Fluttershy reared back at her doorstep with a gasp. "Z-zecora? What happened?"
She'd known the zebra mystic for a long time, as far as a near recluse might know an even more reclusive hermit, and she'd never seen her like this before. Normally, whenever their paths crossed in the murky glades of the Everfree, the zebra was cordial but slightly aloof, with a seemingly bottomless well of poise and a palpable air of exotic mystery about her.
Now Zecora stood with piteously drooping ears and tail, a quivering lower lip, and shaking knees, bowed beneath a disorganized heap of lumpy bundles and hastily lashed together furniture. Her white stripes were a shade paler, especially around her face, and her eyes were reddened and dripping with tears.
She gave a bow, which nearly threatened to tip her burden in through the doorway. "S-solemn greetings, dear Fluttershy, this day I c-cannot help but cry. The Shining Lady has cast me out, and now I wander in fear and doubt."
The yellow pegasus' ears edged back as she blinked at her. "Shining Lady? You... You mean Cele... um... the White Mare?"
The despondent zebra nodded, straining to keep from rolling backward as she corrected the angle of her listing baggage. "Yes, the same. Among you ponies she is called that name. She came to my hut, commanded I pack, and said leave my home and never come back."
Fluttershy brought her hoof to her mouth as her pupils shrank. "But... but why? I... I don't believe it! She... she would never..."
Zecora leaned forward with a look of urgency washing across her tear stained face. "All these things I say are true, and she told me a message to give to you. She... AYAH!"
She let out a squawk of dismay as her heavy load of belongings rolled forward and collapsed on top of her, pinning her to the ground as loose bottles and jars spilled out and rolled across Fluttershy's floor. The pegasus backpedaled with her wings flared in alarm as a large metal cauldron bounced out of the mass of bundles with a hollow KLONG, rumbled across the room, and knocked over one of her end tables.
As the last rattle of debris died away she looked down with a furrowed brow as the gold bracelets jingled around a twitching striped foreleg sticking out from beneath the pile, then set about freeing the buried zebra as the others came trotting out from the living room with perked up ears and curious faces. They pitched in with the rescue at a few terse instructions from their hostess.
***
A short time later, Fluttershy had everything as straightened out as she could manage, considering the circumstances. She'd ushered Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity back into the living room with minimal protest from the three mares.
A brief glance out the back door window showed that Dash was still standing guard by her chicken coop, neck straight and tail hiked while Pinkie relentlessly tried to break her stoic, deadpan expression with a succession of extravagant funny faces. It was beginning to get dark outside, so hopefully the pink mare would get bored with her game and come inside before she wound up with a set of cyan colored hooves clamped around her throat.
With everypony else accounted for, she returned to the kitchen, where she'd left Zecora with a hot mug of tea clutched in her trembling hooves. She dragged the other chair in her tiny breakfast nook around so that she could sit down facing the shaken zebra.
Fluttershy's voice was soothing and gentle as she spoke. "Okay, Zecora. I'm happy to put you up here, and you can stay as long as you need to, but I'd really like to know what um... what she said for you to tell me." She cast a glance out the window at the darkening sky above, then met the zebra herbalist's wavering gaze.
Zecora took a sip of her tea and gave a halting nod and a fragile smile. "You have my thanks, for being so kind, and helping me out while I'm in this bind."
Her face became grave as she set her mug aside and took Fluttershy's hoof in her own. "Here is what she said to me, as she drove me from the Everfree. She cannot see you at the break of day, and is adamant you stay away. Nopony must go into the wood, this she commands for our own good."
Fluttershy recoiled, her ears laying back and a look of hurt disbelief washing across her face. "Wh-why would she s-say that? Why wouldn't she tell me herself?"
Zecora shook her head sadly, a shrug jingling the gold rings around her neck. "This very question I dared to ask, before I packed a single flask."
She hugged herself as a shiver ran down her striped back. "She looked at me with eyes like burning coal, and I became in my heart like a frightened foal. It took me back to how I felt, when lions stalked me on the veldt, first distant roar then nearby rustle, and you dare not breathe or move a muscle. I bowed before that fearsome gaze, and begged her pardon for my impudent ways. She left me cringing on my floor, as she turned away and said no more, save that I hurry on my way, and pray that morning would bring a new day."
Both mares gave a start as Twilight Sparkle's voice sounded from the kitchen doorway. "Well that sounds pretty ominous, don't you think?"
Fluttershy twisted in her chair and cast a glare at the interloping unicorn as she flicked an ear and gave a huff. "Twilight, this is a private conversation."
The lavender mare pawed hesitantly at the ground and bunched her withers sheepishly. "I... I realize that, but I've been thinking about everything that's been going on and after hearing what your zebra friend just said..."
Her unwilling hostess rustled her wings in irritation and cut her off. "Look, I realize you're a curious pony, and I know that the White Mare is kind of an obsession for you, but you really need to..."
Twilight cut her off in turn as she marched across the small kitchen with the ancient tome she'd shown Fluttershy earlier knifing through the air behind her in a cloud of purple sparkles. She slammed it emphatically down on the table and flipped it open. "No, YOU need to listen to me. Everypony needs to listen to me.This isn't me being nosey or obsessed. This is more important than anything that's happened in Equestria in a thousand years."
Taken aback by the young unicorn's forcefulness, both pegasus and zebra looked on in silence as she flipped to a page illuminated with a picture of the Mare in the Moon surrounded by a quartet of sharp pointed stars.
This she tapped with a hoof. "There's a prophecy in this book, quoted from even older sources, that says that one day Nightmare Moon will break free from her imprisonment and return to take her revenge."
Twilight, Zecora, and Fluttershy turned to see Rarity and Applejack standing in the doorway as the brash salespony's scoffing voice drew their attention. "What, is Nightmare Night comin' early?"
The lavender unicorn stamped a hoof and floated her tome over to shove it in the earth pony's freckled face, following it across the room with a hiked tail and folded ears. "Yes! And this time no amount of candy is gonna keep the Nightmare from gobbling us all up."
She flipped it around and began to recite from it, her avid gaze playing across the moldering pages. "'On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars shall aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal.'"
She snapped it shut, nearly closing it on Applejack's snout and causing her to flinch back. "Based on my calculations, and adjusting for the conversion from the old Neighgorian Calendar to Republic reckoning and accounting for leap years, that would make it highly probable that tonight is the night."
She rounded on Zecora and Fluttershy with a dramatic lash of her tail and pointed a hoof past the stricken zebra toward the darkness outside. "Which if it is, then we ALL better pray tomorrow's a new day, because right now we might be looking at the start of a night that lasts forever."
The room fell silent, save for the soft thrumming of Twilight's horn, as they all stared at her with nonplussed looks on their faces.
Suddenly, the dimly lit room was awash in a harsh, cold white glare as several searchlights from above poured in through the windows, accompanied by the whoosh of a host of wingbeats overhead. Rarity and Applejack both let out a scream and jumped into one another's hooves as Twilight, Zecora, and Fluttershy scrambled out of the breakfast nook and clustered with the terrified mares in the kitchen doorway.
A sharp rapping sound came to the front door, followed by a commanding voice. "Open up! This is the Sky Rangers!"
Fluttershy broke loose from the group of startled equines and trotted hastily to the door, her wings rustling nervously across her withers. She pulled open her front door to another torrent of searchlights, and was met by a pair of Sky Rangers silhouetted in the glare from above, a blaze yellow mare and a sky blue stallion, their faces impassive beneath their mirrored goggles and streamlined helmets.
What seemed like an army hovered over the reclusive pegasus' cottage, dark shapes outlined like black cardboard cutouts against the dying red embers of the passing day, wielding intense beams of light that crawled in sharp circles across the ground and sparkled in the shrubs and trees like winter stars.
Fluttershy swallowed hard and fought the urge to slam the door and go hide under her bed, bringing years of patient training by her erstwhile mentor to bear in the face of such an overwhelming display of force. "Y-yes? H-how can I help you?"
The mare gave her a terse nod. "Greetings, citizen. I'm Captain Spitfire, this is Lieutenant Soarin. We're responding to an urgent signal from one of our rangers, one Ranger Rainbow Dash. Would you happen to know where she might be?"
Fluttershy gave a halting bob of her head in return. "Um... Yes, she's out back guarding my chicken coop right now."
At this the stallion to gave a brief snort as his mouth pulled back in a smirk. Captain Spitfire gave him a sharp sidelong glance and cleared her throat, causing him to straighten up and reassume his stone faced expression. She tapped a hoof on the doorstep. "Take us there if you would, citizen."
When they went around back, they found a red faced Dash standing with gritted teeth, bristling wings, and something between a thousand mile stare and blue murder in her eyes as Pinkie hopped in a semi-circle around her singing verse 27 of "99 Bales of Hay in the Loft".
The cyan pegasus patrol pony almost sobbed with relief as she rounded on the newly arrived Sky Rangers, snapped to attention, and threw them a sharp salute, knocking her frizzy maned tormentor on her rump with a backward sweep of her wing as she did so.
Captain Spitfire gave her a nod of acknowledgment. "At ease, Ranger Dash. What's the sitrep?"
Her rainbow maned subordinate dropped into a more relaxed stance and cocked her head toward the clapboard shed behind her. "Subject F discovered what is alleged to be Artifact A in this structure early this morning, and believes that PC One personally concealed them there for reasons unknown."
The blaze yellow pegasus captain cast a glance at Fluttershy and Pinkie as the pink mare insouciantly bounced back onto her hooves, then met Dash's gaze again. "How many other ponies know about this?"
The rainbow maned ranger nodded toward the cottage. "Besides myself, Subject F, and Miss Pie here, three other civilians."
Pinkie chimed in in her chipper voice. "And don't forget Fluttershy!"
Dash flicked an ear in irritation. "Fluttershy is Subject F."
The pale yellow pegasus blinked. "I am?"
Pinkie gave a little hop. "Ooh! Does that make me Subject P?"
Dash and Captain Spitfire exchanged a glance, and the senior ranger gave a flick of her closely bobbed, flame-like tuft of a tail, ruffled her wings impatiently, and rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever."
The pink earth pony beamed at them. "Great! I love getting letters!"
Both Spitfire and Rainbow Dash glanced sharply at Lt. Soarin as he let out another half suppressed snort.
The ranger captain tsked, pointedly ignoring him, then pushed up her goggles, meeting Fluttershy's gaze with a businesslike expression on her face. "Can you show me where you found the objects in question, citizen?"
The gentle pegasus nodded and beckoned her to follow. "In here. I haven't touched them since my chickens showed me where they were."
Spitfire's brow furrowed as she fell into step behind her. "You talk to your chickens?"
With that, the two mares went inside the coop, as Dash and Soarin blocked Pinkie from following with upraised wings that crossed with the metallic "schinng" of two blades. The pink mare pouted for a moment then gave a breezy shrug and turned around, assuming a comical imitation of their alert posture and serious faces.
Fluttershy blew into the lantern she kept hanging in her henhouse as a night light for her little flock, shushing them gently as they fussed and clucked on their perches. The fireflies within awakened and started to let off their soft, luminous glow as she lifted it off its hook and held it over the corner where the mysterious collection of stone spheres lay.
Captain Spitfire regarded them with a cool, appraising eye. "So... These are supposed to be the Elements of Harmony, huh?"
Fluttershy nodded earnestly. "Yes, according to Twilight Sparkle and Rarity."
The ranger fixed her with a probing gaze. "And who are Twilight Sparkle and Rarity?"
The pale yellow pegasus fidgeted under her scrutiny. "Um... my friends, I guess. Both unicorns. Rarity has a gem finding spell that showed them as a pile of big gemstones, which caused Twilight to look them up in this old book she has that said they're the Elements of Harmony. When I told Rainbow about it she said they really shouldn't be here and the fact that they were was a serious problem, and that's why she called you guys."
Spitfire's face was impassive as she continued to stare the soft spoken pegasus down. "So why do you think they were put here?"
Fluttershy pawed nervously at the ground. "I don't know. Ce- Celestia's been acting really strangely today."
The captain flicked an ear. "Have you spoken to her highness recently?"
The younger mare shook her head. "No. Not since last week. But we were supposed to meet tomorrow morning at sunrise for a little get together we hold every year on midsummer morning. I was planning on asking her about them then." Her ears drooped. "But she cancelled that for some reason."
Spitfire cocked an eyebrow. "How do you know she cancelled if you haven't spoken to her?"
Fluttershy's expression became grave. "She sent word through a zebra I know named Zecora, who's lived in the forest for a good three years now, but who Celestia banished from her home just today. Again, I don't know why."
The blaze yellow ranger captain ruffled her wings uneasily as she turned her gaze back to the Elements, her brow furrowing in deep concentration.
Fluttershy bit her lip, mulling some uneasy thoughts of her own before she broke the wary silence again. "Um... I don't know if this helps or not, but my friend Twilight thinks it might be because Nightmare Moon is returning. She said there's an old prophecy in her book that maybe says it will happen tonight."
At this Captain Spitfire blanched, her wings and tail going rigid as her amber brown irises and pupils shrank to pinpricks. She spoke in a harsh edged whisper as she stared out past the hex patterned chicken wire of the windows at the spotlights of her cadre in the darkened sky above. "Code Eclipse Black..."
Fluttershy took a step back as she saw the military mare begin to tremble. After a pause Spitfire shook it off and met her gaze once more, her expression hardening into a mask of steel. "Right... I think I should talk to your friends, Miss Fluttershy." She rapped her hoof on the floorboards with a note of finality in her voice. "Now."
Moments later the ranger captain was striding out the doorway of the chicken coop with the soft yellow pegasus fluttering to keep up. She barked at her subordinates as she passed. "Dash, come with us! Soarin, guard this chicken coop with your life!"
The sky blue stallion tsked, rolled his eyes, and snapped to attention by the henhouse door with a sharp salute to his captain. Dash suppressed a snort and shot him a smirk as she fell into step behind Fluttershy and Spitfire.
Pinkie stayed behind, rearing up with a look of wonderment as she waved a hoof in front of his stoic expression. "Wow, do all you Sky Rangers take chickens this seriously? I mean c'mon, they can't even fly."
Dash trotted back with an exasperated huff, grasped her frizzy magenta tail in her teeth, and dragged her along toward the house.
***
Night had fallen completely when the back door of the little rustic cottage flew open and Captain Spitfire came stalking out with a resolute look on her face. Dash was close on her heels, awkwardly flapping her wings and half walking on her hind legs as she buckled her helmet on. "Cap, you gotta let me come along. I'm a Royal Guard! Loyal as they come! It's my duty to do everything I can to protect her highness!"
Spitfire gave a terse shake of her head. "No can do, Dash. Based on your personal connection to Subject F I think it's better you stay here and keep an eye on her and the rest of them. If this is Code Eclipse Black the last thing I need is a bunch of civvies blundering around Area E in the dark. I need you to keep 'em from doing anything stupid, okay?"
She nodded toward Soarin. "And anyway, Lt. Soarin will be staying put too. Artifact A is too important to leave unguarded. Now go spell him for a minute while I give orders to the rest of the task force."
The blaze yellow mare strode to the center of Fluttershy's back yard and reared up, blowing a loud whistle that rang out through the dark summer night. "YO! HUDDLE UP!"
Spitfire stood at attention as one by one the squad leaders touched down and gathered around her along with a concerned looking Lt. Soarin, who trotted over from the chicken coop and took up a position at her side.
She drew herself up and spoke out in a clarion voice. "Fillies and colts, there is a high likelihood that we've got a Code Eclipse Black on our hooves."
She paused, ruffling her wings as a concerned murmur went through the assembly of military pegasi. "Therefore as ranking officer of this task force I am taking the step of ordering us to break cover and form up ranks. We will then proceed to Structure C of Area E and report to her highness for further orders. Understood?"
As one the stallions and mares of the Sky Rangers flared their wings and puffed out their chests, boldly calling out in the affirmative.
She gave a nod, then turned to Soarin. "Lieutenant, I'm gonna detail you and Ranger Dash to guard this compound and the civilians in the house."
She pursed her lips as she noted a slight sag in the sky blue stallion's wings, and glanced over at the rainbow maned mare who wore a similar expression of disappointment. "I want to be perfectly clear, you two are not just guarding a chicken coop. You're guarding the most powerful magical artifact in Equestria and our princess' personal protege, the only pony her highness has spoken to in a thousand years. This is by no means sleet duty. Understood?"
They both reared up and snapped off a salute in her direction with resolute looks on their faces.
Spitfire returned their salute and smiled proudly as she flapped her blazing yellow wings and rose into the air. "Right. Lets make good on those oaths our great great great great great grandfathers and grandmothers swore! Sol non occidat super fidem! "
All the rangers raised their voices in unison as they lifted off behind her. "SOL NON OCCIDAT SUPER FIDEM!"
Dash let out a sigh as she glanced down at the patches on her jacket, which gleamed gold and transformed into the insignia of the Royal Guard. She and Soarin stood at attention and held their salute for their comrades as the column of armored pegasi winged their way through the night sky, their searchlights playing across the treetops as they made for the heart of the brooding expanse of the Everfree Forest.
***
Hours had passed, and the assembly of ponies inside the rustic little cottage had reluctantly settled in for the duration. After an initial period of awkward tension among them, they began to relax with one another and tried to make the best of their situation.
Applejack and Zecora were the first to warm up to each other's company. When the blonde earth pony and zebra discovered their mutual, keenly held interest in botany and horticulture they were soon whiling away the time talking excitedly about the obscure plant species to be found in the Everfree Forest.
Pinkie eventually declared that if they were going to stay up all night some kind of snack was in order, and commandeered Fluttershy's kitchen to bake a batch of cinnamon rolls to go with the pot of coffee she put on to brew. Drawn by the activity, a bored Rarity joined her, and soon their merry laughter was drifting through the cottage to the accompaniment of clanking bowls and cookie sheets.
Fluttershy, who'd been wandering from grouping to grouping making sure everypony was comfortable considering the circumstances, took the piping hot, sweetly glazed results of Pinkie and Rarity's labors along with two steaming cups of joe up to the attic room of her cottage, where she found Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash talking as they sat watchfully by their hostess' highest window, gazing out at the darkened Everfree Forest and the starlit sky overhead. The full moon had risen and was climbing slowly across the heavens, the darkened pattern of the Mare in the Moon brooding on its face.
As she climbed up through the attic trapdoor, a concerned look flickered across Fluttershy's face as she thought that Twilight's raised voice meant they were yet again bickering over something. Her expression softened to a quiet smile as she heard excitement instead of rancor as the unicorns words came into focus. "... was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen in my life! How did you do it?"
Dash's multicolored tail braid lashed idly across the floor as she rubbed the back of her head. "I... Honestly I still have no idea. I know it's all about hitting the right speed and angle, but beyond that it seems like it was a once in a lifetime fluke. I've spent more than a few weekends trying to do it again with no luck so far."
They turned as Fluttershy softly cleared her throat. She craned her neck to lift the tray of coffee and cinnamon rolls off of her withers and set it down between them. "Are you two talking about the Sonic Rainboom?"
Rainbow Dash nodded as she scooped up one of the cups and spoke out of the side of her mouth as she took the sugar tongs in her teeth and plunked a succession of cubes from the bowl into the fragrant coffee. "Yeah. Turns out Twilight here got her cutie mark because of it too. What are the odds, huh?"
The lavender unicorn picked up her cup in her magic and blew on it, not bothering with cream or sugar. "I was climbing on one of the bookshelf ladders in the Canterville Public Library, just goofing around while my big brother and his girlfriend worked on a geography report for school. I nearly fell off when the Rainboom went off overhead. I knew I was seeing something incredible, and I felt this amazing feeling of... I don't know... connection with something bigger and stranger than regular, humdrum, everyday life."
She continued as a cinnamon roll rose up in the grasp of her magic as well. "My brother's girlfriend found me up on the top of the shelf with my snout pressed against the window and got me down, she's a pegasus too, by the way. I think you'd like her, Fluttershy, if you ever decided to come to Canterville you'd be welcome to stay at my parents' place with me, and I'd be happy to introduce you."
The pale yellow pegasus rustled her wings self consciously as Twilight took a bit of her cinnamon roll and let out an appreciative "mmm" sound. Her hostess pawed at the floor as she met Rainbow Dash's wry gaze. "Well, I don't travel a lot, really, but if... if I did I guess I'd be happy to accept your hospitality."
The lavender unicorn took a sip of coffee and smacked her lips. "It'd be the least I could do for imposing so much on yours.
She gave a shrug and got back on topic. "Anyway, back to the story, as soon as my little hooves touched the floor I was off like a shot, making a beeline for the science and applied magic section where I proceeded to pull every volume I could find on meteorological anomalies. From there I wound up with a stack of books that was taller than me about all sorts of unknown phenomena. One of them was about celestial magic of the ancients, which is where I first read about the White Mare. My cutie mark came in the exact moment the librarian stamped the due date on the card at the checkout desk for the first of many times to come."
Fluttershy sat down on her rump, a look of wonderment on her face. "That's... that's amazing. I'm sure that Rainbow already told you about how she and I both got our cutie marks because of the Sonic Rainboom."
Twilight nodded, dunking her roll into her coffee. "Indeed. And don't forget what Applejack told us about the big rainbow that helped her decide to become a traveling salespony." She cocked her head thoughtfully. "And now that I mention it, I seem to recall that it struck a chord with Rarity as well when she described what she saw."
Dash took a thoughtful pull from her coffee cup. "Weird..."
She looked out the window to see Pinkie Pie prancing across the lawn to deliver a cup of coffee and a couple cinnamon rolls to Soarin as he stood his vigil by the chicken coop. She pursed her lips with a bit of disapproval at how quickly he broke guard discipline to chow down on the tasty baked goods.
After a few moments thought the rainbow maned mare turned to her pale yellow hostess with a cocked eyebrow. "Hey Fluttershy, did Pinkie ever tell you her cutie mark story? About the rock farm and the Rainboom and how she vowed to dedicate her life to making everypony as happy as she felt when she saw it?"
The soft spoken pegasus nodded. "Her 'origin of Equestria' story? Yeah, I've heard it a couple times."
Dash rustled her wings. "That's six, give or take. Huh..."
Twilight's cup shook a little in her magical aura as she set it down. "That's... well, I'd say that's definitely an unusual phenomenon. Six fillies spread across the face of the Republic receive their cutie marks at the exact same moment in time as a result of the exact same event. That's... uncanny."
Fluttershy pawed at the dusty floorboards of her attic, the feeling of connection between her and the other two almost palpable. "There's something going on here, girls. Something bigger than all of us... Some... thing..."
She trailed off as her sharp pegasus eyes spotted a large flash of light in the midst of the Everfree Forest. Shortly afterward there was a loud pop and flash and a tumult of chirping and scattering leaves in the heart of a large sugar maple that stood at the edge of her back yard, followed by a panicked mass exodus of the squirrels, birds, and flying squirrels that made their home there.
Twilight and Dash's head whipped around to look as her pupils shrank and she gave a sharp intake of breath. The rainbow maned ranger peered into the starry night. "What? What happened? What did you see?"
The butter yellow pegasus shook her head. "I... I don't know. It was a... a flash of light, like... like lightning. Then I... Oh!"
Dash got to her hooves, her wings rising from her back, as a spiraling trail of amber light rose up from the distant edge of the forest. "That's a Sky Ranger distress flare! What the hail... stones..."
They crowded to the window, as a succession of flares rose up at irregular intervals along the perimeter of the vast forest, some bright and clear over the nearby hills and some barely visible over the far horizon. Ranger Dash's wings unfurled farther as she reared up to grip the windowsill. "What the hay is going on !? They're scattered all over the place!"
They all let out a cry of alarm as a blinding amber flare exploded from the center of the maple tree, illuminating the figure of a pony thrashing upside-down among the branches, before shooting up through the top to wind a corkscrew of light through the sky and burst high above. Yet more little tree dwellers emerged in a chirping, fluttering panic.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy dove out the attic window as Twilight reared up, planting her hooves on the sill and craned her neck for a better view as she watched them go with her eyes wide and her jaw hanging loose in shock.