My Little Pony: Adventures in Tyria.

Chapters

Magical and Cooking Failures
Enter the Zebra
Exposition!
Charr in Equestria
To catch a monster
The Stare!!!
Rebellion and Fluttermac
Diplomacy and Hunting
The monster is caught.
Lunar Arrival
Aidan, Eve, Luna.
Applebloom's Party
Cancelled

Magical and Cooking Failures

My Little Pony: Adventures in Tyria.
Chapter 1

“Twilight... Wake up Twilight.” A voice speaks, seemingly from everywhere as Twilight Sparkle starts to wake up. She feels two little scaly claws on her hair as she gets rocked side to side, causing her to jolt awake.

“Huh? Oh, good morning Spike.” Responds Twilight, as she clumsily gets out of bed and fumbles her way over to her wardrobe to get her hairbrush as she looks at her calendar, seeing that Applebloom’s birthday is today. She puts the hairbrush down and turns to Spike. “What’s for breakfast?”

“I got you a muffin from Sugarcube Corner, with some daisies sprinkled on top. As I am your number one assistant, I knew it was your favorite.” Spike answers. “Also, there is a letter from Celestia on the table for you. It came in right before I woke you up.”

Yawning, Twilight walks over to the table. “Thanks. What would I do without you?” She sits down on her rump and starts to eating her muffin. Upon finishing Twilight opens the letter. “To my most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, I regret to inform you that, once again, I need your help. There has been a trend of anomalies, magical in nature, appearing all over Equestria and in some of the other bordering nations. I am too busy dealing with some political issues with our bordering state of Gildegale, they seem to blame the unicorns of Equestria for the anomalies and I need make sure this fiasco doesn't result in conflict, and so I cannot attend to the problem myself. Please meet me in Canterlot at your soonest convenience. Sincerely, Princess Celestia.” Twilight puts down the letter

“Magical Anomalies? What does she mean by that Twilight?” Spike asks.

“I don’t know, but it can’t be good. Spike, can you please tell Pinkie Pie that I will not be able to attend her birthday party for Applebloom today, as I have to meet with the Princess?”

“Of course Twilight, but are you sure you don’t want me to come along?”

“It’ll be fine Spike, I have been looking for an excuse to try out a very powerful teleportation spell I have been working on. It is used for extremely long distances, which I have never doe before. I think I am ready to teleport to Canterlot now.”

Spike starts walking towards the door of the Library. “Alright. I’ll go see Pinkie Pie now. Bye Twilight.”

As Spike closes the door, Twilight closes her eyes. “Okay... Let’s see if I can do this. Focus on Canterlot Castle. I need to see myself inside the throne room of Canterlot Castle... I am there, I am there.” Twilight mutters, preparing to teleport herself. She pictures the grand visage of the ivory tower that she once stayed in, she hears the fizzling noise, not unlike that of a bottle of soda-pop opening, that goes along with teleportation. She can smell the scents of the castle, the flowers, and the fresh air. Her horn starts to glow extremely bright. A large magenta flash, accompanied by a loud bang marks the teleportation going off. Twilight collapses to the ground, unable to focus on anything as she struggles not to faint, but to no avail.

Just before blacking out, Twilight hears a familiar voice. “Oh... well this isn’t good.”

Whilst whistling Love is in Bloom Spike arrives at Sugarcube Corner. Just before he knocks on the door he hears a loud crash and an almost ear piercing shout from within. “Aaaaaaahhh! Get it off! Get it off! It’s horrible!”

“Huh? That sounded like... Rarity!” Spike gasps, as he barges through the door. He looks around frantically, and sees a few shadows in the kitchen. While rushing to the kitchen he hears Pinkie Pie laughing hysterically. The scene he sees upon entering the kitchen almost makes him burst out laughing too. Rarity, Sweetie Bell, and Pinkie Pie are standing, well Rarity and Sweetie Bell are, Pinkie Pie is rolling on the floor laughing, in the kitchen. The kitchen is in a sorry state of affair, food supplies are scattered all over the place, the oven is open, radiating heat even though the it’s off. The black lumps on the table resemble cupcakes, but Spike isn’t sure.

“Ha! Ha ha he he! It-Sweetie Bell! That... Was..... HILARIOUS!!! Ha ha ha ha!” Pinkie pie manages to get out, in between fits of laughter. The cause for Pinkies laughter becomes evident upon looking at Rarity. There is a large cooking bowl on top of her head, the cupcake dough, having fallen out of the bowl, is all over Rarity, coating her face and mane, along with splotches here and there all over her body.

“My Mane! Sweetie Bell, you ruined my mane!!! It’s completely ruined, its terrible, awful, disgusting!” Rarity shouts, before running out of the kitchen, sobbing.

Sweetie Bell, looking at her flank, shows a sign of sadness at not seeing a cutie mark. “Aaawww, I guess baking isn’t my special talent either... Oh hi Spike!”

Pinkie Pie perks up at his name. “Spike? Oh hi! What are you doing here?”

“Oh... Uhm, hello. Twilight told me to come over. She wanted to let you know that she won’t be able to make it to the party tonight.”

Pinkie Pie sits down on her rump. “Aaaaaaawwwww, why not?!”

“She got an urgent letter from Princess Celestia and she had to head to Canterlot as soon as she could.”

“Oh... Alright, I understand. Whatever the princess wants must be important. Oh! I know! Maybe Celestia can come to the party too if theirs time! I can give her some of my cupcakes!”

“I... I don’t think that’s necessary Pinkie Pie.” Spike responds, gazing over at the burnt lumps on the table. “But I can still come.”

“Fiiiiiiiiine! Well, at least you can come. It’s not a party without you! Well, it IS still a party, a parties a party is a party, even if it’s just one pony, but the more ponies, or dragons, their are the partier the party is!”
Not sure how to respond, once again, to Pinkie Pie, Spike merely nods, says thanks, and leaves Sugarcube Corner in a rush, turning down the way to Rarity's boutique.

End of Chapter 1

Enter the Zebra

Chapter Two

Meanwhile - shortly after Twilight teleported to Canterlot - Zecora is working on a love potion, when she hears a knock on her door.

“Now, who could that be, seeking to find me?” Zecora asks herself as she opens the door. Standing in front of her is a grey pegasus, with a mail bag slung over her crest and back, however the thing about her that sticks out the most are her eyes. Those amber eyes, looking off in two places at the same time. While one was looking at the Zecora, the other seemed to just slowly wander off, and move on its own accord.

“Greetings, Derpy Hooves, to what do I owe this meeting?” Zecora asks the mail pony in front of her. Despite her casual appearance she always keeps up, Zecora finds Derpy Hoove’s eyes a little unsettling.

Derpy Hooves, reaching for her mail bag with her mouth responds “Zecora? I’ve never actually seen you before. I’ve always wanted to apologies for how we treated you before Twilight Sparkle made all of us realize there was nothing wrong with you. Anywaysh, I haf a letter fo’ you.” The last part being said with the letter in her mouth. “Here you go. Have a good day!”

Zecora watches the strange pegasus fly off, back to Ponyville. Only after she is out of sight does Zecora lean her head down and pick up the letter between her teeth. She walks back into her house, closing the door with her back hoof, and sets the letter on her table.

“Now, who could this be from? Somepony back home maybe?” Zecora opens the letter, manipulating the letter opener with her mouth and then unfolding it with her hooves. Dear Zecora. Hi! It’s me Pinky Pie! I would have come to see you myself but I have a LOT of planning for the party tonight. It is Appleblooms birthday, and she is really hoping you will come! I hope you will come even more. You will be the first zebra to come to one of my parties. Which is also a reason to have a party. So the party will be doubly big!

“So, little Applebloom wishes for me to arrive at her party. I shall not disappoint, so long as I survive the journey. The forest has been acting up again, and if I am not careful, I will be sorry. What shall I get little Applebloom for her birthday, however, is one mystery I must solve, soon, I say.” And with that, Zecora leaves her hut, in search of something that Applebloom would like. After about a few hours of searching, Zecora hears a strange noise off in the distance. It sounds like somepony quietly ripping paper, but would not stop, surrounded by the sound of water being stirred.

“Hmm, what is that sound? It is unlike any I have heard before, I am bound to find out if I keep following this path. If it is what has been causing so much trouble in this forest, it may see my wrath.” Zecora cautiously moves closer to the source of the strange noise. As she gets closer to it, the noise gets louder. Only when the noise is almost deafening does she find its source. Her eyes widen at the sight in front of her “What is this thing, before my eyes. I would be wise to flee, I must study up on this thing, so that I can solve this mystery.” And with that Zecora gallops back to her house in the woods. Deciding to make something for Applebloom instead.

As Twilight Sparkle comes to, she realizes that she is laying on a bed, with light covers splayed over her body. Trying to think back to what happened, she remembers trying to teleport to Canterlot, and a voice, then nothing.
Why did I even try that? I should have known I still wasn't powerf-her thought is interrupted by a serene voice talking over her.

“Twilight Sparkle. That was a very good attempt at teleportation. I am surprised at how far you have come. Although, next time it may be easier just to get transport here.” As Twilight slowly opens her eyes, she sees the graceful figure of her mentor, Princess Celestia, looming over her.

“Princess! But... How? Where am I?” Twilight manages to say, but goes quiet as Celestia raises a hoof for silence.
“Quiet. You are in my personal quarters Twilight. I must say, I am impressed that you got as far as you did with your teleportation. But you overexerted yourself. Your body could not cope with the energy needed for the teleport and you fainted.” The Princess explains.

“How, how far did I get?” Asked Twilight.

“My sister found you in the Canterlot Gardens. She said she saw a flash while up in her tower, and came down to where she saw it. And there you were, laying on the ground.”

“Your sister, you mean Princess Luna? Where is she now?”

Motioning to a place on a nightstand next to Twilight, Princess Celestia said “After she brought you to me, she returned back to her tower. She is still trying to get a hang of today’s politics. It is very different than how it was one thousand years ago, as you can imagine. Now ssshhh. You need to regain your strength. I had the castle chefs cook you up some food for when you came too.” On the plate that Celestia motioned to was a sandwich, with freshly cut grass, between two pieces of rye bread, and some hay fries on the side.

“Thank you princess, but what was so urgent that you needed me to come immediately?” Twilight inquires, between bites of her sandwich. “You mentioned something about some sort of magical anomalies, but that was it.

“Yes, I did. But even that is not as important as you regaining your strength. You are my star pupil and protege, and right now you need your rest. We can talk tomorrow.” Princess Celestia then leaves the room and, knowing her protege and her innate curiousness, magically locks the door behind her, to assure that Twilight would get the rest she needs.

Somewhere, two weeks before Twilight Sparkle was called to see Princess Celestia, in a world very different from Equestria, a battle was ending. Between the champions of the mortal races of Tyria, being led by a brave human, and the harbingers of destruction, known only as the destroyers. The battle was culminating into a great fight against the human and his companions, against the destroyer’s leader, known only as The Great Destroyer. It had taken the lives of countless humans, norn, dwarves, charr, and asura but finally, it would all be over.

With a prayer to Balthazar, the god of war, the priest turned leader, Mehnlo, struck down The Great Destroyer, it’s death resulted in the destruction of all of it’s spawn. The war for survival, was finally over. A great celebration was held, to honor the heroes of the day, Mehnlo, Cynn, Devona, Aidan, Eve, Gwen, Jora, Pyre Fierceshot, Ogden Stonehealer, and Vekk.

Unbeknownst to all of them, however was that the death of The Great Destroyer had repercussions felt all across their world, Tyria. And the figurative wall, that separated it from other worlds - already extremely stressed from other events - finally started to break down.

End of Chapter Two.

Exposition!

Chapter Three

Mehnlo awoke, sweating, it was that same dream. He looks over to see Cynn sleeping on their bed. He smiles, thinking that despite the fact that he and Cynn were almost polar opposites, where he was always cautious, and analytical of every situation, Cynn was headstrong and impulsive he and her were still able to be lovers. It felt like only yesterday that he started returning her feelings for him, although he knew it wasn't, even though he had known of them for a while.

He slowly got out of bed and went out to the balcony thinking about his dream. He has had that same dream since a week after The Great Destroyer had been defeated, at first he assumed it was just a dream, but, upon having it so many nights in a row, and even a few times during the day, as a vision, he now realizes that it is more than just a dream, it's a message.

He isn’t sure which god it is from, Balthazar or Dwayna, a problem he has had over his lifetime, due to devoting his life to two deities, he never knows when to put his faith in Balthazar, the god of war, or Dwayna, the goddess of compassion. The meaning, however, was clear. A great foe had been defeated, no doubt The Great Destroyer, but its destruction has upset the balance of the world. Something is going to happen, soon.

The worlds ley lines have been disturbed, causing small natural disasters to occur. Just yesterday he got message from a courier that an earthquake has shattered a portion of the Ascalonian Great Wall, while King Adlebern of Ascalon believes it was some sort of Charr sabotage, Mehnlo knows better. The portion of the wall was built over the same ley line as Nolani Acadamy, the once great school of magic, now in ruins due to the damned Charr. A tsunami hit the capital of Kryta, Lions Arch, with three deaths and twelve wounded. The main volcano on the Ring of Fire Island Chain erupted, luckily that disaster was mostly averted due to Cynn and Mehnlo having been there at the time to make sure the Titans prison was not weakened due to the recent turmoil, and Cynn, being among one of the strongest fire elementalists in all of Tyria was able to, for the most part, direct the lava straight into the ocean, and keep the majority of the ash from going into the atmosphere. However, the most disturbing is the news of the gigantic sink hole that completely caved in, taking almost all of Doomlore Shrine, the capital of the new Charr nation. The death toll was fairly high, although it was mainly Norn and Human, as the Charr themselves have become mostly nomadic after the overthrow of their shamans and use Doomlore Shrine as a gathering place once a month.

All of these disasters, happening in such a small timeframe could not be mere coincidences. Mehnlo knows that it has to do with the defeat of The Great Destroyer, but the dreams reveal even more. They hint that there may in fact be worlds beyond theirs. That the barrier that separates them is weakening. He remembers having similar dreams in the past. They started with the defeat of the lich lord, Vizier Khilbron. The large amount of titans he was able to release before his defeat served as the first push against this barrier. However, the dreams stopped shortly after they started, and Mehnlo assumed that the problem had fixed itself.

Three months later, after his return to Cantha, and the death of his mentor, Master Togo at the hands of Shiro Tagachi, which brought Shiro back from the realm of the dead, seemed to have acted to weaken the wall even further, as Mehnlo started having the dreams again. Even though Shiro was defeated by Nika, with the help of Mehnlo and those who followed him, the damage was done, while these dreamed worried Mehnlo, he did not have time to think about them.
Even though Shiro Tagachi was defeated, Cantha was still in need of help and Mehnlo focused his efforts on acting as a mediator between the rivaling factions, the Kurzicks and Luxons, along with defeating the remnants of the Afflicted, Shiro Tagachi’s unholy soldiers. These dreams, like the others did not last long.

Despite what Mehnlo and his companions may have wanted, the world needed him once again, and they set off to Elona, to stop the old god Abbadon. Mehnlo, taking up the call once again led his friends and companions against Abbadon and his minions, taking the fight to where the true gods imprisoned him, The Realm of Madness, where after a great fight, and the loss of Kormir, leader of the Sunspears, the old god was destroyed. Once again, the dreams returned. Mehnlo started to get worried. He realized that something was wrong, and that the death of Abbadon, despite how much it was needed, had caused a crack in what he saw as the fabric of reality. Because he had no idea what it meant, or how to deal with it, he decided he would return to his childhood home of Serenity Temple and pray to Balthazar and Dwayna, looking for answers. He never made it. He got caught up once again in saving the world, this time from The Destroyers.
Now, he is once again suffering the same dreams, but now he knows exactly what they mean. He knows he must find a way to stop it before anything worse happens. But how? With a sigh, Mehnlo goes back to his bed, and gets in with Cynn, where he lays, awake, until morning.

“Alright, I’m here. Now, what was so important that you had to drag me all of the way to the middle of no where, Aidan?” An extremely pale girl, a few years younger than him, stands before Aidan, with an impatient look of annoyance on her face. While she’s used to treks out into the wilderness, Aidan had interrupted her during one of her experiments with a couple of dead Charr. He had said he found something while on a hunt that he could not explain, and needed a magic user to explain it. Despite the stereotype that Necromancers were uncaring people who could care less about what others want, Eve followed him. After the first hour of wandering she was starting to regret it, she wasn’t dressed for this.
Motioning for Eve to be quite Aidan points off into the distance. “Listen. Do you hear that?” Eve closes her mouth and strains her hearing. She does hear something. It sounds like someone quietly ripping paper, along with the sound of a whirlpool like thing.

“What... Is that?” Eve asks, now extremely curious as to what could be making that noise.

Maybe it is a new creature? Oh! I hope so, I would love to see what sort of undead it could make! A voice in her head, that she knows as Adam says.

Looking down at the skull clipped to her belt, Eve quietly responds. “Quiet Adam, I’ll see what it is before I do anything like that... However, it would be nice to finally be able to experiment on something other than Charr...”

Aidan looks at his eccentric friend and shakes his head disapprovingly. He’s tried to tell Eve that Adam is not real and that it is just a skull, but she refuses to listen to him. He starts to move closer to the noise, with Eve close behind. After about four more minutes of walking through the woods, they see it. Having been the one to discover, Aidan knows what to look for, but it takes Eve a moment to see what he is pointing at. However she quickly notices a distortion when looking at the tree that Aidan is to be pointing at. As she focuses on looking at the distortion, as opposed to the tree, she sees very dim lights that seem to be floating around the area. The noise she has been hearing is now almost deafening, and yet she is still able to hear Aidan talking to her as clearly as always.

“I found this while hunting a White Tail. I have no idea what it is, although I believe it is magical in nature, which is why I came to find you. I was hoping you would know.” Aidan looks at the distortion again, completely perplexed. Show him a sample of flora from Tyria, and he can identify in less than a minute, fauna in ten seconds flat. Yet this... thing has him stumped.

“Well, you are right that it is magical in nature. It is also on one of the lesser ley lines, which might explain it. I remember getting a missive from Mehnlo two days ago saying that the defeat of The Great Destroyer had caused some sort of disruption across the ley lines, and was wondering if I could help find information about it.” Eve quickly cast a Well of the Profane spell, using the life force of the tree right behind the distortion, causing its bark and leaves to fall off, as the tree shrivels up and dies right before their eyes, to power her unholy spell. Aidan feels a shiver run down his spine. He knows that, no matter how unholy their magic may be, and no matter the price of the spell, that necromancers were not the crazed evil spell casters that many people see them as, or at least not all of them are. Even so, Eve’s spells almost always disturb him.

“Well, thats not supposed to happen. The well should have canceled out any sort of magical effects, not... whatever is happening.” Aidan looks back towards the spell, and sees what she is talking about. Not only was the distortion still there, it seemed to slowly get bigger as the magic from the well surrounded it. At first this confuses Aide, until Eve counters the effects of the well, causing the distortion to stop growing.

“That thing! It was feeding off of your spell!” Aidan exclaims, unnerved and worried about what the distortion is.

Letting out a quizzical hum, Eve agrees with Aidan, however one can never be too sure. “I think your right Aidan. Although... Just to be sure” Eve takes a small scalpel that she keeps on her at all times, and quickly slits her thumb, she then draws out a few drops of blood before closing the cut back up. Using the blood as a reagent, she closes her eyes, puts her hands forward and summons a swarm of what looks like small black bats that seem to fly out from her hands. The bats fly towards the distortion, and disappear as they fly through the area it is in. As each bat disappears the distortion effect grows slightly. This continues for a good six seconds, until all of the blood in her palm has disappeared, causing the power for the spell to be lost. “It seems you are right Aidan. Funny, I didn’t think you knew anything about magic.”
“For the most part I don’t Eve, but that was kind of common sense.”

“Bah, ‘common sense,’ last I checked, it wasn’t really that common" Eve responds.

“So, what do you think it is? I tried shooting an arrow at it, and the arrow just disappeared, although it did not get any bigger like it did when your magic touched it.”

“You see something you have never seen before, and the first thing you do is shoot it?” Eve snickers at Aidan for his extremely straightforward approach. “I wonder what would happen if a living creature went through it.” Eve gives Aidan a suggesting look.

“No way am I going to even get within spitting distance of that thing!” Aidan responds, a little too quickly.

“What are you scared? Fine. However, Mehnlo did ask me to do some research on these disturbances. Oh! Idea! Adam, can you tell me if their is anything dead nearby?” Eve asks her skull, taking it off of her belt.

Put me on the ground. I will see if I can feel anything that has started to decay. Eve hears Adam’s response in her head, and puts the skull on the ground. There is in a deer nearby to the east. It has recently died.

Eve picks the skull up and clips it back to her belt. “Thank’s Adam!” She then walks over to where he said the deer was. She takes out her scalpel again, this time slitting her wrist, allowing some of her blood drain out onto the corpse. She quickly causes her blood to clot, and forces the wound to scab over within seconds, she places her hands on the body of the deer and starts chanting something in a strange tongue. “Ileisgar, wux hunk di yobolat. Si tepoha klae ihk dout shell, wux nishka tir lae Si meage.”

Aidan averts his eyes at the unnatural display of magic, as Eve’s blood is absorbed by the skin of the dead deer, picking up his arrow that Eve had yanked out of it and carelessly tossed to the side. The deer slowly stands up, it’s body still mostly intact as it had just died a few hours ago. Eve points at the location of the distortion effect, and the deer stumbles forward. As it walks into the area of the effect, it starts to disappear, it keeps going until it is gone completely.

“It... It’s gone. I mean, I can’t even feel it’s presence anymore! It didn’t die though. It... It teleported somewhere. I would have felt the essence I used to reanimate it come back to me it if had died.” This shocked Eve a lot, while she hadn’t really known what to expect, she did not expect the distortion to be able to teleport objects.

“Uhm, Eve...”

“Yeah?”

“What... exactly will happen to the deer? I distinctly remember the last time you lost control of a minion it went on a rampage and tried to kill us all...” While Aidan wasn’t worried about what would happen to them, he was worried about what would happen to anyone on the other side of the portal.

Eve let out a sigh at Aidan's comment. “Come on! That was one time! ONE TIME! You’re never going to let me live that down are you? Besides, it was just a deer, its not like it could hurt anyone.”

“Fine. Let’s just head back. You should probably tell Mehnlo what happened.”

“Yeah, I will.”

“AAAAAAAAAHHPPLLEEEEEJAAAAACK!!!!!!!”

“What in tarnation was that?!” Applejack exclaims, as she gallops towards the scream. The scene that she arrives to is strange to say the least. Applebloom is hiding behind one of the trees in the orchard. There is a strange lump of light brown laying on the ground in front of her. As Applejack gets closer she se that the thing on the ground is dead, it had been pierced by something and there is a trail of blood coming from the hole. It looked somewhat pony like, but much bigger than any pony she had seen, bar Princess Celestia or Luna. It’s legs are much more elongated than that of a pony, and its body is much larger than anypony shes ever seen.

Applebloom looks up at her big sister as she sneeks behind her leg. “Wha- what is tha’ thing Applejack? It’s scary.”

“I ‘ave no idea Applebloom, but I think I know somepony who might.

End of Chapter Three.

Charr in Equestria

Chapter Five

“Huh? What just happened? Where am I?” The Charr, Drub, scanned his new surroundings, despite his confusion, his training started kicking in. Now in a lower voice, he called out. “Dahgar... Dahgar, are you there?” Confused, hungry, and angry at his foolishness, Drub checked to make sure everything was still as it should be with himself.

“Damn it. Okay, get ahold of yourself. I wen’t through that... thing, and somehow ended up elsewhere.” Drub knew there was a name for that kind of magic, but because his warband’s legionnaire banned the study, and practice, of magic Drub was severely under-informed as to what happened. He looked around trying to try and recognize where he was.

“Alright, so... This looks like a jungle. So, that would mean... Maguuma? Damn it all, this is not good. But, I am a charr Warrior, I will get out of this.” Drub heard some rustling nearby and he quickly got his bow out and notched an arrow. He pointed it at the area where he heard the noise, and waited.

“Hello? Is somepony there? Who is it, stalking around here?” With that, Drub let fly his arrow, not wanting any witnesses that he was there.

“I heard a noise off the road a ways, and went to see what may have caused it. I called out, asking if somepony was around, when suddenly a small spear found me, but missed, and imbedded itself in the tree! I was shocked, and started galloping for my life, unafraid of being mocked.” Zecora explains to her friends what had happened. “Another small spear shot past me as I got back onto the road, I took time to look behind me and the shock made me loose my load that I was carrying. It was huge, easily the size of Celestia, and it stood on its hind legs. It used its front legs to shoot the spears, it snarled as it got down on all fours and took after me. Flee, is what I did, I didn’t think I would make it back to Ponyville. However, I knew the forest much better than that thing. I went off the road and started running through the woods in fear towards Ponyville. Finally I made it, safely, and came here.”

Drub stopped chasing the tiny creature. He thought it was a human when he shot at it, but upon getting a good look at it he realized that it looked much more like a zebra, he had heard about them from Dahgars father. He chased after it anyways, as he realized just how hungry he was. Drub cursed himself for missing both shots, and decided to get on all fours and chase after it. Few things can outrun a Charr who is running at full speed. Unfortunately for him, this zebra was smarter than his average prey, as it weaved throughout the jungle, Drub saw a clearing up ahead and sped up. He was about to chase after the zebra, until he saw what was in the clearing. An entire town, Drub stopped, not wanting to be seen just yet. Instead he was content to stay there and watch the town, to see if he could find out who the inhabitants were. Then, he saw them. More creatures, similar to the small zebra, but different. They looked more like horses, and they were going about the town like it was theirs.

Drub’s eyes widen at the sight. “By the titans... This town is... It’s inhabited entirely by, by these small horses? These little ponies? So that mean’s they are sentient, which also means my prey was...” Drub curses his bad luck, realizing that his prey will most likely tell the other creatures what happened, and that his hope of going unnoticed in this strange place is now gone. “No one back home is going to believe this...”

Rarity stares at Zecora as she finishes her story. “Darling! That must have been terrible!” Applejack and Fluttershy agree with her, whereas Pinkie Pie is laughing hysterically at the creature that Zecora described, somehow finding it incredibly funny, and secretly decides to throw Zecora a “I survived an encounter with a monster” party in the near future. Rainbow Dash is just staring out the window in the direction of the Everfree Forest angrily. “Whatever that thing was, I am going to make it pay. No one, or thing, attacks my friends and gets away with it!” She says as she starts to take off out of the door, but she comes to a jolting stop, as a mouth clamps down on her tail.

“Woah their nelly! Ye don’t know what your going againsht! From what Zecora deshcribed I don’ shink you can take it yershelf” Applejack lets go of Rainbow Dashes tail. “But don’t worry Rainbow Dash. We will find that thing, and make sure it don’t hurt anypony.”

Rainbow Dash lets out a sigh as she lands on the ground. “I guess your right. We need Twilight Sparkle to be here. She could help us.” Rainbow Dash looks at Spike, as did the other ponies.

Munching down on a sapphire that Mrs. Cake had given him, Spike looks up at all of the ponies. “What?”

“Spike, we need you to write a letter to Twilight Sparkle. If she is with Princess Celestia, then when you send it, she’ll get it and give it to Twilight.” Rarity explains.

“Oh, of course.” Spike takes out a piece of paper and quill, which he dips in some nearby ink. “So, what should I write?”

“Tell her that some sort of monster attacked Zecora, and we need Twilight Sparkle to come home as soon as she can.” Rarity starts.

Rainbow Dash steps in front of Rarity as she finished what Rarity started. “Yeah! And that whatever it is needs to be stopped, so that it doesn’t hurt anypony else!”

Spike, finishing the letter, breaths some green fire on it, causing the paper to disappear. “There, now we just have to wait.”

Pinkie Pie, having lost interest in the conversation walks to Applebloom. “Sorry that your party got interrupted like this Applebloom! Although I wish it weren't so I think you should leave. I’ll send you with some cupcakes!”

Big Mac, agreeing with the pink pony, wakes up Granny Smith. “Whu? Is the party over?” She asks.

“Eeyup. We’re gonna get goin’. C’mon Granny, c’mon Applebloom. Let’s get back tah Sweet Apple Acres. Ye can help me buck some of the apples that ‘ave ripened Applebloom.” Big Mac says, patting the filly on her head, wrinkling up her new hat.

“Alright Big Mac. Lets go.”

Twilight Sparkle wakes up, after having a good three or so hours of sleep, she wasn’t sure. Princess Celestia is, once again, standing over her.

“Good, you’re awake. We need to talk about why I asked you here now.” Celestia says, as she takes a seat next to Twilight Sparkle, who squirms in the bed until she is sitting upright.

“Of course Princess.”

“As you know from my letter, there have been a series of magical anomalies appearing all over Equestria, and the bordering nations. However, it is more than that. While I cannot explain in full to you, the short end of the story is that these anomalies are a form of portal. They send anypony who walks into the same area as the anomaly to another world, and anything on that world who walks through an anomaly ends up here, on Equestria.”

Twilight Sparkle, listening intently to Celestia, takes this moment to put in her thoughts. “Oh my... So, these portals... Are they one way only? How did they start? Why do you need me to handle this, why not Luna or the Royal Guard?”

Celestia looks down at her favored student with a smile. She has always known she chose her for a reason, and her inquisitiveness was only one of those many reasons. “They are one way, however there are many of them all over both Equestria and the other world they are appearing on. So many that sometimes, they have appeared right next to each other, which is the only way one could come back here quickly. I do not know exactly how they started. Although I have a few personal theories, I am only a goddess on Equestria, not this other world, and so I do not know what goes on there. I want you to handle this because you and your friends are the wielders of the Elements of Harmony. I trust you all completely. Luna is too busy trying to reintegrate herself with society, she can’t go around scaring people all day. As for the Royal Guard, while I trust them in a fight, they are not very good when it comes to figuring out why things happen. They tend to buck first and ask questions later.”

“I see... So, when do you want me to get started?” Twilight asks Celestia, as she starts to get out of bed and quickly groom herself.

Celestia, using her magic, levitates a letter over to Twilight. “About that, I got this letter from Spike. It states that your zebra friend, Zecora, was attacked by some kind of monster. I believe it may be from the other world that these portals link Equestria to. They request that you come to them immediately. I can teleport you back using my magic, however. I know you and your friends are not trained fighters. If this thing is indeed a monster, I want you to have help, so I am going to send you with four of the Royal Guard. They will follow your command and protect you whenever you are in danger.” As Celestia says that, two Earth Ponies, a Pegasus Pony, and a Unicorn, all wearing the signature armor of the Royal Guard come up behind Celestia and give a slight bow to Twilight Sparkle.

The Pegasus trots up to Twilight Sparkle and introduces herself. “Greetings. I am Captain Swiftflight, the Earth Pony without his helmet on is my second in command, Full Trust. The other Earth Pony is private Summer Darling and the Unicorn is Private Regal Mask. Celestia has ordered us to follow your word, and so we shall. Our lives are yours Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight Sparkle, looking at the four Royal Guard, and then up at Princess Celestia. “ I don’t know what to say. Thank you Princess Celestia. And thank you Captain Swiftflight.”

“I will teleport you five to Ponyville now, if you are ready.” Celestia says, lowering her horn and pointing it at all five ponies.

“We are.” They all say.

“Good luck, my little ponies. I expect a report on your progress whenever you have have found something of importance and have the time.” With that, Princess Celestia’s horn glows a bright yellow. As the color moves from her horn to all five ponies, a bright flash occurs as all five ponies are teleported out of the castle, to Ponyville.

To catch a monster

Chapter Six

When Twilight Sparkle and the four Royal Guards sent to protect her were teleported back to the Ponyville Library, they were met with the expectant faces of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.

Rarity was the first to speak up. “Oh darling, I am so glad you got back so qui....ckly.” As everypony, and dragon, saw the other four ponies with Twilight, they all looked confused, except for Rarity, who was only gawking at the handsome pure white unicorn in the Royal Guard’s armor, he looked exactly like a more rugged, down to earth, version of the pony she once fantasized about, Prince Blueblood. “Oh, my my my, Twilight. Would you mind telling us about your friends?” Rarity asked, still looking at the unicorn, yet trying to be discreet; after all she didn’t want to scare him away.

“Yeah, Twahlight. Who’re these ponies. Why’re they wearing the armor o’ the royal guard?” Applejack asked.

Twilight started to introduce them, but the pegasus with the royal seal of Canterlot on her breastplate stepped forward. “I am Captain Swiftflight, my squad and I have been ordered by Celestia to guard Twilight Sparkle with our life. My second in command is Full Trust. He is the pony standing to my right. If you have any questions you may address him. The other two are Regal mask and Summer Darling.” With that having been said, Swiftflight stepped back, letting Twilight speak again.

“Erm... Thank you Swiftflight, but you do not need to be so formal. We are not the Celestia or Luna; there is no need to practice as much etiquette around us as them. These are my friends, and I trust them as much as I would trust Princess Celestia.” Twilight explains to Swiftflight. She then goes to introduce her friends, only to be told by the Captain that they know who each of them are. They were told about them in the mission debrief before they arrived.

A loud whistle is heard among the room, coming from Applejack. “Wow Twahlight. I knew ye’ were special, but fer the Princess to send some o’ the guard to protect you... Wow.” Applejack was looking at Full Trust, silently wondering how many apple trees he could buck, with his fancy Canterlot military training, as opposed to her.

A very small whisper emanates in the back of the room, however no one could make it out as Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Alright! Now that we know who each other are, how about we go meet Zecora, and she can help us find this beasty!”

A second, louder whisper is heard from the back of the room. “Uhm... Ex-excuse me?” Fluttershy manages to get out.

“Yes Fluttershy, is something wrong? Please speak up darling; no one here is going to hurt you.” Rarity spoke, being the only one to hear her friend.

Fluttershy looks directly at Rarity, hoping that she can say what she wants to say without her shyness overcoming her. “If... If Celestia sent Twilight with some of, of the Royal Guard. D-does that mean that... That whatever att-attacked Zecora is really.” Fluttershy makes an extremely audible gulping sound. “Really d-dangerous?” All of the other ponies there look at Fluttershy, most with a look of sympathy or understanding, except for Rainbow Dash, who looked at her only with a look of shame.

“Fluttershy! If Celestia sent the Royal Guard of course it’s because the thing that’s out their is dangerous! I mean, it’s the Royal Guard. They are trained for this kind of stuff! It doesn’t matter how dangerous this thing is, they will protect us, well you. I won’t need protection. Nothing can match MY speed!” Rainbow Dash declares, as she zips around the library three times to emphasis her point, causing a multitude of books to fall off of the shelves.

Twilight looks up at Rainbow Dash angrily. “Rainbow! Your not helping. And stop flying around, your just making a mess.” To Fluttershy, Twilight tells her that she doesn’t have to come with them. She will understand completely if Fluttershy is too scared to go. As far as all they know this thing could be extremely deadly.

Fluttershy, looking better now, looks up at Twilight. “Th-thank you Twilight. I’m really sorry but I just can’t.”

“S’all right sugarcube. We won’t judge yeh. ‘Though I suspect ye should probably get goin’ home. I say it’s ‘bout time we find this beast.” Applejack says. All of the other ponies agree, and as they start to file out of the library, Twilight asks Spike if he can stay and clean up the library, to which he agrees. At last, the only ponies still in the main room are Rarity and Regal Mask, the unicorn who came with Twilight.

Rarity puts on her ‘innocent’ look as she slyly trots up to Regal Mask. “So... Your Captain never mentioned your name...” Rarity pauses, waiting for a response and upon not hearing one she continues. “My name is Rarity, but I am sure you already know that. Mind introducing yourself?” Rarity looks right in the other unicorns face as she seductively blinks a few times.

“My name is Regal Mask, Ma’am.” The unicorn states, his voice staying flat.

“Oooohhh, ‘Regal Mask,’ I like that name a lot.” Rarity says in a sing song voice, as she moves her head under his neck, her horn slightly rubbing against him. Causing Regal Mask to blush slightly.

“Erm. I - I need to stay with the Captain!” Regal Mask states as he quickly gallops off out of the Library. Rarity watches him go as she lets out a sigh and slowly trots after the group, leaving the library as two pairs of eyes from the bedroom peer down at her, a single tear forming, as the snake like eye lids close, causing the tear to fall. “Why Rarity... Why?”

Scootaloo looks at her friends, Applebloom and Sweetie Bell, as they go back to their clubhouse, after having spied on Twilight Sparkle. “Alright girls, are you game for this? It was just a joke for Fluttershy earlier, but now it’s for real.” She was grinning, Applebloom had decided to let Scootaloo lead today’s crusading, deciding to keep her ticket for later as she nodded.

“Yeah. If we can catch this monster thingamajig not only will ah prove to Applejack that ah can take care of myself, but we will get our cutie marks fer sure!” Applebloom stated, then both of the fillies looked at Sweetie Bell.

“I don’t know... What if it’s dangerous? The monster attacked Zecora, think of what it could do to three fillies?” Sweetie Bell asked the group, not wanting to go at all, but not wanting to outright admit it either. “Maybe, maybe we should just leave it to the big ponies, and the guards.”

Scootaloo looked at her friend with a disgusted look on her face. “What are you, scared? Rarity isn’t afraid, so why should you be, huh? You want Rarity to know your afraid of something she isnt? If she can do it so can you, your two times the rough and tumble pony she ever would be!”

“Hah! Yer five times the rough and tumble pony Rarity is, Sweetie Bell.” Applebloom assured her friend.

Sweetie Bell looked a little better, but was still unsure. “Well... I guess so, but... What the hay, lets do it!”

All three ponies looked at each other as they hoof bumped each other, while saying “Cutie Mark Crusader Monster Catchers! Yay!!”

Drub stalked the outskirts of this strange town, by now he was beyond confused, and figures that if he was going to even try to make sense of where the hell he was, he needs to eat something. Under normal circumstances, Drub wouldn’t think twice about just takeng one of the strange ponies that seem to inhabit the town, but he doesn’t want to underestimate one again like he did with the zebra. So Instead he decides to see if he can find any animals that at least resemble those back in his homeland. It was with luck that he comes upon what seemed to be an abandoned cottage, near the edge of town. It was completely grown over, as if it was built into a hill, but that was impossible, it would only provide one entrance and exit, a horrible home for anyone, how could they get out if their house was under attack?

“Finally, some luck. Let’s see if I can’t find anything good in here.” With that Drub sneaks over to the cottage, and upon hearing clucking around behind the cottage he moves around, only to find a chicken coup. “Hm, maybe this cottage isn’t as abandoned as I thought. Bah, I’ll be gone before the owner arrives.” With that Drub slowly walks up to the chicken coup, and using a flint and tinder creates a flame under it, controlling it so that it will only burn down the chicken coup. He silently chuckles to himself as he hears the chickens squawks of pain, as they are burned alive, the sound feeding his hunger. “Heh, finally, a decent meal. Cooked chicken.” As Drub crouches in front of the Coup, waiting for the chickens to finally die so he can eat, he silently wonders if he can find anything else worth eating or taking inside the cottage.

Fluttershy walked back to her cabin, feeling much better now, soon she would be able to be with her little friends again. Sure, the other ponies were some of her best friends also, but with her animals, there is just a connection of sorts, it’s different than with other ponies. Fluttershy couldn’t explain it and she didn’t have too, she loved it. “Don’t worry, Twilight Sparkle and them can take care of it. I can’t wait to tell Angle Bunny whats been going on. He’ll really like it, oh I’m sure.” Fluttershy said to herself as she walks up to her cabin. However, her good mood fell the moment she her door opened. Her cabin had been trashed, the tables had been upturned, the fridge had been left open and food scattered all over the floor. The back door just opening and closing in the breeze, and the natural noise of the woodland critters that normally surrounded her cabin is gone. “Oh my... What, what happened?!” Fluttershy let out a squeak as she went out back to make sure her friends were okay. Quietly, Fluttershy creeps over to her back door, and her eyes grow huge at the sight she sees. Where the chicken coup once stood, only a pile of ashes remained. Chicken bones tossed about her backyard without care, some still with meat on them. Worst of all though being the hulking beast that gave her a strange look, as it dropped a squirming bunny - Fluttershy let out a scream. “No! Angel Bunny!!!”

Drub had just finished eating the last of the chickens when he saw a small rabbit looking at him angrily. “Well well well, what have we here? A nice desert to compliment all that chicken?” Drub walked up to the rabbit, as it picked up a stone at it’s foot and threw it at him. Drub only laughed as he picked up the rabbit, which started squirming and chittering angrily. “You have some fight in you, no matter, it only makes the meat more tender.” Drub said to his prey, as his eyes laid upon one of the strange pony creatures, although this one had wings. Oh great... Drub thought, as it looked right at him.

Drub let go of the rabbit and turned around to get a good look at the small pony in front of him. This one, like some of the others had wings, and a pink mane. It let out a small shriek “No! Angel Bunny!!” Drub gave those words a thought, wondering how he could get the pony to talk. He realizes that she is referring to the rabbit he let go, and an idea comes to him as he reaches down and snatches the rabbit back up, who he only now realized had been beating him with it’s foot. “Pony! Your going to tell me what this place is, or I’ll kill your precious rabbit!” Finally, Drub is going to get some answers, he chuckles slightly at his cunning as the ponies eyes grow abnormally large.

“Wait... What, what are you doing?” Drub asks the pony in front of him, her eyes were starting to freak him out, but he was a Charr warrior, he had nothing to be afraid of, so he steps forward, and to make his point that if she wont talk, he will kill the rabbit, he slowly, tauntingly, lowers it to his mouth.

End of Chapter Six.

The Stare!!!

Chapter Seven

Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and the four guard ponies find themselves walking down the trail to Zecora’s house, hoping that she can relate the tale of what happened to her, to Captain Swiftflight and her ponies. On their way there Swiftflight trots up to Rainbow Dash, wanting to ask her a few questions. “So, Rainbow Dash, the information we have about you says you’re a pretty good flyer...”

Rainbow Dash turns her head around and gives Swiftflight a look of smug confidence. “Well duh! I won the Young Fliers Competition in Cloudsdale. There is no pony in all of Equestria who is a better flyer than me! I’m going to join the Wonderbolts you know.”

“Really now?” Swiftflight gives Rainbow Dash an amused look as she continues talking. “Care to put that to the test sometime? I’m not always on the job you know, and I love a good race.”

“Oh, you know it! Although don’t be too sad when I totally leave your sorry flank in the dust!” Rainbow Dash declared. “I’ll take you on anytime, anywhere.”

Captain Swiftflight let out a quiet laugh as she looks at Rainbow Dash. “Once this whole thing blows over, when I’m on leave, I’ll take you up on that boast.” With that Swiftflight flew up into the air, giving a look out at the canopy of the Everfree forest, and upon deciding that it was all clear she landed down again next to Twilight and kept walking. Rarity was still watching the stallion, Regal Mask, with a dreamy stare while walking behind him.

Suddenly somepony let out a chuckle, breaking Rarity out of her entranced state. “Beg’ pardon Rarity, you see somethin’ you like?” Applejack asks, stifling a grin at her friends expense.

“Oh Applejack, you wouldn’t understand. You don’t know what its like to be in love.” Rarity says in a singsong voice, turning to look at her. “He’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a pony...” Rarity gives out a sigh as a small smile creep across her face.

“Ah, I see. Just like you were ‘in love’ with that young stallion who came to yer store so long ago, an’ then Caramel, an’ after that Prince Blueblood, an’ fer a little while Rainb-”

Rarity quickly interrupts Applejack before she finishes the last name. “Uh-uh-uh! Quiet you. This time it’s different, he’s so charming, oh and he’s not full of himself, and he’s shy! Besides, that last time I was confused, it’s all in the past. Anyways, this one is... different.”

Applejack gives out an exasperated sigh at Rarity as she mutters. “Yeah, different, just like every other pony was.”

Twilight, who’s leading the group, stops as they have arrived at Zecora’s home. She trots up to the door and taps on it with her hoof. “Zecora, it’s me Twilight. I brought everypony else, along with some of the Royal Guard, they want to talk to you about your encounter.”

“Of course, come on in, just beware, my voice is a little coarse.” Zecora responds as she let out a cough. Twilight looked back to the other ponies with a rather worried look, how could Zecora be sick, she has a cure for everything, right?

Captain Swiftflight walks up to Regal Mask, and orders him to stay outside to make sure nothing sneaks up on them. Upon hearing this, Rarity quickly speaks up. “Uhm, if Zecora is sick I don’t think I want to go in. I’ll just stay out here if that is okay with you ponies.”

“Ah think ah will too.” Applejack chimes in, wanting to watch her friend to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid with this stallion.

Twilight, looking somewhat perplexed, simply nods as she, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Swiftflight, Full Trust, and Summer Darling walk into the zebras house. Swiftflight walks up to Zecora, who is brewing a potion. “Greetings, zebra I am Captain Swiftflight and, at the behest of Princess Celestia, I am here to solve this monster problem.”

Meanwhile, as Zecora starts retelling what happened to her, Rarity is trying to make an advance on Regal Mask. “Oh, you decided to stay out too? I had no idea!” Rarity says to Regal Mask, trying to start a conversation.

“No ma’am. Captain Swiftflight told me to guard the exit, as I am sure you heard her say.” Regal Mask responds, his voice completely monotone. His remark causes a small snicker out of Applejack, but she quickly stifles it as Rarity gives her a harsh look.

“Oh, of course, how silly of me. So, Regal Mask, whats it like working for Captain Swiftflight, hmmm?” Rarity asks the stallion, giving him a large smile as she blinks a few times in rapid succession.

“It’s nice. She is a very strict boss, but she’s good to us. I’ve learned a lot from her.” Regal Mask replies.

Rarity keeps looking at him expectantly, waiting for more, however when she realizes that is all he is going to say she starts up again. “I see, I see, oh do go on. Please?” Rarity’s pupils grow large, trying to urge Regal Mask to talk some more, hoping to learn as much about him as she can. However, Regal Mask suddenly starts, and stares off into the distance, causing a surprised look from both Rarity and Applejack.

“Wha’ is it, Regal?” Applejack asks.

Regal Mask only makes a shushing sound as his horn starts glowing, and a small dagger that was hidden in his armor, moves out of its sheath and floats to his front. He then slowly creeps towards where he is looking at. Rarity looks back at Applejack with a frightened look on her face, and upon seeing that her friend is scared, Applejack slowly moves in front of Rarity. After about three minutes of all three ponies just standing there, Regal Mask slowly levitates the dagger back into its sheathe and trots back to where he was standing beforehand.

“Wha’ was it? Wha’ did you see, or hear?” Applejack asks him.

“Nothing. I just wanted a few minutes of silence from some pony, I got it.” Regal Mask responds, giving a smirk at Rarity, who is looking rather dejected. However, despite Rarities obvious embarrassment, Applejack cannot help but laugh at the situation. At this point, the rest of the ponies come out of the house, being led by Zecora.

Twilight Sparkle looks at the three ponies who had stayed behind. “C’mon you three. Zecora talked about a strange thing, almost like a rip in the air, that she saw before she encountered the monster. Those things have been appearing all over Equestria and it was because of them that Princess Celestia called me away. I believe that the monster and the rip may be related, so Zecora is going to take us to see it.” With that, everypony followed Zecora into the woods, off of the beaten path.

Meanwhile, at Fluttershy’s cottage, she is sitting on her couch in complete shock. She is shaking with fear, Angel Bunny is cuddling up with her, trying to comfort her. Fluttershy has no idea what really just happened, and tries to clear her mind, so that she can try and make sense of the past couple of minutes.

She had come home to find her cottage in ruins, and a beast, most likely the monster that attacked Zecora, outside about to eat Angel Bunny, surrounded by the bones of multiple chickens, with the chicken coup completely burned down. She remembers that it said something, although she only heard the words “I’ll kill your precious rabbit!” Suddenly all of her fear was gone, replaced only with deep, burning anger. Anger that her chickens had been killed and most likely eaten. Anger at the fact that Angel Bunny was about to be next. Mostly though, she was completely enraged at this... this thing that stood before her. “You... Monster. You evil, nasty, beast!” Fluttershy shouted at the creature as it looked down on her. Fluttershy’s eyelids shot up like window shades, her pupils dilated to the point that not even her iris could be seen. All of her anger and hate was being directed at the beast in front of her. The monster faltered a bit before staring directly back at Fluttershy, trying to stare her down into submission. It was his final mistake in their confrontation. As it looked deep into her eyes, something in its mind sparked, a deep, primal fear. It dropped the rabbit onto the ground and tried to tackle Fluttershy, but only landed on its knees. Fluttershy took a few steps closer, now almost face to face the the beast. She started whispering in its face. “How... Dare... You... You do not! I repeat. You do not! Lay a finger on my animals. Especially. Not. Angel Bunny!” Even though Fluttershy had started whispering, her voice barely audible at the beginning, she ended by screaming at the top of her lungs , the force of her voice blowing back the fur on the beasts muzzle. It made a strange whimpering sound, as it turned tail and ran on all fours to the Everfree forest. Fluttershy kept staring in the direction that it went for a good five minutes before she walked back into her cottage and collapsed, exhausted. Now she just sat there as she felt a myriad of emotions: anger, fear, sadness, revulsion, relief, among many others, swirled around in her mind.

After having run for what felt like miles Drub finally slowed to a stop, extremely tired. “By... By the ti-titans... What just happened?” Drub asked himself, the last thirty minutes had been a blur. He sat on a stump in the forest and tried to think back. He had threatened to eat the rabbit that he found if the little pony with wings wouldn’t talk, hoping to just plain demoralize her so that he could get information out of her about where he was. However it seemed to have the opposite effect. The winged pony started screaming, and started staring right at Drub’s eyes. This shocked him, as in his clan, when you stared at another charr, you were fighting them for dominance. Drub chuckled inside and figured thats what this pony was doing. He started staring right back at her, having won a few dominance fights in the past. However the moment he did, he realized he couldn’t look away, even if he tried. He could see his own reflection in her, now completely black, eyes and it started to unnerve him. A trickle of doubt entered Drubs mind as his worry and unease increased. He tried with all his might to fight it. I am a Charr dammit. I will not lose to such an insignificant piece of meat! Yet despite all of the self-assurance that Drub may have been able to muster, it was hopeless. Those eyes, those black pores seemed to just absorb all hope, they were like black holes into the void! As a last hope, Drub tried to attack the winged pony who seemed to have so much control over mind affecting magic, but he couldn’t do it. He landed on his knees, and just stared at her as she came closer to him. Her voice was like knives grating against a chalk board, at least thats how it sounded to Drub. He couldn’t take it anymore and tried to mutter an apology as he turned and ran from the devil pony.

“How could I have let myself be affected by her magic? Dahgar was right, I need to train more if I plan on becoming as good at occlumency as he is.” Drub resolved to not let her, or anyone, make a fool of him ever again.

Sweetie Bell looks at both of her friends. “So... how do you actually go about finding a monster?” Applebloom and Scootaloo both stare at her, then each other, perplexed.

“The Everfree forest, obviously!” Scootaloo exclaimed to her friends. “Lets go!” Scootaloo then runs off and both of her friends follow. They took the path that they knew, at least somewhat, which passed by Fluttershy’s cottage. As they galloped passed her cottage, they noticed that the door was left open, and they thought they could hear the sound of soft crying coming from inside.

“Wha’ is that?” Applebloom asked her friends. “It sounds like Fluttershy.” Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell nodded in agreement as they trotted towards the open door, curious about why Fluttershy was crying.

“Do you think she saw the monster? What if she’s hurt!?” Asked Sweetie Bell as a look of worry overcame her.

“Fluttershy? I doubt a monster could make her cry like that! She’s awesome! She’s called The Stare Master for a reason, she could stare down anything that tried to hurt her!” Scootaloo responded, not sure why her second favorite pegasus would be crying, but sure that she wasn’t hurt or anything.

“Well, Sweetie Bell may have a point. Ah don’t doubt that Fluttershy could stare down any mean ol’ monster, but what if it hurt some of her pets? Even if she stopped it, if it even hurt one o’ her pets she would be so sad.” Applebloom reasoned, trying to give credence to both of her friends ideas, so as not to cause an argument. Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell agreed, and all three friends went into her cottage to find it in an extremely sorry state of affair. They saw Fluttershy on her couch quietly crying, with her pet rabbit cuddling up next to her, however when it saw the three fillies it tried to shoo them away, however they didn’t pay any heed to it, just like every other pony in Poneville, except Fluttershy of course. Fluttershy looked up at the three fillies, with an extremely sad look in her eyes.

“Oh... Hello girls. Is, is there any-anything I can do for you?” Fluttershy asked, in between sniffles and the occasional swallow.

Applebloom spoke first. “Uhm, we, we were just wonderin’ what was wrong Fluttershy? Anything we can he” - “Did you see the monster?!” Sweetie Bell asked urgently, interrupting Applebloom to say it. This caused Fluttershy to go into another bout of crying as she buried her head in her ankles and let her hair fall over her face. Followed by a facepaw by Angel Bunny, who stopped looking at the three fillies and returned to trying to comfort Fluttershy.

“Uhm... Ah think Scootaloo should find Big Mac and bring him here.” Applebloom suggested, knowing of the casual friendship that they had with each other.

Scootaloo looked at her friend. “Why me, and why Big Mac?” She asked her defiantly. “I wanna stay here.”

Applebloom glared at Scootaloo as she responded. “‘Cause, yer the fastest of us all, and Big Mac is good with cheering people up along with bein’ good at housework.” She said, as she motioned to the wrecked house. Scootaloo only grumbled as she trotted out of the cottage, and then took off at top speed towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Rebellion and Fluttermac

Chapter Eight

As the group of ponies were following Zecora through the forest, Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help but notice something. Her friend, Pinkie Pie, is being abnormally quiet lately. She slowed down a bit so that she can talk to Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie Pie, is something wrong? You haven't been talking much, it’s not like you.” Twilight asks.

Pinkie Pie looks at her friend with a smile. “Oh, I’m fine Twilight. It’s just that the author hasn’t given me many speaking lines.” Upon seeing Twilights confused blink Pinkie Pie tries to elaborate. “This is all just a story written by a semi decent author! Obviously.”

Twilight Sparkle just blinks. “Oookaay. Uhm, as long as you’re fine... I guess.” The purple pony trotted forward, extremely confused at her friend, but she thinks that it is best to just say ‘It’s Pinkie Pie‘ and leave it at that. Eventually, the group of ponies started hearing the telltale sign that Zecora had described as coming from the rip. Then, they all saw the source of the noise. It was just as Zecora had described.

“Ah don’ like the look o’ that...” Applejack states, glaring at the rip in the air, unsure how to react. Whatdya make out of it, Twilight?”

Twilight cautiously trots towards it, her horn aglow with a light magenta. “I... Don’t... Know. It is obviously magical, and unnatural. Princess Celestia said that it acted as a sort of... A sort of portal between two worlds.”

“Darling, do you mean to say that the thing that attacked Zecora came out of this portal?” Rarity asks.

“I think so. I also think we need to go in it.” Twilight tells Rarity, as she hesitantly walks forward. “I don’t know why, but I feel attracted to it. Like something is telling me to go in.”

Pinkie Pie lets out a quiet chortle at this. “Oh, so cliche. Why Twilight? Why do you feel an urge to go in? You have a reason for everything! And you suddenly just feel like you have to? How odd, it’s almost like you’re being driven by a plot...” Pinkie leaves it at that, staring off into the distance with a knowing look.

Twilight Sparkle lowers her head, so that her horn is pointing at the rip. It starts to glow magenta again, as the color moves from her horn into the portal. She stays like that for a couple of minutes, until she suddenly lets out a gasp, losing her focus and causing the magic to dissipate. Her reaction shocked the rest of the ponies around her.

“What happened Twilight? Are you okay?” Rainbow Dash pokes Twilight, to see if she is fine.

Twilight mutters something, more under her breath than to anypony. “It’s horrible. That world is... Awful.”

“What is it Twilight?” Swiftflight asks.

“The world on the other end of the portal. It is in such chaos. We need to help it, if this goes on both that world and our would could be destroyed!” Twilight says to the ponies with her. “We need to go back to my library, I’ll explain on the way there. There's a book there that I need to read.” With that Twilight starts walking back to Ponyville, and her library.

Pinkie Pie just stands there staring off into the distance, and after everypony left, she starts talking. “I’m watching you... You may think you’re in control of this story, but if it gets out of hand I am going to fix it. I don’t want to take part in anything dark or scary. I never signed a contract. They may think this is real but I know better.” Pinkie Pie kept talking off into space for a few more minutes before - “Don’t you dare use a literary device to interrupt me! I will change this story if I have to! My voice will be heard, mark my-”

“Big Mac! Big Mac!” Big Macintosh looks up as he hears someone calling his name.

Big Macintosh bucks the tree he was in front of, causing all of the apples to fall out of them into the buckets on the ground. “Ahm, ovah here,” he responds, looking in the direction of where the voice was coming from.

A small orange pegasus, Big Macintosh remembers seeing her with Applebloom, Scootaloo was her name, her scooter comes to a screeching halt in front of Big Mac, she has been clearly worn out. “You need to come quickly! It’s Fluttershy, something wrong!”

Big Macintosh eyes widen at this, his feelings for Fluttershy rising. “What? Fluttershy, what happened? Where? Take me to her,” he said urgently, as he looked around, fearing the worst. “Is it the monster? The one that attacked Zecora?”

Scootaloo looked up at Big Macintosh, her eyes wide with worry. “Yes! Come on!” she shouted, as she took off towards Fluttershy’s cottage with Big Mac following close behind. On the way there, Big Macintosh decides that if the monster harmed Fluttershy in any way, he would kill it. I swear. If whatever that thing is that has been goin’ around spookin’ ponies has done anything to her, it’ll regret it fer tha rest o’ its short life.

Eventually he and Scootaloo make it back to Fluttershy’s cottage, to find Sweetie Bell and Applebloom cleaning up the house. They both look up at Big Macintosh as he comes in, Applebloom with a large smile of relief. “Big Mac, you’re here!” she exclaims excitedly. “She’s upstairs sleeping.”

Big Macintosh nods at his sister as he trots up the stairs and carefully knocks on the door to Fluttershy’s bedroom. “Fluttershy? C-can ah come in?” he asks.

Big Macintosh hears a quiet whimper from the other side of the door. “B-Big Mac. Is that, that you?” Fluttershy says, as Big Mac hears her hooves land on the floor, trot up to the door and then the door unlocking.

“Eeeyup,” Big Macintosh says as he opens to door, only to be embraced by Fluttershy as she puts her head under his neck and starts silently crying, her wet tears hitting the floor. Big Macintosh, for his part, takes the situation well despite his usual lack of tact around females, tilting his head down so that his muzzle touches the top of Fluttershy’s head as he whispers in her ear. “It’ll be okay Fluttershy. Ah came as soon as ah heard what happened. Ahm here fer you, ah’ll do whatever ah can to help ye get through this. It’ll all be fine.”

This causes a low moan to come from Fluttershy as a new wave of tears fall onto the floor, however she releases Big Macintosh from her embrace and looks up at him, right into his eyes. “Thank you. . . Thank you Big Mac,” she gets out in between whimpers. She then turns around and slowly trots back into her room, Big Macintosh following behind her as he closes the door. Fluttershy slowly climbs into bed and looks at big mac with those big sad eyes of hers. Big Macintosh carefully moves over to her, as he covers her back up with the sheets of the bed, before he himself climbs onto the other end of the bed, and they both just stare into each others eyes for minutes.

Big Macintosh was the first one to speak. “Fluttershy... Ye’ need tah talk to me. I want tah help ye but I can’t if ye don’t tell me what happened.” This caused a whimper out of Fluttershy as she looked up at Big Macintosh, silently begging him to not make her have to relive the event. Big Macintosh stared at Fluttershy, knowing she is shy and, while he doesn’t want to make her sad, he knows it will be better for her to get it off her chest. Fluttershy stares back at him, not angrily like she did with Drub, but with a look of utter despair in her huge watery eyes. Big Macintosh falters, and then lets out a sigh as he gives up. I can’t do it. I can’t force her to relive whatever happened. I just need tah help her with out knowin’ wha's happened.

“Alright, ye don’ have tah tell me. But just know, that no matter what happens, ahm here fer ye. Ah will always be here for ye, Fluttershy. If what ye need right now is just silent companionship, then tha’s what ah’ll do.” With that, Big Macintosh lays down by Fluttershy, still separated by the covers, him on top of them and her under them. However, despite this, Fluttershy does her best to cuddle up with Big Macintosh.

Her muzzle in his mane, Fluttershy lets out a weak sob, her tears running down her face into Big Macintosh’s fur. “Thank you.” Even though it was only a couple of minutes, it felt like hours to Big Macintosh before Fluttershy went to sleep. He lets out a sigh of relief as his whole body becomes less rigid and he looks at the mare that he secretly loves, snuggled up against him. It’s a dream come true, Big Macintosh is afraid that it is in fact just a dream, and he hopes beyond hope that he won’t wake up in his bed back at the farm. He gently nuzzles Fluttershy, as he too falls asleep next to her, completely forgetting about the three fillies still downstairs.

Sweetie Bell looks across the room, satisfied. “We’re done! Finally.” All three fillies look at their flank, hoping that they may have gotten a cutie mark in cottage cleaning, but give out a collective sigh as they see that they still have a ‘blank flank.’ “Well, what now?” Sweetie Bell asks.

Scootaloo looks at her friend as she flops on the couch. “I don’t know about you but I’m pooped!”

Applebloom looks outside, only then do the three friends realize how late it is. “Huh. It’s so dark out. Maybe we should just stay hea’ for the night.” Both of her friends agree, however Sweetie Bell looks rather upset when they suggest sleeping downstairs.

“Uhm. Why can’t we sleep upstairs like we did last time we stayed the night here? I’ll go see what Bic Mag and Fluttershy are doing.” Sweetie Bell says, as she starts climbing up the stairs. She then trots over to the bedroom door and slowly opens it. Her eyes open wide, seeing Fluttershy wrapped up in Big Macintosh hooves. She doesn’t notice that Fluttershy is under the covers and Big Macintosh is not. Her cheeks start burning red as she very quickly shuts the door and gallops back downstairs, almost tripping on the bottom step.

“Are you okay?!” Applebloom asks. “Wha’ happened?”

Sweetie Bell looks up at Applebloom sheepishly. “Uhm... Nothing. Nothing at all! Big Mac and Fluttershy are uhm, just asleep. Thats all, just asleep next to each other! Let’s just sleep down here like you said,” she says as she curls up on the end of the couch. Applebloom gives her friend a look of confusion, but she just crawls onto the couch also. Shortly afterwords, all three fillies go to sleep.

It was really late by the time Twilight Sparkle and the other ponies make it back to the library. Spike looks up from his book as he hears the door open, and sees all the ponies come in. “Oh, you’re all back. Did you learn anything good?” he asks, only to be ignored by them all as they quickly go into the back of the library. “What- That wasn’t nice. Why would they ignore me?” he wonders.

Pinkie Pie quickly walks back into the front room and wraps her left hoof around spike in a hug. “Sorry Spike. We are very busy, but don’t worry none of us are ignoring you! We love you!” She then looks away from Spike, off into space as she sticks her tongue out at nothing. “Oh I know you know who I am sticking my tongue out at,” she mutters to herself.

“Thanks Pinkie Pie. And, what? Who’re you sticking your tongue at?” Spike asks, confused.

“Oh, no one. Bye Spike, I need to catch up to the group.” she says as she trots to the back of the library where she is supposed to be.

End of Chapter Eight.

Diplomacy and Hunting

Chapter Nine

Mehnlo sits on the wagon caravan heading to the Northlands, the home of the Charr; Cynn was elsehwere, having headed to the Tarnished Coat to warn the Asurans. As he looks out over the flowing green hills, almost able to make out the swamp on the horizon, he starts thinking back to the meeting that he, Devona, Cynn, Eve, and Aidan had. They had all gathered at Mehnlo’s house to talk about the recent going ons, and the one thing on everyone’s mind was the anomalies that have been appearing all over Tyria. Mehnlo, however, had much bad news to give.

Two days before the meeting he had been blessed with a vision from Dwayna. It showed the anomalies opening up everywhere, and where ever they did, the very land around them was sucked up. Until nothing but dirt remained. At least most of them. Some of the portals seemed to be ejecting things, as if they were sucking up stuff elsewhere, and spitting it out wherever they were. He saw creatures roaming the wilds, having come out of the portal. Giant beasts with the head of a lion and the stinger of a scorpion. Strange Hydras that he had never seen before. Griffons, smaller than the ones he was used to, but no doubt just as deadly, were flying all over the sky, along with small pegasi. Indeed, that was among the strangest things about the vision. There were many small multicolored horses in abundance, some with wings, some with horns, and some that could pass for a pony if not for them being any color of the rainbow. The last thing he saw in his vision, however, chilled him to his bones. Coiled up on top of the Shiverpeaks was a beast unlike any he had ever seen, looking like an assortment of many other creatures. Its body was long and serpentine, and every appendage was that of a different animal. Despite the creature’s almost silly looking body, its eyes revealed a deep evil cunning. As this beast looked out across the chaos that had resulted from what were obviously portals, if the vision was to be believed, it gave a malicious grin and let out a deep chuckle.

After having retold his dream to the rest of the group, they decided that the other races needed to be warned. Cynn went to warn the Asurans, Devona went to warn the remaining humans of Ascalon, Aidan to the Norn, Eve to the human faction, the Shining Blade, and Mehnlo took it upon himself to warn the Krytan government and then warn the Charr. He was the least likely to do nothing anything rash, having lost the least among his friends to the Charr.

Mehnlo is jolted out of his day dream by a bump on the road, as he looks ahead, seeing he has almost arrived to the Charr held lands.

Cynn lets out a groan of annoyance at the small creature in front of her. Mamp was his name, as he rattled on about something. Cynn had stopped listening after the first few minutes of his incessant talking.

“Are you listening to me?” Mamp angrily mutters.

“Huh? Oh, yes of course I am, honorable council leader.” Cynn absentmindedly says, as she starts listening again.

“Yes, well anyway, as I was saying, we already know about these portals, and indeed we know they are portals. Once again, we are far ahead of you bookahs. We had already sent one of our G.O.L.E.M.s through, and while we did lose contact with it, it was able to find its way back, and we were able to look at everything it saw.”

Cynn perks up, now this is interesting. To her knowledge, no one has yet seen what was on the other side of these portals. “That’s great. Do you think I could see it?” Cynn asks.

This causes a startled reaction out of Mamp. “Oh, of course a bookah like you would ask that. Of course you can’t! Not only is it extremeley confidential, why would we share our secrets with a bookah?! You’d think any simpleton would know that.”

“Why you little. . .” Cynn’s hands start burning as she prepares to throw a fireball at the Asuran in front of her. “How about this. You show me what is on the other side, and I won’t burn you to cinders.”

Suddenly Cynn feels a metal hand on each of her shoulders, and hears a metallic voice behind her state. “Off-ensive ac-tion will res-ult in imme-diate termin-ation.”

Cynn looks behind her to see two large G.O.L.E.M.s behind her as Mamp chuckles. “You Bookahs never learn. Just know that we will deal with these portals ourself. Now, take her away!”

Despite her struggling, Cynn can do nothing as the two G.O.L.E.M.s effortlessly drag her out of Rata Sum, and toss her out of the gate as it closes behind her. “I really hate those inconsiderate, little -”

Devona walks up the less than glorious steps to the throne room of Rin. Amazed that it was still serving as the Ascalonian capital even after it was sacked during the second Charr offensive. She is pleased that King Adlebern saw fit to grant her an audience. Despite his original anger at her perceived betrayal, abandoning Ascalon, and fleeing over the Shiverpeaks with the rest of the refugees, including the kings own son. He may have been an aged man, and foolishly set in his ways, but he was far from stupid. As she got to his throne room she was stopped by two royal guards. Two of the last remaining members of the Ascalon vanguard.

“Halt, what business do you have here?” The one on the right asks. Devona looks at him for a bit, then realizes that she remembers him from before she left.

“Arne? Captain Arne? Looks like you got a promotion, ‘eh?” Devona jokingly asks Arne. Upon seeing his confused look she re-introduces herself to him. “C’mon don’t you remember me? It’s me Devona, we used to train together.”

With that Arne’s stern demeanor melts. “Devona? By the Five, it’s been too long, I haven’t seen you since you took the other refugees across the border to Kryta. What brings you back to Rin?” Arne asks.

“I need to speak to King Adlebern, about the recent problems, that have been happening all over Tyra.” Devona explains, not wanting to tell Arne anything that did not need to be said.

Arne nods, as he begins to open the doors to the Throne Room. “Ah, I see. Well, be careful ‘round the old man. He has a lot on his plate. The Charr have mostly retreated from Ascalon, Adlebern thinks they are finally retreating and is planning a decisive blow to end the war once and for all.” Devona thanks him for the information and walks in to see Adlebern.

Adlebern is sitting on his throne, nothing more than a somewhat ornate chair, but when he sees Devona walking in he stands up. “Aaaahh, Devona, it is so good to see you again. Have you finally regained your senses and decided to come back and join us against the Charr?” He asks.

Devona lets out a sigh on the inside. Maybe he couldn’t let go of the fact that she left, like she thought he had. “No, King Adlebern, I have not. I am here to warn you of a new threat. Perhaps you know of the -”

“If you are not here to rejoin your own people then you have no business here. Now begone! I have much business to attend to, the day of reckoning has come. Soon, the Charr will suffer for their crimes.”

“But, King Adlebern, you don’t understand. This world is in peril! If the individual kingdoms do not work to stop it, then they may very well be wiped off the face of the map, literally! I do not ask that you work with anyone but yourself, all I ask is you do something, anything, to deal with the portals!” Devona all but screamed, trying to get it all out before she was interrupted again.

Adlebern lets out a sigh as he sits back back down. “Perhaps you are right Devona. I apologize for my outburst. I will have my personal magi deal with this problem as it arises. Now, please, leave.”

“Of course, king Adlebern” Devona says as she bows and slowly retreats from the throne room.

“Bring them down! We cannot let the beasts escape!” Olaf shouts, leading his small hunting party against these strange wolf like creatures. One of the wolves pounces at another Norn warrior, trying to bite his throat, however the Norn’d able to push the wolf off, just as two more pounce on him. Olaf charges the two wolves, calling on the spirit of the bear. As he quickly morphs into the form of an anthropomorphic bear, he tackles one of the wolves off of his fallen Norn warrior, he proceeds to hack at its thick hide with his axe. Only when his axe gets caught in its hide does he realize, these wolves were made of wood. This catches Olaf off guard, but not enough for him to duck under a wolf as it leaps for his head, he then proceeds to finish off the wolf he tackled with a strong, quick chop to its neck, beheading it. Olaf gets back up to face the wolf that had previously jumped at him. He gets ready to receive a second pounce, just as another Norn, also in the form of a bear, charges the wolf with her axe raised high, bringing it down, and cleaving the wolf almost in half.

“Ha! You’ll have to be faster than that father if you want to get more kills than I!” The Norn says, as she sheaths her axe, taking out her bow and notching arrow after arrow, shooting at a third wolf. Olaf grins at his daughter, Olrin, as he turns around, only to be pounced upon by three of more wolves. Their sheer weight and momentum is enough to knock him on the ground as two of them land on top of him, and the third one goes to find another victim. Olaf struggles with the two wolves, but whenever he focuses on one of them, the other one strikes at his flesh. No, I can’t die now dammit! Not to these. . . Things! Olaf thinks, as he tries to push them both off of him. Suddenly he hears a small bang on top of him, as one of the wolves stops fighting him, falls onto him, and rolls to the ground. Now, with only one wolf fighting him, Olaf is able to fight it with all of his strength, he grabs it’s jaw, and starts to pull it apart with both hands. Letting out a shout, Olaf rips off its entire muzzle, then notices an arrow piercing it’s hide that quickly explodes, killing the muzzle-less wolf too. Olaf gets up, and looks to where the arrows came from to see a human clothed in white, standing on a hill, notching another arrow into his bow as he takes aim at another wolf. There are only a few of them left, so the wolves finally decide to flee. However, few things can outrun a Norn, and they are quickly caught and killed.

With the battle over, Olaf goes to find his daughter, Olrin. She is sitting on top of a dead wolf, tending to a wounded thigh. As she sees her father walking up to her she grins. “That was a glorious hunt, was it not, Olaf? Tell me, father, how many did you get?” She asks him, as he sits down next to her.

Olaf sighs, as he counts his kills. “Seven, how about you?”

“Bah, only four, I’ll become a better warrior than you sooner or later, father.” Olrin grins as she looks up to see the human who had been shooting the strange wolf like creatures, she taps her fathers shoulder, motioning to the human.

Olaf stands upright, looking down on the human with a menacing scowl, trying to intimidate him. However, the ranger simply stares back at Olaf, standing his ground with an impassive glare in his eyes. Suddenly Olaf lets out a boisterous laugh, now looking at the human without any menace in his face.

Finally, Olaf stops laughing. “Good show, good show. You don’t back down from a challenge, nor do you run from a fight. What brings you all the way into the Shiverpeaks, human? Your kind don’t usually come up here unless they are looking for a fight. Not that there is anything wrong with looking for a fight mind you, it’s one of the best things a living being can do! By the way, my name is Olaf.”

The human looks up at Olaf. “My name is Aidan, I am here on behalf of the priest Mehnlo; I believe you know him.” Aidan sees the look of recognition on Olaf’s face and continues. “He believes that the defeat of the destroyers may have caused something very bad to happen. Tell me, have your people encountered any of the portals that have been appearing throughout Tyria?”

Olaf stops to think for a moment. “Portals. . . You mean those strange magicy thingies? One of our warriors went through it and never came back. The druids say to stay away from them until they find out more. What’s a portal anyways?”

“A portal is kind of like a magical tunnel, that things can travel through to go from one place to another no matter the distance.” Aidan’s gaze moves over to one of the dead wolves. He walks over to them, realizing that they are nothing like the wolves he knows of on Tryia. “Olaf, what are these? I thought they were a pack of dire wolves, but these look nothing like I have ever seen. . . Are they native to these parts?” Aidan touches the dead wolf’s skin, and gasps as he realizes it is made entirely of wood.

Olaf shrugs. “We’ve no idea. Four days ago Thorik went to his families hut in the woods only to find them massacred, even the children. He saw many wolf tracks all around the place, and arrived at Olafstead to organize this hunting party. We had been tracking them for a while ‘til we finally found them today.” Olaf’s eyes open wide as it dawns on him. “If you said those magicy thingies were portals, and that portals were like tunnels, could those wood wolves have come through them?!”

Aidan stands up and looks at the Norn. “I was thinking the same thing. Olaf, can you take me to see the druids? I would like to talk to them.”

“Of course, they will want to know this as soon as possible.” Olaf motions for his daughter to come forward. “Olrin, I want you to lead the rest of the Norn back to Olafstead. I will take Aidan here to meet the druids.”

Eve is walking through the Maguuma Jungle, trying to find any sign of the Shining Blade. However, despite having searched for a good three hours she is yet to find anything. While walking she hears the telltale noise that is created by a portal, and so decides to check it out. After looking for it for about ten minutes she finally stumbles upon it. I really want to see whats on the otherside. . . And I am completely lost so, really, what’s the worst that could happen right? She thinks to herself. Overcome by curiosity, Eve decides to enter the portal. She quickly blacks out, only to reawaken in another world that seems to be completely pastel. “Oh my. . . I don’t think I’m in the Maguuma Jungle anymore. . .” She says to herself.

End of Chapter Nine

The monster is caught.

Chapter Ten

"So. . . Are you sure the mushroom can only be found in the Everfree Forest?"

"Yes, I am absolutely sure, what are you scared?"

"Well, Frankly, yes." Both of the Ponies, Carrot Top and her sister Pacific Rose stood at the edge of the Everfree Forest. "Well, if we have to get this stupid mushroom for your fiancee then let's go." Carrot Top states, as she takes a tentative step forward. Pacific Rose lets out a sigh as she trots forward. Suddenly, the two ponies froze, seeing something in the bushes move.

"What was that?" Pacific Rose asks, more to the world than to Carrot Top.

"Uhmmm, maybe we can go find your Fia-AAAARGH!!" Carrot Top lets out a scream of agony as her chest gets pierced by a shaft of wood with a pointed end, and feathers on the end. Upon seeing this, Pacific Rose is overcome with fear, and turns tail, running as fast as she can back to Ponyville. She only barely notices as a few more arrows fly past her, lodging themselves into the ground with a low *thwump.* However, before she can make it all the way to safety, Pacific Rose is shot with pain, as an arrow lodges itself into her back left leg. She falls down, screaming at the top of her lungs, as she looks back she sees a monster leave the cover of the forest and approach her friend Carrot Top, who is still letting out whimpers of pain. The thing has fur all over its body, like herself, but it stands up on two legs, not four, and has two more appendages, one of which it was using to hold a bent piece of wood, connected on each end with a string. The beast is hunched over, with its mouth ending in a snout, like herself, but with huge sharp teeth. He leans down, putting his bow on the ground as he places his hand on Carrot Tops head, and pulls out a vicious looking knife, with which he uses to cut her throat, ending her pain. As he sheathes his knife, and throws the dead pony over his shoulder, Pacific Rose lets out a new round of screams, hoping that somepony will be able to hear her as she tries to limp away with her three good hooves.

After Drub throws the first pony he shot over his shoulder, he hears the second one screaming again. Upset that it took him three shots to hit the pony, and that when he finally did hit it, it was only on her leg, he trudges forward. Ready to end her screaming, and finally be able to eat something more substantial than a few chickens. He slowly makes his way towards the annoying pony, knowing that every step he takes only increases its fear. He picks up both of his arrows that were lodged in the ground, and when he finally makes his way to the pony, he kneels down and yanks the arrow out of her left hoof as hard as he can, grinning at the shriek of agony that it produces from the pony.

The pony tries to look up at him, upon seeing this Drub takes its muzzle in his hands, bringing its head the rest of the way to look him in the face. "P-please. . . Don't. . . Don't kill me." The pony pleads to Drub.

"Pathetic. How your kind ever survived in this place is beyond me. You're even weaker than the pink-skinned humans." Drub bares his teeth, as he slowly grabs his knife. Taunting the wounded pony by going so agonizingly slow. However, as he grasps his hand around the knife, the pony desperately pulls in its good right hoof, and pushes back as hard as it could, right into Drubs kneecap. The pain that shoots through Drub hurts, but not enough to cause him to show it. Instead he merely grins. "You have some fight left in you I see. Good, it makes the meat more tender." He takes hold of the ponies head, as he brings his knife around under it's neck. However, before he is able to slit its throat, the pony, in one last desperate move bites down hard on his hand. This time, Drub did show the pain, surprised at the amount of force that the equine creature is able to muster up in its . Gritting his teeth Drub's eyes show fury at the small furry thing that was laying pathetically before him yet still able to hurt him. He puts his knife away and stands up. "That's it, You don't deserve a quick death." Drub grabs the pony by its throat as he lifts its whole body up, choking off its air supply with both of his hands.

Suddenly, Drub hears a loud *Fwump* as he sees a spear embed itself in the ground next to him. He drops the pony to the ground as his warriors instinct take over. Upon looking around, he quickly sees a pony with a pure white coat standing before him, this one with a horn, and adorned in purple armor. Noticing that this pony is all around more bulky than the other ones he has seen, Drub makes a mental note that this one may be a male. Clearly a warrior from the armor it is wearing, however it is still only a pony, and unless it has the strange demonic powers of that winged pony, then Drub is confident in his abilities to best this one in a fight.

The pony lets out a growl as it speaks up. "Filthy beast! I know not what you are, or from where you came. But I shall see to it that you harm nopony else!" With that, the ponies horn starts glowing, as a purple glow surrounds the spear in the ground, causing it to move out of the ground and stab at Drub all on its own. Drub, recognizing the fact that the pony is using magic, dodges out of the way in time to get a single shot off with his bow, before dropping it and taking out his bastard sword and charging the pony, trying to get close to render the spear ineffective. As his arrow bounces off the ponies armor, he closes the distance within a few strides, bringing his sword down on top of the ponies head.

Instead of trying to dodge, as Drub expected the pony to do, the pony runs forward, headbutting Drub right in the stomach and piercing his flesh with its horn, causing him to loose his grip on his bastard sword somewhat. Unfortunately for him, that was enough to let the pony back up just enough to cast another spell, this time on Drubs bastard sword, causing it to emanate a purple glow just like the spear did, and yank out of Drubs hands. The sword then turns around, and now being aimed at Drub, jabs forward. Drub gets ready to jump out of the way at the last second, however just as he prepared to dodge, the blade rotates, and moves with an agility he would never have expected from a weapon. Drub dodges right, not being able to adjust where he was moving in time as the blunt end of the blade knocks him right on the head.

"Damn you!" Drub yelled, as he jumps at the pony, despite being severely disoriented by being hit on the head. However, before he can even touch the pony, the sword comes around again and knocks him with all the power the pony can put into the sword, right on the same exact spot as before, causing the flesh crack a little from the repeated pressure on it. This second time, Drub couldn't stay conscious. He slumps forward as his body hit the ground, blacking out.

"What do you want, meat?" Pyre Fierceshot asks. After becoming the de facto Charr 'leader' despite his protests, Pyre was the Charr Mehnlo went to talk to. Standing at seven feet four inches, Pyre towers over Mehnlo and yet is forced to listen to what this human says. Pyre listens with only partial interest as Mehnlo describes what has been going on, with the portals and the other magical stuff that Pyre didn't care about. Pyre doesn't even half listen, he has already had encounters with them, and knows that they act as portals, both to and from. He had heard about Drub, who had never come back, from Daghar, and was there when his Warband came across a strange beast, with the head of a lion, but the wings of a great flying animal, and a scorpions tail. As far as Pyre is concerned, the portals are a boon, they provide exotic creatures to hone the Charrs fighting skills. Upon realizing that Mehnlo has stopped talking and is now looking annoyed, Pyre speaks up. "You done yet meat? I knew all of that already, you merely wasted my, and your, time."

"If you already knew all of this then what have you done?" Mehnlo asks impatiently.

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Why have you done nothing? Can you not see the threat they pose to us all?"

"No, I cannot. All I see is a source of exotic prey to hunt and meat to eat. Now if that is all, go away, before I decide you will make a good meal." Pyre challenges, and waits to see how the human will react. Sadly, the human does not rise to the challenge, and merely turns and walks away. Pyre leaves the meeting place, returning to his Warband.

After bringing the pony, Pacific Rose, to the hospital, Shining Armor arrives at his sisters library, upon hearing his sisters voice inside, he smiles as he knocks on the door.

"I'll get it." He hears Spike say.

Shining Armor looks at Spike as the door opens. "Hello Spike, it's good to see you again."

"Hi Shining. Come on in, everyones here, we're all really worried about what has been going on." Spike tells Shining Armor, as he lets him in. "Twilight! Your brothers here!"

"Shining?!" Twilight exclaims, as she gallops into the front room. "Oh, Shining, it's so good to see you again! But what are you doing here? Hows Cadence? Did Celestia send you?" Twilight asks, along with many other questions in a short ten second period, however Shining Armor puts his hoof up to get Twilight to stop talking.

"I am here to help with the problem with the portals. She's fine. No Celestia did not send me, but I couldn't let my sister go into a potentially dangerous situation such as this on her own now could I?" Shining answers. As he looks around the room, he notices the four guard ponies, Swiftflight, Regal Mask, Full Trust, and Summer Darling, all of whom are saluting him with respect. "At ease ponies. Thank you for watching over my sister, but I can handle it now. You may go back to Canterlot."

Swiftflight, however, speaks up in defiance of the politely worded order. "With all do respect Captain, we were ordered by Princess Celestia herself to watch over your sister. You may be in charge of us, but the Princess is in charge of you. We will stay with our given duty until Celestia tells us we can leave. Besides, I want to see this through to the end."

Shining armor smiles at the loyalty of his guard ponies, if not to him then to Celestia, who is indeed his boss. "Very well. However, we don't have much time. I found the beast that was terrorizing the villagers and incapacitated it. I then tied it to a tree with magical bonds, but I don't know how long it will stay there. We need to get back there and detain it as soon as we can.

Upon hearing this, everypony suddenly becomes very alert as they gallop out of the door, following Shining Armor. When they get to the scene of the fight, they gasp at the murdered Carrot Top, and Rarity and Spike cringe back at the sight of the bestial creature that is now squirming as much as it can to try and break free from its bonds. Pinkie Pie just sits her rump down as she starts crying at the despai-

"No I don't! Stop making things up!" Pinkie Pie shouts at the world, startling everypony else.

Rainbow Dash flies up to the beast's face. "You monster! How could you kill a living pony! You will pay! Carrot Top was my friend, sort of, and you killed her!" She half shouts half sobs, as she rears up to kick the beast right under his chin. However Shining Armor uses his magic to hold Rainbow Dash back, preventing her from kicking the beast, knowing that it would probably be with enough force to snap its neck. "Hey! Lemme go! This thing needs to pay!" Rainbow Dash exclaims, as she squirms in Shining Armors magical grip.

"I know it does. But we cannot pass judgement on it yet. We need to find out what it is, if there are more of them, why it is here, and why it killed Carrot Top." Shining Armor explains, as he carefully lets go of Rainbow Dash, ready to hold her again if she tries to strike the beast. However she doesn't. She lands on her legs and sulks away. "Twilight, is there anywhere we can keep this thing in Ponyville? Or would it be safer to keep it out here?"

While Twillight Sparkle starts thinking, Applejack speaks up. "We could keep it in mah barn. Secluded an' many places tah tie it up in. Bahsides. If'in it breaks free there, then ah'll be glad tah make sure it don't escape. 'An I'm sure Big Mac would be able to take it on."

Shining Armor nods, as he whacks the beast over the head with its discarded sword enough times to knock it out again, he then starts levitating it. The group heads over to Sweet Apple Acres. Hopefully going to find some answers.

The beast laughs as he looks down at Fluttershy, cowering in the corner, unable to do anything to stop it. It snatches Angel Bunny away from her, and raises him above its head. It's eyes staring at Fluttershy,the beast slowly lowers the squirming rabbit into its mouth, where it slowly chews the rabbit alive, smacking its lips open and closed very loudly, making Fluttershy watch as the last thing she ever loved was being eaten in front of her. She let out a scream.

"Nooooooooo!!!" Fluttershy wakes up, crying into her pillow, however she lets out an altogether different yelp when her pillow moves, she then notices that her pillow is red, which is odd because she doesn't own any red pillows.

"Fluttershy, what happened? Was it a dream? Are you okay?" Her pillow asks, it is when Fluttershy looks up, to see Big Macs face does she remember what happened last night.

"Yes." She responds meekly, trying to hold back the tears brought on by her dream.

"Don't worry. Ah'm here for you." Big mac says soothingly, as he rubs his muzzle against her. "Well, since we're both awake, hows about we go downstairs and get something to eat, okay Fluttershy?" Big Mac asks.

"Well. . . Okay. But, I don't have much. I've been meaning to go shopping but. . . I haven't been able to." Fluttershy says guiltily, as if it is a crime to not go shopping, afraid to disappoint the stallion who is being such a good friend.

"Well tha's alright. Why don' we go over to Sweet Apple Acres, and ah can fix you a big breakfast and what not? Try an' get your mind off recent events." Big Mac suggests, with a friendly smile on his face.

Fluttershy looks up at him. "Yes please."

Shortly after, with Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo sent home, Big Mac, Fluttershy, and Applebloom set off towards Sweet Apple Acres, for a huge breakfast that Big Mac promises them both.

Unbeknownst to everypony in Equestria, and everyone in Tyria, something was watching. Playing them like pawns in a game of chess. Silently influencing their actions, but not enough to let them catch on. Soon, his master plan will be fulfilled, his prison bars will break. Soon, he shall be able to leave his past behind, and start anew, in the world of Tyria. A world he shall make into a paradise. A paradise of Chaos. Not even known to him though, is even he, was a mere pawn in an even greater individuals plan. . .

End of Chapter Ten

Lunar Arrival

Chapter Eleven

Luna yawns as she wakes up from her sleep. She may not have needed to sleep, what with being a goddess and all, but she likes to explore the dreams of others, to watch what people dream, and maybe nudge a dream one way or another when messages are needed to be given. Luna smiles, knowing that even though she had to be asleep to do it, it was still something her sister can not do. She gets out of bed and trots over to her washroom. As she turns on the water with her magic, one of her servants, a unicorn, walks in, a towel in her mouth.

Luna greets her servant. "Good evening Shadowmoon."

"Good evening Princess. Shall I wash you down Princess, or do you wish to do it yourself?" Shadowmoon asks Luna.

Luna thinks for a second. "Oh alright. If I never let you do your job then whats would you be here for, hmm?" Luna says as she gets into the washtub and sits down, letting Shadowmoon wash her body. During her wash, Luna inquires to Shadowmoon as to how her day was.

"Oh, it was fine. I had to deal with some pesky night guard who wouldn't take no for an answer when he asked me out for dinner. I swear, sometimes I wonder about the intelligence of some of your guards, they don't know what 'no' means." Shadowmoon responds, as she squeezes the sponge to let the water out, and goes to rub down Luna's wings and back.

Luna over dramatically gasps at that, despite knowing that some of her guards are just raging hormonal animals at times, despite her best efforts to get them out of service. "Who was it this time?" Luna asks, making sure to remember to talk to whomever it is.

"Some colt named Nightcaller, he didn't even know my name, nor did he introduce himself. Disgraceful is what it is." Shadowmoon responds, knowing full well that he will be ousted from service. With that, Shadowmoon wrings out the sponge and takes a towel with her magic and starts to dry Luna. "Princess, may I have permission to ask you a question?"

Luna rolls her eyes, despite only being back for a few months, she was already tired of the servants doting around her like she may go off on a rage at even the smallest slight."Of course not Shadowmoon, how could you ever think you would be able to ask me a question?" Luna responds with a sarcastic tone in her voice, however upon seeing Shadowmoon cringe and start to apologize Luna sighs. "I'm joking. Shadowmoon, you of all ponies should know you don't have to ask me permission. Aside from Celestia, you are the one pony closest to me."

Shadowmoon looks up, a smile in her face. "R-Really? I am honored Princess, th-thank you for the compliment. Well, anyways, I was wondering if you were planning on doing anything about the strange happenings around Equestria."

Upon hearing that, Luna gets a confused look in her face. "What strange happenings?"

"You mean you don't know? B-but you're a Princess. The magical anomalies, or portals some ponies say they are. It's what Celestia called Twilight Sparkle here for. How could you not know?" Shadowmoon exclaims, surprised at her Princess' ignorance on the matter.

Luna suddenly gets a sullen look on her face. "Celestia. . . Shadowmoon. Thank you for telling me about this, but now I need to have a talk with my sister. You are dismissed."

Shadowmoon backs out of the room carefully, realizing she somehow touched a nerve on the Princess, and not wanting to suffer any repercussions. As she closes the door she hears a window open and the flapping of wings.

What weird creatures, do you think we could have been teleported somewhere not even in Tyria? I don't think there are any talking pony things in Tyria. Adam said to Eve.

"Yeah, I don't think so either. Being teleported to another world sounds a good enough explanation to me." Eve responds as she watches the ponies go about their daily business in the town she had come to. "Well, might as well introduce myself." Eve walks out of her hiding spot towards the town.

One of the ponies stop as it sees her. It then yells "MONSTER!!!! EVERYPONY RUN!!!" This causes a panic among the other ponies, as they all scramble to get inside, followed by a loud cacophony of slamming doors. After the dust settles from all of the hectic ponies, Eve is left standing there with an amused smirk on her face.

"Huh. I guess I am a monster." She says, to which causes a response from Adam. How are you a monster, you human? If anything wouldn't these ponies be the monster? "Well, normally yes, but if there are no humans on this world, and it is inhabited only by ponies, they probably have no idea what I am and so think I'm a monster." Eve walks closer to the town, as she shouts. "Ponies! I am not a monster! I don't mean any harm! I got teleported here by a portal, and am lost! All I want is to know where I am, and who I can talk to about getting back to my home! Well, that and some food." She stands there, hoping that at least one of the ponies will believe her."

Eve's hopes are answered as she hears a pony respond by shouting out of her house. "How can we believe you! There have been rumors of a furry feline-like monster with horns terrorizing pony-ville! How do we know your not one of them!"

Furry feline-like monster with horns? Could it be referring to a Charr? Adam inquires, however he is ignored by Eve as she responds to the Pony. "I promise I am not here to harm anyone, or anypony? Anyways, you don't even need to come out, can you just point me in the direction of someone who I can talk to who can send me home? Probably someone magical, as it was magic that sent me here!" Eve then waits, as she sees a door slowly open, and a magenta pony comes out, pointing west.

"Head that way, until you get to the town of Ponyville, th-there you will find Twilight Sparkle. She is very good at magic, and the protege of Princess Celestia. . ." She(He? Eve isn't sure) says.

"Thank you very much, and erm. . . is there any chance you would know where I could get some food?" Eve asks, to which the pony merely looks down, and asks why she doesn't just eat the grass. ". . . Nevermind. I'll just head over to this Ponyville place." She says as she leaves. Ooohh! They're all ponies, so they would eat grass, I get it! No wonder that pony was confused, they probably think you would eat it too, just like them. Adam points out, to which Eve agrees.

Oola listened to the most recent message from her golem that she sent through one of the portals. "Life-form de-tec-ted. Av-ian in nat-ure. Re-quest-ing or-ders." The message came along with a live-video feed of the life form in question. It had the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. It reminded her of the gryphons in the far north, but more angular, and seemingly more intelligent. She types in her commands to the G.O.L.E.M. and sits back as she watched the events unfold through the live-video and audio feed. She G.O.L.E.M approaches the gryphon creature, which is staring up at it, eyes wide with both fear and anger.

It opens its beak and starts speaking. "Wh-What are you?! And What do you think you're doing here! Th-This is my land! Get outta here!"

Oola moves her mouth towards the microphone as she starts talking, knowing that her voice will be heard out of the G.O.L.E.M's speaker. "I am Oola, the most talented Golemancer of the Asurans. I am speaking to you through one of my G.O.L.E.M's, which is what you see in front of you. Tell me, what is this place?"

The Gryphon looks up angrily. "It's the kingdoms of the gryphons! And I don't know you, nor have I ever heard of a Golem, or Golemancer, or Asuran! You are trespassing! Don't make me get the militia!" It says, causing Oola to sigh.

"My G.O.L.E.M could crush you with little effort. I suggest you answer my questions and I will see to it that you are not harmed. Is this place, the kingdom of the gryphons, on the planet Tyria?" Oola asks.

"Ty-what? I haven't heard of that too! You better be gone before I get back, or you will be in trouble!" The Gryphon says as it unfolds its wings and starts to take off. However, Oola quick enters a command into her crystal controller, causing the G.O.L.E.M to lash out with its mechanical hand and grab the Gryphon before it can take off. "Please don't make this difficult. I am only curious about your world. I am from a different world than you are in, and wish to know more about yours." Oola says, in an effort to reason with the troublesome Gryphon.

"LEMME GO!" Shouts the Gryphon, as it tries to wriggle free of the G.O.L.E.M's grip. "I don't know nothin' about what your talking about! I'm just a civilian! I have no answers, go talk to one of the governors or something! Lemme go!"

"Governors. Leaders, I assume. Tell me where I can find one, and I ill let you go." Oola responds.

The Gryphon calms down somewhat, as it points south with its beak. "That way. . . The town of Aire Peak. The Governor of Aerion lives at Aire Peak! You can't miss it, its a huge mountain!" With that information, Oola commands her G.O.L.E.M to let go of the gryphon, which flies off in the direction it pointed to. Oola commands her G.O.L.E.M to go the way the Gryphon pointed, hoping that it wasn't lying.

Celestia was sitting by her fireplace, reading Twilight Sparkles most recent letter, hoping for some good news, when she hears Luna's voice echo through her chambers. "Celestia!!! Sister! I demand you respond at once!" Hm, I wonder what happened now, she must be angry if she's using the royal voice. Celestia thinks.

"I'm in the reading room, sister." Says celestia, as she puts down her letter and waits for her sister. She looks up as the doors burst open with a gust of wind and Luna marches in. "Whats wrong now little sister? Did Philomena prank you again? And I would like to remind you that you have just as much political power as I do, you have no right to 'demand' anything from me. You can request it and I will give it to you if it is in my power but asi-"

Luna, tired of hearing her sister talk, interrupts her. "I dem-'request' the knowledge for why you thought not to tell me about the portals that have been wreaking havoc through OUR realm?! Why have you been keeping it from me sister?! You had no right to!" Celestia pales somewhat, but regains her composure quickly.

"Oh, sister, I didn't tell you because, well frankly, you still need time to become acclimatized to this day and age. Believe me sister, I meant no disrespect, I just want what is best for you, and I believe it best that you work on your public image more, and get used to life in the modern day before you should start worrying about what is going on." Celestia replies, hoping her sister will see the logic in her reasoning, but to no avail.

"Well you shouldn't have. We are supposed to rule this realm together! I have been getting used to modern day, and the ponies in Canterlot, Ponyville, Manehatten, and Hoofington all accept me, I have a right to know what is going on in our realm, especially what is threatening our realm!" Argues Luna, as she uses her magic to take hold of Twilights letter, to read it, only to be overpowered by Celestias magic, keeping the paper on the floor.

"Luna. I love you, you know I do. I'm sorry alright. I was just about to head to Ponyville, they have caught the beast from the portals. But because you have convinced me, I will let you go in my stead alright?"

"You will?"

"Yes."

Luna smiles grudgingly. "Thank you sister, and I love you too."

"Just please, don't do anything that would put yourself in harms way, I couldn't stand loosing you again."

"I promise, but really, I am a goddess just like you are, what could possibly harm me?" Luna says, as she flies out of the reading chambers window, in the direction of Ponyville.

Aidan stands before one of the portals, a Norn druid at his side.

"So, you are sure this will be safe?" Aidan asks apprehensively.

"As sure as I can be. The Raven Spirit assures me it is safe, and I trust her completely. I would head through with you, but I am needed to guide my people." The druid responds.

Aidan nods, and takes a step forward. "You will make sure word gets back to Mhenlo?"

"I shall. You have my solemn vow."

Aidan gulps. "Alright then, no more stalling. I have my bow and an ample supply of arrows if worse comes to worse, I have plenty of food to survive for two months. Wish me luck." With that, Aidan forces himself to walk through the portal, which shortly after dissipates.

The druid looks at where the portal was as he says a prayer for Aidans safety. "May the spirits of the animals watch over you, brave human. Your name shall be remembered among us."

End of Chapter Eleven

Aidan, Eve, Luna.

As Aidan stepped through the portal, the first thing he noticed was that he was in an orchard of some sorts. The second thing being that the portal proceeded to close behind him. ‘Damn, no going back now.’ Aidan walked towards one of the trees, unsure of what to expect. The tree seemed almost picturesque, with an almost perfectly smooth trunk, and the leaves looking like a child's drawing of a cloud. It was only then that Aidan noticed the apples. ‘So, it’s an apple orchard. I should find the owner, try to get some info about this place.’ With that Aidan started walking in a random direction, hoping to find a landmark of some sort.

-Thud- Aidan stopped upon hearing the sound, grabbed his bow, and waited, listening. -Thud- there it was again, but where? Aidan notched an arrow onto his bow. -Thud- there! Aidan turned towards the direction of the sound, and cautiously started walking towards it. -Thud- Aidan couldn’t help but wonder what it was, it sounded like something was just hitting the trees over and over. -Thud- what would the point of that be though? -Thud- There! Aidan stopped, and the quickly moved behind one of the apple trees. He had seen one of the tree’s further along the path shake, followed by all of the apples falling out.

Aidan snuck his head around, trying to get a good look at the tree, as he saw a red horse walk away from it. Well, horse wasn’t really the right term, considering it stood about only up to Aidan’s chin, it’s hooves were much larger than a normal horse, and it was bright red. However in the end, it was still an animal, and if there was one thing Aidan was good with, it was animals.

Feeling more relaxed now, Aidan walked out from behind the tree, and watched the red equine as it moved to another of the apple trees. It then proceeded to turn around and buck the tree, causing all of the apples to fall out, and into pre-arranged buckets. ‘That’s neat, I wonder how whoever owns this farm trained the animal to do that.’ Aidan thought as he slowly approached the animal. Once he was, what he judged to be, around thirty meters from the equine, Aidan made a clicking noise with his mouth, to get its attention.

The red equine looked up, confused, and started looking around. Aidan made the same noise, which got the equines attention. It looked straight at him, ‘Success’ thought Aidan. He put out his hand and slowly motioned for the animal to come closer. Aidan made a mental note when he saw the equine furrow it’s brow, surprised that the horses here seemed to be smarter than those in Tyria, as evidenced by it’s apparent confusion.

Aidan called out to the equine, to try and get it accustomed to his voice before he moved closer. “C’mere, it’s okay, I just want a closer look.” However, Aidan stopped dead in his tracks when the equine responded back.

“Nnnnope. How ‘bout you come here, real slowly. Ah dunno what you are, but ye’ at least look the part o’ a monster. An’ put whatever that is in yer claws away.”

“Y-You can talk?” Aidan asked, dumbfounded, before he corrects himself. “I - I mean, okay obviously you can talk. . . Uhm. . . Do you - oh wow, I just have no idea what to say, a talking animal. Okay, well, if I come closer you promise to explain to me what you are and where I am? Oh and to not kick me like you did those trees? I am a friend, I do not want to harm you or anyone else.” Aidan kept thinking, just trying to cover all the possible bases, it wasn’t helping that his brain seemed to shut down for a moment and needed to completely restart. A talking animal, clearly intelligent, maybe even human level, he needed to make sure it didn’t see him as a threat, and the fact that it called him a monster probably wouldn’t help.

The animal gave him a weird stare, as if unsure how to respond. “S’long as you don’t do anything aggressive I shouldn’t have reason to hurt ya’. You don’t seem the part of a bloodthirsty monster. Come over here - slowly - an’ I’ll take ye back to the barn where ‘ah expect ye’ to explain everything. On the way I’ll tell ye’ what I can. Oh, an’ mah names Big Mac.” Aidan lowered his bow, put the arrow back into his quiver, and slowly walked towards Big Mac. Once he reached about five meters, Big Mac spoke up again. “That’s far ‘nuff. Follow me, an’ I’ll head back to the barn.”

“Alright.” Aidan walked up beside Big Mac, still keeping what he thought was about five meters away from the equine. Still extremely confused about the situation, but at least understanding that the animal did not want to hurt him and was willing to show him around. “So. . . Eer, where am I?”

“Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville.”

“Okay, but where, like what world is this? Is this somewhere in Tyria?”

“Tyria? Never heard of it. This world is Equestria. Yer probably a long way from home I’de say.”

“Yeah. . . A whole new world. Amazing. Tell me, are there humans on this world, or is it all equines like you?”

“Humans? Once again, never heard of ‘em. Although there are many creatures living in Equestria. Us ponies being the most populous.”

“I see.”

“How ‘bout I ask you some questions now.” Big Mac said, not so much a question but more of a command

“Alright, shoot.”

“So I take it yer a human from, what was it you said, from. . . Tyria? So whats yer name?”

“Correct on both accounts, and my name is Aidan. I hail from Ascalon, one of the nations of Tyria.”

“Alright, how’re you here?”

“Thats. . . Kind of a long story. In short, I went through a portal, the portals have been showing up all around my world, and I went through one to see where it was going. It went here.”

“I. . . See. I don’t know much ‘bout magic. You’ll want tae talk to Twilight Sparkle to find out ‘bout all that stuff.”

Aidan smirked upon hearing the name, ‘Twilight Sparkle, really? What kind of name is that?’ “Who is Twilight Sparkle?”

“She’s the princess’ protege. One o’ the best magic users I know. If anyone nearby can help you, it’d be her.” Big Mac kept on walking before he quickly spoke up again. “Also, theres some sort o’ monster lurking ‘round here. Attacked a few ponies, and generally caused a ruckus. I reckon if what you say is true it’s from your world.”

“Could you describe it? I know most every fauna from Tyria.”

“Well, I’ve never seen it personally, but it was described to me as walking on both legs, like you, but very hunched over. Much larger than you, with fur all over its body. It’s mouth’s huge, with lots of teeth. Fluttershy said it was incredibly cruel and violent, huge claws too.” Big Mac explained. He then stopped and looked back at Aidan. “Ring any bells?”

“Oh no. You. Damn. You just, with very little room for doubt, described a Charr. . .”

“A what?”

“Charr, a very violent race of feline-like humanoids. They went through a rampage in my world, almost destroying all the human nations, until they were pushed back by false-gods, but thats a different story. They are still a threat against my nation of Ascalon, constantly attacking our lands.” Aidan explained.

Big Mac looked grim. “That don’t sound very good. There many creatures like that where you come from?”

“Yes.”

“You world sounds like a dang dangerous place tae live. Sounds like livin’ in the Everfree Forest, what with things like those charr runnin’ around.”

“Yeah well-” Aidan stops talking as he heard running up ahead, and he looked up, noticing that they made it to the border of a town. “Oh. So is this Ponyville?”

“Eeeyup. Not usually this deserted, but most ponies here fear things they don’t know, and what with the monster, they’re even more afraid now than before. Le’s just keep headin’ to Twilight Sparkle’s house.” Big Mac looked up, looking for the right path, until he spotted the top of the tree that was the library, and lead Aidan towards it.

Aidan kept observing all of his surroundings while following Big Mac. He couldn’t believe his eyes, Everything was so. . . Bright and picturesque. He saw a strange looking building, seemingly made of different forms of candy and sweets. He noticed a very tall building, pointing above the rooftops of those near him, and when he looked up, he saw a huge cloud formation, which completely filled him with awe. It looked as if the clouds formed a house, with pillars, windows, everything. Not only that but it was not moving, and the most fascinating feature was what seemed to be liquid rainbow fountain falling down the side of the cloud house into the base of the cloud. When he finally brought is head back down to the ground, and looked ahead, he noticed a tree standing at the end of the road they were walking on. It wasn’t massive, not compared to most of the trees in Maguuma, but it was still impressive nonetheless, especially considering the fact that there was a door at it’s base, and Aidan thought he could see a balcony coming out of the tree near the top. Aidan sincerely hoped that the tree was where Twilight Sparkle lived, wanting to see the inside of it. Sure, he had been to the Henge of Denravi, a huge city built by the Druids, within the Maguuma Jungle, which used the trees as a base for the town, but it was still all open to the elements. He had never seen a hollowed out tree turned into a house, and was unsure how it was even possible to begin with.

Big Mac lead Aidan towards the large tree, confirming Aidan’s thought that it was where they were going. As Big Mac got up to the door of the tree house, Aidan saw a sign with the picture of a book on it and the words Golden Oaks Library. “So, she lives in a tree, that is also a library?” Aidan asked Big Mac.

“Eeeyup.”

With that, Big Mac knocked on the door, which caused a response of “One moment.” From inside. The voice was somewhat high, but undeniably male, Aidan noted. He figured it was that of a child, however what he saw as the door opened shocked him. Standing before him was a small - barely as tall as an Asuran - scaly creature. It’s belly was green, and it’s scales purple. The tiny creature spoke again. “Oh, hey Big Ma-” It got sight of Aidan and paused. “Eerr, what’s that?”

“That is Aidan, he's a human. He’s ‘bout as confused as to why he's here as I am. Figured Twilight would be able to help.” Aidan nodded as Big Mac introduced him.

“Oh, well. Hello Aidan. . . I’m Spike.” Spike then turned around and called out. “Twilight! Big Mac is here with uhm. . . Someone named Aidan. He’s not a pony!”

___________________

Eve had been walking down the dirt road for what seemed like hours now, and it was starting to get late. She could see the silhouette of what looked like a town, towards the North, built into a mountain, but kept following the road due to not wanting to get lost. Adam had kept silent since they left the first town, letting Eve ponder on her situation.

“So, I went through a portal in the Maguuma Jungle which took me to this world, which seems to be inhabited by, of all things, ponies. How is this not a dream? It’s just all so strange, like some fantasy world of a child's imagination. I wonder if there are even humans in this realm.” Eve kept talking as she walked, until she sensed something powerful coming nearby, causing her to crouch where she was. She looked up to see what looked like a chariot flying overhead, carried by two flying ponies with bat wings. “Well, they look important, maybe they can tell me where I am.” Eve jumped up and down repeatedly, waving her hands as she shouted at the chariot. “Hey! Up there! Come down!” Unfortunately, the chariot kept on flying, possibly too far overhead for the ponies to hear her. Eve took out her small blood knife and slit her wrist, causing a few drops to come out. “Oh, I hope they don’t take this the wrong way. . .” She let loose a bolt of unholy energy, forming into a greenish bolt of goo, aimed in front of the chariot, simply to get their attention, however if she had ever listened to Aidan when he was lecturing her on her atrocious aim then she would have known that when you want to hit something, you need to shoot, or in her case cast a spell, in the direction that your target is going to be, not where they are.

In this instance, the location she targeted in front of the chariot, just happened to be where the chariot ended up when her spell reached the area, as her bolt connected with the wood, a greenish tint spread across the chariot, this in turn caused the wood to rot away almost instantaneously, causing the, (rather large, noted Eve) pony who was standing on the chariot to fall off, before quickly taking wing. “Oh. . . Oops. Well, at least I have their attention now.” Eve waved towards the three ponies flying towards her, however when she noticed the two smaller ponies fly off on either side of the large one, who seemed to be flying straight towards Eve with her head down, revealing a long, and rather sharp looking, horn. “Crap.” Eve ran off of the road, looking for some cover so she could prepare another spell. Eve turned around, and focused her mind, she threw out her hands towards the large pony, and within seconds the ponies wings started beating slower, and her breathing looked to become more labored. However, it kept coming, throwing a blue bolt out of it’s horn towards the necromancer. Eve couldn’t get out of the way in time, and took the full brunt of the spell. She felt her limbs start to stiffen up and knew she had to act fast. Eve noticed one of the smaller ponies coming up to her left and moved her head so she was staring at it. She watched as it visibly got weaker, falling to the ground, as if it’s blood was thinning, and she was able to move her limbs again.

When she focused back on the large pony however, it was right on top of her. “Please! Stop! Let me explain! I don’t want to harm you any more than I have too!” Eve shouted, causing a quizzical glance from the winged and horned pony, however not stopping her from shooting another paralyzing spell at Eve. Eve dove out of the way of the spell, reaching into her reagent pocket and pulling out a piece of diseased flesh. She infused it with magic and threw it at the large pony, who caught it using her own magic, which was all that was needed, and her flesh started to rot, as if afflicted with necrosis. Eve stood up as she cautiously looked at the large pony. “I’m sorry, I will reverse the effect, just pro-” Eve was interrupted as the large ponies horn glowed a light blue, causing the rotting to reverse and then Eve’s flesh started rotting specifically the hand, and arm, that had cast the spell, catching her completely off guard. Looking back on the situation, Eve realized that the pain was unlike anything she had ever experienced, and the feeling was. . . Strange to say the least, but not entirely bad. As it was, there was far too much on her mind, what with the whole being attacked by a, seemingly homicidal, large, powerful, and magical pony.

Her not-rotted hand had hit the ground palm first, and she was able to sense the corpse of a recently dead rabbit nearby, so she did her best to crawl towards the corpse. The pony slowly followed her but for some reason did not strike her down. As Eve reached the rabbit, she put her rotting hand on it, and siphoned off what little was left of it’s life force, causing the body to rot, and then disintegrate, within seconds. There wasn’t much there, but at least enough to stop, and slightly reverse the effects of the necrosis, but until she found proper healing she wouldn’t be using that hand again. She looked up at the large pony, who was now flanked by the two other smaller ponies, one of which seemed to be extremely tired. All three of the ponies gasped at the display, and the large one stepped forward, looking incredibly regal Eve noticed. The necromancer put her hand up, prepping another spell, but holding back, realizing she was completely outmatched and hoping the large pony would show her mercy. “Please. . . Don’t kill me.”

The large pony tilted her head, as she finally spoke. Her voice seemed incredibly loud, as if she was shouting, although Eve simply attributed that to the condition she was currently in. “I am Princess Luna, despite your attempt on my life, I have no intention to kill you, whatever you are, so long as you submit yourself to me.”

Eve looked up, and got herself in a kneeling position. “I will not submit to you, but I apologize for attacking for attacking your chariot. I did not mean any harm, I simply wanted to get your attention.”

“You have a strange way of getting someponies attention.”

“Some-never mind. I did not mean to hit your chariot. I meant for the spell to fly past you, so you would see it, and hopefully turn around to discover who cast the spell. I am sorry. I am lost in a strange world, all I want is to go back to my own world. I was told to follow this road to a town called Ponyville, as I was told that there was a pony named Twilight Sparkle there who might be able to help me.”

“How do I know I can trust you? There has been a monster rampaging near that very town, from another world, just as you say you are. Not only that but your magic is unlike anything I have ever seen, accept for. . . Well, it is evil. Nopony around here uses, or even knows, magic that is even remotely similar to what you used.”

Eve ground her teeth at that, despite being in a whole new world, people, and now ponies, always assumed she was evil just because of her Necromancy. She had started to get tired of constantly having to explain herself. “I am a Necromancer, and yes, the magic I use is considered by many to be evil, but just because I use Necromancy, does not make me evil. It’s who I am, I was born with a talent for raising the dead and other similar spells, I use my abilities to help those around me, usually, and right now all I want is to go back to my world, back to my friends. I am ostracized by society simply for the magic I was born to use, but my friends accept me. Not that I would expect you to understand, your highness. You probably have people, or ponies, or whatever at your beck and call. Some people, me, however do not and we have to get by however we can, with whatever we can. So shun me for my magic if you will, but I will find my way home with or without your help. And for Grenth’s sake, stop screaming.” Throughout her rant, her voice had remained completely monotone, and she glared up at Luna, who simply looked back at her, a look of pity in her eyes.

“I understand. Despite your rudeness, I will help you. I know more of what you speak of then you know. I am sorry for judging you partly due to the magic you possess.” Eve’s face softened up at that, as she was about to say thank you Luna spoke up again. “However I demand that you tell me what you did to my guard. He cannot even stand up straight. Despite what I just told you, if he dies you will pay.”

Eve slowly got up as she looked at the princess eye to eye. Getting a good look at her, she noticed the jewelry around her neck, and her crown. Her dark blue fur seemed to blend in with the surrounding darkness, and her mane shimmered with the appearance of the cosmos, all the stars in the sky. Eve grimaced, and after a sharp intake of breath, explained. “Yeah, sorry about that. I don’t normally use vampiric magic unless I am fighting to kill, but I was not sure if you were going to kill me or not. I drained a portion of his blood, absorbing it to myself, and using the life force that the blood cells carry to heal my paralyzed limbs. He is suffering from minor blood loss and will feel much more tired, along with a constant dizziness, for a few days until his body can produce a sufficient amount of blood cells to replace those that are lost. I promise that I did no permanent damage.” She let out her breath after she finished explaining what she had done, and tried to read Luna’s face, only to quit seconds after, as it was a pony, and who knew what facial features a pony would make in correlation to their moods.

Luna stared back at Eve for several long seconds until she finally spoke again. “Vampiric. Magic. I do not know of this type of magic. You said you were on your way to Ponyville to meet with Twilight Sparkle. I would have you travel with me, I know the way from here, although it will take several hours gallop, and you seem to be weakening. I suggest you rest for the night. Tomorrow morning we can continue on towards Ponyville.”

Eve blinked. “What are you talking about, I’m not -” her sentence was interrupted by a large yawn. “Well. . . I guess now that you mention it I am rather tired. But-” Eve yawned again, her eye lids starting to feel heavy. “How do I know I should trust-” Eve’s eyes closed, as her entire body went to sleep from exhaustion, which she thought was strange, she could have sworn she was wide awake just moments ago. Eve’s body fell, but was caught by Luna’s magic, as she slowly lowered Eve onto the ground.

Luna kneeled down to whisper into Eve’s ear. “Sleep, it’ll be fine, just sleep and wake up tomorrow.” With that, the regal alicorn got back up and turned towards her guards. “I will teleport you two back to Canterlot. Please inform my sister about what has happened here, and see to it that you both go to the military hospital and get taken care of. I will stay with this. . . Eve, and see to it that she makes it to Ponyville.”

One of her guards, the one who had remained unharmed, Vigilant Standard, spoke up. “But Princess. Can you trust her? Look at what she did to Dusk.” He motioned over to his partner, who was leaning against him for support, barely able to stay awake.

“No, I do not trust her. Which is why I will remain with her. I will make sure she does not get into any trouble, and find out how best to get her back to her world. I have no doubt that I can beat her if she tries to attack me and I think she knows that too. Someone needs to inform my sister of the current events, and Dusk Shine needs medical aide, there is no doubt about that. So off you go, I will be fine, don’t worry.” With that, Luna lowered her head towards her two bodyguards and with a quick spell, and flash from her horn, she teleported them both back to the Royal Castle in Canterlot.

Author's Note

Alright, I am back. Yay. So I would like to think that this chapter is of a higher quality than all of the others, I have been practicing my writing and am back now, I plan on finishing this one, along with starting on another one afterwards. Please give me feedback on this chapter, I really want to know what you guys think about this.

Applebloom's Party

Chapter Four

“Hey! Drub, you see this thing?” The Charr warrior, Dahgar asks his companion.

Coming up to his hunting partner, Drub looks at the area Dahgar is pointing at. “Yeah, what is it? Looks kinda like magic."

“That’s what I was thinking! I dare you to walk through it.”

Taken slightly aback at his partner's comment, Drub responds, not sure if Dahgar is being serious or not. “Are you insane? You know our Legionnaire forbids interaction with anything magic in nature!”

"What he doesn't know can't hurt him, besides" Dahgar lets out a snide chuckle. “I think your scared.”

“I am not! And to prove it to you!” Drub says as he charges towards the distorted area in front of them. Suddenly, he disappears. Dahgar just stands there, dumbfounded at what just happened. He slowly creeps away from the distorted area, deciding it best to talk to someone more magically inclined than him about it.

Magnificent, is the only word to describe it. Flying through the air at such speeds. Everything around her a complete blur. Her mane completely windblown backwards, flapping against her skin. The signature rainbow trail that follows behind her whenever she flies faster than fifty miles per hour. Rainbow Dash is in a state of complete bliss, as she always is whenever she is racing, well, and winning. As Rainbow Dash looks to her side, she notices Spitfire has caught up, and is
flying almost next to her.

Meanwhile, an announcer pony is giving a play by play of the race. “Spitfire has caught up to Rainbow Dash! On the last lap of the Cloudsdale Whirlwind Derby. It looked like Rainbow Dash was going to win the race from the beginning, but now it could be either ponies game! It’s Rainbow Dash in the lead, now its Spitfire! Rainbow Dash gets ahead by a nose! Spitfire inches in front of Rainbow Dash! Wait.. What just happened?" The Announcer pony asks, more to himself than anyone else. Indeed, where Rainbow Dash and Spitfire were neck and neck, suddenly Spitfire just disappeared, only to reappear shortly after, a ways behind Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash is the Winner!" The Announcer pony, having looked back at Rainbow Dash, ssees that she has passed the finish line.

It felt amazing. She was still feeling the adrenaline pumping through her veins as Rainbow Dash landed down on the first place pedestal, to in the moment to realize what happened. Spitfire took third place, and in second place was fleetfeet, another Wonderbolt. After the awards ceremony, a newspony, who had been reporting on the race comes up to Rainbow Dash to ask her a few questions.

“So, Rainbow Dash, how does it feel to be the winner of the Cloudsdale Whirlwind Derby, this fine evening?” The newspony asks.

“Wait... It’s Evening already? That means I am going to be late for Applebloom’s party! I’m sorry I can’t stay and chat!” Rainbow Dash responds, as she dashes off, accelerating to full speed within a matter of seconds, racing towards Ponyville.

Applebloom is sitting at the front of the table in Sugarcube Corner, with Applejack on her right and Scootaloo on her left. Next to Scootaloo sits Sweetie Bell, who is sitting next to Rarity. Next to Applejack is Big Mac, and then Granny Smith. Fluttershy is in the kitchen with Pinkie Pie.

“What’s taking the cake so long, I’m hungry!” Complains Scootaloo.

Just then Pinkie Pie slowly walks out of the kitchen, balancing a cake on her back and everyone sings Happy Birthday to Applebloom.

“Aaawww, shucks. Thank you guys, but I don’t need such a fancy cake.” Applebloom says, looking down at her red velvet cake. Of course its her favorite, and she is glad that they had made it for her, she’s just being nice.

“Are you kidding? Its your BIRTHDAY! And everypony needs to get their favorite cake on their birthday, DUH!” Pinkie Pie exclaims. “Now, blow out the candles and make a wish!”

“Okay.” Applebloom then inhales a large amount of air, and blows out all eight candles, with a single exhale, on her birthday cake.

“What’cha wish fer, sis?” Asks Applejack.

“I can’t tell you, silly. Then it won’t come true!” Applebloom responds, looking up at Applejack smugly. “Thank you all for this wonderful party. I really ‘preciate it.”

“The party isn’t over yet! You still have to open your PRESENTS!!!” Pinkie Pie says, bouncing around excitedly, practically shouting the last word. “Too bad Rainbow Dash isn’t here though... Or Zecora.” However, as Pinkie Pie says that, the door to Sugarcube Corner bursts open, and standing there is a blue pegasus, her rainbow mane glistening in the sunlight. Rainbow Dash has her black sunglasses on, balancing a present on her back and doing her best to look cool.

“Miss me?” Rainbow Dash asks, with a cocky grin on her face. “I’m sorry that I’m late. I had entered the Cloudsdale Whirlwind Derby before I even knew about the party. I thought I could finish the race before the party started but I was wrong.”

Scootaloo perks up. “Wow! You were in the Whirlwind Derby! That’s like... The fastest race EVER isn’t it!? You are SO cool Rainbow Dash! What place did you come in? You came in first didn’t you?” Scootaloo asks, trotting up to her idol.

“Well yeah, of course I did squirt! I’m Rainbow Dash, I don’t know HOW to come in anything other than first.” Of course Raibow Dash is bragging, but so what? She knows that Scootaloo looks up to her, and so she wants to give Scootaloo very good reasons to. If that involves bragging, well, when did bragging ever really hurt someone, right?

“Oh... you are SO cool...” Scootaloo swoons, not even realizing she has already said it once. Applejack walks up behind the pegasus filly.

“Don’t let it go to yer head Rainbow. Just ‘cause yer fast don’t mean ye get the right to brag. Besides ah think we both know after the runnin’ o’ the leaves who would win in a foot race.” Applejack smirks at Rainbow Dash, teasing her.

“Anyways, girls. How about we sit back down and let Applebloom open her presents, okay? After that we can get up and dance around, play some games, and just have fun.” Rarity suggests, trying to make sure Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s friendly rivalry doesn’t take the spotlight off of Applebloom. If anypony was going to take the spotlight off of the birthday filly, it should be her. At least thats how Rarity sees it.

So, with that, they all sit down to watch Applebloom open her presents. The first present she opens was wrapped in tan wrapping paper, and a red ribbon. “That one’s from me an’ Big Macintosh.” Applejack explains as Applebloom starts unwrapping her gift. She uses her hooves to hold the box steady as she grabs the ribbon with her teeth and pulls on the loops to untie it. After it is unwrapped, she takes the cover off of the box and, lo and behold, a miniature version of Applejacks signature hat is lying in the box.

“Oh my Celestia! Thank you!” Applebloom exclaims excitedly, as she puts on the hat. “It fits perfectly! It’s so cool, thank you Applejack, thanks Big Macintosh!”

Granny Smith lifts her head up from the table, looking around, a small bit of drool on the table from her sleep. “Watch’er language Applebloom!” She exclaims, and then lays her head back on the table and falls back to sleep.

“Now now. It was actually Big Mac’s idea, ah just went an’ bought it. Ain’t that right Big Mac?”

“Eeeyup. Anythin’ fer mah little sister.”

“Thank you so much guys.” Applebloom says as she goes and nuzzles both Applejack and Big Macintosh. Afterwards she opens each present giving each pony a sign of affection, depending on how happy she was with the present. After her siblings presents, she opens Twilight Sparkles present, which was a book about Apple Orchards throughout the history of Equestria. From Pinkie Pie she is given her own little party cannon, however she cannot seem to use it, as nothing comes out when she fires it (although it works for Pinkie Pie.) Rarity gives her a brush for her mane. Rainbow Dash gives her a pair of ‘super cool’ sunglasses. Fluttershy gives her a Pony Paddleball.

Finally, Appebloom opens the presents from Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo last. Sweetie Bells present was a green and red cape that she had made with her sisters help, and Scootaloo had made her a coupon that let her lead the Cutie Mark Crusaders for a day, and decide everything that they would do.

“Gee, thanks everyone This was all really nice of you. Although ah wish Zecora could’ve made it.” Applebloom says, grateful for all of the presents.

“Aaww, don’ worry about it Applebloom, I’m sure she has a good reason-” Applejack manages to get out before she is interrupted by a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it!” With a flash of pink, Pinkie Pie runs to the door and opens it, standing there is a very haggard looking zebra. Her mane, normally in a mohawk, completely ungroomed and flat against on her skin, she was covered in sweat and panting, as if she had been running a lot.

All of the ponies, except Granny smith who keeps snoring exclaims in surprise as the zebra trots in. “Zecora! What happened to you?”

End of Chapter Four.

Cancelled

Alright, I am really sorry, but I can't finish this story, I have been kind of sorta wanting to finish it, but now that I am in college there is a lot on my mind, and I really have no motivation to actually write about this anymore as I have lost interest in Guild Wars a long time ago. So one again I apologize, but I am cancelling this story.