//------------------------------//
// Reckoning 
// Story: An Unstoppable Force 
// by Iliketoreadandstuff 
//------------------------------//

Twilight and Spike rushed back into town, gathering up their friends and informing them of the emergency. Rainbow Dash was the last one they met up with, and she was quickly asked about the storm that Zecora had mentioned. 
"I don't think there are any storms scheduled. Not here," she said. Twilight wrote it off as Everfree forest oddities, and the rest of the group quickly headed to Canterlot.

As they entered the castle, they could tell that things were much more cautious than they had been. The expressions on the faces of the Royal Guard meant that they knew something the six of them didn't. Not yet, anyway. Reaching the doors to the throne room, the six of them stopped politely before being let in. Twilight was slightly relieved to see only the sisters were present, and that Cadence was not. It might not be that bad, Twilight thought. The sisters, who had worriedly been conversing, soon noticed the group as they entered.
"Ah! I'm glad you all could make it," Celestia said, retaining a concerned expression. 
"Of course," Twilight replied. "What seems to be the problem, Princesses?" The sisters looked at each other.
"It'll sound silly," Celestia mumbled to Luna.
"We can't just sit around and do nothing, Celestia," Luna said, just as quietly, "if it truly is something, we must act sooner rather than later." Celestia nodded, turning back to the group.
"There is a village to the North, known as Gallopool. It is a small village, but it is peaceful and full of good ponies and crops," Celestia began. "We had been trading with them for several years now, but we lost communication with them a few days ago. A few pegasus guards conducted a flyby to check on them, and they saw that everyone was still there. It has been five days, now, and we have grown more worried. Many accounts say that there have been terrible storms all over the Northern hemisphere. We fear that this town has been ravaged by a tornado or worse. We hope for the best, but plan for the worst, so we humbly ask you to travel there and see for yourself."
"Storms, huh?" Spike thought aloud, Twilight and Rainbow Dash looking at him in response. Twilight looked at the others to see if they were also on board. They all nodded courageously, Pinkie more excited to visit a new village than anything. 
"We accept," Twilight announced, "and we won't let you down." 
"Excellent!" Celestia exclaimed. "Stay safe, my little ponies." The group said their farewells before exiting the throne room. The rest of the group made this out to be something of a typical mission, if not even simpler. Check out a village, make sure things are okay, and that will be the end of it. But Twilight couldn't help but feel this pit in her gut. This looming threat of some great storm worried her, especially considering the fact that it isn't a scheduled or a controlled storm. And, as the Princesses said, it wasn't localized only to the Everfree forest. Twilight was afraid to admit it, but she was slowly becoming scared of what was to come. 
They were exiting Canterlot when Twilight just couldn't hide it anymore. 
"Is anyone else really freaked out by this storm business?" Twilight blurted, stiff and shaking with anxiety. Everyone else saw this flurry of emotion, thinking of what to do. Applejack stepped up to speak the first words.
"Absolutely," she said softly. "But, I'm sure we've faced much worse than this. For all we know, it's just a rogue storm that can be blown away by some magic or pegasus manipulation." Twilight and Applejack made eye contact. Applejack remained calm and confident, instilling this feeling into Twilight as well. 
"But, what if--" Twilight began.
"No need to worry about it 'till we get there. If it's that bad, we'll get rid of it together. Even if it hurts. Okay?" Twilight took a few moments to breathe, before relaxing and nodding. The group carried on. The seeds of doubt had been planted in their minds, but the trees of courage stood strong regardless.

It was a long yet relatively boring journey to the village, but the environment surrounding the village was very out of place for the ponies. There was no grass or flowers. No trees or moss. Everything was dirt and rocks for as far as they could see.
"What happened here?" Rarity asked.
"Maybe it's soil for farming?" Fluttershy suggested. "The Princesses did mention that they grew good crops."
"Nah. This ain't farmin' soil," Applejack said. "Too dry. Hasn't been plowed, either." 
"It was probably the storm," Twilight mumbled to herself. Pinkie had been bouncing ahead of the group, undeterred by the plains of dry soil surrounding the village. However, her bouncing abruptly halted when she saw the village. The rest of the group, who was still a bit behind, were confused and worried, before seeing what she had. The village wasn't even there anymore, but they could see its shadows. There were still a few signs and splinters of wood poking up from what seemed to be blackened, burnt earth. A few spots of dirty white were also partially buried by the dirt. The six ponies slowly walked along the path into the broken village. Rainbow Dash went over to inspect one of the white spots in the ground, prodding at it before unearthing it. She quickly jolted back, as though it had bitten her.
"Bones," she said, her throat suddenly dry. "There are bones here!" Everyone froze in place at this revelation. Rainbow's gaze was affixed on the dirtied femur on the ground, and she wiped off her contaminated hoof on her other foreleg. Pinkie's mood also clearly took a drastic shift from before. She could feel the weight of what had happened here throughout her body, and her emotions seemed lost. She was still processing everything. There was a cloud of dust that hung in the air, gradually settling on the ground and remnants of the village. The ponies wondered what exactly this dust was from, hoping for the best. Twilight, cautious, looked at a wooden slab on the ground. It was clearly some sort of picket sign that had been broken. She picked it up and put the pieces together, seeing the message it held. 'THE END IS COMING.' Her heart sank. They knew what was happening, she thought, yet it still did its work. The tense atmosphere was momentarily distracted by a distant boom to the north. It was like the roar of a beast on the horizon, echoing throughout the land to warn of its approach. 
"Nothing like this has ever happened before," Fluttershy stated. "Not that I can remember." 
"We don't even know for sure what happened!" Applejack reminded.
"Is it that hard to figure out?" Twilight asked, turning back to the others. Her face was accusatory and had hints of rage lurking beneath the surface. Her brows were slightly furrowed and her eyes were daggers. "If I'm right, this is the result of that storm!" 
"Even the dirt?" Fluttershy asked. Rainbow, curious, flew up high into the air to get a better look at this town. As she ascended, the air felt colder than usual. She looked back down after she felt high enough, and was surprised to see that the dirt surrounding the former village was strangely linear. It clearly spanned for miles, but it looked more like a path than anything else. She plummeted back down to the others.
"I'd say so," she said, "this dirt looks like a giant, beaten path."
"So it has some sort of clear direction?" Twilight pressed, her paranoia returning. 
"Easy," Applejack said. "We're still not entirely sure what we're dealing with here. For all we know, it's just a storm with a straight wind to carry it."
"Are we sure everyone here is...y'know?" Pinkie asked, looking at everyone with a blank expression. "Maybe a few made it out before it went down."
"That sounds pretty likely," Applejack said. "If they knew it was coming beforehand, maybe they were able to get out of its vicinity."
"I did find a sign that warned of 'the end,'" Twilight added, feeling a tiny bit more at ease. "But where would they go?"
"Somewhere safer, I'm sure," Fluttershy said. There was a silence among them after that, filled only by the soft blowing the wind. A cold wind that carried the ghosts of the villagers, no doubt.
"We should head back. We got what we came for," Rainbow said, breaking the silence.
"I agree," Rarity said. "I can't spend another moment in this...graveyard." Her last word was low and somber, and she looked at the ground. Everyone else silently followed each other as they left. Twilight looked back, though, the thought of the village lingering in her mind. It was still there. And it was still dead. The last thing she saw of it was the sign on the ground. The futile warning of what had transpired. 

Halfway through the journey back to Canterlot, the group decided to take a break for a moment. Thoughts of their little expedition filled all of their minds, though they were reluctant to admit it. Applejack considered herself to be the only one truly familiar with loss out of the group, and remained the most level-headed. She could see that everyone else was processing the situation in their own ways, however. Pinkie was clearly dissociated, with her eyes blank and spaced out. She displayed no emotion, and this all probably hit her like a train. Rainbow Dash tried to stay confident and not think about it as much, but still carried the weight of sadness with her. Rarity was shaken, a sick feeling in her stomach and a bad taste in her mouth. It was clear she didn't even want to talk about it. Fluttershy was quiet and respectful, and would shake every so often as she thought about it. And Twilight. Twilight was tense and shaky, clearly having all of her thoughts polluted by this occurrence. A poison in her mind that effectively coursed through her veins. As much as she felt the need to do something, Applejack didn't think anything she could say would help them. As much as they all wanted to talk through this, they knew that they would just hurt more and make matters worse for them. They would talk when they were ready. They sat there for about seven minutes, gradually loosening up and relaxing a bit. Just enough to be comfortable with walking the rest of the way. They all got up, looking at each other and feeling a sense of hope. A pleasant reminder that they were still there. That they still had each other. With that, they continued along their path back to Canterlot.