The crisp weather and slightly overcast sky above served to highlight the time of year as Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash made their way towards the market square. The streets of Ponyville were littered with numerous multi-hued leaves from the trees dotting the community (most of them coming from the library, it being the largest and tallest tree in Ponyville) whose foliage had turned the beautiful shades of orange, red, and yellow typical with the coming of the colder fall months. The delicate leaves crunched underhoof as the two friends walked along.
Looking up, Twilight observed the sight of several pegasi swooping to and fro in the skies above Ponyville. Large teams of the winged ponies were seen pushing rather large dark-looking cloud embankments into position, with others helping with the coordination of said task. It struck Twilight as to just how large the stormcloud embankment was getting. It seemed to stretch far beyond the vicinity of Ponyville alone.
“Wow. They weren’t kidding when they said this one was going to be one big storm we’ll be getting tonight,” Twilight said, stating her thoughts to Rainbow, who was walking beside her.
“Yeah, I know, right?” Rainbow answered, casting an eye up to look at the spectacle above. “Pretty impressive, huh?” she asked turning to grin at Twilight.
“I’ll say,” Twilight stated simply in a tone of amazement. “It looks like this goes far beyond Ponyville alone.”
“You’d be right about that,” Dash answered with a trace of amusement. “That stormcloud formation is gonna stretch across the entire area from here, to Manehattan, and over to Canterlot.” she explained.
Twilight’s eyes widened as her mind reeled at that statement. A quick mental estimate told her that a stormcloud formation of that area and magnitude had to encompass over a hundred square miles, at the least!
“That’s got to be over a hundred square miles, at the least!” she stated in disbelief.
Rainbow stared at Twilight uncomprehendingly. “What’s a square mile?”
“It’s, er, well…” Twilight stated awkwardly, trying to come up with a way to explain her logic to Dash and failing. “…Ah, forget it. You wouldn’t understand. Let’s just say that it’s a very, very big area, alright?”
Dash gave a short laugh and said, “Yeah, I get you in that regard, at least.”
After a few moments of silence, Twilight asked, “So, has anything this big ever happened before?”
Dash shrugged and said, “Not in the time that I’ve been a weather pony. Can’t speak for the pegasi who were weather ponies before I joined, but I’m willing to bet it hasn’t happened often. I don’t suppose you’ve ever seen something like this?”
Twilight shook her head and said, “No, not in all my life. Just the regular localized storms; nothing like this. Did they give a reason as to why they’re doing this?”
“Something to do with the extreme shortage of rainfall during the summer months, from what I heard. So we’re setting this up in order to make up for that lax period,” Dash answered.
“I thought that that stuff was all carefully regulated, though. How can there even be a lax period?” Twilight wondered.
Dash shrugged again and said, “I guess even the higher-ups can make errors of judgment sometimes.”
“Huh. Well, fair enough, I suppose,” said Twilight. “And this rain period is scheduled to last for the whole week?”
Dash nodded and said, “Yeah, tonight’s gonna have the big thunderstorm, and then for the rest of the week there’s gonna be on and off periods of rain, with more chances of it being on than off, and when it’s on, it'll usually range from pouring to monsoon levels,” cracking a joking grin as she finished.
Twilight chuckled and said, “Well, it’s a good thing I’ve got an umbrella. Although, I honestly don’t expect many ponies to be out and about during the week.”
“Well, I for one don’t mind it. In fact, I actually kinda like flying around in the rain, it’s… I dunno, I guess you could say relaxing. Guess it’s due in part to me playing stormball in flight school. So long as it’s just rain; not even I’m dumb enough to fly in a wild lightning storm.” Dash remarked.
“You know, speaking of the storm, shouldn’t you be up helping them or something?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Nah, I’m responsible for weather dispersal, not assembly. Not saying I can’t assemble weather, I can, it’s just that there’s already more than enough assembly pegasi up there already getting stuff in place. When the time comes to get rid of those storm clouds, that’ll be my time to shine,” Dash said with an eager grin. “And hey, if anypony up there needs me for something, they know where to find me.”
“Okay, if you say so,” Twilight said, accepting Dash’s answer.
At that point, Twilight and Rainbow were passing by the entrance to the town hall building when Twilight noticed something: a unicorn stallion, wearing an angular-looking blue cap with a small circular metal stamp on the front embossed with the logo of the Ponyville Town Watch (a small volunteer organization unique to Ponyville founded in the years after the town’s formation that took the place of a regular police force; Ponyville was considered too small, rustic, and peaceful to warrant its own police force. Still, the Watch, despite its relatively few numbers throughout the years since its formation, managed to do a rather admirable job of keeping the peace, although instances requiring their attention throughout those years had admittedly been few and far between.), was in the process of nailing a sheet of paper to the town’s bulletin board. With remarkable deftness, the stallion used his magic to levitate a sturdy wooden mallet and nail into position at one of the four corners of the paper as he held it up to the large wooden board with a hoof, and then nailed it into place, levitating another nail from his saddlebags as he did so, doing the same for the other three corners. Once he had finished, the stallion turned around, noticing the two mares standing behind him, the purple-coated one giving him an inquiring stare. However, instead of answering, the stallion frowned sadly, sighed, and shook his head before moving off past Rainbow and Twilight without saying a word.
As Twilight moved over to look at the paper the watchpony had posted, Rainbow stared after the stallion in question with a puzzled look. “Yeesh, what do you think’s got him so down in the dumps?” she wondered openly.
From behind her, Rainbow her a small gasp. “Twi?” Dash asked as she turned around to face her friend, who was staring at the recent board posting, a hoof held to her mouth. “Twi?” she asked again, moving closer. “What’s wro…” And then she got a good look at the paper herself. Her ears drooped as her expression changed to one of dour sadness. “Oh,” she said simply.
It was a poster, one which had a picture of a rather pretty-looking unicorn mare with a black hide and a wild-looking white-colored mane, with the word ‘MISSING’ starkly emblazoned over the top. And it wasn’t the only one; several other similar posters advertising missing ponies were spread across the bulletin board.
“By Celestia…” Twilight whispered in shock and horror. “That’s the twelfth pony that’s gone missing this month!”
Since the beginning of September, Equestria had had a sudden influx of missing pony reports from Manehattan to Canterlot and the surrounding areas, including Ponyville. While it did raise worried eyebrows at first, it was mostly ignored by the populace as maybe a few rebellious ponies leaving their families in an attempt to buck off society, as some teenagers were wont to do. But then more ponies went missing, and then more, and that’s when indifference turned to worry and fear. The thought of a possible serial ponynapper running around created a palpable sense of unease to the region. Citizens rarely ventured out at night alone, fearful parents kept closer watch over their children and always walked them to and from their chosen schools each day, and regular police patrols were increased.
Despite these actions, none of it appeared to do any good, as ponies continued to go missing at a weekly rate. All told, from the beginning of September up till the current point in time, there had been a total of twenty-two ponies that had gone missing. And now, counting the latest addition to the board, there were thirty-four.
“This is getting way out of hoof; how many more ponies are going to go missing before the culprit is finally found?” Twilight wondered aloud, a tone of sadness in her voice.
“I’m starting to wonder why the princesses haven’t gotten involved themselves,” said Dash.
“There’s not much point for them to do so, Dash,” explained Twilight. “There’s been no leads whatsoever, no witnesses to the ponynappings. Even if they were to get involved directly, which would be exceedingly difficult in and of itself, given all they’re responsible for already, odds are they’d be just as stumped as the police are at this point. They may be alicorns, but if there’s not even a single shred of evidence to go on…”
“Yeah, I guess I see your point,” Dash admitted reluctantly.
“Besides, I already sent a letter to Princess Celestia about the matter, and she pretty much said the same thing I told you, albeit more detailed and formal. But she did express how much she wished she could do more; she’s just as upset with the situation as everyone else, if not more so. It must be eating her up, knowing she can’t do anything,” said Twilight, sympathy and concern in her voice for her friend and mentor.
“Yeah,” Dash agreed solemnly. “But what about Princess Luna? Did you send a letter to her as well?” she then asked.
“I did, but I never got a reply,” answered Twilight.
“Huh. That’s strange, getting a reply from Celestia but not from Luna,” Dash observed.
“She just had too many other things to do, I suppose,” said Twilight. But then again, who knows when it comes to Luna? she thought to herself. The moon princess had always come across as an enigmatic pony to her subjects and to Twilight ever since her return, despite their friendship formed at last year’s Nightmare Night. Apart from being the sister of Celestia and the guardian of the night and raiser of the moon (as well as the former Nightmare Moon, but Twilight saw no reason to bring that sordid fact into equation), Twilight knew next to nothing about Luna personally. “Well, come on, let’s get going. We don’t want to keep Applejack waiting,” she said, turning to walk away from the board.
“Right,” said Rainbow, falling into step beside her. After a minute or two of walking in silence, Dash decided to speak up.
“Hey, y’know, Twilight, I bet you could find the ponynapper, no problem!” she said, grinning at the unicorn.
The statement caused Twilight to stop in her tracks, shock written over her face. “W-what?” she stammered.
Having walked past her, Rainbow turned to look back at her, a bemused look on her face. “Heh, I said I bet you’d be able to find whoever’s doing this, easy,” she repeated.
“And w-what makes you think that?!” asked Twilight, still reeling somewhat from Dash’s statement.
“Well, you’re like the smartest pony I know, for one. You’re good at figuring out stuff most other ponies would have trouble with. You’re also good at noticing things that seem out-of-place. You like asking questions; I’m sure that’s useful in investigations and such. And you’re a unicorn, that’s gotta count for something; I bet there are some spells you could use to help you find clues and stuff,” Dash elaborated.
“But I’ve never done anything like that before! I’ve never done any investigating!” Twilight protested.
“Uh, yeah you have. Remember that time on the Friendship Express?” Dash asked pointedly, smiling and raising an eyebrow.
“That was totally different! Trying to figure out who ate who’s desserts is a lot different from trying to track down and capture a serial ponynapper, Rainbow! And we don’t even know if it ends at the ponynapping! We could be dealing with a serial killer for all we know!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Okay, okay, Twilight, don’t work yourself up, I wasn’t seriously suggesting it. It was just a thought I had,” Dash said placatingly, holding up a hoof. She then turned back and continued forward, calling over her shoulder, “Still, I do think you’d make a great investigator, Twilight. You gotta admit, it sounds like a cool job.”
Twilight remained where she was, staring silently at Dash’s back as the pegasus walked along for a moment, then sighed, shook her head, and moved to catch up with her friend, as they silently continued their trek to the market square. Although, in her mind, the unicorn librarian couldn’t help but secretly think on her friend’s words:
Hmm…Investigator Twilight Sparkle…I suppose it does sound pretty cool…
…
Sweet Apple Acres, 5:29 p.m.
“Really gotta thank ya’ll for helpin’ me out with this, Twilight, Dash,” said Applejack as she fit a lid over a barrel filled with apples, making sure it securely snug around the circumference of the wood so it had no chance of coming loose.
“Oh, it’s no problem, Applejack, really. We’re happy to help,” said Twilight as she and Dash took hold of the barrel, lifting it up using the hoofholds on either side of the barrel, Twilight gripping her end with her levitation magic, and Dash gripping hers manually, using her wings for lift. Together, the two of them were able to lift the barrel without too much strain, bringing it over to rest above an empty spot in the cart before gently dropping it into place, Dash giving a small grunt of exertion as the barrel met the cart bed. Wiping her forehead where a little sweat had accumulated, Dash regarded the contents of the cart so far: there were six barrels, three of them containing apples, the other three with flour, lined up in two rows of three across the cart bed.
“Yeah, what Twi said, A.J.,” she said smiling, looking over at her earth pony friend. “Besides, I promised I’d help ya, didn’t I? And Rainbow Dash never leaves a pony hanging on a promise, especially a friend.”
They were currently in the Sweet Apple Acres barn; after having met up with Applejack at the market square, they had followed her to the picturesque farm, and after putting away Applejack’s vendor cart, they had gotten straight to work in loading the cart with the goods to be delivered to Appleloosa.
“Still, me and Big Mac are mighty obliged for your help, all the same,” Applejack said with a grateful smile. “Ah reckon it would’ve taken us a whole heckuva lot longer to load this cart without ya. Right, Big Mac?” she called over towards the front end of the cart.
“Eeyup,” came the stallion’s singular reply.
“How’s that harness comin’ along, bro? Ya almost finished?” asked Applejack.
“Just about, sis; just gotta secure it, now,” her brother drawled back.
“Okay, let me know when you’re finished, or if ya need any help.”
“Eeyup.”
“Okay,” Applejack said, turning back towards Twilight and Dash, “now that we’ve gotten the barrels all loaded, we just need to get these here crates of milk and cider on to the cart, an’ we’ll be all done,” she said, gesturing to several lowly stacked crates lying off to the side of the barn, each of them filled with six glass bottles of either cider or milk.
“Gotcha,” said a hovering Rainbow Dash, who gave a smart salute before zooming over to the stack of crates and picking up one using both of her forehooves, clearly eager to be finished.
“Now, Dash, ya’ll be careful, ya hear? Ah don’t need ya droppin’ any of those crates and breakin’ the bottles in ‘em on account of ya goin’ too fast to keep hold of them,” Applejack admonished the cyan pegasus with a hard look, frowning.
Dash sighed. “Don’t worry, A.J., I’ll be careful,” she said exasperatedly, forcing herself to slow down on her short flight back over to the cart, gripping the crate in her forehooves as securely as possibly.
“So, what time will you two be leaving for Appleloosa?” Twilight asked her earth pony friend as she levitated a crate in her magic.
“The day after tomorrow, in the mornin’, probably ‘round seven-ish.” Applejack replied, raising a rope that was threaded between two gaps in the crate with a hoof before placing her head through it, minding her hat as she did so, allowing her to lift the crate up, with the rope around her neck cradling the crate against her front, although not so low as to obstruct her front hooves. “Want to get goin’ as soon as possible; it’s a mighty long trip to Appleloosa, ‘specially by hoof. Probably won’t get there ‘til late evenin’.”
“Why not get the Friendship Express to deliver the shipment to Appleloosa, if it’s such a long trip?” Twilight asked quizzically as they took their crates over to the cart.
“There ain’t no trips scheduled to go there for another two weeks, and ah don’t want to keep Brae and the rest o’ the Applelosians waiting, ‘specially when they’re so low on food and such.” Applejack said, frowning.
That took Twilight by surprise; she almost lost her grip on the crate as she was lowering it into the cart, but managed to regain her focus in time to stop it from a potentially content-shattering impact with the cart bed. Giving a quick mental sigh of relief, she proceeded to gently place the crate down alongside Rainbow Dash’s (who was already in the process of carrying over another crate) before turning to look at Applejack and exclaiming, “Appleloosa is low on food?! That’s terrible! How is that even possible?”
“Bad harvest,” Applejack said grimly, hoisting the crate up onto the cart lip and slipping her head out of the rope carrier, where it was carefully pushed into place by Twilight’s magic. “Thanks, Twi. Anyway, seems there was a major drought in that area over the summer, and that’s what caused the shortage. Trees can’t bear fruit without water to keep ‘em alive. Ya’ll probably knew that, though.”
“How could there have been a drought, though? Couldn’t they have requested rain from Cloudsdale or something?” asked Twilight.
“We would if we could, Twi, believe me.” Rainbow Dash interrupted as she flew in with another crate in hoof. “Thing is, Appleloosa is a long, long way from Cloudsdale, and also, there’s a long stretch of hot, arid badlands to cross before reaching Appleloosa itself. You won’t find many weather teams willing to make the trip in the first place. So Appleloosa pretty much has to get by on wild weather to help grow their stuff, nothing manufactured.”
“And even if they were willin’, ah doubt the townsfolk would even accept the help. Ya know, bein’ an earth pony town an’ all, ya probably know what to expect,” Applejack chuckled uneasily, a small sheepish grin on her features.
“Riiight. How could I forget the famous earth pony stubbornness?” Twilight snarked. “So how’d you hear about the shortage in the first place?” she asked as they headed back over to the stack of crates, of which there were now only a hooffull remaining.
“Brae mentioned it in the last letter he sent me, little less than a week ago. ‘Course, he then follows it up with a bunch of hooey that he don’t want any help from me. ‘Now don’choo be worryin’ none about me, A.J. We Applelosians have gone through some tough times before, and we’ve always managed fine. Ah’m sure we’ll do so again this time!’” Applejack said in a nearly-perfect imitation of her cousin’s voice. “Well, to Tartarus with that. Ain’t no way ah’m about to let any kin o’ mine go hungry. Same goes for the rest o’ Appleloosa. Them ponies have always done right by me and treated my cousin and his family well, the least ah can do to repay that kindness is by makin’ sure they have enough food to last ‘em the winter.” she said, a hard, determined look on her face.
“That’s very kind and noble of you, Applejack. Braeburn’s lucky to have a cousin as generous and caring as you,” Twilight said, the admiration for her friend’s words apparent in her voice and on her face.
“We Apples stick together, Twi, no matter how great the distance separatin’ us. We look out for one another, and when times are tough for any one o’ us, he or she will have no shortage of ponies willin’ ta help ya. Be it by offerin’ a place to stay, an ear willin’ to listen, kind words to help cheer ya…” she paused for a moment, her mood abruptly turning somber, a look of incredibly restrained sadness flashing across her face. “…a shoulder to cry on…” she said in a quiet voice almost too quiet for Twilight to hear. Before a worried Twilight could bring herself to ask what was wrong, however, Applejack blinked once, heavily, before opening them again, the somber sadness now gone just as sudden as it had come, as Applejack finished by saying, “…or right now, by bringin’ food to those who need it.” She walked over to one of the two remaining crates, preparing to slide it over her neck.
“Applejack?” Twilight ventured softly from behind.
The orange earth pony seemed to stiffen before slowly turning her head to look back at Twilight. “Yeah?”
Twilight opened her mouth in preparation, but then she saw the look in her friend’s eyes, a hard look that at the same time seemed to be clashing with the earlier seen sadness, the sadness that threatened to break the hard façade at any time if Twilight chose to continue with her question.
“…Nevermind,” she said, walking forward and picking up the last crate with her magic. “So…” she began somewhat awkwardly as they walked the crates over to the cart, Rainbow Dash hovering in place over it, “did you write a letter back to him telling him about the delivery?”
For her part, Applejack slipped back into her tale as if nothing had happened. “Naw. He’d only write me back insistin’ that it’s not needed and such. Figure it’ll be better if’n ah just show up unannounced and force it on ‘im,” Applejack answered with a devious grin. “Ah’d like to see him try and say no to my face, heheheh. Ain’t gonna happen, no sirree.”
“Okay, I gotcha, A.J.” said Rainbow as she flew down and helped take the neck strap off from around Applejack with her front hooves, before proceeding to fly the crate into place onto the cart bed, while Twilight did the same with her magic for the final one.
“Much appreciated, Dash. Well, ah think that just about does it! How’s it lookin’ up there, bro?” Applejack called to the front of the cart.
“All set up there, A.J.” Big Mac as he came around the side of the cart. “Should be good to go, ah reckon.”
“Nice work. Appreciate the help, bro.” Applejack said, smiling in thanks.
The sturdy red stallion smiled warmly in return. “Eeyup,” he said simply before leaving the barn.
The three friends walked together out of the barn, the warm late afternoon sun casting the fields of Sweet Apple Acres in the golden glow of sunset, although the effect was somewhat dulled by the massive dark stormcloud front overhead, which even now seemed to be rumbling ominously. A gust of wind blew through the trees, making them rustle with the promise of a strong thunderstorm.
“Ah know ah’ve already said this about a hundred times already, but thank ya kindly for the help, Twi, Dash.” Applejack said, smiling at her friends.
“You’re welcome, Applejack,” Twilight said, smiling back. “Although really, Rainbow deserves most of the thanks. If it weren’t for her coming to get me, I probably would’ve forgotten about the whole thing, ehehehe…” she laughed sheepishly, rubbing a hoof along the back of her neck.
“Seriously, A.J., you should’ve been there. The look on Twi’s face after I snapped her out of bookworm mode was so. Utterly. Priceless!” Dash guffawed heartily.
“Heheh, ah’m sure,” Applejack agreed, chuckling.
Twilight just rolled her eyes and took the ribbing in stoic silence, that is, until an aching rumble from her stomach made her break it.
“Well, doing all that work has certainly made me work up an appetite. I don’t know about you girls, but I’m going to head home. Spike’s probably making dinner about now.” she said.
“Yeah, I’m pretty hungry myself,” Dash commented. “How about you, A.J.?” she asked the earth pony.
“Ah’ll admit ah’m feeling more than a mite peckish. Why do ya ask?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, seeing as we’re both free for the rest of the night, I was thinking maybe we could go out to eat somewhere in Ponyville. I know this really great place in town that has some of the best food and drink in all of Equestria!” Dash proposed in an excited voice.
Applejack looked unsure. “Hmm, ah don’t know, Dash. That’s a mighty big storm brewin’,” she said, pointing at the stormclouds overhead.
Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, A.J., how often do we get a chance to do stuff in the evenings? Besides, tomorrow you’ll probably be too busy packing to do anything, and then the next day you’ll be gone for the rest of the week! This is probably the one chance you’ll get to have fun for the rest of the week, given the rainy trip to Appleloosa and all. Don’t let this opportunity slip you by, A.J.! Live a little! Seize the moment, girl! Seize it!” she said in a playfully serious voice, sidling up next to Applejack and throwing a hoof around the cowpony’s shoulder, while thrusting the other front hoof dramatically out towards Ponyville.
Applejack rolled her eyes before saying, “Oh, all right, fine.”
“YES!!!” Dash exclaimed ecstatically, flying into the air and giving a small, joyous loop-de-loop.
“But first ah gotta go tell Big Mac and Applebloom, so they’ll know where ah am. Also gonna get my rain poncho, for obvious reasons. What about you, Rainbow? Do you need a poncho?” Applejack asked the cyan pegasus, who was now hovering stationary in the air doing double hoof pumps.
Breaking off her antics, Dash answered casually, “Nah. I got my own weather cloak back at my house; I’ll just head over there really quick and get it while you’re in there getting ready.”
“All right, then. Be back in a jiffy. See ya later, Twi!” Applejack called back as she trotted off towards the farmhouse.
“Good night, Applejack!” Twilight called back.
“Aw, you’re not coming with?” Rainbow asked, disappointed.
“As tempting as the offer is, I’m afraid not.” Twilight declined politely. “I really don’t want to leave Spike alone all night, and I’m not as willing to go out in the rain tonight as you two. I’m sure the two of you will have fun by yourselves, though, don’t worry. You don’t need me along to have a good time,” she said kindly, smiling.
“Yeah, I guess so…” Dash answered, appearing only somewhat mollified. “Well, you have a nice night, Twi.”
“You too, Dash. You can tell me all about it tomorrow at the library, if you like. I’ll see you later, alright?” Twilight asked as she began her walk out the Sweet Apple Acres gate on the path towards Ponyville.
“Yeah, see ya.” Dash called after her. Sighing, she then turned her gaze upwards towards the stormclouds above her. The sound of thunder rumbled ominously, and at that moment, Rainbow Dash blinked hard as she felt something wet strike her left eye. Holding up a hoof, after a few moments she was able to feel a small, cold impact at the base of it. Frowning and lowering her hoof, Rainbow Dash then watched silently as the first few intermittent raindrops began to fall over Equestria before shaking her head and zooming off towards her house without any further preamble, leaving a prismatic-colored trail in her wake.