Sky felt his mind ease and his body relax as soon as he saw it. He hadn’t thought that his time away would affect him as much as it had. But one look at the towering spires and gently glowing lights of the royal city perched on the mountainside was enough to cause the stress to melt from his shoulders.

Canterlot. I’m back.

He circled the pinnacle of the mountain before beginning his descent onto the radiant city. The starry night sky served as a beautiful canvas for the city to silhouette itself against, as though Canterlot itself was the centerpiece of a vast collection of diamonds. Far in the distance, Sky saw the warm glow of Ponyville beside the shadowy edge of Everfree Forest. The darkness persists in that forest, but I’m not afraid of it anymore.

Sky landed smoothly on the walkway leading up to the royal palace. Several of the guards on duty stiffened as they saw Sky approach, only to raise their hooves in a salute as soon as they recognized him.

Sky sighed inwardly. “Good evening, gentlecolts,” he said in greeting. He hated the feeling that everypony owed him some sign of recognition. He had been far more comfortable in Polarmino, where nopony knew him or knew what he had done.

Until now, of course.

A second pairing of guards, donned in the traditional royal golden armor, flanked the main doors into the palace. On the left stood a white unicorn with a red and silver mane. The image of a shield with a spear graced his flank. On his right, a dark green pony with a tawny brown mane stood at perfect attention. A pair of binoculars formed his own cutie mark. They snapped a hasty salute in unison as Sky’s form came into view. Sky merely raised his eyebrows and nodded in greeting. It feels like I’ve seen those two somewhere before…

The immense doors opened, and as Sky stepped inside, he staggered as he saw a familiar trio before him, engaged in conversation.

“Twilight? Applejack? Spike? Wh…what are you doing here?” Sky stammered.

Three heads turned simultaneously in Sky’s direction. Almost instantly, there were shouts and cries of greetings as they rushed up to the stunned pegasus.

“Well, howdy-do, Sky!” Applejack said in her normal enthusiastic manner. “Ain’t this a surprise!”

“Sky, it’s so good to see you again!” Twilight said, beaming in excitement. “Did you just get back from an assignment?”

“Uh, yeah,” Sky said, trying to compose himself. He scratched the back of his neck nervously. “It’s a small colony in the far north of Equestria. Polarmino, that’s its name. You’ve probably never even heard of it.”

“I have,” Twilight said, her know-it-all mannerisms coming to the forefront. “It was founded two years ago right on the northernmost border of Equestria. The colony, which had a population of less than thirty at last check, was founded primarily by two families, the…”

“The Grains and the Clocks,” Sky finished. His forehead wrinkled as he spoke. I’ll never forget those names. And I won’t stop thinking about them until I’ve done everything I can to help them.

“Right,” Twilight nodded. “So, they were having trouble of some sort?”

“Whatever it was, I’m sure that Sky’s fixed it all up by now,” Spike said confidently. “Right, Sky?” He elbowed the pegasus in the ribs playfully.

Inwardly, Sky winced at the remark, but he merely smiled as he said, “Ask me again later.”

Their smiles seemed to fade as his words reached their ears. “Sky…is something wrong?” Twilight asked in a concerned voice.

Sky hesitated. He had no reason to disclose any information to them. They weren’t part of his mission, anyways.

But they were his friends. And Sky felt a certain obligation to share his thoughts and concerns with them.

Sky’s head felt like it was going to split as the dueling opinions battled for supremacy. Finally, when he thought he couldn’t take it anymore, Applejack’s voice cut through the silence. “Now, let’s not be nosy. I’m sure Sky’s got his reasons for not wantin’ to say too much.” She gave him a reassuring smile.

Sky released an internal sigh of relief. He hadn’t wanted to divulge anything, but he hadn’t wanted to just say “no” to them without an explanation. “So, really, what are you doing here?” he asked quickly, attempting to redirect the conversation.

“Applejack needed to make a special trip here to gather some things for the coming apple harvest at Sweet Apple Acres,” Twilight explained. “There are just some things that you can’t get in Ponyville, and Spike and I decided to come along for company.”

“And they’re great company, let me tell you,” Applejack agreed. “Showin’ me all around the city. I’d been here before, but I ain’t ever seen anything like what they’ve been showin’ me.”

“Yeah, Canterlot’s certainly a special place,” Sky replied. “I guess it’s home for me now. And to be honest, I really don’t mind.”

“I remember when we lived here before moving to Ponyville,” said Spike, who was gazing off into the distance, apparently lost in his memories. “Too bad Twilight was too caught up in her books to actually go do anything.”

Sky and Applejack covered their mouths, trying to hide their laughter, much to Twilight’s exasperation. “That’s enough from you,” she said, lifting the baby dragon onto her back with her magic.

“So, what are you doing in the palace?” Sky continued.

“Oh, well, we were just going to drop in and see the Princess before heading back to our rooms.”

Sky caught sight of a door opening at the far end of the hall. “I think you’re about to see her.”

The entire group turned towards the opening doors, where not only Princess Celestia, but also Luna, Cadance, and Shining Armor had emerged. As they approached, the group of friends bowed collectively.

“Ah, Sky, you’ve returned. I’m glad to see you safe again,” Celestia said as Sky raised his head. “And Twilight, Spike, and Applejack. What brings you to the palace?”

“Just a friendly visit, Yer’ Highness,” Applejack said cheerfully.

“Well, I suppose we can do more than that. If all four of you would come with us to the throne room, then Sky can give us his report on his latest mission. I’m sure you’ll be interested to hear all about it.”

Sky nearly swallowed his tongue as Celestia spoke. He felt a cold sweat start to break out on his forehead. Reluctantly, he followed behind the group as they headed for the throne room.

Looks like I’ll have to tell them anyway.

“Now then,” Princess Celestia began as she took her place among the other members of the Council, “how did the mission go? Did you manage to deal with the storm?”

“I did, Princess,” Sky replied. “The storm is gone, and the colony is safe for the moment.”

“Wait…Sky went to this colony to deal with a storm?” Spike interrupted, a look of confusion on his face.

“Spike! Shush!” Twilight chided.

“No, it’s alright,” Celestia said, smiling sympathetically. “I had forgotten that not everypony here was fully aware of the circumstances of Sky’s mission. The colony had been dealing with a powerful blizzard that had crippled the town and endangered its existence. We believed that there was more to it than that, so we sent Sky to investigate.”

“But the town’s safe now, right?” Twilight asked, glancing at Sky.

He hesitated. “It’s safe from the blizzard.”

The gazes of the members of the Council were like massive spears pointing at him, making him feel terribly guilty. He looked at Princess Luna, who raised an eyebrow as she spoke. “Is there something else that threatens the colony now, Sky Streak?”

His jaw locked. Somewhere in his mind, he could feel his body trembling. Before he had returned to Canterlot, whenever he had thought about his battle in the windigoes’ realm, it filled him with anger. But now, surrounded by his friends and superiors, his rage was overcome by a distinct feeling of failure and replaced with sorrow. A knot formed in his throat as his eyes began to sting. He dropped his head, unable to meet the gazes of the Council.

There was an awkward pause before Luna asked the inevitable question. “It was there, wasn’t it?”

For a moment, Sky felt a wave of hatred wash over him as he saw the image of his foe in his mind. “Yes,” he said at last. His voice was clearer than he had expected, but it was wrought with the pain he felt.

“‘It’? What’s ‘it’? What was there?” Spike asked from Sky’s right. He heard the little dragon’s feet hit the ground as he jumped from his perch on Twilight’s back.

Sky looked over and caught Spike’s eyes. He noticed that both Twilight and Applejack were also looking at him with similar looks of confusion on their faces.

He didn’t speak. He couldn’t. He simply looked at them for what seemed an eternity, where each moment was more unbearable than the last. Suddenly, Twilight gasped and brought a hoof to her mouth.

“You mean…the Chimera? You saw it again?” she said in a hushed voice.

“Did you fight it again?” Spike asked after the shock of Twilight’s revelation passed.

“Yes, I fought it. And just like last time, I barely survived. And, also like last time, I managed to drive it off.”

“Well, I fer one don’t understand what the problem is,” Applejack spoke up. “If you managed to shoo it off and save the colony, then everything should be A-OK.”

“I agree,” Princess Cadance said. “Perhaps you should start at the beginning and explain everything, Sky.”

Sky took a deep breath to try and calm himself. “Shortly after my arrival in Polarmino, I discovered that there were windigoes in the colony.”

“Windigoes?!” Twilight, Applejack, and Spike all shouted together.

“Yes, windigoes. It turns out that they have maintained a bit of a kingdom not far beyond the northern edge of Equestria. And they had come to Polarmino to feed on the negative feelings of some of the ponies in the village. That led me to assemble the entire town to try and discover the source of the negative feelings. I had hoped that by resolving the issue, it would cause the windigoes to leave, taking the storm with them.”

“A solid plan,” Shining Armor commented.

“As it turned out,” Sky continued, “the culprits of the argument were the town’s founders, the Clock and Grain families. Apparently, the patriarchs of each family had gotten into some sort of argument that had caused a rift between the two clans. The conflict escalated until it drew the attention of the windigoes, who brought the storm. Unfortunately, when I confronted the families about it, they each gave two separate stories about what had actually happened. And to make matters worse, both Gr—” Sky coughed abruptly, cutting off his speech. The names of the settlement’s founders stuck in his throat as he thought of his inability to save either of them from a grisly fate.

“Mm. Sorry,” he said, rubbing his throat. “As I was saying,” he paused to make sure he could say the names, “Grandpa Grain and Grandfather Clock had gone missing that morning. Rather inexplicably.”

Princess Luna narrowed her eyes as Sky spoke. “That’s rather suspicious,” Cadance commented.

“I thought so, too. And on top of all that, one of the little fillies in town had told me that she had seen a ‘scary black cloud’ in the town. Considering all the information I had, I believed that I knew what was going on. So Lily and I left the next day to head to the windigo kingdom.”

“Lily?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, right, sorry. Lily Pond. She’s a unicorn in Polarmino. She was my contact when I arrived, and she volunteered to travel with me to go find the windigoes.” Sky felt a little embarrassed to be talking about her in front of a pair of lovely mares like Twilight and Applejack, but he didn’t let it show.

“Oh, I see,” Twilight said, nodding in understanding. “Please continue.”

“We managed to arrive at the windigo colony. The leader of the windigoes, King Icevein, was initially unwilling to listen to us, but I managed to find the Chimera on my own. It had been hiding there, using the disguise of a windigo to remain undetected. After I confronted it, however, it went on a rampage, essentially destroying a large portion of the windigoes’ homes before fleeing.”

“But what was its connection to the storm in Polarmino?” Celestia asked.

The fury once again rose in Sky’s mind as he saw the scene play out for him again. There was the windigo, then it was the body of Grandpa Grain, and then it was Grandfather Clock. But each time, it was still the Chimera—simply hidden in a shell of a victim.

“The Chimera had disguised itself as”—he cleared his throat—“Grandpa Grain and Grandfather Clock. It had used those disguises to perpetrate rumors within the individual families so that neither side knew the truth. All it had to do then was to wait for the windigoes to come and eventually wipe out the colony. It was hoping that the destruction of an Equestrian town at the hooves of the windigoes would fuel a conflict, possibly all-out war, between the windigoes and Equestria.”

“I’m beginning to believe that this creature simply desires destruction to its fullest extent,” Shining Armor said, a glint in his eye.

“But wait,” Cadance spoke up. “You told us that the Chimera could only take the form of something if it had possession of its body. By eating it, you said. Then how did it…” Her voice trailed off.

Sky winced and turned away as if he had just been kicked in the face. The horrific truth fell like an avalanche on the ponies in the room. A dead silence engulfed the chamber as each one of them reeled from the sudden realization.

“Oh my,” Luna said softly.

Sky felt a pair of bodies come up beside him, one on either side. Looking up, he saw Twilight, with Spike having returned to her back, on his right, and Applejack on his left. All three of them had looks of stunned horror on their faces, but it was mingled with empathy and sorrow. “Sky…I’m so sorry. I didn’t know,” Spike apologized as best he could.

Sky found looking at his friends even more distressing than facing the Council, so he turned back to them. He found their eyes trained on him, but he saw his own pain reflected in their faces. He wondered if they truly understood the terror he had faced and the tragedy he had been subjected to.

Princess Celestia spoke again, but her voice betrayed just how shaken she was. “Is there anything we can do to rescue them?”

Sky shook his head. “Not that I know of, Your Highness. The only possibility I can think of is that if we can vanquish the creature, we might be able to release the victims.” He paused. “Or, it might destroy them along with the Chimera.”

The silence fell again. Sky could feel the tension in the air as everypony came to grips with the truth that had been presented to them. Finally, Celestia spoke up, a steely determination in her voice.

“This has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Not only can we not be certain where this enemy is, but it may be one of us. Shining Armor,” she said, turning to face her captain of the guard, “I must ask that you once again place the protective shield around Canterlot. We must take immediate action to protect ourselves. Let the citizens of the city know that a threat has arisen, but do not give them any more details than necessary. I do not think we want to deal with a panicked population at this time.”

Shining Armor nodded and galloped off, Princess Cadance right behind him. “Sister, we must tighten our watch upon the land. We must locate this thing before it can cause any more harm to Equestria,” Celestia continued, facing Princess Luna.

“Princesses,” Sky interjected, “there is…one more thing.”

Celestia and Luna both turned to face him. “The Chimera mentioned something else during our battle. It had already told me that it had wanted to start a war between the ponies and the windigoes, but it also said that it had considered trying to get more lands involved in the war. I think it has a vendetta against everything.”

“Did it mention any realms specifically?” Luna asked.

“Not that I can remember,” Sky replied, playing the moment over in his head. “No, it didn’t.”

“Very well,” Celestia said. Her face was a study in concentration and deep thought. “Your room is prepared for you, Sky. I suggest you get your rest. I believe we will have much need of your assistance in the days to come.”

Sky nodded. He had expected no less. “Of course, Princess.”

Without any further words directed towards Sky, Celestia and Luna turned and walked away, speaking softly to each other. Sky’s ears flattened as he thought of the sudden distress and worry that his news would place on everypony.

“Sky, you know what you need?” Applejack’s voice rose from beside him.

“To wake up from this nightmare,” he replied without hesitation.

“You need somethin’ to cheer you up,” the orange mare said, ignoring Sky’s remark. “How about you come down to the farm later this week, and we’ll have us a good ol’-fashioned get-together? You, me, Twi, and all the gang from Ponyville can be there. We’ve hardly seen ya’ for a few months, so I think it’d be good to see each other again.”

“Yeah, that sounds great!” Twilight chimed in. “I know that everypony would love to be able to catch up with you.”

“A ‘get-together’?” Sky asked, his mood lightening as he talked with his friends. “I think Pinkie Pie would call that a ‘party’.”

“Call it what you will, but we’re gonna have one,” Applejack responded. “You better be there. Two days from now; we’ll all have lunch together.” She eyed Sky accusingly.

“Alright, alright, I’ll come!” Sky said innocently. “You sure you’re not becoming more like Pinkie Pie?”

“If she was, then the party would be going on already, and you’d be standing in it,” Spike replied.

“That’s the truth,” Twilight giggled.

Sky looked out a nearby window just in time to see a large pink wave rise up around the entire city, encasing it in an immense protective bubble. “Looks like things are gonna be really different around here.”

“For now, but I don’t think it’ll last long,” Twilight said encouragingly. “We’ll find a way to stop the Chimera and save everypony.”

“It’s becoming a bit of a routine with us,” Applejack smirked.

Sky smiled in response, but his mind was still sober. “I sure hope you’re right.”

“We can’t afford to be wrong.”