A Bit of Mojo

by StormDancer

02 - Wherein Two Ponies Dance

02 - Wherein Two Ponies Dance

Dark Tidings

Very few things happen rapidly in a small town like Ponyville. Small towns like to ease into change. Small towns enjoy holding on to their roots. Small towns might even be said to enjoy slightly longer sunsets as couples snuggle under blankets to watch the golden rays sliding gracefully below the horizon in a glorious display of Celestia's love for her little ponies. Slightly fewer ponies might mention how much Luna cares for them in their lingering sweet dreams, but the point stands. Ponyville, as a matter of tradition, did not act quickly to many situations.

News of a pending zombie invasion, however, was one of the things that could be said to happen rapidly - ranking perhaps fourth behind Pinkie making friends, parasprite swarms, and crabby ursa minor attacks.

Twilight was trying to make it a distant fifth as she teleported rapidly between her friends' homes, trying to prepare a defense for an invasion she had patently denied as possible... a fact which she would have to reconcile later by re-shelving all the NON-FICTION zombie stories into the self-help and disaster preparedness sections which had grown considerably since her arrival in Ponyville.

From the nauseated, and for one fashionista dishevelled, collection of ponies, Twilight realized that perhaps she should have said something before collecting her friends by rapid serial teleportation. As it stood, the six ponies and one small dragon wobbled unsteadily in the foyer of Carousel Boutique. Applejack was nearly laying on the ground, her hat pulled down over her face as she tried, along side Fluttershy, to keep her breakfast down. Rainbow Dash, ever the bravo, tried to play off the slightly green tint to her face as having just gone for a swim in the rainbow pool outside her cloud home, while Pinkie simply hopped in place begging Twilight to "doitagaindoitagaindoitagain!"

Rarity gaped at the horror of having so many ponies, be they close friends or not, suddenly appear in her home and business and seeing her without makeup... not to mention looking to be about to devastate her stock and livelihood. With a tightly controlled burst of magic, Rarity turned to one of the numerous vanity mirrors as a brush, a set of eyelash extensions, and eyeliner all zipped up to her as she called out to the collection of friends, "Twilight dear, not that I'm displeased with the surprise visit, since I do always enjoy our friends, but, if I may ask, was it necessary to visit so....abruptly?"

Twilight made sure Spike was on the ground before glancing at the large windows which the boutique was known for and quickly cast a spell to blot them out. Rarity, to her credit, simply raised an elegant and finely penciled eyebrow at the display, watching the events through the reflection while applying her eyeliner with practiced ease. "Twilight dear, whatever is the matter?"

Another quick spellcast slid one of the couches over to the front door while a third slammed the door to Rarity's back room closed, blocking it with a number of dress forms, before Twilight turned to her friends to answer. "Girls, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to lie to you, but I didn't know! I really, REALLY didn't know. I don't even know if Celestia knows!"

Hearing her friend's distress, and finding herself presentable, Rarity turned away from the mirror to look at her friends scattered around the room. "Twilight, I'm sure you wouldn't lie to us on purpose, but even if you did, I know it would be for a good reason. Now, before something catches fire or you panic and we all end up fighting over... " Rarity took an appraising look around the room and nodded, "what would undoubtedly be a finer treasure than a rag doll, could you please tell us whatever is the matter?"

"Girls, it's horrible. We've got no time and we have to get everyone to safety before they attack. I just didn't know! I should have known! I'm so so so soooo sorry I didn't believe you Pinkie!"

Pinkie, had gone quiet while Twilight spoke, though she still was bouncing until Twilight had addressed her. Suddenly seeming to realize that her friend was apologizing to her, Pinkie slid over and hugged Twilight before giving a small smile and cooing, "Oh don't you worry Twilight, I'm not mad. Why don't you tell your auntie Pinkie Pie all about it and we can have cake and then throw a 'Helping to make Twilight feel better after her horrible ordeal with the thing that she hasn't told us about yet' party. Hhmmmm?"

While Applejack had finally started to straighten up, Fluttershy continued to look positively miserable on the floor and Rainbow had taken to tapping the windows lightly, scrutinizing the solid blackness that prevented her from looking outside. All three looked over to see what had been so important that Twilight had failed to even say 'hello' before popping off to grab the next friend.

Twilight, craning her neck back to escape the vice-like grip of Pinkie's hug, opened her mouth once or twice, wetting her tongue before finally wheezing out "zombie ponies."

The room was quiet. Deathly quiet as Pinkie's somewhat chiding smile froze. Applejack blinked, while Rainbow Dash sank to the floor and carefully backed away from the windows. Fluttershy may have uttered a meep, though acoustic engineers have argued that the decibel levels used may or may not have qualified it for designation as a sound. Rarity, for her own part, placed a hoof to her chest as her eyes widened and said "Twilight, are you quite sure?"

Spike, who had been through enough teleports to shake them off, looked up at Rarity and said "Well, maybe not zombie ponies..."

There was a cracking sound followed by what could be described as a stone block being drug slowly over bedrock, as everyone startled. Pinkie's head slowly turned, the horrible sound coming to an abrupt end as she looked at Spike from where she maintained a death-drip on Twilight. "Zombie ponies?"

Spike, flinched under her gaze, running a clawed hand up behind his head. "Well, we only saw the one so.... zombie pony maybe?"

The sound that followed Spike's statement was something like a bag of flour being dropped from the second story of a gingerbread shaped building, something that the six knew quite well. Pinkie Pie was gone, leaving in her place a plywood cutout that vaguely resembled herself and a note taped to the front saying only "BIAM."

Surprisingly, even the cutout had a death-grip on Twilight.

Blinking back the shock, Rarity was the first to speak. "Twilight dear, I thought you said there were no such things as zombies..."

"I didn't know."

"But, Twilight, I would think that if there were zombies, or even just the one, we would have heard something by now."

"I hit it and teleported quick, it's probably still in the road."

Rarity sputtered. While Twilight and her friends had indeed engaged in combat with simply awful things, she knew Twilight wasn't one to simply attack something without a thought. Moreover, she knew Twilight well enough to know that she wouldn't intentionally leave a potentially dangerous creature free in the town unless she was truly convinced that it was safer to get help rather than risk engaging it on her own. That Twilight, arguably the most potent out of their collection of friends, had deemed this 'zombie' enough of a threat that she was willing to risk the town to collect them all, was a troubling thought indeed.

"Very well, let us go, um.... dispatch it before it can harm anypony" the fashionista said with a grim nod. Rainbow dash flipped into the air and darted over to grab a yardstick before having it plucked from her hooves by a field of light blue magic. "Oh no Rainbow Dash... that is for making fabulous garments... this, " Rarity floated a ribbed hickory baseball bat into her pegasus friend's hooves, "... this is for stopping troublemakers and door to door salesponies."

Applejack just stared at the exchange before tapping her Stetson on tighter. "Well, if we're going to do this, let's do this. I'ma not goin' to wait for one of them nasty critters to hurt somepony. Rares, you have a rope I could use?"

Putting a dainty hoof to her chin in thought, Rarity quickly went through her mental list of materials and, after dismissing almost every possible option, floated a length of heavy cord she normally used to hang large banners on the town hall. Applejack eyed it before looping a good number of yards over her shoulder and gesturing to Rarity where to cut the impromptu lasso.

Fluttershy covered her head and whimpered slightly, but eventually stood back up, hiding her face when Applejack tried to reassure her.

For her own part, Twilight was astounded that her friends were taking this so calmly. "Girls, I have to admit, I was expecting a bit more...."

"Concern?" came Rarity's answer.

"Pa-panic?" whispered Fluttershy.

"Freakin' out?" Rainbow Dash added, giving the bat a test swing, much to Rarity's annoyance as a dress form dodged out of the way in a blue glow.

"Questions?" Applejack offered with a grim smile. "Listen Twi, way I see it, if somethin's got you ruffled then it's gonna be trouble one way or anot-"

"ZOMBIES!" Growled a green camouflage painted Pinkie Pie as she appeared behind Rarity, a painted hoof covering the unicorn's mouth and a lit birthday candle held aggressively in her other. Almost before anyone could blink, Pinkie was gone, leaving a thoroughly startled, wide eyed, Rarity to gasp in her wake.

"...Ah think we might need to get this before Pinkie gets carried away." Applejack stated as she walked over to help settle Rarity's nerves. Planning commenced with the general agreement that Fluttershy should relay information as Rainbow Dash scouted. Rarity would provide distractions and cover if needed while Applejack was the frontpony in case of a conflict. Everyone agreed that Twilight was the "big gun" to be used if things got out of hand, but that their primary goal was to find and stop, not utterly destroy the zombie (which, given Twilight's current state of mind, would likely flatten Ponyville). Spike would be a last resort, running to find help or contact Celestia if things turned for the worst.

Since Pinkie hadn't been present for the planning, Twilight's other task was to prevent Pinkie-style devastation should the party pony take extreme measures of whatever sort only she could devise. Nopony held any hope that they could predict exactly what Pinkie might do, she might giggle at ghosties, but for some reason she was terrified of zombies. With Pinkie, a song was innocuous enough, but she might just as likely use a years worth of fireworks to "surprise" it out of existence...along with anything else in the immediate area.

Within three minutes, the five ponies and Spike were tentatively poking their heads out of the door. Looking furtively around, the group snuck out and into the quiet streets of Ponyville. There was a slight chill in the air again, not unlike the adventures of 'Daring Do and the Frost Giant' that Rainbow Dash had read last month. That was something that did not bode well for their chances the pegasus decided as she zipped up and down the streets, looking for signs of their quarry. While she wasn't afraid of zombies, she knew her friends were, and she had to stay brave for them. They all looked to her for support, and she couldn't let them down. It didn't matter if the zombie was a mouse or an ursa major, she was Rainbow Dash.... the most awesome friend in Equestria! She couldn't possibly be scared by something like that.

As she winged down street after street, the chill in the air began to get colder. She started to notice that the sky was a bit overcast, downright dark in spots, and there was a light drizzle in the air. With a frown, she ignored it and continued streaking through the town, looking for traces of a zombie invasion. It was about ten minutes in that she realized two very important things. One, the weather was getting worse and worse. The light drizzle had turned into a steady rain while the winds had picked up and the temperature dropped. There were even occasional flashes of lightning as she continued her search. Weather was kind of her job though, so even though it was unpleasant, it wasn't really something she was all too worried about. The second thing, however, made her stop mid-air, and drop to the ground in surprise the moment she realized it; the entire time she had been flying, she hadn't seen a single pony outside.... every door was shut and every window was shuttered.

Blinking in the sudden feeling of isolation, she noticed something else. The streets which had looked clear from the sky, were actually hidden by a light, but thickening, layer of fog coming up to about her knees. The fog wasn't something she was concerned with until she realized that her hooves were on solid ground... ground she had been standing on after having passed right through the fog with no resistance at all. Jumping back into the air, wings issuing curling whips of fog to roil disturbingly from her movement, Rainbow Dash most certainly wasn't thinking about what horrible creatures might be roaming, unseen, in such a morass.

She had learned the word 'morass' while reading about how Daring Do had had to cross an underground river while searching for the hidden treasures of Urk'Kulat, the ancient city of Geldings, and had asked Twilight what it was. The only word that came to her mind while thinking about that scene now was "fog." Before, it had been "icky, clingy, weird, soupy, evil, muck"... but now, Daring Do was slogging through this unnatural fog in her head. Rainbow Dash wasn't scared of zombies or morasses or any silly fog.... but Daring Do seemed to be awfully cautious about that fog.

A flicker of motion caught Dash's attention as her eyes snapped up. A ways down the steadily darkening street, a wall of thick fog was boiling and pouring over itself in an undulating stampede towards her, growing as it came. In that moment, Dash didn't want to redefine "undulating" as she had done so for "morass" seconds before. Gaping, she watched the wall quickly overtake house after house, bathing more and more of the street in thick, obscuring, gray. She was just turning to leave when a flash of lightning from the now dark sky illuminated the form of something as it walked just inside the wall of fog. As she watched, it shifted within the fog, drawing near the open air. Rainbow Dash watched as it took form, tiny flashes of ruby light barely visible through the dark leaping from its head as its silhouette was bathed in a baleful flickering red. There was a metallic scraping of something dragging as the thing moved, the sound causing Rainbow's coat to stand on end and a shiver to go down her sp...Daring Do's spine.

She paused just long enough to swing Twilight's camera over her shoulder, sight into the storm wall using the little window like Twilight had shown her, and center it on the glowing phantasm before pressing the little blue crystal on the side. A bright flash and bitter smell accompanied the "foomp" of the flash powder burning as the camera went off. She didn't wait for the thing to return fire.

Dash wasn't afraid of zombies, or morasses, or fogs, or flaming ghost ponies dragging the chains of Tartarus behind them, but Daring Do was - and it was Rainbow Dash's job to let the rest know what Daring Do was running away from.

---

Meeting the Enemy

If there had been any doubt over Twilight's assertion that zombies were invading, the eerie storm that seemed to boil out of the center of town easily set them aside. For Applejack, it didn't mean zombies... it meant trouble. She didn't particularly care if it were dragons, or parasprites, or evil overlords, or (though she had trouble making it sound serious) even zombies, to Applejack, trouble was trouble. The fact that she couldn't recall a single story about zombie ponies that involved animate flaming ghost ponies which breathed smoldering ash and tread with the rattling chains of Tartarus from within the fury of an all consuming tempest (as Dash had described her encounter), made her all the more certain that this wasn't a zombie invasion.

Maybe it was a flaming ghost pony from Tartarus invasion, but she was pretty certain zombies weren't involved.

Either way, after Dash had come back visibly shaken, the group had decided to stay together so that they couldn't be singled out. Fluttershy drifted silently only inches above the fog that seemed to be slowly filling the streets while Dash flew in a cautious pattern overhead, ducking back to check on the group every minute or so. Rarity had taken to carrying Spike so he wouldn't be lost in the fog while Twilight flapped a bit unsteadily above her in case of surprise attack while simultaneously levitating a lantern just behind and above Applejack so as not to ruin her vision. Applejack, meanwhile, walked at the front of the group, lasso dangling loosely from her teeth as she tried to listen for any hint of danger while ignoring the flapping of wings, the faint hiss of the cold drizzle that had started, and the soft 'clop clop' of Rarity's hooves behind her.

She reflected that if it really was a flaming ghost pony, a cotton rope probably wouldn't do more than act like a matchstick if she caught it... it wasn't a happy thought. As the group slowly travelled through the barren streets of Ponyville, Applejack hoped that whatever this thing was, it wouldn't make it out to the farm. It wasn't that she thought her friends were less important, hardly, but the thought of Applebloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith being caught out there away from everypony was downright unpleasant. Storms were meant to be good things. They watered the trees and cleared the air, they filled streams and sometimes they even brought a few extra apples at the end of a particularly good season. She knew that the zap apple fields actually made their own storms as they bloomed, even though that was usually only a minute or two long. But mostly, Applejack loved listening to storms because she could faintly recall sitting out on the porch with her pa, listening to the rain and thunder as he plucked out a slow, soft tune on some long forgotten instrument, and lulled her to sleep.

This was not that kind of storm. She had known it the moment Dash had come back in, frost melting slowly off the tips of her wings, and noticed the amount of rain that still clung to her coat. She knew pegasi got wet, but between their abilities and natural skill, a pony like Dash was very rarely soaked or forced to fly with freezing feathers. The fact that Dash had stopped to preen for a few moments (just to get the ice out and definitely not because she was spooked), spoke volumes.

Applejack glanced over her shoulder to check on her friends and was not surprised to see them all looking different directions in an effort to catch any hint of trouble. What she didn't expect to see was a figure only a block or two behind them, slowly plodding across the street. It walked like a pony, though she could only barely see its front legs as it strode, trailing a billowing wall of roiling black tempest which hid it's back half. It's head was alight with a lurid ruby/purple glow from what looked like a unicorn horn set amidst a whipping nest of red and yellow snakes, eyes black as night and what looked like blood running down it's face. It's coat was a pasty gray brown, mottled with lighter patches, and had what looked like roots and plants trailing from places where the muck and sludge of the grave had fallen free. As it moved, she faintly heard the scraping of metal.

She wasn't sure exactly when she had stopped moving or breathing, but when she heard the gasps of Rarity and Twilight next to her, she knew they had seen it too. Fluttershy, bless her, dove behind Applejack, nearly disappearing in the chest high fog as she tried to hide.

"Twi..." Applejack whispered.

"Yes?" Twilight replied, her wide eyes taking in the frightful image of the creature that was apparently stalking Ponyville.

"I don't think that's a zombie."

"Um.... no. I'm pretty sure you're right. Zombies aren't supposed to figurehead a storm or control the weather," She paused, "at least I don't think they can. I mean, if it was a pegasus zombie maybe bu-"

Twilight was cut off as Rainbow Dash zipped back in to check on them, only to catch sight of the monster beyond. "I told you I wasn't making that up!" she hissed as she slid the baseball bat off the loop Rarity had tied before she'd started scouting.

"I think it's a fury" Twilight murmured. "I don't think they're supposed to be stallions, but it looks like an 'elemental nightmare of vengeance, jealousy, and anger' to me."

Rarity spoke up, though in a hushed whisper, "Fine... fury. What does it want and how do we stop it Twilight?"

Twilight paused, if it was indeed a fury, it was a monster certainly, but it could also be a being on par with even Celestia or Luna. The Furies were ancient beings, often thought to be goddesses of old law, almost a boogeypony to keep society in line before Celestia and Luna had assumed control. It was even said that Discord paid the Furies heed on occasion. If it was indeed a fury, and somehow it wasn't one of the 3 ancient Furies, it was most certainly out of their league.

On the other hoof, furies, for all their terrible power and fearful forms, were beings of law and justice. While they were said to stalk their prey tirelessly and without mercy, they preyed upon criminals and evil. They were said to feast upon those whose crimes were so wicked that they couldn't live with themselves or that society couldn't find a punishment for. Yet, if that were the case, who, or what would have drawn one to Ponyville.

Twilight quickly thought back to the maps that she had been going over the day before. Flitting through memories and overlaying them across the town as she stood in it, silently tracing the storm's progression back to the first place she had noticed it.

The Furies were said to punish those who committed crimes. Yes, they favored those whose crimes included heinous evil over those who committed smaller acts, but they were also said to punish crimes for which society had no laws... moral or ethical trespass... or those that were committed by individuals who were outside of the law. They would protect the innocent while punishing smaller and smaller crimes if there were no larger ones to deal with. It was said that in ancient Romane times, the Furies had even been part of the reason that ponies welcomed strangers with gifts... they didn't want to be seen as being unkind if there were no other criminals and accidentally invite the Furies' wrath.

In her mind, Twilight snapped back to the map she had used to mark out that strange patch of field, yet ignoring the field in favor of the image of Ponyville from above. She drew imaginary dots as she traced a set of points where she or her friends had encountered the storm, roughing out a vague circle before marking points at which they had encountered the creature. A few moments passed as she triangulated and took a short breath as she determined a probable epicenter: the library.

"G-girls.... I think it's after me."

For a moment, nopony moved. The steadily growing storm seemed to reach out behind the thing down the block, enormous amorphous limbs surging out down the streets as it stood there. Lightning flashed again, striking a nearby building and highlighting the scene in stark contrast. Twilight's mind, always trying to multitask, marveled at the luck that the bolt had found one of the only lightning rods in Ponyville, effectively reducing the damage to a slight sizzle and the strong scent of ozone. That part of her mind surrendered and hid a moment later when the creature looked skyward and the glow from its horn increased to a burning ruby/purple blaze that sent visible trails of steam into the whipping winds around it. Rivulets of that same ruby/purple magic seemed to bubble and run down it's horn, disturbingly resembling blood pouring from an open wound, as it stood there, slowly being coated in the baleful glow. Twilight noted that while the light increased, the expected flare of magic seemed oddly missing. Perhaps, she reasoned, a being like a Fury didn't use magic in the traditional way. Perhaps, she blinked at the strange thought, that since Furies came before ponies, that unicorns were actually the non-traditional magic users.

All that came to a crashing halt when her teeth started to itch again. She wasn't sure when she'd tuned her friends out, but they were apparently trying desperately to be loud enough to be heard without getting the thing's attention. Twilight couldn't figure out why until she saw a dark silhouette behind a shrubbery less than 20 paces from the creature. A silhouette with a bright pink fluffy tail.

Twilight had just started to cast her spell to yank Pinkie back when she felt her coat seem to rise on its own, each individual hair standing on end as her teeth screamed with a peppery itch. With a pang of recognition she saw Rarity desperately trying to remain motionless as her coat, likewise, was bristling. Unlike Twilight however, Rarity let slip a strangled gasp of surprise which, to everyponies horror, seemed to draw the thing's attention.

Time seemed to slow as an ear, hidden in the mass of writhing red and yellow, pivoted in their direction. As if savoring the motion, its head lowered before leaning into the turn to face them. As if on cue, Pinkie leapt from the shrubbery with what looked to be her party cannon held over her head. To Twilight's horror, Pinkie slammed the cannon to the ground mere paces from the creature. In one smooth motion, Twilight saw Pinkie yank the firing cord before her hind legs even struck the ground as a bright flash illuminated the creature and the cloud behind it.

It flinched. Twilight couldn't believe it, but it flinched. If Pinkie's party cannon could make it flinch, then surely it could be defea-...

There was an unholy explosion as the world went white. A lance of lightning, nearly the width of the street, had arced out of the storm wall and struck, knocking them all tumbling down the street in a concussive explosion of sound and light. When Twilight had finally shaken the ringing from her ears, she looked up with panic in her eyes. Her friends were staggering to their hooves as well, but with dread, Twilight noticed a terrible scene at the end of the block.

Pinkie's cannon was no more than a hooffull of tiny pieces smoldering across the road and littering the rooftops of the nearby buildings. Of Pinkie and the creature, there was no sign.

---

A Flash in the Pan

"PINKIE!" the girls screamed as one. Rainbow Dash immediately darted over with Fluttershy quite close behind her. Applejack dodged around Twilight as she ran towards the remains of the party cannon while Rarity did her level best to catch up. Spike held on for dear life. Twilight teleported with a muffled 'whoomp', beating Rainbow Dash to the scene by only a second or two.

Up close, it didn't look any better. The storm was wildly whipping debris around while pelting the area with heavy lumps of frigid water too large to be called raindrops. Lightning crackled overhead, thankfully seeming to be content to simply flash within the storm itself for the moment. Surprisingly, despite the heavy fog everywhere else, this close to the storm wall, the winds managed to move the fog enough that, while still thick, it was barely noticed - of course, due to the heavy precipitation and conditions themselves, it was hardly an improvement.

As Twilight looked around for any sign of Pinkie Pie or the monster, she couldn't help but notice the scattered, burning, wreckage of the party cannon or the scorched and sizzling blast mark from the massive lightning strike. "Pinkie! Pinkie Pie! Where are you!?" she cried, her voice only just louder than the winds.

The mares quickly started searching, trying to find any sign of their friend. While Rarity stood relatively still, turning her head with almost machine-like precision as she searched, Rainbow Dash darted around a few yards above, apparently taking the approach that movement offered a better chance to find their friend. Fluttershy flitted around whimpering and calling out in her version of a yell while Applejack glanced at the visible open spaces before starting to check the shrubs and bushes that lined the street. Pinkie hopped around with a worried look on her face while marking off places they had already searched on a map she seemed to have pulled from somewhere. For her own part, Twilight flew up and hovered, casting a bright white flare to better light the area in the unnatural darkness from the storm.

It took a few moments before everyone stopped and turned to look at Pinkie with expressions ranging from shock to utter joy.

"Pinkie Pie! How'd you... but the lightning!" Was all Applejack managed before a multicolored streak bowled into Pinkie with a cry of joy.

"Oh, I was so worried. I'm glad you're alright." said Fluttershy as she sidled over and gave Pinkie (who was giggling at Dash's antics) a hug.

Rarity seemed content to stare for a few moments before rolling her eyes with a smile and looking up to the still stunned Twilight who hovered in a small nimbus of nervous magic."Darling, perhaps we should get away from this storm since your 'fury' has vacated? It certainly isn't going to be doing anypony any good at all to be out in this weather at the moment."

Twilight, still hovering, stared out across the street before dropping to the ground in a slightly distracted manner. Rarity watched for a moment, her smile melting as she recognized the look Twilight was giving their surroundings. "Twilight, dear, what is it?"

At Rarity's tone, the others looked up. Fluttershy eeped at the look of intense focus Twilight had on her face while Rainbow Dash quickly hopped back into the air trying to be ready for anything. Pinkie Pie giggled a moment before prying a cobblestone up and pulling out a dark red headband and a thick brown belt with various party supplies strapped to it and throwing it over her shoulder like a bandolier. Spike simply flinched before pulling a hoofball helmet out of Pinkie's mane, apparently without her even realizing it.

A moment later the crackling of a fire, likely started by the remains of the party cannon, was snuffed out as Twilight cast her "fail-safe" spell. Various 'twangs', 'pops', 'foomps', and 'whizzes' accompanied the magenta shock wave as damage around the town seemingly had time rewind itself, leaving the area in remarkably good condition despite the muck and scent of ozone that still clung to the air.

To Twilight's chagrin, the storm completely ignored the spell that should have sent it back to whatever horror spawned it. As if in answer, an ominous roll of thunder growled from somewhere in the distance, sounding like nothing if not an enormous predator toying with its hapless prey. With a frown Twilight addressed her friends, "Girls, I think Rarity's right. We need to get out of this storm and make a plan. We didn't win and unless it's just upset that I didn't get it a library card, I doubt that it will stay gone for long."

There was a general nod of agreement before the troupe of friends turned to make their way to the most heavily defended location in Ponyville, and Twilight's royal residence, the library. It was only because Pinkie was still hugging her restored Party Cannon that they noticed when the thick coils of fog that had poured out of the side streets began to all curl back upon themselves and start to flood west, down the street away from the group. It was an unnatural enough motion that both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy hovered with sick expressions on their faces. For the others, the eerily lifelike movement looked more like a huge animal slinking along after its master than clouds of electrically charged water vapor. Spike was the only one to speak for quite some time as he summed up their thoughts and feelings in one short sentence: "Whoa.... that is creepy."

Determined to make sure they did what they could before anything else went wrong, Twilight gestured for her friends to hurry, thankful that they all quickly slipped back into motion. Applejack deftly picked up the length of cord and took the lead position as Rainbow darted up to scout. Fluttershy and Rarity stayed close while Spike took advantage of the situation to stay near to Rarity. Pinkie simply bounced along, the party cannon once more absent from sight and likely stored ... somewhere... in case of party cannon emergencies.

---

Pinkie's Plight

Due to the weather, it took nearly seven minutes longer than normal to get back to the library where they finally felt secure enough to talk. No sooner had they all piled inside than Twilight cast a protective spell over the doors and windows, plucked her camera from Rainbow Dash, set a spell to begin developing the picture, and had Spike start searching for books detailing ancient 'mythical' creatures along side of known beings from Tartarus and beyond. While the others began to clean up, thaw out, and address various other concerns, Twilight frowned as she waited for Spike to return with the books she had requested.

She felt she should have recognized something about this before it happened. She was Celestia's favorite student, her personal protégé, and now a princess of Equestria, yet despite all of that, she had been blindsided by a very real threat. Worse, she still couldn't ascertain the condition of Ponyville or its citizens - all their doors had been closed and windows shuttered. She prayed that they were simply hunkered down inside, trying to weather the storm and not victims of some horrific monster. She had friends out there... ponies she had met once or twice, right along with those who had made a concerted effort just to be available if and when she needed to talk. There were ponies she knew well and ponies she still knew nothing about, and she was hiding in a library behind layers of protective magic while they were laying their lives in her hooves, trusting that she would know what to do.

And she simply didn't know where to begin.

Twilight was still in her state of somewhat depressed agitation when Spike crept up, balancing a small stack of books while holding a cup of hot chocolate. "Hey Twilight, it's alright you know. You were awesome out there."

"I most certainly was not! I barely did anything at all and that thing could have seriously hurt somepony. What good am I if I can't protect the ponies that trust in me? I mean, Pinkie could have been killed! That is absolutely not 'awesome' Spike."

Spike's face slipped into a dry stare for a moment before he set the books down, keeping a firm hold on the cup of hot chocolate. "But they didn't get hurt, Pinkie's fine, and you helped to at least stall that thing so you can figure out how to stop it. You saw a threat and got the girls together instantly. That's not nothing... that's a pretty big something. Besides, without the Elements of Harmony, you're kind of going out there without your big I WIN button."

Twilight blinked for a moment, the cup in Spike's claws being enveloped in a bright glow as she lifted it up without looking. "It doesn't work that way Spike. I'm a princess now. I'm supposed to protect them all. I'm supposed to be able to keep everyone safe and I couldn't do anything to even slow that thing down!" She turned to take a sip of the hot chocolate, only to find herself nearly 'sipping' Spike's scaly back as he had apparently curled himself protectively over the cup after having not let go. "Spike?"

"If you wanted some cocoa, you just needed to ask." He muttered before hopping down and starting to walk to the kitchen.

Twilight blinked for a few moments before setting the cup down and trotting over to her assistant and picking him up in a warm hug. "I'm sorry Spike. I was just getting carried away and, and.... well.... I wasn't paying attention."

Spike smiled and hugged her back. "It's ok Twilight but you know, even a princess needs help sometimes."

Twilight laughed quietly. "Oh Spike. That's not true. Celestia's been taking care of everyone for a thousand years all by herself."

Spike poked her in the muzzle, eliciting a surprised 'ack!" before saying clearly, "No she hasn't. She had Luna, and when she was on the moon, she had all those ponies in the castle to help, and even now she has a whole team of ponies to take on the really big stuff that she can't handle on her own."

"No she doesn't! I mean, sure, there's the royal guard but it's not like they're going to wars or anything."

There was a quiet, but clearly audible cough to which Twilight turned to see Rarity daintily floating a napkin to her lips while a steaming cup of tea floated nearby. "Actually darling, I do believe Spike is correct. Celestia most certainly does have a special 'unit', as it were, to handle special cases."

Twilight blinked. "Um, no she doesn't. I'm pretty sure I'd know if she did. I was around her all the time and I've never even heard of such a ..."

Rainbow Dash cut in with her normal to-the-point attitude. "Elements of Harmony ring a bell Twilight? Jeez, we've stopped how many bad guys since Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight opened her mouth to reply but the words stuck. Rainbow Dash was right. Rarity was right. Spike was right. Dear sweet Celestia, Celestia even needed help sometimes. She stood there, still holding Spike, while she tried to process the idea of her teacher/mentor/senior princess being possibly capable of having limits. No one but Pinkie could hear the thousands of tiny gears and mechanisms grinding to a screeching halt inside Twilight's brain... but for a brief few moments, Pinkie deeply considered the potential ramifications of pouring cooking oil into Twilight's ear to help get things started again.

"I think ya broke her." Applejack elbowed Dash with a light chuckle when Twilight made no move to respond after a few seconds. "Y’all might want to sit down for a second, I'll get her goin' again."

Applejack waited until everypony was settled before strolling up to Twilight, carefully taking her hat off and reverently holding it to her chest. Taking a moment to focus, she looked at Spike with a very serious expression before saying "Spike, take a letter."

Spike nodded and pulled a sheet of parchment and a quill from somewhere. "Alrighty."

Applejack took a deep breath, closed her eyes and began, "Dear Princess Twilight, today I learned that..."

Spike couldn't help but laugh, which seemed to snap Twilight out of her mental stutter. She glanced around at all the widely grinning faces and frowned before muttering "Okay, okay, I get it. We all need help sometimes and you girls are the best friends I could possibly have." Her frown broke as she looked up sheepishly. "I'm sorry girls, I just get caught up in these things sometimes."

"We know Sugarcube, but that's why you don't have to do it alone and even if you try, we ain't gonna let you." Applejack said as she plopped her hat firmly back on her head before winking at Spike.

"Oh. Twilight...I think your camera's done." Spike pointed as they all looked to see the film sliding out of the camera with a soft hissing sound.

Twilight's expression turned all business as she trotted over and glared at the figure from Rainbow's recon shot. It looked strange, frightening,and still mostly hidden by the thick fog, but somehow familiar. At least with all the books she had, they should be able to figure something out.

But it was Pinkie Pie's gasp that got everyponies attention when she leapt in the air, hanging for a moment in defiance of gravity, while pointing with a rigid foreleg at the photo. "I KNOW HIM!" She squealed, dropping to the floor after a good four seconds."He's that one pony who hangs out with that zebra all the time!"

"Zecora knows him?" Twilight asked with skepticism.

"Oh no silly, Zecora HATES that zebra."

"Wait, there's another zebra in town?"

"Well duh. Who do you think did all the creepy Nightmare Night stuff before Zecora took over silly?"

"There was a zebra in town before Zecora and you all were still afraid of her!?"

It was Applejack who once again answered. "Uh, well, ya see Sugarcube, that's part of why were were spooked when Zecora showed up." She looked around for a moment, seemingly embarrassed. "Thought he was a pony back then, but that other zebra'd been here a while, years really, and he's a might off. Likes keepin' to himself mostly, doin'... creepy things and, well, I'm sure Pinkie has a song 'er something that'd say it better than me."

Heads all turned to look at Pinkie, who was in the midst of glaring seriously at the photo.

"Um, Pinkie?" prompted Twilight after a moment of no response.

Pinkie glared at the photograph a few moments more before waving in Twilight's general direction. "Shhhhhhhh.... something's wrong and I'm trying to figure out what it is."

Twilight blinked, snapping her head back almost reflexively. The number of times that Pinkie hadn't been ready to burst into impromptu song and dance could be counted by a school filly. The number of times she had failed to do so when given explicit permission was even less. Glancing around at her other friends, Twilight could see the confusion and apprehension on their faces as well. "Um, Pinkie... who is he?"

Pinkie remained glaring at the photograph for a moment more before looking up with a cold expression on her face. "I don't understand it," she deadpanned, "It doesn't make sense!"

"It's a photograph dear, surely it makes sense. It's just a picture of that horrible monster..." Rarity tried.

"Oh no no no nonononono. It's him alright. I know that. But it doesn’t make sense!" Pinkie spread her forelegs wide, as if inviting explanations from her friends (who continued to look on with confused stares). "How can you not see it?!?" she gaped, pointing at the picture with an energy that bordered upon violence.

"Um... I don't understand Pinkie. What doesn't make sense? I-if you don't mind me asking..." whispered Fluttershy from behind her mane.

Pinkie leapt at Fluttershy eliciting a surprised 'eep' from the pegasus before throwing a foreleg across her shoulders and pointing at the corner of the room, inviting Fluttershy to sight along her foreleg. "It doesn't add up!" Pinkie spun around, grasping both of Fluttershy's shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes. "I checked ALL the parts, measured EVERYTHING, and even checked it THREE WHOLE TIMES! Do you have any IDEA how hard that is for me?!?!?" Pinkie spun away, leaving Fluttershy to stagger for a moment before turning to Twilight. "I asked him for the recipe and he gave it to me on my birthday 1,248 days ago!"

"Pinkie Pie, WHAT DON'T MAKE SENSE?" Applejack barked from only a few paces away.

Pinkie turned with all the calm of a tidal wave. "The Pies!" she stated, her voice almost cracking with the effort. Rainbow Dash muffled a snort.

"What?!? What do pies have to do with anyth....wait, is this another one of those parasprite things?" Twilight shook her head at the memory. "Okay... Pinkie....SLOWLY.... what do pies have to do with this, or the zebra, or the picture, or that pony or whatever he is?"

Pinkie blinked for a moment before she grinned widely, "Twilight! I'm so happy you asked!" With a flourish, Pinkie hopped back from everypony and sprung into the kitchen. The mares exchanged confused looks for a moment before the door burst open with a happily bouncing Pinkie Pie with a dark brown box on her back. Skidding to a stop, Pinkie bucked the box into the air where it landed softly on her springy mane before she lowered it to one of the tables in the room. "The pie doesn't make sense" she said with a smile. "Spike, can you get a wooden knife please?"

Spike nodded and turned to the kitchen before stopping abruptly and turning around with a claw raised. "A wooden knife? Um.... I don't think we have one Pinkie."

Pinkie shook her head slowly with a smile, "Then this is going to be really REALLY fun!" She hopped up onto her hind legs, aimed, and then dropped her forelegs onto the edge of the box, popping it's top open by some quirk of physics, revealing a large, oddly still steaming, pie within.

"Twilight, could you cut the pie please....with your magic.... CAREFULLY?" she asked, fluttering her eyes comically.

Twilight, now completely lost, shrugged and lit her horn as a set of glowing magenta lines formed across the top of the pie. With mathematical precision, the lines slowly sank into the pie, leaving thread-thin, steaming, cuts portioning the pie into eight equal slices. Oddly, Twilight flinched near the end of the spell, wrinkling her nose and taking a moment to rub her horn. "What the heck?"

Pinkie nodded before dropping to eye level with the pie and sliding a slice onto a plate that hadn't been there seconds before. Right as she started to lift the plate, thin arcs of blue electricity started to jump repeatedly between the slice and the rest of the pie until she pulled it a bit further away. Smiling, she held out the slice to Twilight. "See? The pie doesn't make sense."

Twilight was flabbergasted. The pie was magic? No, that couldn't be, she would have sensed it. Was it a trap? Had the pony she'd nearly run down decided he'd get her back? Was he really a fury like she suspected and this was some form of twisted justice? Was Pinkie eating the pie? How had th...wait..."PINKIE STOP!" she bellowed as Pinkie took a bite of the slice.

Pinkie seemed to pause for a moment mid-chew, before she looked upwards at an odd angle and smiled. "Just like last time." A moment later, she calmly placed the plate with the half eaten slice on the table before grinning like a fool, her mane sticking out at all angles with tiny sparks dancing across her coat. "It doesn't make sense because I can't get mine to do this!" She gestured to all of herself while her coat and mane poofed out in a clear display of extreme static.

Everyone stood there, staring at Pinkie for a few moments before Pinkie seemed to think of something. Sitting back, she cupped her foreleg in a hoof and tapped her other hoof to her chin, looking up. "Oh yheah.... you asked who he was. He's Storm Dancer and he makes the very bestestest berry pie I know of."

---

Dark Tidings

A little bit of lamp grease, a touch of soot black, and a tiny tiny pinch of goldenrod pollen... he measured carefully, tapping the ingredients into an already gray paste in the small earthenware bowl. Nodding to himself, he set it over a greenwood fire that belched clouds of smoke to the ceiling of his home where it pooled and roamed amongst the curious collection of oddities that hung from twists of string. Mojo stepped back, dusting his hooves off on the darkly stained rag he kept slung over his shoulder while working.

It was a tincture he was making today, something to treat insect stings or pesky bites, to keep them from getting infected or inflamed. It wasn't his best work, he frowned, but it would certainly be better than nothing at all for the travelling or lost ponies he most often entertained. A simple bauble from an easily forgotten nowhere that would help them in a pinch while supplying him with the trifling pittance which was his only real income. For not the first time he sighed, thinking that perhaps he would have been better off with gardening or perhaps carpentry as an occupation.

It wasn't that he disliked his skill set, but rather that it was a skill set which had fallen out of favor some centuries ago, long before he was born. Medicine, magic, and science had all progressed, leaving 'esoteric' and 'paranoid conjuring' behind in favor of the mass-produced and understood teachings of the modern world. That his special talent had apparently been rooted in those same 'esoteric paranoid conjurings' was not lost oh him when he saw the faces of those who stumbled upon his home or, indeed, himself. He watched as the paste continued to heat, the thick white smoke curling around the edges of the bowl as it left its wooden skin to climb the drafty reaches of his ceiling and stalk its imagined prey in the forest of odds and ends which dangled by twine and thread alike. He waited until he heard the first soft crackle of the pollen beginning to scorch before leaning forward to drip a milky fluid into the bowl where it hissed and spat.

Adding venom to a remedy like this in civilized society would have him slapped with charges or labeled a quack. Modern medicine would say he was poisoning ponies, perhaps drawing out their suffering to line his pockets or to derive some sick pleasure from their pain. Modern science would say that doing so would inflict countless traumas upon the tissues and introduce dangerous chemicals to an already compromised body. Modern magic would scoff at his prehistoric and barbaric 'cure' which had absolutely no magical resonance at all. And they would all be right if he were to simply follow the recipe.

But, there was a reason his special talent wasn't in baking or in gardening or even in carpentry where following the expected rules and plans resulted in expected ... well... results. His talent was in a very special kind of conversation, the kind that earned you a tribal marking resembling a black and gray campfire with a white set of bones above it. Mojo waited patiently while the venom boiled off and started to burn.

Just as the paste inside the bowl began to dry and crack, Mojo smiled. He watched as a twist of shadow hidden in the flickering and dancing shadows above seemed just a tiny bit out of place. Leaning forward, Mojo dripped a few more drops of venom onto the charring concoction in the bowl, setting off a puff of sickly, pale green, smoke to curl towards the ceiling. Predictably, the twist of shadow leapt from the ceiling and clung to the puff of venom vapors, slowly drifting down to nestle upon the bowl of stinking char.

With a quick blow, the cloud dissipated, leaving the shadow to flail before falling into the scorching bowl. Mojo grasped the bowl, pulling it from the fire in smoking hooves before he slammed it on the ground with a painful crack. Though his hooves burned terribly, he smiled as he saw the tiny wisp of shadow struggling under his smoking front hoof. Careful not to release the pressure on it, he lowered himself down and thought for a moment before speaking. As he had been taught, and later discovered on his own, choosing ones words with the deez or greely was extremely important. He tilted his head, looking for the telltale sharp angles of a greely or the slight red shimmer of a deez before noticing the razor thin projection from his hoof where the shadow had attempted to escape before being pinned. A greely then, he sighed, not what he had hoped for...but it would have to do.

"Ya can't escape, my lil' one, doh your service might yet still be fun. A short short stay in bottle true, until de time is right for you. But heed my words or come what may, ye'll find ye'll shortly rue de day dat you did come across my way if I don't get my due." Mojo grinned slightly, his normally black face painted a stark white to resemble a skull. "An' now my lil' evil one a simple simple task, I simply command, yah wicked ting, to get within te flask." He slid a small glass bottle over, carefully popping the cork with the edge of his hoof while making a face at the bitter smell that issued forth. "Den a little ting, a simple one, a bite o sting te'cure, by slaying lesser evil tings, I let you den endure." Punctuating his offer with a firm prod, Mojo pressed down upon the twist of writhing shadow until it bent away from his hoof in supplication and began to stretch towards the bottle. Nodding, Mojo released it, watching with satisfaction as it slid, almost dejectedly, into the bottle and settled like nothing more than a thin oil.

Stoppering the bottle and finally ridding his nose of the foul odor of bitter unguents and extracts that would buffer the draught and dull the pain of a bite or sting, he carefully looped a length of cord around the neck and began the slow process of making an amulet. He smiled as he worked, twisting a bit of twine or adding a bead or small bone, he slowly built up a tiny pony from the core of the stoppered bottle. Adding sprigs of herbs or weaving the stalks of dried flowers, he carefully gave the bottle a felted coat, the crafting so fine as to hide the materials themselves by the illusion of a seamless skin. He whispered softly, never breaking his concentration despite the otherwise relaxed appearance of his efforts for he could still feel the tiny evil spirit fighting against its imprisonment. The whispers, barely audible to any but himself, kept the greely confused and cautious rather than focused and angry. Mojo promised it freedom and a chance to exact its furious revenge, but explained that it was a poison that had made him capture the greely, that it was his own secret rebellion that he was weaving a key into the greely's prison so that it could escape in the future. And slowly, almost imperceptibly, the greely settled into its new home, the soft whisperings giving it a target for its rage and hate... one of Mojo's choosing.

Finally, he pulled the last few strands of hair through the tiny pony's head, fixing its mane in place. All that was left now was to affix its eyes and set it to dry and mature. Nodding to himself, Mojo turned and pulled up two tiny black beads, barely larger than a grain of sand each, and threaded them to a hair from his own mane. Raising the tiny pony to his own face, he carefully stitched the eyes in place before whispering his last words to the greely inside. "I made dis offer jess for you, an' follow it you should do too. For while I promise freedom in kine, I'll not hesitate to remine dat twas your weakness an' my might that sealed dis bargainin' tonight. I will not breach my promise to you, but remember greely, your service due."

A thin coil of black and ash-gray smoke pulled itself from the remains of the crushed bowl and settled over the tiny pony, patterning its coat with a mottled gray before sinking in and fading from sight. Mojo closed his eyes for a moment, before taking a deep breath and relaxing. He had been working at this bit of magic for the better part of three hours and had finally bound the greely to cure a bite or poisonous sting. It wasn't something modern medicine, magic, or science could explain, but he knew the art and practice of dealing with the lesser spirits and knew that if a pony couldn't find a cure elsewhere... if they were desperate enough... that they could at least have some small chance with him.

Reverently stringing the tiny pony with a long green thread, he hung it to dry from the rafters amongst the herd of a few dozen other drying or prepared tokens. They were his magic, his promises, and his gift. And all but three were to cure injury or preserve life. And like he did every night, he addressed the three small bundles that hung near the fire pit with a glare and a sigh. When those promises came due, he hoped that he had done enough good to garner the mercy of something more powerful than what slumbered within them.

He was just laying down to rest when the muffled thud of thunder striking somewhere above caused him to look towards the door. Lightning and thunder shunned his home, which left only one realistic possibility. Muttering softly as he tried to order his thoughts, Mojo quickly wiped the paint from his face and turned to navigate the dark, reed-lined, walls of his underground home and fetch his friend who was likely standing ankle deep in a downpour hoping to get inside before being struck by lightning again.

"What'm I gon do wichyou Tempest? This late you come, I'll get no rest." Sighing, Mojo took the final few steps before opening the old plank door which kept his home hidden from the outside world, and nearly screamed at the maelstrom outside. And standing right in the middle of it all, looking like a monster straight from the burning hells of Tartarus, was a bleeding, battered, and still smoking Storm Dancer who looked like he was about to pass out.

---

Tea

"So, I showed up when I was supposed to, but I felt a strike coming on so I kind of backed off after knocking." Storm Dancer explained after the short walk to one of Mojo's living rooms where the zebra had quickly put on a small pot of raspberry tea after bandaging his unicorn friend's head. "It was only a few seconds, but when the little dragon opened the door and invited me in, I was a little surprised but, you know, they'd invited me in so I was walking in right as the lightning struck....then I'm being knocked back out of the library, but, I figured it was the lightning... you know, nerves and everything... but then the tree groans from the frost and WHAM! I'm in the garden, picking myself up again. And before I can even say 'Sorry about the lightning' I'm across the street with a blinding headache and I have some pony's mailbox all tangled in my saddlebags and the princess is shouting about zombies."

Mojo just sat and listened. He knew princess Sparkle was quick to jump to conclusions but this... this was just bizarre, even for her. That she had attacked her own subject repeatedly was disturbing at a level that was simply frightening. That she had invited Storm over only to beat him bloody and throw him in the street was unbelievable. He'd seen her kindness and compassion, her quick thinking and open mindedness in action, there had to be something more to it. He simply couldn't believe, even if she was a princess, that Twilight Sparkle could have acted as Storm was saying.

Yet, he'd never needed to question Storm Dancer's word before. If anything, Storm Dancer was honest nearly to a fault. He'd admit his problems and even take the blame for other ponies if he thought that they didn't deserve someone else's anger. He embellished a bit sometimes, yes, but who didn't? But, to think that Twilight Sparkle, the little purple unicorn come princess had mistreated him so.... it just didn't add up.

Well, unless......his thoughts took a darker turn and he almost missed when Storm asked a question. Blinking and shaking the troubling thoughts from his head, Mojo looked back up and replied. "I dun't know for why she did, you jus' be glad my home is hid."

Storm Dancer nodded before sipping his tea again and flinching at the slight tang of medicine that Mojo had stirred in with the otherwise delightful raspberry tea. "I mean, I can understand the lightning startling her and all, unicorns cast reflexive spells all the time, but then she beat me into the garden before blasting me across the street and into, "he paused to read the mangled mailbox they had finally untangled from his saddlebags, "um.... Towne Hall... Really? She shot me all the way to the Towne Hall?" He flinched again as his horn briefly flared resulting in a tiny cloud manifesting over his head. Moments later, he was looking out from behind a soggy mane as the tiny rainstorm unloaded it's burden before drifting away towards the ceiling.

Mojo watched it go for a few moments before shaking his head and checking the bandages wrapped around the unicorn's head and horn. "Deez strikes were not so lightly done, perhaps you right ta cut n' run?"

"Yheah, but when I saw them all in town, they looked pretty spooked. Heck, Pinkie shot me with confetti... I think. It caught fire a moment later so I didn't really get to check. They didn't look too happy to have me in town again. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were looking for a fight."

Mojo considered this. It was true that the Element bearers were known for their decisive action, often taking shortcuts or making weighty choices with little time to think, but they weren't known for rampant violence or unfounded aggression. If what Storm Dancer was saying was true, something must be effecting them in some way. He could see Rainbow Dash, the brash and hotheaded pegasus, making such a jump... but Fluttershy and Pinkie just didn't seem right. The princess, of course, could go either way depending upon what she knew or did not know. Yet, the fact remained, she had attacked Storm Dancer and apparently convinced her friends to do so as well.

"Um, Mojo?" The zebra looked over to the unicorn who was watching the fireplace with a practiced eye. "Not to bug you or anything but I think one of your creepy crawlies is trying to get away again."

Mojo followed his gaze, spotting the thread of shadow that had somehow unwound itself from the bundle hanging near the fire. With a snort, he trotted over and bit it hard, feeling it writhe and thrash before letting it retreat to the bundle again. He watched for a moment more, dark thoughts warring in his head, before pulling a scrap of dull fabric from a satchel near the fireplace and wrapping the bundle tighter. With an appraising look, he flipped the top of a small pewter kettle he kept near the mantle and scooped out a waxy paste to smooth over the bundle.

"Agin dey try to break der word, they wish to fly just like a bird. A shame ta forget dey promise true, but maybe iis a boon for you." Mojo cocked his head while considering the freshly wrapped bundle. Inside, he knew, wrapped within layer upon layer of careful knots, woven herbs, fabric and sinew, was a clutch of greely. They had been caught and bound all at once, no small feat, and had awarded him his mark, but he knew that they had never fully agreed to his bargain or offers. Though he still attempted to convince them nightly, the clutch had resisted his every effort by sheer spite alone. It was one of the three bargains he hoped never to break (or indeed even properly seal), but if something had corrupted princess Sparkle.....

"Dere's sometin' here you do not know, a volley in a broken bow. It's magic ancient long and old, iis power though be strong and bold. Dis princess an' her angry troupe, if dey be seeking your neck to loop, I c'n offer up a spell I know, but deh price te pay will not be low." Mojo said with barely more than a whisper.

Storm Dancer blinked. He knew that his friend was avoided and that many ponies were outright hostile towards him, but Mojo had always been a friend to him. To hear what sounded like an offer of violence was extremely uncomfortable. When Mojo had answered the door, he had seen the smears of the white paint the zebra used in his magics. He knew that whatever Mojo had been up to, it had been of the kind of magic that the other ponies reviled him for. Mojo could use 'normal' zebra magic, herbs and tricks to heal and hide, but unlike other zebra, Mojo was also a practitioner of older and much more disturbing magics. He had asked Mojo about them once and Mojo had shown him some of his tools. Storm Dancer had quietly backed out of the room and been careful not to mention it since. There was simply no reason that he could think of to keep parts of dead creatures as tools, let alone in one's house. And here he was, being offered 'help' without question or any kind of cost... it was the kind of offer he recalled from countless horror stories.

"If it's all the same to you Mojo, I think we might have just had a misunderstanding. I mean, she's a princess and all so I'm sure she knows what she's doing." He offered up with a half smile while his horn flickered again with his pulse. "I'm sure she didn't mean to hurt me, she was probably just startled."

Mojo nodded. He had expected as much. He had hoped as much really. Storm Dancer was his friend, and a good pony. Back on the savanna, a pony like Storm would be worshipped as a god by tribal groups while the more enlightened would respect him and request his visits, though never to stay long. Mojo knew, somehow, that there wasn't a bad bone in Storm's body. It was a blessing and a shame that he had never been able to find a cure for the unicorn's ailment. If he had, he was fairly certain he would lose one of his only friends, but at the same time it meant that the unicorn would continue to be ostracized and suffer the elements. Somewhere deep in his thoughts, he knew he was being selfish... and he knew that he was still secretly thankful for it.

A bright flash and the bitter tang of ozone drew Mojo from his thoughts. Looking up, he saw Storm Dancer shaking his head slightly, a wisp of smoke trailing from his horn and a soft red glow coming from the iron tip of a pole sticking out of a nearby wall. With a smile, he was once again grateful that he had invested in a lightning rod, despite the confusion from the salespony about installing it indoors.

Comments

[SuperSaiyanTeemo]

While entertaining, and did give interesting information across, most of this chapter seemed...unnecessary. I actually checked if I was reading a comedy after reading about all the chasing and freaking out the mane six did, since the audience already knew it was one big misunderstanding.