“How many of them are there?”
Mayor Mare was staring at Twilight, her jaw slightly slack in a suppressed yawn. She had just woken up.
“We’ve found about forty in the town so far,” the purple mare answered.
“How long can the pegasi keep up the storm?”
Twilight paused for a moment. “Rainbow Dash said that most of the clouds probably had a couple hours left in them, but she wasn’t sure. She’s up there now coordinating the weather patrol. We should have a better number soon.”
“And the other ponies?” The mayor turned and looked out of her bedroom window. The street in front of her house was empty, save for a few of the red insects that scurried across it.
“Already rounded up in the town hall,” Twilight answered. “It’s on the opposite side of the river, so it should take the bugs a while to get to it.”
“What about our buildings?”
“We haven’t had any burn down so far. I have a few volunteer earth ponies on firefighting duty, and Pinkie’s helping them with her Pinkie sense. They seem to be doing well at keeping small fires under control. The storm’s handling the rest.”
The mayor was silent for a few moments.
Turning back to Twilight, she asked, “Is there anything I can do?”
Twilight hesitated. “You can go to the town hall. Try to calm ponies down a bit, maybe.”
“I’ll do that,” the brown earth pony said, nodding. “It seems you have everything else under control.”
“We still don’t know what these things are or where they’re coming from,” Twilight said. “It could get a lot worse.”
“Nopony in town knows?”
“I even asked Fluttershy.”
Twilight glanced towards the yellow mare on the other side of the room. She was still cowering under the mayor’s writing desk.
“And,” she continued, shaking her head, “I already sent off a letter to Canterlot. Princess Celestia said that the royal library is being searched for information as we speak. I doesn’t seem likely that they’ll find anything, though.”
“Are there any other options?”
“Not that I can–”
“We could always try an’ ask Zecora,” Applejack interrupted.
Twilight was quiet for a second. “Oh,” she said, “I didn’t think of her.”
The purple mare faced her two friends. “Applejack, Fluttershy, follow me. We’ve got to get to Zecora’s. If anypony knows what these things are, it’ll be her. We’ll pick up Rarity along the way.”
Fluttershy squeaked. “Into the Everfree Forest?”
“Yes, Fluttershy. The Everfree Forest.”
“Come on,” Applejack said, trotting over to the mare under the desk and pulling her up by a hoof. “We don’t have time fur this nonsense. Get movin’.”
Fluttershy only squeaked again.
“Watch out!”
Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy ducked as red blob shot over their heads and impacted against the wall of a nearby house.
The purple mare looked up. Sweetie Belle was standing beside her older sister in front of the Carousel Boutique, her legs braced in a wide stance and her horn lowered. Rarity looked much the same, only her horn was glowing.
It was Sweetie Belle who had warned them.
Twilight watched as Rarity blasted the bugs left and right away from her business.
“Oh no. You’re not burning so much as one more of my dresses,” the fashionista growled.
The bugs continued swarming towards the building. Scores of them.
Sweetie Belle was backing away from her sister slowly, eyeing the incoming wave of creatures with increasing worry.
“Rarity,” she said. “Rarity, there’s too many. Rarity!”
Her sister ignored the warnings.
“And you are never going to touch my little sister!”
Twilight ducked again as clumps of rock, dirt, and red insect littered the walls behind her. There was no way she was getting close enough to Rarity to talk to her, much less to convince her to abandon her boutique.
“Let’s go, girls!” she shouted over the roar of the storm. “Rarity can handle herself!”
Twilight pushed open the door into Zecora’s hut. She had not taken the time to knock.
Fluttershy bolted past her and into the space’s warm interior. She was shivering, though not from the forest’s cold, damp ambiance.
“Zecora?” Twilight called as Applejack followed her inside. “Zecora?”
The zebra, slightly startled, cantered out of her bedroom.
“Oh. Twilight Sparkle and friends. My home, to you, a warm welcome always extends. My, what is that creature you have there? It looks like something of which you should beware.”
Zecora was eyeing the small red creature that Twilight held in her magic. It faced the Zebra and gnashed its jaws. The zebra did not even blink, though a puzzled expression overtook her complexion.
“Then you don’t know what it is?” Twilight asked, looking between the bug and the zebra.
“No, I’m afraid I do not. But out my door, do not trot.”
“Why, what do you know?”
“Stay awhile,” Zecora urged, “Let us share a worthwhile smile.”
“That’s a nice idea,” Fluttershy said in a shaky whisper, “I would really like to stay.”
Applejack glared at the yellow mare. “Nonsense. We don’t have time. Ponyville’s only got a few hours left!”
“I’m really sorry, Zecora,” Twilight said.
Turning for the door, she continued, “But Applejack’s right. We don’t have time to stay. We need to figure out what these things are and where they are coming from before it’s too late.”
Zecora perked up a bit. “With finding the origin of the little whelp, I believe I might be able to help.”
“How so?” asked Twilight.
“Place it outside and watch where it goes. With a bit of magic, it may just return to the home it knows.”
Twilight paused for a second before saying, “That’s a good idea.”
“Thank ya kindly, Zecora,” said Applejack, pushing Twilight and Fluttershy towards the door of the hut. “I promise Twi’ll visit ya later, but we really must be leavin’ now.”
“I would really like to stay,” whimpered the yellow mare as Applejack forced her out into the damp of the Everfree Forest.
Twilight Sparkle pushed a soggy branch out of her face and looked back at the ground. It felt like they had been following the red bug for hours.
At first, the creature had appeared to be returning to Ponyville, but about halfway there, it had taken an abrupt turn deeper into the Everfree Forest.
She had seen several more of the strange creatures, too. All of them had been traveling in the opposite direction as the ponies, towards Ponyville. Everywhere, she could see small patches of scorched ground and burnt leaves. If they had lost track of the bug, it would not have been hard for them to follow the marks instead.
Twilight hastily shoved aside another branch that was blocking her way. She was running at nearly a full canter to keep up with the insect. What she saw caused her to stop abruptly.
Applejack galloped up beside the purple mare.
“Well,” the orange farmpony said with a sigh, “I’d say we’ve found it.”