Hello everypony, sorry if this chapter is so long, I just have a lot that had to happen and so it ended up longer than I expected. Also, if you've read my author's bio, then you'll know how I plan to end my final story of the series. And finally, I went back through my story and updated a couple of things in Chapter 1. So be sure to check it out because it might give you another hint as to how I'm going to end my series in the far, far future. Anyway, here's the next exciting chapter, so I hope you guys enjoy.

"…Luna…I…I had no idea," I stammered, shocked at what I just heard.

"It's okay little one, I have learned my lesson and won't take what I have for granted again," the blue alicorn assured me.

"That's not what I meant. It's just that…that your childhood was so sad!" I exclaimed as I wrapped my fore-hooves around her in a hug.

"But it was my doing that made it so," Luna said, looking puzzled before hugging me back.

"I still think it was terrible that you had to go through that!" I declared, releasing Luna and stamping a fore-hoof on the ground.

BANG BANG BANG

We all jumped at a sudden pounding on the door (well, all of us except Luna, who seemed to be used to it). "Princess Luna? Celestia sent me to deliver a message," said a muffled voice. Luna trotted over and opened the door. Standing in the hall was a stallion guard dressed in gold armor. He was a black pegasus with sky blue hooves, feather tips, and eyes. His mane and tail were black and spiky with sky blue points and his cutie mark was a single sword.

"Yes?" Luna answered in a calm tone.

"Princess Celestia requests your presence in the throne room. We have an emergency," the stallion said respectfully as he bowed. He then turned and led Luna out of the study.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Nightshade called out as she dashed after them with Mom and Dad close behind.

"You guys go without me, I'll catch up. There's something I have something I need to do," I shouted to them as I raced back to our tower. I burst through the front door without knocking and caused Snowglider and Sunbeam to jump and scatter their card game everywhere. "Come quickly, there's no time to explain."

"Okay, just let me clean-WOAH!" Snowglider yelled as I grabbed her tail with my teeth and wrapped my fore-legs around Sunbeam before taking off for the castle. We arrived in the throne room to see my family, the princesses, and a ton of guards all yelling over each other (well, the princesses were just listening, everypony else were yelling over each other).

"What's going on?" I shouted to be heard. Nightshade walked over to me.

"There's a dragon spewing smoke all over Equestria and we're trying to think of how to get rid of the smoke," She explained. Just then, the stallion from earlier let out a yowl.

"QUIET! I think I have an idea," he said when the others settled down. I heard Sunbeam gasp behind me when she saw him. "Maybe I could get some weatherponies and Wonderbolts to help me keep the smoke clouds at bay while the rest of you come up with a more solid plan."

"That's a great idea!" Celestia replied, "But you'll need to hurry because the clouds are spreading fast."

"I'm on it," he said before taking to the skies.

"We'll help!" Sunbeam said as she and Snowglider raced after him, I just sighed before following. We had to fly at high speed for a full minute before we finally caught up.

"So where are we going?" I asked, looking over his shoulder at the map he held. He spun around and growled defensively at me.

"Who are you and why are you following me?" he demanded in a gruff voice. Snowglider and Sunbeam stopped behind me.

"I'm Dawnfrost and these are my friends, Sunbeam and Snowglider," I said in defiance, "And we're here to help you." His eyes widened at the mention of my name.

"Princess Dawnfrost! Please forgive me, I had no idea it was you," he said, giving me the best bow he could while flying, "I just haven't had the chance to meet you or your sister yet, so I didn't know what you looked like."

"It's alright, accidents happen," I assured him, "So as I asked earlier, where are we going?" I pointed to his map with a fore-hoof.

"Well, according to the map, Cloudsdale is currently hovering near Fillydelphia," He stated proudly, "So that's where we're heading."

"You do realize that map is of last week, right?" I pointed out. He visibly cringed and groaned.

"Of course it is! Why can't Cloudsdale just stay in one place for longer than a few minutes?" He put his head between his fore-hooves.

"Don't worry, we'll find it," Sunbeam said, wrapping a fore-hoof around his shoulders, "After all, it is a giant, flying city."

"Yeah, a giant, flying city that can sit still for longer than a few minutes," He said drearily, "This is hopeless!"

"Hey, Mr. Shiny Pants! I know you feel like you're lost, but there are plenty of ponies in Equestria we can ask for directions!" Snowglider shouted, poking his flank with a fore-hoof.

"What did you just call me?" He asked with a puzzled look.

"That's not important! Where's the nearest town, village, or city?" Snowglider snapped impatiently.

"Well, we are above a small town called Ponyville," The dark pegasus answered. Snowglider immediately took off, leaving the rest of us puzzled. About a minute later, she returned with a sky blue pegasus in tow. I recognized the pony from the Summer Sun Celebration when I was stuck in the bushes.

"I'm back, and this here is Rainbow Dash," Snowglider explained, "She says she can point us to Cloudsdale, but we'll have to hurry because her friends are going to need her for a mission and they're just about to leave."

"Well then, lead the way," I said cheerfully. With that, we all took off towards the Everfree Forest. Hovering over the fields between Ponyville and the forest was the pegasus city of Cloudsdale.

"Thanks for your help Dash," Sunbeam said kindly.

"No problem," The blue pegasus said quickly, then turned to me, "Aren't you that pony that was messing around in the bushes at the celebration?"

"Yeah, that was me," I said feeling my cheeks heat up.

"I thought so. Well, I should probably get going," Rainbow Dash said before dashing off (sorry for the pun).

"Alrighty then. Let's go get some weatherponies!" The black pegasus yowled, "Split up and regroup in the fields below the city."

"You got it Shiny Pants," Snowglider said before racing off. The rest of us split up and went to gather our group of weatherponies. After we all arrived in the fields, we had 20 Wonderbolts and 30 other pegasi. I yowled to get the crowd's attention.

"Alright, everypony listen up! As you all have heard, there is a dragon spreading smoke across Equestria! Our job is to hold back that smoke until Celestia can find a way to get the dragon to leave! Do you all understand?" I shouted to be heard. Everypony just nodded. "Good, then let's go!" At that, we all took flight and charged towards the smog.

"For Harmony!" I cried as we heroically dived into the clouds.

"YAAAAAH!" Snowglider yowled behind me.

"For Equestria!" Sunbeam exclaimed as she dived in with the pegasus guard. I started blasting at the smoke with my magic, but I barely made a dent in the thick smog.

"HEE-YAH!" I cried as I used my charge attack on a bigger cloud, causing it to explode (I'm thinking about calling the move a fury jab but can't decide if that sounds good or not). I then twisted to dodge a Wonderbolt and hit another cloud with a charge attack before slicing some more with a beam of magic.

I was about to jab another when I got an idea, I flew above the smoke and used my magic to create a bubble around the smoke. I felt drained almost immediately and almost fell out of the sky. I struggled to hold the shield and stay airborne, and was about to collapse when the strain lessened.

"I hope you didn't think we'd leave you to do this alone now, did you?" A calm voice sounded behind me. I turned around to see Celestia, Luna, and…

"Shay! You came to help!" I cried, happily wrapping my fore-legs around her in a hug, also making sure I didn't block her wings.

"Of course I did. Why wouldn't I help my sister?" She replied, returning the hug. We released each other and returned our combined magic back to holding the shield, but even with four alicorns, we were unable to hold the smoke back for very long and finally, we had to drop the shield or risk falling from the sky. Suddenly, a huge dragon burst through the smoke and flew off, its wings blasting the smoke away.

"Hurray! We did it!" Sunbeam cheered as she crushed the black pegasus guard in a hug. Everypony let out cheers as we all landed back in the fields below Cloudsdale. As I looked around, I spotted Celestia and Luna and walked over to them.

"Hi Celestia. Hi Luna, thanks for the help," I said politely.

"You're welcome Dawn," Luna answered, "It's nice to get out of the castle once in a while, even if this wasn't what I had in mind." We all just laughed before Celestia and Luna told me they would see me back at the castle and flew off.

"Hey Dawn! Why don't you join us?" Nightshade called over to me. I noticed that everypony seemed relatively clean after flying around in the smoke. Hmm…must have been when the dragon flew off, I thought, it must've also blasted their coats clean too.

"We should probably get heading home," I replied.

"Alright, I'll go get your friends," She said before darting off.

"Sounds good," I responded as I turned and ran right into the guard from earlier, "Oop, sorry."

"It's alright, I was just coming to say thanks for the help," He said in a kindish voice.

"You're welcome," I replied, "Wait, I don't think I ever got your name."

"It's Nightblade," He said proudly.

"That's a lovely name," I complimented him.

"Thank you," He beamed.

"You're welcome," I told him kindly.

"Well, I should probably get back to the castle," He turned to leave, "Bye Dawn."

"Wait!" I called and he stopped, "How about you join me and me friends? We have plenty of spare rooms in the tower, and I think Sunbeam would be super happy if you say yes." I noticed the yellow pegasus hiding in some bushes behind him.

"Uh…" He looked at me in surprise, "I-I'd love too! Who wouldn't want to be friends with a princess?"

"YIPEE!" Sunbeam squealed in delight as she burst out of the bushes, causing Nightblade to jump. When Sunbeam noticed us staring at her, she blushed and looked away.

"See? I told you she would be happy," I stated, causing us all to burst out laughing.

"Hey! Mr. Shiny Pants! Sunny! Mrs. Covered-in-Soot! Are you all ready to go yet?" Snowglider shouted as she appeared above us with Nightshade following behind her.

"Snowy, first of all, his name is Nightblade, and second, what do you mean 'covered in soot'?" I scolded her, a little annoyed.

"I mean, you're covered in grey soot," She retorted smugly. I looked down to see that she was right, my fur was grey with soot.

"Well, it looks like we need to get home so I can stop pretending to be Shay," I groaned, everypony else just laughed.

"Sounds good to me," Snowglider replied, and we all started the long walk back to Canterlot since we were all too tired to fly anymore that day…

That's all for this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it! Also, if anypony has a good name for Dawn's charge attack, I open to suggestions. 'Cuz I can't think of anything for it. Sorry if this chapter was a bit long though, there was just a lot that I had to develop and have happen here, so it got really long but not long enough to split in two. Anyway, as a consequence the next chapter ended up being kind of short so I'm sorry if it feels kind of boring, because it's going to be part 1 of: The Backstory Special! Where all of the other characters share their backstories so you can get an idea on how they got to where they are now.

So remember to let me know what you think, and I'll see all of you guys in the next chapter!