“Spike?” Twilight softly called out as she opened the door to the tree that served as both the town library and her home.
“Who's Spike?” Thunder asked quietly. He was picturing a large, burly buck, perhaps a jealous coltfriend or overprotective brother who might take offense to Twilight bringing a strange stallion home.
“My assistant," Twilight answered. "He's still young, he's probably asleep already.”
Thunder grunted and scratched nervously at his neck. There was something bothering him. “Twilight,” he finally spoke up.
“Hm?” Twilight was distracted, using her magic to pull pillows and a blanket out of a closet.
“Why are you doing all of this?”
Twilight's magic faded and she turned to him with a confused look. “What do you mean?”
“I mean this. All of it. Why are you sticking your neck out so far for a total stranger?”
“It's just what anypony would do.” Twilight sounded truly puzzled.
Thunder snorted. “Then we know very different ponies.”
“Honestly," she clarified, "it's because you seemed like you needed a friend. When we were talking at first you seemed very nice. I don't know what got you so angry and upset, but I knew that wasn't you. Ohhh, this will make a great friendship report for the princess!” the unicorn clapped her hooves together excitedly.
“Friendship... report?” Thunder tried to keep the scorn out of his voice. It sounded like absolutely the dumbest thing he'd ever heard of.
“Yeah!” Twilight grabbed up the pillows and blanket again with her magic and started floating them up the staircase against the far wall. “Princess Celestia has me studying the magic of friendship. It's really amazing stuff. Did you know that every pony has magic inside of them? Unicorns, of course, can use their horns to cast spells, and pegasi have their flight and weather magic, but even earth ponies can tap into the magic of friendship!”
“I—” don't give a buck, he didn't say. It didn't seem like Twilight even noticed that he'd tried to speak, though.
“It's just like the old Hearth's Warming Eve story, where the three tribes banded together and used the fire of friendship to defeat the windigos.”
“Uh-huh.” Thunder's eyes were starting to glaze over. Luckily, they had now reached the top of the stairs. Twilight opened the door to reveal a room a bed with a small basket next to it. Thunder faintly heard the sound of snoring coming from the basket.
“Alright,” Twilight admitted, “it's not a guest room so much as a guest mattress. Would you be okay sleeping in the living room?”
Thunder shrugged. “Not like I have anywhere better to go. Thank you for this.”
“You don't have to keep thanking me, Thunder. If there's one thing I've learned from my studies, it's that you should always help a friend in need.”
When exactly did we become friends? Thunder kept his mouth shut and watched as Twilight magicked open a closet door and pulled a small mattress out of it. She put the sheets and pillows that she was holding in her telekinesis onto it, then transported the entire thing back out into the main room, where she tucked it into place against one of the walls.
“The bathroom is through there,” Twilight gestured to a door with her hoof, “and Owloysius will be here if you need anything.”
"Who?”
“Exactly,” Twilight giggled. She smiled at him. “Get some sleep, okay? We'll figure this whole thing out in the morning, I promise. Princess Celestia will know what to do. Good night.”
“Mhm. 'Night.” Thunder turned and walked back down the stairs.
“Oh,” Twilight stuck her head back out through the door, “and if you take any books down, make sure to put them back where they belong, okay?”
“Sure, okay.” He couldn't even remember the last time he'd read a book.
Thunder laid down and tried to relax, but sleep would not come to him. His mind was spinning with everything that had happened, and he desperately wanted to know what had become of the attempt to ambush Cacophony. On top of that, an ever-present anger sat deep in his chest like a red-hot coal. The more he tried to ignore it, the hotter it burned, searing away any hope of rest. He tossed and turned, fidgeting with directionless energy, until he finally gave up and started pacing.
With nothing else to look at, his eyes started roving the bookshelves. Not much of interest there: History books, books about magic, politics, adventure stories, books about nearly anything he could imagine. Even some books about music, which caught his attention briefly. He was just considering pulling down one of the latter when he spotted it. Right next to Elements of Harmony, a Reference Guide was a book titled An Elementary Bestiary of the Crystal Mountains. Thunder wasn't sure where he'd heard the word before, but he remembered that “bestiary” meant a book of monsters. Apart from sounding metal as Tartarus, a book like that might have something like Cacophony in it.
He carefully picked up the bestiary in his teeth and carried it to the large central table. He flipped open the book to a random page, but found himself squinting to make out any of the words. The title, embossed in large golden letters, had been easy to read in the dim light, but the small black words within faded into the darkness.
“Who.”
Thunder jumped as an owl flew over with a lit taper and applied it to a lantern next to where he sat. A soft light poured over the pages of the book, the perfect level of illumination for reading.
“Who,” the creature hooted agreeably.
“Well," Thunder said, "you must be Owloysius. I see why she keeps you around.”
The owl preened. Thunder had never imagined that a bird could look so pleased with itself. His job done for the moment, Owloysius flew back to a perch near the door that Thunder had not noticed before. He puffed out his feathers and settled in.
Thunder shook his head. This mare just got weirder by the minute.
He turned his attention to the book and found that he had opened it to a page describing a rock roc, a sort of giant crystal bird that lived high in the mountains to the north and fed on gemstones. The book detailed how flocks of rock rocs often found themselves in conflict with dragons as both attempted to lay claim to the same gems. Thunder thought that there was a kick-flank song in there somewhere, but it was a thought he set aside for later.
He flipped to the back and scanned through the index, looking for anything that sounded remotely like what he was looking for. There was nothing under “cacophony,” which did not surprise him. “Changeling” sounded interesting, and his heart jumped when he flipped to the page and found a picture of a jet-black creature that looked vaguely like a pony, but it turned out to be unrelated.
Time passed, and Thunder finally felt himself starting to nod. He was also growing very frustrated, as the Bestiary and several other books with similar titles had failed to produce any answers. He nearly threw his latest find across the room before reminding himself that these belonged to somepony else. Somepony to whom he at least owed his gratitude, if not his friendship.
Utterly spent, he laid his head down on the table. He would get over to his bed in a minute. He just had to work up the energy.
“Who are you?” a youthful voice pierced through Thunder's sleepy haze.
“Huh?” Thunder blinked his eyes open and a small purple... something... swam into view.
“You fell asleep reading, didn't you?” The creature laughed. “I've never seen anypony but Twilight do that before. I'm Spike, what's your name?”
“Thunder Growl.” Thunder tilted his head from side to side to work the kinks out. His neck cracked loudly and satisfyingly. “Twilight mentioned you, but she didn't say you were a... whatever you are."
“I'm a dragon!” Spike puffed out his chest proudly.
“So, Twilight has an owl and a dragon as her assistants? How does that happen?”
“Well," Spike explained, "she hatched me from an egg as her entrance exam into magic school. Owloysius she just kinda picked up along the way. He's more like a pet, really. I'm her number one assistant.”
Thunder smirked. Hit a nerve, did I? “Alright," he said, "if you're her assistant, then maybe you can help me with something.”
“What's up?”
“What does she like to eat?” Normally, Thunder would pick up a nice bottle of brandy or something as a thank-you, but from the way she'd talked to him before, he guessed that Twilight didn't drink.
“Huh? I was just about to make breakfast, but—”
“I'll save you the trouble," Thunder cut off the tiny dragon. "Tell me where I can get us something good to eat, I'll take care of it.”
“Well..." Spike tapped his chin with a claw. "Sugarcube Corner is always a good bet. The ursa claws there are her favorite.”
“Ursa claws. Got it.”
Twenty minutes and one very strange conversation with an almost absurdly pink mare later, Thunder returned to the library with a bag of a half-dozen ursa claws to find Twilight awake and speaking with Spike. They turned around when the door opened.
"Oh!” Twilight exclaimed when she saw the bag in his mouth, “what's this?”
“Urha haws.” Thunder set the bag down and tried again. “Ursa claws. Spike said you like them.”
Twilight looked ready to start drooling. “He was right. Thank you so much, Thunder!”
“No problem.”
They passed an agreeable fifteen minutes or so as all of them—Spike included—ate their breakfast. The ursa claws were delicious. Thunder wolfed down two in the time it took Twilight to finish her first, and had to stop himself from taking another before he was sure that Twilight and Spike had eaten their fill.
“Right.” Thunder could almost hear Twilight marking off a mental checklist as she dusted the crumbs from her hooves. “Next order of business: Spike, take a letter.”
"Yes, ma'am!” The baby dragon pulled a roll of parchment and a quill from... somewhere.
“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight dictated, “This is not one of my usual friendship reports, though I think you can expect an excellent one shortly. I am actually writing to ask about a monster that calls itself Cacophony.” With Thunder's help, Twilight described the monster and its recent actions. “Do you know anything about this creature? Anything you can tell me would be a huge help. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
Thunder watched as Spike rolled up the carefully-written letter and burned it to ash with his breath. “What was the point of writing the letter if you were just going to burn it?” he demanded.
Twilight and Spike shared an amused look. “Just watch this,” the baby dragon said. A minute or so passed, and then Spike suddenly belched out a burst of flame. Another letter appeared from within the green fire.
“What the buck?”
“Watch your language!” Twilight snapped, “Spike's still a baby dragon, you know!”
“Sorry.”
Spike unrolled the letter and cleared his throat. “My faithful student,” he began, “I see that you have met Thunder Growl.” He paused in his reading as both he and Twilight looked at Thunder, who was as surprised as either of them. Why was the princess of all Equestria concerned with him?
The baby dragon continued reading. “I have heard reports of this being called Cacophony. Based on your description and what my guards have told me, I believe it to be a gestalt.
"Geh-stalt,” Twilight corrected Spike's pronunciation. “It's a hard g.”
“Uh. Right. Ahem. It is my wish that you, Twilight, and your friends use the Elements of Harmony to bring an end to this monster's attack on our fair land and its ponies. You and Thunder Growl should be able to help one another in this time of trouble. There is a reason I placed him in your path. If Thunder Growl is there, read the following:” Spike paused and blushed as he realized that that part wasn't meant to be read aloud, “I know that things have been difficult for you lately, Thunder Growl. I know that you have lost much to this monster. I wish to reassure you that I can think of nopony better suited for the task at hand than Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and you yourself. Twice now you have faced Cacophony and escaped. Twilight and her friends will need your experience and your guidance to bring this to a swift resolution. I have absolute faith that you will defeat Cacophony and save your friends. Stay strong, and remember that nothing in this world is greater than the magic of friendship.
"I also want to reassure you both that, although the guards failed to subdue Cacophony, nopony was seriously injured in the ambush. The musicians were all flown to safety as Thunder was, and it did not attack the others.
"Twilight: I leave the rest to you. I have absolute faith that you will rid Equestria of this menace, and return the joy of song to Equestria.
"Yours, Princess Celestia.” Spike rolled up the letter and looked up to see a determined Twilight and a confused Thunder Growl.
“What does she mean she 'placed me in your path'?” Thunder asked.
“I dunno,” Spike answered, “how did you wind up in Ponyville?”
“We set up an ambush for Cacophony, and a royal guard—oh, buck me.”
“Thunder!”
“Sorry, sorry!”
“Alright. Spike,” Twilight turned to her assistant with purpose in her eyes, “I need you to go round up the others and bring them back to the library as soon as possible. I have some studying to do.”
“You got it. I'll be back in two shakes of a griffon's tail.” Spike scampered out the door.
“Alright, so I understood about half of that letter,” Thunder admitted once Spike was gone. “What was she talking about with all that stuff about Elements and friends? Also, how did you manage to get a direct response from the princess of Equestria?”
“I told you, I'm her number-one student.” Twilight seemed to practically swell with pride. “And my friends and I are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.” When that name sparked no reaction from Thunder, she elaborated. “They're magical artifacts. Each one represents a particular quality: Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Honesty, Loyalty and Magic. Mine is Magic.”
“So, wait, you have a magical artifact with the quality of being magical?”
“No." Twilight shook her head. "You don't understand. It's not just magical, it is Magic. It's the physical representation of the magic of friendship.”
That horse manure again? “Uh-huh.”
Their conversation was interrupted by an explosive crash and a shower of splinters as a prismatic blur came streaking into the room. Thunder dove under the table for cover, thinking that they were under attack. Twilight, however, stood her ground and caught the projectile in a magical field.
“Rainbow Dash!" she snapped. "How many times have I told you to use the door?”
“No time! Twilight, something really bad's happened!” The too-colorful blur was now talking nearly as fast as it had been flying.
Thunder got out from his embarrassing position, and something registered in his mind a second too late. Did she say Rainbow Dash?
“Rainbow Dash, I need you to calm down and tell me what's going on. Did Spike send you?”
“Spike?" Rainbow repeated. "No, haven't seen him. That doesn't matter! Listen Twi, something really bad happened not too far from Ponyville. I was out on weather patrol when I saw it. I don't know what it was, but it looks like there was a huge fight or something. I found this.”
The multicolored pony tossed a royal guard's golden helmet on the floor at Twilight's feet.
Twilight picked it up with her magic and examined it. “It's okay, Rainbow," she reassured her friend. "We just got a letter from the princess telling us about this. She promised that everypony is okay.” She thought for a moment. “It's just as well that you're here, I actually just sent Spike out to find you and the others. There's someone I want you all to meet, and then we have orders from the princess to carry out.”
“You sure? Well, as long as everypony's alright.” Rainbow squinted at her. “What kind of orders?”
“I'll get to that later. For now,” she waved a hoof for Thunder to come join them, “Rainbow, I want you to meet Thunder Growl. Thunder, meet Rainbow Dash.”
“Yeah, sure, nice to meet YOU!” Rainbow's jaw dropped open as she took in the pony standing in front of her. “Thunder Growl? The Thunder Growl? Omigoshomigosh, I have all of My Metal Pony's albums, you guys are so awesome!”
Thunder, who had been preparing some gushing of his own, was pleased and a bit embarrassed by her reaction. “And Rainbow Dash, I know all about you! I was just asking Twilight yesterday if you'd be willing to come do a Sonic Rainboom at one of our shows. We could get you in for free.”
Rainbow's eyes lit up like sparklers. “You want me to do a Sonic Rainboom for My Metal Pony? And you can get me in for free?!” She flew up into the air and pumped a foreleg. “Yes! This is gonna be awesome!”
“You'll do it?!” Thunder barked a laugh of pure excitement. “Buck yeah!” He held up a hoof, which Rainbow swooped down to bump.
Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes, though she couldn't hold back a smile. Leaving Rainbow and Thunder to their mutual fanfillying, she started pulling books down from the shelves.
“Let's see... gestalt, gestalt, I know I've read something about that,” she muttered as she scanned titles. A slowly growing pile of discarded books formed by her hooves. “Aha! Gestalt. See: Aggregation Spell?”
Roughly an hour later Spike flung the door open and came back in, gasping for breath. He was followed by an orange cowpony, a yellow pegasus who tried to hide behind her mane as soon as she caught sight of Thunder, the hyperactive pink pony from Sugarcube Corner, and an elegant white unicorn whom it took Thunder a moment to place. She was the one who had looked at him the night before as though he were a piece of dirt clinging to her perfect hooficure. Thunder snorted slightly upon seeing her.
“Twilight...” Spike panted, “I couldn't find... Rainbow... any—oh,” he broke off as he realized that the pony in question was already there.
“Thank you, Spike.” Twilight smiled at her assistant, then turned to the newcomers. “Everyone, I'd like you to meet Thunder Growl.”
“Nice to meetcha! I'm Pinkie Pie!” the pink one pranced over and shook Thunder's hoof.
“We met like an hour ago,” Thunder said.
"Well of course we did, silly, but meeting new friends is so nice that I wanted to meet you twice!"
“Um... hello, I'm Fluttershy,” the yellow pegasus whispered, still trying to disappear into her own hair.
“A pleasure, Mister Growl. My name is Rarity,” the pompous white unicorn gently shook the hoof that Pinkie had just let go of.
“Well, howdy!” If Rarity's hoofshake had been gentle, this one was anything but. The orange mare took Thunder's hoof in both of hers and shook for far longer than she needed to. “Ah'm Applejack. Pleased ta' make yer acquaintance!”
“Thunder Growl,” Twilight continued once the greetings were finished, “meet my friends!”
Thunder blinked, trying to process it all. “Right. Nice to meet all of you. So,” he turned back to Twilight, “why are they here?”
“Because Spike told us to come here because you got a letter from the princess saying that we should come here so Spike went to get us so that we could come here,” the pink pony was prancing in a circle around Thunder as she spoke, “because there's something called Cacophony and you need the Elements of Harmony to stop it so the princess sent a letter saying that we should stop it, so Spike told us that we should come here so that we can use the Elements of Harmony to stop Cacophony because the princess sent a letter—”
“Okay, I get it!” Thunder clapped his hooves to either side of his head to stop his eyes from spinning.
"I believe what Pinkie is trying to say,” Rarity said in her carefully cultivated accent, “is that we are here to help.”
“That's right,” Applejack chimed in, “a friend o' Twilight's is a friend o' mine. Not ta mention the whole 'makin' Equestria safe fer music again' thing.”
“See, Thunder?” Twilight lifted her muzzle out of the book she'd been reading. “The next time you face Cacophony, you'll have all of us by your side.”
“What.” Thunder's flat tone stopped all the activity dead, and six pairs of eyes—seven, including Spike—turned to stare at him. “Abso-bucking-lutely not. That thing took down an entire squad of royal guards. It's way too dangerous.”
“Uh, Thunder?” Twilight said hesitantly, “this was the plan all along. We need to be there to use the Elements so that we can stop Cacophony.”
“I didn't know what the Elements were. Tartarus, I still don't really know what they are, but you're out of your alicorn-damned mind if you think I'm going to let six ponies like you get yourselves killed for me.”
“Ponies like us?” Rarity questioned, “whatever do you mean?”
“You know,” Thunder sighed, trying to put it into words, “nice ponies, I guess.”
"But you’re a nice pony." Pinkie finally stopped her hyperactive prancing and landed next to Thunder, tilting her head in confusion.
Thunder laughed once. “I’m a lot of things, but ‘nice’ ain’t one of them.”
“Alright, tough guy,” Applejack teased, “why is it okay fer you to go fight this thing, but not us?”
“Because it’s my problem!” Thunder snapped.
“That’s ridiculous,” Twilight answered, “it’s all of Equestria’s problem.”
Rainbow Dash swooped down to hover beside Thunder. “You really don't know who we are, do you? Elements of Harmony? Most powerful magic in Equestria? Beat Nightmare Moon, Discord, King Sombra, ringing any bells?”
“Actually, the Crystal Heart defeated King Sombra—”
“Yeah, and we—well, Twilight and Spike—found the Crystal Heart!” the pegasus cut Rarity off.
"Not to mention that the orders came straight from Princess Celestia,” Twilight added. “Of course, we’d be doing this even if they hadn’t.”
“Sorry, sugar cube, looks like yer stuck with us," Applejack said smugly. "So, Twi, what exactly are we up against here?”
Thunder threw up his hooves in surrender as Twilight levitated a book over to the table. Everypony gathered around to look at the page she’d opened to.
"Princess Celestia thinks that Cacophony is a gestalt.”
“Which is what, exactly?” Rainbow asked, despite the fact that she was staring right at the description.
“Starswirl the Bearded invented a spell that would allow multiple objects to occupy the same space simultaneously, and the resulting object was called a gestalt. I never imagined that it could be used on living beings, though!” Twilight sounded horrified.
“Um,” Fluttershy asked, having picked up on Twilight’s tone, “what would that do to the ponies? Would it hurt them?”
“I’m not sure,” Twilight admitted, “but the Aggregation Spell was always unstable. Objects aren’t meant to be forced together like that.”
“Well, then what are we waiting for?” Rainbow demanded. “We find this thing, we blast it with the Elements, easy peasy one-two-threesy.”
“Thunder, do you think we could lure out Cacophony the same way you and the guards did yesterday?” Twilight asked.
Thunder shook his head disbelievingly. “I still think you’re all crazy, but yeah, I don’t see why not.”
“Great!” Rainbow exclaimed, “Go get the Elements and let’s save Equestria! Again!”
Thunder watched bemusedly as Twilight walked over to a very fancy-looking glass case set against the wall. She opened it and levitated out five necklaces and a big crown thing, giving one of the necklaces to each of the others and then setting the crown on her own head.
“Alright, ladies and gentlestallion," Twilight called out. "Let’s go!”