It was Tuesday afternoon, and the storm from the night before had moved in to sweep over Ponyville. The entire town was inundated, and the rumble of thunder in the distance was so frequent that Spike didn’t even notice it anymore. He sat in Colgate’s office in the hospital, still dripping with rainwater, and waited for her to return from seeing a patient.

He had gotten up that morning, mind filled with questions from his dinner with Allie. As he sat at breakfast, pouring over everything he knew and didn’t know, the only common element to all his wonderings was Colgate. He had shown up at the hospital early, resolved to get some answers from her.

A tree branch scratched the window, and he looked out at the rain-curtained countryside. Behind the hospital, the river encircling Ponyville was a boiling ribbon, splitting a grassy carpet under the grieving clouds. His own curious reflection stared back in the window, hazed somewhat by the room’s interior lighting—the hospital had restored all of its electricity, finally, a week before.

The door opened, and Colgate walked in quietly. Her face was masked and her eyes were bored, and she sat down at her desk. She pulled the mask off. “Okay, Spike. What do you want to talk about?”

He went to the door and closed it, and she tilted her head inquisitively. “I want to talk about your past.”

Her eyes twitched and her muscles tensed, and Spike thought he saw the suggestions of a frown on her face.

“As a Canterlot Guard,” he added.

She breathed out quietly, relaxing. “Oh. That’s… fine. Sorry. You scared me there.”

“Yeah?”

“What would you like to know?”

“Well, Allie and I talked last night, and she said she was a Guard. You too.”

Colgate nodded slowly. “You could say that.”

“You’re not now.”

“I quit. In Manehattan, I was on a team. I was the medic.”

“What about Allie?”

“She was in a different city. I think she was a mage. She specialized in sigils.”

“Huh. But why’d you quit?”

“I don’t like the organization’s agenda, let’s say.”

“Um… but isn’t it just to protect Equestria? What’s so bad about that?”

“Hold up. Allie said it was the Canterlot Guard?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Hm.”

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s inaccurate.”

Spike frowned and scratched his head. “I don’t get it.”

Colgate smiled. It was the first time Spike had seen her truly smile, and he didn’t like it. Her face creased and sharpened menacingly, and her white teeth glistened behind thin lips. Her eyes narrowed into pointed, blue slits, and in them he saw, just for a moment, dark, aggressive intelligence. He almost stepped back.

“Spike, would you consider me a friend?”

“Sure, Colgate. I like you good enough.”

She nodded, her face once more settling into comfortable, harmless neutrality. “Because I have information that you are not supposed to be aware of. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have a problem keeping it from you. Secrecy was a big part of my job, back then.” She grabbed a piece of paper in her magic and looked over it briefly. “But if Allie’s sitting you down and telling you things, and telling you about me… well, that’s something different.” She sighed. “I don’t like to be implicated.”

“What’s going on, Colgate? What is all this?”

“How much do you know about the way the princesses have their Guard structured?”

“Uh…” He thought for a time, trying to recall his time spent in Canterlot. He was just a baby then. “Well, I know there’s the Canterlot Guard. You know, the ponies in armor that stand outside the palace. But that’s it.”

“Yeah, that’s what most ponies know.”

“Allie said there’s guards in every city. And in Ponyville, they don’t wear armor.”

“The Canterlot Guard is like a figurehead organization,” Colgate said. “They wear the armor, they patrol the streets, they catch the criminals. But they’re only half the organization. Maybe less than half.”

“Hm.” Spike went back to her desk and sat down across from her. So close, he could see the details on her face. Stress had etched itself into her visage, though it was outwardly calm.

“The other half covers the magical side of things. Now… Spike, how much do you know about Tartarus?”

“Uh.” He wasn’t prepared for her question, and had to look away, back out the window. Lightning lashed at a row of trees in the distance. “Twilight’s told me about it. A little. It’s like the opposite side of Equestria.”

“Tartarus is a kind of mirror world to the Gaia. Ponies don’t go there, typically.”

“It’s dangerous,” he said.

“Very dangerous,” she said, nodding. “For us. But it still is a functional world. It has creatures, and civilizations, and everything.”

“Aren’t there, like, portals or something? Between the two, I mean.”

“Yes, several. In Equestria, there are only five. Two are very far south. One is in the Everfree Forest. One is north, under the ocean. And there’s a tiny one in Hoofington—too small to be dangerous. It’s like a pinhole.”

“What’s this got to do with the Canterlot Guard?”

“For Tartarus, the laws of magic are different than they are for us.”

“Different how?”

“No one really knows. There hasn’t been enough research done.” She leaned forward. “And that makes it all the more dangerous. Because we don’t know how our magic interacts with Tartarus magic, we have to assume that everything there, or from there, is a threat. And that’s the other half of the Guard.”

Spike frowned. “So the Canterlot Guard handles stuff on the Equestria side, and the other, non-armor guard is in charge of Tartarus stuff?”

“Basically, though they don’t have to stick to Tartarus. The Gaia has plenty of mundane magical problems for them as well.”

He thought, linking the information together. “So… that was you and Allie. You were Tartarus Guards.”

She smiled. “The name is ‘Datura’. That’s the name of the organization, and the members. It’s named after a genus of flower with hallucinogenic properties. Princess Luna’s idea.”

“What’s she got to do with it?”

“She founded it.”

“Whoa. So this goes all the way to the top. But why are they a secret?”

“A bunch of reasons. We—sorry. The Datura has access to a lot of stuff that normal ponies are better off not knowing. I’m talking just raw knowledge, here. Really powerful magic, or dangerous secrets… stuff like that. But it’s also because the princesses don’t like their citizens to know just how much they’re needed. Like Allie apparently said, they’re everywhere.”

“Is that necessary?”

“Yup. Not so much in Ponyville, but places like Canterlot, or Applewood, or some of the southern cities. Important places have a lot of Datura activity. Most of it’s covert.”

“Covert.” He thought of Twilight’s Daring Do books. “Like professional adventurers.”

Colgate shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

He smiled. “That’s awesome. So, as we speak, there are ponies out there hunting for treasure, and fighting monsters, and things?”

“Probably. It’s a big world.”

He chuckled. The thought of it didn’t faze him, though he knew that it should. Part of it was Colgate’s calm. Even with a continent-covering secret split open before him, her forceful steadiness kept him from getting too excited, or too worried. “So this is a pretty big deal, huh?”

“Moderately big deal. The Datura’s a secret, yes, but they’re not actually as sinister as I might be making them out to be. It’s like… well, okay. Tartarus is pretty common knowledge, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Right. Like, any random pony off the street at least knows of it. If you think about it, it makes sense that something like the Datura would exist. Someone has to go to the gateways and put up warning signs, or chase off monsters, or collect the area’s soil samples, or whatever. It’s just that the princesses haven’t made it public. It would be too much of a headache for them. Too many questions.”

“I guess I can see that. Why did you quit, though?”

“On my team, we were in charge of either destroying or quarantining anything that came out of Tartarus, or was touched by it in some way. Anything extranormal. But that’s stupid; that’s fixing the symptom, not the cause. We should be doing research, not blindly eliminating things. So I quit. I…” She sighed. “I don’t want to have any part of hurting something else. I’m a peaceful pony.”

“So why tell me?”

She smiled again. “Because I like to see the Datura undermined. And it’s better than keeping a secret from a friend.”

He smiled in spite of himself. In such a serious conversation, it felt wrong, but his heart warmed. “Thanks, Colgate. You’re a good friend.”

She dropped her smile. “Don’t spread this to anyone, okay? You I trust to keep a level head, but others, not so much. And if Ponyville finds out, things won’t be very nice.”

“Well, the whole organization would be revealed, wouldn’t it?”

“No. Ponyville would have its memory wiped.”

“The whole town?”

“The princesses put a lot of importance on this.”

“Geez.” Spike mimed zipping his lips. “You can count on me, though. I won’t talk to anyone.”

Colgate’s lips twitched in an imitation of a smile—a motion he was growing familiar with. “Good boy.”

“All right, it’s the same basic setup as last time,” Strawberry said. “I’ll extend the cranes, one by one, and attach the cables, while you wait for my signal.”

“Easy-peasy,” Rainbow said.

“Yeah, for you.”

“Strawberry, we can’t thank you enough for this,” Twilight said earnestly.

“Well, you earned it.”

“You sure you don’t wanna tell us what yer gonna do with Lacey?” Applejack asked.

“It’s too complicated to explain in such little time. If all goes well, though, the whole studio’s going to go bankrupt.”

“Don’t you think that’s overdoing it a little?” Pinkie asked.

“Not with how much money I need to get back. Now go on, take your places. Don’t worry about me.” He flew up to the pony in the nearest crane, and it began extending upwards.

They entered the tower, again vacated for the occasion. It was Tuesday evening, calm and a little cloudy, and the eerily silent tower set them on edge. For the last two days, they had nothing to do but wait: a terrible thing to do, Pinkie said, as the unspecified, bad thing she foresaw hurtled closer with each hour. There was no helping it. Strawberry had his information, Spring-hoof Jack was an unpleasant memory, and nothing else happened. No floating ships menaced the city, no letters came, and Lacey had remained quiet. Their shopping was finished, and they had decorated their ship how they wanted by Sunday’s end. They could only stay at the flat, playing cards, talking, and waiting for Twilight to get Strawberry’s signal. She called him every day, at his insistence—he didn’t like contacting her unknown number.

“It’s coming,” Pinkie said abruptly.

“What is?” Rainbow asked.

“That bad thing. It’s almost here.”

“How close?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, Pinkie, you don’t think the tower’s going to collapse, do you?” Fluttershy asked.

Everyone turned quickly to look at Pinkie, who frowned and licked her lips in a comedic imitation of focus. “Nnnnnnooooo,” she said slowly. “I don’t think that’s it. It’d feel different if it was.”

“Can you still not tell what this bad thing is?” Octavia asked.

“Nope, no idea. But it’s almost here, and it’s gonna be a doozy.”

“Oh, geez, Pinkie, you can’t just tell us something like that and then not tell us what it is,” Rainbow complained.

“Sorry, Dashie!”

“Let’s just cast this spell and get out, then,” Twilight said. “If this disaster is coming as soon as you say, maybe we can avoid it if we leave right after we’re done.”

“I hope so,” Pinkie said.

They boarded an empty shuttle for the top of the tower. “Geez, it’s creepy in here without any ponies,” Rainbow said.

“It’s like a ghost town,” Applejack said.

“Oh, I hope not,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t like ghosts.”

“Ghosts don’t exist, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said. “They don’t, do they?”

“No, they do,” Twilight said. “But they’re rare. They’re usually found in places with lots of excess magic. Like around a Tartarus gateway.”

“An’ Ah hope we don’t ever have to go near one,” Applejack said.

“You ever see a ghost, Octavia?” Pinkie asked.

Octavia didn’t answer, but stared out the darkened windows as the tower interior passed by her searching eyes. There was little to be seen except scaffolding and narrow walkways, and the stations they passed, dimmed and shrouded.

“Just think about it,” Rarity said. “In just a few hours, we’ll be leaving. I for one cannot be happier.”

“I think we’ll all be glad to get out of here,” Rainbow said heavily. “That Lacey… eugh. She’s a piece of work.”

“Ah think we should tell her off,” Applejack said. “Since we won’t be seein’ her again anyway. Ah don’t see any harm in burnin’ this particular bridge.”

“She deserves worse,” Rainbow said.

“Maybe we could tell the mayor,” Fluttershy said.

“Or Celestia!” Pinkie added.

“Now there ya go,” Applejack said. “Ah’d wager no one’s told the princess ‘bout what she’s up to.”

“Has Lacey actually done anything illegal, though?” Octavia asked. “Yes, she got Rarity to do a video against her will, but she did not force her into it. Rarity agreed.”

“Under duress, though,” Twilight said.

“It was still her decision.”

“What ‘bout all she’s done with Strawberry?” Applejack asked.

“For all we know, she didn’t do anything, though,” Fluttershy said. “I mean, it’s all Strawberry’s word. And he’s, well… he’s no better.”

“I agree that she should be brought to justice,” Octavia said. “But I do not think we can use the princesses. She has not done anything illegal, that we know of.”

“Well, how else are we gonna get her, then?” Rainbow asked.

“If that arsonist was still around, we could have him burn her apartment down,” Rarity said.

They all stared, open-mouthed. “Geez, Rarity,” Twilight said.

“You’ve got quite a chip on yer shoulder there, sugarcube,” Applejack said.

Rarity sighed, and they rattled to a stop. The doors slid open, revealing the empty, flat, uncovered expanse of floor: the top of Glass Ribbon. They walked out into the darkness and looked around. The clouds were breaking apart, and stars peeked out at them. Wind tossed their manes gently, and the first crane was in place. They could see the entire city, nearly whole, adrift in the flotsam of surrounding countryside.

“It is kind of beautiful,” Octavia said.

“I suppose it is,” Rarity said. “Still, I would be happier if we were on the ground. Er, the actual ground. The planet itself.”

“You can hardly tell most of the time,” Pinkie said.

No one responded, and she went to the edge. Manehattan looked the same as it always did, a dark crust of buildings and streets, illuminated only in very small places by the beehive collection of individual lights. From her vantage, the healed city looked out-of-place against the rest of the world. She smiled; as weird as it was, the fragmentation effect had turned, slowly, into the norm for her. Passing over gaps was no event; looking down through them, to the planet, was a novelty.

“Anything on that disaster, Pinks?” Rainbow asked quietly.

“Sorry, Dashie.”

“I’m just really worried,” she continued. “I want us to be done here.”

Pinkie nodded and snuck a look back at Rarity, speaking with Octavia and Fluttershy. “Once we get out, maybe we can get back to how we were.”

“What do you mean?”

“Before we left home.” She smiled slightly. “Everypony’s changing.”

“I’m not changing.”

“Yeah, you are, Dashie. You’re a little more reserved. So’s Twilight.”

“Okay, now I know you’re just messing with me. Twilight’s always been reserved.”

“Nuh-uh. She’s always been studious. But now she’s getting to be quieter.”

Rainbow sighed. “I dunno, Pinkie. It’s the city, I think. Too much stress, not enough open space.”

“I miss the grass.”

“I miss flying without worrying about crashing into buildings.”

“I miss having parties.”

“Yeah. I miss that too.”

They waited for an entire hour, stranded on the cold, windy rooftop above the city, while the cranes rose. As the darkness deepened, so too did their sense of anxiety. Pinkie paced, Rainbow flew, Rarity stared off the edge, and Octavia practiced her magic with Twilight, but for all of them, the effort was strained and unreal. All minds were on the warning. When a pegasus fluttered to the top to announce that they were ready for the spell, everyone crowded the sides eagerly, and Pinkie trotted sedately to the center.

“Any news on that incoming disaster, Pinkie?” Applejack asked.

“Nope! But it’s coming, and it’s coming fast.”

“Then let’s be done with this,” Twilight said. “Everyone back up.”

Lacey was at home, listening to her music and cleaning, when there was a knock on the door. She slowly went to answer it, and took a couple seconds to recover from the surprise. Wings and Jet stood on her doorstep with frowns on their faces and daggers in their eyes.

“What do you want?” she asked, not bothering to conceal her contempt.

“Oh, hi Lacey. We just wanted to come by to tell you that we’ve been fired,” Wings said.

“Canned!” Jet crowed.

“And so, since we no longer have any professional relations with you, we just wanted to drop by so we can say fuck you, you manipulative nag.”

Lacey raised a brow in bemusement. “Really?”

“Looking out for the whole company, right?” Jet said. “And your friends.”

“Not anymore, though,” Wings said.

“Yeah, we’re history.”

“And how am I to blame for that? I’ve done nothing to you,” Lacey said.

“Aside from throw away our friendship for money,” Wings said.

“And threaten us,” Jet said.

“But that’s water under the bridge.”

“But not really.”

“Yeah, we’re really here just to say goodbye.”

“To the mare who discarded us.”

“Like trash.”

Lacey looked at the two of them. The anger in their expressions was gone, replaced only with frustration and injury. She took a breath and sat, leaning against the door-frame. “I did, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did,” Wings said.

Lacey nodded. She knew her folly; she had known it all along. But even as she was losing them—even as she looked them in the eyes and threatened them for their silence—a part of her denied it. If she succeeded, she would keep her friends.

“Well done, by the way,” Jet said.

“Where are you gonna go?” Lacey asked.

“Haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Might leave town,” Wings said.

“Yeah, we might do that.”

“But… that’s a terrible idea,” Lacey said. “You have no money.”

“We’re good in tight spaces,” Jet said.

“We’ll make do,” Wings said.

“I can get you another job, somewhere else,” Lacey said.

They paused, and looked at each other. They laughed. “Are you kidding me?” Jet asked.

“Now you try to make up for yourself?” Wings said.

“Please. Spare us the act.”

“You don’t care.”

“Never did.”

“I do, though,” Lacey said quietly.

Wings shook her head. “Sorry, Lacey. You had your chance.”

“If you really want forgiveness, try looking for it from your little actress,” Jet said.

“Yeah, try that.”

They turned to go, and Lacey didn’t object.

“One more thing, though,” Jet said. “And you can call this a parting gift, if you like. You say you can get us jobs? Get yourself one. ‘Cause this one isn’t going to last much longer.”

Lacey blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“Strawberry’s on his way,” Wings said.

“And he has information,” Jet said.

“That’s how we got fired.”

“Yeah, some unicorn showed up to steal your boss’ pertinence.”

“She tricked us good.”

They took to the air, and Lacey watched them go. As they flew away, the ground rumbled in the distance, but she didn’t pay any attention. While Manehattan came together, her own world was falling apart. Her efforts to save the studio, over which she chased away her two closest friends, seemed to fade under Wings’ looming threat. “Strawberry’s on his way.” The two pegasi were black check marks in the night sky, and then they were gone. No goodbyes.

She went back inside and stared at the wall.

When the spell was done, and Twilight and Pinkie had recovered, they all surveyed the city. There wasn’t a single sign of incongruity or incompletion below them. “Well, you did it, girls,” Applejack said.

“Oh, it looks just lovely right now,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, I gotta say, you did an awesome job of putting it back together, Pinkie,” Rainbow said.

“Yeah, thanks,” Pinkie said.

There was a pause. “What’s wrong, Pinkie?” Twilight asked.

“Well, you know that big, bad thing I was telling you about?”

“Yeah…”

“My Pinkie Sense isn’t acting up anymore.”

“But what does that mean?” Fluttershy asked.

“Whatever it was, it passed.”

“Passed?” Rainbow repeated. “How can that be? Nothing even happened.”

“Maybe Pinkie was wrong,” Twilight said, and they all stared at her impatiently. “Just a thought.”

They went back to the tiny train station and rode all the way to the bottom. The sound of excited ponies outside hissed and seethed in the dark distance, and they looked out the windows into the groaning, empty tower. Their final night in the city.

They exited and approached Strawberry, waiting by one of his cranes’ giant tires.

He smiled cordially. “Well, it looks like everything worked out okay.”

“It did, yes. Everything is perfect,” Twilight said.

“Glad to hear it.”

“We can’t thank you enough for your help,” Rarity said. “Without you, we wouldn’t have ever been able to do this.”

“Yes, we truly are grateful,” Octavia said guardedly.

Strawberry’s smile turned into a grin. “All I ask in return is that you give it a few years before asking me to do something like this again. Recovering the money from these last few days is going to be… well, let’s just say it’s a good thing I know what I’m doing. How long are you staying in Manehattan?”

“Oh, we’re leaving tonight,” Twilight said.

“Do you think you’ll come back?”

“Maybe, but I kind of hope not. No offense.”

“No, I understand. It’s been rough for all of us.” He looked up at the cranes and cables, and the pegasi circling them. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I need to clean all this up.”

“Yeah, we need to get goin’ too,” Applejack said.

“Okay. Well, if we never meet again, it’s been a pleasure. Look me up if you’re ever in a tight spot.”

“Right.”

They parted, and headed back to their ship. Pinkie looked once more at Strawberry. “I think I might actually miss him. He was all right.”

“I, personally, cannot get out of here fast enough,” Octavia said.

Lacey opened the door and smiled big at them. “Hello again, my friends. I see your little spell worked properly.”

“Sure did!” Twilight said. “Sorry to leave in such a rush, but we really feel we should get going now.”

“Oh, I’m sure. Hey, Twilight, can you answer a question for me?”

“Uh, sure.”

Lacey closed the door behind them. “Were you in the studio with Rarity when I took her down there last Saturday?”

A hush fell over the crowd, and Twilight slowly turned to look at her. “Uh… no.”

Concern knit her face. “Are you sure? Because some very important documents went missing, and a little birdie told me that there was a unicorn sneaking around on that very same day. Now, I know it wasn’t Rarity, my little star,” she turned and sneered at the white unicorn. “So the process of elimination means that it was you. Am I making any sense?”

“Well, um, I… don’t you remember, I went with the others to the tower, to shop,” Twilight said shakily.

“What store did you visit first?”

“Uh, um, we visited… the… airship dealership first, so we could verify our purchase.”

“You’re a bad liar, Twilight Sparkle,” Lacey said, suddenly serious. “Now I don’t know what you did with that information, but there will be ramifications.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Twilight cried.

“Too late to backpedal, you traitor.”

“Yer the traitor ‘round here!” Applejack shouted. “We all know what you forced Rarity into doin’! You’ve been stringin’ us along the whole time!”

Lacey smirked. “All right, fine, you caught me. I’ve been manipulating you the entire time. But what are you going to do about it? I have pornography of your friend that I can distribute wherever and whenever I want, and believe me, I’m not about to let that opportunity slip between my hooves.” She smiled sweetly. “Pack your things and go, and have fun sorting out your professional career, darling.”

“Don’t you worry, Lacey,” Applejack said. “You’ll get yours.”

“We’ll see about that, Applejack. Oh, here.” She went into the kitchen and reappeared with two halves of a piece of paper in her teeth. She spat them at Rarity’s hooves. “Your payment.”

Rarity slowly brought the two halves of the check up to her watering eyes. “You… you… how could you?”

“Like I’d let you get away with sabotaging me like this.”

“That’s illegal,” Twilight said.

“Again, what will you do about it? Stay here an extra month? Get a lawyer? Sue me over—how much is it—one thousand bits? I know you want out. You think I can’t see it in you?”

They stared at her, shocked, afraid.

“Twilight, where’s that optimistic, zippy tenacity that you’re famed for? Rainbow and Applejack, that competitive spark?” She grinned venomously. “And Rarity… you poor thing. You are dead. You won’t stay here another day if you don’t have to.” She stepped aside. “I’ve said my piece. Go ahead and go.”

They went silently into their room and grabbed their bags, checking quickly to make sure Lacey hadn’t tampered with anything. As they went to the ship, Lacey followed them, her eyes sparkling maliciously.

“Don’t you think it’s a neat coincidence that you should just happen to bump into someone like me? That we should just happen to get along?”

They didn’t respond as Applejack goaded the engines to life.

“I recognized you from the start, Elements of Harmony. And I suspect Strawberry did too.”

They lifted off, and only Rarity stayed at the gunwale, staring down, tears blotting her eyes. Lacey remained where she stood until she was out of sight. The night was damp.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Excellent work in Manehattan. I am gladdened to see your progress, and am happy that you are all still okay. Unfortunately, I have grave news. In my sister’s absence, Discord has had more space to spread chaos, and his chosen location seems to be Cloudsdale. I have not seen it for myself, as I dare not leave Canterlot unprotected, but reports indicate that its snow production is out of control, and the excess is covering Ponyville.

I have a team of ponies already working to solve the problem, but progress is slow, and I cannot say how long until they are successful. For the time, Ponyville is protected with a shield.

The rest of the country seems untouched, at least for now, but Discord’s actions in Cloudsdale trouble me; I suspect an ulterior motive. Of the possible reasons, I think the most likely is to get you seven to return, though for what purpose, I cannot guess. I will not go so far as to prohibit you from going back, but I urge you to use caution, if you choose to do so.

In love and friendship,

Princess Luna

P.S.: his airship has been spotted near your location. If it comes near, do your best to evade it. At this time, I have no advice on how to harm it, if, indeed, that is possible.

While the others slept below, Twilight had stayed above with Applejack. She wasn’t sure why, but where everyone else grew tired, she did not. When she received her letter, she had the shining half-disc of the moon by which to read it, and Applejack faced forward seriously while she listened to the princess’ words.

“So he’s messin’ with Cloudsdale,” Applejack repeated.

“I guess so,” Twilight said with a sigh. “Do you think we should turn back?”

“Luna don’t seem to think so. Ah’m inclined to agree.”

“You think he might be trying to lure us?”

“Ah do.”

“But why?”

“Ah dunno. A trap?”

“But he can just chase us down whenever he wants, it seems. I don’t see the purpose of a trap.”

“Hm, right. Ah’ve got nothin’, Twilight.”

“Rainbow’s going to want to go back.”

“Mm, yer right. At least her. Can you get yer map?”

Twilight reached out with her magic to one of their bags and grabbed their map of Equestria, and brought it over to Applejack.

“Hm. ‘Bout six days to Ponyville.”

“Go ahead and turn us around, I guess.”

Rainbow and Rarity shared a bed, with Pinkie asleep on the floor. For the first hour, they slept, but Rainbow soon awoke with Rarity tossing and turning by her side. She pushed herself up on her wings and prodded Rarity, who woke with an annoyed groan.

“Rainbow, what is it?”

“What is it with me? You’re the one who can’t stay still.”

Rarity yawned. “Sorry, Rainbow Dash. Bad dreams.”

“White stallion?”

“Yeah. And her.”

Rainbow closed her eyes and lay back. She knew it was on Rarity’s mind, and she had suspected, as they got into bed together, that they would talk about it, but the time was all wrong. She was too tired to give Rarity her support. “She’s gone now, Rares. We’re out of there.”

“Doesn’t change what she did.”

“Yeah, I know.” Rainbow turned over and faced the wall. “You gonna do anything?”

“I’d like to,” Rarity said quietly. “I’d like to find her, and catch her, and get my revenge as slowly as I can.” Her voice darkened. “I’ve thought about this. I’d like to tie her down and gag her, first, so she can’t scream. Then—”

“Rarity, Rarity, please, I don’t want to hear this.”

Rarity took a deep breath behind her. “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but if anypony in this world deserves that, she does. She betrayed me in a way that no one ever has before, and to everypony in Ponyville. I just… I just… I just… I just want to kill her.”

Rainbow squirmed under the blanket. “Celestia, Rare, I know you’re mad, but kill? You can’t mean that.”

It was a long time before she answered. “I don’t know what I want, Rainbow. I know I don’t want to actually kill her, but I just wish I could do something to get back at her.”

“We can worry about her later. Tomorrow. Whatever.” She put her head under a pillow. “I just wanna sleep.”

“Yes, of course,” Rarity said. She scooted closer, and, after a moment of hesitation, snuggled up to Rainbow, who opened her wings to receive her.

Fluttershy woke up at five in the morning, and in the pale darkness, she could still see two bright, blue eyes, set in the sheet-white face from her dream. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and, after a moment more of warmth under the blankets, got up and went to the deck. Twilight and Applejack had retired to their rooms, and the ship’s wheel was locked in place to keep them on an even course.

It was still dark as she paced the deck, fluffing her wings in the cool, morning air. When they had set out, a month ago, the last chill of winter still lingered on the fringes of the morning, but they were mid-way into May, and Fluttershy didn’t have to move much to warm up.

She walked to the side of the ship and examined the turret mounted on the rail. When Twilight had explained it to her, she had done so carefully, as if not to throw her into a panic at the thought. Fluttershy frowned as she gently touched the weapon’s handle. She wasn’t stupid; she knew what it was for. She even understood the necessity, though the acknowledgement of that understanding made her stomach turn. She had seen Discord in action just as they had.

Turning her back on the turret, she walked to the prow and looked out over the countryside. They were heading east from Manehattan, cruising comfortably at an elevation of five hundred feet over a flat stretch of land, sparsely populated with trees and laced with thin, silver threads of river. She could see the jagged chasms separating the bits of ground, and as they passed over one, she looked down; in the predawn, she couldn’t make out any details about the planet below.

She looked back at Manehattan. It was already fading in the distance, a collection of sharply angled stones surrounded by the dark dip of Starlight Lake. As they were leaving, she had looked down into it; while whole, it was even more diminished than before, a dwindling crater of unhealthy water. As much pity as she felt for the ponies in the city, who would soon run out of lake water, and then rain, she couldn’t help but stifle a smile as they crested the final building. For all the good they did, their only repayment had been betrayal and coercion, and notches in their once firm resolve to do only what was right.

She looked away at a lofty bank of cumulous clouds a couple miles away, to their north. They were dense and billowy, and in the moonlight, soft. She thought of her animal friends. Wherever they were, she reasoned, they were there to stay; it had been too long for them to hope for her return. In a way, the thought comforted her. At least they weren’t waiting anymore.

Fluttershy looked beyond the clouds. Concealed in the darkness, she knew, was a small mountain range, some four thousand miles away, and behind that, the coast. Equestria truly was massive, she had found, perusing one of Twilight’s maps. There were entire days, and sometimes weeks, of travel between cities, all over untamed wilderness—explored, but mostly unpopulated. She sometimes thought of the ponies who chose to live in those sections of the country, forming communities of twenty or fewer on riversides, in groves of trees, or in the shade of mountains. Sometimes, she envied them. Even in Ponyville, life’s simple pleasures could be hard to come by.

She caught a glint of light in the distance, through a break in the clouds. As she narrowed her eyes to study it, it faded, and a breeze bristled her plumage. She shivered, and the clouds broke around a dark, heavy shadow, so sudden in appearance that she thought she had missed it the first time. As it pushed through, she realized she had not; the clouds rolled and fluffed away at a piercing, dark point, slowly thickening into a heavy ship. Though the precise shape was not familiar to her, she recognized it instantly: the interloper that had attacked the Canterlot Palace, and menaced Manehattan.

It turned lazily out of the clouds, and she could see its profile against the lightening sky. It was double the size of their own ship, entirely wooden, but what gave its identity away to Fluttershy was its missing balloon, replaced with a trio of sharp-looking masts.

She watched breathlessly as it floated along, waiting for it to angle toward them, to attack. For entire minutes, she waited, but it never turned. It glided silently through the darkness, parallel to their own ship, never giving any indication that its captain saw them. She crouched at the gunwale, thoughts of waking the others spinning in her head, but the ship’s sharp aspect had frozen her in fear. She could only watch it in the distance, its sails catching the very beginnings of the sunrise like dying flames. She watched it glide until her eyes were tired, and her vision had faded at the peripheries; until every miniscule motion in its sails or change in the ship’s angle was, to her, the sign she had been fearing.

The sun gradually crept over the land, but the ship didn’t change. In the light, she could see more detail: the small row of holes in its side, for cannons; the tight ropes between the masts; the black, thorny exterior. It was nearly six-thirty when it finally vanished, as suddenly as it had appeared. One moment, it was keeping pace with them, and the next, it was out of sight, an arrow to the east.

On the sixth day since they had left Manehattan, Applejack cut the power to all but the two side engines. It was ten at night, and she had to check their map to make sure that they were actually close to Ponyville. Even at a distance, they could see all was not well. Where there was once a grassy plain around the tiny, thatched town, there sat instead a wide, white field of snow under a swarm of black, bloated clouds, trailing back to Cloudsdale, its entire mass dripping with displaced weather.

As they got closer, the temperature plummeted, and the first flakes of snow landed on the deck. Rainbow brushed them away petulantly, and Octavia moved her cello downstairs, to protect it from the cold. Twilight went to the front to stand alongside Applejack, who squinted into the wind.

“Looks like somepony’s already been here to help,” Applejack said.

In the falling snow, they could see a large, glassy dome of shimmering magic, covering Ponyville from the surrounding storm. Snow rippled on its surface and piled at its edges, and beneath, Ponyville was dark and empty. They edged farther into the storm, and near the torch, everyone was huddling together. Applejack was shivering.

“Who do you suppose made this shield?” Twilight asked.

“Could it have been Princess Luna?”

“No,” Twilight said slowly. “No, her color of magic is darker than that. One of her acolytes, maybe. I think the more important question is how did this happen.”

“Well, didn’t yer letter say it had somethin’ to do with Cloudsdale?”

“Yeah, that’s what Princess Luna said.” She looked to the southeast, where Cloudsdale was, but they were too far under the ceiling of dark clouds. “Maybe someone below knows something.”

They floated down to the shield, a delicate turquoise shell of rippling, glittering magic, almost solid-looking. As they entered it, the snow that had settled on the ship and their coats was whisked away, along with the wind. The cold remained.

“Not a very effective shield,” Rarity huffed.

“I think it’s amazing,” Twilight said, craning her neck to observe the town.

“But it’s still cold!” Rainbow said.

“There’s no sunlight,” Twilight said. “A shield can keep out the snow and the wind, but if there’s no sun, there’s no sun. I’m personally astonished that somepony managed to erect this over the entire town.”

“You could do it,” Octavia said.

“Well, yeah, but it would be difficult. And I couldn’t sustain it for very long. Maybe… I don’t know, an hour? Two, if I’m pushing myself to my last extremity.”

They coasted over the town to touch down in the middle of the empty schoolyard, its grass pale and anemic. With the engines off, they could appreciate the town’s silence. With no one around, and the wind blocked, they could hear the quiet spats of thunder far away, and the shield crinkling above. Applejack lowered the ramp into the brittle grass, and as soon as they were off the ship, the quiet was broken by a tiny voice shouting Twilight’s name. Through the dark field, running with total abandon, came Spike, his smiling face covered with a tearful sheen. They froze, not expecting his appearance to be so sudden, and he covered the distance between them alone. He leaped up at Twilight, wrapping his arms around her neck in a tight hug that she was too shocked to reciprocate immediately.

For the next minute, her friends shivering behind her, Twilight stood with Spike clinging to her, crying openly and spewing half-formed sentences and apologies. She couldn’t believe it. On the journey back, she had known she would meet him again, had even gotten excited about it. But seeing him, holding him, having his body pressed against hers, was too much. Before she knew it, her own eyes were leaking tears.

She shivered. Even in the intensity of the moment, the cold was too much for her, and she gently pried him off. He stood before them all for a second, then brightened and jumped up.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Come on back to the library! I have some friends I want you to meet.”

“Friends? As in… dragon friends?” Fluttershy asked, trying to hide behind Applejack.

“No, no, they’re ponies. Come on! It’s freezing out here.”

They walked back to the library, Fluttershy and Octavia in the very back, the latter offering no comment. Spike kept up a running monologue as they approached, talking about the local events. Big Mac had left on an airship the day before, for where he knew not, and the electricity was slowly coming on for more buildings. Things had been looking up, until the sudden snowstorm.

The library was just as Twilight remembered it, and she took a moment to stand in the central room and breathe in the musty odor of texts and the tree’s wooden interior. Spike had a fire going, but it did little to warm up the room. She smiled; she remembered countless winter days, trying to keep the library at a comfortable temperature. She was so overcome with nostalgia, she didn’t immediately notice the gray pegasus standing by one of her bookshelves.

“Hey Derpy. What are you doing here?” Rainbow asked.

“Hey girls! I was just hanging out with Spike when he took off all of a sudden. I guess I can see why now.” She walked to Octavia. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Ditzy Doo, but you can just call me Ditzy, or Derpy, or really anything you want.”

“Octavia,” she said, shaking Derpy’s hoof.

Spike ran upstairs and returned shortly with a trio of ponies behind him, a unicorn and two pegasi. Twilight recognized Allie Way as the unicorn, though they had only briefly spoken before leaving, but the pegasi were strangers. Introductions were exchanged, and everypony went into the kitchen to sit around the table and chat.

Spike told them what had happened in Ponyville; what had started as a light, but persistent shower had turned into a rainstorm by the end of the day, and had steadily frozen into snow over the course of the week. When it became clear that the weather would not abate on its own, and there was no one in Ponyville to stop it, Allie took it upon herself to erect the shield with a large sigil, which she painted in the town square.

“You did an awesome job with it,” Twilight said.

“Thank you. I studied sigils when I was younger,” Allie said.

“I’ve never seen you do any magic.”

“I’m not too good at regular magic. For me, memorizing a sigil’s design is a lot easier.”

“Can we get to the snow?” Rainbow asked. “I mean,” she yawned, “sigils are cool and all, but they’re not, you know…”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Twilight said. “So, do any of you know why this is happening? Princess Luna said the snow in Cloudsdale is being overproduced.”

“You talked to Luna?” Flitter asked, her eyes shooting open.

“She wrote us a letter.”

“That is why we knew to show up so soon,” Octavia said.

“See, I told you they knew,” Allie said to Spike, who shrugged.

“No, we have no idea,” Cloudchaser said. “Besides what you said. As to the ‘why’ of it, nope. No clue.”

“Well, there’s not a whole lot that can cause a problem like this,” Rainbow said. “If there’s overproduction, it’s probably an excess of water getting into the condensing coil. But where it’s coming from… no idea.”

“Is it dangerous to go up there?” Applejack asked.

“You’re going up?” Derpy asked.

“Tomorrow, if we can,” Twilight said. She leaned to look out the window. “It might be tricky outside the shield.”

“Applejack, it might be,” Rainbow said. “Depends on how much snow’s backed up and gotten into the city. If there’s too much up there, we could be looking at some serious structural damage.”

“Would it not just fall through the clouds?” Octavia asked.

“Not these. Cloudsdale’s made out of construction-grade clouds—those are different from your regular rain or snow clouds. Heavier. The snow would pile up on it, just like any other building. Only difference is, if this one starts falling apart, it’s a looooong way down.”