1 - Baleful Red Eye

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Twilight slowly moved her telescope as she went with it, keeping it trained on a particular object in the night sky. It wasn't one she recognized, a bright red and moving far too quickly. A shooting star? It wasn't actually falling. It wasn't getting much brighter or dimmer. It didn't match the profile.

Its surface was moving... clouds? Reds and pinks swirled about as if the entire thing was consumed in an unending storm of some kind.

What was it? It was pretty and alien and made her wonder, so she summoned a quill and began to pen a letter.

Dear Princess Luna,
I saw something quite curious in the sky tonight and I wondered if, perhaps, you had put it there? It's red and moving quickly, and appears to be quite large. Like a tiny moon, or perhaps one that's even more distant than our own, but not so distant that it would hang still in the sky. If you didn't make it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
Studiously Yours,
Twilight Sparkle

"Spike?"

The dragon looked up from where he had been reading a comic. "Done star watching?"

"For now. Could you send this to Luna?" She sealed the scroll with a stamp that noted who it was for. "Please and thank you."

"Sure." Not that he could send it directly to Luna. It'd go to Celestia, who could pass it along. He held out a claw and accepted the scroll. With a puff of enchanted fire, it burned up near-instantly, sparkles rushing out the closest window to get to Canterlot. "On the way. So what was that about?"

"I spotted something new in the night sky and figured Princess Luna might know something about it." She started to walk past Spike but paused. "Hop on. It's bed time for both of us."

"Yeah alright." It was pretty late he confirmed with a glance at a clock. He hopped up with a flap of his wings, taking his spot on Twilight's back. "Onwards, my noble steed. To bed!"

Twilight softly snorted as she began walking. "If I wasn't tired, you'd be in trouble..."

They barely got into the hallway before Spike's cheeks bulged dangerously. With a vomitous display, magic and flames gathered into the form of a scroll that Twilight snatched in her own will. "That was fast."

Spike hiked a brow suspiciously at it. "Too fast if you ask me. What's it say?"

She broke the seal and unfurled the scroll. "Let's find out."

Twilight, come hither immediately.
Luna

Spike blinked softly at the awfully terse message. "Huh, she didn't even include the usual 'dear so and so' and 'fond wishes whatevers'."

Twilight shook her head as she folded the scroll and set it aside. "Well, so much for sleep. Guess we're headed for Canterlot."

"Seriously, now?" he asked in a deadpan, flopping over her back.

"We'll take the train, so you can sleep on there, but Luna wouldn't ask us to come right away if there weren't a good reason for it." She sailed down the stairs, wings carrying them both easily to the bottom. "I'm tired too, so the sooner we get going, the sooner we can get a nap."

"Aye aye." He thrust a thumb upwards, but didn't bother raising from her back, flopped comfortably as he was.

With a ticket purchased, they were soon on the train. Spike was passed out on a seat, arm hanging free to the side.

Sleep did not come as easily for Twilight. What had Luna called her for? The red moon hadn't been placed there by her, she guessed. Or maybe it had been, as part of some kind of accident? What if was some kind of emergency? But what manner of emergency could a moon cause besides making the night sky a little brighter?

Despite her thoughts, she nodded off, only to awaken when the conductor announced their arrival in Canterlot.

"C'mon, Spike." She hopped down from her chair. "We're here."

"Mmm?" Spike looked around with sleepy eyes before realizing where they were. His eyes came into focus and he hopped to his feet. "Alright. I'm here." With a single flap, he easily resumed his place atop Twilight. "To the castle!"

Rather than weaving through the crowd of mostly unicorns, Twilight spread her earned wings and took flight, soaring over them. There were pegasi in the air, but the traffic wasn't nearly as thick as the ground, and there was much more space in the air. Her eyes swept over the crowd beneath her as she went. "Do you think it's something bad?"

Spike lifted his shoulders. "Maybe she just wanted to get your opinion on it."

"What?"

"Maybe she made the thing you're looking at and she wants your personal opinion." Spike softly shrugged, one hand turned up. "I wouldn't put it entirely past her."

"I would hope she wouldn't call me across Equestria just to give some immediate art feedback." Twilight rolled her eyes softly. "Still..." Even she couldn't entirely rule out the idea that Luna could do such a thing.

They landed gently on the steps in front of the castle and Twilight trotted up. "Good morning, " she greeted the guards there. "Princess Luna called for me."

"Right this way, Princess." One of the guards pointed inside then began to lead the way at a determined trot. They wove through the halls of the castle, passing priceless art and pristine colored windows that they had no time for. "She's in here." He pointed to a set of double doors. "She said to bring you as soon as you arrived."

Twilight dipped her head towards him. "Thank you. Let's see what she needs."

"It better be good."

Twilight willed the doors open and stepped forward. "Princess Luna? I'm here."

The door slapped shut behind her. Luna had her eye to a telescope. "We are glad you've arrived. What can you tell me about it?"

Twilight blinked softly as she crossed the hard floor, clip-clopping as she went. "It's reddish and appears to be stormy. It seems to be about the size of the moon, but I don't know much more than that. Should I?"

"I did not put it there," noted Luna, putting silent the question that had not yet been asked. "Its size and proximity makes us nervous. Apologies, I know we--I are slipping. Pardon me." She drew back from the telescope and looked to Twilight, spotting Spike on her. "Oh, hello there, Spike. Do you know anything about this?"

Spike shook his head quickly. "Not a clue. So we have a new moon?"

"We do, it seems, though I do not beleive it is moving in such a way that it will stay, which makes it all the more curious."

A knocking came from the door. "Princess?" called a guard from the other side. "Your sister calls for you in the throneroom immediately."

Luna scowled at that. "What timing... Come, let us see what sister has need of." She began to walk for the exit. "It is not often she calls for me in such a manner... Perhaps it is related?"

Twilight was at her side, eyes forward. "Let's not assume until she tells us. It could be unrelated."

"I put the odds of that around... zero." Spike held up two fingers pressed together.

They soon arrived at the throne room to see a haggard-looking Celestia upon her throne. "Luna, Twilight, I am ever gladdened to see the two of you." She spotted Spike a moment later and nodded towards him but didn't speak to him. "I have grave news."

Luna's brows raised together. "What manner of news has you looking like that? We are here to assist, Sister mine."

"Whatever it is, we can handle it!" assured Twilight, wings fluttering on her back.

"I am unsure this can be handled... like that." Celestia's horn glowed as a map of Equestria descended into view. "Trottingham has been attacked."

Gasps came lously from Twilight, Spike, and Luna. "It all happened so quickly, in the whee hours of the morning, just... basically moments ago. The damage.... is extensive. What's worse, the attack is moving." She drew a line with her magic pointing across Trottingham from the Northeast to the Southwest. "Worst of all, if the attack continues, it will strike Manehatten shortly."

Twilight's wings shot out. "I'm on the--"

"No." Celestia pointed to Trottingham. "The ponies there need succor. I will face this threat."

"Nonsense." Luna drove a hoof down. "You did not call for me just to not send me in Equestria's time of need. Besides, an attack that comes in the darkness? Clearly my responsibility."

"The darkness has passed, but the attack has not, Sister. I would have you watch things in my abscence."

"Inconcievable!" Luna scowled at her sister, approaching on tense legs. "This is an attack of the night. I'm going, and I'm not accepting a no on this."

Twilight raised an uncertain brow. "Um..."

"Twilight, please proceed to Trottingham immediately," ordered Celestia. "Help all that you can and help organize the efforts there. Ponies need you."

"Right away." She dipped her head low and took off at a full gallop, ready to do her part.

Celestia turned back to Luna, or where Luna had been. She was alone, save for her guards. She let out a soft sigh, figuring out quickly where Luna had run off to... "Right..." She would have to have some measure of faith that Luna could handle things.

Luna spread her wings in the courtyard. "I will defend them." Without much forethought, she took to the air and began rocketing towards Manehattan, the city of lights and activity. Massively populated and dense, she imagined any attack on it would cause unfathomable harm to the country and so many of her sister's dearest ponies. "I can handle this."

"I'm sure you can." Spike was on her back, holding on for dear life as the great alicorn flew at a dizzying pace. "You've dealt with worse."

Luna glanced over her shoulder at her stowaway. "When did you get here?! Spike, go back to Twilight. We feel certain she could use your assistance."

"She ran off without me." Spike stuck out his tongue a little, but drew it back as fast, lest he bite it with how quickly they were slicing through the air. "So you're stuck with me. Don't worry, you won't even notice I'm here." He gave a fast little thumbs up before grasping her back, holding for his life.

"As soon as we arrive, I will put you down and you can take the train back to Ponyville," grunted out Luna, her eyes half-closing. The country beneath them was passing by in almost a blur with how quickly she was pumping her wings, her magic glowing a dark color with her concentration. "Our first priority is to arrive before the attack, so we may prevent it from crashing into the city."

"Right, stop the attack." Spike nodded as best he could, which wasn't that terribly good. "We can do that."

"I can do that, Spike." Luna rolled her eyes before banking to the right. "We're coming up on the city."

"I was, you know, using the royal we, like you do." He relaxed a little, the pace lowering from absurdly fast to just quick, the wind roaring softly past his fins.

"To use the royal 'we', you need to be responsible for other people, to whom the 'we' could apply," Luna sighed out with some exasperation. "You are Spike. You are not responsible for any other."

"Now that's where you're wrong." He raised a finger with a smug look on his face. "I'm going to help save Equestria, again, with you. The way I see it, that makes me pretty responsible. Now let's focus on how we are going to stop that attack. So, uh... what kind of attack is it we're stopping again? Are we being invaded?"

"I do not know," admitted Luna, though that did not stop her from swooping down towards the city proper. She would be ready to face what came, or so she hoped.

2 - Threadfall

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Luna landed just in front of a police station, where sharply dressed ponies in uniform were moving about industriously. Several heads turned towards her as she came in and they began to salute.

"Princess Luna," barked one that seemed of superior station than the others, descending the short steps of the station. "What brings you to Manehattan so suddenly?"

Spike waved from atop her. "We're here to stop an attack."

"Verily." She turned slowly in place. "Things appear to be in order for the moment?"

The police captain nodded curtly. "Everything's fairly normal. What kind of attack?"

"Of this we were not informed, but it would come from that direction." She lifted a hoof towards Trottingham, as distant as it was, with water between them and the smaller town. "I would see that this city is prepared. Ponies should be seen to safe places as soon as possible."

He grunted, peering at Luna through bushy brows a moment, glancing up at Spike. "If it was much anypony else... I'll put out the word." He reached for a large radio receiver and began to speak into it, "we have word of incoming trouble. Get ponies off the street."

"Which ponies?" echoed from his radio.

"All of them!" he roared. "This is not a drill. I don't want a single pony in sight that isn't an officer."

An officer came up to the two of them. "Excuse me, uh, princess? You need to get in--"

Luna put a hoof to her face. "I do not count. But you can take him." She gestured with her head towards Spike, or where Spike was. But he wasn't there anymore.

He had dropped down her side, hiding behind her.

"I can feel you," cautioned Luna. "This game is at an end."

"It isn't a game." He scrambled back on top of her. "We're here to save ponies, so let's focus on that."

Luna snorted, but also began to walk away from the informed and alerted police station. "Let us see if we can spot the menace."

"Now we're talking!" Spike clapped his hands together before pumping a fist, looking ready for adventure.

A short flight across the city took them towards the docks. Below them, traffic was becoming more sparse as the police ponies of the cities did as they were asked, urging people to get inside until they were told it was safe. Being early in the morning, there weren't as many ponies out as there could have been to start, but it was creeping close to the time that ponies would begin marching to work.

"We do not envy them." Luna shook her head slowly. "There will be shouting and complaining." Even Luna, still catching up on things, could imagine a salary pony being quite irate at a random police pony telling them to not go to work on time.

"They're doing a good job. For such a big city, I barely see anypony down there." Spike turned his vision forward, squinting across the water. "So now we just have to face... whatever it is?" His cheeks puffed suddenly. With a ripe belch, a scroll popped free of him.

Luna's magic snatched the scroll away and unfurled it without delay. "It's from sister. She says to look skywards towards the source." They landed at the piers, both of them looking upwards in a North-eastern direction.

But there was nothing but a brightening sky.

All seemed normal. Spike scratched at a cheek idly. "So... When do we see something?"

"I know not..." She squinted against the distance as if she could force herself to see what needed to be seen.

"There! I think?" Both looked to where Spike was pointing. Rain. It was falling into the ocean in great unnatural sheets of something thicker than proper rain. It was more like snow in thick flurries of whatever it was that fell into the ocean in an approaching weather pattern.

It was so far away that the approach seemed glacial. "I... estimate half an hour before it arrives here." Luna flapped her wings once powerfully, bringing them back into the air. "That does not appear to be proper rain, or snow."

"It's hard to see from this far away... Should we get closer?" Spike shrugged softly from atop Luna.

"Nay, I say not. If it is as dangerous as we are made to believe, I would not wish to entangle with it over the ocean itself."

"Point." Spike was smiling a little despite the theoretical danger. "At least, if it really is snow, I could melt that." He puffed a little flame, his wings flapping. "We'll take care of it."

Luna nodded faintly, her attention on the clouds, so soft and silvery that approached, becoming larger by the moment, looming ever wider at an alarming rate. "That is wide enough to... engulf the entire city," she breathed out, estimating its growth as it continued, the strange snow-like particulates raining to the sea beneath it. "We--I..." She turned in the air and fled.

"W-what? Aren't we?" He pointed back towards the incoming silver clouds. "We're here to fight, aren't we?"

"And we will, but first..." She landed beside an officer. "Nowhere in this city will be safe to be outside. Be sure they know that." Luna pointed to the still oncoming clouds. "A great and unnatural weather approaches."

The police mare tilted her head. "Why don't we send the weather pegasi out to shoo it away?"

"Huh, we shoulda thought of that." Spike rubbed behind his head. "Think they could do it?"

"I suppose it worth a try." She turned to face the silvery clouds. "Though we fear it will not be that easy. Advise caution."

The police mare willed her receiver up, being a unicorn. "We got some nasty weather headed this way. Alert the weather patrol to send it away, but be careful." An indistinct reply came. "I don't know, just give it their best shot. Luna says it isn't normal." Another faint reply came. "Roger that."

She clipped her receiver back on her chest. "They'll fly out and try to intercept that storm before it ruffles any feathers in the city. If they can turn it away, a lot of ponies will be happy they can get back to work."

"We thank you for the assistance." Her wings spread. "We will not allow them to fly alone. Come." She took to the air, Spike atop her. "We'll meet with them and fly out to see this threat. Perhaps we can end it before it even makes contact with the city proper."

"That'd be pretty nice." Spike bobbed his head. "I can't much help with moving weather around," he admitted with a shrug. "Still, wouldn't be a bad ending."

Other pegasi started to join them, forming a wing. They wore bright colors with 'Weather Patrol' sewn onto them in clashing other neon colors to make it clear what their job was. "Hey, Luna!" called one of them. "We never got to fly with a princess before." A rough cheer spread through the wing of pegasi. "Let's show her what we have!"

Luna's teeth set as the wing began to accelerate past her, eager to prove their worth in her eyes. "Wait!" But they were not waiting. They rushed ahead to close with the strange cloud. From up close, they could see that the rain, or snow, or whatever it was that the clouds were dropping was quite a bit larger than normal, making great splashes in the water beneath them.

The clouds were also coming quite rapidly, though they had seemed to be coming at a placid pace when viewed from afar. This didn't bother the pegasi as they swerved and turned to match velocity. One pegasus timed their turn a precious second off, veering right into the tip of the cloud. Their scream was a keen wail, and the pegasus did not emerge.

The rest of the wing was stunned. Everyone had heard the cry of agony. "Spring Shower?" asked one flying mare, peering into the silvery mass. Taking a moment, they could see that it wasn't really a cloud at all, but a roiling mass of... silvery thread that was bound up in tight coils and balls, hopelessly entangled. Whatever it was, it was caught in the wind, tumbling around as it fell. Much of it was falling, making the great splashes in the water, but more was still caught in the air currents, tossed around, making the cloud-like shape.

Luna closed with them, shaking her head and trembling. "Take flight!" Not that they weren't already flying. "That is no cloud." She was close enough to see that for herself. "Get to shelter, now!"

"But Spring Shower!" The same mare pointed where her friend had vanished into that... mess. "We have to help her!" The other weather pegasi were nodded in agreement as they flew along with the strange not-cloud. "We can't just--"

"Go!" boomed Luna with the royal voice, rippling even the cloud of strange things. "I will do my best for her, but leave, that is a command!"

With heavy hearts, the weather patrol began to break off. Save for one mare, the one that had called her name. "Give her back!" she screamed at the cloud that offered no reply save for a low hissing that seemed to come from within it. She beat her wings angrily, but she could not dissuade the cloud. She lashed her back legs as if to buck apart the cloud, sinking her hooves into a knotted mass of thick wind-blown tendrils.

Her scream joined the downpour. Angry hissing came from her hooves, burning with alarming speed even as she frantically flapped away. Luna dove for her, grabbing the pegasus as she started to writhe, coordination rapidly being lost. The acid was chewing its way up her leg with an awful speed, leaving the poor mare barely time to bleed.

With wide eyes, Spike pointed towards the cloud. "It's still coming!"

Luna veered away sharply, carrying both the mare and Spike away as she sped towards the city. "This is beyond what I had imagined. This mare needs immediate help."

"I'm... fine," she croaked out, teeth clenched as her legs fell away in little black clumps of nothing. "You... have to stop..."

"Shhh." Luna glanced at the horrific progression of the acid. "Save your strength." She dived for the city, coming in with a roar of wind and evening out just before striking the ground, rushing through the emptied streets. There were few ponies there, she thanks.

"Get inside!" shouted Spike from atop her, looking to the few police ponies they passed. "Get inside!" He was waving wildly, trying to encourage their motion. The police ponies were gaping at them. They could see the weather pony and what was left of her legs, and they began to know fear.

They fled inside just as the thread began to fall on the piers. The wooden piers stood not even a shadow of a chance. The thread slammed down onto them like cannon shells of knotted tendrils, just to immediately begin dissolving them with their corrosive fluids. The tendrils slipped free of one another, growing larger and larger by the moment as the piers vanished under their all-consuming hunger.

They gave way with a loud snap, and the thread fell once more into the water, bubbling fiercely on contact, but not emerging again save for wild thrashing that churned the waves with a frothy foam.

The boats suffered a similar fate, pelted by massive and dense clumps traveling as fast as any ship's cannon could produce. When they failed to sink by being so struck, many began to hiss and boil, being devoured by the same awful tendrils. Metal ships resisted being devoured, but were instead battered and beaten relentlessly, the rain unending.

Ponies that had thought they could flee onto the safety of their little boats were sorely mistaken, their homes dissolving around them, and that rot sweeping up onto them, their cries joining the bedlam around them. Manehattan was under attack, and Equestria would never be quite the same again.

3 - It Comes in Sheets

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Luna beat her wings in powerful, desperate motions, trying to get the mare to help, but the progress of the rot that was rushing through her could not be slowed by her attempt. The mare writhed and screamed, and Luna could not blame her, seeing the remains of her legs slough free in a doughy mass.

It hit her torso and only accelerated. That was when she saw something besides the loss. Something was crawling, slithering? Something was moving just under the mare's skin. As it approached Luna's hoof, she recoiled, dropping the poor mare to the street.

But it wasn't a mare that hit the ground, splattering like ground beef as she was devoured by the thread that had latched onto her, reducing her to nothing as it fed and grew. The bloated thing wriggled on the street, as if dancing on the mangled remains of the mare.

"That... is messed up," eloquently noted Spike with a shake of his head. "Uh, Luna?"

Behind them, the threadfall was coming. Without the complex wind currents of the ocean, the fall had resumed its more 'natural' pattern, coming down in great sheets of wispy thread instead of condensed great balls of knotted twine. It was spreading out across the city, covering everything in the hungry worms.

"We must fight," hissed out Luna as she turned in the air. She directed her horn at a great lump on a building and fired her magic, sending it flying, chunks removed, but compared to the more that kept falling, it was an impotent attack.

"It's getting closer!" Spike trembled with rightful fear as the falling tangles of thread came closer at an alarming rate, threatening to sweep over them.

"You wished to fight, now is your time. Prove you meant your words," chastised Luna as she blasted a tangled clump of thread from the sky, knocking it clear, but she could not entirely destroy it, only break it up into smaller pieces that seemed to still writhe and dance when they hit the ground. "Blast it all..."

The threadfall came over them. It was not a complete blanketing, but clumps of wispy thread were falling around them. Spike yelped with terror as a tangled mass of thread drifted towards them. With a great puff of flames, he tried to dissuade it. The flame caressed against the thread, then lit ablaze.

The wispy mass was apparently quite flammable, the flames rushing up along each thread. It broke apart, each individual part burning to a crisp quickly, leaving nothing behind moments later. "Spike, do that again!" bade Luna as she swerved to avoid a hungry mass falling towards her. "Don't stop!"

Spike didn't need to be told this. Seeing his flame reduce the threat to ash, his eyes lit up with a manic surge of triumph. He was needed, and he could do it. "Yes, Ma'am!" As he was carried, he huffed and puffed, burning away the thread that came towards them.

"That isn't enough." Luna vanished, appearing a moment later with Spike higher up. "We need to..." She trailed off, going pale near the snout. "By harmony itself..." She was looking towards the city park. Where the thread had landed on buildings and streets, there was nothing for it to eat, and they did little but threaten anything that would wander too close to them.

The park was another matter entirely. Trees were shriveling as if consumed from the bottom up, while thread devoured branches and leaves wantonly, not moving, per se, but absorbing and growing as they touched things. Flowers were reduced to sludge, and the entire place had lost the vibrancy of life entirely.

"Woah... Hey!" Spike spotted thread growing fat off of someone's rooftop garden, reducing it to more of the thread, writhing and awful. He bathed the rooftop with his flames. The garden wouldn't be saved, but it wouldn't host the thread either. A fair trade, he silently decided. "What is this stuff?"

Luna slipped between here and there, appearing with Spike with a pop. She hissed, a bundle of thread just a little too close to where they appeared and burning along her side, thankfully without attaching to her. "Whatever these... things are, they must be stopped. Set them ablaze, good dragon." She grabbed the bundle that had left a painful line and floated it right in front of Spike, held securely in her magic.

He puffed a little spurt near its bottom, letting the flame wash up over it, consuming the hungry bundle of thread. "Is... this what happened to Trottingham? Oh, wow, they... aren't made of concrete, are they?"

"Now is not the time to ponder that." Though Luna knew all too well that the roofs of Trottingham were comprised of wood more often than not. "I do not envy Twilight, even in the midst of this." Her duty would surely be a heavy one, having to bare witness to the result of such a thing. "Remain focused, we are not safe." She swerved sharply to avoid another bundle even as Spike set it ablaze on the way past. "Yes, just like that."

A bright flash lit the air in the distance. The sound of it came later, a loud bang and pop, followed by others. Explosions? "What...?" Luna swerved towards it, avoiding thread with careful flight and short teleporting hops, trusting in Spike to continue clearing what thread he could. Each brief roar of flames consuming the dread enemy brought a small measure of solace to her.

Coming closer to the explosions, she saw a unicorn, blue in color, eyes wide in panic. She was fighting the thread as it rained down around her, sending off... fireworks. Explosions and streamers and even great bursts that looked like her face went off all around her as the mare desperately tried to avoid becoming thread food as her clothes had been already.

"Is that Trixie?" Spike torched a bundle of thread that would have fallen towards her. "Trixie, get inside! Where's your wagon?"

"These... things ate it!" She screamed up at them. "They almost ate Trixie along with it!" She stomped her forehooves as a cone of fiery streamers burst from her horn. "Trixie will not tolerate this slight! That was her most treasured possession!"

Luna swooped down, grabbing Trixie by the scruff of her neck. With a toss of her head, she lobbed Trixie up and back, landing right behind Spike. "We will see you to safety."

"Safety? What is safe?!" She waved a hoof wildly at the falling thread all around them. "Trixie would rather have revenge!"

"Great, help me then." Spike blew flame in desperate puffs, trying to at least keep themselves free of thread. "This is a lot for one dragon, lemme tell ya."

"Oh, very well. If you need Trixie's help so badly..." Not that she looked that upset to be carried away from her place where she thought she'd fight to the bitter end. She directed her horn and became a mobile platform for streaking bursts of fireworks, expanding the sphere of safety around themselves with brilliant bursts of fire that could set the thread ablaze alongside Spike's efforts.

Luna turned her efforts to reaching the corrupted park. "Mayhaps some can still yet be saved..." But when they arrived, the park was in a terrific state. What was once a lush place of plants, an oasis in a sea of pavement, had become a blighted wasteland, appearing as if bombed with great troughs in circles and other divots like holes, though the thread that fell did so without the impacting force they had at the start of the fall, implying the holes had not come from simple impacting force, leaving their source a mystery.

There were no plants remaining, every morsel devoured, leaving nothing but undulating thread, seeking more food, always seeking, always hungry. "Set it ablaze," she ordered sternly. The park could not be saved, but the great and bloated worms could be purged at the least. "I wish I had learned more fire magic."

"That is why you have Trixie here," huffed Trixie with a satisfied smile, but her magic was far less efficient at scouring the ground, each of her fireworks eager to sail into the sky and explode in a show of her power.

Spike, on the other claw, had no such trouble, washing the park with purifying flames. The park burned, a bright light against the overcast day. "Hey... Luna," he panted, trying to regain his breath. "I'm running low back here. Does this ever end?"

"This we know not. Trixie, how fare you?" She ducked low suddenly, one tangle coming dangerously close.

Trixie grabbed onto Luna with a squeak, holding on for dear life until the ride evened out. "I could do this all day," she assured. Despite her brave and confident words, her Great and Powerful magic was starting to falter, the bursts coming slower, exploding over a smaller radius. They were all becoming tired from fighting for their lives.

"We have no choice." Luna blinked out, appearing just below the overhang of a building. She stormed its doors and crashed into it, but the doors were barred and did not allow her or her passengers inside.

Spike raised a brow. "Well, they listened at least... Maybe we should... just, you know, stay here?" He pointed up at the cement overhang that provided a tiny slice of relative safety. "Maybe we'll be alright."

Trixie waved a hoof, an arc of fire in a rainbow of colors fanning with it to catch a carpet of thread that almost blew in towards them. "Trixie does not agree. You can teleport, she saw it. Teleport inside."

"Ah, yes." She blushed faintly at not having thought of such a clear answer. They were suddenly inside, but far from alone. Ponies crowded in around them almost instantly, their eyes wide and bodies trembling.

"What is that?!" asked a stallion with a shaking voice, thrusting a hoof out the window that separated them from the alien menace that was carpeting their city.

"Why aren't they getting rid of it?" demanded a mare, more angry than scared. "I have things to do."

"Things to do?!" blurted another pony. "Those things ate my award winning daisies!"

"Award winning? You never showed that thing off to anyone but us, and we're tired of hearing about them."

"You take that back!"

"Are we going to be alright?"

"Luna, save us!"

Spike held up his claws. "Calm down, everypony. We're... on the case." He had to pause to catch his breath. Never had he had to breath fire so frequently before and for such an extended period of time. "We can fight them, I just... need my breath back."

"It is as he said," assured Luna with a soft nod. "We require only a moment of solace, then the fight will resume. Spike, Trixie, how are you feeling?"

"Trixie is feeling safer." She casually hopped down from Luna. "Thanks for the ride."

Luna hiked a brow at the unicorn. "You will not see this through to the end?"

"Why should she? Those things are dangerous, if you didn't notice." She reached out and poked Luna right in the middle of the new scar she had along her side from top to bottom right along her barrel.

Luna's eyes became wet, pain making her knees wobble in place. "It is... the price we pay to defend the city," she hissed out, trying to fight it. "Will you not join us in this endeavor? Your assistance would be appreciated."

"Yeah, besides, you're going to forgive them after they ate your wagon?" Spike hiked a brow. "That doesn't sound Great or Powerful to me. That makes two wagons, doesn't it?"

Trixie went red in the face, glaring at Spike. "Just for that, Trixie should let you get eaten!"

"Yeah, no, I have fire." Spike shrugged softly. "But you don't have a wagon, and it's their fault."

Trixie danced from hoof to hoof with a rising grunt of anger. "Oh very well! Trixie will make them regret their foalish decisions."

4 - Securing Manehatten

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Luna and her trusted turrets appeared outside and the difference was palpable. The thread was still coming, but it was a lighter downpour. "Is the end in sight? Burn it all. The city is not safe until it is all removed." She got to flying, carrying Spike and Trixie to where their flames would do their best.

Trixie sent off bottle rockets towards smaller pockets of thread, a triumphant smirk on her face. "They fled before my Great and Powerful display of might!"

Spike shrugged at that. "I doubt that. They haven't exactly... said anything. Can they talk, or just land on stuff and cause--" he paused to gust his flame, sending a clump of thread into a cheery inferno. "--trouble? Hay, the stuff that lands is barely moving, just kinda wriggling."

Luna scowled, veering towards the southwest where the thread still fell the most densely and decorated the streets in an unwholesome display. "We must clear things. At least we have discerned how to fight back, and that is a worthy goal on any day."

A feline shriek turned their heads towards a small cat that was panicking, thread falling around it as it darted wildly, trying to avoid it.

"I got this," assured Spike, washing the area the cat just darted out of with fire. The thread combusted easily and started spreading to all the rest that had gathered in the area. The cat only seemed to grow in its panic, leaping suddenly over the thread, but its trajectory had it coming down in the middle of the stuff.

Luna thrust out a hoof, the cat glowing with her magic as she grabbed it from mid-air and gently moved it to a safe patch of cleared street. "Poor thing. Let us pray ponies have obeyed the warnings to be indoors at this time."

They saw no ponies, but that was no assurance. If any were caught outdoors, there wouldn't be much left to note they had been there, just more well-fed thread. Soft distant shots pricked their ears and they began fighting towards it, clearing a path through the fallen thread as Luna soared towards the louder bangs. Coming around the corner, they saw a police pony firing shots into the tuberous growths of the thread, backing away with little success. "Requesting backup," she called, though she had no radio that they could see. "Anypony?"

Slipping between places, Luna appeared just over the pony. Trixie's magic exploded outwards, supported by dragon's breath as they created a safe area around the harried policepony. "Are you safe?" asked Luna, looking under herself at the figure that was already sinking to their belly, heaving.

"I'll... be alright. I got cut off while I was busy trying to make sure everypony else was safe." She raised a hoof to wipe her brow. "Thank goodness you came. My gun wasn't doing much." Not that he gun did much on the best of days, shooting little cork pellets that annoyed the ponies she shot with it more than anything else, as if ponies had need for real bullets. "I think they liked being shot!"

"Fire." Spike gave a powerful thumbs up. "Fire works."

"Indeed." Trixie nodded as she looked around. "The rain appears to be stopping."

Luna straightened herself as she took to the air. "It does..." The murderous silver clouds were passing the city, but that meant... "These things will devour the countryside. We must do what we can." She lifted higher to the sky, but the clouds were not drifting from the city. They faded away shortly beyond the city, leaving the sky clear as if nothing had happened. "It... stopped?"

Trixie buffed her chest with a hoof. "It knew we were too much for it."

Luna shook her head softly. "Of this I have doubts, but very well. If we do not have to pursue it there, we can finish cleaning the city. The fall has ended, let's be sure nopony gets hurt by what's left." Both of her flaming turrets groaned, but they got to work, washing away what thread remained on the city.

Twilight soared in from the south, skirting along the updrafts from the ocean beneath her, her eyes set on her target ahead. "I'm coming," she promised no one in particular, aimed directly for Trottingham. She could see the coast just coming into view and smiled, feeling hopeful somehow. Surely it couldn't be as bad as they feared. Perhaps she'd find a few frightened ponies and they'd have it straightened out in no time.

This cheerful mood began to sour as the land became less of a slice across the horizon. The more she could see, the less she liked what she saw. The ground starting from the sandy beach and working upwards were blighted and torn as if somecreatures had waged a great war across it. The lush trees that she had associated with the area were completely absent, replaced with empty and pitted earth in all directions.

She drew a soft breath, ears pinning back against her head as she beat her wings all the faster. Perhaps the ponies she was going to rescue needed her more than she had dared ever imagine. Where the ground was not completely barren, she could see strange tarry like sludge that lingered, lifeless as the rest. There was just... nothing, and it unnerved her. "Anypony? Anycreature at all!" she bellowed out. Shouldn't the town be about there?

Oh...

Her wings went limp, barely keeping her aloft. There was the city of Trottingham, or what was left of it. She could only know most of the buildings that were once there for the strange graveyard of the stone in the houses. Chimneys stood in defiance, reaching to the sky as skeletal fingers jutting from the pitted and scoured ground. The castle was still there, she noticed, veering towards it. "Maybe somepony is there..."

She started to wonder if anyone was there at all, even a single soul. "Anypony?" She didn't like how her shout echoed off the cleaned ground beneath her. "I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to help!"

Movement! Someone was standing on the parapet of the castle, waving at her. With a relieved smile, she soared towards them. "Oh thank harmony itself. Tell me you're not the only one."

"I'm not," spoke the elderly stallion. "They're inside, too scared to come out. The way I saw it, wouldn't be the end of the world if I ended a full life, so I volunteered to come see what the noise was. Morning, Princess."

Twilight hiked a brow at the elder. "Brave, but thank you. I should see them. Are they alright? Are... they all there?" She glanced towards the destroyed town. The odds that they had all escaped seemed so small, but she had to hope...

"All the ones that made it out, I think. ain't not a soul picked through the town." He pointed out into what had been a city. "If you want to look, feel free... I'll let the others know you just happen to not be a talking whatever those were."

"Wait!" Twilight thrust a hoof in his way. "What were those? What did this?!"

"It..." He crashed to his haunches. "It was like a rain, gentle even, white, in the dark of morning. We woke up to it. Landed and it ate and it ate and it ate. It ate our houses... It ate our friends..." He shook his head slowly, looking away. "Almost ate me, got lucky... Turned it all to more... stuff... then rotted away, just like that. Just... gone..." He rubbed behind his head. "Even ate itself, in the end. Nothin' left... Not a thing..."

Twilight drew a sharp breath in more of a hiss. "Are the ponies here in the castle alright? I mean, are they... do they need medical assistance?"

"Nope," sighed the older pony. "They made it in one piece, or no pieces at all. The help they need is up here." He tapped his heart, then up to his head. "Go on, if you can... maybe you'll get lucky and find somepony."

"Right." She turned to the city, eyes closing a moment. "Right..." The odds had been set quite low, but it was her job. "I'll be back." She threw herself off the parapet, diving into the city. "Help is here!" she hollered, but it echoed back in otherwise silence. Not even birds responded. There was nothing alive in her sight.

Her ear twitched, a faint sound teasing it. She veered sharply to the left and landed just in front of what was once a house. "Is somepony there? Anycreature at all?" She wandered slowly, straining to hear it again.

There, a soft whimper. She hurried to the fireplace it came from and peeked inside, but there was nothing there. She frowned, but there it was, from the fireplace. She thrust her head into it and twisted it around, looking upwards. A bundle of fur was caught in the chimney itself. "I'm here!" she suddenly blurted, grabbing the furball in her magic and gently drawing it downwards.

It writhed in her grip, trying to stop itself. "It's alright, I'm here to help. You can come out now."

"No!" came a sharp wail from the thing even as it was drawn against its will into the light, revealed to be the soot-covered shivering form of a filly. "Momma said to wait!"

Twilight carefully set the filly down, dusting her off even as she held the filly carefully, lest she run off. "Your mother put you in a safe place, and it worked. The danger's past, you're safe. Where did your mother go?"

The filly's eyes were as wide as they could be as she looked around, shaking harder by the moment. "Where... is everything? Where..." Tears began welling in her eyes. "Where's mom! Where's me mum! Mooooom!" she called, shaking violently. "Mom!"

Twilight cringed at the breakdown, ears folding back and down, her heart lurching with sympathy. "She might be at the castle." She pointed towards one of the few things still standing. "But I need you to calm down, please..."

The filly drew a sudden snot-filled snort, just to burst into a coughing fit, the soot not treating her lungs well. "It was dark... she woke me up, screaming and... s-scared. I never saw her so scared. She... She put me in there." The filly pointed at the chimney. "She said stay in there, stay and don't come out... There wasn't room for her."

Twilight winced, nodding at the chimney that barely had room enough for the filly. "Then...?"

"I... heard her... She shouted, said to stay there, stay... She... She..." The filly was shivering harder and harder.

Twilight set a hoof on her little shoulder. "That's enough..." She could put together what happened. The filly's mother was unlikely to be at the castle, likely having been devoured by... whatever it was. "You're safe now... I want to keep looking for other ponies that may be stuck or lost. Do you want to come with me, or, no, no... Forget I even said that. I'm sending you to the castle right now."

"Right now?"

Twilight pointed at the parapets and waved. She could distantly see a hoof waving in return. Good, the old pony was still there. "There's a nice old stallion that will help you, alright?"

The filly blinked, confusion winning over terror for a moment. "Nice old stallion? Where?"

With a bright flash of magic, Twilight answered that for her, teleporting the filly just beside the stallion and to safety.

She had a city to search thoroughly. Where there was one survivor, there could be more, and she set herself to the task of making sure they were found and gotten to safety. It was the least she could do.

It was all she could do, she realized, muscles going slack a moment. The enormity of what had befallen the city was too much for a moment before she could regather herself.

5 - A Change of Perspective

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Elsewhere, changelings were living their lives. "What we must remember," gently counseled the leader of their little circle. "--is that whatever form we take, we are still ourselves. Even were I to look like one of you, I would not be you, anymore than this apple could be made a pear by coloring it green."

They made soft considering noises. Identity issues were one of the more common themes among the reformed changelings.

Thorax was in attendance, nodding lightly. "I've been a pony, and a rock, but I'm neither of those things. I'm Thorax, your leader and friend."

"Hello Thorax," one of them eagerly greeted, waving a brightly colored hoof at him.

"Brother." Pharynx landed with a frown, though that was hardly unusual. "We have a problem." He gestured with his head for Thorax to come with him and the two withdrew from the circle to speak. "We're under attack," he hissed, wings buzzing on his back.

"Attack?! What?" Thorax glanced towards the circle that was continuing without him. "What kind of attack?"

"Stuff is falling from the sky, eating everything in its path, and it's headed this way! One of the scouts... didn't make it." He leaned in closer to his royal broodmate. "This is not a drill."

"D-does it eat everything?!" blurted Thorax, eyes wide with horror. "Poor scout..."

"He died for the good of the hive," stated Pharynx, looking proud of his fellow changeling. "That's a negative. It wants what most creatures want, plants and meat. Lucky us, we're one of those."

"Are we safe here then?" Thorax pointed up at the stone ceiling above them. Their hive was not made of wood or living things.

"I couldn't say with certainty. Are you willing to risk the hive on the answer?" Pharynx pointed at Thorax directly. "You have a responsibility. Give a command, and do it quickly. It will be here soon."

"How soon?" He glanced off, but he didn't know what direction it was coming from.

"Minutes?" Pharynx shrugged softly. "It's coming in fairly quickly."

"Then it's too late to evacuate." He turned away from Pharynx, back towards the circle. "Everyone! Gather what you can get quickly and head to the brooding chambers!" He pointed the way. "Tell anycreature you see on the way to join you there. That's an order!"

"He doesn't have to be so loud," sniffled one of the changelings, but most of the others were already moving, obeying the command of their leader.

They would have to face their own early-morning attack in their own way.

Twilight paced on legs that refused to move exactly right. "Is this... everypony?" Before her were all the ponies that had made it to the castle, and the few, all too few, she could find that had hidden successfully in the town. "Not a single other pony?"

The filly from before was sniffling and trembling, the older stallion holding her with one arm. It had become crystal clear that her mother would not be found, another fatality on a list that felt so long as to baffle Twilight's ability to even comprehend it. Even the worst disasters she had faced had seen fewer ponies ended. Tirek had been terrible, but surprisingly non-lethal, especially in comparison to... this. "I will keep looking," she sighed out, sitting on her haunches. "But we need shelter first. Who actually owns that castle?" She tossed her head towards the bunker that had seen many of those left to safety.

A mare wearing glasses took a moment to adjust them. "Technically, nopony does. It's considered a historical monument."

"Correction." Twilight pointed at herself. "As a princess, the use of a historical artifact falls under my purview. Until such time as we have more permanent lodging, I do formally declare that it is to be used to house the survivors." The filly suddenly began to wail and Twilight flinched back. "Maybe su... that was a bad choice of words. The declaration stands. The castle is your home until we have better." She rubbed behind her head. "Whatever this attack was, it stood against it, and I don't imagine it will suddenly fail if called upon again."

"It's coming back?!" blurted the same studious mare. "Dear me!"

"I hope not, but I don't have enough information to speak with certainty one way or the other, and I'd rather not take chances." She turned to the castle. "Gather any food you can find and bring it there for storage as well. All supplies should go there before being distributed to ponies in need."

"What in Equestria happened here?" asked a new voice as Gabby landed next to Twilight, her wings folding. "Hey Twilight, do you... know a 'Sun Spot?'"

Twilight blinked in surprise at the sudden presence of the griffon. "Ah, that's right, we are close to the griffon lands. Gabby, good to see you. Tell me, were the griffon lands attacked?" She gestured to the destruction with a waving hoof. "Like this?"

Gabby quickly shook her head, watching the ponies start to disperse. "Not that I heard of. Hey, any of you know--"

"They're gone," reported one stallion, head low. "May as well return that letter."

"Oh..." Gabby sank to her haunches, digging out the letter that had no one to deliver it to. "That never happened before."

Twilight reached for Gabby's shoulder. "Thank you, for trying. Look, we'll need all the help we can get. Can you send a message for me?"

Gabby perked right up, tucking the letter away. "Delivering messages is one of many of my jobs," she proudly reported with a crisp salute. "How can I help?"

Twilight couldn't help but smile just a little. The griffon's zeal was infectious, and chasing away the crushing reality of the day, just a tiny bit. "I need you to go back to the Griffon Lands and gather any help you can get. Come back as soon as you can. We need all the hands we can get, and griffons have so many more hands than ponies."

"So many more," agreed Gabby with a sage nod, looking down at Twilight's handless arms. "You got it. Oh, I mean, you'd have my help just by asking nicely, but the others..."

"They will all be paid for services rendered, you included," cut in Twilight. "Which includes your message delivery and recruitment efforts." She started to walk away. "I'm going to keep looking for other survivors."

Gabby's expression fell. That was not a word she expected to hear, basically ever. "S-s... oh... Ohhh... Oh dear." She took off with a manic flapping of wings. "Oh dear... I'm on the case!" She was gone in a flash, feet moving as if to help somehow run through the air and make her wings work better, as much as that didn't work. She was off on the job.

Several hours later, Twilight lifted an injured elderly pony out of a well. The old mare could barely groan a thanks, but Twilight was smiling. It was one less pony that had died miserably. "You're going to be alright now." She hurried the nag to the castle to receive care in the hooves of the others. "Did you jump in there on purpose?"

"It was that... or..." The old mare sniffled, shivering a bit as they hurried her to a bed. "Or let those things get me... In the well... They kept raining down on the roof, but slid off, and didn't slide in. It was... It was luck, I think. Thank harmony itself! I thought I was going to die."

"Granny!" The little filly Twilight had rescued shot towards the bed like a bolt. "Granny! You're alright!"

"Not entirely," laughed the old mare, reaching to rest a hoof on the little filly's head. "But enough. We both made it. We're tougher than that."

Twilight returned to the city, feeling just a little lighter. It hadn't been the girl's parents, but at least the poor thing wouldn't be entirely alone.

"Found her," came a rough female cry. Gilda landed in front of Twilight, arms quickly crossing the moment her feet were on the ground. "Gabby wouldn't shut up about a big pony tragedy or whatever. Did someone hurt someone else's feelings?"

"It's more important than that," urged Gabby as she landed beside Gilda.

A new voice joined, male, as Gustav joined the proceedings, "the ponies have done well by me. Besides, I am between... This place has seen better days. What happened?" He was looking around at the skeletal remains of the buildings through the town. Twirling his moustache between two fingers, he scowled at the mess. "What did you want us to do with... this?"

Twilight nodded to each of the three, though other griffons were also landing, about ten in total. They all appeared whole of body and able of hand, which was all she needed. "Great, you will be paid for this, to get that out of the way. I need you all to help search these houses." She made a grand wave over the graveyard of homes. "When you are absolutely certain there are no ponies inside, clear the rubble. Your next job will be to construct new habitations for the ponies of the town. If you need supplies, just make a list and I'll see to it it gets fulfilled as quickly as possible."

"All the ponies of Trottingham?" asked Gilda with a perked brow. "That's a lot of houses."

"Not... as many as you would imagine." Twilight sagged, imagining how many fewer houses would be required ultimately. "Use stone, if at all possible, especially for the roofs." She took a slow breath. "You have your jobs, do you accept?"

Soft mutterings rose, though Gabby was more enthusiastic, saluting and marching off to start. The others were slower, but did get moving. They may have complained, but they were doing it. Twilight spread her wings and lifted into the air. "Time for a survey." She had focused on the city exclusively, but with the griffons filling in for her, she has other things to check, namely the path of destruction. She had seen how it affected things leaving the city towards the water, so she headed the other way, further inland.

It was disappointingly clear where the strange stuff landed. It was a wasteland, both animals and plants annihilated as if some great hand had reached down from the sky and wiped it all away, and not even cleanly. The land was a pitted and scoured mess for miles as she flew overhead, as if it had never been fit to harbor life to begin with, rather than the verdant forests it had been not that long beforehand.

She reached the end of the island that Trottingham was on and hesitated a moment. Dare she push forward? It seemed like a straight line, meaning it may have hit land beyond the sea, but that was not Equestrian land. It was technically outside her responsibility. Few would blame her for considering that enough intel gathered.

But she didn't feel satisfied. She moved out over the water, sailing dutifully onwards. The sea seemed entirely unmolested, she noticed. Dolphins jumped, whales breached, and fish danced beneath the waves. The sea was alive, as if the great tragedy simply didn't bother with it. How did that work?

Twilight pushed on past it, hitting the beach where the devastation rapidly resumed over beach and forest land. It went right over the train tracks that had wound through the area, heading into the griffon lands. They were in a lawless place between kingdoms, and the tracks were entirely destroyed. The metal remained, but the wood that held it together was gone, eaten just like all the trees and bushes. It was unfit for use for the trains and several miles of tracks would need to be repaired before any pony could venture in this direction.

Twilight heaved a sigh but flew on. The line was practically following the tracks at first, which made her initial estimate off. It would take months and months to repair all the tracks, to say nothing of the destroyed ecosystems around it.

6 - A Change of Defenses

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The changeling hive had become overgrown with lush flora, encouraged by caring changelings. With sunnier miens than they used to have, some avidly took to gardening, and their efforts spread to the local area. Across their hive, vines and flowers sprouted in the hard stone as if a reflection of the color and softness of the people that lived within.

The area around the hive, once entirely blighted and barren, had been recovering. The changelings' presence had become a blessing to it, instead of a curse that kept it in eternal torment.

Sure, it was still the Badlands, but their little piece of it was less bad. Alright lands? It was great, in their eyes at least. The craggy desert stones were home to tough little bits of plants and rugged flowers and cacti that reached up towards the sun.

The dark clouds that soared over them cared little for their horticultural desires. Silvery thread came with it, falling down in sheets that blew and tossed in the wind, but always downwards in the end, like a gentle rain. But where it landed, what little life was reduced to a tarry sludge almost instantly.

One of the few guards still posted there at the entrance to the hive watched it with wide eyes, their wings buzzing with nervousness. Unlike in more verdant places, the thread could not spread well through the ground of tough stone, but any life unfortunate to be near the surface was destroyed, the ground seeming to become pale and pallid as if it were growing sick.

Thick goopy strings fell from above as the plants that had been so carefully grown across the hive began to fall apart and fall in liquid masses, splattering on the ground in an unhappy display of what the thread was doing to their home.

But the stone held. The thread could not eat it, just anything on it. Though the changelings trembled in their hole, they lost no new members as it fell upon them in great terrible sheets.

When the silvery clouds passed by, Thorax and Pharynx were quick to ascend towards the exit to be greeted with the sound of a pierce cry of pain. One of the guards had gone out to survey the damage and the thread found him, piercing his foot by making it not his. He wrenched the foot away, but only the leg came away, with the rot rapidly progressing up along it. "H-help!" he barely got out before he wailed in agony, collapsing in place.

Other guards moved to assist, but Pharynx was suddenly there, his magic shoving them all back as he landed. "None of you! Not a single one. Stay back..." He looked back over his shoulder at the guard that was rapidly being turned to goo, even his screams becoming weaker as it reached his lungs. "It's too late..."

Thorax shook his head slowly, crashing to his haunches. "W-what is this? What... No one touch it! No one go outside!"

Pharynx nodded softly. "He died to teach us a lesson. No one leaves. Let us remember him for his sacrifice." He put a hoof to his chest, turning to face the dying guard, becoming rapidly goo before them. "Thank you."

The other guards echoed the motion, hooves to their hearts. One leaned to the other. "This feels so weird, doing this while he's still alive..."

"I don't think he is," choked out the other, blinking away tears. "S-sir, what should we do?"

Thorax pointed outside. "For now, nothing. Keep the others safe and secure and we'll wait. Hopefully this will pass." He swallowed heavily. "I bet Twilight or Spike would know what this is..."

But none of them dared to leave the hive that day.

Cadance frowned as something landed on her head. She reached up and brushed off some black dust. What had caused the wind to carry it to the balcony, she couldn't say. She looked down to the chimneys of the city, wondering if one had produced the soot. It seemed likely. She shrugged softly and went back inside.

"I have nothing but bad news," sadly reported Twilight as she landed and quickly marched into the throneroom.

"Mine news is more positive," added Luna, already there. "But, I can imagine the nature of yours." She gestured at Spike. "He and Trixie assisted me."

Next to Spike was Trixie, who was looking a little lost.

Celestia was on her throne, looking pensive. "Tell us, Twilight, what you witnessed. The more information we have, the better. At this moment, things seem to have calmed down."

Twilight nodded as she took a seat before Luna and Celestia. "Trottingham is all but destroyed. The... ponies remaining have been housed in the castle, which took no damage. Griffons were hired to help build new housing as quickly as possible to get the ponies to more stable housing."

Luna raised a hoof. "As I feared. Manehattan was largely spared, as the threaded menace did little to brick or cement. Glass and metal were equally uninteresting to it, and the ponies were frightened, but largely unharmed. Timely warning to get inside was all that was required to avoid the worst of it."

Spike waved a hand suddenly. "Me and Trixie burned it up good."

Trixie nodded in agreement. "They do not seem to enjoy being set on fire."

"Few things do," agreed Twilight with a wry smirk. "Alright, fire works, good to know, and stone isn't hurt, which I guessed with the castle being unharmed. The stone work of buildings were also untouched, except in cases where the rotting wood caused the structure to fail." She turned to point in the direction of the damage. "The train rails between Equestria and the Griffons is completely destroyed, at least the supporting wood. The metal was unharmed at a glance."

Celestia nodded softly with a deep sigh. "I hate to... ask this, but when you say it... how... many were lost in Trottingham?"

Twilight cringed away. "More than I would wish to put a number to. A full census would be required to get a tally of who remains."

Celestia sat up at that. "Do you not mean a tally of those who perished?"

"It... would be faster to count those who remain." Her ears fell. "This was, without a doubt, the greatest disaster to befall a pony city within my life. I really don't have the words for it. I... keep feeling like I should have done something, even as I struggle to imagine what I could have done."

Celestia suddenly took flight, half-jumping/half-flying to Twilight, grabbing her up in her hooves in a sudden and fierce embrace. "These same feelings burn within me, my once faithful student. All we can do is prevent a repeat of this." She gently released Twilight, but Twilight was still there, holding her in kind, clinging to her mentor and losing what control she had. Celestia changed her mind, gently holding the quietly sobbing princess in her hooves.

Spike nervously adjusted the collar he didn't have on. "So, uh, was anywhere else hit with this? Ponyville's alright, yeah?"

Luna waved the thought away. "Your friends are fine. We have received no word of trouble there, or in most of Equestria. A frightened changeling has arrived however with word that their hive was directly struck."

Twilight suddenly sat bolt upright. "Thorax!" She half-fell back to her own hooves, her attention brought back to the present. "Tell me they're alright."

Luna held a hoof towards Twilight. "They are well and suffered few but lamentable losses. Thorax is unharmed. We have dispatched word to them to use flames to rid the taint of this from their lands. Their hive, comprised of stone, was largely unharmed, though the recovering vegetation suffered greatly. It is, perhaps, a blessing that they were in the dry season. Were it otherwise, all the green they had managed to regain would have been destroyed."

Celestia stood up, no longer holding Twilight. "Cloudsdale suffered a mild hit, but was already relocating when the hostile weather pattern approached it. By the time the two intersected, the thread, as ponies have begun calling it, had little time to do more than fall through Cloudsdale's clouds to strike the land below. They were the first Equestrian proper city to report in besides Trottingham."

Luna frowned. "Their losses were entirely brave weather ponies who thought they could turn the thread clouds away. Manehattan lost two in a similar fashion. Brave, foolish souls. I hope they will be remembered fondly, but that is beside the point."

Trixie buffed her front lightly. "This is all very good and all, but why am I still here? Were you going to give me rewards for my Brave and Glorious service to the country?"

Celestia gave Trixie a gentle smile. "You did serve it well, and I hear your wagon was lost as a terrible price."

"It was my favorite wagon," she wailed, suddenly having emotions she didn't have at all for the news of the lost ponies. "My... parents gave it to me... This is the second time, and I don't even have pieces to cobble back together."

Celestia's smile changed subtly, turning from patronizing queen to true sympathy. "That is terrible indeed... We will gladly help you get a new wagon. Do you desire a larger one?"

"No!" She hopped in place, frowning at Celestia. "It should be precisely as the old one." A scroll emerged from her cloak. "I have the plans right here."

Celestia took the scroll in her magic. "I will see to it another is constructed just as the last. Thank you for your noble sacrifice. For now, go. You're welcome to stay in the castle until it is ready, and make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you." Trixie dipped her head and trotted out of the throne room, looking satisfied with what she got. "Be sure to return that blueprint!" she shouted before she was gone.

Spike shrugged softly. "I don't need any big reward things, but fire really does work."

Celestia gently pat Spike on the head, rubbing a fin. "You are a good and true friend. Perhaps we should consult the dragons. With their natural propensity for flames, they would be invaluable defenses against any repeats of this."

"I would rather know the source," barked Luna with a scowl. "We should gather proper defenses, surely, but until we understand why it happens and how to predict it, we are as good as helpless to this. This will not stand." She drove a metal hoof to the floor with a loud clop. "Twilight, have you any theories?"

"Not many," she admitted with a little frown. "It came as suddenly as it left. I would hope that means it's gone, but... let's be real with ourselves, it can't be gone that easily."

"Yeah, doubt that." Spike shrugged softly. "How about that thing up in the sky, what we came here for? Think that could be involved?"

Twilight frowned at that. "Why would something in the night sky affect the weather in the morning, that's--"

"--more likely than you would think." Luna snorted as she stood up. "I will investigate this possibility. Until then, we must spread word far and wide. Our people, all people, need to be informed of this grave danger. All nations, even those we owe no favor, deserve not to perish in this fashion."

Celestia willed a gilded scroll into being, a quill dancing on it. "In this, I agree entirely. Whatever little squabbles may exist, this is no time for it. Use fire, hide beneath stone, metal, or glass. Any other information comes to mind?"

Twilight started, remembering something. "Water! It had no effect on the ocean or sea of any kind. Creatures that live in it are probably safe, but--"

"--Yes, good." Celestia added that note down quickly. "Let's get the word out to all that will hear it, and hope some who we inform will relay it onwards to those who do not."

7 - The Dragons Know

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Luxuriating in a warm lava bath, several teen dragons leaned back against the edge of their heated tub, all looking satisfied with things. A fine filament fell towards them, silvery and wispy, but it ignited as it came close to the still glowing source of heat. Bits of ash fell around them.

"Huh," noted Garble with a raised scaly brow. "What was--" More came, raining down all around them. He and his friends yelped in surprise, but they were among the luckiest. Few were the threads that could withstand the heat enough to reach them, and fewer still that could do damage before the intense heat destroyed them.

The dragon lands were the next target, thread falling in great sheets of destruction. Dragons who had been slumbering in caves would not even know danger had visited them, but those who were perched atop warm stones had more to fear. Ember swung her sceptre imperiously. "What is going on here?!" Thread was falling in clumps around her, leaving her with a baffled expression.

One landed just beside her and she jumped away with a yelp, but one grazed a foot as it soared from the impact. Pain blossomed from nowhere as she howled, flames gushing from her mouth, at first upwards, setting another ball of the stuff ablaze before she turned it onto her foot, not purposefully, but trying to see what was causing such agony.

There was nothing to see, her hot welcome destroying what thread had begun to infect her. The pain remained, but began to abate, just slightly. "Don't let it touch you!" she roared out. "Everyone inside!"

Those within hearing distance of her scrambled, more of a scurry, to find cover. There were plenty of dragons that didn't have that benefit. The dragonlands were a large place, with many scattered dragons, some quite alone. Those caught unprepared and in the open fared poorly, for the luck that Ember had could not be repeated often.

Their howls would go unheard, echoes off the lifeless rocks that were their home. Then nothing save the steady cadence of thread striking the ground. Torch, as large as a mountain, invincible and terrible, had no cave large enough to contain his prodigious bulk. Nor had he ever truly needed one within easy memory. He had been their lord. He still commanded respect and knew no enemy.

He was not prepared. He had seen the silvery clouds as they moved in, but thought little of them. Rain was hardly worthy of being upset about. Then the thread began to fall. It looked pretty, shimmering as it came down. He peered at it curiously, but still saw no reason to be concerned. Most of the thread fell on lifeless rock, some in heated places, exploding into fire that lasted only a few moments.

Then some landed on him, not just one thread, but several clumps striking his massive bulk at once. Then there was pain. He brought up a hand to swat at the spots, thinking he was being physically burned somehow by what had landed on him, but a good scratch did nothing to lessen it, and it was growing worse by the moment, spreading through him as countless threads spread hungrily, eating and growing.

He bellowed in unthinking rage, the pain becoming all he knew, his flame great enough for half of the dragonlands to see, but it would be the only clue they'd have for some time that something had happened to him. More thread landed on him, carpeting him. There was nothing but agony from all directions. He lurched upwards, only to collapse forward, his limbs giving out as thread took it all.

He died alone and miserable, another fatality on that day the dragons would never forget.

The griffons had been warned. By the time it came for them, in the darkness of night, they were barely sleeping, whispering of the tales those who had gone to help the ponies had spread. Beware the thread. Hide under stone. This was an issue, as many of their homes were not made of stone at all, but not wanting to be killed, many crowded into what little spaces they had.

Fortunately, griffons were perfectly peaceful folk who could get along during situations of overcrowding and danger.

"Get your talon out of my face!" bellowed an older male voice. "I swear, if it touches me one more time, you won't have it anymore!" He snapped his beak meaningfully, clutching his cane with a scowl. Not that he technically needed that cane, but he felt he might want it for bashing a griffon.

"Shut it, Gramps," grunted another voice in the darkness. "Some of us are trying to get some sleep." Other voices rose in angry agreement.

"All of this," grumbled the elder. "All of this because of some high tales from young whippersnappers. They're full of it, and I'm tired of it." He hopped down from his perch with the others, moving for the door with a deep frown. "I'll sleep in my own damn bed, thank you very much."

He threw open the door, but it didn't swing as much as he expected. It was pushing against something and opened without the satisfying bang he had been expecting. "What the?" Thread was already falling all around them, draped over everything that was strong enough to resist being devoured by it. Their homes, as he could see, had been devoured to the ground.

Grabbing the door, he slapped it shut, throwing his back against it as if to help hold it shut. "On second thought..." Many eyes were on him, watching from the dark. "What? Stop starin' an' go back to bed already."

A younger female landed beside him. "Look, what are you making all this noise for?" She shoved him out of the way without a thought and reached for the door, pushing it open just far enough to see rains of thread coming down outside. She pulled it shut with a bird-like squawk. "Shoot! They weren't lying!"

Chaos exploded through the cramped little bunker, thoughts of sleep banished from their minds. One grabbed for the blinds and wrenched it down. It snapped up to reveal the thick waves of thread falling just outside. A dozen faces pressed in close to see what was going on, their desire to be seperate forgotten for just a moment. "My house," came the stunned whimper of one, but they were hardly the only one that was looking at a patch that had once contained a home. Their town was basically levelled, the ground itself pallid and sick looking, pocked and dug into by unknown forces in strange circles and rings.

"All our houses," corrected a female, pulling back from the view. "That coulda been us..."

The sour mood shattered, many realizing how close they had all come to being beyond any ability to worry. Instead of grumpiness, it became a sullen sadness. Somehow, being forced up against their neighbors didn't seem so bad.

"Poor Gregory," sighed out one, getting little nods from the others. Gregory had opted to not come to the bunker. His house was demolished with the rest, and he was already being written off as dead, possibly double dead. Was that possible? Anything seemed possible at that moment.

"What about the ones that went to help the ponies?" asked another, looking up towards the rest of the room.

"They're on their own," grumped the elder, taking brief flight back to the rod that was also their bed for the evening. "Maybe they're dead. Maybe not. Not our problem right now. Right now, ain't nothin' to do but try to get some sleep."

A younger male waved a hand wildly at the window. "Who can sleep at a time like this! All of our... everything... I didn't think this town could get worse!"

"Seen worse," groused the elder, peering at the younger griffon. "You ain't seen nothin'. There's a reason things looked as bad as they did. Now shut up and go to sleep."

A female griffon tapped at the glass, watching the destructive rain come down on everything. "But what'll we do?"

"Sleep!"

"After that!" the female bellowed with equal venom. "We can't stay in this damned hut forever."

The young male shrugged. "We build it again. What else can we do?" Soft sullen noises rose in agreement as they waited impatiently for the thread to stop falling.

Twilight was on a train, rumbling softly beneath her as she napped, or tried to. She kept closing her eyes and going still, but thoughts of the horrors she had seen that day flooded into her mind's eye the moment she let down her guard, starting her awake with flecks of tears in her eyes.

"You alright?" asked Spike in a gently concerned tone. He hopped down and crossed the small distance to hop up next to her. "Was it really that bad?"

"Worse..." She extended a wing around Spike, drawing him in close. "I know I should be sleeping. I should be getting prepared for tomorrow."

"You're not perfect, Twi. Try the breathing thing Cadance showed you." He made the motions with his hands, in with his breath, out with his breath in slow motions. "Like that, right?"

"Right..." She sat up tall and put a hoof to her chest, her wing still holding Spike close. "In... Out... In..." She moved her hoof slowly, trying to rally herself. "Ponies are counting on me to be strong. I can't be strong if I collapse out of fatigue."

"You're doing what you can," assured Spike, reaching one arm around her to hug her back. "Right now, that's getting a little rest until we're back in Ponyville."

"Yeah..." She closed her eyes, still moving her hoof, trying to calm herself.

Spike's cheeks bulged and he made a noise quite similar to a cat with a hairball. "Spike?" Twilight popped open the eye closer to him, peering. "You alright?"

He vomited up a great green mass of magic that gathered rapidly into a scroll. Twilight snatched it in her magic, both eyes open as she unfurled it. "We just left, what could..." She began to read it quickly, her wings going limp, one hanging off of Spike. "Oh no..."

"What? Did it hit Ponyville?!" Spike clapped his hands to his cheeks. "Tell me Rarity's okay!"

"Ponyville's fine," she assured with a soft huff. "The same cannot be said for Griffonstone or..." She looked up at Spike.

"What? Go on." He rolled a hand. "You already said Rarity was safe."

"Or the dragon lands," she finished. When Spike went rigid, she tightened her wing, drawing him up tight to her side. "Ember's alright, they report, but many other dragons are not."

"But they have fire!" he complained, hands going wide. "They should have been able to handle that without a problem!"

"Our warning didn't reach them in time." She turned the scroll so he could see. "Our messenger ran into one of theirs and swapped scrolls. The dragons that were outside..." She didn't finish, nor did she have to. The two went quiet, leaning against one another for support.

"That looks painful."

Luna looked up. She was in her room, dark and quiet, or it had been until a moment ago. "Discord?"

"The one and only." He stepped out from a curtain that wasn't there, coming into clear view. "You're a mess."

"I'm fine," hotly denied Luna. "I defended our people and prevented further damage. Where were you? You could have assisted."

"No one asked, and they get all grumpy when I help beforehand." He made a dismissive wave. "But look at you, proud defender of Equestria. A pity you didn't come through unscathed." Even as she opened her mouth to deny it, his hand brushed her wing out of the way, not connected to the rest of his body, just floating in reach to give it a flick.

The raised wing allowed the thread's dreadful scar to come into view. "That really does look terrible. Have you considered telling your sister about it?"

8 - Reeling

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A firm clopping knock came from the door. "Apologies, your highness," came the muffled voice of a guard. "Your sister calls for you."

Discord shrugged softly, gesturing with his head for the door. "You'd best get that. Might be a good time to show off your battle scars."

Luna huffed at the idea, but strode for the door without delay. "Sleep schedules are going to be optional at best so long as this persists." She paused suddenly, fixing Discord with a hard look. "If one were to request your assistance, what could you do about this? This feels like something beyond even you, Discord."

"Getting all hypothetical, are we?" He stroked his chin meaningfully. "Well, I can think of a few things, but we may never know since I doubt you'll be asking me."

Luna took a step towards him, a frown creasing her features. "If it can prevent further harm to our people, it would be irresponsible for me not to, but not if it causes more damage than it prevents. Speak plainly."

"That's not usually my style." He produced a card from nowhere. "You can call when you want, but we musn't keep dear Celly waiting."

Luna took the card in her magic and drew it in to have a look. There was a sloppy doodle of Discord on it as if someone had taken crayon to the card to fashion it. She looked up from the card and he was gone. With a soft huff of indignation, she tucked the card away and strode from the room.

Twilight hopped down to the floor of the train. "Are you ready?"

Spike nodded from her back. "Ready as I'll ever be."

They promptly vanished, teleporting right back where they had come from. They appeared with wisps of smoke rising from them, Twilight already trotting ahead despite it. They had agreed it was required, despite the distance involved. They would not be going home, or getting sleep.

Spike pulled out a cloth and was wiping the ash free of Twilight as she walked along beneath him. "Right back to Canterlot. What are we going to do exactly? I mean, I agree, we have to do something, but... what?"

"Not hide in our castle. Ah, excuse me." She moved up to a stoic guard. "I just received a letter from Celestia. I trust she's in?"

"The princess is holding an emergency meeting in the throne room." He pointed the way. "You are, of course, welcome to join." As if he would stop a princess from joining such a thing.

Spike began to wipe himself down quickly. "Hey, where can I toss this?" He waved the soot-covered cloth at the guard.

He took it with a glowing horn. "I'll see it to the laundry."

"Thank you." Twilight nodded before trotting with determination towards her destination. With her own horn she threw open the doors to reveal a gathering of important ponies.

Celestia and Luna were up at the thrones, looking down at local bigshots like Fancy Pants, but also foreign dignitaries, including some not ponies, such as Ember, who was scowling deeply at the entire thing. A scattering of griffons were strewn about as if they had no idea where to be, and perhaps they didn't.

Amira inclined her head towards Twilight. "Good of you to join us." Delegate of the Saddle Arabians, she easily competed with the princesses for size. "Now, as you were saying?"

"We're sure happy to see you, don'tcha-know?" The Whinnyapolis representative nodded towards Twilight.

Celestia cleared her throat softly, a hoof raised to her mouth. "Yes, good to have you, Twilight. As I was saying, this has grown beyond a single calamity, and shows no sign of abating. We must operate under the assumption that it will not stop. Let me be clear, but before I am, I must have your collective word. Our calm heads are what will save the day. We must not panic. Our people will look towards us for g--"

"Why are you talking like people are just going to listen to us?" barked one of the griffons, his arms crossed over his chest. "Get on with it."

Celestia did not allow a frown to touch her face. "Leaders or not, if you are here, you will have to take those reins as best you can. We cannot assume any portion of the world is safe, nor can we accurately predict when a given portion will be struck next. All citizens must retreat to safer positioning. Beneath stone and glass, or they may as well be resting beneath the sky, and the sky is... currently the enemy."

The Whinnyapolis representative whistled softly. "Well, that ain't so bad. Only some ponies in the old quarters will have to move until this blows over. Could be worse, don'tcha-know?"

Luna raised a hoof. "There is more. Where the ground is not covered in pavement, the thread will sour the earth itself. Even if everycreature is safe, we will be left with despoiled land that cannot support crops." She fixed the talkative representative squarely in her vision. "While this is of little immediate concern for metropolises, if your suburbs and surroundings are spoiled, they will no longer send food to you, and your burgeoning populaces will not fare well."

"Speaking of that," suddenly cut in Twilight, approaching the raised platform that held the thrones. "If those farmers are not sheltered as well, they may not survive to even try." Visions of Applejack being washed away under the thread danced through her mind, causing her to clench her teeth rigidly a moment. "We must reach out to everypony, everycreature. This is too big, and too... deadly."

The energy of the room took a sharp dip, eyes turning downwards. No matter what they had faced before... "I hated him," admitted one of the griffons. "I wished he would just die every day... Then he... He went and died. It wasn't a quiet thing either. I heard him scream." He turned away suddenly, a drop escaping his eyes to the cool marble flooring. "Bastard didn't deserve that... I'm... No one deserves this!"

Conversation rose, worried looks exchanged. Luna clopped down a metal-clad hoof. "This is no time for panic. We, here, must act."

"You have that right!" roared Ember, thrusting a finger out across the room as she lifted into the air on her wings. "Moonbutt there was just telling me that Spike--" She turned the same finger to point at him directly. "was busy kicking this thing's butt. It doesn't like dragon flame. Turns out, we don't like it either!" Her voice took on a shrill cry, her small form shaking with the force of her bellow. "Those... things... they took my father! And I am not here to cry about it. This stops, now. Not a single more."

Luna nodded softly at the incensed dragon. "To that end, we agree that their unique ability to conjure flames should be put to work. Dragonlord Ember has kindly agreed--"

"--This ain't a charity." She rolled her eyes mightily. "My dragons will want payment, and deserve it. They'll help protect you, the least you can do is show some gratitude, keep them comfortable, and send them home with some gold and gems to make the trip worth it."

Spike rubbed behind his head softly. "Is this really the time to--"

"--This is exactly the time," cut off Ember with a curl of smoke from her snout. "We're not your slaves, but yeah, we aren't jerks either. So pay us. We're not asking for mountains of gold or nothing, just show you're actually grateful. We'll be up there risking our necks!" She landed suddenly beside Twilight, glaring at Spike. "Tell me you felt safe while you were fighting. Go on, tell me that."

Spike shrank back from her sudden approach. "I... I mean... No...?"

"Because you weren't. You were fighting. Props on that, by the way. You're a bigger badder dragon than I would have given credit for. You fought what took down Torch, not something to sneer at."

Spike blinked softly, looking dumbfounded by even the comparison that he was on any level comparable to Torch. "Wait, he's... he's gone?"

"I don't want to talk about that," she bellowed, flames erupting wildly a moment. Twilight squealed and ducked to avoid being cooked in the moment of emotional display. "Look, that's why we're here. My people aren't slaves, and they don't owe any of you a damn thing. I have to convince them to move, and shouting at them will only get them to move so long as I'm constantly doing it." She brought up her hands and clapped them together. "So--" She clapped with each syllable. "Pay. Them."

Amira inclined her head. "What assurances do we have that they will keep the ground clear of this 'thread'? Is this reason enough to not hide beneath stone and glass?"

Luna raised a hoof sharply. "All effort should be made to have safe shelters, especially during night hours. At least during the day, the approach of this thread can be seen ahead of time and reacted to. The presence of the dragons will minimize damage."

Twilight nodded quickly. "Even in cities, natural spaces will suffer terribly. With sufficient defense to keep them from landing, we can hope to keep our farms and parks as something other than... blighted nightmares." She shuddered softly. "I don't think many of you have seen it, but I flew over mile after mile of what the thread does when it lands. There were no animals. There were no plants. It didn't even look like our world anymore..."

Celestia spread her wings wide. "Equestria will gladly hire any dragon willing to come to its defense." Her eyes turned to Spike suddenly. "You may consider yourself hired, if you are willing. I know a community that would dearly enjoy your protection."

Spike blinked at Celestia softly. "Which one is that?"

"A small rural town," She gestured westward. "Beside the train line. You may have heard of it; Ponyville. Spike, will you protect it?"

Spike went rigid a moment. "Oh wow, I... hope it never lands there... You know I'll do my best!" He saluted sharply at his equine ruler. "I mean... all my friends are there."

"Hey."

He went red in the face, putting up his hands towards Ember. "Most! Most of my friends, sorry."

Ember huffed out some smoke. "Speaking of that, where is Thorax? I know they got hit by this."

"They can turn into dragons, don'tcha-know?" The pony with the fluffy hat nodded sagely. "Bet they're planning to defend themselves right now. I wouldn't be too worried about them."

Spike rubbed behind his head softly. "Speaking of feeling safe. Luna, are you, you know, alr--"

Luna was suddenly at his side, crowding Twilight as she threw a wing over his draconic face. "I am fine!" she declared in booming royal tones.

Celestia squinted before her eyes went wide. "Luna..." The wing that had been used had been concealing the injury, now plainly visible for all to see carving a jagged line down her side where the thread had scored her with its corrosive properties. "My dear sister, are you... Does that hurt?"

Ember threw an arm wide at Luna. "Sister, I know that hurt. Wow, got you good didn't it..." She flew up, kicking out her foot. "Got me right here." She showed where a much smaller line went up between her toes to crawl up several inches along her leg. "I got it with fire before it got too bad. Spike! Why didn't you get it?! You were on top of her, weren't you?"

"I was doing my best," he assured with his hands up placatingly. "We were surrounded by thread! Besides, I think that happened when we... were..."

Luna folded her wings back, revealing Spike properly as she sighed. "I was holding a pony as they succumbed to the thread. They dissolved in my hooves, crying in agony until the very end as they dissolved to mush."

The room filled with gasps and soft murmurs.

9 - Preparing for the Worst

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Creatures of all sorts left to return to their lands, to prepare their people as best they could. Ember took to the air. "I'll be back, with others." With but a nod from Celestia, she took off towards the dragonlands.

"They got Torch," weakly noted Spike, worrying his hands together in fitful fidgets. "This..."

Twilight set a hoof on one of his shoulders, sitting just behind him. "He was... not the easiest dragon to approach, but he left an indelible mark on his people. I'm sorry to hear he passed..."

"We weren't... friends, but still... He was a living mountain. I figured he'd just... always be there..." He threw up a hand suddenly. "I'm just whining!"

"Neigh," countered Luna with a faint frown. "Today the world has been diminished by the passing of a creature old enough to compete with Celestia and I. Was he older? I was never certain. Regardless, one of the pillars of the world has crumbled, and it behooves us to at least acknowledge this."

Celestia nodded in gentle agreement. "We all feel loss right now. This is natural and to be expected. We are living... What we mustn't do is allow it to paralyze us." She turned to Luna. "Or attempt to hide it. Raise your wing, Sister."

"I am fine," Luna huffed, looking away from Celestia.

Celestia's magic glowed around Luna's wing, but it didn't move. "We do not know how harmful this is. It could be... hurting you right this moment. Allow me at least a look."

"It just stings." Despite her petulant words, she raised the wing, exposing the wide line that cut across her side, already scabbed over, clearly visible despite her fur. "See for yourself."

Celestia sat down beside Luna, examining the wound with a discerning eye. "This looks... dreadful. You claim it stings..." Her voice left little to question that she doubted Luna's words. "I implore you, for my sake, see a physician just to put my heart at ease."

"Are you my sister, or my mother?" Luna snapped her wing back down into place, concealing her shame. "I did battle to protect our kingdom, and here we are fussing over the scratch I received in the process."

"I am certain the ponies of Manehattan are deeply grateful for your pres--"

Luna cut in, a scowl on her face, hoof clopping as she shouted, "--are you?! Your thoughts seem elsewhere."

Celestia cringed back and let out a slow breath. "I have a whole kingdom, and the world beside, to be concerned with, we both do. Your battle was most valorous, I don't argue that. Thank--"

"--Trixie is grateful." When she had returned was unclear, but she was there then, nibbling on a snow cone she had gotten from somewhere. "Though I'm certain I would have figured out something, your appearance was very timely."

Spike snorted a tiny spurt of flame at that. "Yeah, so, Luna." When Luna looked towards him, he raised a hand to her. "Are we going to fight again?"

Twilight's arm suddenly came down in front of him, drawing him back. "Spike! I didn't authorize the first time, let alone followups."

Spike prodded her leg lightly. "You didn't 'authorize' the thread that's killing creatures and worse. I'm already hired, remember?"

Luna's lips pulled upwards into a slight smile. "I would be honored to have you at my side, Spike. You fought well and I am certain you will continue to do so. What Equestria needs now are determined warriors."

Twilight rolled her eyes softly. "I'll spend my time looking for a solution instead. You mentioned the new star we saw could be related, and its timing is a little too on-point to ignore entirely."

"Neither of you are wrong." Celestia sat atop her throne, eyes closed for a moment. "You are both helping Equestria, and I will not condone arguing about which is 'more important'. If we do not protect ourselves right now, there will be nothing left when the answer is found. If no answer is found, we consign ourselves to an eternal struggle. Neither is a winning situation."

"I'm going to start." Twilight took a step away, hesitation clear in her movements. "Would my... number-one assistant care to accompany me?"

Spike looked ready to follow, but his hesitation was even greater. "I should get what little sleep I can before I get called out to help, you know, with the next fall."

"Wisely spoken." Luna's magic plucked Spike from the ground. "We shall retire for what time we have."

Twilight could only hold out a hoof as her assistant/little brother was carried away. She slumped as they left her sight. "I should get started..."

Celestia set a wing over Twilight. "They will be fine, I must believe... Even if I intend to send a doctor to her room."

A little smile appeared on Twilight's face, ears perking up. "You know she's going to get angry."

"Let her be angry, if it means she'll be safe." She sat down and reached for Twilight tentatively. When there was no resistance, she gathered up Twilight in her hooves. "My precious ponies are worth being mad at... She will forgive me, eventually."

Twilight looked awkward. On one hoof, there she was, being held by Celestia. That was a high honor, and yet, she was not a foal. She was a princess. It was not a very dignified position... That she felt so wonderfully safe in. Warring emotions kept her in place, guiltily enjoying the presence of her once-mentor. "I'll do my best to find an answer, to end this..."

"I know you will." She gently set Twilight down in her glowing golden magic. "Just don't hurt yourself doing it. Everycreature involved is ready to hurl themselves off a cliff for this... Please don't. Do your best, and not a shred further." She resumed her footing. "I will continue reaching out to the other creatures who have yet to reply. All must be warned of this, or the toll will become all the more severe."

They all had their missions and went to see about them.

He ran a scaled arm across his damp forehead before grabbing a bucket of water and casually upending it over himself. A fish without moisture was a sad fish, even if that fish was also a man. "Any good bites?"

His companion, peer, or otherwise shrugged softly. He was a canine, holding a fishing rod and bobbing it slowly, its line leading to the waters below. "Nothing worth talking about. Hey, storm coming?"

They both looked up and across the sea to see silvery clouds. The fish person shrugged. "Not heading for us. Hopefully it stays that way." The clouds were racing from right to left at a sedate pace that such distant objects seemed to move. "Think it'll draw some fish in?"

"Wouldn't that be--Hey!" His rod suddenly bent forward and he scrambled to his feet, struggling to keep a hold of it even as he reeled wildly. "Now we're talking!"

Klugetown would not be struck by thread that day. Though it was discovered that fish found the thread perfectly tasty, and the fall drew a great many of them to the surface, to the delight of any fisher ready to take advantage of it.

Capper was not usually an avid fishercreature, but he held one of the caught fish, turning it this way and that. "Huh..." The fish had something odd in its mouth, and it wasn't bait, at least none Capper had seen before. "Odd..." He set the fish down just to check the next and the one after it. It seemed all the fish present had been gorging on the same thing before being hooked and drawn in.

Whatever it was, it didn't seem to have harmed the fish.

One brave Klugetowner bit the head right off a fish and crunched its bones and the unknown substance all at once. With a great grin of razor-sharp teeth and bits of viscera, she gave a thumbs up. "Tastes fine." Sure, they would watch her for a few hours, to make sure she didn't suddenly collapse, but she didn't. Whatever it was, it was edible.

And it attracted fish. A complete win for the day.

A letter arrived for Capper and he flipped it open. "From Twilight?" It had been addressed by its seal, it was her seal, with her cutie mark displayed prominently. Ponies were convenient that way, each having a unique little symbol to keep it clear which of them was which.

Salutations, Capper,
I wish I was writing to you about lighter things, but please accept my following words in the grave tone they are written. The world is suffering an attack. Not any single kingdom or city, but the entire world. Silvery clouds rain what we've started calling 'thread'. Do not touch this thread! Do not allow any living thing to touch it.
I can't mince words with this. It will kill you. The only safety is under stone and metal. It is flammable and can be destroyed that way if you have access to it. Please warn the other people of Klugetown. The dragons are available for hire as a defensive force.
We are doing our best to find a longterm solution. Any information you discover should be forwarded our way.

Capper set the note aside without bothering to read the final goodbyes. "This day just keeps getting more interesting..." The stuff the fish were eating. Was that thread? It obviously wasn't killing the fish. What was different? Not that he doubted Twilight's word outright... "Huh..."

He slapped down a new piece of paper and grabbed a quill.

Hey Twiggers,
Capper here. You have some crazy timing; is that a pony thing? Silvery clouds you wrote, right? We saw those, but they went past us and rained over the sea. The fish went nuts and the fishing was never so good. The fishercreatures are still celebrating by the docks. The fish are whole and fine and not dead. They look like they ate the whatever-it-is, and we already tried eating them, with it, and we didn't die either.
Now I ain't saying you're wrong. Don't get me wrong. I just think this is worth telling you. What happened, and why did this happen? Can fish kill thread? Ha, imagine big fish tanks over every city, wouldn't that be nuts? Something's going on, and I bet you want to know about it.
I'll spread the word about the thread though. At least if someone gets caught in it, it won't be my fault, you know? Besides, least I can do. Just remember that while I'm the coolest cat in this place, I'm not precisely in charge or anything, so it's up to them if they want to do anything with what I tell them.
Nice to Hear From You,
Capper

He slipped it into an envelope and scribbled Twilight's name on it fully. What, put her symbol on it? He snorted softly. "As if I'd trust a random picture to tell the mailcreature where to go." He wasn't that silly. That was probably something a pony would do. They were adorably stupid like that sometimes.

He left his house to drop the letter off at the couriers before heading to the mayor's office. "Is Lefont in?"

The secretary looked up towards him. "Capper..." Her voice did not carry much in the way of respect, or pleasure at his sight. "Do you have an appointment?"

"This isn't about me." He gestured at himself with both hands. "This is a public safety thing. I just need to chat with Lefont for a hot minute and I'll be out of your mane."

The secretary raised a furry brow. "I don't have a mane." It was true, her fur an even covering over her entire body, even her twitching tail. "I'm afraid I'll need stronger means... Capper, you know he's a busy creature, running this city, working, unlike you."

"This is important." He thumped her desk. "Just a minute, c'mon!"

It would not be fast to deliver his warning where it might have an effect.

10 - Red Tape

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Twilight peered at a floating scroll. It was far from alone, the room's walls covered in scrolls and pictures pinned up with thread going from one to the next in a maze of web-like connections. "Fish are unaffected... Why?" She turned away with a scowl. "If only I had a living specimen..." But not a single shred of living thread had been found anywhere.

She turned to a large picture, taken recently of a thread-scored patch of ground. The evidence of the thread was naked to see, pock marked and trenched as if burrowed into, but they had found not a single bit of thread to send to her. "This is hopeless..." Not her research, of course.

"I need to look up." She turned to the photo taken of the baleful red star, still visible in the night sky. It was moving, in a new place every night. "If we do the math..." She reached for a globe across the room and her magic yanked it over rapidly to land in front of her. "If it's... here." A glowing red ball appeared above the globe. "Then here...." It winked to the next place it was seen, her mouth moving as she did mental figures rapidly, a fresh notebook floating over with notes being rapidly applied to it. "That means..."

"No no no, that doesn't work at all." She ripped the page clean of her book and started from the top. "We must have the position wrong..."

Science was not a fast thing, but she resumed her calculations from scratch, an abacus clicking back and forth as she went.

"He's busy," she flatly denied, her eyes lowering back to her typewriter as she began using it as if he wasn't there. "Good day, Capper."

"Creatures are going to die. Do you not get that?" He threw a hand aside violently as he struck a pose. "This isn't even about me. I already know what to do, so I'll be fine."

"I'll be back in ten." Lefont was walking briskly past them both, great skunk tail swaying behind him.

"Sir!" Capper grabbed his arm, only for his world to be tossed upside down a moment. One of Lefont's guards instantly grabbed Capper and threw him to the ground. "Ow Ow... alright, not moving, c'mon!" His arm was pinned painfully against his back, held up far higher than strictly required. "Sir, please!"

Lefont reached up to adjust a monocle, looking down at the pinned Capper. "Capper... always a pleasure." His sarcasm was impossible to miss. "What is it this time? I have things to do and helping you with another 'get rich' scheme is not on the schedule."

"Great, because it's not that. Twilight, the Equestrian princess? She sent a big warning, biggest there is." He tried to adjust how he was pinned by the brute on top of him, but his arm was held right in place. "People are gonna die."

"Why didn't she send it to me?" Lefont asked, brow raising. "I would be the proper authority to accept missives from foreign dignitaries. Capper Capper Capper... Have you gotten it in your head that you are a diplomat now?" He laughed at the very notion, his guards following along as if they were paid to do so. His sectary snorted softly but kept working. "You know what we call people who speak to foreign governments discreetly, Capper?"

"Uh..."

"Spies, Capper." He held out a gloved hand, fingers waggling. "Surrender Miss Sparkle's missive."

"Oh, sure. That was the point. I'd reach for it but your boy's making sure that isn't going to, nnng, happen."

Lefont made a subtle gesture and the pressure abated, getting a sigh of relief from Capper. "Let's have it, and it better not be a fake, Capper. Falsifying official documents would be a terrible crime to add to the list, hmm..."

"Yeah, look, Lefont, I know we don't always get along, but I didn't come in here to go blowing smoke." He dug a hand into a pocket, fishing out the large scroll.

Almost as soon as it was peeking free, Lefont casually snatched it in his gloved hand. "So you say." His eyes darted over it. "The seal looks appropriate..." He unfurled it and began reading, ignoring the fact that Capper was still pinned, even if his arms were no longer being painfully wrenched. "You are on quite familiar terms with her... Did you reply?"

"Yeah?"

He waggled a few fingers. "I'll want that too."

"Can't do that."

Lefont looked past the scroll in his hands down at Capper's pinned form. "You refuse?"

"I already mailed it." Capper shrugged softly. "I told her about the great fishing day we had. You remember that, right?"

"It's the talk of the town," grumbled Lefont as he rolled up the scroll. "Princess Sparkle speaks in very dire tones, but we don't have the budget to build new shelters of the magnitude she describes."

"I mean, sure, plenty ah rooves got wood, but some of 'em already don't," countered Capper. "We just need people to be able to get under there, if that 'thread' stuff comes washing up over us like there won't be a tomorrow, which there might not be if we get caught in it."

"Very funny, Capper." Lefont turned in place, tail lashing. "For just a moment, I thought you might have been selfless, but how foolish I was. Your own house, I recall it. Quite a wooden roof, is it not? You're not here as a 'hero', you want to save your own fuzzy back end."

"So's yours," Capper spat. "Just somewhere to hide if them silvery clouds waft in. All we need."

"To survive a day, perhaps." Lefont lowered the scroll to lightly swat Capper's face with it. "But what of the day after that? The entire town, huddling in a place ill-suited to hold them? Even at our fastest, we couldn't get new housing up fast enough."

"Good thing you're here then."

Lefont inclined his head faintly. "Mmm?"

"This is your job, right? To figure out how to get around this."

Lefont raised a finger, but it slowly fell. "An excellent point. Allow him up. I will do what I can with this information, Capper. Keep that kitty nose of yours as clean as you can, mmm?"

"Yeah, yer welcome." He waved it off and started to storm off. He had done his part at least.

Lefont watched him go before setting the scroll down on his secretary's desk. "Get that to the chairman of zoning and see what he has for answers. I expect ideas by the end of the day."

"Of course, Sir." She casually made the scroll vanished, scooped off the floor. "He should be back from lunch in..." She glanced up at a clock. "Eight minutes. Should I presume yours begins now?"

"Ugh, Capper has delayed mine. Yes, begin it now. Come along." He waved forward and was flanked by his guard as he went off to get a quick bite to eat.

"This is the last time," roared the fearsome beast, his hand-equipped tail lifting an angrily glowing staff high. "Never again will you steal what does not belong to you."

Caballeron waved wildly to the left. "Go go go!" He and his ponies fled away from Ahuizotl in a blind panic.

Things darkened, clouds moving over the the treetops. "How appropriate," crooned Ahuizotl with a wicked smirk. "Now, be erased!" He grabbed the staff in both hands, tail still attached as a great and terrible beam of purple and black magic shot out in a great column that punched through the underbrush as if it wasn't there, leaving smoldering leaves behind as it bit rapidly towards the fleeing ponies he was aiming for.

Cabballeron dove off the path, his goons just behind him, one getting the fuzzy end of his tail eradicated with a yelp as they all tumbled down the steep hill, rolling over themselves wildly. Ahuizotl rushed towards them, but came up short as the trees around him seemed to drawback on themselves. Rain. Rain had begun, but there was no water. "What manner of trickery..." He looked up in time for a wisp of thread to land on him.

All became pain. His howls echoed through the jungle as the thread burrowed and converted, digging right through his brain. On the positive, his suffering was short lived, body collapsing lifelessly where he had stood full of rage just moments before.

"Didja hear that, Boss?"

"Yeah, what was that?" asked his second in command. "That weren't no 'I'm gonna get you' shout."

"No... No it was not." Cabbelleron fought his way up to his haunches, then stood up. They were at the bottom of the incline. Up above, they could see it was raining all over the temple they had just been in. "Huh... That's... I don't trust that."

"Don't trust what, Boss?" asked the other goon, looking up where he was looking. "What's wrong wit' the trees up there?"

"This I do not know, nor do I want to find out." He jumped forward onto a thin path. "I vote we get out of here, and since only my vote counts, get moving!"

All three fled away from the temple as the cloud cover chased them. The thread began to fall just behind them and they could see everything it touched begin to wither immediately. "It's that thread stuff," hollered his second in command. "I read 'bout it in the paper!"

"You read?! Well then, mister smartity pants, what do we do?!" Cabbelleron leaped over a log, galloping as swiftly as his legs could carry him, heaving for breath at the destruction that was catching up with them all too quickly.

"There!" His second thrust a hoof at a cave and veered, almost tumbling over himself to head towards it. "Get in there!"

"You heard him." Caballeron shoved his larger henchpony, which turned rapidly into a tumble with both of them rolling into the dark of the cave in an ungainly pile.

The second arrived an instant later, huffing wildly for breath. "We... should... be safe... Get in farther... No... chances."

"Yes, yes, no chances." Caballeron scrambled to his hooves and hurried deeper into the darkness. "You." He pointed at his larger henchpony that was still getting up. "Make sure there are no beasts hiding in here with us."

"Yeah, sure thing boss." He saluted before drawing out a touch in his mouth. He ran it across the wall and it lit like a match, shedding light that bounced and shook as he trotted into the cave.

"You." He pointed at his second then. "You... Thank you."

His second rubbed one hoof along a leg. "Aw... ain't no thing, Boss... Glad I remembered that. I don't want to be eaten by no threads none."

"Nor I," he quickly agreed, turning towards the entrance where the thread was coming down in sheets of death for anything living it touched. "Do you think that was... the guardian being in the wrong place? I will not miss him, but that was... an unfortunate end."

"Yeah... Hey, that staff thingie. It was made of crystal, right? It'll still be there!"

Caballeron's expression brightened like the rising of the sun. "So there is a positive side to this miserable day. We will wait for this to pass, then go claim what is ours!"

"Bats!" shouted the larger henchpony, galloping with a swarm of bats chasing him.

"Nuh uh, ain't moving." The second fell to his belly and covered his head with his hooves. "Ain't movin'!"

Caballeron jumped for the other pony, tackling him to the ground to allow the bats to swarm largely past them.

It would prove to be a fatal mistake as the bats emerged into the threadfall and the thread found a new source of food. Their pitiful little squeaks the last anyone would hear of those bats that fled outside. The few that had been distracted by the ponies there would be the only ones left to return to their roosts.

11 - Taking a Stand

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They had little, but it was theirs. The middle-aged stallion took one laborious step, huffed, then took another, drawing his plow across the field to prepare for the next set of seeds to grow in it.

"Lunch's on," came a call from a farmhouse not far away, and it made him smile. He didn't have a lot, but what he had, he cherished. Like his lovely wife and family. It made every day of work worth the effort.

"Let me just finish, almost there." And he returned to the task, renewed in purpose and vigor with thoughts of tasty vittles waiting for him.

Unbeknownst to them, deadly silvery clouds were fast approaching. Not that they hadn't seen them. But clouds were a reason to get inside and little more. Living so far out in the boonies, there were no pegasi to chase away inclement weather and plan when the rains would come. They had to take it.

By his reckoning, he'd be inside by the time they came, and that was good enough to consider them handled. He wouldn't spread the seeds until afterwards, lest they drown if it was a real torrent.

Above them, a dragon soared. Not one of their younger members, but a full-sized beast, fire in its eyes, and wafting from its mouth. It was ready for some revenge. The death of their largest and oldest would not go unpunished, and it would receive payment from the ponies for doing it. Entirely a plus as far as it was concerned. "Ready?"

Like fleas, about half a dozen much smaller dragons jumped off the back of their elder, flying under their own power. "Ready," came the chorus, shoots of flames signalling their preparedness.

The cloud passed from the wilderness into protected lands, and they swept in. Unlike normal Equestrian clouds, these clouds were far too high for them to incinerate directly, nice as that would have been. No, they were as high as the sky itself, raining the cursed thread down onto the world beneath them. They were also fast, too fast. Flying all the way up there just wasn't the way they decided to go.

One pony had already shown how poor an idea that could be.

With a great roar that made the ponies inside their little wooden house quiver, the lead dragon belched out a great cone of flame that caused black ash to catch the wind, the thread there not given the chance to burn like wicks, simply eradicated, but there was more, so much more. The smaller dragons lit other threads on fire, not sweeping the area per se, instead patrolling the skies above their 'commander', keeping any from touching their largest, or each other.

One lone thread avoided the dragnet, sailing on the wind towards its large target. Precious few feet away from the scaled guardian, something gave the big beast a sharp kick. It wasn't enough to move him. It was barely enough for him to feel, but he coiled around with an angry grunt, and that motion was enough to carry him away from the thread that sailed past him. Others dived to catch the thread before it reached the ground.

"That was close," sighed out the pegasus, saluting the great dragon. "Thank you."

The dragon considered the little pony that had saved him a moment before snorting smoke and fire. "The fight continues." It was as close to a thank you that would be coming, and he resumed the task of clearing great swathes of the sky of thread with every huge exhalation, though the next carried a shout with it, "Don't let a single bit through. You're going to let a pony spot them better than you?"

The pegasus returned to the farm, where her husband was gaping out a window, watching them, watching her. She fled inside but didn't close the door. "They're fighting, for us... I'm going to stay outside, help where I can."

"They're dragons!" Her husband threw his hooves wide. "They have fire and claws and big sharp teeth. What do you have?"

"Two eyes and four hooves." She nodded softly. "And a farm and a family worth protecting." She leaned in and planted a kiss right on the end of his nose. "Now you stay here. Even if you saw something, they wouldn't hear you way up there." And though he grumbled, she left, taking flight back into the sky to help protect their little home. They didn't have much, but they wouldn't give it up without a fight.

Limestone seethed. There was plenty to seethe about. The steady pat-a-pat on the roof was not rain, not the normal kind. Thread was pelting their stone home, not that it had a chance of getting through it. But... that wasn't their usual home. Their actual farmhouse was lost almost instantly. "I told you having a backup bunker was a good idea."

"Mmhmm." Marble was rubbing one leg with the opposing hoof, looking around fitfully. "Will..." Whatever the rest of her question was, it died in her throat, a tear streaking down her face.

"Hey! Hey... It'll be alright." She threw a leg over her sister and drew her close. "We're here. No thread'll chase us off."

"As fate gives, so does fate take." Igneous nodded sagely, chewing on the wheat stalk in his mouth.

"Lamentable times," sighed out Cloudy, seated besides him in largely stoic acceptance. "'Least the stone of the house will stand."

"Our mistake for not trusting the stone for the whole thing." Igneous looked to Limestone. "When we rebuild, we should address this lack of foresight. To err once is pony, a second time, blasphemy."

"Yeah yeah." She stood up, leaving Marble to pace around the cave. "We'll build it tough and strong. Nothing's gonna chase me off the farm ever again!"

Fire. It was all fire. When the first strands had claimed one of their own, fury and sadness had rippled through the community, and there was only fire. The Niriks burned and raged, torching any thread that dared to fall towards them, set to fire long before they could again touch the ground, but that did not mean their village was safe, for nothing protected it from their own rage and fear.

It was all fire. No further thread would touch the ground or claim a life, but their home was burning down around them as they howled with building fury, unable to even process what was going on in those precious moments of utter terror. Their anger was destroying everything, but protecting them. They hated it, but feared the alternative.

It was all fire.

Celestia nodded softly to the saluting guard in her throne room. "Thank you for your news." He fled even as she turned her head towards Luna. "It seems our defenses are holding. Hiring the dragons is turning out well. I'll have to go over the budgets, but better a lean year than no year at all."

Luna nodded in soft agreement. "Verily. How have other creatures responded?"

"Word is slow to go and come outside of Equestria's borders." Celestia sighed softly. "Twilight informs me that Kludgetown is informed."

Luna inclined her head towards the train station. "The hippogriffs are a ride away. A long one, I am told, but still."

"Yes, and they have been told." Celestia's wings ruffled on her back. "They have sequestered themselves, again... I can't blame them for this. Underwater they are safe. Would that we had the same option."

Luna snorted softly at that. "You would have us all become seaponies? I say not, dear sister. Really, swimming in one's own filth like that... I would rather fight for the land that is ours. This reminds, what news does Twilight bring? She is usually quite apt with plotting some method of correcting these problems."

"She has made her school and castle into a temporary home for everycreature in Ponyville." Celestia smiled gently. "It's logical. She's not there to use either, and they are made of crystal, immune from the thread's touch."

Luna squinted softly. "That must be a mess, but it is not news. Has she discerned anything about our enemy?"

"Not that she has reported to me." Celestia stood and began marching for the door, Luna following shortly after. "Canterlot is safe. Build on an artificial terrace of stone, there is nowhere for the threat to find purchase. We are in the safest place in Equestria."

"And you hate it at least half as much as I do," grunted Luna, catching up with Celestia and marching right at her side. "Where are we going?"

"To a room I swore I would never enter again."

"I am both frightened and excited. Lead on." A little smile spread on Luna's face. "It is time we moved. Our ponies are depending on us."

Celestia led the way through the hallways, past several false walls. Soon there were no guards, as even they were not told of the room they were soon approaching. "This is a secret I have held close. Twilight knows of it, but she has had little reason to think of it. The one shard of it that has left it, she now controls."

"She now... What is it, Celly? You're teasing me most mercilessly." She directed her magic at a door they had approached, but it rattled without opening. "Locked?" It was so rare for any door to be locked in that castle, especially such an ordinary looking door.

"I did not want anypony wandering in here by accident." A large golden key floated free of her and approached the door under her magic. With a great click, she unlocked it. "Beyond lies something too dangerous to leave in plain sight." With a throwing of a hoof, the door opened.

Inside was dark. Cloth-covered lumps filled the room. Luna proceeded inside with a raised brow. "Sister... this is not very impressive looking." Her glowing horn shed light across the room in moody shadows. "Old furniture? I scarcely imagine the thread will retreat at the sight of that."

"Furnishings, yes, but not as you imagine." With a golden glow, she gently lifted one of the cloths, revealing a large gilded mirror that somehow shone even in the gloom. "Each of these is a portal to another world, another place. Each a fragment of what could have been, or what might be. In one, we are brothers, not sisters. In one we are bitter enemies, tied by no relation at all. In some, we simply do not exist at all."

Luna turned to the exposed mirror and approached it with a skeptical expression. "Your flair for the dramatics has not eased, Sis--" Her words died as an image appeared in the mirror, showing a throne room. It was like theirs, but different, so different. The thrones had great arm rests and spikey appearances. Two stallions sat in them, one the color of sunrise, the other the pale silver of the moon, but their features. Their features... "As... brothers, I see..." She looked away from the image towards Celestia. "How does this help us?"

"Perhaps some of these shards have met the thread before. Some may have fallen to it, but others may have already conquered it... I am loathe to even be considering it, but as Twilight searches desperately for a true and proper answer..."

Luna threw a hoof wide, "Which one? Do we just stick our snoots in each and ask the closest pony if they know of the thread and have any tips on the matter?"

"Not all of them have ponies," warned Celestia. "Twilight is intimately aware of one that is dominated by primates instead."

"That was one of these?!" Luna took a step back, then shook her head. "That's obvious, now that I think of it. How did I not put those pieces together myself...? Were we in there? Were we... simians? I shudder to imagine. Has that shard fallen to the thread, conquered it, or simply been spared?"

Celestia pointed at the mirror she had unveiled. "There is only one way to learn."

12 - Countless Answers

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Celestia went to a specific mirror with purpose, drawing the cloth free even as she took a slow breath. "Good... King Sombra." The image showed a court room, as the first had. There sat a grey-furred stallion, speaking with others that nodded appreciatively. "We should wait until he is finished."

Luna drew up besides her. "That is Sombra? How is a mad tyrant going to help us?"

"This is a Sombra that is good and whole. I never met him, but I met one just like him... Just... like him." A single tear escaped her eyes even as she shook her head to clear it of such thoughts. "You can see his subjects are happy to see him."

The court they held in silence, at least from the view of the Equestrians, seemed to have perfectly content ponies that approached him with whatever silent needs they had. He listened and responded. It was all orderly and without anger. He gave one pony a pat on the withers. If he was an evil tyrant, he was being very subtle about it.

But court did end, and he looked like he was ready to step down from his throne.

Celestia passed through the mirror, walking into it as if it were water. Emerging from the other side, head bowed low, she raised a hoof. "Good King Sombra, may I ask a question?"

Sombra peered at the sudden large pony that had appeared. She wore finery befitting one of royal standing, but her head was lowered humbly despite it. "I would say that you have already done so, but I will spare a foreign dignitary such trite humor. What troubles you, m'lady?"

Luna suddenly came to be, standing next to Celestia and looking around curiously. "Another world," she muttered as she gawked at things but didn't move from the spot.

Celestia inclined her head towards Luna even as she raised it back to normal. "This is my sister. A foreign dignitary, yes, precisely that. Tell me, have ever you or your people had to face a threat from above, silvery strands that carried death and ruin?"

"A most curious request." He raised a hoof to his chin. "I am grateful to report that we have not faced such a daunting challenge. Is this a thing that haunts your lands?"

"I am... afraid this is true." She turned right around towards where she came. "You are safe, but... in case it should... ever come to be..."

Luna nudged against her. "Why are you hesitating?"

"It is not our place," she whispered softly.

"And it would be our place to take their knowledge if they had any?" She shook her head, looking to Sombra. "If the thread comes, prepare fire and hide under stone. To touch it is death, to allow it to reach the ground is death for it, then for you when your crop is destroyed."

Sombra sat up fully, worry clear in his eyes. "You speak of dire things. Will you not sit and explain fully these troubling words?"

"We cannot." Celestia dipped her head, ears splayed. "Already we have said more than perhaps we should. Please, be safe." She suddenly lunged, vanishing into the wall they had emerged from.

Luna shook her head softly. "I need to go with her. Good luck." She followed after her sister with less panic, strolling smoothly into the wall that rippled around her, going still a moment later.

He approached the wall curiously, peering at the smooth stone before reaching out, but his hoof refused to go through it as the two large mares had done. "Hm..."

On the other side of that wall, a world away, Celestia patted down the cloth that covered the mirror. "None can pass while they are covered. Our worlds are again separate, as they should be."

"Why are you being so emotional about this, Sister? We come seeking answers, we must seek them vigorously, not timidly." Luna looked around before approaching a random cloth lump. "I will try this one."

"Do not be casual." But Celestia didn't stop her. "I will... try this one." She turned in place to a tall cloth and her magic drew it free, revealing a new mirror. "We will meet back here in two hours, with success or not. Be sure to cover any mirror you are finished with."

The search would continue.

Twilight's head slapped against the desk, but she didn't notice. Her snoring filled the room, her heavy eyes too much a burden to hold any longer.

Spike crept up on her and gently set a blanket over her collapsed form, tucking her in comfortably.

She made some soft appreciative noise, rolling her head to the side with a little smile, but she did not awaken.

Spike didn't argue it. It was the first sleep she had allowed herself in too long. He turned away from her sleeping form to peer at her notes, a byzantine mess of math and figures and charts. He climbed up onto the table, his wings making it an easy task, and got closer to the figures. Speaking faintly under his breath, his claws waggled as he followed from one to the next. He wasn't at Twilight's level, but he'd been around her long enough to at least follow along.

There was a mistake. He grabbed a chalk and rubbed out a 3 and replaced it with a 6. Of course, this changed the next step, which changed the next step... which... Well, he kept going forward, finishing the math as best he could, scratching at the green board with his chalk busily.

"Spike?"

He dropped the chalk with a squeak, turning around in a hop to see Twilight sitting up with sleepy blinks. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, uh... nothing?" He flashed a false smile. "Just, uh.... I saw a mistake..."

"A mistake?" Her wings flared, throwing off the blanket that had been placed on her. "I don't make basic..." Her eyes settled where his adjustments had begun. "mistakes..." She raised a hoof, wobbling it as she worked through the math in her head, then brought it to her forehead with a clop. "How could I do that?!"

"It's alright! You're under a lot of stress." He hurried to the edge of the table and hop/flapped down to the floor. "In fact, if you want to finish that nap?"

"Who can nap at a time like this?!" She thrust a hoof at Spike. "Besides, you fixed it!" Her magic grabbed the abandoned chalk and resumed the math. "Which means... and... then..." She kept the math going and carried the result over the a diagram of the world. "Which leads us to..." She scratched out one circle and drew a new one. "Here!"

Spike tilted his head at the diagram. "Where is here, exactly?"

"There!" She pointed skywards, though it seemed at a specific place. "That is where the problem is coming from. That is why the thread falls where it falls! It's all orbital mechanics."

"Oh, yeah, just that," he agreed with a shrug. "So what can we do about it?"

"Whatever this thing is, it's performing an orbit around our world." She swirled her hooves together. "It's very elliptical. If we wait... we win, eventually, as it will leave our proximity." She threw a hoof wide. "And off into deep space it will return."

"Until... the next time?"

"Until next time," she miserably agreed, thunking her head down without passing out. "That's not a real answer. I don't want to pass a problem forward to future generations. Still, it is at least comforting to know that, in the worst case scenario, we won't be thread-rained on forever."

"That is a plus." Spike hiked a thumb at the board. "Could we float a balloon up there and do something about it?"

"A balloon..." She frowned a little, considering it. "It's not a matter of reaching it, but timing it, and then doing something about it, and not being devoured by thread on the way."

"Oh yeah, huh... probably surrounded by the stuff. What do you mean by timing it?"

"It's going very quickly." She resumed cycling her hooves around one another. "It looks slow from here, but up close, it's moving very fast. A balloon could miss it very easily. I'd rather send flyers. Dragons, pegasi, alicorns? Ideally flying ahead of its trajectory to meet it... if they don't get eaten."

"If they don't get eaten," sullenly agreed Spike. "We should tell the others what we figured out."

"Yes!" She hopped to her hooves, her magic grabbing Spike and placing him on her back. "Let's."

A cloven hoof poked at sullen ash. Others were doing much the same, picking through the remains of the village for what they could find, and it wasn't much.

"My people," spoke the largest of them, a great female Kirin with gentle eyes. "We have lost much today... But we only lost one person. It could have been so much worse. I know you're all hurting right now... I know some of you wonder if silence wouldn't have been better."

More and more of her subjects turned to look at her with sad and lost expressions.

"But know that in silence we would have perished alongside our precious things. Come with me, all of you." She began to trot away, leading a line of kirin along to the edge of where their fire had burned away most everything.

That was where the thread touched the ground, where the land itself began to look ill. Where the trees were destroyed, and no plants remained. There were no calls from animals. There was nothing but silence. "This is what we would have had, if not for fire. We lost much, but we could have lost everything."

One kirin took a timid step forward. "What will we do now?"

"We will rebuild." She turned towards them fully. "We will rise again." She tapped at her chin. "Surely it didn't happen to just us. Let us put aside our pain for a moment and see to our neighbors. We will find strength in unity." She directed a cloven hoof towards the nearest pony settlement. "We have nothing here to tend, so let us all go and see what befell them. Perhaps they know more of the threat, or they simply need our help. Either way, we go."

Luna did slow circles in place, blinking at what she beheld. "What manner of..." She could scarcely describe it. Every pony had wings. Every pony had a horn. Every pony had a crown, some were tiaras. When they met, they greeted each other as royalty encountering royalty.

It was a world of princesses, but even the stallions were equally endowed, and not a pony seemed to mind the overflow of royalty.

"I say." There was Fancy Pants, looking at her as his wings ruffled. "Princess Luna, was it not?"

Luna inclined her head faintly. "That is indeed mine name. And you are... Prince Fancy Pants?"

"Indeed! I am tickled you remember me." He raised a hoof to his chest. "It's an honor to meet you. Your moon was quite lovely last night."

"As was your..." What was he prince of? She struggled to think of it.

He shook his head softly. "It's quite alright, my dear. Not all of us can be royalty of such large and important things as the moon itself. Why, how would you properly enjoy noblesse oblige?"

That was his domain?! Luna blinked softly, puzzling that. Well, with so much royalty, their domains would have to get quite small indeed. "A fine thing to rule over," she assured. "Since I have you here, perhaps you could answer a question for me."

"I would be quite obliged," he said with a soft chuckle. "How may I assist?"

"Have you ever heard of a terrible thread that rains from above, devouring anything it touches, save stone, metal, or crystal?"

It was his turn to look baffled. "I can't say I have, Princess Luna. Sounds dreadful."

The search would continue.

13 - Here and Now

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Luna frowned through the mirror. On the other side was blowing brown dust and battle. Some had strange weapons in their mouth that belched small cannon balls at one another. Others were garbed in great elaborate sets of armor. Some threw flames. Some just hid. It was a warzone.

Whatever disaster had befallen that world, its fallout had clearly not settled. Had the thread visited it?

She threw its blanket back over it. Celestia's hooves could be heard landing as if from a jump. "Did you find anything?" she asked Luna, approaching at a gentle rate.

"Mostly confusion." Luna turned towards her sister. "Or worlds even less prepared than our own. I found what could happen if all were to go poorly, where thread wins this battle. Creatures cling desperately to life in deep caves, spreading tales of the horrors of the surface."

"And yet--" Celestia smiled thinly. "--they live. We are a stubborn thing, life. We will not be so casually erased... I can report nothing much brighter. It would seem, of the worlds the thread has visited, we were the most prepared. One I found survived, barely, and it simply... stopped. No explanation, no great deed. It just stopped one day and they began rebuilding. Hopefully, it will never return." She walked past her sister, her tail lashing against Luna's side along the way. "Shall we continue?"

Luna turned and began to follow Celestia. "Just stopped? What manner of miracle is that? Did their Discord claim credit? They do have a Discord, I assume?"

"Funny thing about that..." Celestia glanced over her shoulder as she weaved between mirrors, moving towards the exit. "Sometimes yes, sometimes no. You can never be sure if you'll find a Discord or not. It seems fitting, on reflection. I dare not even speak of this room to him. The mischief he could cause without even trying..."

"I understand." Luna dipped her head, imagining what the chaos spirit could do there. "He may be reformed, but still he is made of chaos. It is his nature, even well-meaning."

United in thought, they emerged from the room directly into his smiling face. "Good afternoon, Ladies." He bowed towards them, standing in what should have been a secret hallway. "What's all the whispering about?"

Both went tense a moment, Celestia recovering first and gently shutting the door behind them even as she spoke, "Good afternoon, Discord. Have you found anything to report?"

"Just that this thread business has entirely ruined my plans." He snapped his fingers softly. "Twilight would have so liked it too..."

Luna peered at him skeptically. "Twilight is not a pony known for her enjoyment of surprises. What manner of tomfoolery did you have in mind for her?"

"I'm sure something fresh will come to mind..." He tapped his chin softly. "Actually, this whole thread business may be just the thing. I bet she'll come up with something and won't that help her confidence, mmm?"

Celestia moved away from the door leading back to the mirrors. "Walk with us, Discord. Let's go and see if she doesn't already have an answer. That mare is full of wonderful potential."

"When she isn't panicking," agreed Discord with a twist. "Really, if she just calmed down, she could be truly terrifying. Wouldn't that be fun!" He clapped his mismatched hands softly with a grin, his one longer tooth jutting in the process. "Don't you think?"

Luna moved ahead of the other two, advancing through the winding passages that would lead to the throne room. "What brought you our way? You don't typically come for random visits."

"Random visits are the best kind." Discord rubbed his hands together lightly. "So, find anything?" Both diarchs froze in place. "Oh, come on. You really think I didn't know about those?"

Celestia raised a hoof to her snout, coughing softly. "Whatever are you speaking of?"

Discord rolled his eyes. "I can pretend to be mystified if it makes you feel better. Also, I don't need mirrors to slip between dimensions and you really aughta know that, come on now..."

Luna wheeled around. "Have you been traipsing around between worlds?"

"When haven't I?" he casually replied with a shrug. "A fine way to while away a day. Besides, sometimes I want Fluttershy to be a little dog, sometimes a human, and there was that one time I visited her as a bee." He shrugged softly. "Interesting times, but we're not here to discuss how I spend the day."

Celestia shook her head, looking more confused than reserved for a moment. "I'm sorry?"

"What are you sorry for?" He threw an arm around her, drawing her close as he floated in the direction they were headed. "Sometimes she's Pinkie, those are fun, but my favorite Fluttershy is the original sweet Fluttershy. Say, have you ever considered her for princess? She'd make a darling one."

Luna arched a brow high. "She is uncomfortable with public speaking and prefers solitude."

"So do you, but I don't see anyone rushing to take away your princesshood." He stuck out his tongue at Luna triumphantly in smug victory. "Princess of animals, oh, I could see it." He unfolded a piece of paper from nowhere, showing a crude sketch of Fluttershy with a big horn on her forehead. "Just imagine it!"

Celestia's magic gently tugged down briefly on the paper, causing it to roll back up where it came from, popping out of existence. "We'll give it due consideration. For now, we have a bit of a situation to handle. Could you..."

"Nope." He shook his head firmly. "I will not be your mcguffin." He became a large Muffin with a top hat, a cane floating just in front of him.

Luna scowled towards him as they entered more normally traveled hallways. "There are creatures dying. This is hardly the time for lessons."

Discord tapped both pony rulers on the snoot. "When the Crystal Empire returned, I didn't see either of you hesitating much before sending Twilight off to be tested. There were pony lives on the line there too, hmm? Rather selective judgement on your parts."

"There you are." Twilight was already standing in the center of the throne room, looking tired, yet excited, a hopeful smile on her face and a little twitch in her tail. "I have news!"

Discord floated away from the princesses he was with, clasping his hands together. "Right on cue. Lay it on us, Purplesmart. What have you discovered?"

Spike unfurled a paper that Twilight grabbed from his hand and affixed to a wall. She cleared her throat as she turned to it. "I am now confident in the source of the thread!" All three of her primary audience leaned in. The guards stood at attention, but their eyes wandered towards her instead of straight forward.

With a snap, she extended a pointer and directed to the picture of equestria, then up towards what looked like its moon. "This is a meteor, at least at times. Its exact size isn't determined, but it does touch the atmosphere of our world, and some things fall from it to us."

"The thread," breathed out Celestia, her wings flaring before she looked to Luna. "I owe you an apology, sister mine. Your instinct was correct. This does fall under your domain."

Luna looked smugly satisfied a moment before it faded right away. "Is it hovering over our heads even now, sending thread down on us at its leisure?"

Spike shook his head quickly. "We can't say it's the rock doing it. I mean, can a rock think?" He shrugged softly. "You'd have to ask Maud."

Twilight gently shooed Spike with a wing. "Putting aside a matter of intent for the moment, the body is still in motion. It will complete a circuit around our world and eventually leave. If we just weather it, we will eventually be free of thread."

Celestia's face brightened with recent memory. "You have the look of a 'but' in there, my faithful student."

Twilight nodded softly. "I do... Even if we simply weather it out, the path its taking will eventually bring it back to us, many many moons later. Almost no pony alive today will have to worry about it, but it will return to haunt their descendants. We will have survived, but not fixed the problem."

Luna stomped a hoof on the ground. "Then the path is quite clear!" The others looked towards her quizzically. "I can't be the only one? We must go to this rogue moon and ensure it never visits Equestria again by any means required."

Celestia looked to Twilight. "I'm certain you've at least entertained that idea. What stands in the way of it?"

"Several things." She began tracing lines between Equestria and the rogue moon. "It is moving at terrific speeds, so we will need to aim far ahead of it, and well, or somehow match that speed. Secondly, it may be surrounded by thread, which could pose an immediate threat to anycreature brave enough to attempt this mission."

Spike raised a finger. "Then there's the whole, 'So we're here, how do we actually stop this thing.' part that everyone seems to be glossing over." His shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Maybe all of Pinkie's explosives at once?"

Twilight shook her head. "I doubt even Pinkie's considerable supply would be sufficient for a job this large. We need to look and see first. All I have here--" She ran the pointer along the outside of the rogue moon. "--is a vague mockup. We need to know the exact topology and mineral makeup of the moon before we can confidently move it."

"So..." Spike rocked on his feet a little. "We calling Maud? I was joking before, but this really sounds right up her alley."

Discord smirked at that. "I must admit I do enjoy the thought of that earth mare floating in space."

Twilight pointed at the chaos lord. "You could help. Any of the steps I've mentioned, I know you could do before I finished describing them. Are you going to be involved?"

"I'll be rooting you on," he assured, suddenly holding a little flag that he waved softly back and forth. "You don't need me, promise. The real power was inside you all along! Wait, no, that's the wrong moral." He dug through index cards that hadn't been there a moment before. "A stitch in time? No. Look both ways? No no. Ah here we are; The True Treasure Was the Friends We Made Along the Way."

Celestia advanced closer than Discord, blocking him partially from sight. "Maud is Pinkie's sister, is she not?"

Twilight nodded. "She's a Roctor, with a diploma to prove it."

"Roctor?" asked Luna with a raised brow.

"She has a doctorate in mineralogy," corrected Twilight, blushing at her slip. "That's just what Pinkie calls her, and I ended up picking it up, sorry. Still, yes, she would be trained and educated to tell me exactly what that thing is made of and possibly what attack points we could mount against it."

Celestia gestured with a wing at a guard. "Send a missive immediately to Ponyville. Maud is--"

Twilight stepped forward. "Pardon, Princess..."

Celestia stopped, a little smile on her face. "You are also a princess, Twilight. What is it?"

"It may be better for me to go there. The supplies needed to take this trip are in Ponyville, as are most of the ponies I would ask to undertake it."

Luna frowned faintly. "I am not in Ponyville."

Twilight glanced away. "No... you are not."

"You are not going to this new moon without me, Twilight Sparkle." Luna tapped her hoof impatiently. "When do we depart?"

Spike shrugged. "And she can't go without her loyal dragon mount, so guess I'm going too."

Twilight brought her hoof to her face. "You want to go?"

"No! But... I'll never forgive myself if I don't, so... sign me up." He stuffed his claws into an imaginary vest that was only in his mind. "With the dragon rider of Equestria at your side, you'll be fine."

14 - Collecting Pies

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There sat Twilight and Spike. Across from Twilight, past Spike, was Luna by the window as they sped towards Ponyville. The princess of the night inclined her head. "Why do we not teleport? You are surely talented enough, and I've made that specific jump before."

Twilight's ears lifted from their bored state. "Wait, you have?"

"Have you forgotten?" A little smirk spread on her face. "When we were dealing with 'my problem'?"

Twilight hopped off her chair. "Well, if you're sure?"

Spike began to glow, Luna taking him and depositing him on her back as she stepped down as Twilight had. "Time is a resource we have in limited supply. If we can get there faster, we should."

That settled, they all vanished.

"Hey, here's one." Pinkie lifted a glittering gem between her forehooves. "This is what you wanted, right?"

Maud looked over her shoulder at what Pinkie was holding. "That one is cracked." She reached and tapped it with a soft ringing. The gem fell into powder, running between Pinkie's hooves to the ground. "We need one that is perfect." She turned her head back to the wall and picked up her pickaxe in her mouth, resuming her slow mining.

"Perfect, right." Pinkie shook her head, her own pickaxe, held in her mane, bobbing about. "I'll find a perfect gem for you, have no fear!"

Applejack was there, revealed as she poked her head out from around a corner of stone. "Ah appreciate you takin' up the cause of protectin' the orchard an' all, but what's this got to do with it? How will any one gem, even if just right, protect all those apples?"

Maud pried free a new gem, studying it in silence despite Applejack sitting there, staring at her.

"Sugarcube?"

"Technically, she's a pony, subclass: earth," noted her boyfriend, looking away from his own mining efforts. "She's examining that gemstone for imperfections."

"Almost." Maud set that one aside instead of powdering it. Her eyes went to Applejack. "The right gem will allow me to create an anti-thread weapon that will allow us to keep everything around Ponyville safe from this threat."

Applejack's expression brightened. "Seriously?! Why didn't ya tell me that?" She grabbed up her pick in her firm grip. "Let's get back to it!"

"You didn't ask." Maud picked up her own mining tool, resuming tapping at the wall. "Bring me any gems for examination."

"How 'bout this one?!" Pinkie had a new gem, bright purple in color.

Maud didn't even seem to look at it. "Deep blue," she noted without pausing in her own digging.

Pinkie sagged with defeat, but bounced back towards her mining position, only to notice more ponies coming. "Hey Twilight! It's been forever! And Oooo, hey Luna!"

"Luna?" Applejack peeked out to see Twilight and Luna entering. "Look at that, uh, hey, Princess."

"Greetings, Applejack." Luna dipped her head under a rock formation to enter the portion of the cave that held most of the miners. "It would seem we have arrived to find you all already engaged. What is it you are doing?"

Pinkie suddenly leaned in from the side. "We need to find the perfect gem so Maud can use it to make an thread blaster!"

"Technically, she never said it would blast anything," noted Mudbriar.

"It's a guess." Pinkie shrugged, looking to Maud. "Was I right?"

Maud was working her pick in slow circles, slowly extracting a new gem and not responding.

Twilight stepped forward. "Maud, we need you, for the good of Equestria and the world beyond it."

Maud's motion stopped. She slowly set her pick aside and turned towards Twilight, looking at her silently.

"We've discovered the source of the thread," explained Twilight as she raised a hoof to point into the sky they couldn't see past the stone.

Maud softly nodded. "That is why I'm building this."

Twilight blinked rapidly, a bit of her mane twanging out of place. "You know about it?!"

"Of course." She inclined her head as if everypony in Equestria knew the problem. "Isn't it obvious?"

Mudbriar came over from where he had been working. "Not everyone is as talented in matters of mineralogy as you are, Maud."

Maud seemed to consider that a moment before nodding. "I plan to assemble a weapon to--"

"Ah ha!," came Pinkie's shrill and joyful cry. "I knew there'd be blasting involved!"

"--destroy the source," completed Maud as if Pinkie hadn't spoken.

Twilight's brows fell. "Assuming that went according to plan, wouldn't that result in the planet being peppered with thread?"

"It would be widely distributed," countered Maud. "Compared to the damage caused currently, an acceptable price."

Luna frowned at that. "'Tis easy to say, unless you were the lucky one to be struck by falling thread caused by this reckless adventure."

"Besides, we have another idea," noted Spike, still atop Luna. "We're going to go up there, and we were hoping you could come."

Maud inclined her head faintly. "Okay."

Applejack blinked softly. "Just like that, okay? Won't this be dangerous?"

Mudbriar put an arm around Maud. "She is a very brave pony, but I must lodge a formal complaint." He took his arm back and sat down. "As your boyfriend, it is my job to object to the danger you are accepting so casually."

"I accept your objection and will take it under advisement," allowed Maud.

"Thank you." They shared a nod at one another, as if that had, somehow, settled the entire thing.

Maud approached Twilight and Luna. "When do we go?"

Pinkie tossed her pick aside, embedding in a wall in just the right way that a pile of gems poured out. "You're not going into space without your resident space case, Pinkie!"

Spike raised a finger, only to allow it to fall an inch. "Not gonna touch that."

Twilight shook her head at her eager pink friend. "This is not a vacation, Pinkie. This can and almost certainly will be very dangerous."

Pinkie leaned in, touching noses with Twilight as one brow went high. "Oh, and I've never done anything dangerous with you before." She broke into a snorting giggle. "You're so silly, Twilight. Let's go!"

Applejack's shoulders raised softly. "Eh, good on ya, Pinkie, but I'll stay here. This earth pony prefers her hooves on solid ground."

"Agreed," spoke Mudbriar with a soft nod. They clopped hooves in a moment of rare solidarity.

Twilight let out a soft sigh. "Alright, well, we certainly have enough for the mission. Come on." She led Luna, Spike, and the Pie sisters from the cave. "We have a balloon operator to visit next."

"Oh!" Pinkie smiled widely enough to squeak. "Let me talk to her! I'm already on her frequent flier program."

Luna peered to the side where Pinkie pronked alongside her. "Verily? You fly so commonly?"

"Flying is fun!" She jumped and clopped her hooves mid-air. "Sometimes I feel like I coulda been born a pegasus. That woulda been weird. Nope, earth pony Pinkie, that's me."

Maud softly bonked Pinkie on the head. "That would make me a pegasus too."

Pinkie blinked softly. "Oh yeah... Well, I coulda been the odd one out. You can't say it's impossible, 'cause it isn't."

Maud did not continue the argument. Spike was scratching at his cheek softly. "It's probably better you're usually limited to two dimensions at any time."

"You're just showing off those wings of yours." She was suddenly behind him, on Luna's back, her hooves on his wings, spreading them wide. "Lucky dragon."

Luna looked over her shoulder at her new rider. "Since you have volunteered, stay there and behave yourself. Can you fight thread?"

Pinkie inclined her head softly. "Have you asked Rarity? She fights thread basically every day! She has to be, like, a super mega duper expert!"

Spike folded his wings back where they belonged as he rolled her eyes at Pinkie's answer. "Wrong thread, Pinkie. We're talking about the stuff that rains from the sky and will eat you."

"Wow, harsh thread." Pinkie nodded softly. "But think of the dresses she could make with it. I bet she'd make something great if you gave her half a chance. This is Rarity we're talking about."

Twilight pointed as they emerged from the mines. "Let's focus on the task at hoof. Now, the balloon is typically..."

"There!" Pinkie was pointing to where it peeked up between other buildings in town. "I'll go ask her." And she was gone, dashing off to do her part for the mission.

"This was a dream of hers," suddenly noted Maud. "She really wants to go to space."

Twilight sighed as they headed in Pinkie's last direction. "I remember the last time she tried. It didn't work out so well, but that was also Spike's fault."

Spike's cheeks warmed. "Hey... It wasn't anything personal. Besides, I won't do that this time, promise." He crossed his heart and mimed stuffing a cupcake in his eye before a thumbs up was offered.

Luna swiveled an ear. "Good. This is more important than sibling rivalry." She held up a hoof, whispering back to Spike, "Even if it was delightful watching ours get their comeuppance."

The two shared a vindicated grin.

Up ahead, they could see Pinkie speaking animatedly with Cherry Berry. "So, not only am I one flight away from my freebie, but we're doing it to save Equestria! Could you let me have my free ride one early? Please!"

Cherry Berry looked past Pinkie towards the royalty approaching. "Princess Twilight, Princess Luna, what an honor." She dipped her head softly. "Were you--"

"You didn't answer," grumped Pinkie, sticking out her bottom lip in a mighty pout.

"One moment, the princesses are here." Berry held up a hoof in a shushing motion. "Were you looking for a ride?"

Twilight inclined her horn towards Pinkie. "She's with us. We all need to borrow that balloon for a trip of utmost importance."

Cherry Berry blinked softly. "Wait, she was telling the truth?!"

"I always tell the truth!" squeaked Pinkie with indignant rage.

Cherry's brows fell, eyes half-lidded in a gaze at Pinkie.

"Usually," she admitted with less fire in her tone. "C'mon! It was one time!"

Cherry pointed up to balloon she was perched in the basket of. "Well, I can't rightly deny two princesses, now can I?"

Luna's horn began to glow as bits came into view. "We will pay fairly for the service."

Pinkie reached into her chest fluff and produced a card full of stamps, except one spot. "I still have this!"

Cherry leaned in, examining the card intently a moment. "Well... you are a good customer, usually, when you aren't damaging the balloon... Do you promise you'll bring it back safely?"

Pinkie began the sacred motions of the Pinkie Swear, and the card was taken. "She's all yours," exclaimed Cherry with a nod. "Do you need me to pilot?"

Twilight hopped up and fell into the basket gracelessly before popping right back up again. "I've flown this model of balloon before. Remember, Spike?"

"How could I forget? Do we have everything we need?" He hiked a thumb at their castle/tower. "It's going to be hard to come back for anything once we're up there."

Maud pat her frock. "I have everything I need."

Pinkie made a similar gesture despite not wearing anything. "All set!"

Luna nodded gently. "I have nothing further to bring."

Spike gave a soft shrug. "I have my awesome steed, what more could I need?"

Twilight hiked a brow. "More awesome than your first?"

"Well, uh..."

"Nevermind. One moment." She vanished, only to re-appear a moment later with a satchel of scientific gizmos. "Ready!"

Cherry climbed out of the basket. "Alright then. Have fun doing... whatever you're doing? I don't think the balloon ever had so much royalty in it at one time." She clopped her hooves with growing excitement. "Tell me all about it when you get back!"

Pinkie offered a hoof to Cherry. "I will! It'll be great, and hopefully get rid of that stuff ponies are scared of."

Cherry tensed. "You're dealing with that, in my balloon?!"

Twilight applied her hoof to her face. "We'll be back, safely." She hoped, silently. "Let's get going!"

15 - Ascension

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With a roar of flames, their basket was drawn from the ground. Cherry Berry suddenly yanked a bit of rope, untethering it from a spike that had been holding it in the ground. "Safe flight!" she shouted as they began to lift, the rope trailing down.

Spike grabbed the rope and drew it up into the basket in a coil rather than dangling free. "See you soon!"

Twilight took hold of the dangling hook and drew it down carefully, encouraging more flames and heat and pushing their ride ever higher. "The timing will be just as important as our ascent," she noted as she scanned the sky. "But... we can do this."

Luna set a hoof on Twilight's withers. "I have faith in you. See us to our destination, that we can protect the people of our world."

Maud was seated near the center of it all, watching, but not moving to get a better view of anything. Pinkie suddenly draped over her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"That's a lie." Pinkie prodded her sister in the cheek. "C'mon, you can tell me!"

"I prefer the ground," stated Maud without emotion, as was her way.

Despite her dispassionate tone, Pinkie gasped with alarm and hugged Maud tightly. "I'm sorry I didn't realize! I'm right here for you!"

Spike peered at the sisters from atop Luna. "Uh, is something wrong?"

"She's afraid of heights," blurted Pinkie, rubbing her cheek against Maud's intently in a show of solidarity. "I'm right here."

Twilight tensed. "That was not in the calculations. Do you wish to proceed or should we head back?"

Maud raised a hoof while the rest of her remained still. "We will continue."

"If you're sure..." Twilight glanced back at Maud before resuming her calculations, adjusting the trajectory of their balloon as best she could to arrive where they needed to be. "You're very brave."

"Brave ponies are not afraid," counted Maud flatly.

"Nuh uh." Pinkie shook her head quickly. "Brave ponies do things even when they're super terrified! Silly ponies are not afraid." She leaned in, pressing her nose to Maud's cheek. "I'm a little of both."

Maud did not reply, simply sitting there with fears she did not well express, but her sister seemed to feel as the hug-therapy continued. Luna edged around the outside of the basket towards Twilight. "Are we on path?"

"We are, but we have several things to contend with." Her wings fluttered nervously. "We will surely go through the thread on the way. They could devour most of this balloon, and us, before we get close to it. Are you ready to protect us?"

Spike thrust a clenched hand forward, thumb poking upwards emphatically. "We are so ready!"

"Indeed, as he says." Luna glanced towards the Pie sisters. "They will not be assisting, but we will do as we must. This is not a mission we can afford to fail."

"We get one chance," sighed out Twilight as she redirected the balloon subtly. "Let's make it count."

Ponies looked up, their town ravaged, their eyes a mix of haunted and fearful as the incoming force was spotted. One suddenly broke into a bright smile. "The kirin!" That mare charged across the broken and torn remnants of their town. "Hey! We're here!"

The kirin accelerated at the excited cry and soon ponies and kirin collided in warm hugs. One had a more sedate smile and was soon before the leader of the kirin. "Did it hit you too?" asked the older male pony. "You all seem to be here."

"We lost a few," sighed Rain Shine, leader of the kirin. "But if this is everyone..." Her eyes danced from pony to pony, even if many were chatting and hugging and dancing with Kirin, both sides seeming to draw comfort from the presence of the other. "You suffered..."

The mayor shrank. "I failed them... completely. I could have had dragons here, but I didn't act fast enough. They arrived in time to clear the ground, but little else."

Rain's right ear quirked upwards. "What power do dragons have to turn aside what befell us?"

"Flame kills it," explained the mayor as he turned away. "Stone stops it. Metal can turn it away. Wood, no matter how thick, it eats through." He waved a hoof. "You can see how little survived, living or not."

"Living or not," almost whispered Rain Shine in an echo. "We... became flames ourselves when our first were lost. Our village was lost, but the villagers, in large, remain."

Suddenly he turned, a spin so fast he toppled over facing her. "You can do that?"

With a great rush of flames, she roused the anger within herself, becoming a burning Nirik. "Just thinking of those I did not protect incites such furious anger!"

A kirin set a hoof on her side, quiet and supportive. The anger fizzled, Rain Shine becoming a kirin once again. "We... can do that, when we are angry." She raised a hoof and set it down across the kirin that had come up to her and drew her into a soft hug. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome," assured Autumn Blaze. "You looked like you needed a helping hoof. Speaking of that." She looked to the mayor. "You all do. Mind if we kirin lend ours?" She raised a cloven hoof with a grin. "We're offering a two for one special."

"Two for..." Then he noticed how her hoof was split and a little smile appeared on his face, getting the joke. "A most generous offer. We would be deeply honored to have the help of our neighbors."

Other ponies spoke up in agreement, but not all. Some were starting to withdraw, sniffling and shaken. One foal pointed at the kirin and asked what the others had thought but dared not say, "How come you're all here?"

"Did it miss you?" asked a mare, emboldened by the foal.

"Kirin magic?" postulated an earth stallion.

Autumn slipped away from Rain Shine. "Kirin are weird," she started with a smirk. "We're soft and nice most of the time, but when we get really upset..." She had tried to get the anger up in herself, but her sunny disposition wasn't agreeing with her. Heat washed over her scaled back and she turned over her shoulder to see Rain Shine ignited just behind her, looming. "You get that!" she explained, pointing at her leader. "It came at us and we got all scared and upset and then we were on fire and it was a lot of screaming and..."

The same foal set a hoof on Autumn's chest. "You were scared."

"Yeah... we were scared." She leaned in and touched noses with the foal. "We still are, but we'd rather be scared with friends, doing something... So can we help?"

The noises of agreement came more powerfully then. Ponies and kirin began to wander off in little groups. Rebuilding the pony town would begin.

Not a word of complaint was raised when kirin houses began to sprout up with them, their two damaged communities growing together into one, perhaps stronger than the two it was replacing.

The sky was growing dark all around them, except below them. They were leaving the atmosphere of the world, entering the deeper atmosphere of outer space. It was chilly, their breath misting the space-air in front of them. Below them, Equestria and the world around it was in view, a precious marble at the center of their universe.

"It's... like a star," breathed out Twilight, overwhelmed in the moment of taking in just how small it all seemed as they rose ever higher and higher.

Luna's wing fell down over Twilight and drew her closer. "It is easy to see the space as the other, but we are in it. We are space."

Twilight's lips curled up in a little smile. "Most ponies see you as the princess of space. Doesn't that make you grander than Celestia?"

Luna laughed, a single soft note. "Do not allow her to hear you say that. I am Luna, of the moon, not all of space, even if I do have more power when the stars are in view. Spike, our mission will begin soon. Are you ready?"

"Chilly," he gusted, mist flowing from his mouth. "But ready!" He gripped her back all the more firmly. "Let's fight some thread."

"Let's," she agreed as she jumped free of the basket and her wings caught easily, carrying them on a circling and rising pattern around the balloon. "I do not see them yet. Ah..." Her words failed, beholding the great rock that hurtled vaguely towards them. Around it was what seemed to be static at first, but it was more like dust.

Little specks of relatively tiny rocks, each quite significant on their own, but so far away and many that they were impossible to make out individually. "Our target..."

"Wow..." Spike grabbed onto her mane firmly. "That's all thread? How do we fight it all?"

"Shortly, we do not." She landed carefully atop the balloon. "Our mission is to see our friends to the hurtling planet there. If we can reach it and get away again, we have succeeded. Not I nor any other imagines we will defeat them directly."

Maud was standing, looking in the same direction. "It appears constructed of..." She paused, eyes narrowing faintly. "It is difficult to tell from this far away." She approached the edge of the basket as if trying to get a better view. "It's coming."

"Impact in five minutes," advised Twilight as she played with the dangling hook. "It looks far away, but it will, very suddenly, be really close. We're going to shoot through that cloud and quite possibly crash into the rock."

Pinkie tilted her head. "That sounds like a bad idea, and I know a thing or two about bad ideas."

Spike leaned over the side of Luna. "Did I hear that right? If we're going to smash into it that fast, there won't even be any time to fight anything. We're just going to go splat against the rock. Why do you sound calm about this?"

Twilight circled slowly around to bring the rock that seemed to so slowly be approaching them. "Because we'll be fine... I have an idea. The only problem will be getting home afterwards."

Pinkie blinked softly, tapping her hooves as she mentally worked through how that could be. "Wait... Do you mean? Aw, come on! She'll never give me another card again!" She threw up her hooves in dismay. "And we'll be stuck on a floating rock. Both of those are bad ideas, lemme just say."

"Less ponies will be lost," spoke Maud calmly. "You were right, this is a better idea." She turned to Twilight. "I'm ready."

Luna descended on flapping wings back to the side of the basket. "Am I to understand correctly that, after all that, we will not do battle with the thread?"

"We may never have a chance."

"Unless!" Spike had a big grin on his face, one finger up, the other hand holding his place firmly. "Hear me out--"

16 - Approach

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"You're most of the way there," assured Spike. "But you want to teleport us to the rock, and the balloon gets smashed, right?"

"That was the idea," admitted Twilight, rubbing a cheek with a hoof. "What's yours?"

He pointed to his magnificent steed. "Twilight, you're not alone. With you and Luna, I bet you could take the whole thing."

Luna's ears perked at that. "I would be delighted to be of assistance. I am well aware of the teleportation spell." Her head craned as she looked up at the craft they flew in. "Usually not with such a large thing attached."

Twilight's eyes were on the space rock, coming towards them at frightening speeds. "We don't have much time. I'll take the balloon if you can safely see everypony else other than me to the ground. We'll meet up there." She pointed at it. "By my calculations, the thread shouldn't be at, or near, the ground there, or they wouldn't be able to get back into space again. They don't have propulsion."

"One can only hope." Luna moved to the center of the balloon, close to all the passengers she would take. "Good luck." And she vanished.

Teleportation was typically done to static objects, but the hurling rock was not at all stationary to them, moving far more quickly than anything else they had interacted with before. Spike could dimly see in that nowhere space they were in the rock. It was more of an impression than sight, and its movement made his tug feel like it was taking forever to do in relation to how quickly it would be too late.

They appeared with a loud pop, energy crackling at their edges. Maud and Pinkie were thrown clear onto the rock as wind howled violently around them. Luna landed on her hooves, but the same wind threatened to undo that, leaving Spike clutching wildly to her mane to avoid being blown free. "Find cover!" he shouted. "Twilight didn't mention we'd be going into a storm!"

Pinkie was suddenly at their side. "I bet she didn't know!" she hollered, but she stood strong against the wind. "Where to now?"

"Cave." Maud was pointing the way towards a dark crevice. Without further preamble, she began walking there at a calm rate, the wind unable to unseat the earth mare. She was back on ground, even if that ground happened to be a space rock hurtling through the void.

Luna began towards it with far more uncertainty than her companions. There was perhaps some comfort to be had in Spike's grasping presence. He was struggling with her. "This wind is... more than I had imagined."

"You imagined any?" Spike pulled himself forward into the wildly billowing star field that was her mane. "I kinda thought it'd just be, you know, a rock."

"Moving so swiftly, I imagined some wind." The rock beneath her right hoof gave way suddenly, causing her to slide forward. Her wings shot out to catch herself, but caught the wind instead. Suddenly she was in the air, fighting the currents.

"There!" Spike pointed at where a rope reached up towards them, wafting on the wind helplessly. "Pinkie has a rope!"

Luna banked her entire body, trying to adjust her flight. "Can you reach it? It's taking all I have just to not be... thrown aside..."

Spike kept one hand firmly enmeshed in her mane, but stood up against the battering wind. "I'll... try." He reached out with his other hand, making a grab, but the rope brushed his fingers and fluttered. "C'mon..." He grunted as he made a little hop, the rope falling into his grip, but the wind grabbing him. He fell back and away, dangling by his grasp on Luna, the rope lost.

Muttering dark things, he scrambled back on top of her and took a few rapid breaths before daring to stand. "I can do this..." He leaned up on tip-toes and swiped the air. Pulling his hand back, a rope dangles from it. With a jubilant cry, he got to tying it around Luna's barrel, working in a big fat knot to keep it there. "Alright!"

"Alright?" Luna couldn't look over her shoulder to see what he was doing. "We're still... stuck."

That changed suddenly, the two of them being yanked, then again. Down below, Pinkie and Maud were reeling them in, one bit at a time. Pinkie was giggling as she worked. "Wow, what a catch. I never thought we'd see a wild Alicorn-dragon. Do you think this beats some kind record?"

Maud did not reply, focused on drawing Luna and Spike back to the ground. With their combined efforts, the two were drawn back to the ground. Luna hunched down a little to catch less wind, her horn undoing the rope around her. "Thank you, all of you. Let us get inside quickly," she shouted over the wind, hurrying towards the cave Maud had pointed out before.

She arrived first, or so she thought as she turned in place and spotted Pinkie already starting a little bonfire with wood she had certainly not seen. "Where did you get that?"

"I keep wood in case a bonfire would make things more cheerful." With a soft crackle, the fire began to light the cave. "See, already more chipper! Did any of you see Twilight?"

"Twilight!" Spike poked free of Luna's Mane. "She's either out there, in that storm--"

Maud arrived at her sedate pace. "--or she's been dashed against the rocks," she proposed with her flat tone. Spike fainted off Luna, flopping to the ground. "It could have happened." Maud walked over to the little bonfire and sat beside it a moment before standing right back up and approaching the wall. "Hmm."

Luna gently lifted Spike in her magic. "I have faith in Twilight's ability. She is likely seeking shelter much as we had. We need only find her in this maelstrom."

"That sounds like a challenge." Pinkie clopped her forehooves together. "I like a challenge. Maud, what do you see?"

"Rock." She pointed along the wall. "You brought me here to examine it. I'm doing that." Her eyes swept over the wall as she advanced deeper into the cave. "I need to go deeper to see if it's uniform." And off she went, vanishing into the darkness that became a little spot of light, a miner's helmet on her head, its lamp turned on.

Luna inclined her head faintly. "It must be a family habit, to bring all manner of things just in case."

"You betcha!" Pinkie hopped up, plucking Spike out of Luna's magic and putting him up on her back in the same leap.

"Huh what?" Spike Started awake, almost falling free before catching himself. "Oh right! We have to find Twilight!"

Luna threw her head in Maud's direction. "Do you not worry for your sister?"

"Are you kidding? She is in the zone. She lives for this kind of thing." She bobbed her head rapidly, looking instead towards the exit. "We'd only get in her way, which I do a lot, but she likes it, sometimes. When she doesn't like it, she throws me outside. That's how I know!"

Spike scratched his head with his free hand. "Yeah, that checks out. Alright, Maud is doing what we brought here for, that's good. We just need to find Twilight."

"More easily said than done." Luna walked near the exit, where the howling wind rushed past, its moan echoing off the cave walls. "I had feared the presence of the thread, but it seems this place has guardians in its stead. I fear wherever she may have ended up, she will have an entire balloon to contend with."

Pinkie drew some binoculars from her mane and popped them into her eyes, looking around. "It's all dark and windy," she quickly reported, still looking around as best she could. "And dusty..."

"And cold," added Spike, watching his breath puff in the air. "We have to at least look for her. She's counting on us."

"Pinkie." Luna looked towards her. "You seem to be more... firmly rooted than I. Tie me up again and hold surely to it. You will serve as our anchor in our search."

"Ooo!" She tossed her binoculars aside and got out the rope. "I never thought I'd get to tie up a princess. The safeword is 'Cupcake', alright?" And with wild gales of giggling, she got to securing Luna, the other end in her mouth. "Ta da!"

Emboldened, Luna strode free of the cave with Spike atop her. "So long as Pinkie remains firmly planted, we should be relatively safe." Behind them, Pinkie followed at a sedate pace, paying more mind to keeping the rope from looping around anything.

Spike nodded and pointed to the sky, wind-filled though it was. "Since we know we can get back down, going up may be the best, I mean, fastest way to find her."

"I think you may be correct." Luna looked over her shoulder. "We are taking flight. Hold surely."

"Got it!" Pinkie saluted briskly before slapping down all four hooves as if to root herself all the more securely.

Luna spread her wings, driven into the sky instantly. That time, she knew it was coming and ascended almost gracefully, looking around for signs of the balloon or the princess charged with transporting it to that little miserable world. "We need to secure it, and her."

Spike was looking much as she was, combining their senses as best they could to find a hint. "T..." He trailed off, squinting into the dark. "Is..." He thrust a finger out.

She craned her head to look where he was pointing, but saw only darkness and wind, the dust biting at her eyes. "I don't--" But there it was, a tiny flash. "Yes!" She banked and flew against the wind, or tried. It felt impossible to properly fight the wind.

Then she was tugged from below. Somehow, Pinkie had sensed which way Luna was trying to go and she was pulling them along. Luna laughed. "I feel like a great pony-shaped kite. It would seem--" she shouted over the wind. "--that Pinkie is moving in the right direction. Let us keep our eyes trained on the target."

"Pinkie is a force of nature." Spike grabbed on with both hands. "Good thing, too, seeing as we're fighting one of those." He leaned over a little, raising his voice louder than the shout it was already at, "Good job! Keep going!" Whether or not she had heard was impossible to tell, but they were being tugged along closer and closer to that little mote of light. He let go with one hand, instead shielding his eyes with an arm. "That really hurts."

"It does," she softly agreed, squinting as best she could. "But we need to see. Had we but thought to bring protection. Just think of what Twilight must be suffering."

The hand on Luna's mane tightened as Spike went rigid, visions of what could be happening to Twilight in his mind. "Y-yeah. We have to be strong, for her... We're the only help she has."

Their conviction renewed, they flew, or were flown, towards that little speck.

Pinkie could see it long before they could. It was the balloon, landed and slapped up against a stone wall. Its cloth was caught under another slab of stone. The whole thing wasn't moving. The light came from its gas-powered little engine that would normally have sent hot air up into the balloon. It gave off intermittent little spurts that got lost in the wind. "Twilight?"

But nopony replied. "You in there?" Pinkie hurried, the rope still in her mouth. She hopped up and peered into the basket, but there was no Twilight in there. There was no Twilight anywhere around the balloon. "Oh no..."

She began quickly reeling in her friends to tell them the troubling news. They had found the balloon, but Twilight was still missing.

17 - Securing What We Have

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Against the howling wind, they began to pull the balloon. Spike was free of Luna, quickly darting around as quickly as the wind let him to undo where the fabric of it was caught on things to let it move. A powerful gust lifted him up to slap down against the very fabric he was working on, leaving him dazed a moment before he shook it off. "Almost clear!"

He scrambled up along the fabric-covered rocks, pulling bits of the balloon free. With a sudden bit of motion, it all began to move. Luna and Pinkie were drawing it towards the closest cave they had seen. Spike remained with the cloth, making sure it didn't catch on anything until it was all clear of the first wave of rocks. That hazard cleared, he began to gather it all up as best he could, folding and piling it up.

Pinkie was suddenly beside him, joining in the folding and gathering of it all until it was one neat pile to transport instead of a trailing mess of cloth. "Good idea, Spike! Not like we're gonna fly it right now." She took it all from him, bouncing ahead to catch up with Luna.

Not that Spike allowed himself to be left behind, swapping what friendly horse he was attached to and hopping onto Pinkie's back. "Let's get inside." Clutching to her was a far sight easier than struggling against the wind himself. "Maybe Twilight's in there."

"That'd be nice," agreed Pinkie, a smile on her face. She was the only one who wasn't entirely squint-eyed against the flying dust.

Soon they had the balloon safely tucked into the cave, the wind doing little more than make its fabric flutter. Its fire could be seen better, no longer being basically blown out constantly. Luna's magic glowed around the fire box, feeling around it until she found the knob and twisted it, making the fire shoot out larger before she went the other way and turned it off. "There, no reason to waste fuel."

Spike gave a thumbs up as he slid down off Pinkie. "Hey, Twilight! You in here!"

His voice echoed against the stone, but no reply came with it. "Guess not..."

Pinkie bounced past him, pronking gaily now that they were out of the wind. "She's either close by, or really not close by."

Luna hiked a brow at their pink friend. "That does not narrow our options." Her magic plucked Spike from the floor, placing him on her back. "Shall we press inward or return to the windy exterior?"

Spike considered that, rubbing his chin with a finger. "If I was Twilight... Luna, can we try something crazy?"

Luna looked over her shoulder at him. "What manner of crazed idea do you imply?"

"I love crazy ideas!" chimed Pinkie, looking up to Spike with obvious enthusiasm. "When all the obvious choices are gone, they're the ones that work."

"Yeah, uh, when we teleported." He wove his fingers through the air. "I felt the rock and pulled you towards it. I don't usually feel anything while I teleport, but..."

"But, we teleported so far," finished Luna. "I felt your pull, but I could see nothing." Her expression lightened to a little smile. "You saved us, brave Spike. How does this relate to finding Twilight?"

"What if we did it again?" He pointed back outside. "I know Twilight. If we..."

"We would not teleport so long," cautioned Luna, cutting off Spike. "It would be the barest of an instant"

"But it's a chance, right? Teleport back to the first cave, the one we left Maud in." He pointed where he thought that was in relation to them. "Hopefully, I can feel Twilight."

"Wow!" Pinkie reared up, her hooves on Luna's side as she grinned at Spike. "That really is a crazy idea. Good job!" She jumped up, plonking down behind Spike and hugging him. "I'm ready to give it a try!"

Luna smirked at her two companions. "Teleporting to the other cave shouldn't be too dangerous... Spike, do not pull me. We are in a strange place, a new world. A mis-aimed teleport could lead to us being thrown into stone. Simply... feel. If you get an impression of Twilight, tell us of it after we finish moving."

Spike saluted before grabbing onto Luna's billowing mane. "Ready! Alright, Twilight, wherever you are, let me see you." He closed his eyes and took a slow breath, further preparing himself despite already declaring his readiness.

"We're going." Her horn flashed and they were in the between space. Luna looked straight ahead, unseeing. Spike could feel Pinkie's hooves around him, but she was also unseeing and unmoving. Spike looked around, but his movements were slow and lethargic.

He had to feel. Feel Twilight.

They appeared with a flash. "Again!" shouted Spike the instant he could. "Please, again!"

Pinkie bounced lightly behind Spike. "Yeah, teleporting's fun and Twilight never enjoys it. Again!"

Luna ignored both of them, looking around the cave. "Maud? Is everything alright?" Not that Maud was there.

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah," came the echoing reply from deep in the cave.

Luna nodded softly. "Good. We're looking for Twilight."

"Okay. Okay. Okay," replied Maud in echo, not sounding excited, as usual.

Pinkie gasped dramatically. "That was really thought of you, Lu--"

She didn't get to finish, Luna teleporting.

Spike didn't try to look around. Physical movements in that other space were just too slow. He tried to feel for Twilight, for any pony besides the ones he was already in contact with. He felt something.

They were back in the physical world. "Mmmf! Um, I think I felt Maud." He looked to where the impression had come from. "She felt... as grey as she looked, so calm."

Pinkie was giggling joyfully. "That sounds like her. Alright, if you can find Maud, you can find Twilight, no problem!"

"I concur. Relax yourself, and we will try again." She turned in place, facing where Spike had directed. "This is tiring, but it is also working, I hope." She took a slow breath. "I am ready when you are."

Pinkie squeezed her dragon friend. "I'm super jealous, in the good way. Why can you see stuff in there?"

"I dunno..." He held sure to Luna's mane, eyes closing. "But it isn't about looking. I have to feel her. Twilight, we're looking for you... Ready."

With a flash, they were in the between space. He could feel Luna beneath him. He could feel Pinkie's arms wrapped around him. There was Maud, placid and grey. They were moving, so quickly as to be impossible to feel other than the impression of speed. Twilight...

They appeared, Luna heaving for breath. "Please... tell us... you found something..."

Pinkie squeezed Spike fondly. "We'll go again if we have to."

"Easy for you to say!" Luna shot Pinkie a cross look.

"I did... I... think I did." He pointed to a solid stone wall. "That way. Another pony, not one of us. It has to be her. It has to be!"

Pinkie drew out her rope. "Time to go flying a princess-dragon? I'm getting better at it!"

Luna held up a hoof. "Spike, were you able to get more than a direction? Was she above or below us?"

"Could... we do another hop?" He suggested with a nervous smile.

Luna deflated in place. "I am fatigued. Teleportation is no simple trick at the distance I am going."

Pinkie tilted her head. "I've seen Twilight hopping all over the place."

"Yeah--" Spike shrugged softly. "But usually little hops. A little hop wouldn't help us. By the time I even started feeling anything, we'd already be out of it."

"Precisely so." Luna moved for the exit with the clip-clop of her hooves against the foreign rock. "If Twilight is out there, it is up to us to find her. We do not abandon our own. Aside, only she knows what to do after Maud's survey is complete."

Pinkie jumped down to the ground, her rope trailing behind to where it was tied around Luna. "I'd love to keep riding, but it's time to fly a kite instead. You two ready?"

Luna answered by stepping outside of the cave. With spreading wings, she was nigh instantly blown into the air. Pinkie grasped her side of the rope all the tighter in her teeth, getting her kite under control and slowly advancing where Spike had pointed.

Luna let out a little grunt as they hit the end of the rope and it dug painfully into her. "Would that there were other ways... Remain alert, Spike. If she is not underground, we may yet spot her before Pinkie has the chance."

"She could even be flying," noted Spike. "Like you were, working really hard just to stay in one place and not get blown away."

"I pray this is not the case." Luna's eyes swept even as she raised a hoof just over them, trying to keep the worst of the dust clear with little effect. "Where are you...?"

"That's what I wanna know..." Spike was with Luna, scanning the sky as far as they could see, which wasn't that far with the howling dusty wind blowing past them.

"--Ike!" called something that went past them with an intense Doppler effect.

Spike's head twisted instantly towards it. "What the? Twilight?!"

Luna was already banking, trying to face the direction the sound had come from. "Stay strong, Miss Sparkle, we come for you!"

Down below, Pinkie felt her Kite tug in a new way. "Huh." She turned and began in the new direction, not fighting the will of the kite. "If you're sure." Though the kite seemed to want to go that way, the wind was battering it in a lot of directions. It was up to Pinkie to drag it along, there in the relatively calm wind of the ground. It was times like that she was kinda happy to not have wings.

Luna could feel the rope pulling her forward in the direction she had banked towards. "We owe Pinkie a word of thanks. Spike, do you see what made that sound?"

"Twilight!" he shouted against the howling wind. "Can you hear us?! We're coming!"

A flash, almost hidden in the dust, announced the arrival of their lost alicorn. She barely had the time to meet Spike's gaze before the wind wrenched her away.

Spike jumped, his little wings opening. Luna's hoof barely missed him as he was blown away from her like a bullet. "Spike," she screamed, unable to follow him.

He was buffeted and slammed by the wind as he tried feebly to right himself. "Twilight! Where are you!?" he shouted despite it, as if he could help her despite being lost himself, careening out of control at the mercy of the wind.

"Spike... Spike! Over here!" There was Twilight, trying to fight the wind, somewhat even as she waved at him frantically. "Spike!"

"Twi!" He smiled hard enough to hurt, so relieved was he to see her, intact. "Comin'!" He began to paddle and flap wildly, trying to get closer to her.

Suddenly, he was engulfed in her magic, wrenched over into her waiting arms. She hugged him tightly, choked sobs reaching his ears. "Oh, Spike! I thought I was lost forever! Wait, are you lost too?! I can't..."

Spike was pointing down. "We have to get lower. We already found the balloon. We just need to get you to safety. Luna's flying up here too, looking for, uh, both of us now."

"How?!" she hysterically demanded. "I tried to fly down, it doesn't work. I can't teleport to what I can't even see and have no idea how far away it is. I can't short hop fast enough to not be blown by the wind again."

She still held him, preciously tight against her body. "Oh, Spike. I really messed this up. Is the balloon safe at least?"

"Yeah... it's fine," he said, a little less enthusiastically. "Luna's coming... She'll rescue us."

18 - The Wind's Howl

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Luna kept herself oriented in the direction Spike had vanished. "Blast it." Surely there had been better ways of doing that, but it was far too late to prevent Spike's leaving. "At least you found her, we hope."

Her wings were sore, and she was barely flying. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She was working hard to keep stable and upright despite the howling wind that battered her body. "What I would give for goggles at this moment..." But none were to be had, leaving her squinting painfully at the scrubbing grit trying to get at her.

At least Pinkie was still trying. She could feel the rope pulling her forward.

Pinkie climbed over rocks and hilly terrain. "All this wind could at least knock it over," she grumped, but pushed forward. "My friends are counting on me," she reminded herself as she slid down the back end of the hilly outcropping, pulling her alicorn-dragon kite along in the direction it seemed to want to go.

At least until she thumped against a wall. No mere hill, it stretched up past where she could see through the blowing dirt. Pinkie explored it to the left and right quickly, feeling along it with a hoof. Solid, long, and in the way. She reached up a hoof into her gusting mane and pulled out-- oops. Her suction cups flew away, becoming some extra debris on the hurricane-like winds. "Guess I'm doing it the hard way."

She pressed her hooves into each little crevice she could find, climbing slowly upwards to get past the wall that had the unfortunate need to be right where she needed to go.

Spike scaled across his adoptive sister, mounting her as he had lost much of the habit of doing. "Spread your wings."

"What? It doesn't help." She flapped powerlessly against the swirling winds.

"Straight out. Calm down and listen." His eyes were closed, free of stinging, at least a little. "I saw how Luna did it. Reach out nice and stiff. You have enough wind, more than enough, so no flapping. Gliding is the goal. You've seen birds glide, right? Straight wings."

"Like a bird," she repeated in a low muttering, lacking the confidence Spike was speaking with. "Right." She slowly straightened her wings, the wind trying to batter them right off her back, or so it felt. "It hurts, Spike... Are we going to--"

"--We will, Twilight. Come on... We've faced worst." He gently stroked a claws hand over her withers. "I've seen you do so much more than fight a wind storm."

"I had my friends," admitted Twilight in a small voice.

"You still have me." He patted her firmly. "Gonna have to be good enough."

Twilight let out a little choke of a laugh. "Of course you count. I'm sorry, Spike. You're trying so hard." She stretched harder, getting her wings into position, a few feathers ripped free of her, but their rocking eased. They were gliding, mostly. "Like... that?"

"Like that," assured Spike. "Also, you still have friends, let's get to them. Luna's flying up here looking for us. Pinkie's on the ground, pulling her."

"Pulling her?!" Twilight looked back over her shoulder at her rider. "I know Pinkie can do amazing things, but pull a pony up in the air from the ground? How?"

"Rope," he answered simply.

"Oh..." Perhaps Twilight felt silly not thinking of it. "That makes sense... I wish I had a little rope right now." Her face suddenly brightened. "I have an idea. Let's make their jobs easier." She lowered her head, horn starting to glimmer with magic.

She exploded, light bursting from her in a great display of her cutie mark in light, even if the driving sand made it harder to see than it normally would.

Suddenly, far to the left rather than in front of her, Luna saw a bright flash. "What in Tartarus...?" There were precious few things that could make light on that horrible little rock. "Twilight!" She began to bank, hoping Pinkie would go in the new direction. "We are on the way!"

Down below, Pinkie flopped out onto the top of the wall, huffing for breath and getting a lungful of dirt that had her coughing wildly, the rope grasped desperately between her fore hooves as she got it out. "Alright, this is... becoming less fun." She grabbed the rope in her teeth and felt it tugging in a new direction, following the wall. "What's going on up there?"

There was no way for her to know. It was her job to pull. She got to moving in the new direction. "At least you aren't asking me to go back down this wall. Sheesh, I'd have to quit."

Spike blinked his eyes open. Even closed, he had seen the brightness of the flash from directly atop Twilight. "Woah! Hey, good idea. I'll help." He raised a hand in front of his own mouth, trying to filter some of the air he was getting as he inhaled slowly, even if he had to cough some of it right back out.

Lowering his hand he let it all out, flames erupting into the sky to help signal any rescuers nearby.

A new voice came from the driving grit, "Spike, Twilight!" It was Luna, even if they couldn't see her. "I am coming as quickly as Pinkie can... pull me."

Twilight let out a strangled little laugh. "It worked! It really worked... They're coming, Spike. We're going to get out of this."

"I told you that." He gently rubbed the side of her neck. "Just hang in there a little longer, keep us steady."

"Steady, right. Princess Luna! We're over here!" she hollered into the storm, facing where she had heard Luna's voice. Her face brightened as the dark fur of Luna came into view, even if she looked equally as haggard from her endured sand bath. "Luna!"

"There you are." Luna adjusted her aim slightly to be on point with them, but the movement stopped. "What is she doing down there?"

"Noooooo!" The kite was tugging her back down the wall. "Alright, alright... You can do this..." Instead of climbing, her patience too frayed, she did the only reasonable thing. She jumped.

Luna barely got out a squeak before she vanished from sight, yanked down out of view. Twilight blinked at the place that had held Luna. "What...? Did you see that?"

"Yeah..." Spike patted her shoulder lightly. "Pinkie must have done something. They know where we are. We just have to wait a little longer."

Luna sank abruptly before her wings could fight that force. It felt like something was... hanging from her? She shook her head. "Enough." With a glowing horn, she yanked and pulled, drawing up the rope. Soon there was a Pinkie, dangling by her mouth. "What happened?" She deposited the party mare on her back. "Never mind, we have two to rescue."

"You already rescued one," chimed Pinkie, settling in for her ride. "How are we gonna get back down though?"

"I have a plan." She ascended, fighting the wind. "Twilight!"

Twilight's ears pricked upright. "Did you hear that?" She looked wildly around. "We're here!"

Spike blew fire over her head, making a more visual cue of their presence. "Over here!" he shouted as the fires petered off.

Luna almost crashed into them from below, going from unseen to careening into them in an instant. Everything was gone. Spike could feel the universe flowing. They were teleporting, in that strange non-space.

They appeared in a cave, thrown bodily in different directions. Each grunted with the pain of impact. None of them were eager to move at the instant, just breathing quietly.

But they could breathe. The wind could be heard, but wasn't lashing over them.

Spike sat up first, coughing up grit and dust. "Alright... alright, we... We did it. Luna, that was you, right? You hopped back to one of the caves." He looked around. "The one with the balloon."

Pinkie was the next to hop to her hooves. "Phew! That was a lot of work, but we did it, hurrah!" She bounced up and down in place, looking much happier than she had been not long before. "What's next?"

Twilight pushed herself to her haunches, breathing in fast little gasps. "First... I thank Princess... Luna. Luna, thank you... You saved us."

"It is... my pleasure," replied Luna about as breathlessly. "I... see Spike found you."

She held out a hoof and Spike approached, letting Twilight grab him in a sudden hug. "I thought I'd be lost forever and then there he was. I was so happy." She began crying into the crook of his neck, burying her face into it. "I was so happy..."

Spike was patting her on the side. "You did good. The balloon wasn't hurt at all. How did you even do that, by the way?"

"I confess curiosity as well." Luna was slowly sitting up, recovering from her efforts. "You surely hadn't the time to plan that."

"I didn't." Twilight stood up, shaking faintly. "I appeared in the middle of the storm. The balloon was ripped away from me, or I was ripped away from it. Either way, I lost track of it instantly, and everything else after that." She wandered closer to the folded balloon. "But it made it, good... We'll want that when we leave, but we're not up to that."

"Speaking of that." Spike pointed to Pinkie. "How's Maud doing? Any easy way to reach her?"

Pinkie shrugged. "We could try shouting. It worked last time."

Luna looked towards the darker interior of the cave. "We were in the other cave. Perhaps they are linked? I am... still recovering. If one of you wishes to attempt it, be my guest."

Pinkie swelled with a powerful inhalation of air. "Hey Maud! You in there?!" Her voice echoed and bounced against the hard stone walls, but no reply came right away, leaving Pinkie frowning. "Guess not..."

"Wait, other cave?" Twilight turned away from the balloon. "You've been exploring. I feel like such a foal, getting lost like that. You had to work so hard just to rescue me."

Spike thumbed up emphatically. "What are friends for? Only Luna has a lock on the first cave, so we need her to catch her breath before we can consider hopping back to there."

Ears pricked. A noise was approaching, a steady clip-clop. Eyes locked as a figure emerged. There was Maud, approaching them. Pinkie zoomed across the distance, tackling her sister. "There you are! Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was close," she calmly explained. "I just walked." She looked past Pinkie. "You found Twilight."

"It's good to see you're safe." Twilight trotted closer. "Please tell me your survey has been successful."

"I've studied the rocks." Maud turned calmly to the wall closest to her. "It's very hard."

Luna canted her head faintly. "Well, yes, but can it be broken?"

"No." Maud reached out and tapped. "But there's softer rock. You can break that. Pinkie, did you bring your 'extra fun' fireworks?"

"Extra extra fun?" gasped out Pinkie, vibrating with excitement.

"That one."

"Yes!" Pinkie reached up and produced a barrel, slapping it down, a wick dangling from the top of it. "Ready to make a nice big show."

Maud turned back into the innards of the cavern system. "We need to put it in a few places, then light them at the same time." She looked over her shoulder at Twilight. "Can you do that?"

"Hm? Yes, that shouldn't be a problem." Her expression cautiously brightened. "So we can break apart this rock?"

"That is what we'll do." Maud was already walking back inside. "This way."

Luna pointed. "I will remain here. Somepony has to get the balloon ready for use. I should imagine we will have very little time to do so after you've started explosives."

Spike flinched. "Oh, yeah, good call." He looked between Luna and the others. "I'll keep Luna company. I can't help much with this part."

"Be safe." Twilight trotted over and gave him a soft hug. "We'll be back."

19 - Space Cookies

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"While I appreciate Pinkie's capacity for emergency supplies." Twilight was trotting along the Pie sisters. "Do you really have enough to break apart this entire little world we're standing on?"

"No." Maud looked over her shoulder as she marched forward at her steady rate. "We will splinter and move it," she corrected. "It will still be here."

Pinkie pronked along slowly to keep pace with Maud. "Pity we can't just throw the moon at it. That'd fix it nice and fast!"

Twilight shivered from snout to tail. "That could work out very poorly. Imagine the moon infested with the thread!"

"We won't do that," calmly stated Maud before pointing at the wall. "The first one goes here." She gestured left and right as Pinkie pushed the explosives into place, ensuring it was in just the right place.

They had several more to get into precise placement to have a hope of diverting the small celestial object they were standing on.

With a combination of careful magical pulls and Spike's little fingers, they were spreading out the balloon to be ready for action. "So, what's the plan?" asked Spike. "If we take this thing outside, it'll get blown away, with everypony inside at the time."

Luna inclined her head. "The balloon is entirely worthless while in range of the raging storm," she agreed in more words. "We will have to skip the storm before it can be of use to us." She craned her head back to look up at the low ceiling of the place. "There's not enough room in here to have this fully inflated while we wait."

"Not even close," sighed out Spike, tapping a foot softly. "Wherever we arrive, teleporting right? We're going to have to inflate the balloon really fast..."

Luna suddenly smiled. "Spike, it is filled with this, is it not?" She pointed to the little engine that would rest beneath the great air bladder that was the main body of the balloon.

"Yeah." He jogged over and pointed at its knob. "You turn that to make it shoot more or less.... fire."

"You see where my thoughts go. You are, again, the solution to our problems." She reached out and patted him gently on the head. "When we arrive, your great breath will inflate it much faster than this engine could hope to do so. Are you up for that?"

"We don't want it too hot," he warned quickly. "If it catches on fire, then we're all in trouble." He worried his hands together, imagining them trying to sail on a flaming balloon. That would not be a good trip. "We need hot air, not actual fire-fire."

"But still quite warm," argued Luna. "Can you focus on more instead of hotter?" She inclined her head. "I am not a dragon. I do not claim mastery over the idea. How much control do you have over your production?"

Spike threw up his hands. "I never really thought about it specifically like that."

"A fine time to start." She pointed towards the outside. "You can practice a little. We all have our tricks. Do not think Twilight, or I, were simply born able to perform our magic."

Spike burst into laughter at that. "Oh, wow, no. Twilight still manages to mess up her magic sometimes." He threw a hand down, slapping a knee. "Alright, alright. If she can explode sometimes trying her best, I can at least try." He moved so that the balloon wasn't between him and the exit of the cave. "Big fire, but not hot fire... Big fire, not hot fire..." He took a slow breath, chest puffing out until he was holding far more air than was generally advisable.

He let it out in a slow puff, just blowing air until the internal mechanisms flicked into place organically and fire joined the air, but he kept his breathing even, a slow and steady fire. Luna watched the little spritz of flame. "That is a start, but I cannot imagine that is enough in the speed we require it."

Spike was too occupied to reply, instead pursing his lips to direct and feel the flow of the flames. He reached out a hand to block the fire and feel its heat. He wasn't burned, which implied he wasn't running super hot. A good thing, he quickly decided. He needed cool but still warm. Like an oven turned low? Hot enough to make a pony miserable or even in trouble if they hung out in it, but not hot enough to set the tough cloth of the balloon on fire.

So he just had to turn down the heat of his flames. Easy! Except he didn't have a knob to turn like the engine he was trying to replace. He had to experiment, flexing and twisting internally, trying to figure out his own controls. The flames suddenly stopped as he went in the wrong direction. "Oops!" he gusted, letting out the remaining air and starting to suck up a new batch.

He needed more practice.

Twilight flapped, a barrel held in her magic as she worked it into a small niche in the wall. "How's that look?" she called down to those below her without actually looking at them. "All good?"

"Looks good," came Maud's reply, echoing off the hard stone.

Twilight vanished, only to appear next to Pinkie and Maud, a length of wire in draped over her hoof. "So far so good."

Pinkie saluted with a sharp slap of a hoof against her forehead. "Yes, sir! Alright. I only have one more." She drew out her last barrel. "My super, duper, last ditch supplies."

"We need it." Maud turned and began walking towards the final destination. "Pinkie."

"Yeah?" She bounced along, keeping up with her sister easily.

"Thanks."

"What for?" Not that she looked upset to be being thanked by her sister.

"If you were any other pony, we would have lost." She looked over her shoulder at Pinkie. "You saved us, by being Pinkie. Thank you."

Pinkie grinned widely enough her cheeks squeaked with the effort. Twilight smiled as well, though less as extremely. "She isn't wrong, but she isn't saying the whole picture either." Both Pie sisters looked towards her as they walked. "We've all brought invaluable skills to this trip. Each and every one of us is vital. I'm glad, and honored, to be here, with you both."

Suddenly Twilight was surrounded, a Pie sister on either side and closing in. Without words, they crashed into her from either side, compressing her in warm but strong earth pony presence. She laughed almost helplessly as she found even her hooves were being held off the ground, her barrel hoisted off the ground in their grip as she was carried right along down the hallway of rough stone.

Spike's flame changed colors. It was a new trick, specifically altering its hue, on demand like that. But he found the right part, the right internal flex. He was breathing out slowly as fire went from green to blue to red in slow but smooth transitions. Luna clapped her forehooves together. "You're doing great! Red, we need a low red," she counseled. "Dull as you can make it. It'll still be fire, but that's low as fires go."

It felt strange to produce such flames at all. He had leeched out a lot of the magic that made his flames 'his' in the first place. Any paper thrust into that spewing little spout would just burn up, instead of being whisked away to Celestia. On the other hand, being entirely fire and not magic, it had no hope of penetrating his scales. It felt relatively cool against his fingers, but he knew, to a pony, it would be disastrously hot. He could still set them on fire with it, a chilling thought.

He let out a sudden loud gust, just breathing normally for a moment. "Alright... alright... We have temperature... Now... We need... volume..."

"Take a break." Luna set a hoof on his back, rubbing along his spine just to the right of his protrusions. "You're doing very well, Spike. Don't strain yourself before we even properly begin."

"Yeah... okay..." He sank down, flopping against the wall and working to catch his breath. "We got this..."

"We do." She leaned in, touching her nose to his forehead. "Today, you are a hero."

Spike smiled with a dash of cockiness. "Not the first time." He thumbs up at the much larger form of the princess with him. "You're doing good too, don't forget. You saved us... from the storm." He hiked a thumb towards the exit. "Twilight and I woulda been stuck out there."

"And had you not found Twilight, she would still be lost." Luna inclined her head. "We are where we need to be. I will carry us beyond the storm. You will inflate the balloon. Together, we can accomplish what neither of us could do alone."

"Yeah!" He bounced to his feet, clearly recovering from the effort of the first leg of the experimenting. "Alright. Big hot air, coming up." He took a long breath and spat out the dull red flames that had been asked for. The color only changed mildly, he was focused on the speed at which he could spit it out, going larger and smaller to try to get a hang of that control.

It was a curious thing, a new set of muscles he'd never really worked on controlling before other than 'I need all of this' or 'I only need a little of this', but he didn't need all of it, just enough to fill the balloon quickly with heat, and not more than that.

He worked.

The ground beneath them shuddered. Maud looked left and right. "I didn't anticipate seismic activity."

Twilight raised an ear. "Does that interfere with the plans?"

"Maybe." Maud approached a wall and tapped it softly. "If I missed seismic activity, my survey may be incomplete." Just like that, she seemed to switch back to inspection mode, following the wall slowly with a rhythmic tapping as she went.

Pinkie slowed to a walk, canting her head at Maud. "How bad are we talking? I mean, if you missed a little something?" She held up two hooves close together before bounding back to her hooves to resume walking.

"Maybe nothing." She continued along, tapping. "Or the explosion doesn't fracture the rocks we need it do, and does not change the direction of this asteroid." She looked over her shoulder even as she proceeded forward, tapping. "And we fail."

Twilight swallowed nervously. "We can't... have that. Please, continue with your survey." She put a hoof behind her head as the other three carried her forward. "No specific rush, but how long will the survey take?"

"As long as it takes," provided Maud unhelpfully, tapping her way forward.

Twilight raised the hoof that had been behind her head high. "Maud, is there a specific place that you could do this faster?" Maud looked at her silently. "I mean, this time, I'm right here." She pointed to herself. "If I can help you reach a better surveying point, would that help?"

Maud paused in her inspection and raised a hoof to her own chin, considering that a moment before she pointed down into the rock. "Deeper. The closer to the center, the better."

Pinkie tilted her head left and right. "Just not in to the rock."

"Not into the rock. Got it." Her magic spread out over the two sisters. "I'll do my best. Ready?" When both nodded, she threw them into the between space and they vanished.

Spike was on all fours just at the base of the balloon. "And... go!" He exhaled a perfectly balloon sized cone of dull red flames over the top of the deflating bag.

Luna nodded with satisfaction. "Just a little smaller, so you don't hit the sides," she advised. "But that is quite good. You have it, Spike."

They were ready. They just needed the rest of the team to return.

20 - Deepest Corners

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She skidded, a small patch of her fur torn free as she tried to emerge from the nowhere space but encountered unyielding rock instead, shoving her right back in. It was a mercy of sorts, avoiding the swift end that would have come had her body and the rock been forcefully conjoined. Instead she was left with a painful reminder and a chance to try again.

Still, it hadn't been all rock. She pressed back, aiming a little lower towards the center of things. Her magic felt it, her loss of grip on her passengers as she skidded with a silent yelp. Had they popped free? It was impossible for her to know entirely, but she couldn't feel them in her arcane grip. She could only struggle on, hoping to find freedom before her magic or her breath gave out.

Spike peered into the darkness his friends had walked away into. "Think they're almost done?"

Luna sat beside him. "We can but wait." She reached for him, drawing him against her side. "We have done all we can, for now."

"For now," he echoed, imagining the next step and its frantic motions coming ahead. "Are we ready?"

"As ever we will be." She closed her eyes, not that it changed much of what she saw. "We will do this."

They had to.

Pinkie toppled over, landing on her back. Maud landed atop her and she oofed as air was forced free of her, though she was giggling a moment later. "Hey, Maud." She was not at all mad for her sister's appearance. "Twilight?"

"I don't see her." Maud stood up calmly and began looking around. They were in a small pocket of stone beneath the surface, the walls jagged and rough. She reached out and tapped at it. "Hm." Looking over her shoulder at Pinkie, she nodded. "We're deeper, but I can't survey yet." She brought back a hoof and drove it forward with a frightful intensity, smashing into the wall, sending fragments flying. "Not until I rescue Twilight," she calmly continued, starting to drill her way forward.

Without further preamble, she brought in her other hoof, fracturing and breaking the stone one swing at a time. Pinkie watched the wanton destruction. "Wow. Do you know where she is?"

"No." Not that it seemed to stop her. "I can guess."

Twilight knew only darkness. She still couldn't breathe. She couldn't see. She couldn't move. Her lungs were on fire, desperately begging for freedom, but even her attempts to squirm were met with solid resistance from all sides. She was trapped, well and completely.

Her odds seemed abysmal. Would she simply fade away there, trapped? Would they even find her after the fact? She felt something touch her cheeks and heard her pained gasp, but it wasn't escape. It was a tear she had shed at the idea that she could lose it all in such a miserable way. At least, perhaps, the Pie sisters could finish the task, without her. If Equestria could be saved, that would at least be something...

Her prison trembled around her and the rock groaned as if in pain. A slab pressed against her and she joined it in a soft little cry as it crushed and pressed against her, causing new dampness that was not born of tears to spread.

Distantly, she could hear a muffled thump, the rocks around her shifting. The pressure against her ribs abated, sliding back just enough to cease crushing her. What was going on, she couldn't tell. another earthquake, perhaps? That seismic activity that Maud had wanted to survey before committing to their attack.

Would Maud succeed? Twilight certainly hoped so. At least something good could come from the situation.

"She's below us." Maud pointed down. "I have to get this just right," she insisted in her even tone.

"Wow, good job." Pinkie bounced in place, only to be caught by Maud on the way down, blinking from the arms of her sister.

"You have to be perfectly still, and quiet." Maud let Pinkie down carefully and turned her vision down, tapping faintly in a slow pattern. "Right... here." She brought her hooves together, rubbing them.

"You look more serious than usual." Pinkie inclined her head. "is it that bad?"

"If I get this even a little wrong, I could hurt Twilight... a lot." She knew the damage caused could go well beyond 'hurt', but also saw no reason to drive Pinkie to panic. "It has to be done perfectly."

Pinkie drew out a little device from her mane that was beeping quietly. Maud peered at it. "What is that?"

"It's my Twi-detector!" Pinkie thrust it forward at Maud.

Maud accepted it silently, not asking why Pinkie hadn't given it to her before then. The detector confirmed her suspicion. Twilight was under them, a few inches to the left of where Maud had expected. She adjusted her aim accordingly. She had to get it right.

"You can do it," encouraged Pinkie in a soft whisper, waving a pennant wildly, but silently.

Maud brought her hooves down, striking with both in precise locations with a strangely unechoing connection. The force went right into the rock, none wasted on a loud sound. The rock began to split and part, the impact working deeper in a spiderweb that reached out towards her trapped friend.

With the noise of tumbling stone, a hole fell open, but Maud did not look pleased. Her eyes widened faintly, and Pinkie stopped breathing. Such an expression of mild concern was the Maud equivalent of naked shock. Things had not gone perfectly.

Pinkie slid in between her sister's legs and hit the rubble, throwing rocks aside with a manic energy only Pinkie could safely wield. "We're coming!" she shouted, hurling each rock aside as quickly as she could. "Hang in there!"

Twilight's ears twitched, trying to listen. The thumps had stopped. Was the earthquake over? A low deep thrum ran through her body. The start of another? "Can anypony hear me?" she barely got out, ribs aching where a rock slab had already crashed into her and still badly pinned between slabs of unyielding stone. "Please..."

She could hear breaking? Snapping. Her vision was suddenly swimming. It took her a moment to realize she had been struck by a falling rock. The rocks around her were collapsing, but they were still large chunks. She was being buried and she didn't even have the strength to cry out, pressed into her grave with nothing but her own misery for company.

Maud was next to Pinkie, grabbing rocks and throwing them aside, filling their little hole quickly. "There's no room." There was no space left to put the rocks they were picking up. "I'm going in." She jumped up and hit the ground, her hooves working wildly as she began to drill into the loose debris, smashing rocks to dust beneath her determined hooves.

Pinkie dug out around Maud's work, the two working with a single mind to get to Twilight, the tracker showing her cutie mark, though it had dimmed considerably, only fueling their urgency. "Hold on, Twilight," Pinkie cried as she dug at the edges of her sister's drilled hole as they got deeper and deeper. "We're comin'!"

"Not precisely." Maud pointed to a wall of their small tunnel. "She's that way."

Pinkie blinked, looking to the little radar device she had and holding it up. Waving it around, she could see that Maud was right. "She's past this rock! Twilight, can you hear us?!"

"I need your help." Maud placed her hooves on the large rock that separated them. "I will move this."

"Go ahead!" urged Pinkie, vibrating with nervous energy.

Maud shook her head. "The other rocks will fall. You have to get her."

"--Quickly," cut in Pinkie, bobbing her head. "On it."

Maud clenched her hooves around the rock, connecting with the stone in a way perhaps only an earth pony could do. With a great heave, she pushed up with her hind legs, muscles bulging as she began to stand up fully. With a sudden wrenching pull, she yanked the stone back. Instantly, other stones began to fall, an avalanche initiated with the lack of the rock she had moved.

She could feel but not see another pony climbing over her and she smiled faintly, knowing Pinkie had done her part.

Pinkie sank down on the narrow platform left for her to sit on, setting the battered form of Twilight down carefully. "Talk to me!" But the purple alicorn had no words. "C'mon..." Pinkie put an ear right up to Twilight's chest. She could hear faint breathing and the little thump of a heart still doing its best. "Alright... Maud?" She leaned over to peer into the hole that had become full of debris. "Come on out. I have her!"

But the stone wasn't moving. "Not funny!" she shouted at the pile of rocks. "I didn't trade one wonderful pony for another!"

With a twirling uppercut, Maud burst free, spinning in mid air until she landed on all fours with a light nod. "How is she?" She trotted towards Pinkie and Twilight, looking entirely unharmed, minus the dust, for her journey.

"Hurt, real bad." Pinkie waved over the form of her friend. "You're a doctor, help!"

Maud did have a doctorate, in petrology. It wasn't quite the same thing. Rather than argue the case with Pinkie, she leaned in and listened to Twilight much as Pinkie had. "Hm."

She pressed a hoof along Twilight's barrel, feeling where things went right, and wrong. "Hm."

She raised it, then thumped it down firmly.

Twilight curled in on herself upwards, wheezing. As her head sunk, her eyes cracked open. "Ow..." she whispered, eyes wandering around the small room they were in. "I'm not--"

Pinkie had pounced her, hugging tightly. "You're alright!"

Twilight forced a pained smile. "It's good to see you... really... but I need to not be squeezed right now."

"Oh, right." Pinkie released Twilight to thunk to the floor with a low noise of pain. "You okay?"

"No." Twilight rolled up to her belly, eyes closed. "But we're here... mostly intact. Maud, can you survey?"

"No."

Twilight cracked open an eye. "Did I take you to the wrong place?"

Maud shook her head. "I've completed my survey. We will have to move one of our explosives and set the last one."

Twilight let out her air in a gust. "Oh, thank Celestia... Alright, alright, let me just... catch my breath."

Spike was slumped against Luna, who was leaning back against him, both nodded off in a little nap to recharge from the frantic day. Neither saw when Twilight arrived, but woke with the sound of it, and of her form thudding to the ground.

"Twi!" Spike scrambled to his feet and rushed over to her. "What happened?!" he asked of the two intact earth ponies as he waved wildly at Twilight's battered form.

Luna's magic wrapped around Twilight, carefully lifting her and bringing her closer. "She is clearly injured. Unfortunate, but I don't imagine this is something we can fix in the small time we have. Are you ready?"

Maud shook her head. "We have adjustments to make." She looked to Spike. "You're coming with us."

"I am?"

"You can fly." She turned and started walking, not leaving much room for argument.

Pinkie shrugged widely and began bouncing after Maud. "You heard her. She knows her rocks!"

"Yeah..." Spike looked up to Luna. "Keep an eye on her, alright?"

"You have my word." She gently draped a wing over Twilight's sleeping form. "I will allow no harm upon her."

Spike hurried after Pinkie and Maud at a jog. "So what do we need to do?"

"Move my super last ditch fun booms," explained Pinkie. "Just gotta move two of them, then we leave."

"Sorry." Maud didn't look back at him, her eyes forward as she trotted. "For letting Twilight get hurt."

"It's... okay." It wasn't entirely alright. He worried for his sister, but what they were doing had to be done.

21 - Not With Malice

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Maud lifted an ear. "Something's coming." She stepped to the left, a casual sidestep.

The ground where she had been burst upwards, revealing a great rough pod that thrummed gently. It had no eyes, at least none that could be easily made out, but it seemed to be examining them.

Spike raised a hand slowly. "Uh... hi? Is that thing alive?"

"It's mostly rock." She took a step forward. "It is alive." The two facts were stated with simple certainty.

"Well, hiya!" greeted Pinkie, coiling on herself and throwing out already-filled balloons and confetti twirls. "Welcome! Good to meet a new friend."

Fine filaments slipped free from the sides of the pod, not just any filaments-- "Thread!" squeaked Spike, hopping back.

It used the thread to draw on the nearest wall, making a single mark, then moving and making two marks together, then three together, then four.

Spike blinked at the display. "Uh... it's... counting?"

Pinkie tapped at her cheek. "Maybe it's, uh... showing off?"

"It is," agreed Maud. "It can do math." She reached up and began thumping the wall, making a single hoof mark, then two, then three, imitating the display, but continuing to five to show she understood the pattern. "It can think."

Spike rubbed behind his head. "Alright, so it's a thinking rock. That's kinda cool... but... it's also thread?"

"Part of it is thread." Maud canted her head to the left, examining the rock-creature. "Part of it is not. It can think. It is talking."

The pod seemed to notice Maud's reply message and several filaments waved. With joy? With anger? With... maybe acceptance. It was impossible to know. It did not speak.

But Maud was approaching on steady hooves. Filaments reached for her and she ducked under the first, avoiding their touch, but still coming closer. She reached out a hoof and gently set it on the side of the pod and things became quiet and still, as if the two were communing.

Spike looked entirely baffled. "What is she doing, besides risking being devoured by thread?"

Pinkie sat down next to him. "It's a Maud thing. You know, like a Pinkie thing, but calmer."

"Plans change." Maud turned back to them. "We need to send the rock to a different place."

"Besides, just, you know, away?"

"Yes." Maud nodded and resumed her trek, the pod not fighting her departure. "We will rescue two worlds today."

Pinkie squealed with joy mid-hop. "Woo! Double world saving duty! WE can do it!"

Spike hurried to catch up with Maud. "So... short version?"

"They are not from here, the pods. When it gets too warm they fall apart." She glanced over her shoulder. "The thread is what's left. They are dying. We will return them home."

"Huh, woah." He rubbed behind his head as he followed along. "Where is home?"

"Out there." Maud waved a hoof vaguely. "They didn't mean to come here, but they did." She looked over her other shoulder, switching which way she was turning. "It does not understand us."

"But... you understand it?" ventured Spike.

"Not exactly." Maud pointed up. "Place the first there."

"First wh--" A barrel of explosives was pushed against his front by a smiling Pinkie. "Oh..." He lifted on flapping wings, raising with some effort to the spot Maud had pointed at. "Here?"

"Left."

"Here?"

"Right."

"Here?!" He frowned, looking tired.

"Perfect." She turned away as Spike lowered to the ground. "We have to adjust the other ones we placed."

"Seriously, you had, some... strange rock conversation, right?" Spike jogged along to keep up.

"You could say that." She pointed as they arrived at the second explosive, already set up. "I can adjust this one." She walked up to it and began rolling it to the right slowly.

"Maud, I respect you, as a mare, and a Roctor, but please break it down for me." Spike threw his hands wide. "My friend and sister's really hurt, and I just want to know we're doing the right thing."

Maud nudged the barrel into place before turning to Spike. "They can think. They could have attacked me, but they did not. I will send them home, where they can't hurt us, where our world can't hurt them." She walked past him. "One more."

"Well, uh... I guess, technically, so long as they aren't raining down on us, we got the job done." He admitted with an uncertain tone. "Wait, ew, we're being showered by their literal broken bodies? That's really gross... And not good for either of us."

"No," agreed Maud with no emotion in her voice, as was the norm for her. "The last one needs to move up." She pointed to where a barrel was wedged in the wall. "Twilight placed that one. Move it."

"Which way?" Spike flapped up to it and took hold. Soon he was moving it around under Maud's slow but steady advice, eventually finding a pocket for it to be in that satisfied for her. "Finally," he got out as he landed, huffing for breath. "Are we done?"

"No." Maud walked to a wall and struck it three times with an increasing pause between each strike, the rock crumbling and the thump echoing outwards.

Pinkie looked around in a slow circle. "Are we waiting for something? Is it a surprise!" The wall next to her exploded and she screamed, hopping away from it. "Surprise!"

Maud nodded to the rocky orb that broke free. Approaching, she spoke calmly. "You need to get away and bring every other one away with you." She set a hoof on the rock's surface, the two quietly in contact. Tendrils emerged, wafting just over her form, capable of annihilating her with a casual brush.

It slid away, burrowing off into the rock. Other little trembles told Maud all she needed to know. "They are out of range." She turned to the other two. "We need to do the same, and set it off."

They hurried to the main room, where Luna was presiding over Twilight's still form. She looked up as they came in. "Is all well?"

"I could ask the same." Spike waved at Twilight. "She alright?"

"As well as she can be." Luna inclined her head. "We will want to get her to a proper physician as soon as possible. And you?"

Spike set a hand on Twilight's chest, letting out his own breath when he felt she was still moving faintly, still breathing. "We have to set off the bombs and get out of here."

"Correct." Maud pointed to the balloon. "Is it ready?"

"As ready as ever it will be." Her horn began to glow, gently lifting Twilight and righting the basket of their chariot. "It appears I will be pulling double duty, with our other magic user disabled. I must get us all far enough away." She began to climb into the basket, Twilight floating after her. "We will have exactly one chance.

"That is the running motif of this entire thing," wryly noted Spike as he climbed in. "You get us up and away, I fill the balloon as quickly as possible. Then we sail home, right?"

"Carrying this much... there is a chance we will not arrive far enough away," warned Luna. "We will be in the center of the swarm, the cloud, and it will be very dangerous."

"If it is still cold, they will not be thread," noted Maud as she took her spot in the center of the basket, resting a hoof on the resting Twilight. "But crashing into one could be just as bad."

"I can imagine that," agreed Pinkie, sitting beside her sister. "Alright, we're all ready! Let's do this!"

"Pinkie."

Pinkie's ear pricked at Luna's call. "Yep?"

"In these... dark times, I turn to you." She only then actually turned to Pinkie. "Is there some manner of outlandish trick you can accomplish that would see us to safety?"

Pinkie considered that, tapping a hoof on her chin. "Well, not like I wasn't thinking about it, but running through space isn't a trick I got down," she said in a tone that implied she was working on it. "Maud and I will be cheering for you, but this really isn't an earth pony thing. I'll fly the balloon once it's ready go! I have practice at that."

"We will make do with what we have." Luna took a slow deep breath. "Maud, begin."

Maud draw out a flat slate of plastic with a big red button on it. Her hoof came down on it with a click. The ground beneath them jolted as the bombs began to go off. They were nowhere.

Spike could feel the rock receedeeding away, Luna teleporting away from it, taking the balloon and basket and everyone in the basket along with her. He could feel the tension of her effort, trying to haul everycreature as far away from the great rock hurtling through the sky as she could.

He could distantly feel the cloud, the swarm of great rocks like the one they had just 'spoken'(?) to. It got lighter. They were in real space. Spike exhaled, filling the balloon just as it started to deflate, forcing it full of hot air as Pinkie worked on the engine to get it working as well, adding to the heat. "Woo!" called out Pinkie as she twisted a knob. "We're flying, in space. This is still a great place to fly, lemme tell ya." She ducked and yanked a cord as she fell, wrenching the craft to the side to narrowly miss a huge rock sailing past them.

Muad's eyes followed it as it soared away, swirling in a loose orbit around the rock they had just left, receeding slowly, but that slowness was an illusion, a trick of its size. It was moving at quite the speed. "Good luck," she wished her new rocky friends in a calm tone before looking to Pinkie. "Are we alright?"

"We're OK!" Pinkie saluted, working the controls. "Luna?"

But there was no reply. Spike was gently patting the two downed princesses, one of fatigue, one to injuries. "Let's get back to Equestria," he suggested quietly, doing his best to offer comfort to his friends. "At least... the thread's gone, right?"

Maud inclined her head. "Should be."

It was in companionable quiet that they returned home.

Sun poured through the window, and the occupant of the room gazed out onto the sun-touched fields beyond.

A soft knock drew her attention towards the door. "Spike."

"Twi..." He stepped up and set a bunch of flowers down on the bedside little desk. "How are you feeling?"

"Awful." She smiled a little. "But getting better. They say I'll be back on my hooves in a little while." She was quiet a moment, and Spike didn't break the silence. "We did it."

"We... did." He smiled gently. "Not a single sighting of Thread."

She reached for him with a shaking hoof and he grabbed it, pulling it close, soon they were hugging. Well, it was more like she was ready to fall onto him and he supported her, but the intention was clear to both of them. "I'm so proud of you."

"You were just as amazing," assured Spike. "We all did our part... That was... something. I'm..." He helped her right herself back onto the bed properly. "Just glad it's over, that the thread is gone."

"To think it's a sapient species... I'd love to establish communication with them." She smiled wistfully. "It's not meant to be, for now. Could you imagine that? A crippled unicorn hobbling towards them with a clipboard."

Spike snorted a laugh at the mental image. "That does sound like something you'd do... Maybe when you're feeling better."

"Maybe." She sank back onto the bed and closed her eyes. "For now, a little nap feels like just the right thing. Apologize... to... cel..." She faded off without finishing her request.

Spike tucked her in carefully, then scurried from the room. He was fairly sure Twilight was already forgiven for her time away.

22 - Aftermath

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A gathering of foals laughed and played, tumbling over one another as young creatures were prone to doing. Watching over them, one female pony and one male kirin, watching with patient but vigilant eyes. They shared responsibilities, as many other parts of their growing community were shared between the two cultures that had come together.

They were rebuilding, together.

"You had us go through all that effort, and it's over?" He threw a furry hand wide. "Seems like another hair-brained scheme from our favorite trouble-making cat."

"Look, I went with what I had." Capper held up his hands placatingly, taking a step back,just to bump into the front of one of the mayor's guards.

"Which was wrong." He thrust a finger at Capper. "What are we going to do with all these refitted rooves?"

"Enjoy them?" Capper shrugged softly. "Look, the info came from the same ponies that fixed it, good for them, but would you rather be regretting the money you didn't spend from the grave instead of the bit you did while you're alive?"

"I will not be known as a coward." He stormed up on Capper, grabbing him at the collar and yanking him down and forward. "People are already asking questions. The way I see it, you're the reason I did it. I can throw you in front of that carriage, and I wouldn't even be stretching the truth."

"Or! Or..." He gently pushed the incensed skunk away an inch. "You could rise to the occasion."

"Explain, swiftly."

"Take this chance and make it magnanimous. Thank the people who worked fast, talk about community spirit." He raised a brow. "And share pictures of what happened to places that did not come together. Play it big on the town pride."

"Hm..."

Perhaps Capper wouldn't be skinned alive that day.

There would be other reasons and ways to skin that cat.

"What even is the point." The griffon shouldered a stone off its pile. "The whole place is... junk."

Others sighed, for he wasn't entirely wrong. Nothing would grow in the cursed land they called home. It still looked like an alien war scene, and was about as conducive to living in. Gabby landed beside him. "Don't give up!"

"Easy for you to say." He glared at her. "You have that, uh, condition or whatever. You can't even stop smiling."

"Now that's just unfair." She put her hands on her hips. "I'm not smiling right now, mister sour pants. But, seriously, help's coming!"

She was pointing and faces began to look to see what the excitable griffon meant. There, in the sky, a cloud? No, clouds did not flap. It was an entire wing of pegasi carrying a rather-heavy looking cart between them, held up with ropes that went from one to the next. Surprised sounds began to rise as the griffons stood up and started approaching curiously.

The ponies landed lightly, but the ground sunk under the weight. The pegasus at the fore, rainbow hued, stepped forward. "Yo. We need your help."

One of the griffons raised a brow. "Here I thought a moment you were coming for us. Shoulda known better."

"Hey, we both win," Rainbow assured. "Come help us repair the damaged rail, and we'll extend it into the griffon lands. Then we can help feed you and get rebuilding in here. Right now, there's no easy way to reach you, so how do you think we're gonna help." She turned and thumped a hoof on the big wagon. "As a 'token of sincerity', here's some food and supplies. It isn't enough." She turned back to them. "Which is why we need the rail. You in or not?"

"Rainbow Crash," came a mocking tone.

Rainbow darted her entire head to find the source, but her anger gave way to a big smile. "Gilda! You lousy chicken, get over here!" The two met with a firm, if brief, embrace, their verbal barbs apparently forgiven. "You here to help or just make noise?"

"Who says I can't do both?" She reared up onto her hinds and pointed the way forward. "Let's help these ponies help us. Sounds better than pushing a few rocks around in my book. Also give me lunch." She didn't really wait to shove her hand under the tarp and grab some food, chomping as she went off in the direction of where the rails used to be.

Seeing her eat was the trick. Other griffons began to crowd around for their turn at the sustenance, than a new flight started to form as pegasi and griffons took off to begin the reconstruction efforts.

Celestia's carriage lurched a little, the chariot unused to rolling over such a rocky terrain, but she kept her balance as it came to a smooth enough halt. She stepped free, wings unfurled. "I bring good tidings."

Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz came to see their curious guest. Igneous inclined his head. "A curious day when thy ruler graces one's doorstep."

"Quite curious," agreed Cloudy. "What can we do for you, your highness?"

"Have no fear," she started. "Your daughters both have performed a great service, not just for Equestria, but for the world entire. I was told you could not attend the proper ceremony, so I decided to come tell you personally."

Igneous looked just a little confused. "By what ceremony holds such heavy gravity that you would feel the need to inform us so quickly?"

"Maud Pie is now a Royal Petrologist." She made sure to say the title with proper capitalization. That was important. "She will receive a proper stipend to continue her studies, as a doctor of petrology, and her findings will be documented and shared with future generations."

The two began to smile, confusion given way to naked joy as they shared a look. Cloudy stepped forward. "How delightful. Maud was always a curious child, but her aspirations could never be shaken."

"As a tree in tough stone," added Igneous. "She burst free and ever reaches higher. We could not be more proud of her."

Celestia nodded in soft agreement. "Have they informed you? Both Maud and Pinkie can be thanked for ending the thread blight on our world. They're both heroes, even if one of them already wore that mantle."

"I bet their friend was involved," came the acid tone of a Pie sister, Limestone, glaring at the entire gathering.

"Why, yes. Twilight, Spike, and my own sister were also deeply involved. But were it not for the presence of two Pies, their efforts would have been in vain. Every single pony, and dragon, involved was essential for us to finally be safe again." She raised a hoof to her chest. "And I am grateful for them all."

The two parents nodded their head, sharing a sedate moment of satisfaction. Cloudy tipped her head towards Celestia. "We appreciate the kind word, but a letter would have more than sufficed."

"Surely the nation has need of its rightful ruler," agreed Igneous. "Go and return."

Celestia smiled gently at that, being shooed away back to her work. "Very well. Walk with your heads held high. This trip was not in vain." Well, maybe a little vain. She so much enjoyed that brief moment of joy on their faces.

"How're you feeling?" Spike gently set down a get well soon card down amidst others. The room was festooned in many flowers, candies, and other trinkets of well wishes. "Better today?"

"Hello, Spike." Twilight smiled at her friend, her brother, her #1 assistant. "Every day is a bit better." She sat up a little, wincing, but managing to complete the motion to sit up on the bed, her hooves coming down as she assumed an upright position. "I really let myself get banged up."

"You were saving a whole world." He winked softly. "That's as big as we've gone. Twice now."

"Technically, three," she corrected. "Even if one of those times never... happened? Time travel is strange."

"I'll drink to that." He raised a juice box high, one in either hand.

One began to glow as she brought it over, sucking lightly at the straw already poking into it. "Mmm, grape. Thank you, Spike, for visiting me every day."

"As if I'd not?" He slid up onto the bed on his knees. "Twilight, everyone's excited to see you out of here."

"They'll have to wait a little longer," she laughed, reaching a hoof to rest over Spike. "I see their presents."

"Basically everypony in Ponyville," he reported, waving. "And beyond. Everycreature knows who did it, and they've been filling this place up."

"If I felt like candy, I'd not be worried for supplies." She stuck out her tongue faintly before she began to sink, her energy sagging. The juice box came with her, floating along. "How's school?"

"Some of the students are still away, helping their families rebuild." He worried his fingers. "But not a single injury, at the school itself that is." He reached behind his back, scratching lightly. "Classes are back on, Starlight's overseeing them. It's a sort of, uh, half session?"

"I can imagine," she agreed sleepily. "But they're getting along?"

"They're getting along." He gently stroked her shoulder, seeing she was starting to fade. He took the juice box from her magic without material resistance and set it on her bedside desk to retrieve later. "We're on the case. You just take care of yourself right now."

"Thanks, Spike," she barely breathed out, fading from consciousness.

Spike remained there, petting her slowly and gently. She may have been asleep, but he felt he could feel her responding, appreciating his presence. She would relax, she would smile... Even if they weren't together properly, he liked to think he accompanied her in her dreams.

Still, eventually, she was deep asleep, her soft snores filling the room as he slid to his feet. He had things to take care of besides his older sister.

"How's she doin'?!" There was Pinkie, ambushing him right outside the door.

"She's alright," he reported with a smirk, unable to be entirely annoyed at Pinkie's concern. "Just tired. The doctors said--"

"Yeah, I heard," she sighed out. "That's gotta hurt." She raised a hoof to her barrel, feeling along the ribs that had been broken, shattered. "Poor Twilight. If only there was a party for this kinda situation." She tilted her head a bit. "Well, I guess we're having it, actually."

"Huh?" He raised a brow at her.

"We're here, caring, and bringing her nice stuff and that's it. The get-well-soon party!" She threw one hoof up in the air, though no confetti flew. "Not my favorite kind of party, but it's still important, like most parties."

"Yeah." He smiled at that. "Hey, Pinkie. C'mon." He gestured ahead and began to lead her away from Twilight's room. "Let's have a real party."

"You mean it?!"

"I sure do. It's not just Twilight hurting. Everypony else is on pins and needles waiting for her. Let's throw a party in her honor, but also, you know, for all the creatures waiting, so we can--"

"Spike! You are a genius." She slapped down a hoof on either of his shoulders from behind. "I'm on the case! This is gonna be great!" She was gone in a puff of Pinkie-shaped smoke, emboldened with the idea of a party that could help the situation.

Spike smirked, feeling self-pleased. "#1 assistant, who said it was to just one pony." He crossed his arms as he exited the hospital.

He emerged into Ponyville proper, into the changed Equestria, a changed world. Even places, like Ponyville, that had avoided the direct touch of thread, had been impacted indirectly. The world was healing.

But growing together. It was a little happy ending on a time of struggle and loss.

"You comin'?" Feet touched the ground next to him, Ember glaring at him.

"Oh! Right." He rubbed behind his head. "I was just checking--"

"--Yeah, yeah... At least she's still here to... Whatever, let's go." She took his hand and they launched.

They had a dragon's funeral to attend, the loss of one of the great ones. The world would never be quite the same.

Equestria Threadfall

by David Silver

1 - Baleful Red Eye

2 - Threadfall

3 - It Comes in Sheets

4 - Securing Manehatten

5 - A Change of Perspective

6 - A Change of Defenses

7 - The Dragons Know

8 - Reeling

9 - Preparing for the Worst

10 - Red Tape

11 - Taking a Stand

12 - Countless Answers

13 - Here and Now

14 - Collecting Pies

15 - Ascension

16 - Approach

17 - Securing What We Have

18 - The Wind's Howl

19 - Space Cookies

20 - Deepest Corners

21 - Not With Malice

22 - Aftermath