Unknown Disturbance

The moon hung high over the sky, casting its light over the landscape. In the town of Ponyville, the residents were mostly asleep, the streets empty save for one lone, patrolling guard.

Amber Star walked through the barren streets, absolutely bored with her job. In the four months since Discord had appeared and then been beaten back, Celestia had asked that one guard go on to patrol Ponyville, and she had been the only one available. Her job was to, officially, defend the town from any threats. Even though, in the three months she had been doing this, she hadn’t seen anything more than a few ponies going on late-night strolls. Speaking of which, the sound of hoofsteps from around the next corner reached her ears, and she turned the corner, if only to find out who it was.

Ahead of her, Twilight Sparkle was apparently out for a midnight stroll, although for what reason, Amber couldn't fathom. Amber decided to say hello to the resident Element of Magic.

"Hi Twilight!" Amber shouted, causing Twilight to turn around rapidly. She had a breif look of annoyance on her face, a reaction that was priceless to the bored guard. She sighed for a moment, and then looked at Amber.

"Hello Amber. Shouldn't you be patrolling the town?" Twilight asked in annoyance.

Amber shook her head. "No, Twilight. I've been here for a quarter of a year, and nothing has happened, besides from your... Usual adventures, nothing had gone wrong. And especially nothing on the night patrol. So, what are you doing out?"

"Oh, nothing." Twilight absentmindly replied. Amber shook her head. Something was definitely wrong.

"Anything you want to tell me?" Amber asked, hoping for an answer.

Twilight sighed, and then looked at her. "I tried a new spell tonight." She said. Amber raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to go on. She took a deep breath, and then continued. "It was supposed to open a portal between Ponyville and Canterlot, so I could  talk to Celestia, but something else happened. I cast it earlier yesterday, and I felt the energy drain, but nothing appeared. No portal, nothing. So, something came through a portal that I made, and I don't know where either end of the portal is - was, actually. I ended the spell shortly after something went through. So, try to be watchful tonight, ok?" Twilight finished, looking at her with a worried look.

Amber didn't think that there was anything to worry about, but she still needed to check Ponyville for anything wrong. She decided to leave Twilight with her thoughts. Saying a quick goodbye, she unfurled her dark blue wings and took to the air, soaring above the landscape. The moon was starting to dip towards the horizon, heralding the arrival of day. Finding nothing except Twilight in her overview of the town, she dipped downwards and landed in front of her small house.

She opened the door with her wing, walking inside, shedding the guard armor as she went. She hung it up on a stand made for it, and walked over to her bed, jumping on it, ready to rest most of the day away.

Several hours later, however, she was roused from her slumber by a loud knocking on her door. Groaning, she crawled from her bed and opened the door. A panicked-looking Cherilee was standing there, out of breath.

"Amber! Wake up, we need you out here to help organize a search party!" Cherilee said, oblivious to the half-asleep pegasus in front of her, just now waking up.

"What for?" Amber asked, "Did the CMC get lost in the forest again?"

The distraught teacher shook her head. "No, this time it's worse. I was taking our class on a brief field trip into the forest, and we were attacked by a manticore. Before it could hurt us, however, a large creature came in and used some sort of loud magic to kill it! Then it ran off. We need your help to find it, and we already have several guards from Canterlot here to help." She explained rapidly, taking a deep breath at the end.

Amber ran back inside, quickly donning her guard armor. She was going through the situation mentally. A large creature? If Cherilee didn't know what it was, then Amber didn’t know who would. A teacher like her new what everything was, regardless of whether she had seen it before.

She rushed outside, meeting the teacher as they quickly ran towards the center of town. Along the way, Cherilee described what she had seen.

"... It was bipedal, too. At least I think it was. It stood on two legs, and had a strange sort of clothing on which seemed to blend in with the surroundings. The only places not covered by clothing were its face and hooves. It didn't have hooves, either, come to think of it. It had these claws that didn't have the normal spiked end, like they were entirely made of flesh."

Amber didn't recognize what she had heard from any of her guard lectures, so she decided to ask some questions for herself.

"How did it kill the manticore?" Amber asked.

"It had a long stick made of some shiny metal, or at least that's what it looked like. I only got to view it for around five seconds, so sorry if my memory is fuzzy." She explained, "Anyway, the long stick had fire on the end of it, and whenever the fire came out a hole appeared in the manticore, like some sort of very fast arrow. We don't think it was a bow and arrow, so it must have been some sort of magic."

Amber was worried. If it had a long-range bow that could hit them at long range, then they would need to get some unicorns here to help deal with it. Arriving in the town square, she immediately ran in front of four pegasus guards who stood at attention there.

"Ok!" Amber yelled. "You all know what to do, so spread out and search for this creature! If you find it, apprehend it however you can and bring it back here. I will lead the search. Now come on!"

She and the other pegasi took to the air, quickly gaining altitude. They established zones of search, and moved back and forth, searching for anything. Amber thought she saw movement for a moment, but it turned it to be nothing, probably some bushes moving in the breeze.

After six hours, the sun was about to set, and they had still found no sign of the creature. Luna had sent a message stating that she had found the creature's dreams, something only possible in a sentient being, and told the guards that it didn't seem to understand her, and it spoke in a language she had never heard.

Once they landed, she dismissed the rest of the guards, and walked back to her house. If she didn't get sleep now, she was likely to collapse of exhaustion. Not even bothering to remove her armor, she jumped on her bed and quickly drifted off.