As soon as Twilight got Rainbow’s message from Spitfire herself, she gathered her friends and rushed for Cloudsdale. On the way, they could see part of the mess left by the incident at the battery storage, with Pegasus ponies still picking up the remaining debris. When they arrived at the hospital, Dash greeted them warmly, and Pinkie was the first to run up to her to give her a big hug, crying loudly, showing how worried she was. How worried they all were. Dash reassured her friends that she was fine, “out of the game for a while” in her words, though. They all got to hug her still, though very carefully as to not hurt her. When the mood was more stable, they started to discuss what they all had found out so far.
“Ok, so lemme get this straight.” began Rainbow. “Some loony mare in a cloak told you that this whole mess is being caused by that stallion, who also attacked us at the storage?”
Twilight just nodded.
“Same stallion who attacked you guys at the Everfree ruins?” she asked again, this time Fluttershy nodded.
“And you believed her?” Dash scoffed at Twilight. “For all we know she could be involved with him as well!”
“I know.” Twilight said. “Don’t get me wrong, I do suspect that mare as well, but at this point, this is the best lead we have.”
“By the way, what was the thing that stallion stole?” Applejack asked.
“I’m not entirely sure myself, but according to Spitfire, it was some sort of special battery that never really worked as it was supposed to.” Rainbow replied. “This is the first time I had heard of it as well.”
“Hm…that, coupled with the fact he also stole Sunset Shimmer’s journal…just what is he planning?” Twilight pondered.
“Maybe he’s trying to make a portal of his own?” Pinkie suggested.
Everypony stared at her. They had learned to see her hunches on a 50/50 possibility, though it was interesting how she sometimes nailed it.
“I…had considered that as well.” Twilight said. “But really, very few ponies –just us and the Princesses, really—know of the existence of that journal and what it can do. How would he, of all ponies, know what he can do with it?”
“Well, we did find some stuff about old portal experiments when we were at the old castle, with Princess Luna.” Fluttershy pointed out. “And we encountered the stallion there as well, do you think he could have heard us and figured something out?”
“Whatever it is, he can’t be up to anything good if it’s going to involve more missing ponies and landmarks.” Dash insisted. “That Misty pony ain’t out of suspicion either, even if she did save me.”
“Well, until we locate one or the other, all we can do is speculate.” Twilight continued. “Anyway, that’s all we’ve got so far, so unless there’s anything else to add, we should probably get going and let Dash rest.”
“Yeah, besides it’s getting late and I think I heard some of those ponies saying that the storm they were trying to control before was getting bad again.” Applejack said. “One way or another it’s gonna be a bumpy ride back home.”
“Yeah guys, while I’d prefer you to stay safe here, if you do plan on returning, you better get going now.” Rainbow said. “That’s a nasty storm and I can’t tell for how long the other ponies will be able to contain it.”
They all nodded, and gave their friend one more gentle hug before they departed.
“Ah’ can’t wait to get back home, here’s hoping Granny, Applebloom and Mac are doing fine.” Applejack began to rant as they walked towards Twilight’s balloon. “Some rain is usually nice for the apple orchard, but a storm is something else alright.”
“I agree darling, I’d hate to get this lovely piece ruined by some dirty water.” Rarity said, showing off her dress, making her friends chuckle a bit.
As they neared the balloon, they spotted a pair of Pegasus waiting for them. “Hello guys, is everything alright?” Twilight asked them.
“Hey! Well, as you’ve seen, this storm is looking nasty.” The duo began. “While we are still lacking some personnel due to recent events, most of our colleagues are busier than ever trying their best to control the storm, but it will take even longer than expected.”
“While we’d rather suggest you to stay due to the storm, if you are in a hurry to leave, we offer to escort you back to the village.” They continued. “We’d like to take the chance to see how things are down there.”
Twilight blinked, then looked at the girls, who in their place looked at each other, shrugged, and nodded. She smiled back at them, then turned back to the Pegasus duo. “Alright then, we certainly would appreciate it if you helped us go back home.”
“Alright then!” they nodded. “Please hop aboard and hold tight on your seats, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
The journey back was indeed a perilous one. If it hadn’t been for the pegasus assistance, they would have most certainly crashed in the messiest of ways. After they arrived back at Twilight’s castle, they waved the Pegasus duo and thanked them for their help, as they flew towards the town.
“Well, there goes another of my favorite hats.” Rarity sighed, still trying to dry up the large hat she had brought with her.
“I know the feeling.” Applejack tried to cheer her up, fixing up her own Stetson.
“I can’t wait till we get some hot chocolate or something.” Twilight said, still shivering a bit from the rain they had just gone through.
“I would love some chocolate.” Fluttershy nodded. “I probably should bring some to Discord as well, it was so kind of him to stay and take care of the animals while I was out.” She added, giggling softly at the thought of him having to deal with her little critters, particularly Angel.
“Chocolate sounds great! I could help to bake some goodies!” Pinkie cheered, bouncing behind the group as they were entering the castle.
The chocolate and pastries would have to wait for now, though.
“P-Princess Twilight! Emergency! Emergency at Ponyville!” shouted one of the Pegasus that had escorted them as he flew in a hurry towards them.
“What is it? What’s happening?” Twilight asked him, giving him some time to recover his breath.
“An…an Ursa Minor! In the town!” he said, flying off back to Ponyville. The girls were left behind speechless for a few seconds, before they stared at each other in shock. Last time an Ursa Minor had been left rampant in town, it almost caused too much damage, and it was only because a couple of colts had lured it there. What could possibly bring such a creature back? Not wasting any more time, Applejack reacted first and hurried towards Sweet Apple Acres.
“I’m bringing ropes, see y’all in town!” she shouted from afar, the girls nodding at her.
“Alright, we’ll move on ahead!” Twilight replied, and the group took off towards Ponyville. As soon as they arrived, their fears were confirmed: an Ursa Minor was indeed running wildly in the town, with several ponies running away from it towards safety. There was something strange, however: Last time an Ursa attacked the town, it was only chasing the ponies that had lured it there, and other than that it wasn’t really going after anyone else, except for Trixie as well. This time, however, the creature was more aggressive, stomping from one corner to the other without a specific target, as if something were enraging it. To make things worse, the storm had become stronger as well; the rain pouring heavily, lightning crashing and roaring among the darkened clouds, worsening the Ursa’s behavior, and making ponies panic even more.
Twilight shook herself out of her thoughts and rallied her friends. “Pinkie, Rarity, go help everypony get to safety, Fluttershy and I will go help the ponies near the Ursa and see if we can do anything to calm it down, get ready for when Applejack returns with the ropes!” she briefed them, they nodded back, then trotted away to help in any way they could. Fluttershy and her, in the meantime, flew up and towards the Ursa, spotting several ponies trying to round it up, in hopes of preventing it from rampaging even more, among them the Pegasus couple that had escorted them earlier. They had relative success, as they were slowly cornering it towards a less crowded area, but it still waved its claws around, failing by inches to injure anypony. Just a few minutes later, Applejack arrived, bringing Big Mac along with some ropes. They hurried towards the ponies near the Ursa, passing the ropes along and throwing them above the Ursa, trying to pin it down, or at the very least, to slow it down.
“Twilight, the Ursa’s rocking around too hard, neither the ropes nor us will last too long here!” Applejack shouted at her friend.
“Right! Fluttershy, think you can help us figure out what’s making it behave like this?” she asked her while holding some of the ropes with her magic. “I know for a fact these are not normally THIS bad, even when taunted!”
“O-ok, I’ll try to see if there’s anything wrong on it.” Fluttershy nodded, then flew off, circling the Ursa, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. After a few moments, she gasped, and flew back towards Twilight.
“It looks like it has something on one of its ears!” she pointed out. “Maybe that’s what’s making it act like this?” Just as she finished, Rarity and Pinkie returned.
“Alright dear, that should be everypony for now.” Rarity said, still recovering her breath.
“Yep! The Major’s taking care of the rest!” Pinkie said, hopping in place.
“Alright, hold onto these ropes, I’m going in!” Twilight said, passing the ropes to her friends, and flying towards Fluttershy. “Ok, show me what you found.”
Fluttershy nodded and guided Twilight to the spot she had mentioned, somewhere around one of the Ursa’s ears. Approaching it carefully, Twilight managed to spot something sparkling there. Upon closer inspection, she could see it was some sort of earring that seemed to be shocking the creature, indeed making it behave in such a hostile manner.
“Guys, we found the problem!” Twilight shouted. “Keep holding it down, I’ll try something!” she said, as her horn began to glow once again.
She carefully aimed her magic towards the earring, trying to shut it down. After a few moments, the ring sparkled a little more, then fizzled, and with a snap it unlocked and fell off, just in time as the ponies and the ropes were ready to give out. The Ursa finally stopped struggling, swayed in place for a moment, then with a growl it plopped on the ground, exhausted. Fluttershy hurried to gently pet the Ursa on its head, soothing it even more.
Applejack and the rest of the ponies let go of the ropes, and slowly approached the now calm creature, organizing so they could bring it back to its home outside the village. The crowd began to walk out, seeing the Ursa had finally stopped, and began cheering gleefully. Twilight sighed in relief, flying towards her friends.
“Good job everypony.” She began. “Is everypony alright?”
“Yeah, we are fine.” Applejack said. “Thanks for figuring out how to stop it, one more minute and the ropes would have been ripped apart.”
“Twilight, here’s the thing that was causing all this trouble.” Fluttershy said approaching Twilight, handing her the now defused device. Upon closer inspection she could tell that, while containing some traces of magic, the ring seemed to be pretty technologically advanced. It certainly picked at her curiosity.
Before she could think of examining it more, however, she could hear someone call upon her. From among the crowd, a hooded mare approached her in a hurry.
“Miss Sparkle, is everypony alright?” Misty asked Twilight and her friends, trying to catch up her breath.
“Yes, we are all ok…but what are you doing here all of a sudden?” Twilight asked, surprised to see Misty once again. “Did you find out something?”
“Yes, please, you must come with me, now!” she said as she began to trot towards the Everfree forest. “Your friends should come too!”
“Misty, wait!” Twilight shouted as she began to run after her, with her friends following right behind. “What’s the matter?”
“Bright…I mean, the stallion, we spotted him deep in the forest!” Misty said.
“Wait, really!?” Twilight said, her friends finally catching up to them. “Why didn’t you stop him?”
“We—I was about to, but I heard some noises coming from the village, and wanted to make sure everypony was alright.” She explained. “We must hurry, though, before he’s gone again!”
Twilight and her friends nodded and kept trotting deeper into the forest. A minute passed before they reached a clearing, and on a nearby hill, there he was, the Mysterious Stallion. It looked like he was handling some sort of platform, on which the stolen battery had been placed. Onto the platform were attached some cables and an antenna, almost as if he had been assembling some sort of lightning-catching device. As they approached, they saw another hooded figure walking towards the Stallion, apparently pleading to him.
“Bright, please, you must stop this now!” they could hear the figure say. “Can’t you see you are doing more damage than what’s necessary?”
The stallion ignored the figure’s pleading as he continued to arrange his device.
“Many ponies have gone missing, and some could have been injured, or even worse, due to you releasing that creature onto the village!” the figure continued, they could hear it was a mare. “If you keep going, many more will be lost, not just here! What do you think he would think if he saw you like this!?”
The stallion stopped for a moment and turned around, clearly angry. “Don’t you dare, DON’T YOU DARE!” he shouted at her. “I’M DOING THIS FOR HIM!”
Just as he shouted, some huge lightning fell on the platform, making the battery sparkle. After a few moments, the lightning dissipated, and the battery continued to glow, as if fully charged. The stallion grinned, walking towards the device.
“PLEASE, let us help!” begged the mare. “You should know better than us of the immeasurable damage you can inflict!”
“I…must…do…this…ALONE!” the Stallion screamed again, before his horn began to glow, encasing the platform and the battery with his magic.
“Stay right there!” Twilight shouted, stepping forward, her own horn glowing this time, casting a purple bubble around the Stallion and his construct. Misty and her friends began to approach the now trapped Stallion…
But he sneered. “They won’t stop me, and neither will you.” He said before his horn sparkled more intensely, effortlessly cracking Twilight’s bubble, and finally shattering it, before teleporting himself and the platform with the battery away.
A few moments passed, with Twilight and her friends still shocked at the recent development. Even if she was still getting the hang of it, how was it possible for somepony to break out of alicorn magic so easily? She remembered what Fluttershy had said before, about the Stallion being able to escape even Discord’s magic. She set these thoughts aside for the time being, as Misty began to approach the hooded mare, who seemed to be crying now.
"I…wanted to help him…I really wanted to…” she sighed sadly.
“I know, we both wanted to.” Misty tried to calm her. “But he’s indeed as stubborn as you told us.”
“We must…stop him…many are at stake…” the mare continued, apparently calming down a little.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t stop him.” Twilight said, approaching the two mares. “Fluttershy had told us how he had been able to escape from Discord’s magic, but I wasn’t expecting him to be this powerful.”
“It’s…okay, Miss Sparkle.” Misty smiled weakly. “If anything, I should have been a bit more through to you about him and his skills.”
Just as she finished, another flash of magic boomed near the group.
If they had been shocked just a moment ago, now they were completely speechless. Standing near them was what seemed to be the very Stallion they confronted a moment ago. However, his whole appearance seemed more clean, and his demeanor more calm.
“I’m sorry I took so long, but the situation at the nearby village is more stable now.” The new stallion said. “They already started to take the Ursa out of the village and--”
He stopped for a moment, looking around. “…oh. Guess I didn’t make it in time, then.”
“Don’t worry; he would have been able to evade your magic too.” The hooded mare said. “He’s got quite a handful of tricks, more than what even I was expecting.”
“Yeah, we knew he was being reckless, but we weren’t expecting him to just shock a creature and release it into the village as a distraction while he charged that battery.” Misty said.
The stallion looked down for a moment, then he raised his eyes towards Twilight and the group, who were still staring at the trio, trying to understand what was going on.
“We…probably should tell them.” The stallion pointed out. “You said they wanted to help too, didn’t you?”
Misty and the hooded mare nodded at him. “…Right, it’s long past the time we could think we could handle this on our own, even though we are, in part, to blame as well.” Misty said.
The hooded mare nodded at Misty, then stood up and began to walk towards Twilight and her friends. “My deepest apologies for not fully disclosing things earlier.” She began, as she took off her hood.
Standing before them, was another Misty Evening. However, she seemed to have a slightly more serious expression in comparison to the Misty that Twilight had met before. Upon this revelation, Twilight and the others were now absolutely dumbfounded, their jaws practically dropping to the floor.
“We, indeed, owe you an explanation.”