The hooting was slowly driving Nova insane.

Hoothoot..hoothoot..hoothoot..SCREEE!

The falcon didn't do much to help his mental state, either.

Hoothoot..hoothoot..hoothoo-

"SHUT UP!"

The snowy owls turned their heads at the unipeg stallion, blinking their large yellow eyes at him. Ra, the falcon, just snapped his beak in annoyance, fluffing his feathers at Nova. The unipeg fluffed back, scowling at all the birds.

"Would it kill you all to just /be quiet/ for once? Would it?"

Riptide dive-bombed down from one of the high caverns, shaking her forelock out of her face as she called to Nova.

"They're owls; of course they hoot. You can't blame them for doing what comes naturally."

Nova glared at the falcon, which glared back.

"Well, at least Horus could get that damn falcon to calm down. The stupid thing attacked me this morning."

The mare frowned at Nova, laying her ears back.

"You yelled at him when he was eating, didn't you?"

"He was dragging a chipmunk carcass all around the library. Blood was-"

Riptide cut Nova off as she turned to the falcon, tilting her head at him.

"Aww, poor Horus. You've got to eat, don't you? Don't listen to cranky old Nova. He doesn't understand you, does he?"

Ra screed softly, flapping off his perch and landing on the dark blue mare's shoulder. She grinned at Nova.

"See? If you would be nice to him, he would like you."

"He had chipmunk parts all over the LIBRARY! And the owls are just as bad, if not worse!"

One of the owls clacked its beak at Nova, then hooted to the rest of the group. With a silent flapping of wings, the flock took to the sky, heading for another cavern. At the sight of the other birds leaving, Ra flapped off of Riptide's shoulder, screeching as he followed the flock. Riptide shrugged at the other unipeg.

"Like I said, they're owls. Besides, they are useful. They can carry messages when we can't, and they eat all the chipmunks that keep getting in here."

At the mention of rampant chipmunks, Nova reared onto his hindlegs, looking for any of the aforementioned rodents. Seeing none, he dropped back down onto all fours, flicking an ear back and raising an eyebrow.

"What is it with all these chipmunks, anyway? They've never gotten in here before."

Spitfire trotted into the room, glancing at the pair curiously.

"Do you guys know where the owls are? Those chipmunks are eating my painting supplies again.."

Riptide gestured upwards with her horn.

"They went thataway."

Spitfire nodded, but before she could take to the air, an enraged scream echoed through the caverns. Roughly five seconds later, two chipmunks went flying out of a nearby cavern, shooting through the air like furry bullets. The group stared as both rodents headed towards one of the stone walls. But before they could become splatters, Ra, ever the opportunist dived out of the sky and caught them both, nearly flying into the wall himself. He flew off somewhat unsteadily with his prey, leaving the ponies gapejawed.

"I told you that bird was nuts."

"I give it an 8.6."

"Where's my easel and paints?"

From the cavern that the chipmunks had flown from, Vesper flapped out, ears laid flat against her head. Nova stared at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Vesper, do you know why two chipmunks just-"

"They ate my papers! All of them! There's just little paper pieces now!"

Vesper landed beside the group, stamping a hoof in anger.

"I swear, if I see one more brown, tailless, PAPER EATING rat, I'm going to-"

From one of the high level caverns, there was a soft rumble. It grew slowly but steadily, increasing in volume as something caused the other caverns nearby to shake and send rock and ice splinters flying. Unipegs and the few pegasai that lived at Icestorm Point flew out of the caverns, ducking and weaving between falling shards of stone and ice. The occasional unicorn and earthling galloped out of the lower level caverns, looking for more stable places to hide under. Growing ever louder, the rumbling continued, and finally..a great ball flew out of a high cavern, making it cave in.

It was huge.

It was magnificent, in a twisted sort of way.

It was chipmunks.

The great, now airborne ball was a mass of chipmunks, which had somehow managed to get frozen together, stuck in an icy ball of brown, white, and black fur. Nova was the first to speak.

"Great Rainbow, what the-"

Vesper, Riptide, and Spitfire simultaneously slammed their hooves on Nova's muzzle before he could finish. They all winced as their hooves stomped on each other's, and the stallion made a muffled yell of pain. The giant frozen ball of chipmunk carnage kept on rolling towards the group, who blinked in surprise when they finally realized that the mammoth squeaking mass could in fact kill them. With a flurry of feathers, the unipegs took to the air, joining the rest of Icestorm Point's populace in attempting to avoid being harpooned by pieces of the shaking caverns.

The ball continued to wreck havoc, finally rolling through one of the walls and out into the wilderness surrounding Icestorm Point. Outside, a chipmunk-a skullfaced one at that-paced outside. It was the Chipmunk-Formerly-Known-As-Lord-Fluffypants.

"What could be taking them so long? I've been sending thousands upon thousands of chipmunks in there! No fortress could withstand a plague of rodents that large! There should be death, and chaos, and the entire fortress burning as pony blood covers the snow! You hear me?! FIREY CHIPMUNK DEATH!"

In his ranting, Lord Fluffypants failed to notice the rumbling in the distance. He only noticed it as a huge shadow was suddenly cast across the snow. His skeletal jaw hung loose in disbelief, and his eyes widened as the giant frozen ball of chipmunk carnage rumbled towards him.

WHUMP.

The ball rolled over Lord Fluffypants, getting him stuck in the icy mass of fur. His squeaks of rage echoed across the landscape as the continued rolling along. Meanwhile, back at Icestorm Point, the caverns had stopped shaking debris loose, and all of the ponies were gathered in the main cavern, staring at the massive hole in the wall. There was a long pause. Finally, Spitfire peered out the hole, looking at the nearby pine forest.

"Well, at least now we have an easy way to get the Christmas tree through this year.."