Chapter One:

Summer’s End

The August breeze that went through the Ponyville park oak and willow trees was a hot and oppressive thing, like a rebellious young yearling who had discovered that he could back into his elders to make them move. It swirled and whirled and caused ponies to gasp and lather, sending them for whatever form of refreshment they could find.

If it had a face, it would be the brightest, sunniest, and most defiant, as if it couldn’t be reminded that Summer Wrap Up wasn’t just a few weeks away.

Yet for all this breeze’s hot headed spunk, there was an irregular chill in the air... It lived near a tree that was not quite near the center of this place of recreation.

There sat four ponies: A mature mare and three little blank flanked fillies. Such tempting targets to attempt to part for the August Breeze...

If it was not for that odd, unnatural chill that is... and if said sultrily breeze had things like will and feelings, it would give a girlish giggle and vow to remind the four that summer was still not at an end!

That is if it had any of those things.

“Now that we’ve called this meetin’ of The Cutie Mark Crusaders an’ all members are here an’ accounted fer-”

“Honorary member...” Heartbreak interrupted, raising her hoof off what appeared to be a modified ice chest of some kind before she used that same hoof to awkwardly adjust the knot of her crusader’s cape.

“A Crusader is a Crusader,” Apple Bloom said, a pencil between her teeth and a booklet in front of her. “Now, as the Leader of the Cutie Mark-”

“Why are you the leader?” Scootaloo interrupted, looking up from an object most uncharacteristic for the filly: A schoolbook full of many math problems.

“Ah’m the one with this here ledger, so fer now, Ah’m the one actin’ as the leader.” Apple Bloom asserted.

“I thought it was because you are the one with the bow,” Heartbreak bemusingly interjected.

“Say what?” Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head.

Heartbreak’s amused grin quickly vanished as she cleared her throat and adjusted her still cast leg. “Nothing, nevermind, just a little private joke from... uhm, Minneighsota... Ah... So! Let’s start the meeting?” she asked, awkwardly.

“Uhm... Yeah! What have ya been up ta ta help earn yer...” Apple Bloom’s voice went down to a hushed whisper as she looked around to check that no pony else was watching. “...Real cutie mark?”

Heartbreak stifled a giggle. “Uhm... well... I mean...”

“Have ya been tryin’ anythin’?” Apple Bloom asked, resting a hoof on the stump of one of the three trees that once called this valley-esk park home.

Heartbreak gave a sheepish guffaw, then rolled her eyes so hard that her head went along with them before she pushed up her purple rimmed glasses. “Well... That is a question... whose answer is ‘not... exactly’.” She stiffened up due to the interrogative glances being shot her way at the admission. “But! It isn’t for a lack of trying! I’ve just been... busy is all...” she said, tapping on the lilac cast.

“Doin’ what?” questioned Apple Bloom.

“Hey, maybe tone down the ninth degree?” Scootaloo asked, frowning as she looked up from the book and problem sheet before her. “But yeah, what have you been up to, H.B.?”

“In the last month since you three initiated me into your club- as an honorary member-” Heartbreak interrupted herself to reiterate that point. “Or since the last meeting which was...” She paused and tapped her chin, her hoof eventually flipping her lower lip as her eyes glazed down at a small spot of blue and red in the sea of green under her...

“H.B.?” Sweetie Belle asked, tapping the mare’s shoulder to bring her back from whatever world she had got lost in for those few seconds.

Heartbreak startled, making a whickering noise before snapping back to reality. “Huh? Right! Sss- You’ll have to excuse me, I was trying to recall what happened before that week I got sick and whether or not we had a meeting... Being ill with every f-foalhood illness really messes with your sense of time and reality, girls.”

Apple Bloom looked over the book of loose leaf papers in a simple binder that acted as the CMC’s ledger. “Le’me’check...” she murmured. “Uhm... nope, Ah dun’t think we did!”

Scootaloo looked over at Heartbreak, a curious, incredulous glimmer in the little filly’s eyes. “Every foalhood illness?” she asked, her pencil threatening to fall from her lips.

“Heh... Yeah... Apparently, the first thing I should have done when arriving in Equestria was... uhm... not talk to Twilight, but get all my shots because after interacting with the Summer Readers...” She covered her mouth and cleared a little phlegm. “I caught everything.”

“Everythang?” Apple Bloom echoed, the pencil actually dropping from her mouth.

Scootaloo snorted in disbelief. “Like... everything-everything?” she asked once again.

Heartbreak nodded and her shoulders slumped, the memory of that hazy week only highlighted by the very lack of clear and coherent memories that didn’t involve Angel Bunny’s schemes to permanently remove her from the Equestria Census.

“Everythi-” Sweetie Belle started, hovering over the odd white chest-like thing that seemed to be just a touch colder than the ambient surrounding air.

“Please don’t... mess with that...” Heartbreak hesitantly requested, trying not to sound like many a hen pecking adult that she was sure had scolded the three for their perfectly normal innate curiosity.

“Sorry...” Sweetie Belle apologized, eyes still transfixed. “What is it?”

“Oh! Does it have to do it us bringing our favorite drinks to your house yesterday?” Scootaloo asked, her attention now turning away from her textbook.

“Are our drinks in there?” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

Heartbreak took a deep breath through her nose and then let it out, calming herself. “Yes, you three remember what you all brought?”

“Sarsaparilla!” Scootaloo said, moxy in her voice at her drink of choice.

“Ah brought apple juice!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“I got cream soda from Rarity!” Sweetie Belle bubbly beamed before looking a little ashamed. “But if she asks, it was Scootaloo’s idea to take it...”

“Heeey!” Scootaloo scowled. “I wouldn’t do that!” she grumbled.

The group gave her an incredulous questioning collective glance.

“I mean, I’d maybe take one...” she admitted begrudgingly. “But! I would return it!” She shuffled her hooves and her little wings flitted uneasily. “Your sister has good taste in drinks...”

That had made her curious as to how the filly knew how good Rarity’s brand of cream soda, taste’s. “How would yo-” Sweetie Belle began.

“Girls?” Heartbreak cut in, clearing her throat. She pointed to the white chest. “I would like to show you what I got going on with this, and timing is kind of the essence...”

“Sorry, H.B...” The three apologized, slightly out of unison.

“It’s alright. Now,” As Heartbreak tapped a button on the chest’s lid, there was a sharp hiss as it opened followed by a fog spilling out as the drinks that had been placed within, rose upon a stabilizing platform of sorts. “This. This, girls, is a self chilling, uhm, ice chest.” She said, pushing up her glasses and giving the very aw inspired curious fillies a wide grin.

“Self chillin’?” Apple Bloom asked.

Heartbreak nodded. “Yeah,” she said, shifting in the grass. “You hear about the ice wood sliver that got stuck in my skin?”

Apple Bloom slowly nodded. “Yeah... A.J. told me about that last month when she was checkin’ Big Mac an’ Granny Smith over...” She gave the tan mare an apologetic look. “Ah’m really sore’eh that happened ta ya.... What with ya almost turnin’ into a pony popsicle an’ all...”

“Oh, it’s alright, Apple Bloom, t’ain’t yer fault,” Heartbreak said, waggling her hoof before clearing her throat of the accidental country drawl. “Anyway, the doctor let me keep that ice wood splinter and with the help of Pepper Pocket, I incorporated it into this chest design! But! That’s not the cool thing I wanted to show you three!”

“It’s not?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Scootaloo tilted her head. “Yeah, cause that’s pretty cool!”

“What in the whole of Equestria could be cooler than a self coolin’ ice chest?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Lots of things, I’m sure,” Heartbreak tapped her chin. “None of which I can think of off the top of my head, however, currently, the thing that’s ‘cooler’ than that is these three drinks... and my drink.” She shook her head. “Anyway, see how they’re still liquid?” she asked, excitedly.

The three nodded, a bit of confusion mixed with anticipation on their faces to see where this could possibly be going.

“Well. Right now, these drinks should be colder than ice!” Heartbreak exclaimed, a broad smile on her face.

“Colder than ice?” Scootaloo asked, once again dropping her pencil and walking up to join her friends in expecting the frosty looking beverages.

Apple Bloom tilted her head. “None of that makes a lick of sense, H.B.!”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “If they’re below freezing, shouldn’t they be... like...”

“Frozen?” Scootaloo finished.

Heartbreak just continued to look excited. “Yes, you’d think that! But! Uhm...” She looked as if she was trying to find the right words.

“Buuuut what?” Scootaloo asked.

“Give me a second,” Heartbreak took a deep breath. “Right, how do I put this... the water in your drinks wants to freeze, but due to the lack of nucleation sites, as the insides of your bottles are super smooth, it can't!”

“What’s a... nuucle- nu-clea-” Scootaloo tumbled on the words.

“Nucleation site?” Heartbreak asked.

“Yeah! That...” Apple Bloom answered, breathing in some of the chilled air from the chest.

“It’s just a fancy way of saying, ‘an imperfection from which ice crystals can grow’. Well... any crystals really. However, we won’t need any of that to make our drinks freeze!” Heartbreak said, still grinning.

“We won’t?” The three asked, curious.

Heartbreak almost puffed up her chest. “Nope! All you need to do is pick up your drinks by the necks- carefully I might add- and give them a good solid shake!”

The three little fillies each went over to their respective drinks and as instructed, using their forehooves, carefully picked them up. Momentarily, they all eyed Heartbreak, who currently had such a foalish twinkling her eyes that it was kinda scary. The mare then made an awkward shaking motion with her forehooves in an attempt to get the idea across as to what she wanted them to do.

With a shrug, the CMC gave the bottles a good solid shake and much to their amazement... something magical began to happen.

Small white chrysanthemum-like blooms appeared at the tops of the liquid inside the bottles, and then it began slowly spreading through their drink as the crystals grew outwards and down towards the bottom...

“Whoooa...” came the collective voice of awe.

Heartbreak could only giggle in glee over the reactions. “Go ahead! Open them!” she said, seeing that the bewilderment hadn’t worn off and was starting to give way to wary side-eyes. “But... carefully. There might be some spillage due to the carbonation in your drinks.”

Apple Bloom applied the frog of her hoof to the cap of her friend's drinks. “Applejack done an’ showed me this trick!”

“Car-” Heartbreak started, her eyes going wide, hoof reaching out, pulling back to cover her mouth with an anxious anticipation as the collective carbonated drinks both let out a sharp cracking ‘pssst!’ This was followed by bubbles fighting their way through the not fully frozen drinks and small condensation clouds coming out of the bottles mouths as Apple Bloom cautiously pulled the caps off with her hooves.

“Ah know what Ah’m doin’!” She said, smiling confidently, only flinching as the frosty fizz foamed and frothed over the bottle’s openings a bit.

Quickly, Scootaloo snatched her drink up before any of it could spill over, leaving Apple Bloom to give a sheepish giggle.

“Mostly...” She said, rubbing the back of her head. “Sorr’eh.”

“It’s fine...” Scootaloo replied, licking up her new treat. Her eyes went wide. “Whoa! You two got to try yours!” She insisted, holding the quickly condensating bottle in her hooves. “It’s amazing!”

Sweetie Belle delicately licked the frozen froth off her cream soda. “Oh wow!” her voice squeaked. “That is really good!”

“It’s... It’s all...” Scootaloo lifted her bottle up and over her mouth, only to be startled as a glob of her drink fell fast into her mouth faster than she expected!

“Slushy?” Heartbreak asked, smirking as the three fillies revealed in the refreshing refreshments.

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom piped up now that she had uncapped her bottle and joined her friends to see what the fuss was all about. “It’s like that one time A.J. caught me eatin’ snow... but better, ‘cause Ah’m not gettin’ a talkin’ to about ‘the dangers of eatin’ yeller snow’!”

Heartbreak painfully held back a snort. “Uhm... what was it again... ki yuki wa... tabe.. nai..de...fet... kudasai...”

“Huh?” Scootaloo asked before her mane shot up, and a pained expression passed her face. “Ack! Ice headache! Ice headache!”

“Haw! That’s what’cha get fer drinkin’ too fast!” Apple Bloom chortled. “It’s like cousin Carmel’s deep-fried ice cream! Ya gotta take yer time!”

“Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth.” Heartbreak advised looking pensive while at the same time trying to hold in any errant laughs.

Scootaloo’s pained expression soon melted away, only for her to go right back to almost taking another big gulp of her slushed sarsaparilla.

Thankfully, Apple Bloom put up her hoof and gave her a mindful side-eye.

“Heh, right... I almost forgot...” The filly sheepishly said, feathers in her wings once again fluffing. “It just tastes so good!”

“That’s most likely due to the fact that you’re tasting more of the flavoring and sugar in the drink,” Heartbreak explained, pushing herself up to look inside the self cooling ice chest, before bending her head in to retrieve her own drink.

“Ya need any help with that there, H.B.?” Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head.

“Ah’m ‘ood!” The stubborn tan mare insisted, her lips starting to feel a bit numb from the cold. She then proceeded to set the bottle down in the grass and inched her way back into the grass with the glass container betwixt her hooves. “Though... I could use help opening it...” she frustratingly admitted. “Apple Bloom could you-”

“Eeyup! No problem!” The filly beamed, nodding between a gulp of her drink before placing her forehoof on H.B.’s bottle and giving it a twist that was then followed by that same classic hissing and white whips of oddly floral-fruity scented carbonated clouds. She sniffed the air, the smell oddly familiar. “What... what is that?” she asked.

“It smells like peaches!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “Rarity has some really expensive perfume that I’m not allowed to touch...”

“Really?” Heartbreak asked with a sardonic chuckle. “I would have never guessed. Yeah, I was in the market the other day, and ponies were showing off their ‘artisanal sodas’ or pops or whatever, and I decided to take a case of a few things home with me... This one is ‘Peachy Dream’, created by the aptly named ‘Jinkies Peachy Keen’,” she was saying this while narrowing her eyes in order to read the homemade label.

“Better not tell Apple Bloom’s sister!” Scootaloo advised, bobbing her bottle above her head -yet again- due to the mass of slush being trapped on the bottom of it. “She really doesn’t like other fruits...” Suddenly, and much like last time, the miniature glacier in a bottle came sliding down and almost caught the filly off-guard! Thankfully, this time, she caught it in time to prevent her from choking.

“Ah, that ain’t true!” Apple Bloom grimaced, pointing her hoof, upon which the bottle cap from Heartbreak’s drink somehow still clung, up and towards the trash can that was at least a few feet away. Holding that foreleg with her other hoof, she closed one eye, took aim, and somehow sent it sailing on an arc through the air and into said receptacle, whereupon it clattered with a metallic triumph! “Yee-haw! Bullseye!” she cheered. “It’s just apples is the best!”

Heartbreak blinked, both taken aback and envious at what had to be somewhat a basic skill for even a colt or filly: holding things with one’s hooves. Though she tried her hardest to obfuscate that little green-eyed emotion, despite the three before her knowing about her ‘condition’.

“That was really impressive there, A.B.,” she said, trying not to eye her own perforated forehoof.

Apple Bloom grinned. “That ain’t nothin’!” she said, blowing on the tip of her hoof. “Applejack can buck the caps clean off a bottle without taking their tops off!” she beamed.

“Yeah... that’s pretty neat...” Heartbreak looked wistfully at her drink, or at least she pretended to as she rolled her free appendage. “ Doing things with your hooves like that... must be nice...” She muttered the last part under her breath.

Apple Bloom’s ears drooped. “Ah’m sore’eh there, H.B. Ah didn’t mean ta-”

Heartbreak shook her head and pushed her glasses up to rub her eyes. “It’s fine, it’s fine... I’m just being insecure.”

Apple Bloom nodded and tried to think of a way to steer the conversation back to something relevant. “Right, so, uhm, what if anythin’ have ya been doin’ ta find yer true special talent?”

“Oh... right, back to this now? Well, I haven’t given it much thought,” Heartbreak tilted her head and pushed up her glasses, yet again.

“Ya could be a science pony! Mixin’ tagether different fancy brews ta show fancy theories an’ get sparkly prizes!” Apple Bloom excitedly suggested.

“Or an inventing pony that draws out super awesome blueprints for ponies to follow and create amazing... uhm... stuff-devices!” Scootaloo said.

“Or... or... uhm... Spellcraft! You could write fancy poems that could help other ponies create spells!” Sweetie Belle suggested, shrugging as her two friends gave her a look at her idea.

“Girls... Girls... All of those are... valid paths to take... I guess... I don’t know, I just like doing things that are more... creative. Not that any of what you’re suggesting isn’t creative! It’s just I like... doing all of that- science, design, and stuff and things- and things and stuff, along with things like art, learning random trivia, drawing... uhm... nature... being creative...” she repeated. “Math... that’s another fun subject I can be creative with...”

“Math?” Scootaloo’s feathers ruffled in disgust. “How can math be fun let alone ‘creative’?” She sat up and crossed her forehooves while walking back to her books and papers before she flopped in front of them, frowning.

Heartbreak’s ears perked at the subject of the small gamboge filly’s ire. “Is that what you’re working on?” she asked, leaning over to get a better look.

Scootaloo nodded and rolled her eyes while huffing. “Yeah, Miss Cheerlee said that I wasn’t doing well in math at the end of last year and gave me homework to do over the summer! Can you believe it?! Who gives out homework for the summer!”

“Maaaybe if you didn’t wait till the last month to do it, you wouldn’t be so stressed about it!” Sweetie Belle said, munching on the ice from her slush.

“But it’s sooo boring!” Scootaloo complained.

“I could help you if you want me to...” Heartbreak offered, peering over at what looked to be rows of simple multiplication problems.

“You’d do that for me?” Scoots asked, looking up hopefully.

Heartbreak nodded. “Yeah, sure, bring it over here. What’s giving you trouble?” she asked. “Oh, do you have any scratch paper?”

Scootaloo looked confused. “Scratch... paper?”

“Nevermind,” Heartbreak said, looking up. “Sam... Sam... Sam!”

“Who’s-” Sweetie Belle began, only to be cut off as a small brown head with little yellow eyes popped out of the wavy curly sea of H.B.’s mane. “Eeek! What is that?!” the head ducked back into dark brown waves.

“Oh... Right... I should have warned you...” Heartbreak recoiled from the sudden high-pitched filly noise. After recovering, she pointed up. “Sam?” The rodenty face peered out once more, this time with much trepidation. “Girls, this is Sam. Sam, these are the Girls: Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.”

“Whoa!” Scootaloo piped up. “Do you have a pet rat now?!” she asked.

Sam gave the filly an indigent chuff and crossed his little arms.

Heartbreak chuckled. “She didn’t mean anything by it, Sam.” She looked at Sweetie Belle. “Sam is my companion rat. He’s agreed to help and protect me from things.” Looking up, she saw that the rodent was no longer up in her mane but now next to her cheek, this resulted in a sudden shock of surprise as a tiny tongue licked her nose. “Gah! Saaam! Staap that!”

“Aw... That’s sorta cute...” Apple Bloom admitted. “Is he friendly?”

“I would have to say that sometimes he’s a little too friendly.” Sam looked mildly offended and chittered before doubling upon his efforts for affection. “Gah! Sam! I need you for something!” Heartbreak almost squeaked out. “Can you dig around in my saddlebags and find some scratch paper?” she requested.

Sam tapped his little chin and looked thoughtful before hopping out of the chestnut locks. He was momentarily distracted by a food-like smell, as he snuffed around the air at a strawberry like scent, he then remembered his task for his pony, turned and climbed into the saddlebags. After rummaging around, he then popped back out, having retrieved a square of white paper. Paper that he happily delivered to his pony.

“Thank you, Sam.” Heartbreak Twilight’ed, smiling and placing her pencil into the hole through her hoof. “Now, what did you say you were having trouble with?” She put the scratch paper next to the math problems.

“Uhm... Oh, nines.” Scootaloo said once she recovered from what she had seen.

“Nines? There's actually a really neat trick you can do with nines...” Heartbreak began.

Scootaloo hid her grimace over the fact that H.B.’s hoof looked like a fancy pen had just embedded itself all the way through and out the bottom... After all, if she could learn something that could help her with her math, or better yet, was a nifty workaround... that would mean more time to do the things she loved the most: sick tricks on her scooter, the Rainbow Dash Fan Club, and most importantly- crusading for her cutie mark with her best friends! “And... what’s that...?” she asked.

“If you can count up, if you can count down- then you can count by nine.” Heartbreak said in a matter of fact tone- a tone that only elicited confused ‘uhh’s’ from the three before her. “Leeet me show you...” she said, putting pencil to paper.

=========

The wind ran through Rainbow Dash’s mane as she sped through cloud after cloud!

Each time there was a ‘pomph!’ Each time there was the brisk feeling of ice crystals, water vapor, and a tingle of static that ran through her as the cloud evaporated away.

“Aw, yeah!” Here comes Rainbow Dash to beat Equestria’s cloudbusting record, and it’s also her personal record too, I might add!” she boasted, zipping through eighteen more clouds. “Can she do it?!” Twenty-seven more pomphs! And a victorious buzzer went off!

“Yes, she can!” Cheered a Flutter-willow tree.

A cotton candy Pinkie Pie hovered over a cotton candy making machine, forming herself out of strands of the sticky sweet stuff only to consume parts of her tail and let them form again. She nodded to her arboreal accomplice. “Was there any doubt?!” she fairy-flossed.

“Ah reckon that there shouldn’t ever be!” Applejack affirmed from what looked like a cereal box. “She’s had herself a hearty breakfast after all!”

Rainbow Dash began to bow to the much deserved praise. “Thank you... Thank you... I know, I know!” She landed on the tastiest of grass, little colorful round candies with tiny ‘RD’s printed on them crunching below her hooves. “I’m awesome!”

A collection of tiny books proceeded to self assemble themselves into the vaguest appearance of her egg-headed friend Twilight Sparkle. Only for some reason she couldn’t put a hoof on, there was a massive open tome on her back, the title of which was ‘Lost Flight Feathers’ by Luminous Marrow Astar.

“That’s really great, Rainbow Dash,” the book-book horse typed into the air, the book she had instead of a mouth, flapping its pages. “But have you seen Mallowity? She was going to give you your completely earned and awesome cloud buster rainbow sash so you could fly around and show how totally awesome you and your cloudbusting skills are! Especially to those hardhats in Cloudsdale!”

Rainbow looked around and tapped her chin. “You’re right. Encyclopedia Sparkle! Where is-”

Just then a terrified scream traveled over the twirly grass and bobbling cider filled flowers. On a small hill with three trees was a melty marshmallow Mallowity!

Her face seemed to be sliding down her head, her normally stay puff fluff was dripping wet, the air fizzling out causing it to deflate! The culprit? Rain!

Dash wasted no time and sped the sticky mass that was her friend through large black crying teardrop shaped rain drops to a much drier location.

“Ah’m here ta help!” AppleJacks said, pulling out a sun on her packaging in an attempt to chase away the wetness.

Willowshy reached her branches towards AppleJacks box. “Oh, that’s so warm and feels so nice! Mallowity will be dry in no time!”

An orange chicken and two books, one of them with an apple and one with a musical note came trundling towards the hero and the drying distressed damsel.

“Wow! You’re so awesome, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaboo clucked, making her best effort to flap her wings and fly, only to become a bouncing earthbound butterball around her hero.

“When Ah look up ‘Awesome’ in mah pages, there’s a picture of you!” Appleictionary said.

“Amazing! Astonishing! Astounding! Awe-inspiring! Breathtaking! Imposing! Inspiring! Magnificent! Majestic! Miraculous! Spectacular! Staggering! Stunning! Stupefying! Sublime! Wonderful and wondrous! These are all words that describe you Rainbow Dash!” Shouted Thesaurus Belle.

“Thank you, thank you, you’re too kind,” Rainbow said, soaking up the praise. “But what caused this!? My sash is wet...” she said, inspecting the ribbon of cloth. A small pang of self awareness went through the pegasus. “Oh, and my friend has nearly melted! What did this?!” she asserted, posturing about.

“That! That did this!” Mallowity bemoaned, a melty hoof nearly sticking to her forehead as she expressed her dismay in a particularly dark direction.

Dash turned and readied herself to face off against a horrific villain... only to see a small black, heart shaped cloud growing on the horizon, down the middle of which was jagged white lightning bolts...

“Looks like you missed one...” a giant tank of a tortoise named Tank slowly said.

Dash felt a cold fear creeping into the back of her mane at the sight of that one dark storm cloud, but sensing that her friends needed her to face this aberration, she snorted, hooved the rainbow pebble candy ground, and took to the cold, icy sky.

Zooming past a pine tree splashed with Hearth’s Warming decorations of Winter’s past, bits, bobbles, and a spider with her webs, she careened towards an ever-growing fractured ebony heart whose craggy lightning bolt crack kept changing and jumping from place to place...

“What the hay?!” Rainbow gasped in disbelief as the cloud now appeared to no longer be in the air, but rather on the massive snow dusted tan hillside that was once part of the landscape.

A dark brown collection of brambles shifted behind this hill, a hill that then shuddered and shambled, its mass increasing before the horrified cyan pegasus’ eyes.

Atop the hill a boulder of immense depth and breath turned to the ever shrinking Rainbow dash, carved upon which a morose pony face, eyes that formed strange sharp black VoYdS all pointed to where one would expect irises. More brown, thorn covered brambles whipped and whirled into a mane as more and more detail chiseled its way over the figure forming. A single sharp-toothed mouth, massive hooves- one with a deep black hole drilled into its side, covered in tan-brown dead grass that resembled fetlocks...

In the sky, she swore she saw a blur of a colorful alicorn... it was flying over Canterlot... but the capital city wasn’t... right... Gone were the vibrant colors and lights, it felt more like an artists’ sketch, pencil lines covered with smudges of graphite with the barest of water colors...

A sharp frigid breeze shocked her attention back to the mountain pony before her. One that had taken on far more detail than before... if she didn’t know any better she swore it was...

“H-Heartbreak?” Rainbow Dash asked, recoiling from this ever looming... thing? At this angle she thought she could make out two other heads in the distance...

The heap that was Mount Heartbreak stared deep into Rainbow’s soul, its ears, if you could call them that, pinned, cold wind running off its cliff faces before opening her cavernous maw...

“H.B.-eeep! Beeep! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP!”

“Wha-

=========

“Gah!” Rainbow Dash found herself being flung from the safety of her cumulus bed as her wings splayed out in fright. She hit the floor with a soft ‘thump’ sound. Though the landing itself was anything but soft, for you see dear reader, despite what unicorns or earth ponies would tell you, Equestrian clouds are still made up ice, water vapor, and a dash of ambient magic that gives them just a hint of almost sapience, for a pegasus going at the right speed, slapping against a cloud is like hitting a nonneightonian fluid rather than anything gaseous. The sting in her face reminded her of these facts.

“Geez... What a dream...” she muttered to herself.

“Beep! Beep! Beeep! Get up and get ready for adventure!” Blared the Daring Doo alarm clock.

Normally, Dash would greet that daily cheer of affirmation with an enthusiastic ‘Aww, Yeah!’, but all she could muster was an irritated grumble before pushing herself up off the floor.

Waving her hoof over the cool and confident looking Daring Doo figurine attached to the device whose only job was to rouse her from slumber, she fought the urge to slam the hard appendage down to silence the sound.

She shook her head.

“I can’t do that to somepony as awesome as you, D.D. I mean, what would A.K. Yearling say if I broke this one of a kind collector's clock?” Rainbow asked, lightly tapping the treasure chest-shaped button cutting Daring’s catchphrase off at ‘Get u-’

She yawned, stretched her forelegs up in the air before leaning forward and doing the same with her wings while giving them a flap to shake out any loose feathers.

“Geez, what a crazy dream...” she groggily repeated to herself, still not having fully shook the sleep away. “Wonder what brought that-” She was interrupted by the scattered pile of junk mail, business envelopes, still sealed tax forms and two letters- one opened, one unopened, sliding off a cloud chair and onto the floor. The only thing keeping them from falling through the cloud cover was the enchanted paper they were made from.

The open letter was from Fast N’ Fit giving his best regards, however felt that she wasn’t the best fit for the Wonderbolts Reserves, and had she just given a little more effort and helped him with his start up business, really, it only would have cost her one hundred and forty-four bits for a demonstration pack of supplements! She could have been rolling in dough! Her pack could even come with an official brand new never before seen ‘Elements of Harmony’ approved stamp or sticker! If she only-

Rainbow Dash snorted and grabbed the offending thing before crumpling it up into a tight ball and three point hoof flinging it into her rather full trash bin. Miraculously, the wad didn’t fall out.

“Aw-yeah!” She trotted over to her dresser and looked at herself in the mirror. “You are the mare!” she cheered to herself. “Yeah, I know! Nopony is gonna get me to fall for a scam!...” She looked around. “Again that is...” She embarrassedly admitted out loud. “But that’s why you are awesome!”

A little self pep talk never hurt anypony, though it had become much more routine ever since Heartbr-

“Whoa-whoa... Remember what Fluttershy said- ‘Her name is Heartbreak, but she likes to be called ‘H.B.’” The rainbow maned mare reminded herself, momentarily adopting the mild-mannered mellow yellow mare’s mannerisms.

She shook out the Fluttershy in her voice.

“Wait, what was I thinking about just no-” Her words once again were cut off by the presence of that one unopened letter. A letter that shouldn’t have caused her ears to pin and give her resting disapproving mare face... but it did. “Oh... right. That.”

The normally self-assured pegasus wouldn’t be so... what word would Rarity use? ‘Reluctant, Darling.’

“Yeah, that.” Dash replied as if her friend was actually there.

However, this letter was from Twilight.

Usually, Twilight was indeed all about sending the letters, and more than not, they were about the most trivial of things- where to meet up, who to bring, though it could be something really important and exciting, like the newest update on the latest Daring Doo book!

“However...” She began rumbling. “Ever since Heart- H.B.! H.B.! Arrived, it’s been literal literary letter silence!” She glared at the letter addressed to her from Twilight and marked ‘Important! Urgent! Open right away!’ “I can already guess what you are going to be about...” Dash grumbled.

Why was this bothering her so much? Was it because she had barely taken the time to interact? That she had actively avoided and now it might feel weird? Did what happened last month finally make it back to Twilight?

“Grrr! Why does this have to be so complicated!?” Rainbow bemoaned. Just then she spied with her cerise eyes something highlighted on her calendar that made her spirit soar!

‘Cider Tasting Day!’

It was in bright letters and decorated with a smiling cartoon Applejack and, of course, Rainbow Dash holding up mugs surrounded by apples!

“Aww! Yeah! Cider Tasting Day? How could I forget that? Count me in-” The letter from Twilight ruffled from a faint breeze going through her window as if to remind her of its existence. She snorted... What to do... What to do... On one hoof, delicious cider. On the other hoof, a letter that she was sure to be Twi’ telling her that it was her turn to teach H.B...

Dash’s hoof casually flicked at the edge of the fluttering letter, and it fell behind her dresser.

“Oops, where did that go? Guess I’ll have to look for it later! In the meantime? Cider Tasting Day! I’m on my way!” She exclaimed, making a quick look at herself in the mirror to make sure she looked awesome, which of course she did, before zipping out the door, away from Trotsdale, to the skies above Ponyville, and towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Author's Note

Book Six Begins! And with it, a new adventure! Scared Ghost and Psychopath are still with me, helping me crank out where this is all going to go! The artist Sen helped me with the cover art and the chapter art can be found here! It's good to be back!