Twilight Sparkle woke gently to the sound of rain buffeting off her bedroom window. She blinked groggily in the murky, grey light that streamed in from outside and felt a niggling concern gnawing at the corners of her mind. Her first worry was that she could not gauge the time of day based on the quality if the lighting, so she did not know if she had overslept, or awakened early. It was not that she had important plans that would be ruined if she overslept, but if there was one thing that Twilight Sparkle disliked, it was uncertainty. It was not her greatest dislike perhaps - in fact she kept an extensive, detailed list of things that she liked and disliked - but it rated in her top ten.
Her second cause for concern was that she had heard it from good authority that this was going to be a warm, sunny day.
"Nothing but sunshine again tomorrow," Rainbow Dash had said the previous afternoon, giving the alicorn a hearty slap across the shoulders with her wing. "We'll be able to put you through your paces again and have you doing some awesome aerial aerobatics in no time!"
"Great," Twilight Sparkle had said at the time, hoping that her lack of enthusiasm did not come through too clearly in her voice. She rolled over onto the floor and winced as her hooves took her full weight. Her back and shoulders screamed in protest, and her poor rump was thoroughly bruised from hard landings. The young mare yawned, and then unfurled her sore wings and stretched them until the joints popped alarmingly. That had been another instruction from her flight instructor.
"Every morning, before you take two steps from your bed, stretch those wings to get the blood flowing in them again. Trust me; you don't want morning wing cramps. Worst. Thing. Ever."
She shook out her mane and fluffed her wings again before carefully folding them back at her sides.
"My wings!"
Even weeks later, the thought still gave her chills. Twilight Sparkle trotted closer to the window and pressed her face to the pane, hooves resting on the sill. The ground was riddled with puddles, suggesting that it had been raining through the night. As she watched, a wave of approaching wind swept through the grass toward her home, ending with a staccato patter of rain striking the glass in front of her muzzle.
"So much for sunny and warm," she thought dryly, but the thought stirred her uneasiness some more. The pegasi were not infallible, but when they were wrong in their weather forecasts, it was usually a matter of a couple of degrees temperature, or a couple of millimetres of precipitation. It was not like the managers of the weather to call for sun, and deliver rain. Many ponies scheduled their activities around the long term weather plan.
Applejack had mentioned that she would be seeding the back field today, but that seemed unlikely now.
In spite of herself, Twilight Sparkle felt a grin teasing the corner of her mouth as she imagined the tirade the other mare would unleash when she awoke to find the weather doing this. Apple Bloom had once confided to her that though her sister had the patience of a saint around ponies and critters, she could turn the air blue when things outside of her control did not go her way. The filly had admitted that she kept notes in case there was ever "a cutie mark for cussin'."
She imagined that Rainbow Dash probably had a few choice things to say about the weather as well; Applejack was just inconvenienced, but Dash's reputation was at stake.
Twilight squinted up at the dense overcast through the rain-streaked window. The clouds were uniform and featureless, save for tiny flashes of colour as winged ponies darted in and out of them. She felt some of her worry melt away at the sight of the activity; the root of her worry had been that something might have happened to the pegasi. She was still slightly discomfited by the unexplainedness of the weather, but she could address that later by cornering Rainbow Dash for an answer.
"What's going on, Twilight?" asked a tired, gravelly voice from behind her. The pony glanced back over her shoulder as Spike toddled up behind her, yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes. "I almost feel refreshed this morning. It's not like you to let me oversleep."
"It's raining, Spike," said Twilight Sparkle matter-of-factly, as if that somehow provided an adequate answer. "It was supposed to be sunny today, but the rain coming down in sheets."
Spike hooked his talons on the window sill and pulled himself up to his toes so that he could get a better look. "I guess this means you won't be flying today," he said, with enough moroseness in his voice to convey the unspoken, "and that means you're probably going to stay home and make me help you rearrange the books again."
"I won't be flying," said Twilight Sparkle. She extended her left wing around and spread the feathers at its tip so that she could enumerate her points by counting off feathers as she went. "Applejack won't be planting her back field," she said, giving the first feather a flick with her hoof. "Cheerilee won't be taking her students out for their field trip to the arboretum, the mayor won't be painting the flower boxes at city hall and Pinkie Pie will have to cancel her afternoon tea social in the park..." She tapered off when she saws Spike's expression of doubt. "Well, OK, maybe Pinkie Pie won't let a bit of rain stop her, but a lot of ponies make plans based on the weather report, and this is going to cause a lot of hardship."
The pony began to pace and twitch her wings in agitation. "I just wish I knew why the pegasi changed up the weather so much overnight."
"You should ask Rainbow Dash," said the little dragon helpfully. He yawned and scratched, turning his back on the window indifferently, apparently seeing the rain as more of an annoyance than a concern.
Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes. "Thank you, mister obvious; I plan to ask her the next time I see her."
"You could see her right now," said Spike persistently. He held up his right hand and pointed toward the stairs with a couple quick bobs of his index claw. "She's sleeping down in the library – or she was when I went down there to get a glass of water in the middle of the night."
"You shouldn't be doing that, Spike" chided Twilight Sparkle in a motherly tone. "You know what those late-night drinks can do to..."
then her brain caught up with the conversation and she graced the little dragon with a double-take and demanded, "Wait! Who is sleeping where?"
"Rainbow Dash is sleeping..." said Spike, but the pony had already burst out of the room like a shell from a mortar, leaving nothing but a single, purple feather wafting in her wake. The baby dragon held out his hand and caught the feather gently in his outstretched palm. "...downstairs," He finished.
True to Spike's words, Twilight Sparkle found the pegasus sleeping soundly in the dimness of the library. The blue mare was sprawled supine in one of the reading chairs with her hooves hanging sloppily over the arms of seat, and her head draped to the side with a small trail of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth as she snored softly. To the librarian pony's horror, her only copy of Daring Do and The Mystery of The Speckled Mare laid spine-up on the floor beside the chair, with several of its pages curled underneath. She danced uncertainly in place as her priorities became torn between the sleeping pegasus and the book.
"Priorities, girl!" she scolded herself, and without giving it another thought, she gingerly picked up the book with a twist of her magic and carefully straightened the pages and closed the cover. Once she was satisfied that the book was salvageable, she smacked Rainbow Dash over the head with it. "Rainbow Dash, what are you doing sleeping in my library?" she demanded. She struck her again and added, "Why is it raining today?"
"Aw mom," muttered Rainbow Dash, rolling onto her side. "Flying lessons can wait ... just one more chapter ... never let me read ... snrk!" The last bit was barely coherent, and ended with a tremendous snort before the mare started snoring again. Twilight let out growl of annoyance and smote the pegasus repeatedly with the book.
"Agh! Wake up," she commanded with each strike. "Rainbow Dash, wake up!"
"Huh, what?" demanded the pegasus, finally waking fully. She rubbed her head and blinked at Twilight in confusion. "Dude, what are you doing in my bedroom?" she demanded, "and why are you hitting me with..." she squinted at the book that was hovering over her head. "Oh, hey, I was reading that one!"
"I'm not in your bedroom, I've stopped hitting you, and you're sleeping in my library," said Twilight Sparkle. She turned and trotted over to the bookshelf to delicately replace the book into its proper home. "I am not going to lend you any more books if you can't treat them with proper respect," she said primly.
Rainbow Dash looked around and giggled sheepishly as the truth settled in. "I guess must have fallen asleep during that chapter." She twirled a hoof around her ear. "That would explain the crazy dreams I was having," she added. Her eyes widened and she hastily pushed herself upright in the chair. "Omigosh, I was up to the most amazing part," she enthused. "You should totally read those books!"
"I've read them all," said Twilight Sparkle, turning back to the pegasus with a slight air of affront over the suggestion that there might be a book in the library that she had not read. "Dashie, there are more pressing issues!"
"But did you read the part where..."
"I've read the whole series twice," said Twilight Sparkle smugly. "To employ a trite colloquialism; you ain't seen nothing yet. In my opinion the author really doesn't hit her stride for two more books."
Rainbow Dash held up a warding hoof, "Hey, no spoilers!" she protested, "or coliqui-whatever you call them." She yawned and slid fluidly out of the chair onto her feet. True to her lessons, she stretched her wings until their joints gave a satisfying snap. "Come on, Twily, let's get out of here and I'll buy you some breakfast. We have a big day ahead of us," she said amiably as she shook her wings back into their rest position.
"It's raining," replied the Twilight Sparkle in a terse monotone. If she had expected the pegasus to take the news badly, she was not disappointed.
"What? No – it's supposed to be sunny today!" said Rainbow Dash in a tone which suggested that she believed the alicorn without entirely believing her. She cantered over to the window and let out whicker of disbelief. "No! What… no!" She stomped a hoof angrily on the window sill. "What are they doing up there?" she demanded. She turned and looked at Twilight Sparkle as if for confirmation. "It was supposed to be sunny today; AJ was going to plant her back field!"
"You're the expert," replied Twilight. "All I know is that there's lots of activity in the clouds."
Rainbow Dash lowered her head so that she could peer around the edge of the overhang outside the window. Her eyes narrowed as she spied the flurry of pegasi darting in and out of the overcast.
"It's total chaos," she said in disbelief. "Can't a girl sleep in one morning without things falling apart?" She squared her shoulders and trotted to the front door, calling back to Twilight as she left. "Breakfast will have to wait; it looks like I have some work cut out for me, and I don't think it will be pretty." As she stepped out into the rain, a gust of wind swirled into the library bringing a spray of rain and sending up a whirl of papers from the stand by the door.
"She sure looked mad," said Spike. "I'm glad I'm not one of the pegasi today." The little dragon was sitting on a step about a third of the way down the landing. Twilight had not heard him enter, but she assumed that he had been there long enough to witness the entire exchange. She noticed that he had donned his fedora – presumably for her benefit, since it sported a big, purple feather pretentiously in its band.
"Classy, Spike," she said without inflection. In spite of her tone, the pony was touched because she knew that Spike was trying to distract her from the pall of doom that hung over her head like the clouds over their tree. The little dragon was more sensitive to her moods than even she was at times.
"Classy and stylish," said Spike enthusiastically. He hopped to his feet and turned to address her in an oblique, three-quarter pose. He tilted his head back and squinted aloofly at the ceiling. "Why Spike, that hat is so striking on you, and that feather ties it all together. It really brings out your broad chest," he said in an exaggerated falsetto. He tilted his hat back to a jaunty angle with the tip of his claw. "Why thank you, ma'am," he replied in an equally forced baritone. "I think the purple nicely offsets my spines."
"You realize I'll be moulting these things quite a bit for the next while," said Twilight with an affectionate chuckle. She had to admit that the dragon's antics were helping to lighten her mood. "How many hats do you have?"
Spike removed the fedora and sat on the stairs again, holding it in his lap and gently brushing the feather to straighten its quills. "Only one," he said. "I'm saving up most of your feathers to stuff a pillow."
Twilight felt her chuckle catch in her throat as her brain tried to wrap itself around his last sentence. She could not decide if it was adorable or creepy, and she finally resolved the issue by changing the subject. "Get your rain coat," she said brusquely. "We need to talk to somepony about this weather. I don't think the pegasi are in control of it. Something weird is going on Spike, and when it comes to weird, I know just the pony to talk to."
"You want to go out in this?" demanded Spike sourly as he started to realize that there were worse things than staying indoors and rearranging the books. Twilight had already levitated their rain gear from the shelves, and was fitting hers around her shoulders. "Come on Twilight, it's just a little rain. Why do we need to go out and talk to that crazy ze… mph" Spike's rain slicker caught him across the muzzle before he could finish the sentence.
"She's not crazy," said Twilight sternly. "Her mannerisms are just a little different because that is the way of her people." While she spoke, the mare cinched down her rain jacket and pulled the hood over her head, hooking the hood's ringlet over the tip of her horn.
She eyed Spike's rain gear critically, then untied and retied its belt to make the bows symmetrical. All the while, she fought the urge to throw the rain gear off her back again. She had worn this rain coat many times through many storms, and had never found it to be so uncomfortable and constraining.
Then it hit her.
This was the first time she had worn it since she'd got her wings. The jacket around her wings was triggering the same reaction she would feel if her legs had been hogtied together. "They're changing me," she thought, with a little shudder of exhilaration and fear.
The rain swept over them like a wave as they stepped out into the storm, and it took the pony a few moments to get her bearings and turn toward the Everfree Forest. Spike padded along beside her, muttering unhappily under his breath, but making no move to abandon her for the dry and warmth of the library. Though she would not have stopped him if he turned back, Twilight Sparkle appreciated his loyalty. They slogged together through the soggy streets of Ponyville, crossing paths with only a few hearty souls. As they passed them, a few of the ponies greeted them with wry comments like, "So much for Pinkie's tea party," or "I guess this settles my laundry versus shopping debate."
Soon the town was astern, and only rolling fields stood between them and the dark band of the forest in the distance. They walked the muddy path without speaking; Spike had given up grumbling a few minutes back and had settled into a sulky silence. As they neared the forest, a familiar, dark figure slowly resolved through the veil of rain. A lone zebra stood motionless by the edge of the trees, wearing the same hooded garb as she had on her first visit to Ponyville. Twilight felt a clawed hand clamp onto her shoulder though the rain slick.
"Creepy," sang Spike in a low hiss. "Why am I not surprised she was expecting us?" They stopped a few yards short of the zebra and stood quietly for long moments in a silence broken only by the wind and rain hissing through the trees. The zebra's eyes glinted deep in the depths of her hood, making her expression impossible to read. While most ponies would shuffle a hoof, adjust their weight, or swish their tail while idle, only the puffs of breath in the chill air revealed the zebra to be anything but a statue. Twilight Sparkle was not sure how long she and Spike shared a mutual staring match with the other pony, but it was a rumble of thunder that jolted her back to the present matter.
"Zecora...?" called Twilight Sparkle hesitantly.
"Twilight Sparkle, and Spike, it's true. Indeed I was expecting you," called the Zebra in reply.
"How does she do that?" asked Spike in a stage whisper out of the corner of his mouth.
Zecora apparently heard the comment, because she nodded to the little dragon and then shook her head free of the deep hood. "It would take too long to explain. Our bigger worry is this rain."
"So you know something about this," said Twilight with a sigh of relief. "I knew that something didn't feel right about this rain; the pegasi seemed to be having trouble getting a handle on it." She turned and looked back over her shoulder toward the sky, but the flurry of pony activity in the clouds had stopped. She assumed that Rainbow Dash was rallying the troops.
As if reading her mind, Zecora spoke again. "Your friend is valiant, but to no avail. Her efforts are all doomed to fail. You're right to think this storm is wrong. We should not tarry here too long."
"Well, what's causing it? How can we fix it?" asked Twilight, but she could tell from the zebra's grim expression that she would not get a straight answer.
"This is the fault of pony kind, so only you may fix this bind," said the zebra with a mixture of sadness and mild rebuke in her voice. "Be careful ponies, what you take lest anger follow in its wake. You must act quick to fix this mess; today Majija seek redress." Zecora was not one for pointless ceremony, and she let Twilight Sparkle know that the conversation was over by shrugging her hood back over her head and melting back into the woods.
The alicorn felt herself shrink a bit, like a filly who had just been scolded by a slightly-disapproving adult. The feeling was quickly overwhelmed by a renewed fear as the name that Zecora had mentioned triggered vague memories in the back of her mind. She hoped that she had misheard the zebra, but in her heart she knew that she had not. Though Twilight had not expected that Zecora would make things worse, at least now she had a place to start.
"Ma-what-a?" said Spike, scrunching up his muzzle.
"Majija," said Twilight sparkle hoarsely. The little dragon was used to Twilight Sparkle's overreaction to things at times, but he was mildly alarmed to see her prancing nervously. "Oh Spike, this is bad." She spoke frantically, words tumbling over themselves. "This isn't just bad, it's worse than I expected." Suddenly the mare turned and galloped back toward town, calling after her. "Books! I need books! Back to the library, Spike. Now!"
"Why is it always worse than we thought?" he grumped, but he glanced nervously at the grey sky again. A gust of wind drove a sheet of rain into the little dragon, rustling his rain gear noisily and causing the rain to hiss across the growing puddles. Another, stronger gust jostled him on his feet and for a moment – just a moment – Spike almost imagined he could hear a faint howl of outrage riding on the rumble of the wind through the forest. He broke into a run after the receding figure of Twilight Sparkle. The library was starting to sound like a very good idea.