While on weather duty, Rainbow Dash is forced to take refuge from a storm in a small cave.
While on weather duty, Rainbow Dash's weather squad is separated by a violent storm. Facing high winds and low temperatures, she is forced to take refuge in a nearby cave. After staying in the cave for a while, Rainbow begins to notice some kind of presence that makes her feel beckoned deeper into the cave. Little does Rainbow know that her decision to follow the sensation was the first step in a long and mysterious journey, for what she finds inside will change her view of the world forever.
"Ha! What a joke, 'Chaser! You can't even fly upwind for a minute! How do you expect to kick out a whole storm?!" Rainbow Dash taunted her friend.
"Oh, yeah? Just watch me!" Cloudchaser swooped into action, dodging hoards of cloud mass as she darted against the flow of the storm.
Rainbow Dash was almost impressed, as she leapt off the ground and flew in after her. As the two sped through the spinning mess of dark clouds, it began to slow down. They kept on the pressure, as the funnel began to slow even more. Rainbow Dash squinted through the flurry of snow and clouds. She thought she heard a faint voice through the roaring of the storm, but she couldn't make it out. The voice repeated what it said before, but this time it was much more audible. It was Nimbus, another member of her weather team, shouting at the top of his lungs from outside the storm.
"Watch out! You're getting dangerously close to the eye!!" he yelled. When Rainbow finally comprehended, she had already been thrown into the cage of clouds, the eye of the storm.
"Heh... whoops." Rainbow Dash regained her bearings as she observed the walls of raging clouds spinning around her. She was, however, a little bit confused as to why Nimbus looked so worried when she fell out of formation. Falling into the eye of a storm is really no big deal; you can just fly out of the top, unless... Rainbow's eyes went wide. ...it's a capped storm.
A capped storm is exactly what you'd think it is: A storm that is so dense, that the top of it is blocked of by a layer of solid cloud -- a "cap" if you will. Rainbow Dash attempted to charge back into the storm, only to be thrown back into the eye moments later. Nevertheless, Rainbow wasn't ready to give up quite yet.
She began to fly in circles, getting progressively faster until her appearance was nothing but a blurry, rainbow-colored ring. Once she felt that she had enough speed built up, she jetted into the cloud barrier yet again. This time, however, she punched through to the other side of the clouds, free from the prison of grey.
"Hey guys! Did you see that?! I just... Guys?" She glanced around, but to her dismay, none of her team were visible, which forced her to realize that she was surrounded by dense, foggy wind. She shivered a little while she scanned for her friends. After searching for another four minutes, give or take, the rain and hail started pouring down. As stubborn and prideful as Rainbow Dash was, she knew she was a goner if she stayed out much longer; she needed to find shelter.
She squinted through the bedlam and panned about her surroundings. For the longest time, all she could see was grey, until a rock face became visible. She darted for it out of fear that it might slip out of her view as quickly as it came in. She clung to the wet rock and started searching again. To her left was nothing but more rock and a small tree that was about ready to get uprooted. On her right, at first glance, it looked like more rock, but after closer inspection, it became clear that there was a cave in the cliffside. She jetted towards the cave, fighting the icy wind. The cold was setting in remarkably fast. At this point, the sharp, biting pain of the freezing gusts had subsided into a numb, dull aching as Rainbow pressed for the opening in the rock.
Finally, she arrived. She lowered herself to the ground near a group of boulders, shielding herself from the wind. She was now soaked with freezing water, which, when combined with blasting wind, did not bode well. She knew that if she didn't do something quickly, she would suffer an icy end. She climbed to her hooves and surveyed her surroundings. She thought. To prevent herself from freezing to death, she would need something to generate heat. She was going to need to build a fire... somehow.
She gazed into the dark throat of the cave. She gulped. It didn't look inviting, to say the least. She knew she wouldn't find anything to build a fire down there; she wouldn't even be able to see. She turned around and proceeded back towards the entrance of the cave. She shielded her face with a foreleg as the chilling winds returned. Growing precariously out of the rock was a small pine sapling, a few feet in length. She grasped it in her mouth and yanked it back and forth until it broke free from the dry earth. She trotted pridefully with her stick back to the boulders. She placed it on the ground, then realized she had to find something to start the fire with. What's that stuff called that survivors use to start fires? Fling? Flant? ...Flint!
She began to search the ground for the elusive rock. After about five minutes of grabbing random pebbles and striking them on the ground to see if they made sparks, she finally found a piece. It was a dark grey, oblong stone, about the size of a golf ball. She returned to her firewood with her trusty flint and began striking it against the ground, whilst trying to catch the sparks in the fire. It doesn't look like the sparks are doing anything... Am I even doing this right?
Finally, the wood caught fire. Rainbow Dash didn't know much about keeping a fire going, so she did all she knew how to do, which was shield it from oncoming wind to make sure it didn't go out. Once the fire had grown large enough to sustain itself, she leaned back on the rocks behind her and relaxed. She finally had a source of warmth.
It was, however, short-lived, as a gust of wind came bounding through the cave and blew out her fire after it had been burning for about seven minutes. She pouted, letting out a moan of disapproval. This time, she was out of options. There was no convenient firewood or flint for her to start a fire with. She decided that she could only wait the storm out, and hope that it ended soon.
She curled up next to the still-red embers, trying to take advantage of any heat it was still giving off, until it finally went black altogether. She began to shiver.
Rainbow Dash lifted her head off the cold, damp ground. Had she been... sleeping? She could not account for the past few minutes... hours? She glanced outside. Still blizzarding... Just then, Rainbow noticed a blowing sensation. Not the icy wind from outside, but more of a warm, gentle tug. Whether or not she was hallucinating, she could not tell. The tugging became more enthusiastic, so much so that Rainbow had to get up and find out what it was. At this point, it was so strong that she knew it couldn't be a figment of her imagination, unless she was completely losing it. The sensation was beckoning her towards the deep, dark cavern. Any fear that she previously harbored of entering the cave had dissipated. The tugging felt like a warm embrace. To sum up the feeling she was experiencing, she felt overwhelmingly... secure.
As she descended into the tunnel, her visibility quickly began to drop until she couldn't see her own hooves in front of her face. To her surprise, however, the windy sensation seemed to be guiding her through the cave. After all, she'd made it this far in without running into any walls. The breeze took her around twists and turns, bends and curves, until she was sure she would never find her way back out. Eventually, she determined by a change in the way her hoofsteps echoed, she had entered a room of sorts.
The breeze vanished.
For a few moments, Rainbow panicked as she came to terms with the literally and metaphorically cold reality of the situation. That warm feeling was the only thing telling her where to go, and she would be utterly lost if it didn't come back.
Suddenly, the room began to glow a faint gold. Light, coming from seemingly nowhere, illuminated the cave. She observed her now visible surroundings. It was a small, egg shaped intersection between several tunnels, three to be exact. The ceiling was only about six feet above the ground, and covered with dangling roots. A few dusty boulders scattered the floor, upon one of which Rainbow Dash sat to take a breather. The more she thought about her situation, the more she began to doubt herself. So, recap. I notice a warm wind. I follow it. I end up in an empty room and now, the room's glowing. Yeah, I think it's leading me right to the mayor of Creepytown.
She broke from her thoughts when she realized that the far end of the room was glowing more brightly than the near. Curiously, Rainbow stood up and trotted over to investigate. Upon closer inspection, an unlit lantern revealed itself, hanging from the ceiling. Rainbow examined the lantern, before determining that the lantern needed fuel to work. She let out a sigh. What are you trying to show me?
The glanced around glumly when something caught her eye. Directly below the lantern was a pile of reddish rocks. It was not, however, the rocks that grabbed her attention, but rather what was poking out from under it. The corner of a sheet of paper was just visible under the rock in the dim light.
With great effort, Rainbow muscled the rocks away to reveal an indentation in the ground, clearly scraped into the cave floor with some sort of tool. Inside the indentation lay a piece of notebook paper covered with numbers. They were rather sloppily scrawled in quill ink. The numbers meant nothing to Rainbow, but she concluded it must be some kind of cipher or code. At the bottom of the page was a small insignia, also drawn in pen, that Rainbow could only describe as a ball with oblong rings around it. Written next to the insignia were three letters: "DML". Perplexed, Rainbow sighed and folded up the sheet of paper and put it in her weather team saddlebag.
As if on cue, the glow, the warmth, all of it vanished instantly. Rainbow gasped. How am I supposed to find my way back now?! Then, she noticed a dim blue light coming from one of the tunnels. She followed the tunnel until she found herself back at the mouth of the cave. The embers in her fire had finally died out completely. The storm had passed, and the sun was shining brightly, which explained why the visibility in the cave was good enough for her to find her way back. Rainbow was thrilled to see the harsh weather had subsided, and that she could finally be on her way. However, the cave had brought her a whole new problem. Rainbow stood and contemplated for a few moments, before taking off for the library.
Rainbow Dash knocked three times on the door to the library and waited patiently. The door opened to reveal a lavender unicorn.
"Hey, Rainbow. Here to check out another Daring Do book? Looks like you're finally to the fifth book in the series! It's my personal favorite. That's the one where she returns to the-"
Rainbow interrupted her. "No Twilight. For once that's not what I came to do. And, anyway, you were about to spoil the story!"
"Sorry..." Twilight said quietly with her ears folded back.
"But like I said, that's not what I came for. I wanted to give you this." Rainbow opened her saddlebag and pulled out a small, folded of piece of notebook paper. Twilight watched curiously as Rainbow unfolded the paper on a coffee table.
"Look, it's covered with all these numbers. I have no idea what they mean! I was hoping you could take a look at them and see if you can figure out what they mean," Rainbow explained. "My first guess was that it's some kind of secret code."
Twilight scowled at the cryptic note. "Hmm... Well, it appears to be some kind of data, and it's clearly not a shopping list. Where did you get this, Rainbow?"
Rainbow Dash, not wanting to appear completely insane to her friend, decided not to give her the whole story just yet. "There was an accident while I was on weather duty this morning and I had to go into a cave to get out of the storm. It was sticking out from under a rock. That's where I found it. Normally, I wouldn't care about something like this... I mean it's just a piece of paper with numbers on it. If you know anything about me, you'd know I stay away from numbers... but I thought it was an odd place to find something like that, so I brought it to you."
Twilight listened to Rainbow's whole story without once looking at her. She thought for a moment, then nodded. "It is an odd place to keep something like this. Look, Rainbow. You notice how these numbers are grouped in sets of two?"
Rainbow examined the numbers once more. "Yeah, that was the first thing I noticed!"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Well, that fact leads me to believe they're astronomical coordinates."
"Astracto... what?" Rainbow replied with a vacant stare.
"Astronomical coordinates. You know, positions of stars and planets and whatnot."
"Ohhhh, so you mean this is somepony's study papers or something?"
"Well, maybe. The part that gets me is... why is it so bare? There's no writing on it. Just these numbers, and this little doodle." Twilight noticed the three letters next to the planet. "DML? Is that somepony's initials?"
"That's what I was thinking. Maybe we should try to find whoever this belonged to!" Rainbow was about to speed out the window without thinking, as usual.
"Hold up, Rainbow," Twilight said, grabbing the speedster's tail with her magic. Rainbow fell to the floor with a thud. "This could belong to anypony! After all, anypony could have a telescope, but that's not the worst of it. Judging by where you found this paper, its owner could very well be from some other town! There's just too many ponies!"
Rainbow lowered her head. "Aww... you mean we can't find the paper's owner?"
"Don't worry, Rainbow. I'm not giving up yet. If the paper won't lead us to its owner, maybe its owner will lead us to them!" Twilight said, in the middle of a eureka moment.
Rainbow didn't follow. "What? How?"
"Don't worry about it Rainbow! Meet me here tonight, okay?"
"Okay... I guess I should go back to my friends on the weather team to let them know I'm alright, but why do you have to wait until night to figure this out?"
"Because that's when the stars come out."
The sun slowly slipped below the horizon. There was not a cloud in the sky, and only a sliver of the moon was visible. The sky shone off its brilliant collection of stars for all to see. Rainbow invited herself into the library.
"There you are! It's about time you showed up," Twilight said peering through a large telescope perched in a window.
"Sorry, traffic," Rainbow explained.
"Rainbow, think about what you just said for a minute."
Rainbow frowned. "Okay, I forgot, BUT, I did show up didn't I?"
"Yeah. Hey, could you grab that book lying next to the lamp on the nightstand over there?" She pointed a hoof towards a table on the second floor.
"Sure thing." Rainbow trotted up the stairs and retrieved the book. "So, any super-awesome discoveries yet?"
"No," Twilight said simply.
"Just... no?"
"No. I've tried every one of these coordinates four times each, but they all point towards random gaps between stars and... Well, if these really are star coordinates, then they should have all been taken at roughly the same time of day. Good astronomers always make sure to take their measurements at the same time every day to keep them organized and consistent." Rainbow struggled to pay attention. "The problem is, I don't know what time they were taken. It could be any time within the 12 hours of night! I could just keep trying coordinates at different times and see if anything lines up, but... I counted the coordinates on this paper, Rainbow. There are 386 stars. The chances of picking the right time are extremely slim..."
"Thanks for trying, Twilight."
"Sorry I couldn't help," Twilight looked defeated. She really wanted to know what the paper meant.
"No, it's fine... It's just a piece of paper. I really don't care that much," Rainbow lied.
Twilight decided to give the paper one last look before they call it quits. Then her eyes widened. "Of course!" Twilight shouted, facehoofing. "That little 'doodle' at the bottom of the page isn't a doodle at all! It's a drawing of the only planet in our solar system with rings; Marecury!"
Rainbow flapped her wings excitedly. "Really? But... what does that have to do with the numbers?"
Twilight let out an indignant huff. "How could you possibly not know? Marecury aligns with our orbit in an hour!"
"Oh, sorry. Guess I'm not in the loop..." Rainbow said rolling her eyes. "So it's... like an eclipse?"
"Yep, more or less."
"...So?"
Twilight raised her eyebrows defensively. "What do you mean 'so'?!"
"So, it's a drawing of a planet, and it just so happens that there's going to be an eclipse soon. So, what? Does that even mean anything?"
Twilight frowned. "Hmm... well, one thing's for sure. There's no way whoever wrote this paper recorded those star positions when the last alignment happened."
"Why not?" Rainbow asked, half humoring her.
"Because the last time Marecury aligned with our orbit was 137 years ago, so unless this pony is 150 years old, they couldn't have witnessed the most recent alignment."
"What if one of the princesses wrote it? They are over a thousand years old!" Rainbow pointed out.
"Wrong again. Neither of their initials are 'DMT'. Whoever wrote this must have known the alignment was coming. They must have been planning for somepony to find this note in time to see the alignment, which leads me to believe this has to be some sort of secret message. There's no other explanation!"
Rainbow's eyebrows raised. "Wow, Twilight! That was... intense. Did you figure that that out just now? Nice work!"
Twilight beamed like a schoolfilly who had just counted to ten for the first time in their life. "Thanks, Rainbow."
They waited until the alignment was only minutes away. Twilight returned to her telescope, glanced at the piece of paper for a moment, then panned the telescope across the night sky. "Yes!!!" The star had lined up in the dead-center of the eyepiece. Twilight looked around the room anxiously for a moment, before picking up a dry-erase marker and a ruler with her magic. She went to the window, looking back and forth between the telescope and the window. She placed a small black dot on the window with the marker. She repeated the process until she had gone through every star on the paper, placing a black dot on the window for each one. When she finished plotting all the points, she stepped back and admired her work.
On the window was a clear message, composed of black dots: "SOS 48.2ºN 67.3ºW"
Rainbow stared blankly at the dot-covered window. "What is it?"
"Well, you know what SOS means, right?"
Rainbow Dash thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I think it's something you say when you're trapped somewhere and you need help... doesn't it stand for 'Save Our Ship'?"
"Well... it actually doesn't stand for anything. Ponies in history have just attached mnemonics to it so it would be easier to remember. It was originally just a three-letter code that a ship crew would use as a distress signal."
"Oh, OK." Rainbow feigned interest, nodding excitedly. "So, the pony who left this note. Does this mean they're trapped? Do you think we should try to find them?"
"Well, look at this next part." Twilight gestured to the pointillism message on the window. "Those are coordinates."
Rainbow slumped in her chair with a deadpan glare. "Great. More coordinates."
"Now, hold on a minute, Rainbow. 48.2ºN, and 67.3ºW. They're latitude and longitude coordinates. They indicate a point on the surface of the planet. That means we have a location," Twilight explained, walking to a globe on a table. She spun it around a bit, before proudly planting a hoof somewhere in the upper hemisphere. "There. That's where our mystery pony is."
Rainbow examined the globe. "Hey, that's not far from here! That's in Whitetail Wood!" Rainbow prepared to dart out the window.
"Wait! There's still something about this whole thing that seems a little off."
"Really? What is it?"
Twilight looked back at the globe. "This pony is supposedly trapped. If that's the case, then how in the wide world of Equestria did they manage to figure out their coordinates, let alone leave that message in the cave?"
"Huh."
Twilight wasn't expecting that answer. "Huh? What do you mean 'huh'? You've gotta admit it's a kinda strange."
"What? Oh, yeah, something's definitely fishy about this whole thing... Like, you're the only pony I can think of who would be able to figure out this code. It's like they meant for it to get to you specifically, not to mention the fact that I found it in the first place. How did they know anyone would even..." She trailed off with a quizzical gaze.
"Rainbow?"
"No, it's nothing! I'm not crazy!" Rainbow shouted abruptly.
Twilight was now utterly confused. "...What? I never said you were crazy..."
"Yeah, that's right."
"...Is there something you want to tell me?" The question elicited no response from the rainbow-maned pony. "Rainbow?"
"...No," Rainbow finally stated. Twilight knew Rainbow Dash was no element of honesty, but she had always been a horrible lier, and she was almost certain that Rainbow was hiding something from her. She decided not to press the issue, in light of their latest discovery and how excited she was to get going.
"Okay, Rainbow. Then what are we waiting for? To Whitetail Wood!" Twilight shouted, raising a hoof.
"Alrighty then, Whitetail it is."
"We're here."
"Where's 'here'?" Rainbow asked, glancing around at the snow-covered, leafless trees around them. They had been forced to stray from the path that twists and winds through Whitetail Wood in favor of getting to the coordinates. As they looked around, however, they were beginning to doubt the credibility of the curious distress call. There was nothing out of ordinary in sight.
"The coordinates they gave weren't very accurate, so whatever it is we're looking for could be anywhere in a 50 meter radius or so. Let's start searching," Twilight said. Rainbow prepared to fly off, but Twilight stopped her. "Don't fly. You might miss something."
Rainbow sighed. "Okay, fine."
After much searching, both ponies were adamant that they were on a wild goose chase.
"I think you're right. Let's go back to the library," Twilight said, slowly turning around and put down a hoof to start walking. Her hoof hit something something solid, and with it came a dull, hollow thud. Twilight, out of sheer amazement at her luck, knocked on it a few more times just to convince herself it was really there. She frantically brushed away the snow and stale leaves to reveal a wooden trapdoor attached by hinges to a metal hull buried in the ground. "Rainbow? I think we've found what we came for."
"Twilight! What do you think is in there?"
Twilight smiled, a spark in her eyes. "DML."
The friends descended a short, metal stepladder. A cozy metal corridor extended away from the base of the ladder, ending about five feet away with a solid metal door. The odd thing about the door was that it looked like some sort of air-tight hatch, with a large, circular handle in the center. Twilight grabbed the handle and began to push. It didn't budge.
"Stand back, Twilight. Let me handle this," Rainbow commanded with an arrogant edge. She clutched the handle, bringing her legs up onto the door for support, and pulled as hard as she could. She flapped her wings for extra handle-turning power.
"Rainbow, You're turning it backwards," Twilight muttered with a dull expression.
"I knew that!" She tried turning it the other way, but it still didn't budge.
"Great. You probably got it stuck by tightening it too much." Twilight examined the handle. It didn't appear to be rusted shut, but it was hard to tell with the dim light. Then, she noticed a small, clear panel on the front of the handle in the center. Behind the window were three dials, each of which had an 'A' on them. Below each dial was a small, blue button. She tried pushing the first one. The first dial shifted until it displayed a 'B'. She tried to jostle the handle open again to no avail.
"Rainbow? I think this door has a password."
Rainbow groaned. "But how in the world are we supposed to figure out the password?!"
"Well, we could use brute force and try every combination. 26 letters in the alphabet, and three digits... that's 17,576 combinations! Let's get started!" Twilight said happily, returning to the dials.
"Twilight, no. This is ridiculous. It's take us weeks to figure this out!"
Twilight turned back to Rainbow. "Let me know if you have a better idea."
"OK! Point taken! Jeez."
It wasn't until the 73rd combination Twilight tried that she started to see how lost a cause it was. She slumped to the ground, exhausted. "I don't think we're gonna get this door open." She sighed.
Rainbow looked down at the ground. A few moments later she looked back at Twilight, a determined expression on her face. "No! We didn't come all this way for nothing! Come on, Twilight! What three-letter combination would this person use?"
Twilight thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "I get it! DML isn't a person, it's the combination for this door!" Twilight got up and pushed Rainbow out of the way and began buttoning in the combination. When she was done, she took a deep breath, then turned the handle. Something clicked, then the handle jammed. Twilight shook the handle back and forth, but it refused to turn any further.
"Hmm... we definitely got the combination right, so why won't it open?" Upon closer inspection, Twilight noticed a small keyhole below the buttons. "We need a key. I wonder what this place is, even. I mean, whoever owns it clearly doesn't want anyone getting in besides themselves."
"Maybe it's a spaceship!" Rainbow blurted childishly.
Twilight directed an unimpressed glare at her. "Yeah, Rainbow. Someone buried their spaceship in the middle of a forest, leaving all the trees unharmed, then wrote a cryptic message so we could find it and not even be able to get in."
"I gave you my answer. If you don't like it, then make your own," Rainbow said defiantly.
"Well... I have no idea what it is either, but it's getting dark, and I think a storm is coming. So, let's head back to the library, and we can come back and try again tomorrow, okay?"
"Sounds good," Rainbow said, darting up and out of the trapdoor. Twilight, having no wings, was forced to use the stepladder to get out. On her way up, however, she noticed some writing engraved into the edge of one of the steps. It read the following:
THE KEY'S HOLDER IS IN THE BLACK BOULDER
Taking note of the riddle, Twilight continued up the ladder. "Rainbow, meet me at the library tomorrow morning."
"Black boulder... black boulder... what could it mean?" Twilight knocked a hoof against her head, half cursing herself for not being able to figure out a simple riddle.
"Maybe it's the name of a place. Like, pull out a map and see if there's anywhere on it called Black Boulder," Rainbow suggested, reclining on one of the many cushioned chairs in the library.
"Hmm... good idea, Rainbow." She opened a drawer in the side of the coffee table to reveal a piece of rolled up parchment. She flattened it out on the table, and began searching for "Black Boulder". None of the names, however, were what they were looking for, until one rang a bell.
"Of course!"
"What is it, Twilight?" Rainbow got up to look at the map.
"Why didn't I think of it before? Dark Rock Cove! It's just off the coast near Sweet Apple Acres! I'll bet you anything that Dark Rock Cove is our mysterious 'Black Boulder'," Twilight said, tapping a spot on the map.
"Then what are we waiting for?"
"Well, this is it." They stood before a sandy beach. It was deceptively sunny, considering the temperature. The icy cold waves rolled in and broke just before slipping back into the deep blue ocean. Off the shore was a dark, weathered, cave-like structure that spanned a good two miles down the shoreline. Close to them, there was a parting in the rock, almost like an entrance to the palm tree forest behind it.
"Come on, Twilight! Race you to the jungle!" Rainbow darted away, leaving the bewildered lavender unicorn in the dust. She irritably swiped the sand off her face and started towards the "entrance" to Dark Rock Cove.
She arrived at the wide opening. The sand stopped somewhat abruptly and was replaced by grass as it continued towards the thick jungle. Twilight took a deep breath. She took a step forwards.
A loud thump resonated through the jungle, followed by a stifled cry.
"Augh..." Twilight groaned, struggling to open her eyes. When she did, however, she instantly regretted it. A haze of color and sound buzzed about her. She shielded her eyes from the bright light as the world spun around her. Suddenly, the flurry of commotion around her simultaneously clicked into place, and in an instant, she was aware of her surroundings. She could hear birds chirping and the sound of trees swaying in the breeze. Just as soon, however, she also became aware of the damp log that her head lay on, and the strange pony sitting calmly on a log across from her, smiling.
She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. "Who... who are you?" Twilight asked the pony. His coat was a rich shade of brown, similar to that of coffee. He was a pegasus, and his cutie mark was what looked to Twilight as a simple black triangle, with the white silhouette of a pony balancing on the top point. He straightened his posture and his smile vanished. "Who am I," he echoed.
"Wait a minute... Somepony knocked me out! Did you knock me out?" Twilight accused.
The strange pony remained still, almost as if he hadn't even heard her question. After a few moments he chuckled. "No, I didn't knock you out. A coconut fell from a tree and hit you in the head," he said, gesturing to a dented coconut that lay on the ground. Just then, Twilight noticed the gauze wrapped around her head.
"I was gathering firewood when I happened upon an unconscious pony in the jungle," he explained. "That pony, of course, was you, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight frowned. "How... do you know my name?!"
"...so I carried you here and tended to your injury, and I've been waiting for you to wake up since then," he finished.
"Thank you. That was very kind of you, but you still haven't told my how you know my name!"
The dark pony looked her up and down, then glared at her dead-on. He raised a hoof and pointed at Twilight's saddlebag, still staring directly at her eyes. Her name was scrawled on the strap.
"Ah. OK, sorry. That makes a lot more sense," Twilight said with a nervous giggle.
His face returned to a warm smile. "Good. I'm Direct."
Twilight cocked her head. "You're... direct? What does that mean?"
Once again, he chuckled. "My name. Direct."
"Oh! I'm sorry," Twilight smiled reassuringly.
"It's alright. I get it all the time. So, as the saying goes, what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"
Twilight stopped for a moment to recall, then her eyes shot wide. "Rainbow!"
Direct suddenly exhibited an interest. "Rainbow... Dash?"
Twilight was quite surprised that he knew Rainbow's name, and wondered what that could mean. "Um... yes? How did you know that?"
Direct's interest changed to worry. "Hmm... I was afraid of that."
~ Three Days Earlier ~
Direct sat on a log, sharpening a piece of bamboo with a rock. Some nearby leaves began to rustle. Direct, vigilant as always, produced a small hunting knife in seconds. He watched the bushes intently, waiting to strike.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said a deep voice to his left. It wasn't until then that Direct became aware of the four or five ponies surrounding him with spears pointed at his neck. A tall orange-coated mare stepped out of the brush ahead and approached Direct.
Direct smiled and dropped the knife. "I don't believe we've met."
The tall pony stared down at him, unaffected by his act. "Are you the one called 'Rainbow Dash'?"
"Rainbow Dash? Are you serious? There's nothing Rainbow or Dash about this old man. I'm Direct. Direct Literal."
The expression on the tall pony's face, or lack thereof, indicated that she wasn't buying it. "Search his bag."
Two of the guards opened his saddlebag and began rummaging through his personal possessions. One of the guards pulled out a journal with 'Direct Literal' written on the cover. After flipping through the journal, the guard scowled at Direct. "It's empty."
Once again, Direct smiled. "Sorry to disappoint you. Of all the things this jungle has to offer, it doesn't seem to have any pens."
A ghost of a smile appeared on the tall pony's face, whether out of amusement or spite was unclear. "Congratulations. You are who you say you are." With one quick gesture, the group of ponies dispersed into the jungle before Direct could object. He stood there for a few moments, contemplating the events that had just transpired, then returned to sharpening his bamboo stick.
~ Present Day ~
Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So, what you're telling me is that there is some tribe of ponies out here in this jungle that are trying to capture Rainbow?"
"Yes," he said simply.
Twilight's eyes widened. "Wait, you don't think... they did capture her, do you?"
"Well... let's just say while I was carrying you over here, I found this." He produced a saddlebag with the name 'Rainbow Dash' written in black ink on the side.
Twilight gasped. "No... We have to find her!"
Direct picked up a torch and held it out to her, smiling warmly. "Then we had better get started."
The last of Celestia's sun finally slipped below the horizon, and all that illuminated the land was the scarlet glow that served as a hint that there still was a sun. As this happened, two ponies tromped through the thick jungle.
"Are we almost there?" Twilight asked impatiently.
"Yes."
"You've been saying that every time I ask you for the past three hours! How do you even know we're going in the right direction?!"
Direct turned to face her and grinned. "See for yourself!"
Behind him was a large fort, its presence punctuated by the abundance of burning torches at the perimeter. The encampment was encircled by a fence made of vertical logs with sharpened tips placed flush with one another.
Twilight marveled at the structure, not sure whether she was more astonished by the amazing construction that went into building the fort, or the fact that she hadn't spent the past three hours walking in circles.
"Wow, this place is amazing!" Twilight gushed.
Direct quickly shushed her, and brought her up against the fence. "Be quiet, Twilight Sparkle. If anyone finds out we're here, the results could be catastrophic for you, me, and your friend."
Twilight nodded, remembering Rainbow was trapped somewhere at this camp. The two of them silently moved along the fence, being mindful to stay among the brush. Direct signaled to halt, as they had reached the front entrance to the fort.
"Now, Twilight. What we're about to do is going to test you on many levels. It's going to be very time-sensitive, and for that reason, you need to be prepared. For this to work, you are going to need to do what I say, when I say it. No questions asked. Got that?"
Twilight nodded. She took note of how calm he was in their current situation.
"Alright. You see those two guards up there?" He gestured towards the two guards commandeering the guard posts at the front gate. "They might appear lazy, but underestimating them just might be the last thing we do. So, we need to create a distraction, and I think I have just the thing. When I give you the signal, sneak behind that hut over there," he explained, pointing to a thatched-roof cottage inside the fort's perimeter. "While you're doing that, I'll be creating a distraction, and when I'm done, I'll meet up with you and we'll execute the next part of the plan."
Twilight wasn't sure whether to be amazed that he had already come up with a plan, or worried that he had the nerve to call winging it a plan.
Direct glanced around him to make sure everything was in place. Without warning, he grabbed one of the torches on the fence and threw it at a tent outside the guard post. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the whole tent was engulfed in fire within seconds. It was time to execute the next step of his plan. Direct waved Twilight towards the hut that they had discussed.
She arrived behind the hut just in time to see a rush of hysteria and panic come pouring out of the burning tent. Several ponies came running out of the enclosure as it slowly deflated in tendrils of fire. Her gaze was torn away from the display when a hoof tapped her on the shoulder. She whirled around to meet Direct's warm grin.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said stifling a chuckle. "Come on. We need to start checking the huts for your friend before my distraction dies down."
The two ponies rushed stealthily to another hut. Direct shushed Twilight, then began inching up to the edge of the entrance. He slowly peeked in. After giving a few glances around the interior of the hut, he turned back to Twilight and nodded, and they ducked into the hut. The interior was rather simple, with a dirt floor, a few tables, some leather hides hanging from the ceiling, and some straw beds on the ground.
"Let's start searching," Direct suggested, and then began looking around. Twilight looked behind a stack of crates, but Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen. Twilight sighed, prepared to leave, until her eye caught a metallic glint buried in the hay on the ground. She shifted the hay around, trying to locate the source of the glint. Finally, she uncovered a small skeleton key. Upon closer examination, a small paper tag revealed itself, boasting the letters DML.
"DML!!!" Twilight shouted with excitement. She couldn't believe her luck.
"What was that, Twilight? Did you find her?" Direct called from the other end of the hut.
"Um... no! I just slipped, that's all," Twilight lied, dropping the key into her saddlebag.
Since their first search yielded no results, aside from the key, Direct suggested searching a larger structure. If Rainbow was being held prisoner, she would probably be held in a more secure building. They traveled to a long, log building. There was still a good deal of commotion at the tent, but some other ponies were running off for help. They were going to need to stay as hidden as possible if they wanted to leave unseen.
The inside of the building was completely unexpected. There were no prison cells or chains. Instead, the building resembled a church more than anything, filled with rows of seats and a large curly insignia on the back wall. The insignia, however was not what caught Twilight's attention.
"Rainbow!!!" Twilight cried. Rainbow Dash's hooves were bound to the insignia, and she was blindfolded.
"Twilight?! Oh, you have no idea how glad I am to hear that voice!" Rainbow said, her voice wobbling a little. Twilight galloped towards her friend, only to be stopped by a tall mare with a fire-orange coat across the room.
"You! I knew you'd stick your nose where it didn't belong!" the mare shouted pointing an accusing hoof at Direct. "And you got some sorry fool to do your bidding, I see," she said, nodding towards Twilight.
"Hey! I'll have you know this was my-" Twilight was interrupted yet again.
For the second time that day, a torch was thrown without warning. A wall of flame came up between Twilight and the fiery mare, and began spreading about the building.
"What the..." Twilight backed away from the flaming mass.
"Twilight! Cut your friend loose and get out of here!" Direct shouted from the other side of the room.
"Direct! What about you?!"
"Don't worry about me! I can take care of myself! After all, I've lived in this jungle for quite some time! Well, we had some good times here, Twilight Sparkle! It was nice knowing ya!" Direct smiled and waved her off. Just then, a flaming wooden strut fell down and separated the two. Twilight pondered the mysterious Direct for a few more moments, before galloping over to Rainbow to free her. She cast a spell that made the ropes holding Rainbow captive disappear in a puff. Rainbow fell to the floor abruptly.
"Ow!" Rainbow squeaked, picking herself up off the wooden planked floor and dusting herself off. Twilight carefully removed the blindfold from Rainbow, then promptly squeezed her into a tight hug.
"Woah, hey, we're alright, everyone's happy, everything's fine... Could you please let go?" Rainbow whined. Twilight giggled, then let go of her friend.
"Alright! Let's blow this apple cart!" Rainbow said, grabbing Twilight by the forehooves and darting out the door and into the sky. Twilight looked back and watched as the fort and the billowing black smoke grew ever smaller as they departed at the speed of sound.
"What was that place?" Twilight wondered out loud.
Rainbow chuckled. "Heh, funny story, that is. Apparently, I'm the Spirit of the Sky. From what I could piece together, those tribal freaks were going to execute me since I'm the 'Spirit of the Sky' and I'm taking away their ability to control the weather... or some garbage like that."
Twilight contemplated Rainbow's story. "Hmm... I'm going to have to look into this 'Spirit of the Sky'. When we get back to the library, I'll see if I have any books on the subject," Twilight determined.
"Sounds like a plan!" Rainbow proclaimed, banking towards the library.
~ The Next Morning ~
"Spirit of the Sky... None of my books seem to have any information about this!" Twilight groaned, dumping another book on the tower of books Spike was holding, causing him to stumble. He eventually lost his balance and tumbled to the floor in a heap of books. His annoyed face popped out of the top, a book resting on his head.
"What are you guys trying to find, anyway?" Spike said, kind of annoyed that they were keeping him out of the loop.
"Umm..." Twilight had to think a moment just to recall how this had all started, but in the process, she recalled a vital piece of information.
"Rainbow! I forgot! I have something to show you." She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a small key.
"It's alright, I didn't expect an actual answer..." Spike grumbled as he began to gather the books.
"What is that?" Rainbow asked leaning in.
Twilight tossed her the key. "Have a look."
Rainbow turned the key around a bit before noticing the tag. "Hey, DML! Isn't that the password to that door?"
"Yep! And I'll bet my lucky horseshoes that that's the key we need to open that door!"
"Great! Let's go!" Rainbow said, once again scooping up Twilight and jetting out the door.
Spike watched as the door flapped about wildly from the gust of wind. "...and there you go again, off on another adventure... without me..." He returned to solemnly organizing books.
~ At the Vault Door ~
The key slid easily into the keyhole. Twilight turned the key expecting something to unlock, but instead, the door split into two parts, which slid left and right into the walls, leaving behind the panel with the three-letter combination and the keyhole for a moment, before retracting into the floor as well.
"What is this place?" Rainbow marveled.
Behind the door was a dimly lit room with metal walls, floor, and ceiling. A wide control panel spanned across the back wall. The control panel was covered in flashing lights of many colors, and lots of levers and buttons. Twilight looked closer at the control panel to see that the buttons and levers were labelled with various cloud, lightning bolt, snowflake, and rain drop symbols.
"Well, judging by these symbols, I'd say it's some kind of weather control station," Twilight guessed.
"...and right you are, Twilight Sparkle," came a voice from the door.
The silhouette of a pony stood in the door, grinning as he twirled the key on one hoof, before placing it in his saddlebag.
"Oh, and thanks for finding my key! I've been looking all over for that stupid thing." Blank and confused expressions ensued.
"Well, I guess I can safely assume I've got a lot of explaining to do," said Direct matter-of-factly. Twilight attempted to process this new information. "How... how do you know this place?"
Direct smiled. "Know it? This place is my home. That's how I know it."
"You... live here? In this place?!" Twilight attempted to fathom.
Direct looked hurt. He gestured towards a small arrangement in the corner of the room, consisting of a sleeping bag, a lantern, some books, and a cooler. He raised his eyebrows at her so as to be certain she believed him.
"But... but..." Twilight stared back and forth between the sleeping bag and Direct. "I thought you were a traveler who lived in the jungle!"
"Meh... Call it a day job."
"Then... what is this place? Did you build it?" Twilight inquired, trying her best to piece this mystery together.
Direct shook his head. "No, I didn't build it. Come on, listen to yourself. I discovered this place about a year ago, whilst escaping a tragic life and a monster of a rainstorm."
Twilight sat for a moment in thought, before a shrill alarm sounded. One of the screens began pulsating in bright red with a picture of two clouds with lightning coming out of them moving towards one another.
Direct winced. "Ooh, hang on a sec. Gotta re-calibrate the cloud trajectories. Be back in a jiffy!" With that, he zipped over to the control panel and hit a few buttons and switches, while trying to make out the text displayed on a small screen in the corner.
"Agh, why does the stupid system insist on putting all the important info on the tiny little screen in the corner? Aha!" He pressed one last key definitively, and the screens began cycling through a bunch of diagrams with clouds and dotted lines. Eventually, all the screens went sky blue, and the alarm stopped.
"Phew! See? No problem," Direct said, relieved.
Twilight looked a bit frazzled. "What was that?!"
"That, my purple friend, was a misplaced thundercloud."
"Wait, so this station is for observing weather?"
Direct shook his head. "No, it controls the weather."
"What?" Twilight and Rainbow said simultaneously.
"You can't be serious! Everyone knows the Pegasi control the weather! It's common knowledge," Twilight declared.
Direct sighed. "Twilight, I'm going to share with you a secret I've known for a very long time." The two ponies leaned towards Direct in anticipation.
"The Pegasi have been incapable of controlling the weather for many decades. Somewhere along the way, they simply lost the ability."
Rainbow became defensive. "What? No we didn't! We do it every day!"
"No, you don't. You move clouds around and kick them. I do all the special effects," Direct explained.
"Twilight, are you listening to this guy? He's off his rocker!"
"Listen to me, Rainbow Dash. Pegasi can still move clouds. However, without me, you could kick a cloud all day and nothing would happen. This machine makes lightning, thunder, rain, you name it. Whenever a Pegasus kicks a cloud somewhere in Equestria, this machine springs into action and supplies the satisfying bolt of lightning, or that shower of rain; pretty much anything that has to do with weather. It's all just a big act to make you Pegasi think you can still control the weather."
"But... but I don't... You mean..." Rainbow felt belittled.
"You, on the other hand, are special, Rainbow. You have a gift," Direct said, pointing a hoof at her. "For some reason, you can still control weather. You seem to be the last living Pegasus capable of creating weather. That's why Triaxi's troops are giving you such a hard time."
As Rainbow took the information in, Twilight spoke up. "Triaxi? Who is that?"
Direct scoffed in disgust. "Triaxi... He's the head of the WCA. You Pegasi are the actors in his big show and you don't even know it."
Twilight looked flustered at the barrage of new information. Rainbow took this opportunity to speak up. "So wait, what is the 'WCA'?"
"Weather Control Agency. It's a workforce of ponies like me, who man the workstations to keep the weather in check. This here is station Onyx-1-7."
"You mean there are others?" Twilight was baffled that so many of these stations could go unnoticed.
"Yes, hundreds of workstations identical to this one, scattered across the Equestria," Direct said, staring vacantly at the blue screens.
Both ponies spent a moment to take it all in. Twilight noticed she had been subconsciously tossing the vault key around during Direct's story. She stared blankly at the tag attached to it.
"I've been wondering... What does 'DML' actually stand for?"
Direct grinned. "Oh, that? That's my initials! Direct Minute Literal."
"Ohh..." Twilight replied, a little bummed that there wasn't more to that mystery. In any case, at least now she knew. What a strange name, she thought to herself. Her thought, however, was interrupted by another alarm going off. The commotion of flashing lights and bright red screens returned.
"Oh, there it goes again. Again." Direct ran up to the control panel, the others following suit. Direct gave a screen a strange look before saying, "That... That's not a cloud."
Rainbow frowned. "Then what is it...?"
Direct squinted at the small screen in the corner. "It looks like a..." His eyes widened.
"Get down! Brace for impact!" he shouted, flipping levers wildly. He dove on the ground next to Twilight and Rainbow and covered his head.
BOOM
A colossal wave of heat and pressure thundered down the entry shaft. After that, nothing.
