Eclipse

by 8686


Chapter VI

–––Chapter VI–––

Standing alone on the tallest tower of Canterlot Castle, Twilight faced the sun and concentrated.

It had just reached the horizon and now, summoning her magic, she prepared to lower it. It was a strange task, magically speaking. As though the horizon itself was somehow a barrier through which the sun would not pass without first being 'unlocked.' Then the sun had to be coaxed through, and the horizon would 'close' behind it. That was how she visualised it anyway.

Channelling vast amounts of energy into her horn, she performed the spell just as Celestia had taught her. Straining hard to keep the horizon open, she guided the sun slowly down, until it disappeared beneath the edge of sight.

She released her magic, breathing heavily and sweating with the exertion. It was getting a little easier day by day, and today at least she could be almost proud of herself. On her first day in charge of the sun, she had forgotten that she needed to set it at all! On her second day she'd made something of a faux pas that had seen the sun rise and set in the same hemisphere. But today, everything seemed to have gone well. She was just relieved she didn't have to worry about the moon too. Controlling one heavenly body was quite enough. How did the Princesses do it every day? And make it look so easy?

The Princesses. She hadn't heard back from them yet, and it had been nearly twelve hours since she'd sent that letter. Rarity had told her not to worry; that they were probably busy. Pinkie had suggested they were probably busy having fun, but Twilight hadn't been able to shake the nagging feeling that something had gone horribly wrong.

She had other things to worry about too. In about an hour it would be the time at which the moon was supposed to rise, and if she was right that would likely signal the onset of another storm. She had Rainbow Dash and the pegasi making preparations to try and disperse it, but if it was more intense than the previous night it likely wouldn't be safe to do so. And if there was another tremor, there was very little she could do about that.

She was almost certain now that the freak weather was connected to the moon's disappearance. She had had an hour earlier to brush up on her astrophysics in the Canterlot library, and theorised that the sudden loss of such a powerful gravitational field so close to the earth was having a profound effect on ocean tides and plate tectonic stress levels. But...that didn't go all the way to explaining why the phenomena seemed to be getting more intense, not less, as the nights passed. And if she couldn't find a way to stop it, there might not be an Equestria left for the Princesses to come back to.

And then she was back to worrying about the Princesses again. It shouldn't have taken them this long. Twilight herself had once made a round trip to Tartarus in a little over two days – although she had spent most of the journey there riding on the back of a very fast, very large three-headed dog who knew exactly where he was going. And she hadn't actually had to go inside – but still. She was sure they should have been back by now. And why hadn't they written back? If they'd been okay they would have done, right? They would know how worried she was.

If she hadn't heard from them by morning, she was going to send every guard in the city out looking for them.

"Twilight? You still up here?" came Spike's voice from the staircase. He reached the top and stepped out onto the tower balcony to join Twilight as she looked at the fading orange light in the western sky.

"Something's gone wrong, Spike. I just know it."

"Huh?" Spike squinted at the skyscape in the west. "I dunno, Twilight. It looks like a pretty normal sunset to me. I'd say you did it pretty well, y'know after yesterday and all."

Twilight looked around at Spike and had to blink twice before she was on the same page. "Not with the sun, Spike, with the Princesses! They should have been back by now, or we should at least have heard from them."

"Oh, that," said Spike with a relieved smile. "That's why I came to find you. It just arrived." He held out a scroll.

Twilight looked around again, saw the scroll and her face lit up as she gave an excited gasp. Seizing it in her magic she unfurled it and ravenously began to read. "Let's see...downpours, deserts, dragons, dungeons, discussions, dinghies and dogs." She reached the end and her smile grew. "They're alright! I mean, they haven't found the moon yet and it sounds like they've had a bear of a day, but they've reached Tartarus and they're okay!" Twilight spent another moment feverishly re-reading the letter, then she smiled at Spike, who smiled back. "Where are the others? I'd better let them know the good news too."

"They're downstairs waiting for you. I think they've got something they need to talk to you about," said Spike uncertainly.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that, but Spike apparently didn't have any more information to offer. Still, her mood had brightened considerably, and with a spring in her step she turned away from the balcony and the two of them made for the stairs.

Spike led her down to the throne room of the castle, where Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were all waiting. Still feeling elated from the news the letter had brought, Twilight entered with a wide smile. And when her friends saw her, they smiled right back.

"Guys! I've got great news. The Princesses have reached Tartarus safely!"

Every pony in the room let out a relieved breath.

"Twilight, that's marvellous news!" proclaimed Rarity, to much nodding from the others.

"So, I guess that means they'll be back with the moon in a couple more days, right?" asked Applejack, though there was slight hesitation in her voice.

"Well, they haven't gone into Tartarus yet, and I don't know how long it'll take them to find the moon once they're inside. I've heard that time doesn't quite work the same way in there."

There was a slight, awkward silence from her friends.

"I'm sure it won't be long though. Guys? What's...wrong?" asked Twilight.

"It's just...this letter came for us," said Applejack, indicating Fluttershy who stepped forward, a piece of paper beneath her wing. She proffered it to Twilight who took it in her magic and began to read her second letter of the evening.

It was written in what looked like Scootaloo's hoofwriting, and contained a brief rundown of events back in Ponyville with obvious input from her friends.

Ponyville itself was fine, and seemed to have avoided the storms that had hit Canterlot and elsewhere the previous evening. Scootaloo had learned a new trick on her scooter that she couldn't wait to show Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom had been helping Big Macintosh with some of the apple-bucking, and was getting quite good. Sweetie Belle was really starting to improve her levitation and was sure Rarity would be impressed when she saw it. The Cakes had a new mint-based cupcake recipe they wanted Pinkie to try before putting it on sale. And then, right at the bottom there were a series of claw and paw prints that could only have come from Angel and the rest of the animals in Fluttershy's cottage.

Twilight looked up, uncertain. It appeared to be just a brief update on life in Ponyville. "I don't get it. What's wrong?"

A few looks were exchanged between her friends. Then Applejack spoke up. "Maybe you should read it again, sugarcube..."

Twilight quirked an eyebrow, but dutifully returned her gaze to the letter. New scooter trick...applebucking...magic...cupcakes...aaaand critters. What was she...? Oh. Twilight had never been the best at subtext. The Lines should have all the information you needed – that was the point! – reading between them was, at best, an inexact science. But as she re-read the letter, there was one question that was conspicuously missing, yet at the same time begging to be answered.

When are you coming home?

She looked back at her four friends. "Are you...leaving?"

There was a chorus of resounding no's, but with an aftertaste of uncertainty. It was left to Applejack to speak up again. "Twi, you know we'll be here for as long as you need. It's just...we've all got responsibilities back home too."

"And I reeeaaaally wanna try that new cupcake!" interjected Pinkie.

Twilight looked at the floor. She didn't know how long the Princesses would take to find the moon, and Applejack was right. She couldn't keep her friends here. Canterlot wasn't their home, Ponyville was. She realised that she was, in fairly short order, going to have to rule Equestria alone. At least for a little while.

Suddenly the door to the throne room was thrown open and in swooped Rainbow Dash with characteristic flair. "Alright, Twilight. I've got every weather-certified pegasus in the city – and even a few of the unicorns – with their eyes on the sky. If anything starts rolling in in the next half hour, we're gonna be ready for it!" She noted the slightly downcast expressions on the faces of her friends. "Hey...what's up?"

Twilight offered Rainbow Dash the letter from Ponyville, and she snatched it straight up. "New trick, huh? Oh man, I can't wait to see it!" She looked around, but couldn't quite make eye-contact with any of her friends. She caught on quickly. "Or...is that what you guys were talking about before I came in?"

Rarity approached Twilight and put a hoof around her. "Twilight, don't you worry. We're staying as long as it takes. You know we'd never abandon you while you still needed us."

But if Twilight was honest with herself, it wasn't a question of needing her friends anymore. Thanks to their help over the past couple of days she had a pretty good handle on everything that was expected of her. She wanted them to stay because she enjoyed their company, and that wasn't a good enough reason to keep them from their responsibilities and their families back home. She looked back up at her friends and with a heavy heart was about to tell them that it was okay, that she couldn't have done it without them, but that she could handle things alone from here.

But Pinkie beat her to the punch: "Besides, it's not like we're going anywhere tonight. Not with that huge lightning storm outside," she said, indicating the view through one of the stained-glass windows.

"Huh?!" exclaimed Dash and Twilight at about the same time. They all raced to the door of the throne room, through the castle to the double doors of the grand entrance, which Twilight threw open with her magic. Above the city, thick black clouds had appeared from nowhere and, right on cue, there was a brilliant flash of lightning bright enough to illuminate the entire sky, accompanied by an instant and tremendous thunderclap.

"That's impossible!" cried Dash. She looked at the sky and tried to find the leading edge of the cloud cover, but it seemed to stretch without end as far as she could see. No storm front could move that fast! Overhead, scores of pegasi were wasting no time, already doing their best to try and break apart the clouds. Immediately outside the main entrance was a large, square courtyard, directly beyond which was a wide and flat green upon which a group of half a dozen unicorns were stood frantically firing weather-spells into the sky. But the clouds were thick, and neither pegasi nor unicorns were making much of an impression.

The rain had already begun falling: a torrential downpour that instantly soaked everything it touched and only grew heavier. The wind blew with gale force, making it difficult to keep a sure footing and whipping the raindrops so hard that it felt like a thousand stinging insect bites everywhere at once.

A bedraggled brown pegasus swooped low and landed in front of them. "Your highness!" Then he divided his attention between Twilight and Rainbow Dash, and had to yell to make himself heard against the noise of the wind and rain. "It's like nothing I've ever seen! The storm just seemed to appear overhead in seconds. There was nothing we could do to stop it forming!"

A series of deafening thunderclaps heralded a rapid succession of lightning bolts striking out from the storm clouds all over the city. Then the loudest yet as a searing bolt lanced from the clouds directly above them, arcing downwards and striking a lightning rod atop one of the tall castle towers, sending sparks flying in every direction.

"We have to get this storm under control before ponies start getting hurt!" shouted Twilight.

"We're trying! The clouds are incredibly dense! We're making some headway, but it will take hours to disperse it!"

"If we let this storm last that long, Canterlot will be in ruins by morning!" yelled Dash.

"We're doing everything we can, but we can't shift these clouds any faster!"

Trying to think quickly, Twilight's eyes darted to the sky, then to the pegasus in front of her, then to the castle. And an idea formed. "If you can't disperse the clouds, can you concentrate them?" she yelled.

Rainbow Dash and the pegasus exchanged a look. "You wanna make the storm worse?!" asked Dash.

"Yes! If you can concentrate the lightning clouds over the castle, the lightning rods should draw most of the energy out of the storm! The rain and the wind we'll just have to put up with! Can you do it?"

"We can do it, but the castle's gonna take a pounding!"

"Better the castle than a hospital or a hotel!" Twilight looked round at her remaining friends. "Applejack, Pinkie Pie; get everyone out. Cooks, janitors, the groundskeeper, whoever's left. Get them out of the castle and somewhere safe. Fluttershy, take Spike and do the same with the animals in the garden. Rarity, help those unicorns keep the storm as controlled as you can until we can get the clouds in place. Rainbow Dash, I'm with you. Show me what to do!"

Twilight, Dash, and their pegasus colleague took to the air, and without hesitation every other pony – and dragon – leapt to their assigned tasks.

Dawn suddenly felt a very long way off.

–––

An hour's break was only just long enough to recover their energy, get some food inside them, and yes, give Cerberus some much-wanted fuss and attention.

But ever since Luna had learned just how badly the loss of the moon might affect the world, she had felt time ticking away and simply couldn't relax.

There came a point when, without needing anything said, both knew that it was time to move on, and into Tartarus itself.

The two sisters stood at the great archway in the wall, but could see nothing beyond it. The eerie bright red glow completely filled the opening and prevented any of what was beyond the wall from being seen. As the two sisters began to walk under the arch towards it, Cerberus suddenly bounded in front of them, blocking their path. Each of his three heads displayed a look of obvious worry and the canine reached out one giant forepaw, using it to gently push Celestia and Luna a couple of feet further away from the threshold, and whimpering as he did so.

"It's okay, Cerberus. We won't be gone long," said Celestia in a soothing voice. She and Luna walked around the large dog, who then began to walk after them. "No, Cerberus, you must stay here. Stay." Celestia smiled up at him. "Don't worry about us, we will be quite safe."

Cerberus whined again but reluctantly sat, watching them both head under the arch and into Tartarus itself.

As they passed beneath the arch, the red glow in front of them slowly began to fade until the landscape became visible. Tartarus presented a whole mish-mash of different environments all vying for recognition, as though someone had simply tried to stitch them together like patchwork. They found themselves standing in a stretch of orange rocky desert that was somehow bordered by a lush forest and an ocean in the distance, and beyond that a mountain that seemed somehow incomplete. To either side of them the huge black walls of Tartarus stretched straight out in both directions, despite the fact that they should have been able to see the curvature of the wall as it followed the shoreline of the island. Nor could they see the inside of the wall on the far side of the island – the landscape appeared to simply go on forever. Overhead, the sky was no longer overcast with strange clouds. Instead it was like the dome of the sky had been fractured into half a dozen pieces like glass, each section housing a completely different skyscape. In one corner the sky was the vibrant red of a sunset; directly overhead it was the lilac purple of pre-sunrise; over there a bright blue daytime sky with a wisp of cloud that was only partly there, disappearing before giving way to a night-time sky adjacent to it. The sections of the sky were not separated by visible, sharp cracks, but feathered slightly, and each portion of the sky grew and shrank slowly according to some unknown rhythm.

And there was no sign of the moon. Nor was there any sign of the sun. The source of illumination seemed to come from the sky itself, and when the sisters looked down at the ground, they found that they cast no shadows of any kind.

"I suggest we head for where the sky is darkest," said Luna indicating the portion of night sky they could see in the distance.

Celestia nodded, but quickly scanned around. Using her magic she picked up a small rock and held it in front of her, staring intently at it. Then there was a brief flash and the rock glowed visibly for a moment, pulsing with golden light, before becoming inert once more. Celestia carefully placed the rock on the ground in front of them. "A beacon," she explained. "This is the only entrance to Tartarus, and we will need to find it again."

Luna gave a backward look at the archway, and found that the red glow that obscured all sight from the other side was absent from this perspective. She could see right through the archway to where Cerberus was patiently still sat, all the way down to the beach and the Styx beyond. Then, with a nod at her sister, they spread their wings and began to fly toward the forest in the distance and the small patch of night sky beyond.

–––

Flying in formation with a hundred other pegasi, Twilight struggled to keep her position and balance amidst the raging storm. She still wasn't a strong flier, but thanks to Rainbow Dash's support she was, with difficulty, able to remain in the air.

Over the rest of the city the clouds had thinned and lightened to a slightly less menacing dark grey. But with a lot of effort, and at no small amount of risk, she and the team of pegasi had by now managed to corral all of the worst, blackest storm clouds into a single terrible mass roughly centred over Canterlot Castle. The new, incredibly dense cloud mass was as dark as tar, writhing and swirling, barely containing the immense energy that would surely unleash itself at any moment. Now circling it in a holding pattern to keep the core from diffusing back over the city, Twilight and the others waited anxiously for the inevitable.

Movement from below caught Twilight's attention. The grand doors at the castle entrance were thrown open, and from them emerged around two dozen ponies at full gallop – the castle employees – fleeing across the courtyard and the green beyond to the relative safety of the Canterlot city streets. A few agonising seconds passed until, with relief, Twilight saw two more ponies at the door. From her height she couldn't make out faces or details, but one was a definite orange and the other was a certain pink. They began to run from the castle...

And the lightning fell, and the earth shook.

–––

With the best will in the world, Rainbow Dash was starting to feel like maybe Twilight should have stayed on the ground for this one. The worst storm in Canterlot's history was a real bad place to begin instructing a rookie on weather-technique. Twilight wasn't the strongest flier to begin with, and the wind was really taking its toll. Pretty soon she'd be too tired from fighting against it to remain in the air, and when that happened – well there was only one way she'd go.

On top of that, she wasn't concentrating properly. Getting and condensing all of the lightning clouds into one place was dangerous, but no less so than babysitting it until the lightning was ready to strike. But rather than paying it the attention she needed to, Twilight was constantly getting distracted by the ground below.

She needed to chill. Their friends knew what they were doing and they'd be fine.

Suddenly, she noticed Twilight's attention become more focussed, as though she'd seen something down there. Rainbow glanced down and, through the rain, just about made out the shapes of Applejack and Pinkie Pie at the castle entrance. Then there was a brilliant flash and a series of huge bangs as the first lightning bolts chose that moment to strike.

Whoa! That was earlier than she'd thought! And the strikes came far quicker too. The amount of energy in the storm must be immense! Rainbow had figured that even with such a concentration of clouds as they had, they'd get about a strike every three seconds, but no. Simultaneous tendrils of lightning struck out to the castle below and did not stop! If this had been allowed to discharge over the city...it didn't bear thinking of.

The lightning rods atop the three tallest towers did their jobs too well, attracting almost all of the powerful electrical tendrils to them. They were not built for such relentless abuse, and within a staggeringly short time each rod had softened, melted, and been reduced to scrap. With nothing more to divert the destructive force of the storm, the lightning began to impact upon the tower-tops themselves, sending large chunks of slate and stone exploding outwards from where they struck, falling to the ground below. The entire force of the storm tried to discharge itself into the castle walls...and Twilight still wasn't concentrating!

"Oh no, Spike!" Dash heard her yell. Then, suicidally, Twilight dove below the level of the storm towards the courtyard.

"Twilight! No!" Dash screamed, recklessly diving after her even as the inevitable happened.

A mercifully thin strand of lightning arced from the cloud mass, to Twilight, to one of the tower-tops in a bid to reach earth. Twilight screamed in pain as the bolt struck her right wing, and she began to spiral out of control.

But Dash had her covered. She reached her in free-fall a second later, grabbed hold of her around her belly, and confidently propelled them both downwards at speed. Once they were below the level of the tops of the three towers they were relatively safe from being struck by lightning, but now had to contend with falling debris.

The lightning strikes became less intense as Rainbow Dash, gripping Twilight securely, coolly dodged and wove a course through the castle battlements, chunks of masonry and tile raining down around them. Somewhere above them the top of the tallest tower lurched and leaned dangerously, threatening to fall but stopping just short. Then they were beyond the castle, beyond the storm and beyond the city, soaring over the plain of Equestria below.

Rainbow Dash's blood ran cold. "Whoa," she whispered to herself.

Out over the vast, thankfully largely uninhabited stretch of country below-and-before her, similar black clouds covered the sky. From them sprouted thin tornado funnels – at least four that she could see – questing down to the earth, churning and rending the forests, lakes and fields beneath. Thankfully, none looked like they'd been near Ponyville, but this storm...

It was everywhere.

–––

No sooner were they out of the door than the most horrendous series of crashes and explosions from above them demanded Applejack and Pinkie Pie's attention. Looking up, they were almost blinded by the retina-searing light of dozens of bolts of lightning forking from the cloud concentration overhead, striking down in rapid-fire succession, relentlessly pummelling the tower-tops of the castle and sending debris every which-way.

If that weren't bad enough, at the same time the ground beneath their hooves began to shake violently, threatening their balance and serving to dislodge more loose stonework from the towers high above.

"Run!" Applejack's voice was almost lost in the cacophony. Pinkie made to begin galloping as fast as she could, but at the same instant became aware of a very familiar twitch in her tail. Changing her posture and her balance in a flash, she instead hurled herself at Applejack with as much force as she could muster.

Pinkie collided with her friend, bowling her over and tumbling forward several feet even as a section of masonry the size of Pinkie Pie herself crashed to the ground where they had been standing a moment ago. Gathering herself, Applejack found her hooves quickly – with Pinkie Pie still draped awkwardly across her back – and set off at a gallop.

The ground continued to quake, the lightning continued to strike, and debris continued to rain down. Pinkie's tail twitched non-stop but Applejack, now with pure focus and operating on some preternatural level tuned only to survival, dodged and swerved, leaped and ducked her way around the crumbling, plummeting stonework, across the courtyard and away from the castle until they were both safe beyond the rain of stone.

Applejack pulled up to a stop on the green, near to where Rarity and the small group of other unicorns – since dispersed – had been stood trying to manipulate and calm the weather. She allowed Pinkie to disembark and looked at her. "Y'okay?"

"Whoo! That was a great obstacle course! And you were like..." at which point Pinkie's speech degenerated into various noises intended to convey such concepts as action and jumping.

Taking Pinkie's monologue as indication that she was fine, Applejack rolled her eyes as the strikes of lightning over the castle became less intense and the ground became more still. Of the three towers above them to have originally housed lightning rods, the closest and tallest had taken far more of a beating than the others. Stone continued to crumble from it and there was now a large, gaping hole in the wall just beneath the conical roof, which was itself in ruins.

Suddenly Pinkie halted her various vocalisations in order to let out an ear-splitting scream. She raised a hoof and pointed back at the courtyard in front of the castle entrance.

Nearly a hundred animals and birds – from spider-monkeys to jackalopes to wallaroos – were galloping, bounding and flying in their direction. But the cause of her alarm was back beyond them, in the courtyard close to the castle, where Fluttershy was galloping back towards a fallen Spike – his tail apparently caught under a large, heavy column of stone – even as the tower above crumpled, lurched, and looked ready to fall.

–––

"My friends, you must all gather round quickly!" Fluttershy, normally so quiet, was just about able to make her voice heard above the roaring wind and rain. This was an emergency after all.

Addressing as many of the animals in the garden as she could gather, she was glad to see that more still were flocking to join the group in front of herself and Spike. They were all terrified, their eyes filled with fear and panic. "The garden isn't safe at the moment!" she yelled. "You must follow us away from the castle. We will take you all to somewhere you will be safe from the storm!"

Even at Fluttershy's slightly panicked shouting, the animals visibly calmed in her presence, happy to have a kind of reassurance that they simply could not get anywhere else. Now that they had direction and a leader, they began to martial themselves into an almost-panicked entourage. Spike, constantly glancing around nervously was clearly eager to be away, but although he was obviously afraid he showed no sign of fleeing, obviously unwilling leave Fluttershy or any of the animals behind.

"Follow us!" shouted Fluttershy as she turned and cantered towards the safety of Canterlot City. The group of a hundred or so animals fell into step at once, with Spike bringing up the rear watching for any strays that might get lost or separated in the confusion.

As they reached the side entrance to the courtyard beyond the main castle entrance, the whole world lit up white in a staccato series of flashes accompanied by horrendous crashing and tearing noises as the lightning began to strike the castle. The ground underneath them began to shake terribly and moments later huge chunks of stone began to crash down around them. Fluttershy screamed and stumbled, but didn't fall and she ran no slower. Ahead of her – though it was difficult to see through the torrent of rain and the strobe-effect of the lightning – she believed she could see Applejack distantly galloping away towards the safety of the green ahead. It looked like she had Pinkie Pie upon her back. She hoped that didn't mean Pinkie was hurt.

Making it safely most of the way across the courtyard herself, and stopping just short of the green, Fluttershy looked around. Marshalling the scores of animals past her and directing them towards the city, she peered back through the curtain of rain behind, searching for any stragglers.

And saw Spike. He was much too far back, still close to the castle, running and stumbling over the quaking ground even as more stonework plummeted. A heavy chunk of masonry longer than it was wide crashed vertically into the flagstones immediately to Spike's left, knocking him from his feet and sending him sprawling to the floor on his belly. The small dragon tried to scramble to his feet, but the stone column pivoted and fell, crumbling in on itself. It cracked in two, tented slightly, and fell atop his tail, pinning it to the ground.

"Oh dear! Spike!"

Even as another bolt of lightning struck out from the sky, Fluttershy turned and began galloping back towards her trapped friend. She watched as he grasped his tail with his foreclaws and tried desperately to work it loose from beneath the stone.

No sooner had Fluttershy reached him than there was a sickening crumbling sound from high above. Fluttershy and Spike both looked up and for a moment everything seemed to pause as, almost directly above them, the very top of the worst-hit tower began to lose its structure. The roof caved in on itself and the already-damaged white stone walls beneath it began cracking, splitting, and crumbling into dust and and debris. It leaned dangerously and disgorged a large section of wall and ceiling; a ton of stone and slate fell from the tower directly towards them.

"Fluttershy, run!"

Desperately, Fluttershy began shoving and kicking the stones pinning Spike in place, but she found she couldn't budge them at all. She tried frantically to pull Spike free, but his tail was too firmly wedged.

"Fluttershy, go!" pleaded Spike in desperation. But Fluttershy refused. Spike hadn't left her earlier, and she wasn't going to leave him now. It didn't matter how scared she was.

She was going to save her friend. No matter what.

Crying and flinging herself across Spike, Fluttershy covered him with her body and waited for the inevitable. She just hoped that it would be enough. And she hoped it would be quick.

–––

It had been quite some time since a magical accident had, if only for a day, left Rarity in charge of Ponyville's weather. That experience had taught her that, while the skill of weather-manipulation wasn't beyond her, she lacked...technique.

Standing with seven other unicorns on the green just beyond the front castle courtyard, Rarity remained focussed on the sky and tried to use the basic weather-magic she remembered to assist in keeping the raging wind and squall to a manageable level. But it was a battle they were all losing, and truly she wasn't sure if she was even helping.

And when the earthquake hit, and the lightning began to strike in earnest, there was nothing more any of them could do – near the castle at least – and the leader of their small group called for them to fall back into the city as two dozen of the evacuated castle employees galloped past them.

The unicorns retreated, Rarity among them until she saw a pair of familiar splashes of orange and pink approaching through the curtain of rain, even as bits of the castle towers crashed to the earth. She saw Applejack drop Pinkie, and a few moments later Pinkie let out an ear-piercing scream that was near-ultrasonic. Rarity followed Pinkie's frantic hoof, pointed back toward the distant castle and saw Spike, hopelessly stuck beneath a heavy-looking column of rock, and Fluttershy galloping towards him.

Then there was a cracking and rumbling sound from the tower above as it swayed forward, leaning dangerously and sending a huge block of stone wall crashing right towards...

Right towards...them!

Fluttershy was frantically trying to pull Spike free. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were already galloping back across the courtyard to help.

But they would be too late.

"Spikey!" Rarity screamed. "Fluttershy!" In desperation she lit her horn and channelled every last piece of magic she possessed into it; focussing every shred into the most basic spell she had. The first spell that almost every unicorn learns.

–––

He saw the stonework falling, and with a final, futile tug on his stuck tail, he knew it was over. But Fluttershy was still there, trying desperately to move the heavy column of stone without any hope of success. If she didn't leave right now, it would be over for her too.

"Fluttershy, go!"

He tried to push her away, but instead she started crying and flung herself down atop him. "Flmphrffhy!" he mumbled from beneath her, but it was too late now.

Half-a-dozen small chunks of stone crashed around them, impacting heavily on the flagstone floor. Spike squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself. On top of him, he felt Fluttershy tense up and sob. If only she had run. From somewhere distant he thought he heard Rarity calling out to him, but it was surely wishful thinking. Still, it was a nice thought to have before the end.

But the end seemed slightly longer in coming than it should. In fact when the impact never came, Spike cracked his eyes and looked up beyond the yellow pegasus on top of him. The large section of wall hung suspended ten feet above them both, captured within a baby-blue aura that flickered dangerously, as though barely able to sustain itself. Then, from nowhere, Applejack and Pinkie Pie's worried heads appeared above Fluttershy's back. Pinkie quickly helped Fluttershy to her hooves while Applejack looked down at him. "Y'alright, par'tner?"

He had never felt so relieved.

"Hurry! I can't hold it!" came a distant, strained voice.

There was no time for further pleasantry. Well aware that they were all still beneath a ton of bricks precariously suspended by Rarity's magic, Applejack turned and bucked with all her might into the split column of stonework that had Spike pinned. It moved slightly, but not enough. Gritting her teeth she tried again, but it moved even less, seeming to wedge itself rather than loosen. "Gimme a hoof with this, y'all!" she yelled, and without needing further instruction, Pinkie and Fluttershy also turned. In time with Applejack they delivered a simultaneous third kick. Six hooves struck stone as one, cracking it and pushing the column further. It took a second try before the column was pushed far enough back from Spike's tail that he was finally able to wriggle it free. Then he was up on his feet and all four of them were running through the courtyard towards the green even as the aura collapsed and the wall-section fell to the earth behind them, disintegrating into rubble.

They reached Rarity exhausted, and collapsed onto the sodden lawn. The lightning had finally stopped, the earth was still once more, and the wind had mostly died even if the rain was slower to abate. Above them the black clouds were starting to lighten, and over the rest of the city the weather-pegasi were now working on dispersing what was left of the local storm.

"Oh, my little Spikey-Wikey!" said Rarity, giving him a rare, but much-appreciated hug. "Are you okay, darling?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," replied Spike, examining his tail. It throbbed and there were a few nasty-looking scratches on it, but thanks to his thick scales they looked worse than they felt, and when the column had split it had collapsed in such a way that his tail had been pinned but not crushed. It would be sore for a few days, but nothing was broken and he was for the most part in pretty good shape.

Thanks to his friends.

He looked up at the four ponies surrounding him, and as he did so he started to well up. "Guys...? Than–"

"Don't mention it, sugarcube. We know you'd have done the same for us." Applejack smiled gently, and the others nodded firmly in agreement.

Spike's cheeks went a brief but noticeable shade of red. Then the moment was brought to an end by the arrival of Rainbow Dash, who gently deposited an injured, unconscious Twilight on the ground.

"Twilight!?" cried Spike. "Are you okay?"

–––

"...are you okay?"

The question seemed strange in the blackness, and oddly distant. It echoed in her head, as though asked from the top of a deep well. But it demanded an answer, and so she climbed towards the source. Even if she didn't know what the answer was.

Up and up the sides of the well she climbed, the question echoing less with each ascent. Then she emerged from the top of the well and into the bright, sunlit field of consciousness...

Twilight cracked her eyes open and found all of her best friends stood over her. As soon as she focussed, they all let out a sigh of relief.

Taking stock, she found that she appeared to be lying on her back on a very soggy grass green, with a light drizzle falling in the air. Wasn't she supposed to be flying? She flexed her wings instinctively and felt a sudden pain in the one on her right, causing her to wince.

"Are you alright?" Spike asked. Strange, the tone he used made it sound like he'd asked it before. Why wouldn't she be...oh...wait. Memories came back. The storm. Lightning striking the castle. Seeing Spike fall in the courtyard. Then a blinding flash and a sudden pain. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. Still, aside from the still-throbbing pain in her wing, and a little muzziness in her head, she seemed okay.

She looked at Spike. "I'm alright, Spike." Then, she realised that she couldn't really be sure of that. She'd never been hit by lightning before. She looked at Dash. "Am I alright?"

"Yeah," Dash smiled, "You got a little cooked, but you're okay. I'd stay off that wing for a few days though," she finished with a more serious look.

Standing and shaking her head to clear the last of the cobwebs, Twilight found her attention drawn to the castle.

The tops of the three tallest towers stood in ruins. The tallest was still standing, but the top fifth or so leaned at a sickening angle and looked ready to fall given a stiff enough breeze. The roofs of all three were practically demolished and there were great gouges and holes in the stonework walls from the relentless strikes. It was only then that Twilight realised what she'd done.

She'd destroyed much of one of the oldest and most magnificent buildings of the current age, not to mention Celestia and Luna's home.

"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all," she said, more to herself than anypony else.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there," Dash broke in. "Twilight, lemme tell ya. That storm there...that's what we in the business call, 'a biggie.' It's gotta be the most intense, most freaky storm I've ever seen, and if it had been allowed to hit the city, the whole of Canterlot would look like that right now and it'd still be going on!"

"Twilight," Fluttershy spoke up, "Right now every pony and animal in Canterlot is okay. If it weren't for you, I don't think we'd be able to say that."

"Buck up, Twi," said Applejack. "All the castle needs is a few new timbers, some roof shingles–"

"Not to mention some new decor," broke in Rarity.

"–and it'll be good as new."

"Maybe even better than new!" encouraged Pinkie.

"At least until tomorrow night when this all happens again..." opined Spike with characteristic tact.

But Twilight got to her hooves and set her face into a determined scowl. This wasn't going to happen again. She had to find exactly what was causing these storms, these quakes, and how to stop them before they got worse!

And if she was right – if it was connected with the moon – then there was one place in the castle that was certain to have more books on the moon than anywhere else in Equestria.

–––

By the time the castle was made safe and all of the ponies and animals were accounted for it was...some unholy hour in the morning. Which hour exactly, Twilight didn't know. She'd lost track. An early one probably. It certainly felt like it.

Luna's chambers were in one of the towers not-quite-as-badly hit by the storm. The journey up to them had revealed several smashed windows and holes in the brickwork, but the interior of the structure was mostly undamaged and Twilight hoped the same would be true of the chambers themselves. She stood outside the large wooden door adorned with moon-motifs and steeled herself.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Spike from her side.

Twilight's uncertain frown became a resolute one. "The bad weather started after the moon vanished during the eclipse. There might be something in there that can give us a clue as to what happened, and how to stop it." She gave a tiny nod, satisfied that her argument justified her course of action. "The fate of Equestria might be at stake. I'm sure Princess Luna will forgive me."

She raised a hoof to the door and knocked. Spike looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

It had been automatic. She didn't need to knock. There was no-one in there. Steeling herself yet again, she pushed the doors and they swung open easily.

All things considered, Luna's rooms hadn't fared too badly. There was quite a bit of dust everywhere from the brickwork, and small pieces of debris from the ceiling had fallen here and there. And, like elsewhere in the tower, her windows had been obliterated. But the furnishings were for the most part undamaged and her personal effects were still in one piece.

Making her way into the study, Twilight found that several of the books had fallen to the floor, knocked off by the earthquake. Picking them up in her magic, Twilight returned them to their shelves and then began scanning the bookcases for any likely titles. Though she supposed it would be too much to ask for one called, 'The Moon and You – How The Disappearance of the Moon Affects the Weather, and What You Can Do About It.'

While Twilight scanned the bookcases, Spike started searching the room for any other clues that might help. A reading lecturn along one wall had toppled over into the middle of the study and, acting half on instinct and half on a hunch, he picked it up and righted it. Beneath where the lecturn had fallen lay the book that must have been perched on it when it fell. It was face-down and still open, and it was a good guess that it was open at the last page to have been read.

"Hey, Twilight?" said Spike, pulling on her tail as though it were a bell-call. Twilight looked round and Spike pointed out the book on the floor. "I bet this is the last book that Luna was reading."

Walking over to the book, Twilight examined the cover carefully. It was black, and appeared very old indeed. There was no title as such, just a series of markings or runes that she didn't understand. Creating an aura around it, she lifted it gently back onto the now-upright lecturn, making sure to keep the page where the book had fallen open. Then she began to read.

It was a magic book, but unlike any she'd ever seen. It described spells the like of which she'd never even heard, and that certainly appeared beyond anything she imagined she was capable of. The page she'd found appeared to illustrate how to perform a kind of banishment spell. Why would Luna need to know...?

Something twigged in Twilight's brain. The eclipse. The moon hadn't just disappeared, had it? It had been sent to Tartarus. Banished.

Luna had...done it on purpose? But why?

Suddenly all kinds of dreadful scenarios began running through her head. What if Luna had turned evil again? What if she meant for the storms to happen? What if this was some dark scheme to lure Celestia to Tartarus and trap her there, and weaken Equestria so she could return to rule it? What if...?

"Twilight, you're being ridiculous!"

Huh? She looked at Spike. "How do you know what I was thinking?"

"Because when you freak-out you start freaking-out out loud. Twilight, Luna's not evil. And you're not thinking straight. You're exhausted and you need to rest."

"I do not...!" she began, but her point was undermined somewhat by the fact that she broke into a wide, full yawn and felt her eyelids droop heavily. She had been awake since first thing yesterday morning. "I'll go to sleep as soon as I tell Princess Celestia what I've learned."

"No."

Twilight blinked. "No?"

Spike looked up at her with a kind expression. "Twilight, you've been awake for nearly twenty hours straight, done a full day's princessing, flown through the worst storm Canterlot's ever seen and been struck by lightning! In a couple of hours you're gonna have to raise the sun again, and Equestria's gonna need a princess today just as much as it did yesterday. I'm sorry, but for your own good, I'm not sending anything to anyprincess until you've at least had some sleep."

Whoa. Spike putting his foot down? And with such a convincing argument. But, it'd only be one little letter...

Twilight yawned widely again, and it seemed to sap the strength from her legs even as her heavy eyelids drooped closed for a moment. Just a moment. She swayed dangerously until the sensation of losing her balance brought her round, eyes snapping open and head whipping up only to find that the only reason she hadn't fallen was that Spike was now beside her, trying to support her weight.

"Come on, Twilight. Let's get you to bed."