//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Haze // Story: Broken Accords // by Somber //------------------------------// Broken Accords Chapter 4: Haze Soon as dawn arrived, Stormy Skies started trying to stretch her wing. There were a few oddball pegasi who couldn’t fly around Equestria and were okay with it. Stormy would rather be plucked. The idea of not flying was as alien to her as not breathing. Gravity was a pain that earth ponies and unicorns dealt with, not pegasi. She shivered at the thought of being trapped on the ground forever... So Stormy rolled out and carefully went through wing stretching exercises that she’d ignored since elementary school. Unwrap the wing and then slowly extend. Retract, extend, retract. Don’t go all the way at first but work it out. Then work the shoulder muscles. Up and down. Forward and back. The sore stiffness in her wing abated to the point where she could try and fly. With a hop, she went airborne. It was hard to explain pegasus flight to anypony without wings. Unicorns scoffed about wing area and muscle strength, trying to explain something fundamental and simple to every pegasus. It was why she could hover with barely beating her wings and not blast the room with her down draft. Unfortunately, the feathers on her injured wing didn’t bite the air correctly and she nearly crashed into the wall. Ugh, she’d have to preen them back into line, but at least she’d gotten off the ground. Taking a seat, she pulled her wing around and used her mouth to delicately tug, nudge, and lick the feathers back into alignment. Another try and this time she could hover stably. “Your wing is feeling better?” Fluttershy asked nervously from the stairs. Angel rode on her back with that hard, unforgiving stare. “Still sore and stiff, but at least I’m off the ground again,” Stormy said as she landed again. “Thanks, Fluttershy.” The complement made the yellow pegasus beam. “You really should be a nurse. Or at least a vet.” That set her back a bit, and she tapped her hooves together as she dropped her eyes. “Oh, no. I’m not that good. I think that’s better left to other ponies,” she said hastily before going silent. A knock on the door spared Fluttershy from further praise. Misty Morning stuck her head inside, peeking around and then smiling at the pair. “Oh, good. You’re up.” She trotted over with a pair of brand new saddlebags on her back. “I thought it’d be good to get some supplies. Food and water. A first aid kit. A map and compass,” she said as she set the bag down and started to take out one thing after the next. When the sextant emerged, Stormy waved her hoof to the north. “Misty, we’re flying to Cloudsdale, not the Amarezon Rainforest! It’s four or five hours tops.” The pale green mare blinked at Stormy for several seconds. “Where’d you even get the money for all this junk anyway?” “Oh! Um… I got a great deal last night at the Ponyville market and… um…” She looked at the variety of grossly unnecessary navigation tools. “Are you sure we don’t need them?” Stormy gaped at Misty. “Okay. Didn’t you come to Ponyville from Cloudsdale?” she asked, trying to keep the scorn out of her voice and failing miserably. “Oh. Well… yes. But I… um… took a very roundabout route through, um… Manehattan?” She tapped her hooves together. “I sort of got here by train.” That was twice as far as just flying straight from the town. “Manehattan. Right.” Something was going on, but being that she was alone and Misty was willing to help, Stormy didn’t want to tell her to go pluck herself. Besides, if she was involved, it might be better to have her close. “Well, you can dump half of that. It’s just extra weight.” Misty gasped and reached out, pulling the bags over and clutched them to her chest. “But I paid for them, Stormy! We can’t just leave them.” “It’s just dead weight,” Stormy said as she lifted a spyglass. “And is that a bedroll? Why did you even get this?” “Well the guy at the store said that it was the standard adventuring gear set.” She pouted, her pale jade eyes wide and teary. “It’s supposed to be the one that Princess Twilight and her friends use.” “Oh no, I’m quite sure we don’t use anything like that. Well, not since we had to deal with that d…d… dragon,” Fluttershy squeaked. “I knew that salespony was too good!” she wailed. “He took almost every bit I had. Now I’m broke until… um… I get more money.” In Stormy's experience, that was how it generally worked. What was weird was to say it so... weirdly. “Brown pegasus? Stubbly chin? Blue cap and a red bow tie?” Fluttershy asked. When Misty nodded, she gave a flat look. “Oh. Yes. I know him. I’ll…um... ask Applejack talk to him about getting your money back.” “Ugh,” Stormy groaned. “Fine. But just so you know, I’m not carrying any of that junk when it gets too heavy for you.” “It’s not too heavy for you, is it?” Misty Morning asked Stormy for the twelfth time as they flew through the skies towards Cloudsdale. The gray pegasus struggled with the junk that Misty had insisted on bringing along. Well… not insisted, but she definitely turned pouty and hit the perfect note of whine. If Stormy hadn’t taken the saddlebags, they’d still have been in sight of Fluttershy’s cottage. On reflection, that might have been the smarter solution. “You know, I’ve always wanted to see a sextant drop from a thousand feet. I bet it’d leave a crater,” Stormy panted, sweat stinging her eyes. “Just you wait. I’m sure that some of that is bound to be useful. Why, you never know when you’ll need a bedroll, and a spyglass is always useful,” Misty said with an encouraging smile. “Bedroll? Misty, we can sleep on clouds. Hard to find a bedroll that can top that,” she grumbled. Due to frequent stops and Misty’s own poor flying, they were taking a more roundabout route out west over the edge of the Everfree Forest and Appleloosan desert. Stormy would have rather gone straight there and gotten out of the skies, but accommodations had to be made. Also, sextants were heavy. “So, what’s your deal?” Stormy asked the pale pegasus in annoyance. Misty froze, “What do you mean?” Her tone may have been casual, but her posture was cut glass. “I mean you’re weird, Misty. I don’t get you at all. You can barely fly, know more about magic than any pony I know short of Princess Twilight, and when you show up, Rosewing tries to kill me,” Stormy said pointedly. Misty looked as if Stormy had struck her. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as she turned her head away. “I’ll go,” she said, barely above a whisper. Hubazawah? “Misty, I didn’t-” Stormy began. “I’ll go! I know when I’m not wanted,” Misty said, lunging over at Stormy and yanking at the saddlebags. “Thank you very much for putting up with me for a day. Thank you for saving my life. Sorry I got you in trouble. Sorry I hurt your wing. Give me back my junk and I’ll go away.” Stormy’s mouth hung open. “Misty! You don’t-” “I’ll go! I’ll go, okay? I know exactly where this is heading and I’d rather just cut to the end where you tell me to get lost,” she said as she reached down and yanked on the bags. Astonishingly, she got them unbuckled almost instantly and pulled them over her rump. “”I… Misty! What is wrong with you?” Stormy gaped at her in utter bafflement. “Everything, apparently!” she sobbed. “Goodbye, Stormy. Sorry for… everything…” and with that she stepped off the cloud and nearly plunged straight down to the forest below. Stormy nearly dove after her before her wings spread and she fell in a more controlled spiral. “I just… fine! You know what? Fine!” She took off, flying for Cloudsdale as fast as she could. “Crazy mare that doesn’t make any sense!” Stormy growled. “Bringing all kinds of stuff we don’t need!” She drove through a cloud, scattering the vapor into whirling chunks. “Knowing stuff that makes no sense. Not answering a single question…” Stormy trailed off as she glanced at the dark forest below. What kinds of beasts and monsters might be lurking down there, ready to snag a pony? The Everfree was rife with dangers. Okay, maybe not to Princess Twilight and her friends, but plenty hazardous to normal ponies. “Who just fell into one of the most dangerous places in all of Equestria,” Stormy groaned to herself. She could just go! Misty wasn’t her responsibility. She was a liability! She didn’t make any sense! She… “Oh Luna kick my head for a fool,” Stormy groaned before diving for the forest canopy below. It’d been about a minute, but there was no sign of Misty, which was worrying. Even weighed down by her junk, Misty should have still been above the canopy. Either she’d been dumb and actually gone down to the surface like some earth pony, or she’d been snatched. Stormy circled over the dark leaves of the Everfree. Where was she? Then a brass gleam caught Stormy’s eye and she dove down to spot the sextant poking out of the leaves like a... um... tiny metal triangle. She scooped it up and looked around the small, leaf strewn clearing. Stormy wasn't an earth pony, but something seemed wrong. A great patch of leaves in the middle had been disturbed, and it reeked of musty leaves. Everything was torn up, like there’d been a brief struggle here. Stormy hooked the metal instrument on one wing tip. If she had to, she could hit something with it. Besides, it was Misty’s… Stormy spun in place, biting her lip. Then she spotted the spyglass jutting up like a lighthouse in the middle of the dim wood. Stormy swooshed over and picked it up. “That’s it. Just keep it up,” she urged as she continued to follow the trail of junk. Thankfully the bedroll was next, so she had something to carry the stuff. Then another. Then another. The trail was winding down into a rocky crevasse, and she set the blanket down and listened. “Such sweet pony! So pretty,” a female voice crooned like bubbling tar. “So adorable,” a screechy girl with a voice like rusty wire cooed. “So tasty!” a third feminine sounding like popping joints chuckled. Stormy hovered down to a hole in the side of the rock face and peeked into the cave. There she spotted three of the most grotesque creatures she’d ever seen in her life. They were half vulture and half something like emaciated, shaved baboons. Wings with dirt-encrusted black feathers jutted from their backs and even dirtier feathers adorned their legs down to their bird talon feet. Their noses were stretched and curved down like beaks and their filthy, pallid skin was wrapped in disgustingly colored strips of pony hide. Taloned hands matched taloned feet. One was small and skinny like a kestrel, the second was tall and gaunt like a buzzard, and the third was fat as a dodo. Their lair was as ghastly as the occupants. Bones, rusty knives, strips of sinew, and gnarled roots hung from the ceiling. The entire floor seemed to serve as a toilet. Garbage of all kinds littered the walls of the cave, from pots and pan, to parts of a wagon, to shredded books. The reek of offal was so strong that Stormy fought the urge to retch. Near the back of the cave, dangling from a hooked root, was the forlorn Misty wrapped in a net. Still, there wasn’t much in the way of cover to reach her without the three noticing. And worse, a part of her knew if she went in there, the earth would close like a mouth and she’d be gone. What were these things, anyway? Every pegasus received a basic education in flying perils, and that included creatures, but beyond the dragons they all just blurred together into ‘fangy, pointy, keep away’ in Stormy’s mind. She had no doubt at all that these three were planning on eating the pale mare. “I want the tender bits,” Kestrel piped. “Sweet, sweet pony!” she drooled as she stretched a claw towards the helpless pony. Stormy had to go in there. She had to… only her legs and wings quivered at the thought. The cave was wide and round, but that low ceiling… the space seemed to narrow as she peered in. Dodo smacked the little one with her flat, flabby hand. “Those bits is mine!” “Sisters! We can share the tastiest treats!” Buzzard cackled, rubbing her hands together. Kestrel hissed and snapped at Dodo anyway; the fat bird woman spitting into the face of the little, bony one. “Stop fighting!” she screeched at the two and reluctantly they did. “We can take turns!” They started to approach the hanging mare. She had to do something! She couldn’t just sit there fighting with her- wait… she blinked and swallowed, and screeched, “Me first!” The cave distorted her voice enough that they didn’t pick up the origin… so far. The effect was immediate. “No, me!” Buzzard cried, knocking back Dodo with her fist. “Mine!” Kestrel shrieked, leaping for Misty, but Buzzard grabbed her tail-feathers and hauled her back. The three wrestled on the ground, snapping at each other. Heh. Just like when Stormy was little... that was something at least. Still, Stormy couldn’t see how she could get to Misty, untie her, and get out without getting added to the menu. “Enough!” screamed Buzzard. “We can’t all be first!” The three stopped fighting and glowered at each other. Stormy swallowed. If they were allowed to think about it, they might realize the voice had come from the entry. She did her best to imitate Dodo’s tarry voice. “Cook her!” At least that might buy her time to get her tail in there. She even started to move toward it, before the thought of crushing stone halted her. Dodo blinked and glowered around, but Kestrel shrieked. “Yes yes yes! It’s been so long since we’ve had pony, we can’t just eat it raw! We should cook her up!” The three bird women seemed to come to an agreement and Buzzard yanked out strips of wood from the surrounding garbage. Dodo grabbed heaps of dead leaves. Kestrel approached with a pair of rocks and smashed them together vigorously till sparks flew. In a few seconds the three had a fire starting to crackle in the middle of the cave. Thick palls of smoke curled up and began to fill the space. “Roast her!” cackled Buzzard. The other two licked their lips and rubbed their hands together as they moved towards the net. “No! Stew!” Stormy cried. “Bake her!” Dodo roared. The fat bird woman rammed the little one with her rotund belly, knocking her halfway across the cave. “Pony pie!” Kestrel came around and ripped and scratched at Dodo. “Chop her up! Pony kabobs!” “I said pony roast!” screamed Buzzard at the other two. That did it. The three started fighting again, and with the smoke obscuring everything, now was the time. The smoke hid the low ceiling enough that she could imagine it wasn’t going to crush her immediately. She snuck into the around the edge to where the net dangled. Misty’s coughing helped lead her to it. She flapped up and unhooked the net, made from what appeared to be old pony manes, and lowered her to the ground. “Stormy?” Misty asked weakly as she peered through the smoke at her. The squabbling abruptly halted. “What did it say?” Kestrel hissed as she pulled herself from the other two. “That was not ‘no, please, no’ or ‘I don’t wanna die’,” Dodo blubbered. Stormy grabbed a knife from the stack and began to saw furiously beneath the knot at the top of the net. “That was a name!” hissed Buzzard. And the three started towards the net. The ropes finally parted under the sharp edge and Stormy yanked the net off of Misty as the three stepped through the smoke. The tall, gaunt bird woman’s eyes widened in delight. She ignored the many cuts and scrapes in her pale, leathery hide. “Oh ho ho! Now I see! Not one pony, but two! Don’t let them escape, Hegla!” “We’re gonna be eatin' pony all week,” Dodo gushed eagerly, licking her lips as she hung back, spreading arms and wings wide to block the exit. Kestrel moved in around the fire to the left, snapping her teeth at the air as she did. Buzzard stooped over as she approached from the right. Even with a rusty knife, Stormy doubted she could take one of these creatures, let alone three. Suddenly two burning logs lifted from the fire and began to wave about at the two, making them jump back from the flaming tips. Stormy was so stunned the rusty knife slipped from her slack mouth and then she looked over at the pale pegasus… Make that, the pale unicorn. Tears ran down her cheeks, eyes clenched shut, as her horn glowed with a pale green light around the unlit ends of the firebrands. A couple questions were answered and a whole pile more weren’t. With her eyes watering so bad from the spoke, she flailed the burning ends wildly, keeping the pair at bay and flinging sparks everywhere. Like into the heaps of rubbish surrounding the edge of the cave. With a fwoosh, the dry tinder caught fire in seconds, flames crackling and spreading as they eagerly consumed the fuel. Kestrel and Buzzard fell back, screaming in outrage as the flames became a barrier. Normally, Stormy would be quite fine with this except that these bird women were the ones standing over by the way out and the two pegasi had their backs to wood that would ignite any minute. The thought of burning alive made her knees shake. “Get your wings,” she yelled over the crackling flame. Misty, eyes still clenched shut, concentrated. A white glow swirled around her, and her horn slowly disappeared and wings appeared on her shoulders. “Looks like it’s going to be roast pony after all!” cackled Buzzard. “Well done is better than none at all!” Kestrel agreed, clapping her taloned hands, well below the roiling smoke. Was it just her or did she feel the roof rasp against her ears? “I’m sorry,” Misty whimpered. “Don’t worry about that now. Flap!” she shouted, ignoring the squishy feeling inside her. The pair of them began to flap their wings as hard as they could. The air in the dank cave suddenly came alive as their wings began to beat, curling around Stormy like a close and personal friend. Clean air was sucked in along the bottom in a stream that swirled around her, then blasted back along her wings back at the three creatures. The fire roared in response, and a tongue of fire like dragon's breath blasted across the cave at the three monsters. They stopped laughing, their eyes wide in horror. Then all three tumbled out of the mouth of the cave trying to do phoenix impersonations. She and Misty weren’t going to last much longer in here either. “Bite my tail,” Stormy said, swinging the end of her messy yellow tail into Misty’s mouth. The mare bit down and Stormy snatched up the fallen knife in case the three tried to ambush them outside the cave. Her wings kept trying to direct the wind to keep the fire away, but it was tough. The flames ate the air as hungrily as the rest of the remains in the cave. Finally she took to the air and flew the rest of the way out, Misty trailing after her like a kite. She managed a couple dozen feet, returning to the bedroll and discarded junk atop the edge of the gorge. The two collapsed and Stormy spat out the knife, coughing and drawing in huge gulps of air. “Okay,” she said as she lay there in the dead grass, looking over at a mare almost as gray as she. “That’s the third time I’ve saved your life in twenty four hours. I think that means I get some honest answers.” She glanced over at Misty, who closed her eyes and turned her face away. "Okay. Fine. You're on your own," Stormy said as sat up. "I don't know what's going on, but you're up to something!" She struggled to her hooves. "Stormy, wait!" the sooty pseudopegasus said as she extended a hoof. "Please. There's a reason I didn't tell you." "Tell me what? What are you?" Stormy yelled back at her, then fell into a fit of coughing. "Pegasus? Unicorn? Changeling? What?" Misty wept, tears cutting lines of white in the soot covering her. "I... I'm sorry." Yeah, me too, Stormy thought. Stormy turned to go when a mare said in a soft, deep, exotic accent, "Oh my, what is this I see? You should not rest near the lair of the harpy!" Emerging from the forest with barely a rustle was the striped form of Zecora. Maybe it was the stripes, or the slightly leaner and stronger frame, or the tufted tail, but something about her set off little alarms in Stormy's head. The zebra wore her usual cloak and had a satchel almost bursting with various herbs and leaves. She walked silently past them to the edge of the gorge, looking over at the pillar of smoke rolling up from the hole. "My my, did this you do? I thought I smelled Harpy barbeque." "Uh..." Stormy said, at a loss, not understanding half of what she was saying. But the zebra smiled at the pair of them. "Come come, my sooty friend. I know where you can rest and mend." Then she shifted her gaze to Misty, her smile fading. "There is no need for tears, so please relax and calm your fears." Stormy looked at the pensive psudeopegasus and the zebra and sighed. She was half cooked and needed to clean up. "Fine," Stormy muttered A bit later, Stormy was glad they'd followed Zecora. The zebra, after getting their names, steered them past a number of dangerous spots and they made decent time through the forest. The looming trees weren't quite as bad as being trapped underground, but it did get her pulse up at times. Here and there, Stormy spotted something unusual: stone ruins. Here was a fallen column. There was part of a wall. "What is this from?" Stormy asked, regarding a vine covered statue of princess Celestia. "Many secrets you can see, if you wander Everfree," Zecora said as she lead them over a natural log bridge crossing a stream full of hungry reptiles. "Long ago, or so I'm told, there lived many ponies here, brave and bold. But troubles arose and strife ensue, and so the ponies fled to a homeland new. In their absence, the forest grew, fed by order forced askew. Seeds of discord fed the sprouting, forcing the pony outing. Today the ponies live many places, united with their happy faces. Yet inspite of all the forest endures, and threats and secrets it now obscures." "How do you do that?" Misty asked Zecora with a wan smile. "Always speaking in rhyme?" "Why do I do it all the time?" The zebra laughed. "It is no matter of trick or guile. I find it simply makes me smile." "Right. This is what I wanted to do. Troop through the Everfree with a rhyming zebra and a shape shifting freak," Stormy said sullenly. Zecora eyed her coolly as Misty looked away, and Stormy kicked herself. "Our journey is over, never fear. I promised you safety and now we're here," she said as she pulled aside the drooping branches to reveal a stone pool. Water trickled into a stone basin that looked as if it’d been part of an ancient building once. Cracked marble statues of ponies surrounded it in a half circle, with two that appeared to depict Celestia and Luna. Stormy wondered if it was intentional that the former was larger and more central while the latter was smaller and sitting beside the former. The water was cool and clear and felt great on her cooked hide. Stormy scrubbed off the soot and dirt from their walk on one side while Misty watched from the other. Then Zecora took some of her herbs and whipped up a poultice that, when spread on her burns, felt wonderful. I've needed more medical care in two days than I have in the last two years, Stormy thought. Ever since I met her. Misty hadn’t said much as she lay down on some soft ground next to the pool and Stormy needed some answers. “So. You’re a unicorn.” She tried to make the distrust sound like enthusiastic surprise. It didn’t work. “You are a unicorn, right? Not a changeling?” Because that would explain a lot of things really quickly. “No!” Misty said sharply. She flushed, glancing at Zecora and then back at Stormy. “No. I’m not a changeling,” she said with disgust, keeping her eyes turned away. “But it is the reason I’ve been pretending to be a pegasus.” The gray mare fought her annoyance. Much as she wanted to beat through obfuscation right now, she had to keep a level head. For now. Stormy screwed her face up a little. “Uh… you’re going to have to untangle that a little more for me.” Misty sighed and her eyes dropped to the pool. “All my life I liked to pretend I was other things. My magic talent is… well… copying other kinds of ponies. Like changelings do. Only…” She sighed and closed her eyes. Her horn withdrew into her brow and her body filled out a little, and suddenly Storm was looking at a pale white earth pony. Some more concentration and her hide became translucently sparkly like those… whatever they were called up north. Ice ponies? Crystal ponies? Glass? Ehh… She sprouted a pair of bat like wings, her body become lithe and almost predatory, and she stood there as a bat pony. Finally the fangs and tufted ears turned back to normal and feathers magically covered her wings and she was a pegasus. Zecora clopped her hooves in surprise. “You are quite the actor! Are you, perhaps, in theater?” For some reason, the question seemed to bring a smile to Misty. “Theater? Acting? Me? Oh my, mother would just love that.” She returned to being a unicorn once again. Then she sighed and gave a little half smile. “No, I'm not. There’s just one problem with that, if you think about it a second.” It took her about fifteen, but Stormy blinked as she realized, “Your color and cutie mark don’t change!” “Right. I spent years trying to do it. Even dyed my coat different colors. Can’t change a cutie mark though,” she said with a sigh. "A mimic you seem to be," Zecora said, stroking her chin in thought, "Though I wonder, can you copy me?" "A zebra? I don't know. I've only ever tried ponies." Misty peered at Zecora and concentrated. The mist swooshed around her and when it cleared a second later, a near stripeless zebra stood before Zecora. Very faint gray marks suggested stripes on her frame. What was odd though was that she didn't resemble Zecora precisely. It was more like a zebraish Misty. An imitation, not a copy. "Yeah. Amazing," Stormy said sourly, then rolled her eyes. "If I were a changeling, that'd be a pretty clever way for me to cover up my shapeshifting powers." "I'm not a changeling!" Misty shouted, startling birds enough to take flight. "I'm not! I was... examined. Twilight Sparkle zapped me with antimorphisis spells... which really, really hurt. I was locked up for weeks to see if I'd weaken. They examined my parents to see if I was some kind of half breed," she said as tears ran down her cheeks. "I think even my parents believed it a little too." Okay, if she was a changeling, she was a darn good one. Stormy finally relented a little. Not happy but... "So you're a unicorn who can become a pegasus. Dad'll just love that. 'Hornheads are lookin' to replace us! Just you wait!'" she said in an imitation of her father's gruff, hyperbolic voice. "'First it's butterfly wings outta mornin' dew and next they're comin' for our jobs!'" Speaking of jobs, "So why were you in Ponyville?" Misty averted her eyes. "Well... eventually I got so sick of everything in Canterlot that I… um…” she tapped her hooves together. “You ran away from home?” she asked. Misty bit her lip, glancing around, and then confessed. “No. I… told them I was going on an arcane studies expedition in Saddle Arabia and, um… jumped ship,” she said with a flush. “I ask them for money every few months and they send it in nice predictable allotments to a great aunt who's an importer in Manehattan. She forwards it to me,” she said with a sigh. Stormy eyed Misty skeptically. The mare was... well... she was unsure what exactly she was. She seemed to have a talent for obfuscation and breaking the rules that came much too easy for Stormy's liking. Sure, Stormy might bend a rule or two about lightning, but breaking and entering? Lying to her parents? “So you left the unicorn life to come to come to Ponyville and… be a pegasus?” Stormy asked with a crook of her brow. “No. Actually, I spent a month as an earth pony on a rock farm working with another unicorn,” she said with a rueful smile. “Apparently we were both disappointments, but me more so. After all, earth ponies are supposed to be… well… tough enough for that kind of work.” Stormy could understand that. If somepony threw a twelve hour work day at her she’d fly off to fairer skies too. “So then you came to Ponyville to be a pegasus.” “Yes. I sort of fibbed about my credentials. Rainbow Dash is a nice pony, but she might want to keep better paperwork,” Misty murmured with a small smile. More lies. “I hoped I could just… pick it up as I went along?” “Right. Because working weather is so easy that any hornhead can pick it up. Heck, Rarity could control all of Ponyville's weather all by herself. No need for a weather team at all then!" Stormy said sharply. "I'm sorry," she whimpered as she clenched her eyes. "I know you need to let off steam, but that is no excuse for being mean," Zecora told Stormy sharply. "While being copied may give alarm, best to ask yourself if she's caused harm." Stormy grit her teeth. As much as it'd be easy to blame everything on Misty, Zecora was right. Misty didn't make Rosewing or the brown pegasus attack her. "Right. Sorry." “So… you don’t mind I’m a unicorn?” Misty asked nervously. "No. Why would I?" Maybe Stormy's reply would have worked better if she'd kept the scorn out of her voice. "Well... you say things that... I dunno... I didn't think you liked unicorns. That's all." Misty kept her voice light and her eyes away. "What? No. I..." she started to say and then sighed. "Look. I just don't like how some unicorns can do everything everypony else can, only better. Pegasi fly and manage the weather. That's our thing. Then Twilight gives Rarity wings and she actually competes in the young fliers competition. Or Rarity takes over Ponyville's weather like Rainbow Dash did it all herself. I can understand why the dirt... er... earth ponies don't let unicorns use magic to wrap up winter. It's hard work, but they pull it off without a unicorn flashing their horn and doing it for them." Misty didn't raise her eyes from the water as she sat there. "What you are is important, this is true, but more important is what we do," Zecora said to her with a firm frown. "Do you want to be the pony who tears down a contrite friend with your scowls and frown?" "I'm just... this is just my opinion, Zecora. I'm not a bigot or anything," Stormy said defensively. "Your opinion you did just give. Now, perhaps, you should let her live. Clearly she is deeply sorry. Why then do you prolong her worry?" Zecora asked Stormy. The gray pegasus's mouth worked silently. "For months I came to Ponyville, from far over forest, and river, and hill. Yet one look at me and away they scurry; fear of me prompted their hurry. Yet what mischief did I actually cause? This question gave few much pause. Most wished me run out of town. Those meaner still to hunt me down. Fear and pride in equal measure do but hinder joy and pleasure. So condemn others if you must, but first be sure your ire is just." The gray mare regarded the miserable unicorn and sighed. "Sorry, Misty. I know you didn't ask for any of this. And for what it's worth, I'm glad you've stuck with me." "Thanks," Misty said with a sniff. Zecora rose, "Well I am glad to see friendship renewed in the Everfree, I find I still have tasks to do so I must bid you both adieu." She took her satchel of herbs, bowed to each of them, and trotted from the ruin. "Did that zebra just speak fancy?" Stormy asked in bafflement, then shook her head hard. "I think she might have," Misty giggled softly, then caught Stormy looking at her and flushed, silencing. Well, this awkward silence was going to get them nowhere. Stormy rose and looked at the ruin. “This is a pretty awesome place for the Everfree. I wonder what it was before the forest swallowed it up,” Stormy said as she trotted along the sloped edge of the pool opposite the pillars. “Probably a unicorn villa,” Misty said as she gestured to the side. "There’s more ruins over there. And there too. This place was probably a farming community before the Everfree swallowed it.” Stormy walked to the edge of the clearing where she could see the stone foundations and walks running in crooked lines between the gnarled trees. There had to be a half dozen buildings flanking the pool, all made of fine marble. How many other cruder structures had once surrounded the place? “How do you know it’s a unicorn villa? It could be an earth pony villa,” she suggested, trying to sound as if she actually believed it too. “Earth pony villa?” Misty asked with a wry smile as she walked up beside her, and she pointed a hoof at the statues flanking the Princesses. “Anyway, the proof is there. See? Unicorns are the closest to the Princesses. Then earth ponies, with their heads pressed to the ground as if they’re bowing to the Princesses and the unicorns. Then pegasi out on the fringes,” she said as she pointed to the ranks of statues around the princess. Well, that certainly robbed it of some charm. “Unicorns first, huh?” That made Misty flush. “Well… back then they certainly thought so. Today it’s Princesses first, and then everypony else equally,” Misty said. “As long as we have the Princesses, it doesn’t matter what kind of pony you are.” Deep down, Stormy wondered if that were actually true. Even if ponies didn’t come out and say it, how many might also be harboring little resentments. That thought robbed the pool of what little interest she had left in it. “So, ready to get to Cloudsdale?” Stormy asked. The unicorn nodded and concentrated, transforming into her white pegasus persona. “I think I’m ready to go.” “Good,” and she turned, grabbed the bedroll, and thrust it into Misty’s hooves. “Your junk. You can carry at least half of it.” She picked up her own bundle of Misty’s stuff wrapped in vines and tossed it like a bolo over her shoulders. “Awww…” Misty whined, but put the roll on her back. Together, they took to the skies.