//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Disturbance in the Skies // by Quillfeather //------------------------------// Chapter 1 Author: Quillfeather Something felt wrong within the air, something vulgar, something…. A cyan pegasus looked up from a cloud she was pushing out of the way. She was just about done with her weather duty when she had noticed the weird way the area felt to her. Narrowing her eyes, she looked off into the distance and spotted dark clouds accumulating near Canterlot. "Huh? I thought I cleared all the clouds, well at least the Canterlot team should've too," she mused. A voice from below bellowed up to her and she looked down to notice Twilight Sparkle. The young purple unicorn looked like she had just run miles to find her friend as her mane was crumpled and her pelt was sleek with sweat. "Rainbow Dash, you have to come see. Something is terribly wrong," the purple unicorn said. Concern dripped from the entirety of that sentence. Rainbow Dash bucked the cloud she had been pushing until it dispersed and then landed on the ground wondering what Twilight was talking about. She was officially done with cloud duty as should every Pegasi in the workforce. Seeing that Canterlot's skies were filled with rain clouds seemed to prove they weren't though. Next time she saw their team she'd give them a talking too, especially since she had been a head of the team that dispersed those clouds earlier. "What's this about something being wrong? All I've noticed is some pesky dark clouds near Canterlot," she said. Without even waiting, her friend burst at her all her worries. Rainbow Dash had to flatten her ears to keep them from ringing. "It's just that! The sky was clear a minute ago and now it seems like something dreadful has happened. Clouds don't just appear out of nowhere!" "What are you taking about Twi, it's probably just rainclouds. Even Canterlot needs rain every now and again. The team probably just got lazy and allowed the clouds to come back." "Still it worries me… The rate at which they appeared isn't normal," she finished while looking off towards the mountain range that held up the castle that Ponyville was under. Seriously, at times it worried her the extent of the purple unicorns knowledge on clearly Pegasi duties. Not everypony knew about cloud structures and what was normal for a cloud. Even at times she faced a whole new cloud formation that caught her for a loop to categorize. Looking at her magical friend in concern she rolled her eyes. "If you really want, I'll go check it out, but I'm pretty sure they are just rainclouds. I need to go give those Pegasi a talking to anyways." "Really, you'd do that? Thank you so much Rainbow," Twilight said as her mood lightened up and her eyes went back to the pegasus. Knowing that somepony would go and investigate seemed as if a load was off her shoulder. Something was wrong and she could feel it to the very tip of her horn. Rainbow Dash had a point though. It could always just be storm clouds, but then again, those were usually planned by Celestia herself and Cloudsdale, so as nopony would get wet and sick. Usually, the whole kingdom was given a pamphlet saying when it would rain over their lands. Ponyville relied on its weather team to notify them every week on what was to come, but Twilight got her news straight from the Cloudsdale press. Nothing was scheduled today and that worried her. Well the mysterious clouds weren't going to check themselves and so the rainbow maned pony flew off. She decided it was okay to take her time and so, Rainbow Dash arrived after a brief ten minute flight. It had been an easy go for her, but as soon as she neared a two mile radius of the city, her flight was beginning to grow hard. She had just gone under the storm clouds and the wind had considerably picked up. The wind flung her about in all directions and so she had to grit her teeth and strain through it. She was used to storm winds, but these felt different. Whatever, a storm is a storm. Seriously, Twilight is just taking this whole thing too seriously. Just because there was a mistake this week on the Cloudsdale press doesn't mean she has to totally freak out at a big cloud hovering over Canterlot. Almost as soon as she had finished thinking that a lightening bolt slammed itself right in front of her. Rainbow skidded to a halt quickly out of shock then realized that wasn't the best thing to do if lightening was coming down. She did, however, lay her ears down flat to her skull as the thundering boom came. Within it, she swore she heard something scream. I should probably land before I get my wings blown off. Her cyan hoofs touched carefully inlaid stone after descending. The storm was still brewing above and had yet to let down its torrent of rain. In front of her was a bridge and farther ahead was the castle where Princesses Celestia and Luna lived. Rainbow tucked her wings together and cantered off down the bridge and through the streets of Canterlot. She had been here only a few times, but since the Gala she knew the streets fairly well. As she flashed by houses and towards the ever growing doors, she noted the loss of colorful fur around her. Still, she continued her run through the city. If anyone knew what was going on, Celestia did, but she was hoping to find somepony to tell her instead. A pleasing aroma made her stop suddenly and turn to her left. It was a restaurant that still had it's doors open. Looking around once more, she figured she had nothing to loose. She was soon inside the place and found nopony inside. The inside was decorated with stone and wood full of intricate designs that pleased the eye. Artificial grapevines laced the beams throughout the entire building. Wooden tables with ornate backing chairs were scattered around for the customers to eat upon. All in all, it looked like an Italian restaurant and smells complimented everything perfectly. Still, nopony was here and looking at the decoration wasn't going to help with anything. It was the empty chairs where hot food was still steaming from the tables that interested her. Whatever had happened had made ponies leave their fresh meals in an instant without even taking a bite. What in Celestia's name was going on here?!