My dear faithful student,

I fear that The Elements of Harmony are needed once more. Please bring the others and come to Canterlot immediately. I shall elaborate after you have arrived.

Your teacher and ruler,

Princess Celestia

Shining Armor set the scroll aside and looked around the train car at the others. Applejack and Rarity were the only other two that seemed to be sitting like normal ponies. Rarity sat with a pencil and paper, seeming to be working on something. Applejack had her hat pulled down over her eyes, the sound of her snoring being rather audible. Fluttershy was also sitting, and it was a normal for her. Despite having a whole seat to herself, she was squeezed up in a corner with her wings around her as she looked out the window. Rainbow Dash was not so much sitting as she was perching. Basically, she would land on top of the back rest of the seats for a few minutes before flying around the car. Pinkie Pie was also moving around constantly. She had been bouncing up and down nearly constantly, some times even on the seats.

Everypony seemed calm, but Shining Armor could feel the bit of tension in the air... or maybe he was imagining it? He knew he was feeling a little tense and nervous. After all, according to Princess Celestia, The Elements of Harmony were needed again. The last time they had been used -- which was also the first time -- was when Princess Luna returned as Nightmare Moon. If the princess thought they were needed, it would have to be something that was a threat to all of Equestria.

An audible gasp drew the stallion from his thoughts.

"It's snowing!" Pinkie Pie shouted, getting the attention of all the others.

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked as she flew over to look out the window. "But there's no snow scheduled. It's not even fall yet." The others all moved to look out as well. Sure enough, it did look like something snow-ish was falling from the sky. There was only one thing that kept it from looking like actual snow.

"Why's it green?" Applejack asked aloud.

Shining Armor opened the window. Horn lighting up, he used his magic to create a bowl and collected some of the "snow." As he caught more, he noticed that there were also little black pieces in it as well. Pulling the bowl in, he took a closer look. It looked familiar, and there was a smell like milk to it.

It couldn't be... could it?

Leaning closer, Shining Armor slipped his tongue out and tasted. To his surprise, it was.

"Could somepony restrain Pinkie?" he asked. "We don't want her jumping out the window of a moving train."

"Why ever do you think that Pinkie Pie would do such a thing?" Rarity asked, looking at him from over the top of her glasses.

"Yeah," Pinkie agreed, "I would never do that."

"It's ice cream," Shining stated. "Mint chocolate chip I believe."

"ICE CREAM!" Pinkie squealed as she bolted toward the window. If Rainbow Dash and Applejack had not grabbed her, she very well could have smashed through window to try and get to the ice cream that was falling from the sky.

"How is that possible?" Fluttershy asked, looking out ice cream snow.

"I don't know," Shining Armor answered. "My best guess would be that it has something to do with why Princess Celestia needs us."

After some negotiation, Pinkie Pie was allowed to stick her head out the window and hold her tongue out to catch the ice cream as it fell from the sky. Applejack and Rainbow Dash kept close to her, ready to grab her if she climbed out further or got stuck. The others got quiet -- even Rainbow Dash holding still -- as they watched the strange weather outside the train.

Now Shining Armor was certain that he could feel a quiet tension in the air. The idea of something strange happening that needed The Elements had just been an abstract. Now, there was evidence that something strange was actually happening. It was right in front of them and could not be ignored. Having it snow ice cream was not something he would have ever expected. It probably did no damage... actually... now that he thought about it: once it melted, it would create a horrible sticky mess. Then there would be the stench when all the dairy turned sour...

He turned to look toward Ponyville. All he could see through the snow was pink clouds.

I hope Spike and Twiley are okay.

He continued to stare out toward Ponyville, stopping only when Canterlot blocked out the view. After the announcement of their arrival and the train began to slow down, Shining and the others moves to get up, ready to get off and head toward the castle. As he walked toward the doors, something caught his attention outside on the platform.

Standing on it was what looked like an ordinary stallion. Well... not quite ordinary. For the most part, it looked like a normal pony.

Except that Shining Armor would swear that his eyes were yellow and red.

The stallion looked directly at Shining Armor and grinned. A crowd of ponies suddenly moved past the strange stallion, blocking him from Shining Armor's view.

When the crowd was gone, so was he. Shining Armor stared at the spot a moment longer before continuing toward the exit.

Who was that?