Ditzy Doo was taking a page from Rainbow Dash's playbook, napping on a cloud under the warm sun. After delivering the day's mail, dropping off the outgoing mail at the post office, and passing by the school to wave at her daughter, she found herself with a solid hour to kill before Dinky got home. It was a sunny Autumn day with a few clouds scattered through the bright blue sky, and she'd found a small, puffy cumulus close enough to the school that the bell would wake her up. Ditzy scrunched up some of the cloud for more support under her chin and stretched out her wings to feel the breeze.
Her eyes popped open as her entire body went rigid, a trace of cold sweat forming on her brow.
The breeze.
She couldn't put her hoof on it, but something in the air was wrong. Despite the warm afternoon, something had chilled her to the bone. She stretched out her wings to their full reach and tried to feel for it with her feathers, but it was gone. As disturbing as it had been, the strange, evil chill had lasted only a brief moment.
Ditzy did her best to dismiss it and snuggle back down into her cloud. Whatever it was, it was gone now.
When she felt it again, she leapt into the air in a single stroke of her wings, eyes darting around in panic. And then it was gone again. She tensed, counting the seconds as she did between seeing lightning and hearing its thunder.
The chill struck her again. One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand... When she reached six, it came again. She counted again from one, and this time it came on seven. The time after that, on five. She wasn't sure if it was because her counting speed was inconsistent, or the chill itself was varying in frequency, but it wasn't slowing down, it wasn't getting any weaker, and it wasn't stopping.
Every six seconds, give or take, the calm air carried with it an ominous, threatening undercurrent, each one no longer than a heartbeat. Or a wingbeat, she thought to herself.
"This is bad." She felt her eyes start to swivel away from each other, but shook her head and willed them back into place. She could feel her mind trying to retreat from the stress, to withdraw and cower in panic, but she forced herself to focus. If it's something dangerous, I need to keep it together and protect Dinky. She took several deep, practiced breaths, and laid things out logically. A sense of danger on the wind. Atmospheric disturbance. Who to talk to?
"The weather team. They'll know what to do."
Rainbow Dash stretched out on her sofa, Tank comfortably asleep on her stomach, and the latest issue of Meteorology Monthly open on her face, fluttering as she snored. A sudden banging sound shocked her out of a pleasant, if confusing, dream about Soarin and Spitfire, and she tumbled to the floor along with her magazine and pet tortoise. They both took approximately the same amount of time to process what had happened, as the banging repeated itself.
She set Tank back on his legs and answered the door, eyes briefly widening in surprise at the sight of Ditzy about to start knocking for a third time.
"Oh, hey." Rainbow rubbed the sleep out her eyes. "Did those records I ordered... come... in?" She gradually noticed that Ditzy wasn't carrying her mailbags and had a distressed, nearly panicked look on her face. "What's wrong?"
"I... There's... The wind..." Ditzy scrunched her eyes shut and breathed deep. "I don't actually know what's wrong, but... I can feel something in the wind. I don't know how to describe it. It's like a chill, but it's not actually cold. And it's regular, every six seconds or so. It's really freaking me out."
Rainbow Dash blinked a few times, trying to process what she'd heard. "Um, what?"
Ditzy sighed, and grabbed at her foreleg. "Just come outside for a minute."
"Okay, okay! I'm coming!" As much as she wanted to get back to her nap, she could tell that Ditzy was upset, so she decided to at least hear her out. Once they were outside, she waited as patiently as she could for Ditzy to explain herself.
"Alright. Now just stretch out your wings and try to feel the currents, like I'm doing, okay?"
Rainbow raised a skeptical eyebrow at her, but complied. She watched Ditzy nod her head slightly, as if counting.
"There! Did you feel that?"
"Feel what?"
"I'm sure you'll know it when you feel it." She nodded a few more times. "Aaand... now!"
"Nothing. Sorry."
"Dang! I know it's subtle, but as the head meteorologist around here I thought for sure you'd be able to feel it."
Rainbow looked around nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. "Are you certain there's, well, actually anything there to feel?"
"Yes I'm certain!" She angrily pointed a forehoof at her cutie mark. "Subtle air currents are my thing, remember? And if you say 'I thought that was for your bubbly brain' I swear I will knock your teeth down your throat!"
Rainbow Dash snapped her mouth shut like a trap and took a step back. "Alright! I'll take your word for it! Jeez, what's gotten into you, Ditzy?"
"That... wind has gotten into me!" Ditzy's wings drooped, and her eyes started to diverge. It was just too much work to keep them straight anymore. "I can't explain it, Dash, and I know it sounds crazy... But I swear on my life, my wings and my love for my daughter, whatever is causing it is dangerous. And I can't protect my little muffin from something if I... if I don't even know what it is."
That, at least, was something Rainbow Dash could understand: Doing everything in your power to protect your loved ones. She looked down at the frightened pegasus and felt that familiar fire start to build up in her chest. If it was a threat to Dinky, it was a threat to her friends, too.
"Alright." The sudden steel in her voice surprised Ditzy. "I still can't feel it, so I'm no help figuring it out. But I know who will. Come on, we're going to the library."
Twilight Sparkle was laying on the balcony, legs neatly tucked underneath her, reading intently. The scientific discoveries she read about, and the promise of more to come, filled her with as much glee as a trashy romance novel did for Rarity. Her ears twitched as something intruded on her academic reverie, but she brushed it off. Whatever it was insisted on repeating itself, but she didn't care. This was... bliss.
"Twilight!"
"AAAH!" She jumped back in a panic, magically raising her magazine in front of herself as a shield. She blinked, and relaxed when she saw that it was Rainbow Dash who'd shouted at her, and that she was accompanied by Ditzy Doo. "Jeez! You don't have to shout."
"Uh, yeah, I did! I tried calling your name, like, a dozen times, but all you did was twitch your ears."
So that's what that was, she thought, blushing. "Eh-heh. Sorry. Scientific Equestrian just put out a special double issue all about astronomy! Apparently our solar system's been inside a huge interstellar dust cloud for as long as we've been studying the stars, and we thought that was just the normal interstellar medium, but it seems to be passing us by. They're starting to make all kinds of new observations now that there's less dust in the way, and--"
"Yeah, I'm sure it's all very interesting and you can tell me about it later..." Twilight knew from Dash's tone that 'later' would never come, but to be fair she had been starting to ramble. "But we've got a problem."
Twilight invited the two of them in and led them down to the main room of the library, where she listened to Rainbow relate everything Ditzy had told her about the chill on the wind so that the increasingly-distressed mare wouldn't have to try to articulate it.
Twilight looked at the grey pegasus with concern. "Well, considering your special talent, it's hardly surprising that you'd be the first to feel it. Can you tell if it's getting stronger?"
Ditzy was relieved that she took her at her word without argument. "I'm... not sure. Maybe? Maybe not." She scrunched her eyes. "I... I dunno."
Twilight reached out a reassuring hoof to her shoulder. "Hey, it'll be okay. We'll figure this out. Now, can you tell what direction it's coming from?"
"I'll try." Ditzy stepped outside and stretched her wings, turning in different directions. After a minute or so, she came back in, pointing a hoof. "Kinda thataway-ish."
"So roughly South by Southwest." Twilight looked back upstairs, relieved that her telescope was already at the window facing that direction. She grabbed an atlas off a nearby shelf. "Let's take a look."
The pegasi crowded around Twilight as she leveled the telescope and slowly scanned the horizon. "No smoke or fires, no volcanic activity that I can-- what the hay!" Twight pulled back from the eyepiece, checked the angle on the dial, and studied the topographical map before looking through the telescope again.
"What is it?" Ditzy asked nervously.
"There's... a mountain there."
Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow at Twilight. "So? There's mountains all around."
"But not in that direction. At least there aren't any on the map." She quickly flipped to the title page of the atlas and checked the listed dates. "Unless the Royal Cartographer's Guild let a bunch of fresh interns put this together, that mountain didn't exist as of last April! And considering that the scientific press hasn't printed word one about a new mountain appearing out of nowhere, I'm willing to bet that it wasn't there as of yesterday."
The two pegasi shared a worried look. "So..." Rainbow said, "that's weird, right?"
"Very, very weird." Twilight gasped, her eye still at the telescope. "Ditzy, you said it was about a six second interval, right?"
"Yeah. Why?"
Twilight's lips moved slightly as she silently counted to six. Then again. And again. Finally, she raised her head. "I think I see what's causing it. But I'm not sure what it is."
Ditzy rushed over to look for herself, careful not to disturb the delicate instrument. She saw the mountain, tall and jagged, dark stormclouds gathered around its peak. She wasn't sure what Twilight had been talking about, but then she saw it. A dark speck hung in the sky, slowly circling the mountain. It slowly glided downwards, then jerked upwards for a brief moment, only to resume its descent. Then, about six seconds later, it jerked up again.
Ditzy drew back from the telescope, trembling. Rainbow Dash gently nudged her aside to look for herself for several seconds, then stepped back. "Wingbeats." She swallowed hard. "She's feeling its wingbeats."
"What is it?" Ditzy asked. "A dragon?"
Twilight sighed. "I don't know. I guess it could be, but I've never heard of them having such an effect on the air, even from up close. The green dragon in the Everfree Forest, and the red one that tried to lair in the nearby mountains, they never affected you like this, did they?"
Ditzy shook her head. "No... All I felt from them was wind. And even then, not from very far away." She shuddered. "This... It's not like I'm even feeling anything different about the airflow, or the temperature. It's more like, well, the flavor of the air. I mean, if you could taste the air with your feathers. I'm not making any sense, am I." Her inflection made it clear that it wasn't really a question.
"No, I think I get it." Ditzy looked at Rainbow Dash in surprise. "It's like the charge in the air before a thunderstom?"
"Yeah... Yeah, it is. Not exactly the same sensation, but similar, I guess."
"So if it's not a dragon, what is it?" Rainbow asked.
"I have no idea. Dragons are the largest known flying creatures in the world. I suppose it could be a very unusual dragon, maybe a very magically potent one. Their magic isn't like ours, but they use it to fly and breathe fire, and according to some reports, do stranger things. This is pure speculation, but a truly ancient dragon could be powerful enough that it would send out a strong magical ripple with each stroke of its wings."
"Maybe..." Ditzy didn't seem satisfied with the explanation. "I've felt magic in the air, like when Rainbow Dash did that sonic rainboom, but this doesn't feel remotely the same. Maybe it's just that dragon magic is so different, but..." She shook her head. "Let's just say I hope you're right, because I don't want to think about what it could mean if you're wrong."
Rainbow looked nervously towards the horizon. "So what now?"
"Now? Well, school will be out soon, so Ditzy, you should probably go get your daughter and make sure she gets home safe. If you notice anything new or different, no matter how minor, let me know right away. And if I learn anything more, I'll let you know. Rainbow, you should get the weather team together and brief them. If this feeling on the wind gets any stronger, they'll likely be the first to notice it besides Ditzy, and that will probably mean it's coming closer. We need as much data as we can get, so make sure they know what to watch for." Twilight lifted and closed the atlas, and started downstairs. "I'm going to do some more research, see if I can find any mention of similar phenomena. And I'm going to write the princess."
Spike came back from the market, laden with groceries. "Hey Twi. Got everything on the list except parsnips, somepony else got all the good ones. I picked up some extra carrots instead."
"That's fine, Spike. You're the cook, I trust your judgment." Twilight's voice carried a detached tone that Spike immediately recognized: Research blitz.
Setting the large bag down on the table, he could finally see Twilight surrounded by an array of open books, spread out in what Rarity liked to call 'organized chaos'. He remembered how much Twilight had liked the phrase when she heard it, and how well it described her study habits. Looking around, he saw books on geology, meteorology, zoology, metaphysics and history. Usually he could get some idea of what she was after by the subjects she cross-referenced, but this time he was at a loss. "Cramming for a trivia contest?" he asked with a smirk.
Rather than laugh, or even smile, she just turned a page and kept reading. "It's complicated. There's a letter on my desk I need you to send to the princess; it's all spelled out in there, so feel free to read it first."
Spike was officially worried. This wasn't fun studying, this was emergency studying. Spike never doubted Twilight when she was worried, not since blowing off her concerns about the Nightmare Moon prophecy. If Twilight thought there was a problem, odds were she was right.
Spike unrolled the scroll on Twilight's desk and began to read. Slowly, his eyes grew wide and his pupils shrank to pinpricks. His breathing became rapid and shallow. Mysteriously appearing mountains? Huge flying monster? An evil chill on the wind? It... No way. It can't be. "Heheh... You're pulling my leg, right, Twi?"
Twilight looked up at him, confused. "Why would I joke about this?"
Spike gulped. Either she's serious, or she's really going the extra mile for the gag. "Well, I mean... This can't be real. It... No way."
"Just because it's outside our experience doesn't mean it's not real, Spike. Remember the whole Pinkie Sense fiasco?"
Spike faceclawed. "No! that's not what I... I mean this, this specific thing, there's no way it can be real."
Twilight rolled her eyes and groaned. "Fine. come on." She led him to the telescope, still aimed at the mountain. "Take a look."
This is a long way to go to get a ring of ink around my eye, Spike thought as he looked through the eyepiece. He immediately jumped back, alternately staring at the telescope and the horizon. Pure, elemental fear was painted on his face.
"Spike! What's wrong?"
"You put a spell on the telescope, right, Twi? You did, you cast an illusion on it so I'd see that mountain and the flying monster." His breathing became ragged. "Well done, Twi, well done. Prank of the year, no doubt. Pinkie and Dash will be jealous. Now make it stop."
"Spike... Do you know something about this?"
Spike felt himself getting faint, and forced his breathing back to something slightly more regular. "It's... not a prank, is it."
Twilight shook her head, the concern on her face growing. "Spike, if you know something, please. You have to tell me."
Spike's jaw flapped uselessly, before he gave up on attempting to speak and went to the nightstand beside his and Twilight's beds. Opening the bottom drawer, he pulled out a digest-sized paperback book and handed it to her.
Twilight lifted the book in front of her with her magic. The cover showed a lonely, jagged mountain jutting up from the sea amidst a stormy sky, and a strange, dragon-like beast flying near the peak. The title read Tales of Terror: Classic Stories by H. P. Clopcraft.
Twilight had occasionally teased Spike about his taste in books, but was secretly pleased to see him read more, regardless of what it was. Now, she looked at the book in a new, and disturbing, light. "Spike... You're telling me that this situation occurred in one of Clopcraft's stories?"
"Well... not exactly, maybe. But it's similar."
At such news, Spike could have expected many different reactions from Twilight. Fear. Despair. Even frustrated dismissal. He would never have expected joy.
"Spike!" She grinned brightly at him, her eyes shining. "This is GREAT news!"
"Say what now?"
"This kind of similarity suggests that Mr. Clopcraft took inspiration for his stories from real life! That means that actual records of this creature probably exist somewhere! If we can find where Clopcraft got his ideas, maybe we can find some real, useful information! Oh, this is wonderful. I hadn't been able to find anything in my research, I was so worried that it was something never encountered before and we'd be flying blind, but now I have a real lead!" She lunged towards Spike craning her neck around him and wrapping a foreleg around his back in an overjoyed hug. "Oh thank you, Spike! I'll never say a derisive word about your taste in literature again!"
"Twilight, this isn't good news!" Spike angrily forced his way out of her embrace. "If Clopcraft's stories are accurate, that... monster is going to destroy the world and there's nothing we can do to stop it!"
Twilight's smile fell and her eyes softened. "Oh, Spike," she said soothingly, "Clopcraft was a horror writer. I'm sure he was just exaggerating. And this doesn't change what that creature is, or where it came from, or why it's suddenly active. It just gives us more information. And that is always a good thing."
Spike began to relax. What she was saying made sense, he knew, and the visceral terror he felt when he first read the letter was beginning to fade. He took a deep breath. "You're right. There's no need to go all scatological until we know more."
"I think you mean 'eschatological'. At least I hope you do."
"Why, what'd I say?"
"Never mind. I need to add something to that letter." Twilight bounded down the stairs to her desk and lifted her quill again.
P.S.: Spike says this entire situation is highly reminiscent of the work of horror author H. P. Clopcraft. The similarities appear strong enough to suggest that Mr. Clopcraft had some actual knowledge of the phenomenon at hand, although he may not have realized there was any truth to it. If we can determine the sources from which he drew the inspiration for his stories, it may lead us to more reliable primary sources about the creature, its nature, and its intentions. I will continue my own research, and look forward to whatever insights you may be able to provide, and if this does present a threat to Equestria, I hope that I have been able to provide information that will be useful in our defense.
Y.F.S., Twilight Sparkle
Twilight rolled up the scroll and sealed it. "All right, send it."
Spike picked up the letter and breathed out a narrow jet of flame, incinerating it. They both watched the glittering green smoke drift out the window and disperse on the wind, wondering how long the response would take. While they waited, Twilight returned to her books and Spike started to put the groceries away.
About fifteen minutes later, Spike felt a familiar rumble in his stomach. Turning away from the carrots he was chopping, he belched forth a gout of green fire which burned in reverse to produce a scroll. Snatching it from the air, he unrolled it, and the fears which Twilight had so logically dispelled began to resurface with his first glance at the script on the page.
Twilight cantered into the kitchen at the sound of the arriving message. "Oh, she wrote back already?" Her smile vanished when she saw Spike's face. He handed the scroll to her, and she gingerly floated it towards herself and unrolled it.
In every letter Twilight had ever received from her, Princess Celestia's script had always been neat and precise, no matter the circumstances. But this time, it was a mess. It was perfectly legible, but letters were uneven, stroke weights varied erratically, and the lines of text were oddly angled. And yet, it was still recognizably Celestia's own writing. The only time Twilight had ever seen her mentor write so messily was when writing notes for herself. Even the shopping lists she wrote for the kitchen staff were immaculate.
The only possible explanation was that she had been in a terrible hurry when she wrote the letter, and that frightened Twilight far more than the actual words it contained.
Twilight,
That alone was worrying. Not "My Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle", just "Twilight".
Thank you for your letter. We were already aware as of this morning of the sudden appearance of the mountain and the creature flying around it, as well as the connection to Mr. Clopcraft. However, word of your friend's ability to sense a disturbance in the air that corresponds to its wingbeats was surprising, and potentially useful, so I thank you for it. If you learn anything more, please write again. I would like to compare notes more thoroughly, but I haven't the time. I can tell you that the mountain you saw is in fact an island in the deep ocean beyond the Everfree Forest.
That can't be right, Twilight thought to herself. For us to be able to see that thing from so far away, even with my telescope... It must be huge.
In truth, I was beginning to prepare a letter to you when I received yours. Your concerns, and Spike's, are valid. This being, which we are referring to for the moment as "the kraken", does present a grave threat to Equestria, and we are currently organizing our defenses. To that end, I have a task for you which may be instrumental in the defense of Ponyville.
I have enclosed a diagram of a geometric symbol which our intelligence suggests is an effective defense against the creature and its ilk. I need you to draw this symbol on the streets of Ponyville, so that it will be visible from the skies above, even at a great altitude. I have sketched below a possible layout, but feel free to change it if you can find a better fit. Since we are not sure how well the creature can see at night, I would suggest you enchant the symbol so that it will glow in the dark.
The symbol itself I have drawn in black, and the measurements I added in red. It is allegedly effective at any scale at which the creature may see it clearly, but I cannot stress this enough: the proportions of each element of the design must be maintained. Our intelligence indicates that the greater the precision, the more effective the ward. At the scale of the included diagram, a difference of a hair's breadth could cut its effectiveness in half.
I urge you to give in to your meticulous, detail-focused nature for this task. Do not let anypony tell you that you are being "too fussy" or that it is "good enough". Even if nopony else can see the difference, do what you feel you need to and tell any critics to stuff a sock in it. In fact, tell them that I told you to say that. Just try to have it completed before nightfall. If the creature does approach Equestria, Ponyville will likely be one of the first settlements it will encounter.
I know these instructions will make no sense to you. I know that you will want to argue and debate and pick it apart fact by fact. But I beg of you, Twilight, just accept it for now and do as I ask. I will explain when I get the chance, but right now I simply do not have the time.
Until we next meet, know that Luna and I love you and all your friends very much, and we're both very proud of you.
Celestia
Twilight read the letter a second time, certain that she had to have misunderstood. She hadn't. You're right about one thing, Princess, it makes no sense to me.
She looked down at the symbol that was supposed to protect Ponyville. Its geometry was simple, at least. A single diagonal line went from the bottom left to the top right, and a few other lines branched from it horizontally and vertically. The lengths of the lines varied, and each one, including the main diagonal, bore another shape at the end, one a square, another a triangle, and the others one or more circles. She had no idea what this strange glyph was meant to represent, or how it would protect the town. Symbols and incantations don't make magic, that's all just superstition! She wanted to scream out every logical flaw in this plan. She wanted to write a dissertation on how wrong it was, and how badly misinformed the princess had to be to think that it would work, and send it to her and wait for the real plan. She imagined that this must be how Spike had felt when he read the letter she'd written, the certainty that what it said simply couldn't be true, because if it was, then nothing made any sense anymore.
She reread the second-to-last paragraph. She knew I'd react like this, she realized, and she asked me to do it anyway.
Confused and conflicted, she reread the very end. Despite the optimism in the phrase "until we next meet", Twilight couldn't shake the feeling that it was the kind of thing you told someone you didn't expect to ever see again. The kind of thing you said when you were saying goodbye for what might be forever.
Twilight didn't realize she'd started to cry until she saw a tear land on the hastily-drawn map of Ponyville with the protective symbol in its streets. Sniffing and wiping her eyes, she studied the map. She might be able to place the symbol better, but it would take time. Better to get started right away.
"Spike", she croaked out, "take a letter."
Spike was at the desk in a flash, paper and quill in hand.
Dear Celestia,
You can count on me. And we all love you, too.
Twilight
Spike looked up at her. "That's it?"
"That's all that's necessary. Send it."
Spike burned the letter and looked expectantly at Twilight. The doubt and fear on her face had been replaced by steely resolve.
"Grab my saddlebags. We've got work to do."