The sun hung suspended in a sky that was nearly completely concealed by fluffy white clouds, partially hidden behind a blanket of the stuff , but still managed to spill it's radians down upon the grass in uneven patches of light. A small brightly colored figure stood hesitantly outside of a cottage, her bright green eyes worried as she gazed up at the crowding of darker clouds on the horizon. The sun was surprisingly warm on her wings and back, despite the cold edge to the wind that had been creeping up again, and the contradicting temperatures caused a delicate shiver to run through the length of her bright yellow body, enough that the pale pink hair of her head and tail quivered with the movement. The wind changed direction slightly then, blowing directly into her face, and her nostrils flared To catch the scents It contained. It told her two things... A major storm was headed for Ponyville... And there was absolutely nothing that she could do to stop it. Fluttershy whimpered softly at the thought, dropping her head with disappointment.

Like a cannonball of confetti that had been shot out of a party canon, there was a blur of the brightest of pinks that streaked right for the pegasus, tackling her to the ground with a shrill cry of, "Hi Fluttershy!!" As the dust settled and the blur became a shape, Pinkie Pie could be seen, blue eyes wide with joy, sitting perfectly comfortable on top of the collapsed Fluttershy, Who in turn looked bewildered.

"Umm... Hi Pinkie." The shy pony murmured politely, blinking up at her friend even as she considered how to ask the other to get a off without actually doing so.

"Whatcha pouting about?" Pinky inquired curiously, tilting her head to one side. But before she had the patience to wait for the answer, she began to bounce around so fast that it appeared as if she were in several places at once. "Oooh! Guess what guess what GUESS WHAAAT!" She practically sang, making the last word two syllables.

Getting to her hooves and brushing the dirt off her sides, Fluttershy just managed to shake out the blades of grass that had gotten stuck in her mane when the pink pony quite abruptly tackled her to the ground again. She sighed softly, though the excitement of one of her best friends couldn't help but put a small smile on her face, even if she had to deal with grass in her hair. "What is it Pinky?" She asked patiently, once again managing to get to her hooves as the other began to bounce in circles once more.

And from within her own voluminous mane, Pinkie Pie withdrew a letter and brandished it excitedly. "We got a letter from Twilight!" She squealed, giving the envelope a little wiggle to emphasize her statement.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy gasped. "What does it say?"

"Oh, you know, the usual stuff. She loves us, she misses us, terrible danger, immediate action, something about a top-secret mission." Pinkie rambled off nonchalantly, casually stuffing the letter back into her mane. "Apparently she wants us to come to the castle as soon as we get her message."

"What! Pinkie!" Fluttershy's eyes widened perceptively with surprise, gazing Open mouthed at her friend for a moment before flapping her wings and rising into the air. "We'd better hurry to the castle right away! You really should have told me first thing..." Fretting considerably, the yellow Pegasus turned towards the distant castle, hurrying as fast as she could and hoping with all her might that they weren't late.

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie agreed enthusiastically, hopping after her retreating friend.

Rainbow Dash was taking a nap in a cloud before she felt the wind start to pick up. There was no storm for today. She went down to the ground where Rarity was running towards her. "Twilight needs us at the Castle Rainbow Dash." She said panting from only running about half a mile. Dash knew she was not very good at sports but come on. She laughed as if she was kidding. "Whats going on?" She asked confused. Rarity glared at her. "All I know is that it was very important and we are meeting Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy there." She said fixing her hair as they both nodded and headed right for the castle. They ran as fast as they could hoping they could help out anyway possible. From the storm they could see, it looked like trouble was brewing up somewhere.

BUMP! :( @AutumnFrost

When they finally reached the castle, Fluttershy found that the trip had worn her out somewhat, her breaths slightly heavier. Not altogether surprising, really. She had been forced into flying against the wind, the consequential friction causing her progress to be slowed considerably. Not that she was a strong flier to begin with, but she couldn't help but wonder if their progress would have been faster if she had simply chosen to run... With a soft clop as her hooves made contact with the stone just outside of the open castle doorway, Fluttershy Took a moment to glance over her shoulder and felt her cheeks burn slightly with embarrassment as she saw that Pinkie had had no problem in keeping up with her slow pace, even bouncing as she had been. She released a small sigh, but quickly resolved to put the matter at the back of her mind. It would do no good to worry about it now.

"Fluttershy! Pinkie! I'm so glad that you came!" A familiar voice called, the two ponies instinctively turning towards the sound with smiles. Each set of eyes focused on the purple allicorn, Twilight Sparkle, hurrying towards them, her small dragon companion Spike writing on her back. Following closely behind her was another pony, this one orange and yellow, and was not altogether surprising, Applejack could have easily made it here before either of them with her work strengthened legs. Further back, a few other ponies stood together in a loose group, all of them strangers, but none of them made any advance towards the doors with the princess. Fluttershy wondered silently who they could be, but quickly focused her attention on the more immediate situation instead.

"Twilight! We came as soon as we could. What's going-" She began, but was quickly overridden by a much louder voice as Pinkie jumped in front of her.

what's going on? Is there an emergency? Do you need A super secret party pronto?" The enthusiastic pink pony asked quickly. And as a precaution if the answer to her last question was yes, Pinkie inexplicably produced her ever famous party canon from seemingly know where.

"No, I don't need a party Pinkie..." Twilight responded as patiently as she could, giving her head a shake as she stopped in front of her friends. But the disappointed expression and slightly deflated appearance of the party pony and her hair made her feel slightly guilty. Which was probably why she tacked on, "But maybe you can start planning for a celebration party for after we solve A problem I have." That was enough for the Pie, her expression brightening considerably, hair fluffy once again.

"... And what is that problem?" Fluttershy finally managed to ask politely, appearing anxious.

But Twilight shook her head once again. "I'd rather explain once rarity and Rainbowdash are here." She explained, her own gaze growing slightly anxious as she turned her head to look out through the open doors, as if expecting to see the two ponies walking in at that moment.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity had finally made it. But the diva had complained quite a bit the whole run up there. She knew it was an emergency but she was mad they didn't take the train instead. "We got here much faster than the train would have Rarity...let it go for crying out loud." Rainbow Dash said running up to Twilight. "I am sorry Rainbow Dash, but now my hooves are hurting so bad that I.... Oh Twilight! I have missed you terribly." She said seeing her and running over to hug her. She was excited to see her old friend again. When she became a Princess they haven't seen too much from her. "What do you need our help with? Do we get to kick some bad guys butts?" She asked bucking her hips to get pumped up.

Relief washed through her at the sight of her other friends entering the castle, though Fluttershy couldn't help but let out a slight squeak of terror at the idea of encountering bad guys, as Rainbow had put it. Applejack nudged the yellow Pegasus affectionately, trying to give her comfort.

"I don't know if there are any bad guys..." Twilight admitted after she finished hugging Rarity in return, feeling warm at having her best friends by her side. "But I would like you to investigate something for me." Glancing back over her shoulder, the alicorn gestured for one of the ponies standing apart from the group to approach. "This is Eclipse, he's been helping me in doing research on the strange weather occurrences we've been experiencing."

Eclipse was a solidly built, but rather shy looking, unicorn pony. He was a dark, almost black purple in color, with his mane and tail a deep shade of maroon. His eyes, only a faint hue of maroon lighter than his hair, regarded the newcomers with wary curiosity. The cutie mark on his flank depicted a light blue crescent moon, The points of which nearly touched and cradled a five pointed red star. He came to a stop close to the others, though still keeping his distance somewhat, and Took a quick look at each of their faces before focusing pointedly at his own hooves.

Twilight smiled sympathetically at the unicorn, painfully reminded of Fluttershy when they had first met. She didn't push him to introduce himself. "Eclipse is quite gifted in understanding how spells are structured and has been doing endless research on weather spells performed by unicorns. We're not quite sure if that is what is causing the unusual storms, but it looks like that could be a possibility." Glancing back at her friends, she pointed towards the darkening sky outside. "I would like you four to travel in the direction those storms are coming from to see if you can find the source. There are a few others who would volunteer to accompany you, but I will let you choose who that will be. I would encourage you to pick at least two."

Rainbow Dash was very confused. "How do you think we can stop this with out any magic or your help for that matter?" She said curiously. She was trying to come up with any ideas that came to mind but there was nothing. She could not even figure out if they figure out a plan. They would have to find a great person that really knew information about this kind of stuff. "I...I think Zecora's sister knows a little about this stuff. She just came to town." Rarity spoke up as soon as the thought came to her mind. "She is a Wiccan or some sort of religion that they worship eclipses. She would know how to help them on a spiritual level." She said to Twilight wondering if that would help.

For a moment, Twilight Sparkle looked honestly worried about the idea of sending her friends without her, Gazing up at rainbow as she tried to think of how best to respond to the Pegasus's questions. Nearby, Fluttershy saw her friend's discomfort and moved close to the princess's side, giving her a calming hug. It seemed to do The trick, the alicorn giving her friend a gentle smile for her gesture of kindness.

"I would like nothing more than to come with you all, but I am needed elsewhere." Twilight explained, frowning. "Princess Cadence, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and I are needed elsewhere. Ponies are suffering all over Equestria, It's our duty to go and help them."

Pinkie looked as if she might start whining at any moment, so Applejack stepped in quickly before the volume could go up. "there's no need to worry about Twi. I'll be right there by her side, watchin' her back."
Undaunted, this only prompted the pink pony to shriek shrilly, "WHAT?!"

"Pinkie!" Fluttershy gasped, casting her enthusiastic friend a concerned and slightly chastising glance. "Twilight is A princess. She needs to go and help those who ask for help."

Again, Twilight felt another surge of affection towards the shy Pegasus pony, A small sigh escaping her at the idea of being separated from four of her best friends for an extended amount of time. But, Fluttershy had spoken the truth. She was a princess of Equestria and the ponies needed her help now more than ever. "My asking you to go is not a sign that I wish to be separated from you, but rather, it is my acknowledgment of the confidence I have for your success. I wouldn't trust a job as important as this to any other pony." She smiled around at each of them in turn, trying to project her confidence into each of them, before Rarity made a comment that caused her to look a little confused.

"Zecora has a sister?" Fluttershy gasped with surprise, asking the question that everypony else seem to be wanting to ask. At least, almost everypony.

Pinkie seemed thoroughly unfazed by the information. She brightened, giving her head an excited bob. "Of course she has a sister! I threw her a welcome to Ponyville party as soon as she arrived!"

Blinking away the stunned expression on her face that she was sure that the others shared with her, Twilight couldn't help but give her head a small shake, smiling somewhat. Count on Pinkie to have knowledge about anypony coming to town, whether they wanted her to know or not. "I don't think it would hurt to talk with her. She may have some information to help you."

Rainbow Dash laughed. "Yeah that was another killer party too. Sorry you missed it Twilight." She said smiling brightly at her but than changed her tone forgetting how serious this situation was. "Sorry." She said bowing her head.

Rarity spoke up after R.D. walking up to Twilight. "She is very knowledgeable. I would be willing to ask her with Eclipse and the others. You go head back to help out Equestria. We will not rest until we figure out what is going on around here." She said as she bowed her head smiling up at her dear friend.

Twilight Felt relieved at Rarity's proclamation, trying not to focus on the slight irritation from missing out on one of Pinkie's parties. Ah well, that was all part of being a princess, right? Nodding her head in agreement, she took a step back and looked towards Applejack. "I'm counting on all of you. Good luck." Powerful energy gathered around her horn, The spell building up to an intensity, before there was a flash of brilliant light and the two of them vanished in a teleportation spell.

"Excuse me." Another voice spoke up, the owner The other pony that had been standing with Eclipse. He was another male, Though a Pegasus this time, but was still as darkly colored as the unicorn. Primarily a deep blue in his body, his long mane and tail stood out vividly in a lighter shade of blue, though his eyes were a startling contrast of bright orange. On his right flank, His cutie Mark similarly stood out in a vivid contrast as a pair of white wings creating an almost perfect circle encompassing three falling leaves, two of which were a similar shade of orange while the other was a bright red. He smiled politely as he approached, taking a moment to glance at each of them. "I'm sorry to but in. I am Navystorm. I was hoping I could accompany you into town. You see, I'm one of the other volunteers and I was hoping to get the chance to prove myself before I'm ousted from this little adventure. Would you mind terribly if I tagalong? Who knows, you might end up wanting to take me and my brother along with you."

Looking a little startled and thoroughly embarrassed, which wasn't unusual, Fluttershy shuffled her hooves A little before glancing at the others. "oh, umm... I'm fine if he wants to come with us."

"me too! Why not give him a chance to run the gauntlet?" Pinkie agreed enthusiastically, giving the strangers an intense stare.

Rainbow Dash walked over to the male pegasus unable to look away at first. She blushed bright red and cleared her throat as she looked away. "Umm yeah sure. We will need all the help we can get." She said as she coughed and looked over at Rarity and the other girls.

Rarity smiled at the two males. They were very handsome but now was not the time to think about such matters. "We should go meet up with Anastasia now." She said as she was looking around to figure out the fastest way to ponyvile. "We have a lot of work to do guys." She said as she hoped they could figure out how to stop this.