Eventually, they came across some buildings much like the ones in Ponyville, except these ones were more multi-coloured. The buildings were small, but built to be comfy and cosy. There were houses, small shops, and gardens galore.
Thorax was liking Flutter Valley more and more. The changeling leader’s eyes practically shone with delight as he watched the Flutterponies go about their daily lives. Flutter Valley is simply amazing! It’s a bit like the Changeling Hive at the present time, he thought. Thorax’s thoughts were interrupted by an excited squeal from Pinkie Pie.
“Look, look! They’re having a party!!” the pink pony shouted with glee. She was right. The group of friends had now reached the centre of the valley, where intensive preparations for a celebration were taking place. Colourful banners were being strung up everywhere, trays of goodies such as cakes and sweets were distributed to different ponies, and balloons fixed to the buildings and trees. “Come on, everypony!” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing after some giggling Flutterpony foals. They followed the foals over to a familiar figure: Chrysalis’s poison joke-affected form that that they’d seen yesterday. Queen Rosedust.
The Flutterpony Queen bent down and smiled at the foals, giving a little nuzzle to each one.
“Okay, okay, calm down”, she said. Now, I know that you’re very excited about the party …” Rosedust was interrupted by the foals all hopping and dancing around her, cheering.
“Yay! Party! Yay!” chorused the little ponies.
“Can we help?” asked one foal. “Maybe protect the food?” The foal had a mid-blue coat, dark blue tousled mane and tail, and a butterfly plushie clutched in one hoof. She grinned a bold, buck-toothed grin at her ruler. “It might be in danger from baddies?” the foal said in a seemingly innocent way. Rosedust just rolled her eyes, and then shook her head.
“I’m afraid, Blue Joke, that you can’t ‘protect’ the party goodies at the moment”, the queen said. “Other ponies are taking care of them.” The Flutterpony Queen then winked roguishly at the foals. “However, you can ‘protect’ the goodies at the party, when it happens.” All the little foals cheered and scampered off. Queen Rosedust smiled and walked off to talk with some other Flutterponies.
Chrysalis sighed, then smiled at the group of Flutterpony foals running past her. Twilight, who’d been observing the scene in silence, now decided to speak.
“Chrysalis, are you the Flutterpony Queen?” she asked. Everypony else (who weren’t memory-creatures) turned and looked at Chrysalis for the answer. The changeling was silent for a second. Chrysalis then straightened up and turned around to face the group.
“Yes. I am Rosedust, the queen of the Flutterponies and ruler of Flutter Valley”, she said with a hint of pride. She looked divine and princess-like for a moment. As if to emulate that, Chrysalis’s appearance changed with a ripple of rainbow light; turning into her true form: that of a Flutterpony.
Starlight looked at the revealed Flutterpony with astonishment and awe. ‘She looks beautiful’, the pink unicorn thought. Chrysalis’s expression then changed from proud to sorrowful, and she lowered her head again. Her form then returned to its ugly, monstrous appearance.
“Or at least, I was”, she muttered. Feeling sympathetic, Starlight slowly walked over to the changeling. She tentatively put a hoof out and placed it comfortingly on Chrysalis’s back. The former queen tensed up at this, but then relaxed.
Meanwhile, Luna had wandered over to look at the party banners. She was, at the moment, reading the writing on one of them.
“Tia. Come and look at this.” Celestia walked over to her sister, slightly worried at the quiet urgency in Luna’s voice.
“What is it, Luna?” she said. The lunar alicorn pointed a hoof at the banners that she was reading. One read ‘Happy Birthday Queen Rosedust’. Another said ‘Happy 107th Birthday’. Celestia blinked in realization.
“Luna …” she said, her voice shaking slightly. “These preparations must be for Queen Rosedust’s birthday. The 107th birthday. The last party here that we were invited to! The day …” Both royal sisters turned and looked around at their surroundings. “The day we came to what we thought was her party, but turned out to be complete destruction,” murmured the white alicorn. They then both looked straight at Chrysalis and Starlight.
The pink unicorn, who’d been listening very carefully to what the royal alicorn sisters were saying, tapped the dark changeling on the shoulders.
“Chrysalis, what happened to Flutter Valley?” she asked. The former queen sighed, and then stood up, shutting her eyes tightly.
“It was the second most horrible thing that’s ever happened to me in my life, so far. Today was the day when ‘it’ happened.” Starlight frowned. “What was ‘it’?” the pink unicorn said, feeling confused.
All of a sudden, the gentle breeze started to get faster and rougher. The blue sky was being rapidly obscured by dark grey clouds. There was an ominous rumble from somewhere in the distance. All of the Flutterponies in Flutter Valley looked up at the sound of the rumble. There was some frantic whispering and muttering among the sparkly-winged ponies, who looked a bit worried and frightened. The group of foals that the friends had seen before had hidden behind the Flutterpony Queen.
Rosedust stared at the grey clouds, a bemused frown on her face. Then her gaze lowered, and she let out a gasp of horror. The other Flutterponies’s expressions went from anxious to completely terrified. They seemed to be frozen in shock. The dreamers were more than a bit unsettled, and a little confused by the scene before them. The Flutterponies appeared to be scared of them? They were looking right at them … wait no: at something behind the group of friends.
The ponies, dragon and multi-coloured changeling all realised this at the same time. They, as one, turned around, and saw a ginormous mass of clouds, wind and rain coming quickly towards them. Fluttershy shrieked and hid behind a bush, quivering like a leaf in a storm, which was ironic. Twilight, Starlight, Spike, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack all huddled together on the windswept ground. The orange earth pony stepped away for the huddle for a moment; just long enough to grab Fluttershy and pull the pegasus and herself back to the safety of the group. Thorax looked absolutely terrified.
“What is that?!” screams Rainbow Dash. The prismatic pegasus was shaking too: the sight of a storm this big terrified her. She’d seen tornadoes and storms before … but this thing was unprecedented. Luna looked to be at a complete loss for words, but her sister’s expression was filled with grim realisation and certainty.
“A hurricane”, Celestia said.