The Coming Tide

Canterlot, the night previous...

Celestia's guard retinue stood quietly at their stations around the expansive antechamber of the Royal Canterlot Conservatory. A cloud of pure boredom hung above all, permeating the room almost like a foul, invisible gas.

After two whole days of taking shifts patrolling the same stretch of humid, plant-lined marble space, anything and everything to do with the Conservatory instantly made many of the armored stallions want to yawn and roll their eyes on principle. Indeed, the only breaks to this monotony were the much celebrated 'past times': stuffing one's muzzle with hay fries and donuts, and retiring briefly to nap on one of the many comfortable benches that lined the room.

One such guard had just partaken of the former activity, when he had heard the first of the disturbances from deeper within the building.

It was a bloodcurdling scream, one the stallion prayed he would never have to hear again in his life. The reverberating chorus of ghastly shrieks and shouts that soon followed, sparked the guard and his fellows into action.

With one deft motion, the Princesses' warriors forced the bulky amphitheater doors ajar, and immediately wished they hadn't. The stallion in particular spilled his lunch onto the tiled floor with a vile retching, as the thick wooden doors groaned open and thudded loudly against the stone walls.

In the heart of the room, under the moonlit dome, sheer carnage dominated the scene. A brown-maned earth pony, one whom the guards instantly recognized as Doctor Hooves, stood shaking like a leaf next to a table of tools. His blue eyes were wide and glaring with shock, looking almost like twin copies of the moon shining in the exposed sliver of sky above them.

He held onto an drill between his teeth, the mouth itself pulled into a grimace of disbelief upon his face. Hooves' lab jacket and coat were splattered in blood, as two ponies struggled on the ground near him. A third pony lay dead beside them.

They were all nearest the other table, the one which held the Marker.

One, a pegasus, was sprawled on his back, trying to shield his face with his forelegs and wings. The other pony, a unicorn mare, was atop him. She was assaulting his limbs with a geological hammer she wielded in the air before her, and she had her forelegs pressed to his chest, restraining him.

The diorite mining tool, normally used by earth ponies, was designed to crack through solid granite to extract gemstones, and the hollowed nature of pegasi bone structure yielded no resistance. It slowly shattered with a sickening crunch with each consecutive blow. While the guards rushed forward to intervene, the rest of the scholarly group had merely stood and watched, transfixed and paralyzed with fear at one of their own's sudden turn to savagery.

"Die Changelings, die Changelings, die Changelings!" She shouted, over and over again, in between hammer strikes. Doctor Hooves had never even gotten the chance to perform his own intended deed; the unicorn had beaten him to it, appearing out of nowhere. The first one had gone down instantly, her skull caved in by the blunt tool the unicorn wielded. A heartbeat later, she had turned on her pegasi colleague like a rabid beast.

Hooves meanwhile, felt as if he were slowly breaking out of a trance as the drill clattered to the ground loudly. He felt himself growing disoriented. A high frequency ringing began to fill his ears, and his head felt as if it would split open. The air surrounding the Marker's vicinity fluctuated, as if the artifact were 'broadcasting' something.

Guards were surrounding the three now, subduing the rampant scholar, attempting haphazardly to question the Doctor, and keep everyone else away from the gravely wounded pegasus. They were all nearly panicking, eager to get themselves far away as possible from the terrifying scene.

"The ringing, somepony please quiet the Celestia-cursed ringing!" The mare begged with heavy sobs, having dropped her hammer, and now held fast by the guards. "Make it stop...it's in my head." She was in hysterics, spittle flying from her muzzle. "Changelings, monsters, everywhere! Slay them, gotta slay them!"

The mare scanned the room frantically as she was unceremoniously hauled away. At the sides, the crowd of researchers were still filing out in a panicked fervor, while the guards were barely able to maintain order.

"Clean this lot up. Get the Doctor and this pegasus to the nearest hospital, remove the deceased, and have the Marker put under heavy guard until we can inquire Their Majesties as to what we should do!" The Royal Guard officer shouted.

No sooner had the order been uttered, the guards sprung to action. Careful not to slip on the slowly expanding pool of blood across the floor, they carried the pegasi gently out. He moaned and murmured incoherently, his now ruined and bent limbs dangling down uselessly in the air. Hooves himself was no medical doctor, but even he could tell that the pegasus would be lucky to ever walk again, let alone fly. This was assuming he did not die of blood loss.

While Hooves sat on the floor, the guards tried their best to keep him calm, cleaning the blood off of his body and preparing him for departure and questioning. Two unfortunate guards were tasked with cleaning up the blood spilled, as well as carrying out the bludgeoned corpse of the other mare. Another four unicorn guards channeled their spells together, forming a single magical barrier around the Marker.

Hooves felt the ringing abruptly cease as they did this. He sighed, both mentally and literally, in relief. Moments later, he too was lead out of the building. As he passed the corpse, the guards were in the process of laying a sheet over her. Where they had gotten it, Hooves could only guess.

The final observation he made, one that left Hooves feeling paranoid in addition to his existing trauma, was that the mare's exposed leg underneath the sheet seemed to be flexing in short spasms, as if she were still alive. Theories of what this implied or might be foreshadowing, haunted Hooves for hours to come. Discussing it with one of his more medical-oriented colleagues after meeting up with them at the local doughnut shop, they eventually dismissed the spasms merely as the byproduct of remnant chemical processes burning themselves out in the mare's body. As to the mystery of the other unicorn mare's sudden heightened aggression however, none of the ponies who had been present could deduce an answer.

Later on around midnight, when the Moon was the highest in the sky, more violence inexplicably broke out. It started first with  those guarding the Marker. Then, like a virus, multiple instances of psychotic rage were reported spreading throughout Canterlot's citizens without any hope of explanation.

"Hey Twilight! Whatcha looking at?" Spike greeted, a clearly puzzled look on his face.

Twilight took turns staring at him and the odd features in the sky. Shaking her head in disbelief, she looked at him in confusion. "What are you doing out here? And the Moon...don't any of you see? It's not supposed to be high in the sky like that during the day! Something weird is going on with the Princesses, I can just feel it."

Spike waved the others over from the front door as he let out a dismissive chuckle. "Relax, Twilight. I'm sure Princess Luna and Celestia might just be playing a prank on each other, or some kind of silly game, maybe. Alicorns are weird that way."

Our Tide is coming.

The Sun's fortress shall sunder at dusk's last light.

Quickly, Twilight shook her head. She was aggressively clearing her mind of the memory of her disturbing nightmare. "Maybe." She murmured back with poorly disguised uncertainty.

For Spike, his friend's vexation was not lost on him. He stammered nervously. "Is this about me waking up and disappearing without leaving a note? Or is something else on your mind?"

Before Twilight could respond, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy joined them at the entrance to the cellar with their respective pets in tow. "Mornin' Twi!" Applejack was the first to speak, smiling warmly. She had Winona at her side, who was panting happily and wagging her tail. "How are you feeling, sugarcube?"

"Hello. I hope that scary rash of yours has gone away." Fluttershy greeted.

"A good morning to you, Twilight!" Rarity sang, stroking her cat's head with the tip of her elegant hoof as he lay on the ground, purring contentedly.

"Good morning girls." Twilight murmured back. Her sense of confusion grew as her overactive mind slowly processed Applejack's question, her friends' combined presence, and Spike's disregard for her authority as of late. "Yeah AJ, it's gone...whatever it was." She held up her foreleg, now perfectly healthy, then waved it and motioned towards the three animals. "What in the world did you bring your pets over here for, though? The park is on the other side of town, remember?'

Applejack stepped up, looking slightly coy with a reasonable amount of concern. "Ah'm glad to hear you're feeling better. Uh, actually, we're not here for a get together or anything, to answer your question though. We were wondering if you'd be willing to see what the alien stuff might do for Winona and Angel here, if you're not too busy and such."

Twilight silently gawked at the trio. Fluttershy smiled nervously back, Applejack raised an eyebrow, and Rarity spoke. "They've seen what it can do for Opal, darling, so it was only fair that I..." Rarity let out a brief giggle. "Well, let the cat out of the bag, as one could put it."

"Spike had so many wonderful things to say about it." Fluttershy threw in. She glared mildly at Angel. "Maybe it could help Angel here to control his mean little temper. Oh, perhaps the little dear will even listen to me more often!"

By now, Twilight's gawking had ceased. She looked down at Angel bunny, who returned her gaze with a saucy narrowing of his beady eyes. He folded his arms across his chest, stamping at the ground impatiently. Twilight glared back, nodded at Fluttershy, who's face lit up with delight, then she turned to peer at Winona and her owner.

"What could you possibly need the powder tested on Winona for? What's wrong with her?"

Applejack prodded at the cut grass uncertainly. "Well, I dunno. Heck, the way Spike was so enthusiastic about, I'm mite curious to see what wonders it might work on her!" She patted Winona affectionately on the head. "Ain't that right, girl?" Winona replied with a lick, then let out a happy bark. "Ya see? Curiosity, it might as well be an Element!" The mare declared jokingly.

Twilight nodded at Applejack as well, but frowned. She dragged Spike off to the side, excusing the two for a moment. The others shrugged and turned their attention to their pets in the meantime.

"What in harmony's name did you tell them, Spike?" She hissed.

"Nothing too fanciful, I swear!" Spike whispered back.

"Spike!"

"Okay, okay! I might have...told them the powder was magical and capable of...well, capable of..."

"Of what?" Twilight's eyes narrowed fiercely as she shouted, and she held his shoulders in a vice grip.

"Making whatever thing somepony desired...possible, okay?" Spike relented with a shaky voice.

Judging by her glare, Spike reasoned that Twilight had several choice unpleasant things to say him. Fortunately for his nerves, she dismissed them all with a heavily drawn out groan of frustration. "You told them it can grant wishes?" Twilight said incredulously. "Using this powder on living creatures carries risks, Spike. I can't emphasize this fact enough!"

"What's going on here, you two?" Applejack asked out of the blue. The trio had seemed to practically teleport near them. "Are we still going along with the plan to use the powder again?" She eyed the two uncertainly. "Or are things too...Shucks! What's the word Ah'm looking for? Are things too tense, right now?"

"Oh no, no, no!" Twilight replied all too quickly, forcing a smile. "Sure, I suppose I can give Angel and Winona a dosage each. But, just this once!"

Fluttershy and Applejack grinned, and leading their pets, they each followed Twilight as she went around and descended into the cellar. Spike, Opal, and Rarity trailed in behind them. Rarity commented on the dreariness of the place, and declared its need for a potential make over to, 'liven it up' as she put it. Spike nodded his head vigorously in agreement, for more reasons than one.

The confined alien greeted them as it registered their presence. Fluttershy almost jumped out of her fur when the spider-like organism leapt against the barrier, facing her direction.

"What in tarnation, did that egg thingy hatch an actual live alien?" Applejack inquired with a mixture of fascination and wonder.

"Yep." Twilight replied, approaching a metal table set up with syringes, a microscope, several other tools, and three neatly stacked powder cylinders. The underground lab's electric arc lamps buzzed quietly above when Twilight turned them on with her horn. Fluttershy, shoving Angel along, dashed over to Twilight's side, eager to be as far from the alien as possible.

"Ugh, a spider, it's positively revolting! Thank heavens its confined behind magic!" Rarity remarked, twitching her muzzle at the alien. Applejack let out a hearty chuckle. She approached the alabaster unicorn, and curled her foreleg around her neck playfully.

"Aw shucks, she looks like she wants a hug, Rare! I think she likes ya!" Rarity stared at her wide eyed, flabbergasted.

Twilight gingerly listened to the pair's banter, and observed the alien, whilst she stood next to Fluttershy and Angel, the former of which had just finally calmed down.

"Alright Fluttershy, go ahead and set Angel down here." She tapped the tabletop gently. Fluttershy nodded, and after a few seconds attempting to catch the rabbit, she succeeded, only via threatening to use her stare. Angel stood next to the syringe, glaring intensely at the both of them.

Twilight wasted no time getting to work administering the powder. The organic particles were so minute, that they flowed into her syringe almost like water. Angel struggled as the needle met his fur, and hopped around with irritation for some time after as the agents coursed through his little veins.

"Hey, where'd Digger run off to?" Spike asked worriedly nearby, while the others joined Twilight in observing the effects of the powder. It was astounding, especially for Fluttershy.

Long gone was the usual snooty, defiant expression Angel bunny seemed to wear by default. He twitched slightly, as if just waking up, then he approached Fluttershy. Instinctively, she held out her hoof to him, and the small mammal nuzzled it affectionately. Fluttershy and Rarity cooed in adoration, and Applejack whistled, impressed. Twilight was equally impressed.

Angel abruptly ceased his nuzzling and looked up at his mistress expectantly. Fluttershy gave him a stern frown. "No, you've had enough carrots today, Angel." Much to her furthered delight, Angel elected to not pout, and cheerfully shrugged. 'Fine by me', he seemed to say.

"Alright, Spike wasn't fibbing. It's Winona's turn now!" Applejack declared, swiftly managing to scoop the fully grown dog up and onto the table. Winona panted happily, looking around at everyone. She was clearly not bothered by her sudden involuntary change of location.

The border colly scarcely even noticed as Twilight stuck the next needle into her fur, introducing the alien powder into a canine for the first time. Almost immediately, the magically-modified powder got to work making alterations. Winona's fur grew even shinier and silkier than before, her tail wagged with a renewed fervor, and overall she seemed as if she had enough physical energy to outlast even the likes of Pinkie Pie.

While Twilight eagerly got to work recording the exciting new observations, the others, along with Spike, chatted and gave the animals close examinations, remarking on the pleasant new changes. Like most conversations, the main topic shifted over time.

"Say, I haven't seen such pleasant fur since my last visit to a Canterlot spa." Rarity enthused, scrutinizing Winona.

"Yeah, Winona sure looks all the better for it. Now she'll be twice as efficient keeping the cows and other critters in line!" Applejack agreed, beaming with pride.

"Speaking of Canterlot, have either of you heard some of the strange rumors coming out of there last night? I've heard there's been rioting in places, somepony may have gotten hurt pretty bad! Ponies are acting strangely towards one another." Fluttershy said, growing more distressed as she recalled what some of the traveling merchants had told her an hour ago.

"Rioting...in Canterlot?" Rarity asked in disbelief. "Not at all possible, darling, surely!"

"Maybe whoever ya talked to might have been have had a bit too much hard cider, sugarcube." Applejack interjected.

"Oh no, the stallion looked quite sober to me, girls." Fluttershy replied with worry.

"What do you think, Twilight?" Rarity said. Not expecting to be called upon, Twilight whirled around in surprise, dropping her inkwell, quill, and parchment onto the ground. She let out a squeak as she discovered ink spilled on her otherwise immaculately-kept lavender fur. "Oh, sorry dear!" Rarity added.

"About what?" Twilight asked quickly, fussing over the mess.

"Why, the Canterlot riot rumors, of course!"

"Rumors are rumors." Twilight replied simply. She finally cleaned up the spilled ink, and neatly replaced the quill and parchment. "Something weird might be going on with Celestia and Luna, but rioting? There are very few ponies left in this land who even still have the stomach to try such things."

Thankfully, her written observations were left intact from the spill. Twilight gratefully scratched off one thing from her mental list of worries. "Now," She said. "I've got some shopping to do, girls. Clearly, I'm allergic to this stuff." She levitated one of the cylinders in the air. "So, I'm gonna go check the nearest military surplus store to see if they have any of them masks or chemsuits the Army used to wear in gas attacks, you know, during the Changeling War."

"You sure you're really willing to wear some...moldy...ugly...old combat suit...in the name of science, darling?" Rarity asked slowly, with mounting disbelief.

"Yes, in the name of science, Rarity." Twilight answered back, making her way out of the cellar. "C'mon Spike, I could use your help. Feel free to come with if you'd like, girls. Maybe we can all stop to get some lunch later."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Applejack said jovially.

"Sure, just let me stop at the cottage to drop off Angel." Fluttershy agreed.

"Digger better pop up again soon!" Spike muttered to himself under his breath. The dragon was theorizing that Twilight might have hidden his new pet in retaliation for his sneakiness.

"I'll go and see if Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie would be interested as well, it is a pleasant day after all! I'll just have to get Opalescence back to the Boutique first." Rarity agreed as well, following Spike and the rest hurriedly out, putting as much distance as possible from herself and the creepy arachnid-like alien with the segmented tail, laying in the now vacant cellar.

Twilight followed after Rarity, after closing the cellar doors firmly shut. She didn't expect anyone to come blundering in and trespassing, so she didn't lock it.

No sooner had the party left on their way to their various destinations around Ponyville, a uniformed aquamarine pegasus arrived and touched down on the lawn of the Library.

A package was laden carefully in her hooves, and she grasped onto it as she peered around at her surroundings. She wore her goggles below her fine amber mane, and her silver armor denoted her as a Royal Courier. Quite unlike most Couriers however, who were renowned for their beaming smiles as their clients opened the door, this one donned an impatient sneer as she knocked on the door.

"Hey! I have a package for a miss Twilight Sparkle, open up!"

Thirty seconds passed with no activity, then the pegasus mare rapped on the door once more, this time with greater force. There was still no response.

Lighting Dust growled in anger. Her superiors had been quite clear in their orders. The delivery: cylinders full of what Lightning assumed to be some kind of weird snow or something, were top secret. That meant that only Twilight Sparkle was allowed to receive, and sign for, the package.

With the unicorn gone, it wasn't as if Lightning Dust could simply leave them on Twilight's front stoop.

It was her understanding, that Sparkle kept a laboratory in her cellar. "What a giant egghead." The Courier said scornfully. "She's probably hunched around down there, tinkering with some useless gizmo, thinking her brains are SO useful to society!"

"Sure, my ass!" Lightning Dust went around to the cellar door, tested it, and found it to be unlocked. Opening the door, careful not to drop the pair of cylinders, she descended into the poorly lit basement. "Sparkle, priority package delivery for you! Hello?" She shouted.

Only silence greeted her. With another growl, she descended down, and looked around. Seeing that nopony was present, Lightning elected to set the cylinders down on the nearest table. With that done, she took a moment to reflect on her life situation.

How did she end up going from Wonderbolt's candidate...to a lowly Courier? True, the Royal Courier Service was a renowned establishment, but Lightning Dust was forced to serve in the lowliest ranks, having been demoted time and time again for her consistent recklessness and lack of courtesy. "Rainbow Dash." The name almost made her want to retch in disgust. In her eyes, the pegasus mare was the root of everything wrong in her life. "Sparkle's a friend of hers, isn't she? Now I hate her absent ass twice as much."

For a second, the pegasus' curiosity was ignited by movement nearby, and her intense spite for the other pegasus and all she surrounded herself with was momentarily forgotten. "What was that?"

Lightning Dust inched her way slowly across the room, approaching a large cylindrical energy barrier. She almost had a heart attack when something inside the barrier jumped out at her, attaching itself to the surface.

"What the fuck is that?"

In her panic, Lightning felt herself trip over something. It was the wire hooked up to the power source Twilight had left running. The pegasus inadvertently disconnected the source's connection between itself and the containment unit, releasing the organism.

Wasting no time, the alien sprung into action, anxious to finally fulfill its biological purpose after years trapped in stasis. Before Lightning Dust could fully realize what was happening, it had already latched itself tightly to her face. Her screams were muffled as she flared her wings, attempting to pry the hostile organism off. It clamped its eight legs around her head tightly on both sides, and it circled her neck with its lengthy tail.

Lightning felt something thick and slimy force its way past her muzzle and down her throat, preventing her from calling for help. With her vision obscured by the alien's body, she felt herself growing numb, no doubt thanks to the activities of her extraterrestrial assailant. The fact that she could still draw breath shocked her. It was one of her final thoughts before she finally slipped into unconsciousness in a heartbeat.

It didn't take long. The alien promptly fell off of her head after several moments, cold and still. It's purpose had been served, and its duty to the future queen fulfilled.

The pegasus came to with a groan soon after. Lightning Dust looked down at the withered husk of the alien in horror. She didn't feel quite right as she reeled back from it with disgust and revulsion. Sensing that she still had enough strength for flight, she quickly fled the cellar and took to the skies, heading straight for Cloudsdale as fast as she could manage.

A thousand miles away from Ponyville, Daring Do and a hoof-picked crew of archaeologists stood in front of what appeared to be a large stasis pod, deep within the cavernous bowels of the Badlands Alien Shipwreck.

They had finally gotten around to exploring the engineering bay, and the other decks beyond. For Daring, this part was the most exciting. She was anticipating to find crew quarters, a cryostasis bay, perhaps even intact specimens of the crew itself. While none of the latter had been found or confirmed yet, her efforts were not all fruitless.

The stasis pods were clearly occupied. Moreover, whatever was inside was massive, and was still alive, if the green floating light above the unit was anything to consider.

First Contact with an alien species was now inevitable, and while Daring Do normally preferred to work alone, even this entire project had proven from the start to be too big, even for her, to carry out alone.

Before she and her colleagues set about finding a way to open the pod properly without breaking something or harming the being inside, Daring looked down at the small vial of luminescent liquid hanging from her neck, holding the necklace in her hoof. It was pretty, and Daring Do had decided to turn it into a form of decorative pendant to wear. She consulted the lambent-like fluid, swirling it around and preparing her mind for the single greatest moment in Equestrian history.

The other ponies looked at her expectantly and anxiously, tools and writing implements ready.

"Alright everypony, let's awaken the hushed casket, shall we? Pop em' open!"