After regaining his ability to process information, Scroll had suggested that Cloudchaser take him to meet the rest of the weather team to both let them know that a pony was once again working in the office and to get Recon familiar with those who would be working with him.

"-so as the weather manager your going to be the one to make sure the paperwork for the storms is properly filed as well as making note of any inconsistencies or changes in needs from the local farmers. I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up at your door in Town hall in the next few days to meet you. With nopony in that position they had to file their requests through the mayor and she doesn't specialize in weather or Pegasus work schedules," Cloudchaser explained as she led him to a large building at the edge of town. There were a few Pegasi pushing clouds together for a light shower later on that evening, but otherwise most of them were gathering on the flat roof of the warehouse.

"Evening everypony," Cloudchaser shouted as they landed. "I don't know how many of you heard, but this poor sap has volunteered to try and wrangle the weather office. If he survives, he'll be accepting your reports, sick leave, vacation forms, and reviews. So keep that in mind before you target him for any new-guy pranks."

Stepping out in front of Cloudchaser, Recon raised a wing in greeting.

"I'm hoping we all get along. If not, I'm sure I can find a way to repay any misery you cause me.

"I spent some time as an assistant to the weather manager and captain of Kindson, a small town the middle of nowhere. A lot of the weather was natural out there and I grew up with natural weather as well. I'm sure there are plenty of things to learn about weather near the Everfree, and I hope you guys, and gals, are willing to give me a heads up if you think I may not be aware of something. Especially when it comes to the clash of pony magic and wild magic that I heard this town has to deal with due to being right next to the Everfree."

"Aside from that, I'm interested in magic theory and active pegasus magic as well as an aspiring alchemist."

The gathering quickly dissolved into a meet and greet, some cookies and punch provided by a cautious looking pink earth pony.

Recon allowed himself to be taken through the full number of present Pegasi, which turned out to be every Pegasus in town. Most were merely what Cloudchaser referred to as reserves in case the Everfree threw something nasty at them like a tornado from a few years back but they were still asked to be present. After all, Recon would be filing the paperwork for the pay they received as well as any injury reports that were incurred in the line of duty.

"...and this is Bulk. He owns and manages the Gym in Ponyville. He's a licensed fitness instructor so if you have any questions about diet and exercise he'll probably be the one you ask. This is Fluttershy, she's an animal expert and runs a small shelter on the outskirts of town. My sister, Flitter. The more you avoid her the better off you'll be."

Flitter gasped at the insult, shoving the Captain with a hoof in faux anger. Cloudchaser giggled in response and continued down the line.

"Thunderlane's one of the regulars as well. He lives in town with his little brother. Aaand I think that's everypony."

"I hope you don't  feel too insulted if I don't have everyone's name memorized by tomorrow," Recon joked, drawing a surprised gasp from Flitter.

"Oh Celestia, you really are from an outer territory! I thought you were pulling my leg."

At the questioning glances from the others she nodded emphatically "I have a friend, well she has another friend, who worked with some guards, who patrolled the borders. She said that it's becoming a bit more prevalent, but a lot of mixed towns, ones with griffons and dragons and ponies and zebras and, and everything else, they use everyone instead of everypony. Oh it's so cool, I never thought I'd meet a foreigner! Is it true that dragons keep mares as trophies and display them on their mantle in golden cages?! What about-"

Cloudchaser stuffed her hoof in her sisters mouth, cutting off the stream of questions before it could gain any real momentum.

"He's not going anywhere, Flitter. You can ask him later," Cloudchaser said before rising a few paces off of the roof.

"Can I have everypony's attention? Thanks! Thank you for being here in such short notice, and we'll get more information to you all as it becomes available. For now we're going to continue filing our reports and requests through the mayors office, but I'll make sure everypony gets a notice when we start switching over. And thank Pinkie for the snacks! Sugarcube Corner did an excellent job as usual."

There was a chorus of assents before the gathering exploded, Pegasi taking off in all directions or making a mad dash for the snacks before others cleaned out the rest of the cookies.

Moving before any of the other Pegasi could snag him, Recon managed to approach the canary-yellow Pegasus currently trying to sneak out of the meeting as quickly as possible.

"Miss Fluttershy? May I have a moment of your time?"

Fluttershy jumped, turning to face him with poorly concealed anxiety.

'Hell, even if she was better at hiding it I could taste that from a mile away,' Recon thought, suppressing a gag.

"As I said I dabble in alchemy, you know, balms and elixirs? Some of those require things like small bird feathers or fish scales, even the odd drop of snake venom. If you could provide me with a few odds and ends, or even give me the chance to collect something like molted feathers myself, I'd be happy to provide you with some of the results. Burn ointment was one of the first things I learned to make, out of necessity unfortunately, and I'd be happy to help you keep stocked."

She still seemed nervous after he explained his desire, but the shy mare perked up a bit at the offer.

"Um, do you have any anti-itch or pain relievers? Those are kind of expensive, and the ones I buy from town are too strong for most of my animal friends."

Recon cocked his head in thought, racking his brain. Anti-itch he remembered seeing, but he'd skipped it for other things. The pain relief ointment might be easier. The more you skewed the formula to the main numbing ingredient, a fairly common mushroom, the more powerful it became.

"I'll double check my recipes. I've made the pain-relief ointment before and know how to reduce the potency, but I never got around to making the anti-itch cream. I'll try to look it up tonight and I'll get back to you later, okay? I'll also have a list of ingredients. I don't know if animals have allergies, but..."

"Oh that would be very kind of you, but you don't have to do it right away. I'm sure you have other things you need to do."

"I do this for fun, Fluttershy. It's my hobby. If I can find a way to help someone with it, why would I not? And if you can get me a few of the ingredients I'm looking for or even direct me to where they grow, I'd be extremely grateful."

Fluttershy then left, though not in as big a hurry as before. Seeing another mare he needed to talk to, he made his way through the crowd, getting stopped along the way once or twice by curious or welcoming ponies. Once he reached his target, the mare surprised him by speaking first.

"I'm sorry I was a meanie pants yesterday. Cherry said she thought it was weird and kind of mean that I didn't set up a party like I usually do, and I told her about what happened at the station and she told me that the mayor told her that this kind of thing happens to ponies sometimes so I wanted to make it up to you so-"

Pinkie stopped suddenly, taking a large gulp of air.

"-I decided I wanted to do something nice and I heard you were going to be working in that smelly old office and that meant you'd need to meet all the Pegasi in town, so I told Cherry and Cloudy I'd bring cookies and punch."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Pinkie, even if I never took insult to the lack of a party. After this mess is sorted, I'll even do my best to explain your Pinkie sense, because I think I know what you're reacting to. It's just going to depend on how the Summer Sun Celebration goes."

Pinkie's mood dropped quickly, nearly causing him to flinch at the sudden twist from the normally exuberant mare.

"Something's wrong, isn't it?"

At his shocked silence she looked around at the gathered Pegasi before leaning closer.

"My Pinkie sense keeps telling me something important is going to happen soon. It also tells me something bad happened, but I don't know what it was.

"You were looking for somepony. You kept looking around like you were expecting to recognize somepony but you never found them. Who is it?"

"Someone I think may be important," Recon explained quietly. "Someone who was supposed to be here, who was supposed to be the one who met me in the mayor's office."

Feeling a bit uncomfortable talking about the topic in public, Recon tapped a rear hoof for a moment before looking back to Pinkie.

"If you want to talk about this, I'd prefer we do it in private. If something's not wrong, ponies will panic for nothing. If something is wrong, there may not be anything we can do about it."

"Okie-dokie," Pinkie relented, her cheer returning a bit. "I'll head back to Sugarcube, stop by and we'll talk about the impending doom in private, deal?"

"Deal," the stallion agreed with a chuckle, reaching out a hoof. Pinkie tapped the hoof to seal the agreement before trotting away, her mane regaining some of its lost volume.

"Was she okay?" Cloudchaser asked, several other ponies looking for an answer as well. "I don't think I've ever seen Pinkie that upset before."

"I didn't know Pinkie could get upset," Thunderlane added with a bit of concern.

"She was just apologizing for the lack of a party. I told her we could talk later though. Figure out our differences over a cookie at Sugarcube Corner, maybe get off on the right hoof this time."

The remaining Pegasi continued to watch the pink pony leave with a bit of apprehension but soon returned their attention to other things. Like teasing sisters or snacking.

He waited around until the cleanup, helping Cloudchaser with that before making his way back to town. Flying at a fairly high level, he was able to pick out Sugarcube Corner and quickly approached the bakery.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear. We're just about to close up. Is there something I can grab for you?" The blue earth pony at the counter asked.

Recon stifled a laugh at seeing the mare in the flesh. Mrs. Cake was currently a bit swollen around her midsection, the twins she would give birth to no doubt on their way. Even sillier though, was the fact that her mane left him wondering if it tasted like cherry or strawberry icing. It looked downright delicious.

"I'm here to speak to Pinkie actually. I'd be happy to reschedule this to lunch tomorrow, but I didn't want to leave Cloudchaser alone with the cleanup."

"She didn't stay to help?" Mrs. Cake asked in confusion. "Poor dear must be under the weather or terribly distracted. That's not like her. I'll go see if she's up to talking to you. But if I find out you're upsetting her-"

Recon raised his hooves placatingly.

"I have no intention of doing the mare any harm, we're just going to talk about a gut-feeling and a Pinkie sense convergence."

She stared at him for another moment before nodding and closing the door, leaving the stallion waiting in the slowly darkening evening. He was debating on leaving a note and just having this conversation later when there was a stampede on the other side of the door, causing him to flinch away. Pinkie Pie whipped it open a second later, her mood seemingly much more recovered since her exit from the meeting.

"Hi, sorry I didn't stay, my heads all twisty-turny right now," the party pony said sheepishly.

"No problem. As I told the other lady, if you want we can do this later since it's getting late. I'm sure you have to be up early. I remember reading that most bakers are up at the crack of dawn."

"I don't get up that early, and besides I think I'd rather not be worrying about this the whole night. I don't think I could stand it."

"I don't know what you think I'm going to tell you, Pinkie, but I don't think I can lay your fears to rest. I'm scared about this too."

The baker's mood seemed to drop at the admission.

"Okay. So should we...come in, we can talk upstairs. Mrs. Cake, Recon and I are going to be discussing super-secret end-of-the-world stuff so we're going to my room, okay?"

"Just be sure to lock the door when he leaves, dear. And don't stay up too late," the pregnant mare called back from where she was wiping down the counter. Some noise in the back accompanied by a bloom of frustration gave the changeling a good idea of where the husband was, but otherwise he kept quiet and followed the not-so-energetic mare up the stairs.

The moment they were in her room, Pinkie closed the door and trotted over to her bed, pulling two cushions out from the darkness underneath.

"Never know when you're going to need to discuss super-secret things, so I try to be prepared," she said, answering his unasked question.

Nodding in understanding, recon took the offered cushion and tapped the floor in thought.

"I guess the first thing to do is talk about the party. I kind of expected you, I knew about Fluttershy, and there are a few others I haven't seen but two of whom I'm fairly certain are still here based on businesses I've seen. The only one I've not seen was the mare who I expected to see. A Pegasus by the name of Rainbow Dash.

"Background time; there was a story I read a while ago, it talked about a world-ending event set to take place on the longest day of the thousandth year."

"The Summer Sun Celebration," Pinkie whispered, nodding. "It's the thousandth year since...since..."

"Since the defeat of the sun princess's younger sister," Recon supplied. "The information is out there, unless Celestia only kept one copy of the book. The younger sister would escape her banishment on the solstice of the thousandth year."

"So if the princess beat her once, couldn't she do it again?"

"The artifacts that were used, it was bound to both of the alicorn's. When one used it against the other, it messed the artifacts up, disconnecting them from the alicorns. The artifacts went into stasis, though whether it was just to wait for when they would next be needed or because they needed to recover was never revealed in the story. It may also be that the artifacts are what is keeping the younger sister sealed. Once they stop doing that they once more become usable, their power returning."

"Wow," Pinkie murmured, her eyes not focusing on anything in particular. "So that's why you wanted to avoid Ponyville? Does the bad alicorn come here first?"

"She showed up in the sun princess's place in the story," the disguised changeling said. "She didn't harm anyone too badly, but she did blast away some guards that tried to arrest her. There's also the issue of what went wrong with her. I know the story said she was consumed by her jealousy, but killing off everyone in a planetary freeze seems a bit extreme for that."

"Freeze the planet?" the pink mare asked in confusion. "I thought you said she wanted eternal night."

It was Recon's turn to express confusion.

"Um, isn't that the same thing? I know that back home if the sun stopped shining it would get cold really fast. If she tidally locked the sun and moon, the other side of the planet would be a desert. The only habitable territory would the twilight ring around the planet, a small section that gets enough sun but not too much."

"That's, that's not how the sun and moon work," Pinkie said. She rapped a forehoof against the ground before looking him in the eye.

"Are you an alien? I know my pinkie sense was saying that you're not a normal  pony."

"You're pinkie sense isn't wrong," Recon offered cautiously. "Alien doesn't quite cut it though. I'm fairly certain that no matter how far you travelled from this world you'd never find my home. It's going to take either someone with an intimate knowledge of trans-dimensional transportation, or all the luck in the universe concentrated into a portal that would hopefully get me home. Considering my current location though, there may be other stories that I've read that exist out there and I think my survival chances in those places are slim to none."

"The-they're dangerous?" Pinkie asked.

"Not all of them, but when there's a fifty percent chance of me finding a world I won't be instantly killed in versus staying in a world where I've made some allies already and can research the topic of portals, which is safer? I think I'll keep researching the topic, even if do miss my fingers sometimes. I guess being able to fly helps in that regard. Something lost, something gained, right?"

"So you still intend to keep that pinkie promise even though your an alien?"

"It's more of a trans-dimensional visitor, or whatever you'd call it when the person has no say and no way to get back, but yes. I have every intention of keeping that promise."

"Will you be my friend?"

The changeling stared at the baker for a breath.

"What?"

"I make friends with everypony I can, and now I have the chance to be friends with an alien? Duh, of course I'd be all over that!"

He stared at her, trying to argue the logic before realizing there was no need to do so. She was giving him what he needed, a chance to prove his word.

"Alright Pinkie, I'll make an additional promise to you as well. We're going to find out what happened to Rainbow Dash, get her to Ponyville where she can help activate the artifacts that will save the world-"

"Eternal night won't end the world, silly," Pinkie interrupted. "It would just be really hard to see. Most of the heat of Equis comes from all the magic running through the planet. The sun is bright, but it's too small to warm the planet. The plants are all able to grow using the world's magic as well."

"Fine, we find Dash, bring her here to be a hero and prevent a nightlight shortage, then I hopefully get to leave. And when I do, I'll explain what I think it is your pinkie sense is picking up. In the meantime, just be careful of ponies who set it off, okay? Some of them really are mean. I'd hate to see you get in trouble when we're looking to save the heroes."

Pinkie put out her hoof, planning to seal the agreement with a hoof-shake.

"Will do, Recky."

Recon met her hoof with his own, but just as he was about to excuse himself, a presence made itself known on the other side of the door. Thinking quickly, the stallion's grin became downright predatory, causing Pinkie's smile to falter.

The moment Mrs. cake opened the door he started speaking again, deepening his voice to an almost infernal level.

"Right, so just bring the souls to the Everfree in the next three weeks and I'll continue to give you some of my power."

The stallion turned to the intruding mare, looking at her curiously.

"Oh, I can't take her now. I'm not prepared."

Recon swore that Mrs. Cake's color went three tones lighter in two seconds. Next Chapter: Five points to Pinkie Pie Estimated time remaining: 17 Minutes