//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Oncoming Storms // by Magic Llama //------------------------------// As per usual, autumn in Fillydelphia brought cold evening drizzles to the small metropolis. During this particular twilight, the normally-bustling urban hub felt unusually silent as worsening weather and fading light kept everypony inside. Well, almost everypony: one lone pegasus roamed the city streets. Thunderbreeze loved the rain. He lived for the bracing shiver of ice-cold droplets seeping under his teal coat, his sodden grey mane hanging low over his eyes. He delighted in the splish that interrupted the usual clop of hooves on hard cobblestone as he stepped in a freshly formed puddle. The gentle staccato of rain on the eaves and rooftops, while a lullaby to some ponies, was the music to which his heart beat. Each drop had a special place in that heart; being the weather patrol's storm specialist, he had made every single one. The only thing that the quiet pegasus enjoyed as much as rain was going on walks. He always had lots of free time on his hooves, due to the nature of his job. Storms were usually only scheduled a couple of times a week, except maybe in the spring. Most of the time, he didn’t even have to watch or control his creations; just spend a few hours whipping one up, then let the rest of the team handle it from there. His daily schedule, therefore, was very bare. So, having nothing better to do, he walked. A few of the ponies he knew wondered why he, a strong-winged pegasus pony, would stay on the ground so much. It wasn’t that he didn’t like flying; he very much enjoyed being able to soar freely through the skies. However, his job required a lot of air-time, and sometimes, a pony needs a break. The teal pegasus found that long, slow walks through the city were quite peaceful. Sometimes he was accompanied by a friend, usually Stormcaller, but most of the time Thunderbreeze enjoyed solitude; while fun, it was hard to find peace with his talkative friend around. He knew almost every square inch of the north side of town, where his apartment was, having wandered these streets many times. Perhaps that was why, on this particular fall evening, he stopped at the entrance to an alleyway, having glimpsed something odd out of the corner of his eye. As he turned his head to peer down the alley, he spotted saw a strange object sitting at the end of the dimly-lit passage. It appeared to be a large blue box. Strangely, as he tried to focus on it, the weatherpony’s eyes began to slide away, towards the other side of the street. Noticing this, he sharply shook his head and refocused on the strange sight before him. It was more than just a box; it looked almost like a tiny stable. It seemed to have a double door with some sort of plaque on it, and what looked like an oddly-shaped light bulb perched on top. As he took a few tentative steps closer, he read the the words “Police Public Call Box” over the door. “Police?” he wondered aloud. “I wonder if this has anything to do with the FPD.” Since he technically had a government job, Thunderbreeze knew a few policeponies. They seemed to be fairly nice fellows and, like him, they didn’t have much to do all day. When you’re in a community of happy ponies who were supposedly created around the fundamental essences of harmony itself, ruled by an immortal being sworn to protect the peace, crime rates aren’t all that high. But I’ve never seen anything like this before! And why would the police put anything in a dark alley on the northern fringe of town? The teal pony cautiously began to approach the mysterious box, intent on opening the doors and looking inside, but before he was even halfway there, one of the doors opened, just a crack. A small, well-aimed scroll flew out, and he hadn't the time to even blink before it struck him right between the eyes, bouncing off his face and falling to the pavement. The door was quickly slammed shut behind it. He gaped in shock. There’s somepony in that thing! And they threw something at me! He galloped up to the box and pounded his hoof against the door, yelling, “Hey! Who’s in here?” Silence. After listening for a second, he impatiently yanked on the door handle. The door wouldn’t budge. The normally calm pegasus was now starting to get kind of angry. He pounded on the door again. Unnoticed by him, a few stray sparks flew from his hoof on impact. “I know you’re in there! Open the freaking door, or at least say something! Why did you bean me in the face?!” As he jammed his ear to the door, he could almost hear faint voices. Suddenly, a strange thrumming noise began to emanate for the blue box. A mysterious breeze picked up, swirling the raindrops as they fell through the air. With some anger replaced by fright, Thunderbreeze began to back away slowly. The thing on top of the box began flashing with light, and suddenly, he glimpsed the other end of the alley. Through the box! The whole thing began flashing and fading in and out of view. The pegasus stared, awestruck. Finally, the box disappeared altogether, leaving behind only a strange ringing in his ears and some trash floating lazily away on the mysterious draft. He just stood there, gazing blankly into the distance, his logical mind trying to comprehend what had just happened. It was all so sudden. One minute, he was enjoying a pleasant stroll, the next, he was angrily assaulting a box. A blue box. A blue box that had just disappeared in front of his very eyes. One of said eyes twitched. His mind went utterly blank as it hit its overload capacity. After standing there zoned out for nearly ten minutes, his mind arrived at the only possible conclusion. He shook his head and grinned wryly. “Well, it looks like you finally lost it, buddy. Time to get drunk and institutionalize yourself.” He turned around and began to walk back home. Until his hoof hit something. The teal pony looked down and saw a slightly soggy piece of parchment resting on the cobblestones. The pony in the box nailed me in the face with that!, he remembered. He prepared to angrily stomp on it as he walked off, but stopped himself. I wonder if it says anything interesting... maybe I can use it to figure out who that was! After a brief hesitation, he decided to read it. Resisting the urge to open it right in the middle of the alleyway, he picked it up in his mouth and began to trot home. Twenty minutes later, Thunderbreeze reached his moderately-nice second floor apartment. He unlocked the door, went in and flicked on the lights. He then proceeded to immediately make his way to the small kitchen table, where he deposited the strange scroll. Quickly grabbing a beer from the fridge, he flopped down into his lone wooden chair and carefully unrolled the scroll. It contained only a short note. Oddly, it was addressed to him. Was the pony in the box trying to give me the letter? The weatherpony took a swig of his drink, and began to read. Thunderbreeze, This is extremely important. You need to follow these instructions and do what you’re told without asking questions. Be in Ponyville, south of Canterlot, two days after you receive this letter. Go to the bakery called Sugarcube Corner at three in the afternoon. There will be somepony there that you need to meet. It’s vital that you go; the whole of Equestria may be at risk. I can’t tell you any more, or why all of this is happening, but you have to trust me. A Friend Thunderbreeze stared at the note in shock. While the message was odd, he barely noticed the content. What really caught him off-guard, to the point of not noticing as beer dribbled out the corner of his mouth, was the hoofwriting. It was his. Canterlot. The grand capitol city is one of the largest in all of Equestria, with the cliff-side Royal Palace soaring over the huge sprawl of buildings. Canterlot also happens to be the oldest city in the land. And if there’s one thing very old cities are known for, it’s holding equally old secrets. Underneath the massive urban center there lie miles and miles of ancient, crystal-laden tunnels, radiating out from the long-disused palace dungeons. Only the princesses know where they came from or why they’re there; in fact, nopony other than the royal sisters knows they exist in the first place. Well, almost nopony. Deep inside Canterlot Mountain, a shadow stirred. A small beam of light flickered into existence, illuminating the way for an amber earth pony as he crept along the tunnel wall, trying and failing to be quiet and stealthy. He tripped, falling flat on his muzzle. Quickly springing back onto his hooves, he shook dirt from his messy brown mane. He would have rubbed his throbbing nose, if not for the surgical mask fitted snugly over it. Suddenly, the light brown stallion froze. His ears perked up, and he slowly pivoted on the spot, staring intently into the shadows cast by his headlamp. Seeing nothing, he turned, took a deep breath through his mask, and began galloping down the tunnel. Navigating the poorly-lit twists and turns of the ancient crystalline passageways, he arrived in a large cavern. Sitting in the center of the room was a large blue box. “Oh, there you are, you old thing...,” the pony murmured as he slowed to a trot. “Halt!” a voice suddenly rang out. “Who is that? Is there somepony down here?” The masked pony swung about, in time to see a tattered-looking royal guard appear from the shadows. He sighed with relief; it was only a guard, after all. He trotted over to the armored pegasus. “It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters,” he said in a clipped Trottingham accent, “is where we are. We need to get out quickly. There are dangerous things in these tunnels.” He paused, eyes narrowing. “Speaking of which, what’s a palace guard doing down here?” The guard frowned. “While I was patrolling the castle grounds, I stumbled across an old passageway. I decided to investigate, to see if it was a potential security breach. But I soon lost my way in all these tunnels, and have been down here ever since.” The earth pony relaxed, and continued to approach the guard. He cast an eye over the the uniformed pony’s rusty, old armor, which didn’t even shine in the headlamp’s beam. “Really? That’s quite interesting. A secret passageway... I wonder why they haven’t.... hmm. Anyways, how long have you been trapped in here? Your uniform has, quite frankly, suffered a bit.” The armored pegasus grinned. “Sixty years.” His smile grew longer and longer, his features deforming as his grin literally stretched from ear to ear, bisecting his face. Sharp, predatory fangs flashed in the beam of light. The amber pony’s eyes widened, and he began to back away, frantically stumbling. The guard-shaped beast advanced, its green eyes flashing gold. The messy-maned earth pony glanced over his shoulder at the box. If he could just... no. Around the edges of the cave, golden eyes opened, peering out of the shadows. The deformed pegasus was almost upon him now. It chuckled darkly. “Now, now, you know that nothing can run from Moboids forever,” the thing smoothly spoke in a deep, cold, alien voice. “Not even you...Doctor.” The former guard lashed out. The last thing the brown pony saw was its cracked, peeling hoof with unshorn fetlocks swinging towards his head. Then darkness fell, and he remembered no more. “So let me get this straight. You saw a blue box in an alley, somepony inside chucked a scroll at your head, and the box disappeared. You read the scroll, and it told you to shut up and go to Ponyville tomorrow. Right?” queried Lightning Rod. He, Thunderbreeze, and Stormcaller were sitting at the corner table of their favorite bar the following evening. After re-reading the letter multiple times, Thunderbreeze had crashed on his couch and slept until noon. He had spent the whole afternoon trying to wrap his head around what had happened, and decided to tell his two best friends, whose opinions he trusted as much as his own. Preferably in the presence of alcohol. Thunderbreeze nodded, tossing the scroll onto the table. “Yeah, that about sums it up. Here’s the letter. Oh, and one more thing. You may recognize- uh... my hoofwriting.” The baker and the engineer stared, then glanced at each other. Stormcaller reached for the scroll and opened it. “But... how... how can it be written by you? Th- that’s... just... huh?” stammered Lightning Rod. The pegasus shrugged, and took a deep gulp of whiskey. The white unicorn seamed to snap out of it, and looked back to Thunderbreeze. “Well, ignoring that part for now, there’s one other question that you should be asking. Why Ponyville? What’s in that little village that’s so important?” Stormcaller, still reading, gasped, his eyes widening dangerously. He looked up from the letter and exclaimed “Sugarcube Corner! That’s what’s so important!” The other two ponies stared. “You’ve heard of it?” Thunderbreeze hadn’t even heard of the town, much less the bakery he was told to go to. “Of course I’ve heard of Sugarcube Corner! What baker hasn’t? It’s legendary for having the bestest, most super-delicious sweets and pastries in all of Equestria! Forget the ominous letter, you should go to Ponyville just to experience their cakes! And fritters! And cupcakes! And muffins! And flans! And...” Lightning Rod and Thunderbreeze blocked him out and turned towards each other. “You know,” the unicorn engineer began, “Storm did bring up a good point somewhere in that train wreck. It says to go to Ponyville tomorrow. Are you going to do it?” The weatherpony stared off into space for few moments. “Well, while I’m completely confused and unsure about this, I don’t really have a reason not to go. There isn’t another squall scheduled for nearly a week, so it’s not like I’ll be doing much of anything anyway. And I can’t see any harm coming from a visit to a supposedly famous bakery in a town near Canterlot. I might get to figure out what the heck is going on. And if not, it sounds like I’ll at least get some good food. And, honestly, I'm really bored.” They both glanced at Stormcaller, who was listing off stranger and stranger foods. “So yeah, I’ll probably go. Do you guys want to come with me?” “...And chimicherrychangas and jammy dodgers and... wait, what? Go with you? You want me to go to Sugarcube Corner with you?!” the blue pegasus was practically vibrating in his seat. But then he froze, and slowly deflated. “Sorry, I can’t. I used up all of my vacation days when I went to Manehatten last month. I guess you’ll have to go to Ponyville... without me,” he sighed. Thunderbreeze shrugged, and turned to Lightning Rod. “How about you, Lightning? Up for an adventure? Possibly even in the name of science?” A slight smile crept onto the white pony’s face. “Actually, I just so happen to have a date tomorrow night,” he grinned. Stormcaller perked up. “Ooh, ooh, who is it? How’d you meet her?” “Well, that’s kind of a long story. A few nights ago, I heard that DJ Pon3 was going to be in town, so, being a big fan, I went to that new club. And while I was there I met this...” Thunderbreeze quietly excused himself, and wandered out into the cool evening. Maybe a nice walk would clear his head, something that more booze would not accomplish. He roamed the ever-so-familiar streets of north Fillydelphia, lost in thought. Luna’s moon began to peer over the tall buildings, the last orange streaks of day slowly fading to blue off in the west. It was a beautiful evening, and, unlike the previous day, many ponies were out and about, enjoying the weather. Back in the bar he had decided to follow the note’s instructions. But now that he knew that none of his friends would be with him, he was beginning to become a little nervous. While he enjoyed solitude during his walks and daily routine, Thunderbreeze had always been a bit awkward and reliant on others in new situations. New situations like, say, going alone to a small town that he barely recognized, based on the outright demands of a strange letter that appeared to be from himself. The last part mystified him most of all, and was perhaps the most frightening aspect. Was it from a forger, trying to steal his identity? Did he somehow have a clone, or perhaps an evil twin? No, that only happens on TV. Did he actually write the note himself and then lose his memory? None of the explanations seemed at all feasible. And then there was the blue box. The more he pondered, the more doubt and confusion sprang into his head. And then he stopped. His hooves had automatically carried him back to the alley from the previous night. The weatherpony stared down the long, poorly-lit side street. It was empty. He remembered the box, how it had sat next to the graffiti-covered dumpster just thirty feet away. He turned onto the alleyway and walked until he stood in the exact spot where the blue box had stood only twenty-four hours previously. It was just like the rest of the alley: dark, damp, dirty, and desolate. Thunderbreeze made up his mind. He absolutely had to find out what that thing was. He had to find out why the letter was in eerily familiar hoofwriting. Burning curiosity drove all doubt to the back of his mind. The teal pony turned on the spot and began determinedly trotting back in the direction of his apartment. He passed more ponies out enjoying the fresh night, and subsequently ignored them. When he arrived at his apartment, he went straight to an old, battered desk that had belonged to his father, sitting in the corner of his small bedroom. The pegasus quickly slid open a large drawer, and began to shuffle through the assorted papers that almost spilled from the overflowing compartment. Near the bottom was the item that he was searching for. He pulled out the old train schedule and squinted at the tiny words and numbers. “Let’s see... weekday schedule, morning routes... outbound, to Canterlot...” He spotted two morning trains. The first one he found was at eleven a.m. He shook his head. That would be cutting it pretty close. The other time was... 7:30. He winced. Thunderbreeze was most definitely not a morning pony. To him, ten o’ clock was considered early: even flying, he was still a good half hour from the downtown train station! Still, it was the only way he’d get there on time. He let out an audible groan. Glancing at the clock, he sighed, stretched out his legs and wings, and flopped backwards onto his bed. Laying there, he stared sullenly at those annoying little cracks on his ceiling. I ’d better get some sleep, he thought as he closed his eyes. Tomorrow, I’m going to Ponyville. A/N: Wow. I can't believe I'm doing this. I've never written a fic before. Heck, I haven't really written anything before. But with the encouragement of a certain group of people (you know who you are :D), this little thing that I started handwriting during math class is becoming a reality. Special thanks to my prereaders, LordSeth, Avi, and thegamefilmguruman; plus the rest of you guys.