Star Chart resorted to manual communication with the crew, seeing as the radios were blown. The ship carried wind pipes; small speakers that would bring your voice across the ship like an ancient intercom system.

“Exciting as this may be, are you sure this is our only option, Sister?” Luna asked, peering out to the deck. A layer of frost had formed on the treated wood, the winds whipping across the sturdy surface. Luckily, the balloon held; its sleek surface was made to handle sharp winds. “I feel like I know what’s causing all of this, but I can’t put my hoof on it.”

“No, it’s not. This is the risky route. We could simply return to the Crystal Palace, wait out the storm, and return to Canterlot in a few weeks time. I would just have to move every single responsibility of mine to Cadence’s castle hundreds of leagues out of the way, and reschedule every meeting for the next month, then backlog all of my duties into next year. And I would probably have to shutter this ship until Tax Season, then pay out of pocket for repairs. Magic Engines are fickle things, and unless properly stationed in a deck, have to essentially be maintained in the air at all times.”

“So what you’re saying is, either we brave this risky storm, or you’ll have to deal with months of repercussions?” Arin sighed.

“That, and I would have to pay this crew for every day we’re marooned in the Empire, along with overtime and the charter pay coming out of pocket.” She waved her hoof, summarizing the damage in her mind. “Something to the tune of thirty thousand bits. Our military runs on a deficit as it is.”

She continued, “There’s a reason why the Crystal Empire doesn’t have an air fleet. They are costly things. And if you had an idea Lulu, I’d love to know, because I haven’t a clue what’s causing this.” She looked to her Sister, who wrinkled her nose at the question.

Luna looked across the bow, spotting rolling thunder close at hoof. “Tia, what are the chances that the ship receives critical damage from this storm?”

The sun princess gazed to Star Chart for the answer. He grunted a response. “Moderate to low. Depends entirely on luck, and if we don’t hit many drafts. Free Weather has taken more lives in the air than any other incident to date.”

Arin gulped, a particular hard blast of wind forcing the balloon to tilt. The captain swung his hooves – and by extension the wheel, hard into it, cutting headway into the unseen force. The ship creaked under the strain, as he pulled a lever and punched the throttle hard.

“Is there anything we can do? Besides bother you, Captain?” Vapor Cloud asked, standing close to Celestia. Even though he was a pegasi, being confined in a tight space during a storm put him on edge.

“Yeah, you can all skip down a flight and get out of my hair, and tell Storm Clout to pump the turbines to low gear on the wind pipes. We need torque going into our heading.”

Taking that as a sign to leave, Vapor Cloud and the group did just that, getting an “Aye” over the pipes as they made their way down the metal staircase.

The wind howled outside the window, as Arin peered out of the back end of the ship. The black clouds had encompassed the sky entirely, cutting them out from the light of the sun. Luna watched with him, in awe of nature uncontrolled.

Celestia, on the other hoof – in the company of her knight – trodded down the steps towards the kitchen.

“I don’t like this, Luna. I really don’t like how these clouds can block out that magic speaking box Star Chart used, either. That’s too much with the creepy, ominous clouds.”

“Indeed, tis strange. The technology is new to us, but We find it most peculiar. We can feel a tinge of magic in the air, much more than usual. Perhaps this is something to bring up with Sister?” Luna said. Another heavy wind pressed her into his side, the blue alicorn taking this moment to gently drape a wing around him. “We too have an ominous feeling about these clouds…”

Finding the kitchen was easy, all they had to do was listen for the grunts of Vapor Cloud as Celestia hefted her lunch up with a smile. The heavy carrot cake wobbled with the vibration of the ship, Tia dragging the pastry to her muzzle with a giggle.

“Really, Sister?… Does thy hunger ever cease?” Luna sighed, stepping past the threshold with Arin in tow.

“Since Twilight cast that weight reduction spell on me? No, not really.” Celestia replied between bites. Vapor Cloud was just sick of her dietary choices. At first, it was endearing. Now, it was sickening. The Princess had turned into an endless pit of sugar.

Luna’s gaze became more serious as her mind traveled. Arin had only recently started to understand this look, it wasn’t just idle contemplation – she was coming up with an epiphany. “We wanted to know more about that weather machine that went missing in Canterlot, after the Storm King’s attack. The one from your magical academy, that was meant to help reclaim the wild lands of the Everfree?”

Celestia blinked, gulping down a mouthful of cake. “What about it?”

“Well, what exactly did it do?” Luna questioned.

The sunlight Princess withdrew a bottle of milk from the fridge, giving it a swirl before chugging down a hearty gulp of it. She eyed her now former cake. Did she really eat an entire family size desert without realizing it?

“Well, it was designed with the intention of breaking down massive clouds, or reorganizing their presence. The prototype was never finished, as the Magic Academy never saw the funding to see it through.”

“Do you think that somepony could have used it as a basis to create this massive storm?” Luna pressed.

Celestia tilted her head in thought. She was well versed in magical construction, and even Celestia began to speculate if something like that could be done. Hence the question.

“Well, with magical technology, anything is possible. But this could also be a natural storm, and our worry is without reason.”

“A storm strong enough to disrupt that magic talking box?” Arin asked, feeling confident in their approach. If it wasn’t just paranoia clawing at them; they had reason to question everything, after the boldness of the most recent attack.

The question really did blindside her, as she reconsidered it. “Actually… that’s a good point. Why would a short range walkie-talkie lose signal ten hooves from the other receiver? I can understand a high strength broadcast being cut short by miles of clouds – but those walkie-talkies are military grade… and perhaps there is a bit more power floating in the air than usual, too.”

“Another question to ask, Sister, is why would someone wish to create a massive storm to begin with? It can’t be to explicitly target Us, as they would have no way of knowing Our departure from the Crystal Empire, nor the method.”

“Actually,” Arin brought up, “with my encounter in the wreckage, the Seraphs didn’t even know we were going to be on board the train. They had no clue that at least I would be traveling North – and if it’s public info that I’m Luna’s knight, then they also didn’t know that Luna would be present, either.”

“What can you get from a storm, besides rain, water, and lightning? Maybe some wind and building damage – but unless you specifically make it for a tornado, you’re not going to cause enough havoc to really take any lives.” Vapor Wave continued their line of thinking, raising a hoof to his chin in thought.

Celestia began to pace the kitchen, as Vapor Cloud continued his spiel.

“When I was young, I learned in Flight School that lightning is a form of magic. It’s why when lightning strikes a Pegasi, it doesn’t outright kill us – our own magic insulates us against it, only ending in some scorched fur. But creatures like Griffons are vulnerable to lightning, as they have weaker inherit magic over a Pegasus.”

“How does that even work? I thought lightning was just electricity.” Arin asked, frowning.

“As a being with no magic, one could easily construed it as such. If thou are not in tune with magic, Arin, thy wouldn’t feel the magical power thrumming within each bolt. There is a science side and a mystic side to nearly every element. I will cover it more in depth, the next night We are able.” Luna said with a nod. Arin scratched his head, sighing.

“Alright, well, are they trying to harvest lightning then? I don’t know enough about magic to even guess what you could use it for. I don’t even know how you’d collect it. If they had no idea of our whereabouts, then this storm obviously isn’t here to harm us. In fact, we weren’t even supposed to be here. And like you said before – we weren’t supposed to learn of the Seraphs at all.”

The ship tilted hard into another gust of wind, the few loose items in the kitchen rattling as Arin stumbled a bit, leaning on to a counter for support. The ponies seemed unaffected. They were lucky to have two sets of legs.

“There are plenty of methods to do so. If you wished, you could erect a lightning rod using copious amounts of any conductive metal, though to collect vast quantities of lightning, you would need either a massive construct, or a dozen small ones. That’s even if someone is collecting lightning.” Celestia pressed a hoof to her muzzle, thinking. “You would need a lot of land to do so freely, not to mention it’d be an eyesore.”

“So why not build it in the Everfree?” Luna frowned, “Not many dare to tread there. And We believe it would be easier to harvest power from the untamed lands.”

“That’s a problem. It’s simply too close to Canterlot. I would spot it from my balcony, or looking south towards Ponyville.” Celestia offered, her ears folding back in concentration. “It would be obvious if I saw clouds spouting off in waves from a concentrated point, too.”

“This is an insane theory We are building…” Luna said, “We should be taking notes.”

Celestia nodded, turning her sight to her own knight. Vapor rolled his eyes, trotting down the corridor. A minute passed, and he returned with a quill, ink pot, and parchment. She continued to stare at him, and with a sigh, he picked up the quill in his muzzle, writing down scant notes of their session.

“Alright. First, let’s clear things up.” Arin said, approaching the table. “I remember our chat that morning quite well, and with Twilight’s book in hand, it should be easy to put these pieces together. I believe Shining covered it in depth, but I’ll go over it again. First, an explosion at the Town Hall made it able for a bunch of low class criminals to pop out of prison legally.” Celestia withdrew the book from her saddlebag, turning it over to several pages of pictures with the damage.

Vapor scribbled it down.

“Next, the bank found a large tree had landed in their vault, and a lot of loose paperwork went missing. Celestia, does thy recall what those deeds went to?” Luna asked.

“Spare land in the fields North of Canterlot, close to Galloping Gorge, along with dozens of other miscellaneous deeds that were quickly recovered around town.” Celestia commented, raising a wing to her chin in thought.

The Seraph spoke next. “That’s right. And what else went missing? The weather machine – which could knock out radio due to its… strange nature, if constructed in a fashion. That’s not intentional – but it’s negligible, no one is supposed to be flying in these clouds. It’s expected that ground based towers would possibly lose signal – and thus wouldn’t draw attention. Also, a bunch of rare herbs went missing from your Magic Academy, I believe?”

Arin felt like a detective. All he needed was a pipe. Luna flipped over the pages in Twilight’s journal, pondering what this could all mean.

“With those titles and lands, one could easily throw down a dozen nondescript buildings… if thou were a citizen, of course, and collect power. Thy would need at least a few dozen nights to do so, and to lower the traffic coming through the area when the time came.” The blue Princess stated.

“Why not do it illegally? Just toss the buildings down and let the consequences come?” Arin asked, watching Vapor write for his life to keep up. The pegasus was starting to sweat.

“Well, you would have to have reason to move a vast amount of resources into the region. Those deeds would turn eyes away from your actions, giving you freedom to work on whatever project you wanted with little ire for approval from officials. Additionally, if someone did spot the build – there would be nothing anypony could legally do to prevent it, unless if there was a justifiable cause.” Celestia leaned over the notes as well.

“Let’s also confirm that this storm isn’t from Cloudsdale. Pegasi magic doesn’t interfere with magical communication; this is beyond their capability. And I would have been notified if an experiment of this caliber had occurred, leading to a large storm. We would have also heard about it from Star Chart, when he contacted Vanhoover. But back on track here… Why would they choose this area, the path towards the Crystal Empire? The train tracks could be the main reason; the Crystal Empire is nearly self sufficient, and sees little travel during the coming autumn months. And with a known break in the tracks, the tracks past Cloudesdale would be shut down.” Celestia continued smartly, stealing Arin’s thunder as lead detective.

“Oh! That’s easy,” Vapor chimed, “it’s because the last early autumn winds are coursing north, so a storm from the south would blow in that direction. So the wind from as low as the badlands would travel north, while as far as Manehatten is hit by a cold wave. Good thing I actually did well in Flight School, huh?”

“Alright. So it isn’t just coincidence. Galloping Gorge is the best place for an operation like this, in this time of the year. This has been in the works for… months, at the minimum – since before the Storm King’s attack.” Arin confirmed. “Hold on, this isn’t just a crazy theory anymore… could they actually have done this?”

Arin continued his thoughts, “It’s been a week and some change since the accident. They had several days to set up dozens of small, nondescript lightning rods – or whatever – along the fields of Galloping Gorge… why?”

“Well, to draw power.” Celestia frowned, “But we already know that. Additionally, they would need somewhere to store that power after a while. Individual charging crystals can only hold so much energy before shattering in a devastating explosion. And you couldn’t really move that much power without setting off a ton of alarms, or building a cross country infrastructure to do so safely.”

“Sister… you mentioned a charging crystal. Would that also relate to the Crystal Empire?”

Celestia’s eyes went wide, “The Crystal Empire! That castle is essentially a massive tower on its own. In a heavy storm, you could just fly up there, stick a rod on, and it would could channel the magical power from the lightning!”

“And it would serve as the perfect focal point for lightning to accumulate! It’s basically a massive magic magnet – and the Crystal Heart contains and reflects that power into the world!” Luna said, bouncing to her hooves. The ship’s lights flickered; the deck yawned, heavy creaks shaking them as Vapor struggled to prevent his Ink Pot from tumbling to the floor with only one hoof.

“What are they going to do to the Crystal Empire?” Arin asked, terrified. He held his heart in his chest, feeling it grow heavy at the realization of the danger Cadence and Shining were in.

“The Crystal Heart is essentially a mirror of the emotions of the crystal ponies. It’s a powerful magical artifact; a focal point for magic. When charged with emotion, it rings happiness across Equestria. But it is still a crystal, thus can hold a magical charge.” Celestia said, panic growing in her features.

“Typically, a cell like the Crystal Heart would exude the lightning in waves of magical energy. But like any crystal, it can be supercharged, and if enough power is channeled into it all at once, it could explode in a massive, violent pulse – obliterating everything within dozens of leagues of the source.” Luna’s wing hugged tightly onto Arin, nearly hyperventilating.

“If the heart shatters, never mind just the lives it would claim in the Empire – it would free the Umbrum Army, and if that happens – there is no feasible way we would survive that war. Not on two fronts, with the Seraphs of the Far Ridges prowling in the dark, we would perish.” Celestia had begun to hug her own Knight, shaking a little in her golden regalia. Vapor had taken that as his queue to stop scribbling with a quill.

“If We had not left the Empire today, Our very lives would have ended. There would have been no chance any of us could survive a blast that powerful. The entire Royal Line would have died in an instant.” Luna’s hooves clapped either side of her head, in shock of their good luck. Leaving Arin to shake in his boots alone.

“Wait!” Vapor interrupted, bringing his hooves up to calm the now adrenaline fueled Princesses, “They had no reliable way to know that both of you – Celestia and Luna – would be there to begin with, not months in advance. And we can confirm that they have no intention of releasing the Umbrum Army – because Umbra didn’t even know of their plans!” He said, pounding his fist on the table. “And again – this is all just a coincidence until we know it. We’ll need to actually see for ourselves; at best there is no danger at all, and we’re all pulling at strings because of the train attack.”

“Celestia, you’re the leader here. What do we do to combat this?” Arin followed, trying his best to stifle his fear. It really wasn’t working, but he tried regardless.

“I could write to Twilight, but she’s too far to help… not to mention that if short range communication is down, so would magical letters.” Celestia began to pace, her eyes turning to pin pricks. “We’ll have to deal with this ourselves. There’s no other way. We have to dip beneath the clouds, and search for these power cells – and shatter them, before they can release the captured lightning towards the Crystal Empire. Or at the very least confirm they’re not there.”

“Wouldn’t Umbra also be the scapegoat, as well? Think about it. She had no part in the train attack, and actually derailed their plans by killing the Seraphs there. She even said herself she would be blamed for the attack – that’s why she left the bodies. And the Crystal Empire exploding, releasing the Umbrum Army? One could definitely say it’s all her fault. You could even say she attempted to kill Celestia with a crossbow – but why?” Arin offered, before Celestia continued.

“Regardless, we can discuss that later – the main issue is sitting in front of us. It’s dangerous to swoop down low, but we have to see regardless. This is probably suicide, but we have to try.” Celestia stated firmly, ending her fear with a stomp of her hoof. Now was not the time to cower with cake; it was the time to lead.

The other cakes could wait.

“We know where the towers are probably at – if We can reach the general area, the lightning will reveal their locations.” Luna said, preparing for a fight.

Celestia scooped up the notes and book in her magic, galloping down the corridor and up the stairs. Luna and Arin followed close behind, Vapor Cloud sighing. Celestia had knocked over his ink pot.

“Captain! We have to get near the ground, now!” Celestia commanded, “We need to set course for Galloping Gorge. This is crucial.”

“What? What’s going on?” He said, eyeing the Princess in confusion.

“We have a problem. An apocalyptic problem.” Celestia dropped the parchment before him, the captain himself giving it a quick glance. Then a full read. A few questions about their sanity, the magic device – whatever else his sane mind could come up with.

Needless to say, the Captain was rightfully skeptical.

“This is a bit far fetched, Princess. What you’re basically saying is that somepony managed to sniff out a way to cause havoc under your nose, and now, we’re caught in the middle of it by sheer dumb luck. And you want us to go on a suicide mission to try and save the world. All because I can’t hear my crew on these walkie talkies.”

“That is exactly what I’m saying.”

Celestia whipped the parchment free of the old colt’s hooves as she turned it over, summoning an ink pot and quill into the air. Quickly, she jotted down a letter to Cadence, rolling it up, and sending it in her magic. Vapor Cloud pouted. She could summon ink pots like that on a whim?

The scroll vanished in a puff of magical smoke, before reappearing in front of her. Blocked by the magical storm, they were cut off from the world.

“Normal free weather doesn’t do this.” Celestia said bluntly.

Star Chart sighed. “Alright. But if I crash, it’s not my fault. Entering the storm was your idea, after all.”

Star Chart barked orders into the wind pipes with gusto, confused replies sounding off from the crew as they set to work pumping air from the balloon, increasing the power of the engines, and loosening the straps on the deck for evasive maneuvers.

With a tilt on the wheel and a grunt to hold on, the ship slid down harshly – the usual suspects giving cries of fright as they began to plummet.