“WHAT IS THAT THING?” Rainbow Dash was furiously flapping her wings in the middle of a blizzard, desperately trying to see through the falling snow.
“I DON’T KNOW! I DON’T THINK IT’S A WINDIGO THOUGH!” Twilight dodged falling chunks of ice while levitating a small flaming gemstone.
“GREAT, SO WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO KILL US, THAT’S REASSURI- AUGH!” Rainbow’s words were cut off by the sound of a huge block of ice crashing on top of her.
Earlier that week...
Twilight Sparkle sat by the fire in the Golden Oaks Library, holding a pile of books and a mug of hot chocolate. A tremendous snow storm raged outside, the exact opposite of the warm and calm feeling inside the library.
At least, until Spike coughed out the letter. He ran from the bathroom, holding a damp piece of parchment in his claw while blushing furiously.
“Letter from the Princess! I got in while in the bathroom when I was washing my claws... and so...” He trailed off, unfurling the letter while Twilight sipped from her cup. She levitated the letter out of Spike's claws and started reading the slightly smudged letter.
“My Dear Twilight, A large amount of hurricanes and tornadoes have been attacking Canterlot and causing a huge amount of damage, I am sure that these are not normal storms, for they have been coming nonstop for almost a week not. I need you and your friends to find the source of the problem. Meteorologists in Canterlot say that it’s coming from a specific spot in the Everfree Forest, the Everfree Mountain. I am sure this is a Magical Storm, but the information on these things are extremely limited, all I am sure of is that the last one we had was caused by windigoes over two thousand years ago. My guards and your brother are defending the Crystal Kingdom and Canterlot from further harm, so I must ask you and the other bearers of the elements to help us. Attached is a map of the forest, and I hope it will be sufficient.
Signed,
Princess Celestia.”
Twilight flipped the letter to find... nothing at all. She looked at Spike with narrowed eyes. “Where’s the map?”
Spike looked around nervously, “Well, since I got it in the bathroom it kind of fell in the... so it’s all smudged and stuff… and I really didn’t want to reach into the toilet and...”
Twilight clutched her mane, “We need that map! How wet is it?”
“Well...”
***
“Ew!” Twilight levitated the sopping wet piece of paper from the toilet and held it in front of her. The map had many lines criss-crossing the surface, and very curly black writing next to certain landmarks, a fact not helped by the fact it was covered in smudged lines and ink.
“I guess this will have to do for now...”
She walked out the bathroom, careful not the rip the soaking wet paper. She put the map in front of the fire and turned to Spike.
“Spike, I need you to get the others, they all need to help me with this, I’m going to research storms while you get them, okay?”
“In the storm?”
“You’re coat’s in the closet!”
***
An hour later a shivering Spike and Twilight’s other friends stood in the library’s front room.
Applejack was the one to speak first, “Twi, are y’all gonna explain why you’re draggin’ us here in the middle of a blizzard?
“Yes, it was quite unpleasant to walk from Carousel boutique to here.” Rarity pulled off her scarf and boots and levitated them next to the door.
“I had to leave all my animals behind there, hopefully they don’t get too scared.”
“I'm sorry for the inconvenience but, Princess Celestia has a new assignment for us.” Twilight levitated the now-dry parchment in front of the other 5 ponies, who scanned over it.
.
“So let me get this straight,” Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight, snow dripping from her mane.
“Princess Celestia wants us to go into the most dangerous forest in Equestria in the middle of Winter to find the source of something that not even Celestia knows on the top of a MOUNTAIN!?”
“Yes, and it’s our duty as citizens of Equestria to help protect it.” Twilight puffed out her chest proudly as Spike walked from the kitchen balancing five mugs of hot chocolate.
“Hey, does anypony want Hot Chocolate?”
***
Twilight shoved a pile of books from an armchair and plopped into it. “I did a bit of research on magical storms, but not much of it was successful.” She levitated up a thick volume labelled, “Storm’s Most Dangerous” and flipped to the chapter entitled, "Magical Storms. Magical Storms are caused by a disturbance in an extremely cold climate, like the top of a mountain. They are made by an overflow of magic in the air. Most Magical storms are caused by unicorns, but windigoes and Ice Wolves can be known to cause them too." She closed the book and looked around, "The rest of the chapter is just examples of Magical Storms, and there are really only two good examples, the Beginning of Equestria and The Griffin Kingdom's Ice Wars."
"What about the rest of those books?" Rainbow Dash pointed at the pile of books next to Twilight’s chair from her position next to the fire, "Is that really all you researched?"
Twilight smiled sheepishly before answering, "I did, but... most of my books on storms didn't have it or had vague examples on them! Before we can actually solve a problem we need to think up a good strategy!"
Rainbow looked back at Twilight, "Yeah, why don't go and buck whatever's causing the storms in the face?"
"Dashie, don't you remember last time we tried that?" Pinkie had been pre-occupied while building a fort out of the mugs of hot chocolate surrounding her.
Rainbow Dash grimaced at the memory of the dragon. "Fine, that might not work, but do we even know where the Everfree Mountain is? You said that the map was wet or something." Spike blushed profusely.
Twilight bowed her head. "I've managed to get most of the lines straight and a semi-clear path, but I'm not 100% sure that it's the best way to go."
"Twi, you're tellin' me we've got to stop some... thing from destroying Canterlot with magic storms, and all we got is a path that y'all ain't sure is the best, and a tiny bit of information?"
"Um... Yes?"
"Great! The Princess wants this done as soon as possible, and we haven't been able to do anything so far except gather around the fire and drink hot chocolate." Rainbow flew out of her chair, the cup clattering to the floor.
Twilight stomped her hoof it frustration, “It’s not my fault! Spike got the pages wet and the books in my library have virtually no information on magic storms! The storms are too dangerous and rare to study, and the last time a magic storm happened it was before the Princesses even existed!” She narrowed her eyes at Rainbow, “And you expect me to know ALL ABOUT THESE THINGS?!”
Fluttershy looked up from her position next to the fire, watching Rainbow and Twilight yell at each other. "Um… Twilight? Maybe we should wait until tomorrow to get started, maybe the storm won't be as bad tomorrow, at I think least that's what the weather team told me this morning." She looked outside the window and whimpered, "Oh no, I hope my animals don’t get sick when I stay the night."
Twilight stopped yelling at Rainbow to look at Fluttershy, "What? Stay the night?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes at Twilight, “What did you think? We were gonna let you stay up all night, getting ready for the adventure, while we walked home in the blizzard and didn’t help with preparation?”
“Well… no.”
***
“Twilight? Um.. Twilight, it’s morning.”
“Go away Spike, five more minutes.”
“Um… I’m not Spike.”
“Huh?” Twilight jerked her head out of her book, a page sticking to her face. Fluttershy was gently shaking Twilight, the last night’s events came rushing back to her, the letter, the studying, the drenched map. Twilight looked down at the book she was reading. ‘A Documentary of the Life of Maple Woods.’
“How was this going to help me?” She levitated the volume onto it’s place on the shelf and noticed the piles of other books surrounding her and plopped her face into her hooves. “How late was I up last night?” She asked, to nopony in particular.
“Well, most of us fell asleep around Eleven, and Fluttershy woke up first, and she woke all of us up, but she couldn’t get you or Pinkie to wake up.” Rainbow Dash was sitting in the kitchen, a cup of orange juice sitting in front of her. “Pinkie found this though, she fell asleep first.” Rainbow tossed a small clipping from a news paper from 1898. The clipping was old and ripped in some places, but unlike the map was readable.
ICE WOLF ATTACK IN TROTTINGHAM
AN EARLY WINTER COMES
After the increase in Flame Wolves this summer, a pack of ice wolves moved into an abandoned warehouse in Trottingham, causing a snowstorm to come five months ahead of schedule. After numerous attempts from weather pegasi, the Princess sent a group of top magicians from Canterlot to stop the Ice Wolves. After failed attempts with fire magic, Dawn Lulamoon used Tears of Fire, a highly dangerous and unstable form of pyro magic, known for causing insanity if used too often. The pack fled Trottingham, and Dawn Lulamoon was thanked personally by the Princess.
“But there was one thing that we couldn’t figure out… what are these... Tears Of Fire?” Rainbow had been looking over Twilight’s shoulder while she read. “And where the hay can we get them?”
"Well... I know a pony named Lulamoon... but we're not exactly on speaking terms right now."
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Written by PixelPonies
Edited by ParadoxDepy