[Silver]

“Midnight, midnight!” Sunrise came crashing into the library with a highly concerned look in her bright green eyes. She was greeted with the sight of Midnight pouring over a small mountain of books. “Did you see…?”

“Help me go through these books,” Midnight said, not even allowing Sunrise to finish her sentence. She was visibly concerned as well as she frantically flipped through page after page. “Take this one, ‘Weird Weather.’ I’m going through ‘Stars and Symbols’ to see if it has anything to do with that meteor shower last week.”

[Whisper Forest please!]

[Silver]

Sunrise looked taken aback at first. She had raced over here to inform Midnight of what was going on, but she already had it handled! She was going through all of her books to see if she could find any information already. Man, she was always late to this kind of stuff.

She let out a relieved sigh and used her magic to float over the weird weather book Midnight recommended. She plopped down on a beanbag and got to reading. Mist, fog, clouds… nothing about a sparkling black entity.

“I’m not finding anything,” Sunrise said after tossing the book aside and grabbing another.

[Silver]

“Hmm, me either.” Midnight had already formed a huge stack of books next to her that she had gone through to look for any clues on the ominous fog that had appeared at the edge of the Everfree Forest.

“What do you think we should do?” Sunrise asked, rubbing her face with her hoof.

“I’m not sure,” Midnight mused. She was doing everything she could to remain calm in the face of adversity. Having her friend nearby definitely helped her keep her composure.

Just as they were deciding what to do next, a pegasus crashed through the open window and into the growing pile of unhelpful books.

[Silver]

Of course it was none other than their friend Prism. “You guys! Are you seeing this? Come outside!”

“We know, we know,” Midnight said, trying to calm her down.

“Well what are you doing in here then! Let’s go and check it out!”

“We were trying to see what we could learn from these books first,” Sunrise explained.

“Ugh, eggheads. Let’s go! We can take it. Whatever it is.”

“Um, guys? Guys?” A tiny little voice followed a soft yellow pegasus as she floated in through the same open window Prism had crashed through. Nobody seemed to notice her, however.

[Silver]

“I don’t think we should try to fight it without finding out what it is first,” Midnight said sternly.

“Um, excuse me,” Whisper tried again to get her friends’ attention. This time she was interrupted by yet another pony crashing into the library, this time through the front door.

“Oh my gosh, are you guys seeing this? It’s so pretty! It’s like space cotton candy! I bet it’s delicious…” Magenta hopped around the room as she spoke.

“Don’t eat it!” Midnight warned harshly. “We don’t even know what it is!”

[Silver]

Magenta deflated slightly, obviously not happy with Midnight’s scolding. What a party pooper! It would probably be fine. What were they all so worried about? This was supposed to be fun, but everyone seemed so tense!

Sunrise’s head was spinning. There were too many ponies running around and all talking at the same time. It was too much! How did anyone do any thinking around here? She was amazed that Midnight was able to put up with all of this so calmly.

“Quiet!” she shouted. Accompanying her shout was a burst of magic that forced everyone to be silent whether they wanted to or not.

[Silver]

As the spell went off, the wave of magic hit another pony who was just walking into the door. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. The orange pony tilted her head and tapped herself on the face. Was everything okay? Why was it so quiet? Oh gosh, were her ears working? She rubbed her ears, trying to make them produce sound.

“I’m sorry Cider,” Sunrise said. She dropped the spell and everyone took a deep breath at the same time. “I’m sorry everypony. I just got a little overwhelmed.”

“Maybe we can take turns talking,” Midnight suggested. She trotted over to Sunrise and patted her on the back.

[Silver]

As if on cue, Inspire pranced into the library, nearly crashing into Cider’s butt as she got through the doorway. “Oh good, you’re all here,” she said cheerfully. “Now what are we going to do about this tacky fog?”

Sunrise burst out laughing followed by everypony else in the library. Everything was so crazy for a minute, then Inspire just skipped in without a care in the world and shattered the tension. She looked confused as to why everyone was laughing. Was it her hair? She pulled a mirror out of nowhere to take a peek at her mane.

[Silver]

“Ya look fine,” Cider said rolling her eyes. She was a bit surprised that a sound actually came out of her mouth. “I think they’re just relieved to see ya.”

“Oh, of course,” Inspire said. She blushed slightly and quickly put her mirror away.

“Hey, um, you guys.” Whisper tried again to get the attention of her distractible friends.

“What is it darling?” Inspire asked.

“My sweet little bunny ran right into the foggy misty stuff! I think we need to help him.”

“Now why didn’t you say that earlier?” Prism asked. She zipped toward the front door, sending a blast of wind right into Inspire’s face. It blew her mane out of place, and she glared quite pointedly at Prism.

[Silver]

“Prism, wait,” Midnight shouted. Everyone was starting to get riled up again as soon as they had all calmed down. Maybe a mysterious side effect of this weird fog was to make everyone act crazy. Sort of like someone she knew, actually…

“We can’t just go crashing in without a plan, Prism,” Sunrise said, finishing Midnight’s thought for her. Sometimes it was freaky how much the two of them thought alike.

“So what are we gonna do? Just sit around and read more books?” Prism scoffed.

Meanwhile Inspire was fussing with her mane again, ignoring the conundrum at hand. She could hardly believe that Prism just destroyed her styling so flippantly. Well, maybe it wasn’t that hard to believe after all. It’s not like Prism kept her own hair neat and tidy, either.

[Silver]

“Did ya learn anythin’ in any of these books?” Cider asked.

Midnight shook her head. Unfortunately, not a single book in her vast library had anything to say about strange sparkling mist. “There isn’t anything in any of the books about weather or magical anomalies,” Midnight confirmed.

“I’ve never heard of anything like it,” Sunrise added. She had a lot of experience studying in the libraries of Canterlot, but she had never come across something like this.

“Well, except that one time,” Magenta added in. Everyone looked at her quizzically. Was there something she knew that they didn’t?

[Silver]

“Don’t you remember?” she hopped up on a table and stood on her hind legs for dramatic effect. She wiggled her front hooves in a ‘spooky’ motion. “Spooky sparkling mist, made everything it touched all crazy, the first time we all met…”

“That’s right!” Prism exclaimed. She remembered being tricked by the mist very well. Not often did someone get one over on her.

“Oh yes,” Inspire looked at her tail. It had grown back beautifully, but she had to wear it short for some time after that incident.

“Ya don’t think…” Cider said, looking somber. “Ya don’t think she could be back, do ya?”

[Silver]

Sunrise was becoming visibly flustered again. She had no idea what they were all talking about. Honestly, this happened way too often for her comfort. A stiff and sudden reminder that she hadn’t been friends with them for very long. It made her feel like an outcast.

“I sure hope not,” Whisper shivered. She really didn’t want to go through all of that stuff again, but she would if it meant her bunny Precious would be safe.

“A long time ago, when we all first met, we were attacked by a strange sparkling mist,” Midnight explained. “It turned out to lead us to Nightmare and the Elements. I don’t know if they’re related, but it’s the closest guess anyone has had so far.”

[Silver]

“Wasn’t it just Nightmare’s magic?” Inspire mused. “We can go ask her what’s going on.”

“That’s a great idea,” Midnight nodded.

“We’ll have to keep our guard up,” Prism suggested. “We don’t know if she’s gone all evil again.”

“I don’t think the Princess would do that,” Whisper said quietly. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.

“I agree with Prism, I think we should proceed with caution. Even if it’s not the Princess, something coulda happened to her,” said Cider.

“W-what about Precious?” Whisper asked. She really didn’t want to be a burden on her friends, but she also didn’t want to abandon her pet alone in the mist.

[Silver]

“Oh right,” Prism said, rubbing her face with her hoof. That stupid bunny had thrown a loop into things again. He was really good at that.

“What if we go in, grab Precious, take some notes and maybe a sample, then go visit Princess Astra?” Sunrise had been trying to put everything together while everyone else was talking.

“That’s a great idea,” said Inspire.

“Count me in!” Magenta bounced over to the middle of the room and held out her hoof.

“Me too!” Everyone chimed in at once, each of them grabbing Magenta’s hoof in the middle.