“We have to go and get clouds from there?”
The two pegasi hovered, the only sound the slow flapping of their wings and the soft sigh of the air around them. The speaker, a small pegasi with a blue colored coat, twitched his ears. “It’s so quiet down there. And so dark.”
“It’s just the way the mountains are formed,” his companion said. Emeryl blew a stray lock of blond hair out of her eyes. “The sun ends up only hitting the place for a few minutes a day. But it makes the cloud fluff great, and the settlement needs the rain.”
“Yeah, but…”
“What? Are you frightened of a little darkness? You, the one who wanted to join the settlement?” she darted in midair to elbow him in the ribs before gaining altitude. “C’mon. I’ll race you down there. You take the center, I’ll take the sides. The pony who brings back the biggest cumulus wins!”
“Hey!” The mare sped off in a dash of yellow and green before the stallion could finish his sentence.
“For the love of…Wait!” he called, pumping his wings. He wasn’t about to let her show him up!
The two pegasi spiraled down toward the valley. Harsh crosswinds pulled at his wings as he passed the lip of a cliff, and the light and warmth of the sun gave way to the chilled, damp air of the valley.
He spread his wings wide, slowing his descent and moving into a glide. His heart pounded as he circled.
The grass below was brown and brittle—no wonder the earth ponies in the settlement hadn’t wanted to come this far. No trees grew save for one, which was black and twisted and most likely only upright out of sheer luck.
“C’mon, Twister! You’re getting clouds, not sightseeing!”
Twister swallowed. As if there was anything to see. “I’ll get the most!” he called. “You just focus on yours!” He peeled away, heading toward the center of the valley.
Emeryl hadn’t lied about the clouds. They gathered more easily than most, much like the clouds after a heavy rain, moist and easy to condense. He supposed the lack of sunlight here was good for something.
The clouds thickened in the center of the valley, where the light was faintest. Squinting, Twister swirled in a circle, pressing the cloud into the largest cumulus he could, relishing his ability as he kicked the soft watery fluff into shape. This cloud would water the earth pony’s fields for days. No way would Emeryl beat him.
Get out.
Twister stopped dead, his wings beating frantically to halt his momentum. He hovered once again, peering into the darkness. “Emeryl?”
Get out.
“Emeryl, this isn’t funny.” Twister darted from one side of the cloud to the other. His companion was nowhere to be found, probably far away somewhere on the edge of the valley.
Heart pounding, Twister flapped his wings and moved behind the cloud, preparing to push it away toward the light. Then he stopped.
A rock jutted from the ground, a spire like…he had to think for a moment to get the word. The earth ponies called them stalagmites, but this one was enormous. The clouds have covered it, and now that they were collected to the side he could see all the way to the base, where something glinted.
He paused for a moment, but the strange voice didn’t return. It had to be the wind, or just nerves. This was a valley. There was nothing to be worried about.
Twister spiraled down toward the base of the jutting stone. Grass crunched under his hooves when he landed, and dust made his eyes water.
More rock jutted from the ground, curving boulders and tumbled stone littering the ground in pieces everywhere he looked. It made his skin crawl, and he couldn’t figure out why. He was no rock expert, but it didn’t look right.
Wind whistled around him, a strong breeze flattening his mane and tail against his body and sending dust stinging against his pelt.
“Emeryl, cut it out!” he shouted when the wind died. He looked up, but instead of seeing his friend he saw another formation of stone. A perfect circle was hewn into the top of another stalagmite.
Everything came together at once. This wasn’t just random stone. This wasn’t a random valley.
That circle was pony-made. Somepony had lived here. Ages and ages ago.
I told you to get out!
The wind screamed, and this time the dust sent trails of blood running down his flanks and forehead into his eyes. Twister whinnied in fear and leaped from the ground, spiraling into the sky. When he force his eyes open his cloud exploded into mist and cold rain, and a silent dark shape hovered above it, their wings a blur. He blinked through a haze of pain.
“Em-Emeryl?”
The shape shimmered, and then the wind howled again. His wings tore at his sides, the bones creaking, and he fell.
The train whistled as it circled around the mountain, growing smaller and smaller in the distance. The sign in the station swayed in a slight breeze, and the metal hinge creaked.
Twilight took a deep breath. Her first real job as a princess was beginning now.
“Wow, this place is practically in the middle of nowhere,” Rainbow said, tossing her mane as she leapt into the air. She stretched her wings, arcing in a slow circle before hovering over the group. “It’s a station without a town. Weird.”
“The settlement is that way, toward the mountains there,” Twilight gestured with a hoof. “It’s about a day’s travel, according to Celestia’s letter.” Small trees and scrub grew in all directions, and there was no sign of any path through the brush. “It’s going to be a bit of a tough walk, though.”
“Well, we may as well get movin’ then,” Applejack said, hefting her bag over her back. “’Specially if we want to make it before nightfall.”
“Ugh…Spike, help me with my bag?” Rarity asked, her voice nearly a whine. Spike immediately obliged, leaving Twilight’s side.
“Twi, can’t you just pop us all over there?” Pinkie said, bouncing in place by Twilight’s side. “With your new princess magic?”
“Pinkie, it’s not princess magic, it’s just plain unicorn magic,” Twilight said with a sigh. “And no. I want to save my strength for whatever I might find.”
“C’mon, Twi, why are you frettin’?” Applejack said. “I’m sure its just a friendly visit. You’re going to see a settlement, cut the ribbon and all that.”
“But Celestia’s letter didn’t make it sound like any old visit, Applejack,” Twilight said. “She said the mayor was going to brief me on some issues. Why would she brief me if I was just paying a royal visit?”
“Why, to educate you on decorum, dear,” Rarity said, levitating a hoof file from her bag.“ This will be your first trip as a Princess to see the new settlement, the…what was the name again?”
“Meadowville,” Fluttershy said. “It sounds like a nice place.”
“Sounds boring to me,” Rainbow Dash said. “Don’t worry, Twilight. You’ll probably just have to smile and look all regal. Maybe kiss a baby or two.” Rainbow made an exaggerated gagging noise. “I mean, it’s a settlement, not really a town yet, so it probably has what, one hundred ponies living there max?” She landed next to Fluttershy and grinned. “There’ll probably be more animals than ponies.”
“I doubt that’s true,” Applejack said. “Appleoosa is a newly founded town and the population’s way bigger than that.”
“We’re going to meet new ponies, and meet new places!” Pinkie said. “We can throw a party for the new town!” She bounced around the group in a circle.
Twilight laid her ears flat, then perked them with effort. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this trip wasn’t about fun. She took the letter out of her bag, reading over the Princess’s looping script.
My Faithful Student, Princess Sparkle,
I would like you and your friends to travel to the newest settlement on the border of Equestria. It is a small, growing settlement called Meadowville. The mayor of the town, Lily Frost, has contacted me regarding some potential issues that may affect the settlement. I think visiting, and helping the mayor, will be a good experience for you as a new Princess.
Bring the elements.
-Celestia
“C’mon, Twi,” Applejack said, and Twilight nearly dropped the letter. “We won’t know what’s going on until we actually get there, right?”
“You’re right.” Twilight stowed the letter in her bag, trying to shake off the crawling unease that clung to her coat like sand. “Let’s go, girls.”
***
“Alright Rainbow,” Applejack said as they strode into town, the long shadow of the nearby mountain making the dusk dimmer than usual. “I take it back. You were right.”
Scuffed, flattened ground marked the entrance to civilization from the surrounding forest, and the ground was littered with axes and shovels, clearly the markers of continuous progress. Tree stumps surrounded them, and tape marked a square of loose earth in rows that was probably some sort of small garden or beginnings of a farm.
“Wow, when Celestia said it was a new settlement, she wasn’t kidding,” Twilight said. Maybe the issue was that they needed more ponies to help with construction.
Candlelight glowed in the distance from a cluster of cottages, and voices emanated from a larger building to the side. A large structure that resembled the town square building after Derpy had hit it with lightning stood in the center. Seven cloud houses hovered above it, each one as small as the one-room cottages below them.
A shape darted from the cloud house, and Dash tensed next to Twilight as a pegasus arced toward them at full speed.
“Twister!” the newcomer shouted, her voice breaking. “Twister, is that…”
She slowed to a stop as she grew closer, then hovered in front of their group, her wings flapping quick and loud. Her eyes searched from Twilight to her friends and back in a jittery dance.
“No. You’re…I’m sorry. I thought maybe…” She landed, her wings and ears drooping. Her mane shifted in a tangled knot on her head.
Well this was strange. Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged glances, and the pink maned pegasus stepped forward. “Hello,” Fluttershy whispered. “What’s your name?”
“Huh? Oh…I’m Emeryl.” She looked up again, staring at Twilight, and her eyes widened. “You’re a…Princess!” She took a step back, her wings flaring. “The mayor sent for you! You can find Twister, can’t you!”
Twilight’s stomach tightened, and she wished very much that Celestia’s letter had given her more information. “Um,”
“I’ll tell you what, my dear,” Rarity said, stepping forward. “How about you fly off and tell the mayor we’ve arrived. Then we’ll see what we can do about helping your friend Twister, alright?”
“Right.” Emeryl nodded, her gaze not quite focused. Her wingfeathers stuck out in random directions, and one fell to the ground as she leapt into the air. “Thank you!” She circled twice againt a purpling sky.
“Well,” Applejack said as the pegasus flew off. Silence reigned among the small group of ponies, broken only by the occasional chirp of a cicada from the trees behind them. “Ah suppose this trip is for more than just a ribbon cutting, isn’t it”
“I wonder what happened to Twister,” Pinkie said. She pawed at the loose dirt. “I hope nothing bad.”
“I want to know what happened to her,” Rainbow said. “She needs to take better care of herself.”
“Nothing a little makeover can’t fix,” Rarity said, but her joke fell flat. Twilight shifted her hooves in the dusty earth.
“Well, looks like we might get some answers,” Rainbow said with a toss of her head. An elderly earth pony picked her way over the dirt, her mane a dust-covered gray in the evening light.
“Please, Princess Twilight, and friends,” she said with a nod. “I am Lily Frost. Follow me inside. We’ve prepared a place for you.”
Twilight nodded, then wondered if a princess was supposed to bow her head. It probably didn’t matter. “Lead the way.”
As they walked closer, it became obvious that the ruined town hall wasn’t quite a town hall at all, but a multi purpose building. The door creaked as they went inside, and Twilight flicked her ears in surprise. The interior was partitioned with tarps, each a different color. Red, blue, purple and green spiraled off in a series of hallways.
“It’s like a rainbow!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Yes.” Lily Frost nodded. “I’m sure you’ve noticed, but this settlement is very new. We don’t have much in the way of permanent architecture.” She kicked a wooden beam, and it shifted with a creak. “If you follow the red tarp, it will lead to the room we’ve prepared for you all.”
“Got any food?” Applejack asked. “I didn’t see much in the way of agriculture here yet.”
Lily Frost smiled. “We’re trying to establish a vegetable crop. We thought that with the mountains, that would be easiest.”
Twilight caught the shift in tone. Time to get to the heart of things. “You thought?”
“Food has been a problem since the pegasi refused to bring in clouds from the neighboring valley. We need the rain, but without those clouds, the earth ponies can only do so much.”
Rainbow scoffed. “What pegasus would refuse to gather clouds?”
“Let me guess,” Twilight said. “Because of Twister?”
“I figured Emeryl would mention him,” Lily Frost said. “And I suppose it’s time I told you why we asked for your help. Celestia’s help, really, but I’m sure there was a reason she sent you.”
Twilight decided that wasn’t an insult. She debated asking to rest first, or maybe eat, but curiosity came first. “So, what’s been going on?”
Lily Frost blinked, then gave a pained sigh. “The valley, as far as I know.”
“The valley?” Pinkie said. “But we’re not in the valley, right?”
“No, but we are close. I had heard of the Everfree Forest, which borders Ponyville. I thought it would be like that—a reason to be careful, but not dangerous to ponies who knew what they were doing. And anyone who joined the settlement had to be competent. We took only those who were willing to work. We have only twenty ponies to start with—Nineteen now.” Fluttershy gasped.
“Only twenty?” Applejack said. “Pardon me fer saying so, but how did you reckon to get anything done with just twenty?”
“We were supposed to send a message back to the Princess once we established a hoofhold and determined it was safe to build here. But…”
“But it isn’t.” Twilight’s stomach turned, and Fluttershy gave a small eep behind her. “It’s not safe, is it?”
“Are there d-dragons?” Fluttershy whispered. Spike rolled his eyes behind her back.
“We don’t know.” Lily Frost tossed a stray gray curl from her forehead. “All we know is that a pegasus disappeared inside the valley. Winds are unpredictable, and the weather is worse and growing worse every night. The pegasi claim they can’t control it. If we can’t solve the problem, we will have to abandon the settlement.”
“Abandon it?” Rainbow said. “Because of some scaredy ponies?”
“These ponies are professionals,” Lily Frost said. “If they say it can’t be controlled, I have to believe them.”
“Let me take a crack at it,” Rainbow said. “I’m Ponyville’s head weathermare. I can whip them into shape in no time!”
Lily Frost smiled. “I’m more than willing to give you a chance. But that’s not the only thing. I was wondering if any of you could identify something we found.”
“If it’s an animal, I’m sure Fluttershy could take a look, right Fluttershy?” Twilight said.
“Um, sure…” Fluttershy hid her head behind her forehoof.
“Fluttershy’s great with animals!” Spike said, trying to help. Twilight wished that her friend had a bit more confidence.
“I’d rather all of you see it. This way—we’ll need the light.”
Twilight and Spike exchanged glances, and the dragon shrugged. Twilight and the group followed the mayor back outside, the cool air of the mountains making Twilight shiver.
“Where is everypony?” Rarity said. “It seems awfully quiet.”
“Nopony goes outside after dusk anymore,” Lily Frost said with a shake of her head. “The weather gets worse at night.”
Twilight frowned. Maybe Celestia should have sent Luna instead.
Then again, if they needed the elements…
“So, are we gonna get blown away?” Pinkie asked. “I don’t want to be, although it’d be fun to fly!”
“No, it’s not far.” Lily Frost picked her pace up into a trot, then a canter, heading toward the base of the mountain. The mountains arced up toward the sky, covering the valley in a strange formation that Twilight had never seen anywhere else. The valley was probably dark most of the time. Nowhere she would ever want to live.
Lily Frost began to slow, then stopped at the base of the mountain. The stone was paler here, as though bleached from the sun. There was no sign or sound of any animal. Why had she brought them here?
“What’s that?” Rarity said. “It looks like…oh. Oh my.”
“You have sharper eyes than most,” Lily Frost said. “What does it look like to you?”
Rarity frowned, and she turned her head, putting up a hoof over her mouth. “Oh! I hope it’s not…”
“What is it, Rarity?” Twilight walked closer, her hooves clacking loudly against the stone. A pattern of white rocks lay on the ground, meshed with the mountain.
Then a chill washed over her as the shape began to make sense. They weren’t rocks, and it wasn’t a strange pattern.
It was the skeleton of a pony.
