Pinkie pawed a hoof at the library's closed door. The brass candle-holder painted on it was nearly invisible in the dark; only the moonlight shining from above revealed anything at all. “Do you think we upset her?”
“Nope, ah don't,” Applejack said from the other end of the doorstep. “We just gotta' talk some sense into that girl is all.”
Rarity cleared her throat just behind them. “I must say I disagree. She obviously still wants to be left alone, Applejack, despite the huge length of time she has been shut in there.”
“I know, I'll throw her another party!” Pinkie bounced on the spot. “A bigger one, with bigger balloons and even bigger cupcakes! She just won't be able to resist this time!”
“That'll be your fifth one tryin' to get her outa' there,” Applejack said, her voice flat. “It ain't no good, Pinkie. Somepony's just gonna have to be more stubborn than she is.”
Rarity lifted a perfectly-plucked eyebrow at her. “And I suppose you think that has to be you?”
“Darn right.” Applejack crossed her legs and set her jaw. “Ah mean it. I ain't gonna move from this here spot until she shows herself.”
“Applejack, don't you think that is a bit extreme?” Rarity stared at her. “The Pegasus ponies have a rain storm scheduled for tonight; you'll be soaked right though.”
“Ah know what am' doin'. We ain't seen head-nor-tail of that filly in nigh-on two weeks now. I don't know about you, but I'm more worried than a tree-nestin' bird in applebuck season.”
“Spike assures me she is all right.” Rarity glanced nervously at the door. “He says he would know if something happened to her. Apparently, she used to do this back when she was studying in Canterlot.”
“Oh, I know what to do!” Pinkie stuffed her head between the two pony's faces, her cheeks squeezed against theirs. “Let's all sing a song to tell her how silly she's being. Oh Twilight, Twilight, shut away with no light, how can you be so-”
“Yeah, well she ain't in Canterlot now. Hey, Twilight!” Applejack pulled away from Pinkie and beat her hoof against the door. “I know ya'll can hear me! I aint leavin' this here doorstep till you come outa' there and see your friends! You know, the pony's that care about ya and all?”
Nothing came from inside the hollowed-out tree. The shutters were all drawn, the lanterns all dark.
Rarity sighed. “Well, I suppose I will have to go back and check on Spike. He and SweetyBell have been so cute together, but-” she raised her voice deliberately, directing it towards the door, “-he misses Twilight terribly. He says he doesn't of course, but it is plain to see.” She nodded to Applejack, and walked away, adding under her breath, “That, and my mane will get wet.”
“How about you, Pinkie Pie?” Applejack smiled encouragingly. “Wanna stay and keep a pony company for a while?”
“Oh no, sorry, Gummy needs me to help him get all ready for bed. He can't floss himself, ya know!”
“Oh. Well sure, I guess so. Ya'll go ahead-” Applejack stopped and narrowed her eyes. “Wait a gosh-darn second there...”
Pinkie pie was already bouncing away under the nearest street light. She turned a corner, humming a tune as she went, her eyes closed in happy crescents, and vanished from sight. The streets were all empty; everypony was either tucked up in bed or sat cozy in their homes.
“Shoot.” Applejack sighed, turning back to the library door. “Guess it's just you and me now, Twilight.”
A steady wind built up slowly as the pegasi prepared the night's weather. Clouds began to roll overhead, blocking the stars and the moon from view, darkening the sky even further.
Applejack sat down on her haunches. She leaned her head against the rough wood and pressed her ear to it, but no sounds came from within. She settled down on the cold stone of the step and thought back to when all of this had started.
Spike had turned up at Rarity's out of nowhere and asked if he could stay with her and Sweetybell. Rarity had sent Sweetybell to find Rainbow dash, who'd fetched the others in turn, and eventually all of them had gathered in a circle around the little dragon in the centre of her showroom.
“She told me to find somewhere else to stay for a couple of days,” Spike had said, visibly upset. “She got a letter from the princess, and then she just went all crazy, piling loads of books up in the middle of the floor and yelling at me to get out of the way. She wouldn't even let me try to help.”
“Did ya'll see what was on that letter?” Applejack asked.
Rarity cut in, “Oh no, Spike would never read any of the correspondence that Celestia or Twilight send though him unless asked, is that not right?”
Spike just nodded, looking forlorn.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash said, flying up and pointing towards the door. “Let's get down there and see if she's okay!”
They'd all marched on the library but no amount of knocking, shouting, or Rainbow Dash tapping on windows had elected a response. Just before Applejack teamed up with Rainbow to knock the door down, Rarity and Fluttershy stopped the pair of them in their tracks.
“Whatever it is, it must be important enough for her to act like this,” Rarity said, blocking AJ's path to the door with her ready-to-buck back legs. “We should trust Twilight to know what she is doing, especially when it comes to matters involving the Princess.”
“Um, I'm sorry, but I agree,” Fluttershy near-whispered. “Twilight probably knows what she's doing, and, um, we probably shouldn't disturb her.”
“Aw come-on girls!” Rainbow Dash had landed at Applejack's side. “AJ's right, we gotta find out what's up with her.”
On and on they'd argued, locked in a stalemate on the Library's doorstep, until the only pony who'd been strangely silent leapt right between them all. “Girls! I think some pony's need to turn their frowny-frown's upside down!”
The two opposing sides had turned and glared in unison at Pinkie.
“What?” Pinkie said. “You really should you know, you gotta use allot more muscles in your face to frowny-frown than you do to smily-smile!”
“Pinkie...” Rainbow Dash shook her head, lost for words. “I just don't know sometimes-”
The sky flashed white all around her and a rolling thunderclap snapped Applejack back to herself. She sidled up against the Library door, shivering with fright, her wide eyes looking up at the black, cloud-filled sky. A raindrop hit her nose, making her blink. Another hit her ear, and more began to splash down hard onto her coat. She pulled her hat forward to shield her face and curled her legs underneath herself on the cold stone of Twilight's doorstep.
She soon shivered with cold as well as fright. Water dripped from the brim of her hat, soaking her hair and her coat. Each crack of thunder made her flinch and pull her beaten Stetson further down against her ears. She pushed up against the door to get every bit of shelter the library could afford her and rested her cheek against the damp wood.
The rain began to ease off a few minutes later. It stopped quickly, leaving her huddled and wet but no longer cowering under her hat. She sighed in relief and looked out on to the rest of Ponyville.
What she saw froze her to the spot. Water hammered harder than ever on rooftops, sparking from slates and running in rivers along the edges of the streets, but where she sat it had stopped altogether. A sheet of falling water surrounded her in a circle, splashing from the ground only a few hooves of distance away.
Applejack looked up into a perfectly-clear circle of night sky in the clouds above, and broke into a wide smile at the rainbow-coloured streak shooting down towards her.
“I couldn't just watch you sitting there, again...” Rainbow Dash landed inside the dry area in front of her with a few beats of her wings, her expression grudging. “You really are stubborn sometimes, you know that?”
“Thankya' Rainbow.” Applejack smiled, genuinely touched. “Thankya kindly.”
“Yeah, well...” the Pegasus tried to avoid her eyes, “...if the weather patrol sees this hole, just tell em' you don't know how it got there, all right?”
“Ah sure will, sugarcube.”
Rainbow Dash leapt into the air. “Don't mention it, but next time there's a storm scheduled, bring an umbrella, will ya?” She shot upwards and disappeared into the clouds.
Applejack watched her rainbow trail fade away and smiled for a long time afterward. She spent the next while watching the rainstorm unfold around her. The lightening didn't scare her anymore, and she could see a few stars twinkling through the hole above.
After another while, splashing noises turned her attention to the sight of a figure approaching thought the dark. The silhouette of a large umbrella with decorative tassels emerged, and Applejack stood up to greet the unicorn huddled beneath. “Rarity, what're ya'll doing out here in this rain?”
“Goodness Applejack, what are you thinking, you're going to catch a fever out here, just let me-” Rarity stopped, staring at the dry circle of ground around Applejack's hooves. “Ah, I see Rainbow Dash has already paid you a visit?”
Applejack smiled uncomfortably. “Eh, yeah, she kinda has.”
“Well, no matter.” Rarity brought a bright yellow mound out of one of her saddlebags, and offered it to her. “These should keep you warm, if not dry as well.”
Applejack spread it out between her hooves, revealing a bright yellow oilskin outfit complete with a wide-brim hat. “Aw sugar, ya'll didn't have to go to the trouble-”
“I won't hear of it.” Rarity fished around in her other saddle, and brought out four matching oilskin boots. “I've finally found a use for these retched-” she winced, “-sorry Applejack, these robust boots from your second gala dress.”
“Galoshes!” Applejack stepped into them and let Rarity use her magic to fit the oilskin outfit expertly over her damp coat. “This is powerful kind of you, Rarity. Ah don't know what to say.”
“Then do not.” Rarity held her head high. “A gift is something given of one's own volition.”
“Uh, yeah, well, ah still want to thank you from the bottom of mah heart. You're a one-of-a-kind kinda' gal, you know that?”
“Oh, yes, yes I do.” The white unicorn smiled primly. “Thank you, Applejack. I do hope you will see reason and return to sweet apple acres soon. They must be terribly worried about you.”
“No, they ain't.” Applejack set her jaw, turning serious. “They know what I'm doin', and that ah gotta do it. Twilight needs to remember that she's got friends, and darn good ones. Seein' you and Rainbow out here tonight's just made me even surer'a that.”
Rarity sighed, but still smiled. “As you must. Take care; I will be back to check on you in the morning.”
Left alone again, Applejack settled down in her warm new outfit and sat in a circle of dry, clear air as the rain fell around her. The odd gust of wind blew some of it her way, but her new oilskins were so much of a match for it that she felt like being back under the rain would be just as comfortable.
The warmth and dryness lulled her towards drowsiness and sleep. She rested her head against the door, closed her eyes, and drifted closer and closer to emptiness.
Somewhere far on the other side of the wood, a blood-curdling scream shrieked through the halls and rooms the library's open spaces.
Applejack shot to her hooves, turned, steadied herself, and bucked hard with both back legs. “Twilight! Ah'm a' comin, sugar!”
The door split and cracked on her next hit, and burst off its hinges on the third. Applejack charged forwards, knocked the swinging door aside with her shoulder, and galloped into the centre of the library's main floor.
Her hooves tumbled over a pile of books, knocking her into a rolling mass of legs and yellow oilskins. She kicked and shoved them aside, scrambled back up, and quickly scanned the dark room around her.
The place was ransacked. Hundreds of books littered the floor. It looked like someone had stacked them at one point; several were in haphazard towers that zigzagged from the floor, others sat in small, uneven walls. A flash of lightening burst through the windows and open door, illuminating titles inlaid on hard, dusty covers; Concepts of Magical Theory Vol III, The Limits of Magic, Magic and Consequences....
Applejack charged straight for the stairs. She sent books flying left and right, knocking over stacks and bursting through one of the book walls. Her hooves beat hard on the wood all the way to the door at the top. She stopped, rounded, and burst it open with a single powerful kick from her back legs.
Incredibly bright light came though, nearly blinding her, forcing her to shield her eyes with her leg. She edged through anyway, wincing with the light, trying to peer into it.
A shape began to form at the centre: a blob that was darker than the surrounding white with something that looked like two legs waving above it.
“Twilight!” Applejack ran forwards, ignoring the light, and reached forwards into the brightness with both hooves.
Applejack knew she was lying on grass. Her eyes wouldn't open, her body wouldn't move, but she still knew.
There was a smell of burning in the air. It tainted smells of pine-wood and rain; she could feel the light patter of raindrops against her face.
A groan filled her ears, and she realised it was her own voice. She tried to move her head, and was rewarded with a sharp twinge of pain. Trying to ignore it, Applejack managed to raise her chin off the ground and began to ease her eyes open.
Watery light wavered through. A dull grey sky came into rough focus, lying above a blur of tall, dark-green shapes. The image came into focus slowly, too slowly, but eventually she saw they were trees, though they weren't like any trees she'd seen before. Hugely tall, their thin trunks soared upwards into the murky sky and their short, dark green braches were angled sharply downwards, giving them the shape of thin Hearth's Warming Eve trees.
Wind pulled at the treetops all around her, filling the air with rushing sound and the gentle creak of wood. Groaning again, Applejack moved her front legs. She felt Rarity's oilskin jacket around her and the boots still fitted to her hooves. She pressed them on the ground and pushed upwards. Her head swam for a time, tipping this way and that, before clearing enough to let her look around.
She lay in the centre of a circular clearing. The ground looked barren and hard with only a light covering of wild grass and lichens over bare, grey soil. Wisps of black smoke drifted from small clumps of vegetation, and a tiny fire smouldered nearby on what looked like the remains of a small bush.
Applejack climbed to her hooves over the next two minutes. The pain in her head kept her vision dull and out of focus, but her sturdy boots gripped the ground and helped keep her footing. Standing on all fours cleared her head slightly. She looked around the small clearing, and realised that it didn't look natural.
A fan of fallen trees lay out into the forest around her. Most were blackened completely on the inward side, and were letting off wisps of black smoke. It looked like they'd been felled by something that had happened in the centre of the clearing where she stood; something violent and powerful.
“Shoot...” she said, shaking her head, wincing with the pain, “...what in the hay happened? Where am ah'?”
Applejack just stood there, staring at the burnt trees and smouldering ground, her head hurting far too much to try and make sense of anything. The smattering of rain seemed to be putting the remaining fires around her out.
Her legs started to hurt, so she put her hooves to the ground and walked towards the nearest of the fallen trees. She swayed from side to side, but Rarity's boots kept her upright with their chunky grips, and she managed to reach it.
The tree had fallen between two others, their branches catching it between them like a hammock, holding it at an angle off the ground. She climbed down beneath the trunk where it was just high enough to let her. The rain still got through, but directly under the trunk the ground seemed slightly dryer, so she lay down and curled her legs beneath her, resting her head, but only for a little while, she thought; only until the thumping stopped.
Rarity ambled through the shining wet streets of Ponyville, her umbrella held aloft despite the clearing sky above. The aftermath of the pegasus' pony's storm lay around her with broken branches and a scattered leaves lying at the edges of the path.
She turned the last corner towards the library and stopped to search through her saddlebags. A bag of neatly cut croissants and a warm flask of tea later, she brought her mobile breakfast forwards until she noticed the broken door hanging from its hinges.
Her flask hit the stone path and burst open. Rarity galloped to the door, her umbrella flying away behind her, and ground to a halt just outside. Cautiously, she surveyed the damage to the door, and noticed the tell-tall marks of hooves in the wood. Applejack.
She peered into the ransacked room littered with books and broken furniture. “Twilight? Applejack?”
No answer came. She wasn't about to stand around while they might be injured inside, but she had the foresight to know she wouldn't be much help if they were. Galloping to the nearest house, she beat the door until a cream coloured pony with bright orange hair answered. “Carrot Top, something terrible may have happened at the library, please get help!”