feel better knowing there’s just a trivial letter in here instead of something creepy or dangerous.” Twilight carefully applied her magic when opening the envelope, making sure that any telling tears wouldn’t be found on the envelope or its contents. She then levitated out of the envelope... a picture of a familiar pony.

Fluttershy paled and let out a quiet gasp as she found herself face to face with... her own face. “Wh-what? A picture of...me?” Twilight looked no less confused than she had before.

“Okay, this definitely isn't making any sense. Well, maybe it was just a picture from your time with Photo Finish?” Twilight looked as if she were really rasping for an idea, so Fluttershy spoke up.

“Twilight, these last few days, I've felt like I was being watched. Not since we got on the train, but, the whole time in Canterlot, it was like somepony was always looking at me. I figured I was just thinking things, but if there's somepony running around with pictures of me...”

“Well, there are a lot of ponies in Canterlot, and a lot of vigilant guards, so you probably just felt them watching you. And these pictures, well.... Photo Finish always said you had “ze magicks”, so maybe somepony else saw that too, and wanted pictures. The only things in this envelope are pictures, so it's difficult to tell why they're here.”

Fluttershy, noticeably disturbed, sank down in her seat. “Let's just put the pictures back in the envelope and pretend this never happened. The pony who left these behind is gone, so it's not like these pictures mean anything.”

Twilight complied; she could see that the photos were distressing Fluttershy, though Twilight was more intrigued than ever. Once the letters were in the envelope again, she studied the envelope, memorizing all she could about it. She would have to do some studying when she got back to the library.

Twilight walked up to the familiar wooden door. After all of the excitement during her time away, she wanted nothing more than to just lay down and relax. She opened the door, stepped inside, and—

“SURPRISE!” Something landed on Twilight, and her vision was obscured by pink. “Oops! Sorry 'bout that; guess I should've dropped sooner.” Pinkie Pie giggled as she rolled off of her still-dumbstruck friend. “You should've seen the look on your face though. Your eyes were huge!”

Twilight shakily rose to her feet, still a bit dazed. She looked around her, and saw a colorful assortment of balloons and streamers. A banner that was obviously of Rarity's handiwork was suspended over the middle of the room, declaring, “Welcome Home, Everypony!” Applejack, Rarity, and Spike were all behind Pinkie Pie, smiles on their faces.

“Spike shared yer letter with us, an' we decided to throw y'all a party.” Applejack offered Twilight a piece of cake which she politely declined. “Uh, if y'all don' mind me askin', where's Rainbow Dash?”

Rarity looked around and added, “And I don't see Fluttershy anywhere, either.”

“Rainbow Dash is still resting up in Canterlot; she took a real beating from the storm, and isn't quite ready for travel. And Fluttershy,” Twilight took a short pause to think of an unspecific way to explain her nervousness after the photos they found on the train, “She's still a little shaken from the whole ordeal.”

“Really? You said she had been resting a lot since that,” Rarity wondered aloud, slightly confused.

“Oh, you know Fluttershy,” Twilight said uneasily, before quickly changing the subject. “So, how's the weather been?”

“Awful, jus' plain awful!” Applejack blurted out, stomping a hoof down to punctuate her sentence. “There ain't been any clouds to protect the plants from the sun, an' there's no rain to water them.”

“Oh.” Twilight had meant to ask a casual question, forgetting that the absence of the pegasi would have had serious effects on Ponyville. Canterlot's weather was mostly maintained by ancient unicorn magic, so all seemed well in the city while the crisis was going on. “Well, I know that some of the Ponyville pegasi weren't hurt too badly, so we should be getting some clouds from Cloudsdale very soon.”

Pinkie Pie took a bite of cake and asked Twilight, “So, did you meet anypony in Canterlot who might be important later on?”

“'Later on?' What are you talking about, Pinkie?”

“Oops, sorry. Don't want to spoil anything.”

“Spoil? Pinkie, you aren't making any sense. The food looks fine to me.”

“Never mind. So, windigos, huh? That must have been exciting.”

Twilight stood silent for a moment, still confused by the conversation. “Yes, it was pretty exciting—wait a minute, how do you know about that?”

Rarity broke in before Pinkie Pie could answer, “Oh, that's my fault.” Twilight turned to her in surprise. She had no idea how word could have spread so accurately and quickly from Canterlot without pegasi. “You see, Fluttershy overheard you and that green stallion arguing, and she told me what she heard. Then I heard some gossip that sounded related, put two and two together, and figured you extended your stay because you were dealing with whatever it was that was going on. Oh, and that letter you sent to Spike.”

“Oh, right. Forgot about that.” Twilight looked around the library, finally noticing the decorations—many wispy, white streamers were strung above, looking like faint clouds. The sight of streamers reminded Twilight that there was supposed to be a party going on. “Well, pass me some cake, please. I'm famished!” She hadn't eaten anything since leaving Canterlot, and was finally starting to feel it. Luckily for her, Applejack was more than willing to oblige.

“Here ya go. Fresh baked from Sugarcube Corner. Ahd've brought some apples, but we need ta' save 'em , what with the trees getting' scorched an' all.”

Twilight accepted the plate, and sat down in a chair with a sigh of contentment. Equestria was safe, her pegasi friends were fine, she was surrounded by her other friends, and to top it all off, there was even cake. The party was relatively low-key; Pinkie Pie and the others must have predicted that Twilight and the pegasi would be tired. She sat down and chatted with her friends, catching up on what had been going on in Ponyville while she was gone.

After they had been talking for some time, there was a knock on the door, and Twilight got up to answer it. Now who could that be? Upon opening the door, she was surprised to see Quill standing before her, already speaking before the door was entirely open.

“Hey, Twilight, I heard about the incident up north, good job and all that. Now listen, did anypony happen to give you anything? An envelope, specifically.”

“Nopony gave me a letter—”

Quill muttered an oath under his breath. “I really need that mail,” he said as he took off, leaving Twilight before she had a chance to say anything more.

“Who was that at the door?” Spike asked once she returned to the party.

“Quill. That green pony who brought those books over about a week ago.”

Pinkie Pie, of course, recognized the name. “Oh, that guy. Don't see him around much. Come to think of it, he's almost never at my parties...”

“He said something about a letter from Canterlot. He seemed very nervous, more than normal for a pony just missing some mail. Kind of weird.”

Rarity waved off the idea. “Oh, he's probably just impatient. I can get that way when the mailmare delivers my things to the wrong pony, especially if its something private.”

Twilight froze. “Wait a minute...” He didn't make it seem like he was expecting to receive the letter—actually, he said *envelope*—from the mailmare, but more of a personal courier. Why else would he ask me if I'd been “given anything”? There was only one piece of mail I saw in Canterlot—or rather, on the way back.

“Sorry, girls, but I just remembered there's something I have to look up. This party's been nice, but I need to be able to focus on my books, so—”

“Say no more, Twilight.” Rarity packed up a few things. “You must be tired anyway, so we'll let you have some time to yourself. I think this party might have been a bit better if the others showed up, too.”

“We'll just have to have another party when Rainbow gets back!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed enthusiastically. She somehow packed all the decorations into a few baskets, and bounded out the doorway. “I'll go welcome Fluttershy back.” Applejack and Rarity followed her out.

“That was fast,” Spike commented. “What's this all about, Twilight? You don't normally kick people out when you just want to read.”

“I didn't 'kick them out’, I just asked them to leave. Now, Spike, could you please fetch me the copy of Shining Armor's report on the Changelings?”

“What? Why do you need that?”

Twilight was already gathering several notes she had already taken, based on the report. “I have a bad feeling about something, and I need to know if I'm right.”

“That's not much of an explanation—”

“Please, Spike, this is really important!”

“Alright, alright,” Spike grumbled. He left briefly, then returned with the scrolls. Twilight had already begun writing furiously on a piece of parchment, explaining her thoughts aloud as she wrote.

“While Fluttershy and I were returning from Canterlot, we bumped into a mysterious red mare who dropped an envelope with pictures in it. When Fluttershy and I tried to find said mare to return the envelope, she seemed to have just disappeared. But what if... what if she was still there, and just looked like she wasn't there? Hand me that second page, would you?”

Spike gave her the piece of the report. “Hold on. You're telling me that just because you couldn't find somepony, you think she's a Changeling? I don't follow. There has to be something else.”

“It has to do with the pictures. They were all of the same pony, as if whoever took the pictures had been stalking her.”

“Stalking who?”

“I promised I wouldn't say. I don't think it matters at this point, but I still remember that breaking a friend's trust is the fastest way to...you know.”

“Lose a fr—”

“STOP!” Twilight put a hoof in Spike's mouth, immediately regretting the decision wen she felt his teeth on her hoof. She removed the hoof before continuing, “Sorry, I'm just a bit paranoid about Pinkie Pie popping up to finish sentences. She scared me half to death during the whole Photo Finish incident. Now, where was I?”

Twilight paused for a moment to collect herself before carrying on. “Right, the photos. It says here in this report that it was suspected Chrysalis had been masquerading as different ponies to get close to Cadance and study her before actually disguising as her. It seems a Changeling can disguise itself better if it is trying to imitate a pony it has already seen; otherwise, the forms it takes might have unusual colors, like certain shades of red. I'd never seen a pony with that particular colored coat before the mare on the train—it may have been a Changeling using a made-up disguise.”

“And the pictures were for the pony the Changeling was going to target and disguise as?”

“Yes. And that means... she might be in danger!” Twilight took off in full gallop, leaving a confused and bewildered Spike trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

The pegasi had already started a rainstorm by the time Twilight made it to the path leading to Fluttershy's cottage. The mud stuck to her hooves, adding weight to each step she took, making galloping a laborious process. However, after much effort, a soaked and bedraggled Twilight made it to Fluttershy's door, and proceeded to knock rapidly. After waiting what seemed forever, Twilight magically removed what mud she could from her hooves and opened the door, which she found to be unlocked.

Immediately upon entering, Twilight knew something was wrong. The windows were shut to keep the storm out, but there were no candles or lanterns burning—peculiar, given Fluttershy's fearful nature. But more telling than this was how still and quiet it was. There were always several different kinds of critters scurrying about the cottage on a given day, but now nothing was stirring, not even a mouse.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight called as she illuminated the room with her horn. She listened intently, but heard no response. Looking about the illuminated room, Twilight noticed a chair knocked over, and several pots and bags strewn across the floor. Twilight's pulse quickened as she headed up the stairs to the bedroom. “Fluttershy, are you alright?”

She swiftly slammed the bedroom door open, and screamed at the sight before her eyes. Hanging from the ceiling, suspended in a green cocoon, was Fluttershy. The frightened pony was still awake, and appeared to be screaming frantically, but no sound escaped the translucent pod. Twilight quickly cast her gaze across the room, and saw a black shape move rapidly toward her. She lashed out with her magic, sending the shadowy figure reeling across the room. The force of the figure against the wall knocked the window open, so Twilight put an immobilization spell on it to keep it from escaping.

Once the figure was secured, Twilight shifted her attention to the pod. Fluttershy still appeared to be screaming within, her face looking ever more despairing—It doesn't look like she can see me. With a single spell, the cocoon was broken open, and the pegasus came tumbling down to the ground. Fluttershy was scrabbling about frantically on the floor, and still giving off a deafening shriek.

“Fluttershy! Fluttershy, it's me, Twilight! It's alright!” Twilight shouted over her friend. Fluttershy stared at her wide-eyed, breathing heavily and rapidly.

“Twilight! I got home and the storm made everything dark and there was this pony waiting for me and I was scared and—”

“Fluttershy, please try to slow down. I need you to tell me what happened, but I need to be able to understand you.”

The frightened pony started to control her breathing. “When we got to Ponyville, I first went to check on all the animals. The weather team started moving the clouds into position for a rainstorm while I was checking up on some birds,  so I decided to come back home. By the time I got here, it was already dark because of all the clouds. When I got inside, there was a pony waiting for me. I couldn't tell who she—”

“Or he...” Twilight muttered.

“—was, but it was very startling. Then she ran at me, and she...she...turned into a Changeling. I tried to get away, but it caught me, and put me into that... thing,” Fluttershy motioned to the ruptured cocoon. “I couldn't see anything, or hear anything, and it was so small I could hardly move.” She shuddered. “It felt like I was in there forever, but I don't think it was really that long because it's still raining, and emergency rainstorms don't usually last that long. Thank you, Twilight, thank you for saving me.”

“Of course,” she replied. “I was hoping I'd be wrong, and there wouldn't be any monsters waiting for me, but looks like I just had to be right.”

“Monsters?” Twilight and Fluttershy jumped at the voice that came from the edge of the room. “Is that what you call us?” It it sounded neither female nor male, and had a strange quality to its voice, as if it did not speak aloud very often. “Good. Fear us.”

Twilight walked over to the figure she had put the immobilization spell on. The sight of those jagged black features, those featureless blue eyes, those fearsome fangs of the Changeling chilled her as much as the draft from the open window. She momentarily remembered the feelings o fear, despair, and feelings of loss her last encounter with the creatures brought.

“Quill,” Twilight said, addressing the Changeling.

“Quill? I know not this thing of which you speak.”

“Stop playing dumb, I know it's you.”

“A name? The unicorn thinks I have a name,” the creature said half to itself. “We do not bother with such things as names, save for the Queen and her most powerful subjects.”

Before she questioned further, Twilight heard shouts from downstairs. One of them sounded like Pinkie Pie, and the other sounded like... Quill? Wait... Pinkie would have mentioned if she had only recently met Quill... and I would remember if she'd thrown a welcome party since I got here, so he was telling the truth about being here before me. And I doubt a Changeling would last so long in one place. “Who are you?”

“You've already been told, we have no names. But you probably know me by this appearance.” the black creature morphed and changed into a mare with a deep red coat. “The envelope was for me. All I needed to do was confine the yellow one, take her identity, and—” The Changeling stopped abruptly. “—and I don't think you need to know anything more.”

Twilight was thinking about what she had just heard, when the shouts from below grew closer. Pinkie Pie and Quill ran in to the room.

“Twilight, I believe there may be a...” Quill trailed off as he saw the remains of the cocoon, and the mare at Twilight's hooves. “...Changeling?”

“Yep.” Twilight turned to face them. “It was lying in wait for Fluttershy when she arrived back home.”

Pinkie Pie bounced over to Fluttershy, who was still crying out of fear. “Cheer up, Fluttershy. Everything's fine now! And now we need to throw another “Welcome Home” party once Rainbow Dash gets back!” Her enthusiasm did not seem to be working very well, however, so she quieted down and simply sat next to her friend and put a foreleg around her. She then addressed Twilight, “I wanted to bring Fluttershy an invitation to the second “Welcome Home” party I was planning, and I ran into Quill on the way here. He said something about Fluttershy being in danger, so we galloped over here as fast as we could.”

Twilight nodded in acknowledgment. “Thank you, Pinkie. Quill, what's going on? How did you know about the Changeling? And what was that package you were expecting?”

“Right, I suppose some elucidation is in order. After you left for Canterlot, I tried to figure out what I should do with myself—I was a failure of a librarian, and that information acquisition I'd worked on for two years was finally done. It was a bit of a personal crisis, to be honest. I went back to the library to read a few books, maybe find something interesting. And that was when I happened across a most intriguing work—a collection of old tales and myths. I've always been one to love a good yarn, so I flipped through it in search of an entertaining tale. That was when a peculiar image caught my eye—a twisted perversion of a pony: it's eyes were featureless, it was fanged, and was blacker than night. The story told a cautionary tale about the value of knowing your friends, or some nonsense like that, and the name it bestowed upon the creature was... Changeling. I remembered hearing about their appearance at the Royal Wedding, and I also remembered that hardly anything was known about them.”

That’s true, Twilight thought, the Changelings’ appearance was widely talked about, but we lack any specific knowledge on them. Quill continued on, oblivious to the fact that Twilight was starting to lose interest in his long-winded explanation.

“So, I decided to look through records and see if there was any evidence of possible Changeling infiltrations in history. And, I think I found some examples. Nothing nearly as high-profile as a full scale invasion, or imitation of a princess, but seemingly insignificant cases of ponies suddenly changing personality, often with a domino effect of sorts. For example, there was a pegasus who was a dedicated weather controller, but had an apparent change of heart one day and sabotaged a sizable sum of clouds right at the factory. Instead of rain, they dropped damaging pieces of hail. When a search was instigated to investigate this pegasus, he seemed to disappear.”

“Quill, I don't have all night, and I'm not really interested in your life story. How did you know about this specific Changeling?” Twilight's impatience was very apparent in the tone of her voice.

“Right. This was actually a bit of an accident. I was expecting a package with some tissue samples from Changelings captured during the Canterlot attack. There's a guy I know who is a bit of a scientist, and I was wondering if there was any useful information to be had from an examination. That was what I was asking you about, and I was in a hurry because I didn't want to find a spoiled sample. Well, it turns out the old mail carrier was just taking a bit longer than usual to move around, so I got my sample, and gave it to the scientist. I went to your library to let you know I'd found it, but you had already left. I noticed the Changeling reports on your table, and I just couldn't help myself from scanning a few pages.”

“What I read reminded me of a pony I had seen earlier today, around the time when the train arrived in the station. I was hoping my package might come from somepony on the train, so I watched all the ponies disembarking, to see if any had envelopes of the sort I was looking for. What caught my eye was what I thought to be a yellow-blue pegasus. She looked... out of place. Particularly awkward, avoiding any physical contact, doing her best to not be noticed. I sympathized with her, since I've been that pony many a time—one that doesn't seem to belong. Well, I thought little of it at the time, but I had never seen her in Ponyville, yet she somehow made a beat right for Fluttershy's cottage, as if she knew where it was. After seeing that you had deliberately pulled out a report on Changelings, I made the connection and ran here as fast as I could.”

Twilight paused for a moment to re-tighten her spell on the captive Changeling. “Well, nice story. It makes enough sense, I suppose. Now, what do we want to do with the Changeling?”

“Please, GET IT OUT OF HERE! Um, if you feel up to it, that is...” Twilight looked with surprise at Fluttershy's outburst, but understood that the creature's presence must be rather stressful for the shaken pony.

“Hey, Twilight, why don'cha take it to that library basement where you ran those tests on me that one time?” Pinkie Pie suggested.

“Alright, it will work for now. I need to get a letter off to the Princess about this as soon as possible. Fluttershy, come with us and we'll make you some tea in the library.”

“O-okay.” Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie rose to their hooves, and started the walk back to the library with Twilight and Quill. The rain had stopped, but the ground was still soft and slippery, making walking with the Changeling in tow a laborious process. Eventually, they arrived back at the library, and Twilight and Quill moved the Changeling to the basement and tied it up. They moved back up to the main room of the library, where Spike was heating up some tea. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were sitting at a table, eating from a plate of cookies.

Everything looks so peaceful, given everything that's happened. I really hope Fluttershy isn't too scarred; being trapped in that tiny cocoon, where nopony can hear you scream—even I would be absolutely terrified. Twilight sat down with her friends at the table, and tried to figure out why the Changeling would come to Ponyville in the first place.

Well, I suppose I could start with a more specific question: why Fluttershy? It's obvious she was targeted in advance—why else would that Changeling have had pictures of her? But, Fluttershy doesn't do any particularly important jobs around here—take care of the animals, but that's not a task I could see a Changeling taking advantage of. Maybe because she's an Element of Harmony? I can't think of any other reason... Twilight continued her attempt to puzzle out the exact motive for the Changeling's attempted impersonation of Fluttershy, but couldn't narrow it down. She decided to simply enjoy the tea and cookies, and had Spike begin to write a letter.

“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight spoke as Spike wrote, “Today I write to you a letter not on the magic of friendship, but on a rather disturbing event that occurred to one of my friends. A Changeling has found its way into Ponyville, I suspect from Canterlot, and very nearly took the place of Fluttershy. I know that the windigo incident has commanded much of your attention this past week, but have there been any Changelings found left behind? I'm very worried that they may be returning, but in a more insidious fashion this time around. Additionally, what do you suggest we do with the Changeling in Ponyville? We captured it, and it is currently bound in the library basement. I await your instruction. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

After Spike sent the letter away, Pinkie Pie asked, “So, what now?  We can't throw the 'welcome home late' party, since Rainbow Dash isn't here yet.”

“How can you think about parties at a time like this? We first saw that Changeling on the train from Canterlot, which means it's entirely possible there are more. In the royal city, no less. What we do now is wait for Celestia to tell us what to do. We can't just keep a Changeling tied up in the basement forever.” Twilight just couldn’t understand Pinkie Pie’s thoughts sometimes.

“Okay.” Pinkie Pie turned her attention to Quill. “Hey you! You were that librarian guy, right?”

“Yes, that was me. What of it?”

“Why don't I ever see you at my parties?”

He looked at her with a brow raised. “Parties? What could those possibly have to do with Changelings?”

Pinkie Pie shrugged. “Nothing at all. I was just wondering.”

“Actually, your absence from common Ponyville events was one of the reasons I suspected you were a Changeling,” Twilight added.

“You suspected what?”

“Well, can you blame me? Everypony goes to Pinkie Pie's parties at some time or another. Yet in the years I've been here, I've never once seen you at such a party. And you just appear, seemingly out of nowhere, only a week before there's a Changeling in Ponyville? You have to admit, it makes sense.”

Quill seemed to think to himself a moment, then agreed. “You're right. And Pinkie, the reason I don't go to your parties is because quite frankly, I'd rather read and study than spend time making friends.  I feel like going to parties would just waste my time.”

Well, can't say I don't know what that feels like. “Well, I guess—” Twilight was interrupted from a belch by Spike. “Oh, that must be from the Princess!” She opened up the scroll, and read its contents aloud. “'Coming to Ponyville. Will be there shortly.' Why would Celestia come here?”

“Ooh, maybe there's some kind of crazy conspiracy, and Luna built an army of Changelings and took full control of the throne, and now Celestia has to run away to save herself and build an army, and there'll be a huge epic battle, and—”

“Pinkie, you've been reading too many fantasy novels. I'm sure that whatever the princess has to tell us, it won't be anything quite like that. What do you think, Quill?” Twilight had a hunch as to what Celestia's appearance could be about, but she hoped she was wrong.

“Well, I've heard that Celestia can send letters via magic, so she isn't traveling here due fear of interception. I postulate that her coming has to do with information she anticipates questioning about, and would prefer the immediacy of speech over the sending of letters.”

“Well, I think that's part of it, but I think the subject of the matter has to do with—” A thunderous knock came from the front door. Twilight sprinted to it, opening it up with her magic while bowing in anticipation.

Princess Celestia walked in, and smiled softly at her student. “Hello, Twilight Sparkle. I didn't think I would be seeing you again so soon. However, Canterlot—and possibly all of Equestria—finds itself in a state of crisis. The Changelings have returned.”

I knew it. Twilight pulled up her best chair for the Princess, and then sat herself down next to the others at the table. “Please, Princess Celestia, tell me everything.”