The next morning, they rose earlier than usual to the sound of Spike clattering around in the kitchen. Allie and Derpy had gone home, but Flitter and Cloudchaser were still hanging around, alternating between helping with breakfast and flying around the main room. They and Spike were laughing and joking when Twilight entered the kitchen.

“Mornin’ boss! Sleep good?” Spike asked congenially.

“Okay,” Twilight said cautiously. She had actually woken up several times; the white stallion was getting more aggressive in her dreams.

“I tried to keep the bed like how you left it.”

“And I appreciate it,” Twilight said affectionately.

He smiled as he cracked an egg in a bowl. “So when are you going up to Cloudsdale?”

“Right after breakfast,” Twilight said. “We want to get started as soon as possible.”

“And you’re leaving right after that?”

“Unfortunately, yes. We need to move as fast as we can if we want to stop Discord. We haven’t found any of the Elements of Harmony yet.”

“Sheesh. He’s really got a jump on you.”

“Don’t remind me,” Twilight said.

After breakfast, Flitter and Cloudchaser left to return to the spa, and the others got in the airship and took off after a brief goodbye and promise to return before leaving properly. By eleven, Spike was, once again, alone. He looked to the door to the basement. The day before, in the afternoon, a small cart had rolled into town with a massive collection of magazines and videocassettes, and he and Derpy were among the first to investigate it.

What they found, they had no reaction for. Ponies, mares mostly, displayed without shame or censor, filled the cart’s wares. Many onlookers stormed off, Derpy among them, but others remained to look through the selection, openly intrigued. Spike wandered off, embarrassed, but returned an hour later. There, he found Rarity.

He was immediately entranced, and it was several minutes before he even had the wherewithal to do anything with the two pieces of media in which she appeared. Her behavior in the magazine, her photo plastered across from another, equally attractive mare, excited him in a way with which he was not familiar. He felt ashamed and glorious as he stood by the dusty cart, surrounded by other ponies, but completely alone in himself.

He bought both articles, magazine and video tape, and took them back to the library, where he stored them in the basement with Twilight’s technologies. Only two hours later had he built up the courage to feverishly thumb through the magazine, dog-earing the Rarity pages guiltily.

With his friends gone, and no one due to visit for the rest of the day, he retreated back to the basement.

The sun was up, but the clouds above Ponyville left very little light by which to navigate. As they approached the outer limit of Allie’s shield, they all crowded by the torch, but when Applejack took them through, the balloon did not protect them from the snow. The wind sent flurries of it up over the rails and into their faces, and after a couple minutes of futile adjustment, they, and the deck, were covered.

“Ah can hardly see where we’re goin’,” Applejack said. “Rainbow, get over here an’ see if you can help me.”

“I’m not flying out into that mess,” Rainbow said.

“How’re we supposed to find Cloudsdale if you can’t get out there?”

“Just go where I point. I still know where it is.”

“Rainbow, it’s just snow,” Twilight said.

“Hey, have you ever flown in snow? It’s not as easy as it sounds, ya know.”

“Argue later, RD,” Applejack said testily.

“Right, right, sorry. Go up through these clouds.”

“Pinkie, torch.”

Pinkie turned up the torch, and the others gathered closer around it, where the snow melted before hitting the deck.

“I have a question,” Octavia said. “How are we supposed to do anything up here if only two of us can walk on clouds?”

“I have a spell that lets us all do it,” Twilight said. “It’ll let you breathe at this elevation, too.”

“Ah.”

They floated up into the cold, gray mass of clouds, where their visibility was buried and their coats were dampened. Rainbow folded her wings tight to her body and urged Applejack to take them higher; they would break through the ceiling soon, she said, and should be able to see Cloudsdale from there.

When they finally rose over the last crest of dark cloud, the sudden, dry coolness at the top of the sky put them all into shivering shock. The blue expanse, floored in dark storm clouds, was almost worse than the moisture that covered them moments ago. An empty wind blew, making them all tense up in tiny shivers. Cloudsdale was visible in the distance, half-buried, like an island in a tumultuous sea.

“There, see?” Rainbow said, pointing. The far side of the cloud city boiled with huge, dark clouds, while smaller ones floated around the residential districts. “That’s overproduction, no question. But I’ve never seen it this bad.”

“What part of the city is it coming from?” Twilight asked.

“That’s the snow factory.” She squinted. “Just as I thought. Take us over there, AJ.”

The bottom half of Cloudsdale was stuck in gray cloud, but as they slowly drifted around it, the problem took shape. Where one end of the city curled upwards in a large wavelike formation, from which dripped Cloudsdale’s signature streams of rainbows, there was a small collection of colorful tents below, on a slope of cloud. Small buoys of white surrounded the area, blinking with warning lights. At the bottom, just before the sea of clouds, was an inverted claw, its surface undulating with storm clouds.

“What am I looking at?” Octavia asked.

“That’s the storm refinery,” Rainbow said. “You can’t see it, but there’s a lip at the bottom of that runway-looking thing, where clouds are supposed to collect. When there’s enough, pegasi workers come by to seed them, and then they drop their heavier water before rising off. The water gets recycled back into the system.”

“Looks like it’s overflowin’,” Applejack said.

“That’s exactly what it’s doing.” She pointed at a large vent at the top of the gray slope. “See that? That’s the exit to the snow coil. That’s where water gets super-cooled.”

“So the problem is inside the snow coil,” Octavia said.

“Looks like it.”

Applejack cut the power, and they slowly floated down to the floor. Pegasi were already coming their way, and they gathered at the torch.

“This’ll just be a moment,” Twilight said. “Rarity, hold still.”

“It’s cold, dear,” Rarity said shortly.

“C’mere, Rare,” Rainbow said, putting a wing around her trembling back. Twilight’s horn glowed long and bright, and they all floated briefly off the ground as her spell grabbed them. When it was done, she sat down with a satisfied smile. “You can all walk on the clouds now.”

“Me first!” Pinkie cried, jumping over the rail to land with a soft pomf below. The others dismounted with the gangplank, where Pinkie paced excitedly, grinning down at her hooves. “This is awesome, Twilight! These clouds are so squishy! We have to come here more often!”

“Who are those ponies?” Rarity asked.

“I dunno,” Rainbow said.

“Well, go talk to ‘em. Yer the Cloudsdale mare,” Applejack said.

“No, let’s let them come to us,” Twilight said.

They stood beside their ship while the group of ponies approached—a pair of wiry stallions on either side of an oily black mare, larger than both of them. Golden badges gleamed on their vests. Rainbow closed the gap between them and extended a hoof, and the mare shook it perfunctorily. “Cloudsdale police. What is the meaning of this?” she asked, her voice resounding with haughty indignation. The stallions eyed them curiously behind her sizable bulk.

“Uh, yeah, just the Elements of Harmony,” Rainbow said.

“Yes, yes, I can see that,” she said, flapping her wings lazily. “Why are you here?”

“We’re here to help,” Twilight said. “Princess Luna told us about the excess snow, and that she suspected Discord had been here.”

“I was not informed of your pending arrival.”

“So? It’s not our job to tell ponies where we’re going,” Rainbow said.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I was not referring to you.”

“Do you know what’s happenin’ here? Or are you just gonna be frustrated at us?” Applejack asked.

“Of course I know what’s ‘happenin’ here. I’m the pony in charge of this entire counter-operation.” She looked at her two companions. “Which, admittedly, is a bit thin at the moment.”

“Is it just you three?” Rainbow asked.

“There are others, but they are elsewhere in the city. We three are trying to stop the problem at its source, while the others are keeping it from spreading.”

“And what is this problem?” Octavia asked.

“Ah, yes. The tag-along,” the fat mare said, looking at Octavia coolly.

“Excuse me?”

“Discord has planted a large amount of sigils inside the snow coil, through which water is flowing. As we are all pegasi, we are in the unfortunate position of waiting for backup from Canterlot.”

“I can break a sigil,” Twilight said.

“It’s too dangerous inside,” she said, shaking her head. “The sigils are attached to… well, it would be easier for you to just see it. But to go inside as you are would be suicide.”

“How long until your support comes?” Octavia asked.

“A day or less.”

They looked at each other. “Ah know some of us may wanna play the hero,” Applejack said, “but is it honestly worth it? These ponies already have things under control, it seems.”

“If we can help, we should,” Octavia said.

“But can we? What do y’all actually need to take care of this problem?”

“A shielder and a sigil breaker, for starters,” the fat mare said.

“I can keep a shield up,” Rarity said.

“And I can break a sigil,” Twilight said.

“There, see? Your ponies are already here,” Rainbow said. “Why not let us take care of it?”

“With all due respect, Miss Dash,” the pegasus said, “you are simply not qualified for this task.”

“We’re more qualified than any random pony out of Canterlot. We’ve dealt with stuff like this before.”

“We have fought Discord himself,” Octavia said.

“But this is not a fight, Miss Melody,” the fat mare said. “This is a planned operation. This takes time.”

“We have time,” Twilight said.

“Er, not really,” Rarity said. “We should have reached Appleloosa by now, actually.”

“But we’re here now, so we may as well deal with this,” Rainbow said.

“No, no, no!” the fat mare cried. “How many times do I have to say it? None of you are qualified to deal with this. You have done an admirable job with Discord in the past, but this is not the same.”

“So what? You expect us to just sit here and let someone else do it?”

“That is exactly what I expect.” She sighed and lowered her voice, and when she spoke again, her tone was kinder. “I know you must feel accountable for all of Equestria’s problems, but you have to be able to stand aside and let professionals handle things. We are all senior members of the Cloudsdale police force; we know what to do here. Once the others arrive, we will have the resources we need.” She gestured in the direction of the tents. “If you want, we can set up a couple tents for you, so you can be there when we break the sigils.”

“Thanks for the patronage,” Rainbow said. She turned back to the ship. “We’ll find a place ourselves.”

“Um, wait,” Fluttershy said quietly. She was hiding behind Pinkie. “Where else will we go? I, um, don’t really think any nearby hotels are going to be open… you know, considering.”

“I’m sure we can find something.”

“No, Fluttershy is right,” Octavia said. She looked to the mare. “We would appreciate anything you can give us.”

The fat mare nodded and turned to the stallion on her left. “See to them.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He looked at them all. “Come with me.”

They followed him across the clouds to the tents, passing under the shadow of a large arch. So near the overflowing snow, they could feel the change in the clouds; the softness they were accustomed to had turned into a constant, icy prickling, like striding through sleet. The stallion went into one tent and pulled out a bundle of supplies, and began setting theirs up a distance away.

“So we will just stay here for the night,” Octavia said. “Will your spell last that long, Twilight?”

“I’ll re-cast it before we go to bed,” Twilight said.

“Great. And we can watch someone else do our job tomorrow,” Rainbow said.

“It ain’t that big a deal, Rainbow,” Applejack said.

“Yeah, Dashie! It’s not always on us to solve the world’s problems!” Pinkie said.

“So we’re just gonna let these yahoos from Canterlot do it?” Rainbow groused.

“Not in front of one of their friends,” Rarity whispered, looking at the stallion.

“Psh.” She flapped her wings angrily and approached the stallion. “Yo! So, what can you tell us about these sigils Discord has in the snow coil?”

He looked up at her disinterestedly. “It’s too dangerous to go in after them equipped as we are.”

She rolled her eyes. “Gee, thanks. Anything else, bozo?”

“Not for nosy pegasi like you,” he grunted.

She huffed and went back to them. “What a crock.”

“What if these ponies are in league with him?” Rarity asked quietly. “They’re certainly reluctant to talk.”

“They’re police, Rarity,” Applejack said.

“That doesn’t put them outside his influence.”

“Then why would they want to keep us here?” Octavia asked.

“Maybe it’s part of Discord’s trap,” Twilight said.

The pony finished the first tent and started the second one without looking up at them, and Twilight went into it. There was no protection from the frigid cloud, save for a single sleeping bag, unceremoniously bundled for them in the back of the tiny tent.

“Gee, do you think they can spare it?” Rainbow said, poking her head into the shelter. “This is crap, Twilight.”

“It certainly is less than ideal,” Twilight said slowly.

“All the more reason to help them get this done fast,” Rarity said from outside.

When the tents were set up, the stallion left them without a word, and there they stayed for the rest of the day, intermittently trying to get comfortable in the tents and pacing outside in the bracing cold. As the sun set, they went to the ship to get food and let Twilight re-cast her cloud-walking spell. They ate on the deck, happy to be on a solid surface.

“So, Rarity, how are you doing?” Twilight asked. They were eating a batch of apples from the day before—sweet beyond words, compared to the stored food they had been using on the flight over.

“Ugh. I’m… okay, dear,” Rarity said reluctantly.

“Ya sure ‘bout that?” Applejack asked.

“I’m still upset. And, er, quite angry. But I’ve been through worse. I’ll survive. I know that now.”

“You still want revenge?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes.” She didn’t continue for a minute. “But I know this is more important. That nag can rot in Manehattan for now.”

“I’m actually happy to hear you say that,” Twilight said softly.

“And how are you, darling?”

Twilight shivered. Her last flashback had been more than a week ago, and her dreams were slowly calming down, though the white stallion still invaded them. “I’m all right.” She wanted to say it.

“You know we’re here for you,” Pinkie said.

“Whatever you need,” Fluttershy added.

Twilight looked over the gunwales at the tents, then at the rolling avalanche of storm clouds beyond. Ponyville was only a few miles away, but she felt lost.

“You okay?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight looked back at Rarity, who nodded. Her eyes were gentle and forgiving, and as Twilight met them, she felt her own tearing up. She shook her head.

“Oh, Twilight,” Rarity said softly, moving to embrace her. She bent her head into Rarity’s wither and squeezed her eyes shut, and leaked silent tears into the white fur.

“Let it out, sugarcube,” Applejack said.

Twilight tried to stammer a response, but only sobs came. The sound of her own voice cut her; it reminded her of why she was sad in the first place. Why they were all a little different. “Oh, Celestia, what have I done?”

As Twilight cried, Rarity held her, and she could feel herself slowly losing her grip as well. She knew well what had Twilight so upset; it haunted her too, though not as badly. The others watched silently, and Rarity clutched Twilight closer.

Lacey still polluted her mind, but in the pure white, and the cold, and the warmth of her surrounding friends, it didn’t seem as bad. She held Twilight, and as she did, she looked into each of their eyes. Pinkie’s, filled with quiet concern for something she had only rarely witnessed. Fluttershy’s, wobbling in the sunset light with their own tears, empathic beyond words. Octavia’s, hard, but patient and understanding. Applejack’s, respectfully downcast, but ready to offer assistance at the slightest need. Rainbow’s, uncomfortable and skittish, but very clearly upset by her friends’ pain.

And then her own eyes began to moisten. She lowered her head onto Twilight’s, and at the unicorn’s shaking, tears crept down her muzzle. Her own voice filled her head. “Hold it together, Rarity, dear. It doesn’t do to have histrionics at a time like this. Twilight needs you.” She clenched her eyes tighter. “For my friends. For my friends. The instant you feel uncomfortable is the instant I back off.” She sobbed and squeezed Twilight closer, and looked back at Rainbow, her magenta eyes uncharacteristically soft and solemn.

“No, not here. I don’t have to prove anything.” She bowed her head once more, and let the tears come.

When both unicorns were done, the sun had gone down, and a cold breeze had added its bite to the freezing air. They wiped their eyes, accepted hugs from the others, minus Octavia, and then just sat on the ship, looking out at the stars.

“He’s out there, somewhere,” Rarity said, and Twilight nodded.

“So are the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight said.

“Yes. And his castle, and all the other cities of Equestria. And all the ponies we have to help.”

“It’s quite the task.”

“Yes.”

Twilight leaned against the rail to point at a star. “That’s Polaris up there.”

“The north star, right?”

“That’s right.”

Rarity sighed slowly. “We’ll get him.”

“Yeah, we will.”

“Like you said, it’s quite the task. But we’re the ponies for the job.”

Twilight smiled and patted Rarity’s back. “That we are.”

They were all shivering violently as they returned to their tents, despite the warm clothes they had taken from the ship. When they were packing, they had accounted for high altitudes, and snow when they wound up going south, but not both at the same time. Scarves and sweaters were not enough, even inside the tents; the thin fabric hardly protected them from the high-altitude wind. They had wanted to stay on the ship, but it was too far from the snow coil; from the tents, they could see everything, and react quickly, if it was needed.

Octavia, Rarity, Rainbow, and Twilight shared one tent, two to the sleeping bag and the other two, reluctantly, on the freezing cloud just beside it.

“I do not know how you all feel about it, but I do not like sitting here and simply waiting for these ponies to handle the snow problem,” Octavia said. She was wrapped in Twilight’s embrace in the sleeping bag, and wiggled slightly away as she spoke.

“How are we supposed to trust these Canterlot ponies? They’ve never fought Discord,” Rainbow complained.

“Exactly. And while I do not want to spread suspicion where it is not warranted, it is possible that these ponies are under his constraint in some way.”

“No, we’ve been over this,” Rarity said quietly. “They wouldn’t volunteer to put us up here. They’d want to get rid of us.”

“Even so, it’s a good point,” Twilight said. “They have no idea what they’re up against. We do.”

“But we’re not allowed to go in after those sigils,” Rainbow said bitterly. “Total crap, if you ask me.”

“They could have at least shown us what was going on,” Rarity said.

No one spoke, and Twilight cuddled closer to Octavia. She had never been so near the gray pony, and felt strange holding her so intimately. She was much heavier than Twilight had expected, her back and chest taut with muscle, her body dense and warm. After her time on the ship, it brought her comfort to be so close to someone hard and unemotional.

She listened to their breathing, their turning, and the occasional shiver, her own hooves on Octavia’s abdomen, feeling the gentle rise and fall. She closed her eyes, but sleep was not on her mind. After a time, she cleared her throat nervously. “Is anypony tired?”

“Not really,” Rainbow said. “I’m still thinkin’ about that stupid snow coil.”

“Me too,” Rarity said.

Octavia didn’t speak, but shuffled in place.

“Twilight,” Rainbow said. “Are you, by chance, thinking what I’m thinking?”

“I was thinking we should go and handle this problem ourselves,” Rarity said.

Twilight broke away from Octavia. “I… was thinking something similar, yeah.”

“I will join you, if you decide to go,” Octavia said.

“I think we should do it,” Rainbow said.

“Now hold on,” Twilight said. “Let’s think it through a little.”

“What’s to think through? Those ponies are just gonna screw it up if we let ‘em. We do stuff like this all the time, Twilight.”

“No one else knows Discord like we do,” Rarity said.

“You saw those ponies that talked to us. Do you really think that fat lady can do anything useful against whatever Discord’s got in there?”

“I did not like her,” Octavia said.

“She didn’t seem to like you very much either,” Rarity said.

“I do not care for overweight ponies. They… bother me.”

“Really?”

“Okay, okay,” Twilight said. “Do we want to do this or not?”

“I say let’s do it,” Rainbow said.

“I would like to do something, personally,” Octavia said. “It has been too long since I have had any excitement.”

“Then let’s go,” Rarity said, standing. Rainbow moaned as they separated, and Octavia crawled out of the sleeping bag.

Twilight thought for a moment. Everyone else was so excited, she felt bad hesitating. “Okay, let’s.”

They went out into the freezing night and looked around, their breath rising in small clouds of their own. “Should we get the others?” Rarity asked.

“We do not need them,” Octavia said. “We have Rarity for our shields and Twilight to break the sigils. To be perfectly honest, even Rainbow and I are not strictly necessary here.”

“I’m the guide,” Rainbow said.

“Fair enough. I am not needed, though.”

“Don’t say that, Octavia. You might be helpful,” Twilight said, setting off across the clouds. “What’s the best way in, Rainbow?”

“Follow me,” Rainbow said, trotting ahead and starting up a gentle slope. “The entrance should be on the other side of this area.”

They walked closely together, and slowly, over the clouds; in the cold, it was just like walking in snow, and even with their warm clothing, the cold crept in like a disease. They passed the others’ tent quietly, but as they ascended the long, empty expanse of sloping cloud, dead in the silent, frigid night, Rarity spoke lightly and conversationally.

“I personally think a little weight can look quite charming on a pony.”

“I disagree,” Octavia said. “Not only does it point to an unhealthy lifestyle, but the shape does nothing for me. I do not like soft ponies.”

“Gee, what a surprise,” Rainbow said.

“You can carry a little weight and still be perfectly healthy,” Rarity said. She tossed her mane. “I mean, it’s not the look for me, but I have seen others who pull it off quite well.”

“If someone must be large, let them be muscular. Not squishy,” Octavia said.

“Ugh, you like bodybuilders?” Rainbow said.

“Yes.”

“Yeesh. I mean, sure, some muscle is great, but when that’s like, all the pony is, it starts getting grotesque.”

“Let me guess, Rainbow, dear. You like the lean and wiry look,” Rarity said.

“Hey, I don’t just keep this figure ‘cause it’s healthy.”

“But all that work.”

“Better to work out and look good than spend your time with accessories and be unhealthy.”

“No, I’m not saying that. Of course staying healthy is important. After all, accessories can only do so much. You have to have a good base first.”

“Accessories only distract from the real article,” Octavia said.

“Do you only like muscular ponies, Octavia? Or do you want to be one?” Twilight asked.

“Hm. I have fantasized about being larger than I am,” she said in a small voice. “Not huge, like you see in the competitions. Just bigger.”

“You’re already in terrific shape,” Rarity said.

“It comes with my upbringing.”

“Rock farm?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes.”

“How much can you lift?”

“I do not know. I have never measured it.”

“We should do that sometime. I’m curious to know how strong you are.”

“She lifted our airship torch,” Rarity said. “When Discord attacked. Remember?”

“Oh, yeah. That was really impressive, actually,” Twilight said.

“How much did that weigh?” Rainbow asked.

“If I had to guess, I would say something near two hundred pounds,” Octavia said.

“Sweet Celestia.” They came over the top of the slope to face a set of winding stairs down a sheer wall of cloud. The bottom was dimly lit, showing a collection of small shacks under street lamps. “Right. That’s just a big maintenance area down there. Electricity and security and stuff. Around midway down these stairs should be the entrance to the snow coil.”

“Twilight, what kind of pony do you like?” Rarity asked.

“Aw, come on, Rarity,” Twilight said, blushing.

“Hey, we’ve all said what we like,” Rainbow said. “Come on, Twilight. Don’t be prudish.”

“We won’t judge you, darling,” Rarity said.

“Ehhhh.” She chewed her lip. “I guess I like someone tall and handsome.”

“The classic,” Octavia said.

“Yeah, I suppose. I don’t get a whole lot out of all these different shapes and sizes. It seems weird to me.”

“There is nothing wrong with that.”

“Kind of boring, though,” Rainbow said.

“Hey! My interests are not boring,” Twilight said.

“Kidding, kidding.”

“I have personally never understood wanting someone larger than yourself,” Octavia said.

“Are you serious?” Rarity asked. “Darling, it’s wonderful for cuddling.”

“Hm.”

“Are you saying you don’t like cuddling up with someone on a cold night?”

“I have never been one to express myself physically.”

“It’s not about expression,” Twilight said. “It’s just enjoying someone else’s warmth.”

“No, darling, you’re dead wrong on that,” Rarity said. “Octavia, it’s all about showing someone that you enjoy being close to them.”

“But I do not enjoy that,” Octavia said.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Sharing warmth is fine, but I like my space. There is too much adjustment, and squeezing, and such. Plus, if we spend too long together, someone winds up having to smell the other, or someone gets too liberal with their hooves.” She looked at Twilight. “I am not a body pillow.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Twilight said.

“You had your hooves very low on my stomach.”

“You’re warm!”

“Maybe you’d enjoy it more if you had someone with a little more weight to share with,” Rarity said.

“I would be thinking too much about their guts.”

Rainbow’s laughter echoed loudly over the plain of clouds. “I’m sorry, but what?”

“Another reason I do not like large ponies is because I find myself thinking about what is actually inside them.” Octavia huffed quietly. “Do not tell me you have not done this.”

“Heck no! That’s weird.”

“I only do it with fat ponies. Just the knowledge of the grease, and fat, and other unhealthy things inside their body…” She shivered. “I find it very disquieting.”

“You never struck me as a squeamish pony,” Rarity said.

“And the gunk inside their stomachs,” Octavia continued. “That, I think, is the worst.” She shot Twilight another look. “When someone gets too friendly down there, I start to think about it in myself. I do not want to think about my food once I have already eaten it.”

“I keep saying, you’re really warm,” Twilight said.

“Okay, here we are,” Rainbow said, stopping at a large, metal door. “As much as I’d love to keep talking about Octavia’s guts, we’ve got a job to do.”

“Why is the door not made of clouds?” Octavia asked.

“Even construction-grade clouds aren’t made to last more than a couple years. What they do for places that need to be protected is reinforce the area with the heaviest clouds they can, then put whatever construction materials they need in there. But it’s really expensive, and kind of inefficient, so they only do it for the really, really important stuff. Like access to the vital areas of the city.” She gestured at the door.

“What happens if something goes wrong, and it falls out?” Twilight asked.

“Well, the city government gets fined, and whoever was in charge of keeping things safe winds up in prison.”

“Prison?” Rarity repeated.

“Cloudsdale might be super cool and useful, but it’s one of the most hazardous, uh, things in Equestria. You have to take so many safety classes before you get to be a part of the weather team, it’s ridiculous.”

“So how do we get in?” Twilight asked.

“Uh…” Rainbow reached for the door handle and pulled it. The door swung slowly, and she had to move behind it and push to get it open all the way. “Someone needs to look at these hinges.”

“Why is this door not locked?” Octavia asked. “If there is something dangerous inside, should they not be taking every effort to keep ponies out?”

“Maybe it is a trap,” Rarity said.

“Or maybe the lock’s broken,” Twilight said. She took a tentative step up into the dark tube, but flinched back at the frigid floor. It was made of cloud, but felt more like metal on her hooves. She could feel the air prickling on her face, and smell a mild mint from within.

“This does not bode well,” Octavia said, walking past her. “Rarity? Shields.”

“Hang on, dear,” Rarity said, horn alight. “It’s been a while since I’ve done this. Rainbow, get up there with them.”

Rainbow joined them, standing especially close to Octavia, who shied away. A crystalline dome glittered to life around them, and Rarity stepped into it.

“Let us go,” Octavia said. A bead of pale gray light appeared before her forehead, casting the entire tube in a ghostly haze.

“That’s a nice spell,” Rarity said.

“I have been practicing.” She walked down into the tube, and they followed quickly; her pace was swift and deliberate, and it wasn’t long before they encountered the first snow.

“Wait,” Twilight said. She craned her neck to look down the tube, where the snow deepened until it reached the ceiling.

“What’s wrong?” Rarity asked.

“Look at all that snow. We can’t go in there.”

“Why not?” Octavia asked.

“Rarity’s shield is going to just push it out of the way, so we’re going to wind up going underneath it pretty quickly. But if her shield fails unexpectedly, we’ll be crushed.” She held a hoof to her chin in thought. “And if we don’t, it’ll still be too cold. We’ll be hypothermic in a matter of minutes.”

“Why not melt the snow as we go?”

“Do you see how much snow that is?” Rainbow asked. “We’ll just get flooded instead. Plus, that would damage the tube. Deeper inside, the walls are lined with super-cooled pipes, and if we start melting things suddenly, those pipes could burst. And those are metal.”

“So what are we going to do?” Rarity asked.

“Could we dig a tunnel?” Octavia asked.

“I don’t like that risk,” Twilight said. “We have no idea how much water is coming out in there. A tunnel could collapse.”

“Wait, no, a tunnel is perfect,” Rarity said. “We can dig one, and I’ll just put up a shield around the inside, so it won’t come down.”

“That’s a lot of shield, though. Are you sure you can do that?”

“How long is this snow coil, Rainbow Dash?”

“I dunno, but it’s long. We loop around two or three times before reaching the other end,” Rainbow said.

“No, there’s no way I could take a shield that far.”

“Well, here,” Twilight said. “Let’s go in as far as we can, and see if we get lucky. We’ll get out once we reach Rarity’s limit, regardless.”

“That sounds good to me,” Octavia said, dipping a hoof in the snow. “What about hypothermia, though?”

Rainbow chuckled and threw a wing around her. “We can keep warm by snuggling.”

“Sorry, Rainbow Dash. You are not grotesque enough for me.”

Rainbow laughed and Twilight lit her horn. A disc of magic covered the snow, and as she walked into it, it was ground away with a soft sound.

“That is an impressive spell,” Octavia said. “What is that?”

“Just directed telekinesis,” Twilight said. “Nothing special.”

They slowly descended into the snow, and though Octavia looked unhappy, she stepped a little closer to Rainbow. As the snow rose higher, a sheaf of pale blue magic covered the hole Twilight was boring. Soon, they were buried, and Octavia’s gray light mixed eerily with Twilight’s magenta circle and Rarity’s shimmering ceiling.

Rainbow shivered violently. “Rarity, can you try to move that shield under our hooves? I’m starting to go numb.”

“Don’t do it, Rarity,” Twilight said. “We need your shields to go as far as they can. We can walk just fine on cold hooves.” She cocked an ear. “I think I hear water.”

“A sigil?”

They stopped suddenly as Octavia stumbled, powdering her face in the snow.

“Are you okay, dear?” Rarity asked, helping her up. As the snow churned up around her, they could see flecks of crimson in the ice crystals.

She raised her hoof, and dangled around it like a loop of fabric was a bristly, dark green vine. She eyed it carefully where it disappeared into the snow. “What is this?” she asked calmly.

“Whoa! Get it off!” Rainbow cried, reaching to bat it away. As her hoof connected, it stuck to her as well, and she flailed, dragging more up from the snow.

“Stop panicking!” Octavia barked.

“Get it off me!”

“Stop.” She stood up and placed her hooves on Rainbow’s shoulders, steadying her.

“It hurts, Octavia. It hurts bad.”

“Yes, it does.” Her light went out as a gray cloud appeared around the vine to tug it away, and the tunnel was cast only in Rarity’s ethereal glow. “Shut off the sigil.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked, looking at the bloody snow. “That looks bad.”

“I can handle it.”

Twilight and Rarity hesitated, but moved forward a few steps, and Octavia momentarily relished the spray of ice on her leg as more snow was tossed off. She pulled on the vine carefully with her magic, but as it tugged on her leg, her nerves flared.

“These are spikes,” Rainbow said distastefully.

“Let me get yours first. You are not tangled like I am.”

Rainbow squirmed as Octavia grabbed her section of vine and slowly uncoiled it from her leg. With each turn, she could see the delicate spines glistening with Rainbow’s blood, dripping tiny freckles of it onto the ground. When it was out, Rainbow bit the few remaining spines out and spat them against the tunnel’s sides. “Thanks.”

Octavia grunted and began working on her own. The cold and the pain made it difficult for her to hold steady, and her magic, practiced but not perfect, was jittery. Her progress was slow, and she could see Rainbow nursing her wound on one side, Twilight and Rarity digging through the snow on the other. When they stopped, she dropped her spell and looked.

“Uh, this might not work,” Twilight said.

“What is wrong?”

“This snow is dripping,” Rarity said.

“So? It’ll keep dripping if you don’t knock out that sigil,” Rainbow said.

“Just try, Twilight,” Octavia said.

“Hmmm. I guess I can give it a shot,” Twilight said, lighting her horn softly. The snow to her side moved slightly, and a splash of water made her back away. “Here goes.” Her horn flashed, and the snow puffed out and away. She immediately jumped back with a squeal, and Rainbow rushed over.

From her slight distance, the pain of the thorny vine forgotten, Octavia watched Rarity retreat deeper into the snow, then fall over; Twilight try to run back up the tunnel, drenched; and Rainbow stand back cautiously. Where the snow once was, there glowed a circular, vibrant green design, with water steadily flowing out of its center. Just behind, she could see the same dark green flesh of the vine that had caught her.

“Shut it off!” Rarity cried, floundering where she had landed. Flashes of green came up around her hooves as she raised them, and she fell deeper into the snow. For one frightening second, her head plunged under the snow, and she broke out of it, a vine coiled in her mane and around her head. Water splashed freely.

At Rarity’s cries, Twilight stopped and tried to activate her horn, but she was soaked, and her shivering was too much; every time she tried to start a spell, it fizzled out uselessly in a fit of shaking.

“Rainbow, help Twilight,” Octavia commanded, grabbing her vine again and yanking firmly away. The spines caught painfully in her skin, but her friends’ distress drove her, and she removed the vine with a small sticking sound and a nerve-burning tear. Blood stained the snow as she limped forward, and the shield around their tunnel flickered as Rarity fell under once more.

She could feel the water dampening her coat and hooves as she sloshed through the wet snow, staining the growing pool of freezing water with her blood. While Rainbow tried to get Twilight dry, Octavia stopped before Rarity, gasping in the snow.

“Hold still,” she said quietly, running her magic over Rarity’s entanglements. Water trickled down around her back hooves, and she looked around warily. Where the water had originally been pooling in its own depression in the snow, it flowed along the path she had created. As she observed it, it formed up against Rarity’s exposed side, provoking another pained moan from the unicorn. The shield flickered once more.

“Octavia, we need to get out of here. Twilight’s looking really bad,” Rainbow said.

“Then get her out. I will handle Rarity.”

“What about the sigil?”

“We can come back.” She turned back to Rarity, both of them shivering uncontrollably, and focused on the vine around Rarity’s head. Its thorns were thin and faint, more like fuzz than individual spines, but gave no resistance as she pulled them away from Rarity’s skin. She could hear Rainbow muttering encouragement to Twilight as they disappeared down the tunnel.

“It’s dark,” Rarity whispered, shuddering with exertion.

“I can only do one spell at a time,” Octavia said, slowly untangling the vine from her hair. “Now hold still, if you can. This is very delicate.”

“Cold.”

Octavia nodded. Her injured hoof throbbed dully in the ice water, and the tip of her tail dripped onto her fetlock. In the darkness under Rarity’s shield, and the slowing of her own blood, she felt underwater. Even as she pulled the vine away from her neck, Rarity turned over, exposing a second one running down her back, its pure white marred with tufts of bloody snow.

“This would be much easier if you were not half buried,” Octavia murmured, trying to clear the snow away with her telekinesis. As she did, more simply fell down to replace it; she did not have Twilight’s finesse. She could feel her legs losing more and more feeling as she stood, and tried to hurry, but her spell was weakening too. The cold sapped her concentration, and when she tried to adjust her position, and get a little blood flowing again, she stumbled into the slush. She looked up; the shield was fading.

“Cold,” Rarity whispered, resting her head on the snow.

“Damn it,” Octavia breathed. “Stay with me, Rarity. You have to keep that shield going.”

Rarity shook her head slowly, grinding her face down into the damp snow. As she did so, her horn dimmed entirely, and the tunnel shifted dangerously. Snow fell behind, and a small trail of it landed on Octavia’s head. She shook it angrily and tried to stand back up, but could only lean gracelessly into the tunnel’s side. As she did, the snow shifted, and she fell down onto Rarity, a pile of snow burying her as well.

She closed her eyes. Her head was fuzzy, and she couldn’t feel her lower half. She shook her head and broke the snow’s surface, but saw only darkness, heard only the relentless flow of water a few feet away. She tried to climb out, but could not will her back legs into responding but for a lazy push deeper into the snow.

Inside her mind, her own voice sounded slow and sluggish. “This is how it all ends. Stupid, caught in the snow. Should have listened to the police.” She turned over, freeing her chest from the snow and scraping her injured leg against something hard. More snow fell onto her nose, and she twisted away unhappily as it melted into her nostrils.

“Come back, Twilight.” She closed her eyes again and tried to turn some more. As she did, more snow shifted before her. At first, it sounded like nothing, but as it continued, she could distinguish structure in the way it crunched. Hoofsteps.

“H-h-help!” she called out, her own voice faint.

The hoofsteps drew nearer, and though she could not see, she felt a presence close by. A picture of blue eyes flashed in her mind.

“Help us,” she sighed.

“This gives you the strength to wait a few minutes more.” The voice was soft, as though the words were spoken for her only. As she processed them, her mind cleared, and she pushed herself up and out of the snow. It was still dark, but the cold, at once eating into her, seemed pushed back. She shook the snow out of her mane and reached for Rarity, finding nothing.

“Help,” she said again, louder. “Please, someone. We are stuck here.”

The hoofsteps were gone, but her resolve held. The voice was gone as quickly as it had come, and the presence with it, but its effect was real. Her numbness and pain meant nothing as she sat up and crawled forward, pressing her will back into a weak illumination spell.

Slowly, a drop of light appeared in the tunnel, and she smiled, though her strength was again fading. She looked back at the lump of snow where Rarity lay, still breathing, but no longer struggling.

As she studied the snow, her ears pricked up at the sound of more hoofsteps. They were not distant, and they were not slow. She turned back forward, but could see nothing but white.

“H-help us! We are trapped here!”

“We’re right here,” someone responded. A tiny sound followed, like a cork being pulled from a bottle, and she watched, relieved, as the tunnel suddenly lit up. The snow shone brilliantly against her tired eyes, and a group of pegasi quickly appeared at the tunnel’s end, the fat mare from earlier behind them.

Before she could react, they were upon her, helping her up and practically carrying her out of the tunnel, while others slipped by to tend to Rarity. She stumbled along, and each time she did, they supported her with strong wings.

“How are they?” the fat mare asked.

“Gray will live, but the white one’s hypothermic,” someone said behind them.

“Give her a warmth potion.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Octavia wanted to return to Rarity, but knew she could not, and so instead reluctantly let them lead her out of the snow coil, out onto the stairs carved into hard cloud outside. It was still cold, but felt wonderful on her frozen hooves. Someone wrapped a towel around her and patted her dry, and they slowly climbed the stairs.

“What about Rarity?” she managed.

“She’ll be fine,” a pegasus at her side said. “You’re both fine, and your friends too.”

She nodded and closed her eyes, too exhausted to ask more questions, or to suspect incompetence of the ponies at her side. The walk up the stairs felt endless, and when they stopped, she sat down.

“Octavia!” Twilight said.

She cracked open her eyes to regard Twilight and Rainbow, both looking as drained as she felt. She didn’t say anything, letting relief cover her instead. Rarity appeared a couple minutes later, still covered in wounds from the vines, but no longer shivering. The last to appear was the fat mare, her black body like a gobbet of ink on the cloud.

“So, are we all okay now?” she asked authoritatively.

“Yes. Thank you,” Octavia said.

“Mm-hm. So, would anypony care to explain why you all were trespassing in the snow coil?”

They all looked away with shame, and, in Rainbow’s case, anger. Octavia was the first to look back. “We had no assurance that you were as qualified as you said, and believed that we could handle what waited inside better than you.”

“I see. But that wasn’t the case, now was it?”

“No, it was not.”

The fat mare turned to one of her ponies. “Wake the others and bring them here. Explain the situation.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The stallion walked to the other tent briskly.

“We had to save you,” the fat mare continued, eyes boring into Octavia’s.

She nodded.

“Do you believe me now when I say that you are not qualified to do this job, and we are?”

She blushed with shame. “I do.”

“Very well then.” She looked behind them, where Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were sleepily coming over.

“What the hay’s all this? Runnin’ off an’ tryin’ to stop those sigils in the dead of night?” Applejack demanded. “Do y’all got mush fer brains? These policeponies told us it was practically suicide to go in there.”

“Yeah, okay, we get it, AJ,” Rainbow mumbled. “We screwed up, big-time.”

“You can fight later,” the fat mare said. “When I am done with you.”

“Oh, here it comes.”

“I don’t relish telling you this, but you have done significantly more harm than good inside the coil. Instead of letting the water stay contained in its pocket of snow, you released it. There’s a steadily growing pool of ice water inside, now buried under your little tunnel. If someone falls in that, it could ruin the entire operation.”

“We didn’t know,” Twilight said.

“Then why did you go inside?” she asked tiredly. “Why would you do that?” She sighed and shook her head when Rainbow took a breath. “No, I know why. You don’t have to explain yourselves again. Just… get out of here. Get on your ship and go wherever you’re supposed to be.”

“I don’t like leaving our job half-finished,” Rarity said.

“It’s not half-finished, or one-quarter finished, or even one-tenth finished.” She huffed indignantly. “Look at you! We pull you away from the jaws of an icy death, and your first impulse is to go running back? What kind of heroes are you? Now go, get on your ship, and fly away. Go take care of Discord, and leave the details to ponies like us.” She turned to walk away. “Be sure that they’ve actually left,” she said to a nearby pegasus, who nodded.

“Let’s go, ladies,” he said, helping Rarity up. “Onto your ship.” The rest of the pegasi were dispersing, and they slowly walked back to their ship.

“I feel awful,” Twilight said quietly.

“You should,” the pegasus said. “You made our jobs even harder.”

“But you’re just freakin’ cops,” Rainbow said. “How can you do this better than us?”

“I don’t have to explain my qualifications. They come assumed with the badge,” he said. “We saved you. That’s enough credentials in my mind.”

They went up the gangplank and lay on the deck while Applejack started the engines and torch. The pegasus flew back down to the tent area, and they took off slowly several minutes later. When they were airborne, Applejack turned to them.

“So you gonna answer me, or just sit there feelin’ sorry fer yerselves?”

“Hey, lay off, Applejack,” Rainbow said. “What’s with you?”

“Ya nearly killed yerselves on some hair-brained scheme, an’ yer askin’ what’s with me? Ah never pegged you fer an idiot, Rainbow Dash.”

“Hey, you take that back!”

“Gimme a straight answer an’ Ah might!”

“Girls, stop it,” Twilight said. “For Celestia’s sake, Rainbow, she has a right to be angry. And Applejack, we’re sorry.” She hung her head.

“We got excited about going out and doing something,” Rarity said. “We didn’t think it through.”

“Not even you, Octavia? Yer so level-headed, you didn’t realize how stupid this whole thing was?” Applejack asked.

“If you must know, I agreed with them,” Octavia said distantly. Her eyes were on the sky outside, her mind on the voice in the tunnel. “I wanted some excitement.”

“Well, ya certainly got it.” She sighed angrily. “Ah’m just glad those ponies were able to save ya.”

“Yeah, I bet,” Rainbow said sourly.

“Shut up, RD.”

“Hey!” Rainbow moved to approach her, but stumbled on her injured leg. “You don’t have to be a nag about it. We fucked up, okay? What more do you want?”

“Ah dunno.”

“Duh, Ah dunno,” Rainbow mocked. “Come on, Applejack, give it to me straight.”

She slammed her hoof on the wheel, and Fluttershy flinched back. “Ah said Ah dunno!” She placed her hooves heavily on the spokes, and spoke through a clenched jaw. “Ah gotta steer this thing.”

“She’s mad ‘cause she woke up to some ponies telling her her bestest friends in the whole wide world almost died,” Pinkie said. She looked at them. “And… maybe I’m a little mad too.”

“Pinkie, please,” Rainbow said, running a hoof over her face.

“You know better than that, Dashie. You know not to try stuff like this without at least including us. But even more when the policeponies told you not to.”

“I’m just glad they didn’t arrest us,” Twilight said.

“Thank Celestia fer small favors, Ah s’pose,” Applejack grumbled.

Twilight woke up to a sudden heat in her horn. She was sharing the cabin bed with Octavia, who, despite her misgivings, allowed Twilight to hold her close while they slept. She turned over to watch blearily as a letter spurted out and landed on the comforter.

“What does it say, Twilight?” Octavia asked tiredly.

“Ugh, do I have to read it now?”

“It might be important.”

Twilight sighed and lay back, producing a tiny light as she lifted the letter over her tired eyes. “Dear Twilight and friends, I hope you’re having fun in Cloudsdale, dealing with the mess I made. Wait a minute.” She looked at the bottom of the letter and groaned. “This is from Discord.”

“How can he send you a letter?”

“I don’t know. It has to do with mimicking the,” she yawned, “psionic imprint every unicorn leaves when she corresponds with someone. Uh, anyway.” She cleared her throat. “I hope you’re having fun in Cloudsdale, dealing with the mess I made. While you’ve been busy, I’ve been starting my new army for Canterlot. Isn’t that neat?” She put a hoof to her head. “Oh, hell.”

“Keep going.”

“Also, you should probably pay extra-special attention to your backs, because something’s following you. It should be getting close by now. Then he just wrote ‘hahaha’ a whole lot and signed his name.”

“So he knows where we are.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” She let the letter fall to the floor and turned back over. “I’ll write to Princess Luna first thing tomorrow.”

“Yes.” Octavia closed her eyes and turned over, and Twilight brought a hoof around her middle. She ran it slowly down her chest to rest on her stomach.

“You’re still really warm.”