• Published 13th Aug 2013
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Storm on the Horizon - moguera



Ponyville's problems with Cloudsdale reach fever pitch as a conflict over drought threatens to escalate into all-out war.

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The Order

Chapter 3: The Order

"WHAT!!!" Twilight winced and covered her ears as Rarity's shout seemed to shake the library tree to its roots. Rarity stared at her friend, eyes wide with disbelief. "You can't be serious can you? This is some sort of prank right? Are you actually saying those ponies are real? I thought they were a myth, a bedtime story for foals. I remember my parents telling me those stories when I was Sweetie’s age.”

Twilight chuckled. “Are you that surprised? Considering our record with old mare’s tales turning out to be true, this is a drop in the bucket.”

“I suppose...” admitted Rarity, tapping her chin thoughtfully. After all, Nightmare Moon, the Elements, Discord, even the Crystal Empire had been nothing more than stories and rumors...until they had had been revealed to be very real. “I admit you have a point there. But there’s a bit of a different. It’s one thing for ancient beings and powerful magics to have been revealed, but for a whole knightly order to exist, only to be chalked up merely as a myth seems a bit far fetched to me. It may seem paradoxical, but I find it a bit odd for such an organization to fade into legend like that, particularly if, as your friend’s status attests, that it remains a very present and very active part of Equestrian life.”

“Well, to start, there aren’t many of them.” Twilight shrugged. “All the fanfare and ceremony that comes with certain knightly orders, particularly those created by the nobility, isn’t present. And with so few ponies being members, they don’t have much visibility to regular Equestrians.”

“How many are there?”

“Last I heard, no more than seven.” Twilight shrugged. “Arkenstone is the only member that I know of, much less met. And even I’ve never met him in his official capacity, not even yesterday. In fact, from the way he was keeping vague about his actions, I’m not entirely sure Arkenstone knows that I know he’s a Knight.” Something about Twilight’s speech made the capital K quite clear.

The lavender unicorn pressed on. “The second reason that they’re largely believed to be mythical is because they go out of their way to keep their status as Knights a secret. From what I understand, one of the Order’s overriding tenets is humility in practice by not publicly acknowledging their own existence unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“You mean they all live like your friend, wandering about, pretending to be shiftless vagabonds?” asked Rarity.

Twilight shrugged again. “I can only speak for Arkenstone. I’m guessing he uses that as cover to allow him to travel from one place to another to carry out Celestia’s orders without garnering attention. As far as I know, there’s no rule saying that Knights can’t be public figures or hold important positions. The tenet is about never publicly acknowledging that they are, in fact, Knights.

“To be honest, I don’t know any of the specifics of what the Knights actually do. Princess Celestia only ever really gave me a basic overview. From what she told me, I know that they are critical to keeping Equestria safe from outside enemies, bandit raids, rampaging dragons, invading armies, that sort of thing.”

Rarity blinked in silent shock for a moment. “With just seven of them?”

Twilight nodded. “The Knights are...well, they’re powerful. That’s what gets them noticed by Princess Celestia in the first place. After that, she carefully vets and tests them before making the decision to actually Knight them. Remember what I told you Celestia told me about Dawn and his martial art, how powerful he’ll be if he if he fully masters it?”

Rarity nodded.

“The Knights are supposed to be in that class of power. Princess Celestia ranked them among the few ponies who could actually oppose a full master of one of the Three Pillars. The only other ponies occupying, or rather exceeding, that tier of power would be the Princesses themselves.”

Rarity shied away from her friend. The thought that somepony that powerful had been standing in her boutique and, worse, she had unceremoniously dragged across half of Ponyville made her more than slightly nervous. And yet, Arkenstone had given no sign, not the slightest indication that he was anywhere nearly as strong as Twilight suggested, save perhaps his admittedly impressive (and she wouldn’t find it a stretch to say “hunky”) physique, even if he was no Big Macintosh (Now there was a stallion Rarity wouldn’t mind sinking her teeth into if he didn’t already belong to Ditzy).

“So let me get this straight,” she said after a moment, “Arkenstone is one of seven ponies who apparently posses power on an order approaching our esteemed Princesses, who are supposed to protect Equestria from powerful threats. Am I correct so far?”

Twilight nodded.

Rarity continued. “Then please excuse me when I find myself wondering WHERE IN TARTARUS HAVE THEY BEEN!!!?”

“Ack!” Twilight jumped back from Rarity as she began to pace back and forth, ranting.

“Nightmare Moon! Discord! Queen Chrysalis! King Sombra! Your atrocious dress ideas! Where have they been all this time? What in the world could be so important, so dangerous, that they weren’t here for all that?”

“I don’t have all the answers you know,” said Twilight, “I suppose some of it could be chalked up to needing the right tool for the right job. Being a Knight is mostly a martial profession anyway, which would have gone against what Princess Celestia wanted to do about Nightmare Moon or the Crystal Empire. As for the others...I honestly can’t say for sure. Like I said, it’s not as though I have detailed information on their activities...”


"Princess Celestia," said Arkenstone, giving her a brief bow. Had any members of the nobility been watching, they would have been scandalized by the stallion's lack of proper decorum.

Forcing the smile off her face, Celestia put on her most serious expression.. "If you have returned, then I expect that your mission is finished."

"It is," replied Arkenstone, his tone going flat. Celestia was fairly certain she could hear resentment in his words.

"And..."

Arkenstone curled around and reached a hoof into his own tail, pulling a black object from its dark-brown confines. With a flick of his hoof, he tossed the item onto the table, where it clattered over to rest in front of Celestia. It was a long jagged piece of chitin, shaped in a grotesque parody of a unicorn's horn.

"The Changeling Queen, Chrysalis, is dead," declared Arkenstone, his tone ice-cold, "I slew her in open battle. The remnants of her swarm have scattered and will likely starve before long. She is no longer a threat to Equestria."

Celestia stared silently at the grim souvenir Arkenstone had dropped in front of her. "It would seem that your mission was a success," she said softly.

"Yes," agreed Arkenstone, his voice heavy with disgust, "I killed a sentient creature for being true to her nature and sentenced her species to a prolonged genocide. Forgive me if I'm not rejoicing at the prospect."

"It was unfortunate," said Celestia, lifting up the severed horn with a golden aura and turning it before her eyes, "But they would not treat with us and left us with no other option."

"Yes," said Arkenstone, his voice softening, "She would not listen to reason."

"She would not listen because she was being true to her nature, as you said," Celestia pointed out.

"Indeed," agreed Arkenstone, "But I cannot be proud of this."

"I wouldn't ask it of you," said Celestia, "The fact that you performed such an act and reflect upon it like this is proof that you are truly worthy of the trust I bestowed upon you." She smiled again. "I've kept you busy these past few years, haven't I?"

Arkenstone sighed wearily and nodded. "Indeed."

"You've earned some time to rest. Chrysalis was one of the last major threats to Equestria's safety for now. I've seen no sign of any impending crisis that requires your attention. Take some time for yourself, settle down somewhere and enjoy the peace you've fought so hard for."

"I intend to," replied Arkenstone, turning back towards the door.

"Where are you planning to settle, if you don't mind me asking?" asked Celestia, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I was thinking of staying in Ponyville for awhile," answered the stallion, "I ran into an old friend there. Perhaps you know something about that."

A smile tugged at Celestia's lips. "I haven't the slightest idea of what you mean. But I'm sure you'll like it there. The residents are quite friendly."

Remembering the rather...forceful generosity that resulted in his new cloak, Arkenstone smiled ruefully. "I noticed. Could I bother you for a small favor?"

"Anything," replied Celestia without the slightest hesitation.


Rarity sighed a she settled back onto the cushions, her agitation spent for the time being. “Just where did they come from then, these Knights?”

“You remember the Princesses’s story about the routing of King Ironclaw’s army?” asked Twilight.

Rarity nodded in response. She remembered Twilight sharing that with the group of friends shortly after hearing it from Celestia.

“The founding of the Order took place only a few years after that,” said Twilight, “I think Celestia was inspired by the story of a mere three ponies halting an entire army. She’d never wanted Equestria to have to bother with the trials of war, which was why she never expanded the Guard into a true army. The other reason she didn’t want to form a standing army, even for the sake of protection, is because an army can be used for attack as easily as it can be used for defense. Even if she never had that intention...”

“Our neighbors would see Equestria building an army and could very well draw that kind of conclusion on their own,” agreed Rarity.

Twilight nodded in agreement. “But with the Knights, I think she found what she felt was an ideal solution. By keeping a tiny number of ponies, who could rout entire armies on their own, she could keep Equestria safe. But at the same time, that kind of power is little help when it comes to the logistics necessary to take and hold territory; a force, ideal for defense, but useless for launching any kind of invasion on their own. That’s what she was aiming for with the Knights.”

“I suppose I could understand that,” admitted Rarity, “But there’s one more thing that bothers me...the name.”

“You have a point,” agreed Twilight, “In all the years that I’ve known about the Celestial Order of Knights and the Cult Solar, including their original name, I’ve never really drawn any kind of connection between the two. After all, Celestia created the Order of Knights herself. If there’s any connection between the two, it’s likely because she was seeking to co-opt the Cult Solar’s original name for itself into something genuinely good for Equestria. At least, that’s the only reason I can think of.”

Rarity sighed. “To think such an important pony is wearing my fashions right now. Oh if only I could advertise it. Not that anypony would believe me anyway.”

Twilight could only giggle at her friend’s consternation.


The doors closed with a resounding thud behind the stallion as he left the audience chamber. Even before they had opened for him, his keen nose had already detected the presence of two familiar ponies just beyond the threshold. As he stepped out, a boyish grin spread across Arkenstone's face. "It's been a long time."

Two white unicorn stallions stood before him, both smiling amiably at the Knight. One, with a multi-toned blue mane and wearing silver armor stepped forward and immediately wrapped Arkenstone up in a boisterous hug. "I haven't seen you in ages Arkenstone," said Shining Armor as he released his friend.

"Indeed, you should at least write more," added the other stallion, with a magnificently groomed blonde mane. With a grin, he stepped forward and gave Arkenstone an embrace of his own in greeting.

"I hear you've gone into governance Blue," chortled Arkenstone as they stepped away from each other.

Prince Blueblood tossed his hair in his usual elegant manner. "That's just proof of how out of touch you've been. I got into politics years ago. I'm Minister of the Treasury now."

"You sound proud. You must've really earned that title."

Blueblood snorted indignantly. "You have no idea. Auntie Celestia was merciless. She shoved so much work on me I was afraid I'd be buried alive at the time. They could have built my coffin from all my paperwork."

With a chuckle, Arkenstone turned back to Shining Armor. "And I've heard you've done well for yourself. You're a prince now."

Shining shifted uncertainly. "Sort of," he admitted, "I'm technically Prince of the Crystal Empire now that Cadance is its Princess, but I'm still a captain of the Royal Guard. The Crystal Empire doesn't really need much in the way of governance, so we still spend a lot of our time in Canterlot."

"As expected," mused Arkenstone, "By the way, I'm sorry for missing your wedding."

Shining shrugged. "Eh, it couldn't be helped. The Changelings threw everything off kilter. You and the other Knights were sent to protect against hostile forces that ended up never coming. I thought about holding things up after we routed the invasion. But after everything everypony had been through, we decided to go ahead so we could wrap things up."

A grin returning to his face, Shining spoke again. "But you can make it up to us by joining me and Cadance for dinner. This blowhard..." he jerked a hoof in Blueblood's direction, "...is tagging along."

"Blowhard," protested an affronted Blueblood, "Who just came away with three out of five wins on the practice grounds? If you ask me, you've let being made a prince make you soft."

Shining Armor winced, but still grinned in amusement. Arkenstone simply listened as his two old friends traded jibes. Before the little argument could dissolve into a wrestling match, Blueblood paused and once again turned his attention to Arkenstone. "By the way, have you thought about visiting your parents? They'll be excited to see you again."

"I suppose I should" admitted Arkenstone, "Are they still quartered in your mansion?"

"Of course," replied Blueblood, "Those two old fogies would sooner drop dead than retire. Redwood still keeps a bucket of ice-water on hoof every morning, just in case he thinks I need more motivation to get out of bed."

The three friends shared a laugh and made their way through the labyrinthine halls of the palace, their chatter echoing along the marble corridors.


"Goodbye and try to at least make it a full month before you wind up back here again," said the doctor as Dawn and Fluttershy left the hospital. The two of them made their way sedately into town. Yet again, the sky was clear and bright, with nary a cloud to be seen.

"Well, we have some time before we need to go home," said Fluttershy, smiling widely, "Was there something you wanted to do in town first?"

Dawn hummed as he thought about it. "I would like to stop by the library. Since I won't be doing much physical activity for the next month, it won't be much trouble for me to let Twilight Sparkle conduct her studies."

"That's true," agreed Fluttershy, "What about your friends?"

"The typical Cutie Mark Crusader activity is a little to rough for my current state," said Dawn, giving his bandages a wan look, "I'd rather not hold them back while I recover."

"You wouldn't be holding them back silly," said Fluttershy, nuzzling her son on the cheek, "You and your friends can still have plenty of fun while you recover. It'll give them a chance to try some quieter, gentler things." Celestia knows the town would appreciate it.

"I suppose," answered Dawn with a shrug, "That's up to them more than me. Otherwise, I think I'll continue to help Ditzy learn how to navigate through her wind-sense."

"It was very kind of you to teach her that," said Fluttershy as she beamed down at him, "I haven't seen Ditzy so happy in my life."

"You know her well then?"

"Of course. She went to Flight School with me and Rainbow Dash. Of the three of us, she was the only one who actually graduated." Fluttershy slumped a little. "She was bottom of the class though. The instructors liked her about as much as they did me. The only reason she made it all the way through was because her parents were major donors to the school."

"Really?" asked Dawn, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

Fluttershy sighed and shook her head. "Ditzy's not stupid. But she is clumsy. To make matters worse, her academic scores during exams were very low because her eye condition makes reading and writing difficult. She would have been fine if she had been allowed extra time to work, but Cloudsdale's Flight School doesn't have a policy for accommodating ponies with disabilities. That would be 'coddling' them."

Dawn blinked in surprise. That was the first time he had heard his mother take such a sarcastic tone. He could tell she was speaking with memories of bitter experiences behind her. He thought about asking her for more information, but opted not to. She would share in her own time when she thought it appropriate and he didn't feel like pressing her.

The uncomfortable silence accompanied the two of them to the library. Fluttershy was so distracted by her own thoughts, she failed to notice the violet glow in the air before her and bumped nose-first into the forcefield that had been erected around the library. Falling back with a startled squeak, Fluttershy took a moment to gently rub her aching snout before looking up at the unexpected impediment.

"Oh dear, what's this about?"

Dawn had noticed the force field and stopped in time to avoid the same fate as his mother. But he was equally baffled as to its purpose. However, just as he was starting to try and decipher what was going on, the dome of light split at the top and dissolved away as though it had never been. The library's door opened and Rarity trotted out.

"Oh dear! Fluttershy! What happened darling?" asked Rarity upon seeing her stunned friend sitting on the ground.

Fluttershy grinned sheepishly. "I accidentally walked into Twilight's force field."

"Oh, terribly sorry about that dear," said Rarity, helping her friend to her feet, "Twilight and I were having a conversation about a very private matter. Some of the measures she took to avoid being overheard were...extreme." The fashionista cast a dubious look over her shoulder at the arboreal building. "I thought it was a little much, but she insisted."

"What were you two talking about?" asked Fluttershy.

Rarity briefly froze, her eyes darting about. Baring her teeth in a nervous grin, she zeroed her eyes in on the clock tower in the distance. "Oh my! Look at the time! I have a late afternoon appointment that I have to get ready for immediately. Terribly sorry to cut our conversation short Fluttershy, but I'd best be going."

Dawn watched the white-coated mare flee back to her own home before exchanging a confused look with his mother. "That was...interesting."

"Yes," agreed Fluttershy, "I wonder what she was so nervous about."

"Given the circumstances, I suspect that Twilight Sparkle swore her to secrecy on whatever it was that they talked about," ventured Dawn, turning his attention back to the library, "We should leave it be."

Fluttershy frowned, but couldn't fault Dawn's decision. There was no reason to pry into somepony's secrets if it wasn't doing any harm. Deciding to let it go, the two headed into the library to speak with Twilight.


Rarity looked up as she put the finishing touches on her latest dress. This one was a special gift for Fluttershy in preparation for her date with Caramel, who was due to be released from the hospital later in the coming week. That poor stallion, she thought, He must have been in an awful state. Dawn's been in and out of the hospital twice in the time it's taken him to recover.

The sound of the bell over her door drew Rarity's attention to the entrance, where her eyes fell upon the small pink filly who had entered. For a long moment, silence lingered over the two ponies as they regarded one another. Then, finally, Diamond Tiara spoke, her voice heavy with contempt.

"I don't know who you think you are, but the only reason I'm here is that daddy wouldn't give me back my allowance if I didn't. So don't think you can just go bossing me around, you low-class pretender."

Normally, Rarity's first instinct would have been to protest, but she realized that if she gave any indication that Diamond Tiara's words had rattled her, she would never be able to instruct the filly. She was sorely tempted to take Diamond Tiara and use her as a model for a line of fillies' clothing, complete with many accidental needle pricks to the rump. But while that would have been cathartic and gone a long ways towards giving the irritating filly a taste of the humiliation she had dished out to Sweetie Belle on a regular basis, Rarity knew she had to take the high road.

It was time to teach Diamond Tiara about real class.

Rarity walked straight up to Diamond Tiara, her face set in its sternest glare. As she came right in front of Diamond Tiara, she brought her hoof down with a tremendous stomp that made the filly jump in surprise.

Before Diamond Tiara could recover her composure, Rarity took action. "Stand up straight! Your posture is atrocious!" barked Rarity, "Your spine should be level and your legs directly beneath you!" Her tone, combined with Diamond Tiara's own surprise caused the filly to jump to attention immediately.

"Eyes forward!" Rarity continued, "Keep your face straight ahead! If you want to learn poise, you need to learn how to control yourself! A lady of class does not simply act according to a child's whims."

Diamond Tiara opened her mouth to argue, but wasn't able to so much as squeak a word of protest before Rarity's sharp reprimand cut her off. "Close your mouth at once! Until I tell you otherwise, you will not speak unless I give you permission. This is not some menial chore your father gave you. While you are here, you are my student and I am your teacher. You will show me respect whether you like it or not."

Even though her quivering eyes betrayed her fear at Rarity's thunderous diatribe, Diamond Tiara remained silent and still. Rarity smiled approvingly. "Good. You can learn. Now then, from now on, when you address me, you will address me as Miss Rarity. Do you understand?"

It took Diamond Tiara a moment to work up the strength of will to speak. "Y-yes Miss Rarity."

"Very good. Now let's begin..."


Fluttershy opened the door to her cottage, allowing Dawn and herself to enter. "I'll get started on dinner," she said, moving towards the kitchen. Before she could continue, she felt a tug on her tail. Turning around, she saw that Dawn had pulled on it to stop her.

What she saw shocked her. Dawn was looking up at her, his eyes filled with a nervous energy, as though he wanted to say something, but was afraid of what the consequences might be. It was completely different from how he usually was. His normal calm composure was gone and replaced by an expression of child-like nervousness that should not have looked so out of place on a foal his age. The only time she had seen him even remotely like this had been when he had broken down after Applejack's apology. That time, the unexpected sincere apology had caught him off guard and broken through the wall of emotional neutrality he had built around himself. But this time, the colt seemed to have willingly relinquished his tight self-control in favor of expressing his true feelings. His heart was raw, exposed, and he had never seemed so vulnerable.

"Mom," he said quietly, a whisper that made even Fluttershy strain to hear it.

"Yes?" she asked as gently as she could, leaning in to make certain that she didn't miss a single word.

"I-I..." Dawn hesitated and screwed his eyes shut, concentrating before working up the courage to say what he wanted to. "I love you mom."

Absolute silence descended on the cottage. Even the animals in their burrows and shelters froze, not making the slightest sound, not shifting even an inch as all waited for Fluttershy's reaction. They all sensed that this was a momentous occasion for their caretaker.

Fluttershy's mind reeled. She had told Dawn that she loved him on many occasions. But this was the first time the colt had said it himself. She realized, then and there, that this was the true lesson that Red River and Storm Front had been trying to teach him. Dawn had willingly relinquished his emotional defenses, rendered himself vulnerable in order to express what was truly in his heart, rather than trying to keep it sealed away. The old wound had been reopened. But it was healing properly this time. She found herself smiling and crying at the same time.

Pulling the colt close, Fluttershy once again wrapped him tightly in her embrace as her tears dampened his mane. "Dawn," she said, "I love you so much."

The two of them remained like that for a very long time.


Twilight yawned as she put away the last of her equipment. Her excitement over all the new things she was learning about Dawn and his eyes had taken its toll. Making her way up the stairs, she looked forward to a nice dinner with Spike before taking a good book up to bed and doing a little reading before she went to sleep. However, it seemed that fate had other plans.

A loud banging at her door greeted Twilight as she came up into the library's main room. With a sigh, she realized that she was probably not done for the evening.

"Want me to get that?" asked Spike coming to the kitchen door.

"No, I'll get it," replied Twilight, opening the door from across the room.

She was greeted by the sight of a frazzled blue pegasus panting in her entryway. "Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow Dash had certainly seen better days. Her namesake mane and tail were a complete mess, much more so than usual, with individual strands of hair sticking randomly in all directions. There were dark bags under eyes. Her coat was matted with sweat. The feathers of her wings were so severely askew that it was amazing the mare hadn't arrived by crashing through the wall.

"Rainbow! What happened to you?" Twilight quickly ushered her friend into the library. Spike, peeking out of the kitchen, noticed their guest and switched his plans to preparing dinner for three.

"Sorry Twi," gasped Rainbow, slumping to the floor, "Had a rough day and tried to fly it off."

"If you ask me, you tried a little too hard," remarked Twilight. Using a summoning spell, she called a towel down from her bathroom and draped it over Rainbow's form. The pegasus gave her a grateful look before using the towel to start scrubbing away her sweat. "What got you so worked up that you pushed yourself until you ended up like this?"

"My inbox was flooded this morning," groaned Rainbow, ducking her head under her hooves, "Ponies are all mad about this drought. I've tried to tell them there's nothing I can do about it. I can't make it rain from clouds I don't have. But as far as they're concerned, it's my fault." She rolled her eyes, sending her voice into a mocking imitation of her neighsayers. "'Rainbow Dash is being lazy again.' 'All she cares about is playing around and getting into the Wonderbolts.' 'How did that mare end up in her position if she's incompetent enough to allow this to happen?' Give me a break!"

Twilight moved to lay down next to her friend and ran a hoof gently up and down Rainbow's back, the friendly contact calming her slightly. "I understand Rainbow. We'll do what we can to help. Do you want me to talk to the townsponies and try and smooth things over?"

"Nah," answered Rainbow, relaxing a little with Twilight comforting her, "Mayor Mare already knows what's up, so she's been tossing out the petitions to get me removed from my job. I basically told my team to take a vacation until I can straighten this out. We've hoarded all the clouds we can, but there's not gonna be enough for the kind of storm this town needs."

"Are they okay with it?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah," answered Rainbow, "I'm paying them a pension for now. It's not a match for their salary, but it should tide them over."

"But where is the money for that pension coming from?"

"Well..." Rainbow grinned sheepishly, "I'm still working office hours, so I'm still drawing a paycheck, even if there isn't really anything to do while I'm in the field, so I'm splitting it among the team."

"But Rainbow!" gasped Twilight, "What are you going to do for money?"

"Relax Twilight, it's no big deal." Now it was Twilight's turn to be calmed by Rainbow's self-assured tone. "I have a hefty sum stashed away. I'm a pretty low-maintenance mare, so I don't have a lot to spend money on. It's kinda just piled up over the years."

Twilight let out a breathy sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." Then she perked up and directed an inquisitive gaze at Rainbow. "Is there some reason you came to see me?"

Rainbow Dash blinked for a moment as she remembered her original reason for coming. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot. Twilight, I need every book you have on weather law."

"Weather law?"

"Yeah. If we can't depend on Cloudsdale for our weather right now, we're gonna need to get it from somewhere else. I'd try to get it from one of the other distribution zones, like Las Pegasus or Cloudspire, but that would exceed our budget. So I need to find some kind of loophole that'll let us make our own weather."

Twilight sat there in stunned shock for a moment. Rainbow Dash, the Rainbow Dash, was there, in her library, asking for a book that wasn't Daring Do. She wanted to study a complex legal document in order to weed through the nuanced details necessary to find a means of circumventing the law to get Ponyville the weather it needed. Tartarus, it seemed, had just frozen over.

When Rainbow coughed, Twilight realized she had been staring at her friend for an uncomfortably long time. "Um Twilight, I know that what I just asked is kinda crazy, especially since it's me asking you for what're probably the most boring books I'll ever read. But I need to do this. I can't leave Ponyville hanging."

Twilight nodded, still uncertain about this, but headed over to the reference section, where she pulled out the complete set of volumes on laws pertaining to the making and execution of weather, six in all, plus the index, which constituted a book of its own. Rainbow reared back as Twilight dropped the stack of seven books directly in front of her, her expression clearly indicating that she was regretting taking this course of action.

Slowly, the sky blue pegasus reached out with a tentative hoof, inching it ever so slowly towards the first volume of the stack. The movement was so achingly slow that hundred-year-old molasses would have been faster. By the time she had reached half the distance, Rainbow Dash's hoof was quivering from what seemed like a monumental effort on her part, apparently afraid that touching the book would cause her leg to disintegrate. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Rainbow's hoof pressed against the book's cover. With a gentle push, she slid it off the top of the stack and onto the floor, wincing at the thud the heavy volume made as it impacted. Once again, moving with a level of care better suited to handling high explosives, Rainbow ever so slowly inched her hoof out and pushed the cover back, withdrawing quickly as it fell open, obviously believing that the book would slam shut around her hoof if she left it there too long. By this time, Rainbow Dash was cringing and looking away from her own efforts, lest the sight of herself actively seeking knowledge from a paper volume scar her for life.

Twilight watched the entire affair, her expressions having run the gamut, waxing from nervous, to worried, to amused, before waning into exasperation and finally coming to rest at deadpan. To be perfectly honest, she was genuinely impressed with the monumental effort Rainbow Dash had made to open the book. But she figured that by the time the very non-academically inclined pegasus managed to force herself through the table of contents, Ponyville would have succumbed to the drought and wasted away into a lifeless dustbowl, leaving the would-be rainbow-maned savior sitting alone in a rotting tree, finally making her way to the first policies listed.

"Right, this obviously isn't going to work," said Twilight, her deadpan tone matching her expression perfectly.

"Look Twilight, I can do this," protested Rainbow, her tone more than slightly irritable.

"And I would believe you if your efforts so far hadn't left you an emotional wreck that makes your behavior before the Best Young Flyers Competition look composed by comparison," replied Twilight flatly. "And if you think that's bad..."

Twilight's horn lit up and the pages of the book flipped rapidly along, as though stirred by an unseen breeze. Rainbow leapt back with a squeak that sounded more like something Fluttershy would have uttered. Once she was done turning through the table of contents, the preface and finally arriving at the text itself, Twilight levitated the book, tilting it so that Rainbow could get a good look at the text.

Rainbow let out a shocked gasp at what she saw. Forgetting her instinctive aversion to all things eggheaded, she leaned in to get a better look. "What the hay is this? This writing is tiny."

"And its arranged in columns," added Twilight, "It's almost like several pages are stacked on one page. You'd be able to fit your average Daring Do novel in the first third, if that. Granted, the last quarter is almost entirely composed of appendices and annotations, but it's something you have no hope of wading through."

Rainbow Dash was beginning to look a bit pale as she shivered in front of the book. Twilight slammed the book shut, making Rainbow leap back in surprise, before settling it back on top of the stack. "Listen Rainbow, this is a wonderful thing you're trying to do. And you're probably right too. These books probably contain the answers to settling our dilemma. But it's something you can't handle. And I don't mean that as a challenge. Even with the sheer amount of information in the volumes, you'd probably manage if it weren't for the fact that it's composed entirely of legal jargon that you won't be able to make heads or tails of."

"But what do I do then?" wailed Rainbow, sinking back to the floor, "Our only hope is probably somewhere in those pages. What good is it if I can't understand a word of it?"

Twilight sighed. Rainbow Dash was showing a flair for dramatics that would have made Rarity proud. "That's easy," she said, "Leave it to me."

"You?"

"That's right. Let me review these volumes and find out what we need to know, then I'll translate it into plain Equestrian for you." Twilight gave her friend an encouraging smile.

Rainbow's face lit up at the prospect of having so much heavy reading being done for her, but then drooped as she realized that Twilight was basically taking on Rainbow's job for her. Twilight reached out and gave her friend a comforting pat on the shoulders. "It's alright Rainbow. There's no shame in not being able to understand what's in these books. Ponies go to specialized schools for years in order to be able to read and understand stuff like this. I can do it because I'm, as you've so often noted, an egghead. So leave this stuff to me."

Her reassurance lifted Rainbow's spirits and the pegasus fixed her rose-colored eyes to meet Twilight's violet ones. "Okay, what can I do?"

"Hmm." Twilight tapped her chin in thought for a moment. "I need some other books as well. They're probably in your office."

"Which ones?"

"The manuals on Weather Team operational procedures and the like. We might be able to find a way out of our current problem in there as well, and if we can do it without making an end-run around the law, that'll be better in the long run."

Rainbow frowned at Twilight. "Um Twilight, don't you have a lot of reading to do already." She gestured to indicate the substantial stack of books.

"Not really," replied Twilight, "I won't need to read all of them, or even one whole one. All I really need to do is locate the particular passages pertaining to emergency procedures concerning droughts and interrupted service. That's what this index is for." She levitated the index volume out from the bottom of the stack.

"Oh."

Twilight grinned at her friend. "Bring me those manuals tomorrow and we'll get started on it straight away."

"But weren't you planning on running your experiments on Dawn?"

Twilight chuckled. "I think he'll have enough to keep him occupied when he goes back to school tomorrow. Besides, I think saving Ponyville takes priority over satisfying my curiosity. I know Dawn will understand too."

Author's Note:

For my first order of business, I've probably committed fanon heresy by making Blueblood an unambiguously decent guy in his first appearance without forcing him through some kind of twisted redemption arc where he learns about how wrong he's been and what a horrible guy he is for treating Rarity the way he did. More on why later.

Once again with Arkenstone, the prospect of the dreaded Gary Stu raises its ugly head. As I said before, I intend to deconstruct that in due time. But since Arkenstone won't be the focus of the story for a while yet, this is more a bit of a history lesson. I ended up having to completely redo Twilight's explanation about the Celestial Order of Knights as a certain commenter pointed out that the name is suspiciously similar to the Order of Celestial Light, the Cult Solar's name for itself and I realized that I had somehow written over twenty chapters without that occurring to me once. My obliviousness boggles the mind sometimes. As for why they haven't been around for any of the actual crises from the show, I'll provide more detailed information on that later on.

Also, overdramatic Rarity is best Rarity. The little bit Diamond Tiara is basically the resolution of the aspects of the conflict surrounding Diamond Tiara than it is the beginning of a new subplot, as Diamond Tiara basically ceases to be an antagonist (or even show up in the narrative) after this point until much later. This is basically how I chose to get her out of the way. She has served her purpose for the time being.

I find myself having to come back to add a note regarding the reference to Chrysalis. Yes, we will get the actual fight scene later, but not for a while (I haven't written that yet), because I don't want to reveal too much about Arkenstone yet as his importance isn't that high right now. It's worth noting that Chrysalis is not as insanely powerful as some people would make her out to be. Yes, she defeated Princess Celestia...after she'd spent who knows how long siphoning love off of Shining Armor. It was also clearly a near thing and Chrysalis herself was surprised that she'd actually succeeded. And then, of course, there's the fact that she and her brood were ultimately blasted out of Canterlot and back to their (presumed) homeland at high velocity, with a landing that could not have been pleasant. Again, further details on the actual battle will have to wait for now, but I do not believe that this is as character-breaking as some people are making it out to be.

Next Chapter: Mare-Do-Well.