Castle of Harmony, 8:00 am
Twilight woke up and felt like a train had hit her, she also felt a warm form curled up at her underside. She looked down and saw her assistant curled up like a little foal, and she couldn't help but feel like a mother. She almost went right back to sleep, yet her newest accessory, resting on the nightstand, caught her eye and reminded her why she hurt so much.
She played the events of last night over in her head, and realized that she should tell the princesses and her friends about it. However her stomach had other ideas.
"ZZ-Ah! Spider." Spike exclaimed as Twilight's hunger roused him from sleep, "Sorry, last night left me a bit rattled."
"Spike it's aright, but between you and me, I don't think anything is going to be the same anymore." The young alicorn said to the drake. "We should probably tell Celestia and Shiny about this. (stomach) But first we should get some breakfast."
Spike nodded in agreement. The purple alicorn and dragon got out of bed, Twilight fixed her mane, and the two of them began walking toward the kitchen.
Spike licked his lips in anticipation, "Can I have topaz with my cereal?"
"I thought you were trying to cut down on your intake on precious gems. Something about affecting your figure?"
Spike turned to her, "That only applies to emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. You know, the big three?"
Twilight looked at the youth with a look of suspicion, "Alright, but just today."
As the two entered the rustically designed room, the purple dragon did, as they say in the human world, a fist pump.
Sweet Apple Acres, South Orchard, 8:15am
Rainbow dash was over looking the pegasi team she had brought in to clear the orchard's fog. Over all an okay team.
Firstly there was their team captain, Raindrops, a yellow pegasus with a short teal mane. She was a few years younger than Rainbow, but had also been accepted into the Wonderbolts reserve, so Rainbow knew she was a fair flier.
The other three members of the team were strangers to Rainbow, but she thought she had seen them during last years Winter Wrap-up. They were similar in color, with a sort of sherbet ice cream theme to their coats and manes. Rainbow wondered if they were sisters.
Speaking of relatives, "Well Cuz, you made the right choice calling my team in, that fog looks thicker than Cloudsdale's base."
"Yeah, I've never seen anything like it. The Apple family wants it cleared out by noon. Think it will be possible?" Rainbow asked her second cousin (on her mother's side).
The yellow pegasus tilted her head a bit, "It will take some doing, but we should be able to." She took to the air and the rest of her team did the same, "Okay; Wild Flower, you and Berryblend take the top section of the bank, give it a good shave. Me, Rainbow and Dawn will take the bottom half, and watch out for the apple trees. Okay, go!"
Two of the soft colored ponies, one with a curly mane and the other with a smooth, two colored one, flew off to attack the top of the fog bank; while the third, a smooth maned mare, advanced on the front.
They began beating their wings fiercely, yet apart from a slight disruption the fog stayed firm. Rainbow then took the logical next move, she turned around and bucked it. Her hooves passed through without affecting the fog at all. "Inconceivable!" the pegasus, named Dawn Light, said in exasperation.
Raindrops approached the fog, she then waved her hoof around inside it. "Maybe we should try something stronger. Hey Cuz, you remember at the Wonderbolts training, you and Lightning used a tornado to clear the clouds."
Rainbow cringed at the thought, "Yeah, and it nearly killed 5 ponies and got Lightning kicked out of the reserve."
"Well I didn't mean we should do what she did, but maybe we need to try something else. What do you think it looks like on the inside?"
Rainbow looked at her cousin like her mane just changed color, "What difference does that make, the inside will look exactly like the outside."
Dawn, tired of just flapping around, went forward into the fog, "Better then just doing nothing." Raindrops smirked at the cyan pegasus and followed her teammate in, Rainbow just sighed and followed.
Elsewhere
The other two pegasi were having little better luck, they had dropped inside the dense fog bank and were doing about as well at clearing the fog as one would have at digging a hole in bowl of soup. The one named Berryblend was sitting on top of an apple tree, thinking about what to do, when she heard a gasp come from the direction her teammate had been working. "Wild? Wild Flower?" she called out nervously.
Suddenly, she was grabbed by the hooves and pulled to the ground. She didn't see her attacker before she was knocked unconscious by a blow to the head.
Back with the main group
Rainbow perked her head up as she heard something moving about in the fog, "Did anypony else hear that?"
In that moment, a large mass of silk came over Dawn's head, which immediately began pulling her into the fog.
"Dawn!" Raindrops called out.
A figure jumped out of the murk onto Rainbow Dash. She crashed to the ground, rolling over she was able to through her attacker off. Yet as soon as she did another round of silk landed on top of her.
"Get help! Get Twilight!" Rainbow called out before she was pulled into the fog.
Raindrops began flying off in the direction of the Castle of Harmony like Tirek himself was on her tail.
Castle of Harmony, 8:20 am
Twilight was just finishing her breakfast, spike was still eating his mix of grains, milk and rocks. Twilight was about to start on the dishes (she still hadn't figured out how a tree made of crystal had plumbing) when she heard a knock resonate through the castle.
"Strange, it's a bit early for the mailmare." she would have gone to answer it, however the knocker in question decided to let herself in.
A frantic yellow pegasus came charging into the castle. Only by grabbing the pony in her magic was Twilight able to keep the frightened mare from causing a catastrophe.
Spike came out of the dining room to see what the noise was, as Twilight addressed the mare. "Whoa easy. What is it?"
"Apple orchard. Rainbow. Fog. Split up. Vanished. Danger. Help." babbled Raindrops as she flailed around in Twilight's magic.
"Did you get any of that Spike?" The purple mare asked her assistant.
"Something about danger down at Sweet Apple Acres, I think she might have also mentioned Rainbow Dash," the dragon translated.
Twilight had released the mare and started heading for her room as soon as Spike had finished. Upon reaching it she immediately grabbed her saddle bags, and the two devices left for her. She place the latter inside the former and made her way out of castle at a fast gallop, only slowing down to let her assistant climb on her back.
"Like I said Spike, nothing may be the same anymore." the alicorn commented as she advanced toward the fog infested orchards.