Wrath of the Harbinger

_____I’ve said many things before in my life. I’ve preached that ponies should be kind, loving, caring... nonviolent. I’ve supported giving anypony at least a second chance to redeem themselves. I have tried, patiently I might add, to adhere to my own philosophy. Somebody (no not somepony, somebody) taught me otherwise when my kingdom started falling apart to the machinations of beings calling themselves Mary Sues, yet also vehemently denying it. It was as he was helping Luna and I that I made an exception. Mary Sues. Must. Die.

I don’t know how much longer I have to stay lucid enough to project my thoughts in some manner. I know Noel is on this world and Maria is manipulating my mind and my sister’s. For a brief moment I almost had control of my body and I knew... I knew Noel had somehow made it back to this world. Was it Discord who brought him here? I don’t know. I can only hope that Noel brought help as there are simply too many to handle on his own. Please, if anypony, anyone, anybody listening at all to this, if you can hear me, please send help. Help my little ponies. Help us ma-

_____ *static*

_____ Now, now, Celestia. We wouldn’t want people to get the wrong idea now would we? Oh love of my life.

*Twilight*

A hundred questions flowed through my mind that I wanted to ask Noel about. Sure, he answered all my questions but some of... scratch that, all but a few of his answers left even more questions. Like, who’s his master exactly? What’s the culture like? Why are they able to use magic at all. When was he here in Equestria before? Are humans immortal? I hadn’t exactly had the chance to study humans more in-depth with my time on Earth but I’m entirely positive that they can’t be immortal. He said he didn’t remember a village being here when he was here last time. But that means Noel was here before the founding of Ponyville which would have to make him at least the age of Granny Smith, yet he looks like he’s still in his twenties. How is that possible? I’ll have to convince him to let me run some tests. Then again... all the questions could also boil down to one specific question. Should we even trust him?

I mean, come on, what if he’s lying? It’s entirely possible. He comes in, pretends to save the day, lower our guard, and do... something. And just who exactly is his master that he mentioned? Noel’s words echoed in my mind, ‘He’d rather be studying or researching or something.’ Whoever he is... he sounds a lot like how I was. I hope I get to meet him anyway, despite what Noel said about him not being a nice person.

It was as I was deep in thought that I stumbled on a rock and I started falling down. I was in the process of righting myself with magic when the hunter known as Kayla caught me before I even had the chance. She certainly had fast reflexes.

“Are you okay?” She asked me.

It was around this time I realized that we were already back in Ponyville and I hadn’t even noticed it. I also took into account just how tall humans were in comparison to ponies. Kayla herself towered over me by nearly two feet according to my calculations. I had no idea humans were this big, but then again I had no way to compare sizes at any point in time. “Uh, yeah, thanks.” I responded.

“Good.” Kayla said with a smile and then continued to walk ahead of us. “This is your stop. If you need me or anyone else just ask for us.” She said with a wave and then she was off.

I took a closer look at her equipment. She had a single sword at her hips and her armor looked a lot like Noel’s. Now, I’m curious about the height difference. Maybe they’re not actually human, or they’re a different species of human. When I was on Earth the people there looked much different. I don’t care what Noel claims about his master, until I know otherwise, the Earth I went to has be the one he’s from. But then again, he said humans normally can’t use magic.... Does that mean some can study and learn magic on their own? I thought Earth didn’t have magic, even if they did for a short time while I was there.

A thought hit me as I suddenly remembered something Noel said. He said he wasn’t from Earth! But how is that even possible either? The chances of the same or similar species evolving in two different places are low. And in this case, with two separate worlds, the chances of that happening are astronomical at best, and impossible at worst. I needed to find out more about what Noel knew.... Oh if only the other princesses were here, especially Celestia, she’d know how to handle this.

*Noel’s camp*

Oh holy shit I forgot to ask about Celestia when Twilight was here! Noel thought as he just remembered and then proceeded to bang his head on the table. Looks like I’ve gotta go find her again. Well, off to Ponyville. But before that.... Noel turned to Todd. “Todd,” he said, the man looking up from cleaning his rifle in response, “I want you to go find Discord, then ask him to get you close to Canterlot so you can scout it out. Report back to me in person as soon as you can.”

“Yes sir.” Todd stood, saluted, nodded and went off to complete his task.

Now to find Twilight. Noel thought as he went outside and used the crystal in the camp that acted as a teleportation waypoint between the camp and the other crystal they had set up in Ponyville, allowing quick access. Huh, I wonder why I didn’t have Kayla use the crystal to bring those ponies back to Ponyville in the first place. Would’ve saved them the trouble of walking. Ah fuck it, whatever. Noel felt a tug on his body as in an instant he was transported from one place to another.

After getting his bearings for a few seconds, teleportation always made him feel queasy during his first few experiences with it. He’d eventually gotten used to it by now but the effect of having things completely switched around instantly would leave just about anyone slightly disoriented.

When Noel looked around he saw he was on the outskirts of Ponyville, he would see about talking to the closest thing this town had to a government official, though that would probably be Twilight, to move the crystal closer. There were probably laws about setting up things like that, he didn’t need to get into legal arguments since he would have to acquiesce anything to the ruling government no matter what he did. Luckily, it didn’t take him more than thirty seconds to get inside the town. As he looked around he could see that his hunters were doing their best to repair damage and restore ponies to health. He knew, or at least suspected, that many would want to have their memories about the whole endeavor erased. But that was before, maybe things had changed in the years he was gone.

It didn’t take him long to find Twilight, all things considered. She was standing next to an earth pony mare with a grey mane wearing some sort of... tie... thing... and glasses with a scroll for a cutie mark. She looked important. Neither had noticed him since they were facing the other way.

Before Noel managed to walk up to her, Twilight began talking to the other pony. “Yes, mayor,” Ah, so she’s the mayor, that makes sense. Noel thought. “Mare.” Oh wait, what? Is it mare mare, mayor mare, or mayor mayor or something? Is her name spelled differently but just sounds like that? Well shit, doesn’t matter now. “I understand but these... hunters could be dangerous. Should we even trust them?”

“Twilight, they’re repairing the town and are healing ponies. How are they evil?” The mayor mayor... mare mare... fuck it I’m using MM so there’s no confusion until Noel and I know for sure what her actual name is. Noel because he doesn’t know, me because I’m not allowed to read ahead in the script. Either way, the MM raised a hoof and waved it around, pointing at Ponyville to emphasize her point.

“I didn’t say evil.” Twilight responded. “I said they could be dangerous.”

“I don’t blame you for being distrustful of us, Twilight.” Noel said from behind the two.

Both mares jumped and Twilight looked ready to cast a spell. Her horn stopped glowing once she realized who it was and she relaxed slightly. “Oh, it’s you, Noel. You shouldn’t sneak up on ponies like that!” Twilight scolded. Did she just scold me? Dude yes I just said that weren’t you- wait- never mind, you can’t hear me.

“Sorry.” Was all Noel had to say. His face was expressionless since he was still wearing his helmet on his belt.

Twilight facehoofed. “Mayor, this is the man I was talking to you about.”

“So... you’re the mayor of this town?” Noel asked, turning to MM.

“Yes.”

“So, your full name would be Mayor Mare Mare?” Oh shit I think I’m just now starting to realize the pun....

“Uh, no.”

“Her name is Mare.” Twilight said.

“So... mayor as in, the mayor of a town... and mare as in... a female pony?” Noel slowly asked, to which both ponies nodded. I think my brain just tried to kill itself, it definitely doused itself with gasoline, all it’s missing is the match. You and me both, Noel. Oh hey, his right eye twitched a little bit. Noel calmed himself down quickly though. “Alright then. Princess Twilight, I was hoping to talk to you about something.”

“How do you know I’m a princess?” Twilight asked.

“Last time I checked when I was last here, all alicorns were designated as princesses.”

“We still need to talk about that.”

“Later. For now, I was hoping you or the mayor here could help me with-”

“Look out below!” Came a rather loud voice from the sky in Noel’s right ear, cutting him off. Of course, it only seemed so loud because it was actually so close, Noel didn’t know that though. When he turned his head at the source he could see why it was so loud. Time seemed to slow down. He saw a grey pegasus with a blonde mane only inches away from his face. Inches away from crashing into him as she had her eyes tightly shut, prepared for the inevitable. Multiple thoughts ran through Noel’s mind... what he’d been doing with his life. If he done enough, if he had more to live for, so on and so forth. It is at this moment that I realize.... I am about to get hurt. Noel thought. He thought all of that in the split second that it took for hardheaded, literally in this case, pegasus to meet squishy human. Time went back to normal.

There was a loud crash as both combatants crashed into the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust from their epic battle as Noel was plowed into the dirt, leaving a marked trail behind him as he slid. The victorious pegasus stood up proudly, looked down at her defeated opponent and asked. “Hey, mister, are you alright?”

Noel looked up. He thankfully had a weak version of his magic shield active that had protected him from any of the damage. “Yeah. Thanks for asking miss...?”

“Derpy, Derpy Hooves!” She said cheerfully.

Noel got a better look at her. He saw that she had bubbles for a cutie mark with a mailbag hanging at her side, there were some letters strewn about the place and he could also see that her eyes were... cross-eyed... or something. His master had a scientific name for it, which Noel was suddenly able to remember for some reason. Strabismus was it? That was kind of cool, actually. “Well, miss Hooves. Would you kindly move so I can stand up?” Noel said with a grin adorning one half of his face.

“Okay! You can call me, Derpy, by the way.”

Noel sat up but he didn’t feel like standing quite yet. He set about grabbing the letters with his magic and started putting them back into her mailbag. “Okay, Derpy it is then. I hope you’re okay, you should be more careful in the future.” Though looking at her, Noel didn’t know if he should even bother telling her that, she didn’t have a scratch on her.

“Sure thing, mister! I gotta get going!” She jumped up and started flying. Upside down. Noel had no idea how the letters weren’t flying all over the place, especially when she didn’t get more than twenty meters before crashing once again. At least she got back up and tried again.

Twilight walked up to Noel. “Are you okay, Noel? You must’ve gotten hit pretty hard.”

“I did but I’m okay. I always keep a weak magic shield activated at all times and I didn’t get hurt because of it. That crash took it out, though so I’m going to reactivate a slightly stronger one. You ponies fly at astonishing speeds.”

“Wait, what did you say?”

“You ponies fly at astonishing speeds.”

Twilight shook her head quickly. “No, before that.”

“I’m okay?”

“No! The thing you said about you having a magic shield!”

“Ooooh, that. Why didn’t you just say so, Twilight?” Noel struggled to keep the smirk off his face.

“You knew what I meant!”

“Alright, alright. I’ll answer your question if your mayor answers mine first.” Mayor Mare stepped forward at being mentioned. “So we have a crystal set up on the outskirts of Ponyville but I was wondering if we could move it to the center of Ponyville or at least close to the center. I wanted to ask you just in case some papers have to be filled out or something. Ponyville is the property of the denizens living here and they may or may not appreciate an ugly crystal randomly decorating the road.”

“I can make the necessary arrangements for you. No papers are necessary.”

“Awesome, thanks.” Mayor Mare walked off. Noel turned back to Twilight. “Now, Twilight, to answer your question, yes, I was using a magic shield. What do you want to know about it?”

“If it was constantly active, how come I wasn’t able to see any kind of magic actually being performed? There should have been a magical layer that could be plainly seen just like any other barrier. And if it was constantly active, wouldn’t that be a drain on your magic?”

“I wouldn’t know the entirety of the difference between our magic so I’m afraid I really can’t help you there except for a few theories which I shall talk about later. Yes, since the shield is constantly active it does drain my magic but very slowly since it’s weak. It’s more like a cushion to soften something so I don’t get hurt too badly by something, that way I’ll have ample warning and time to use a stronger shield. My magic is stronger and regenerates faster than that shield was depleting it. That’s something my master always taught and drilled into me since I was little.”

“So your master is a lot like a teacher, just like Princess Celestia was mine.”

“Uh, yes. Celestia taught you things? Oh wait, shit that’s what I came to talk to you about anyway. What’s the status on Celestia? Where is she? Or better yet, how’s she been doing before all these Mary Sues started popping up?”

“Wait, what?! How do you know the princess?”

“I was here a long time ago. But I suppose I should talk about the magic shield theory first so I don’t forget about it. I’m going to assume that since our magic is different it therefore has different properties and thus acts differently. Or it could be that since I know and have been taught different magic spells by my master that it would not be visible in the same way one of your shields would be. That’s all I got.”

“Fascinating.” Twilight sat on her haunches, tapping a hoof on her chin as she pondered Noel’s words. “I’ll have to study that at some point....” She muttered under her breath, obviously thinking that Noel couldn’t hear her.

“You can study it later.” Twilight’s head shot up and she blushed as she smiled sheepishly. “I want to know about Celestia. What can you tell me about her? How’s she been? She and I haven’t talked much since the Nightmare Moon incident with Luna a few hundred years ago. And I know she was really depressed in the letters we wrote to each other.”

“What are you talking about? That didn’t happen a few hundred years ago.” Twilight’s eyes widened. “Wait, does that mean you’re over a thousand years old?!”

“No, I’m three hundred sixty eight years old.” Hold on a second, is she saying that Luna became Nightmare Moon over a thousand years ago? Just how long have I been gone....

“That’s not possible. Luna became Nightmare Moon just a little bit over a thousand years ago and she was banished. That would have to make you at least a thousand years old.”

“I suppose I should mention that in my dimension, time moves much differently. It might go faster, or slower relative to any one universe. The only exceptions to this that I know of are Earth and the universe my master is currently residing in. This only seems to affect our home so time flows at the exact same speed as the next universe. We can slow down or speed up time in my home but as I said, only the two universes I mentioned before are immune to it. We don’t know why. So it’s possible that time moved much faster in Equestria than I was aware of.”

“That’s so interesting. How are you able to do that?”

“Magic. I don’t gotta explain shit.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “No, I mean what kind of magical theory did you use to alter the time in your dimension?”

“I... don’t really know. I just know that we do it sometimes. There are some more rules pertaining to it but I think we can discuss it later. Now, about Celestia....”

“Oh, yes. She’s... I don’t know, fine I guess? She could be a completely different pony than what you knew her as. A thousand years or a few hundred years, either way that’s a lot of time for somepony to change. I’m sorry I can’t really tell you how she is without actually taking you to her myself.”

“Well, shit. Canterlot is the capital now, right?” Twilight nodded. “It’s probably far different than what I remember last time I was here. I suppose I should also mention this isn’t even my second time being here. I’ve been called here before, always on my own until now. But yeah, Luna... or... Nightmare Moon I suppose, trashed their last castle so Celestia moved to Canterlot. It was about the size of Ponyville last I remember. Is Celestia still in Canterlot the last you heard?”

“Yes, along with Princess Luna.”

“What?!” Noel grabbed Twilight by the shoulders. “Nightmare Moon is free?! When did this happen?” He was practically shouting at this point. Twilight could tell he had a glint of fear in his eyes.

“Ugh, no, Nightmare Moon is not free. Well, I mean yes, but no at the same time, not anymore.” Twilight said, brushing Noel’s hands off her.

“What are you talking about? Ah! Brain hurts! Speak simple!” Noel said jokingly, trying to lighten his own mood.

Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “Nightmare Moon was free but she was defeated with the Elements of Harmony.”

Noel raised an eyebrow. “Wait, she was banished and sealed inside the moon when Celestia used the elements. If she used them again, wouldn’t that just banish Nightmare Moon back and start the cycle all over again?”

Twilight shook her head, a little sadly this time. “Celestia can’t use the elements anymore. Both she and Luna have been cut off from them now.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. How was she defeated with the elements if Celestia wasn’t using them?”

“We did.” Twilight said, proudly.

“Yeah, that doesn’t make any fucking sense. You can’t expect me to know what you’re talking about Twilight. Now explain it to me like I’m five fucking years old.”

“You remember my friends when we were in your tent?”

Noel thought back. He connected the dots instantly from what Twilight was obviously implying. “You’re telling me you six are the bearers of the elements?”

“That’s correct! Wow you got that pretty fast. I thought you wanted me to explain this to you like you were five.” Twilight finished with a smirk on her face.

“Shut the fuck up, Twilight. Now tell me the rest of the story.”

Twilight huffed indignantly. “I don’t think so if you’re telling me to ‘shut the fuck up’ I don’t even know what the word fuck means but I’m thinking it’s not a very nice one. Now, how do we ask for things nicely?” She said, the smirk gone and replaced by the smuggest grin on her face that she could muster.

“...This is payback for all the times I’ve teased you so far, isn’t it?”

“Yep!” The grin didn’t leave her face.

Noel sighed heavily. “Could you please tell me the rest of the story?” Fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you. Fuck you so much. I will have my revenge on you Twilight, mark my thoughts.

Twilight clopped her hooves together in victory as she sat on her haunches and launched into the telling of her story.

Twilight had gone into a great amount of detail with her story, to which Noel was silently thankful for. Not like he was going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that, though. He wasn’t sure that she probably added or forgot a few things but she probably added her own personal spin on the story. Noel would ask to examine her memories down the road, just so he had a clear picture.

At least an hour had passed. There had been a crowd that formed as Twilight was telling her story, Noel had noticed it forming around the five minute mark. When Twilight finally finished her tale, the small gathering of ponies stomped and clopped their hooves in a round of applause. Noel would, at least, admit that it was indeed a good story.

When the crowd started to disperse Noel went up to Twilight. “That was a good story,” he said. “So it took the Princess of Magic to defeat Nightmare Moon in the end, did it?”

Twilight put a hoof on the back of her head. “Actually... I wasn’t an alicorn during that time.”

“What.” Noel said so flatly it hardly constituted as a question.

“I’ve only recently... ascended.” She said, a sheepish smile on her face.

“That... makes some sense. I don’t know how long we’ll be on this world but I would like to hear the story sometime, when you have the time that is.”

Twilight smiled a bit more genuinely this time. “Thanks. I think it’d be nice to have an alien perspective on this.”

Noel’s communication crystal beeped and he answered it once he realized it was from Todd. “Sir, I’ve scouted out Canterlot.” Todd said.

“That was quick.” Noel responded. At least things are looking up.”What’d you find out?”

“I have good news and horrific news.” Well fuck. It was good while it lasted. Yeah, nice going Noel.

Twilight’s eyes had widened during this time and she studied the crystal as much as she could from the distance that she was allowed. Such a fascinating piece of magical equipment! I wonder if he’d let me study it.... She thought.

Noel sighed. “Well fuck,” he repeated aloud, “tell me the good news first.”

“Well, I managed to get a good idea of the layout of the surrounding area. There’s some good vantage points that I can take that would allow me to get some good shots in. I was also able to place markers that would allow us to teleport in at multiple locations around the city and allow me to monitor how many Mary Sues are in the vicinity. That’s... where the bad news starts.”

“Let me guess, an abnormally large population of MS’s?” Noel deadpanned.

“Yes.... And when I say I’m giving a conservative estimate with this I really mean it. By my calculations, the lowest number I can possibly give is ten thousand of them.”

Noel sunk down into the dirt upon hearing those words. “You... b-b-but....” We have, what? Thirty five hunters with us, in total? That’s nowhere near enough.... There’s too many. “That’s... too much for us. We don’t have nearly the amount of manpower or ammo to take them on in any situation.”

“And that’s not the worst of it I’m afraid. They’ve brainwashed the population there, no surprise, but they’ve managed to dig their heels in so far and so brazenly that there’s no possible way they’re not daring us to come in after them. And they’re multiplying Noel. And I don’t mean a new MS is coming in once a week when they’re really trying to invade a world I mean there’s at least one popping up within every hour.” Noel’s jaw dropped. “And it’s just going to get worse as they keep coming with more frequency.”

Noel stared off into the distance for a brief moment before he got his bearings. “I need to get into contact with my master and the council as soon as possible. Tell the rest of the hunters to gather at my position.”

“Yes sir.” And Todd ran off to complete his duty.

The communication crystal stopped glowing and Noel decided to simply lie on his back stare up into the sky. There were going to be a lot of hunter deaths no matter what he did. Twilight walked over to him and sat next to him. “Noel,” she said, “explain to me what’s going on. Please, I have no idea what’s going on so please do so in detail.”

Noel sighed but didn’t move from his position. He did, however, decide to speak. “When Mary Sues decide that they really, REALLY want a world they appear in greater numbers and with greater frequency. The shortest time observed has been a total of three coming through at the same time in the span of one week. Then they have to wait at least another week. However, on average, a Mary Sue will pop on a world occasionally around every five or so years. But this...” he waved his arms, “I have no idea what’s going on. I can only apply my training here and hope for the best. I don’t know what I’m really supposed to do in this situation. Just... UGH!” He let out a massive groan of frustration, his arm covering his face.

That was why he didn’t notice Twilight’s horn light up, envelop him in her magical aura and sit him up straight until he removed his arm from his eyes in surprise. He didn’t expect the hug from Twilight. “Why are you-?” Was all he had time to attempt to ask before Twilight shushed him.

“Noel. I know this is going to be difficult for you. You may even lose some friends.” She pulled away, her face solemn. “I wish there was an alternative to killing, and I’m going to try to advocate for a peaceful resolution. But I know that you can do this.”

Noel grunted in response, but a smile still adorned his face. “I forgot how friendly ponies were. Not to mention cute, soft, and cuddly.”

Twilight jerked back and blushed. “Uh, well... I’m glad you think ponies are cute, soft, and cuddly.”

Noel laughed. “You know what, I think we should talk later, if I survive this ordeal. But first, I need to contact the council about getting reinforcements then I’ll answer a few questions. Particularly about this thing,” he said, pointing at the crystal set in his gauntlet. “Yeah, I saw you checking this out.” He stood up.

“Well I want to know how it works! It looks fascinating!” She exclaimed excitedly.

That got a chuckle out of Noel. “Well, we can talk about it later. For now, I would like you to give me some space. You can also observe what I’m about to do if you would like to get a feel for what I’m doing.” Twilight backed up a few spaces, hoping that she was giving him a respectful distance. Thankfully she did and Noel started going through some motions that looked practiced but also deliberately slow. Twilight pulled her quill and notepad from... somewhere... and started making notes. Without her trusty assistant Spike to record things, she would have to do it herself. Then again, this is probably more efficient. Spike is good for writing down things verbatim, not taking notes on the applications of magic and arcane practices. Twilight idly thought.

After about ten seconds, Twilight made sure to make a separate sketch by making another quill and notepad appear and record Noel’s motions thoroughly, a swirling ball of magical energy appeared. It started to grow until it finally opened a portal. Twilight could only stare in awe. With a spell like that at our disposal.... We could revolutionize modern magic! Distances would be made inconsequential! Supplies could be delivered instantaneously! Depending on whether or not there’s a lag time between the two portals, that is. Travel between great distances could be made so much easier and we could avoid raiding parties. Oh and exploration! Think of the things we could discover! Twilight thought with such glee she almost didn’t pay attention to what Noel began to say when he tapped that communication crystal.

“This is Noel. I am requesting an emergency talk with the council. I have urgent news that they need to be aware of for this mission. Authorization code, Delta 30262. Please acknowledge.”

“Authorization recognized. Request granted. Patching you through.” Came the response from the crystal. Unknown to the ponies, all voices that go through a portal, especially one that connects to two different universes, are distorted. Most of the time, it’s only slightly. To the point that it’s barely noticeable in some cases.

After a few seconds another voice spoke. “This is Claudia.” A female voice said, clearly annoyed. “Noel, you better have a damn good reason for using that authorization code.”

“I’m in dire need of reinforcements. We came to this world woefully unprepared. I need you to requisition at least an entire brigade of hunters for this mission.”

Claudia scoffed. “Noel, the last time we spoke you told me a platoon was overkill for this mission, now you want an entire BRIGADE? There’s absolutely no way you need that many-”

“The reports and amount of intelligence my subordinates have gathered changed my mind. We’re easily looking at a population of at least ten thousand Mary Sues.”

There was a faint sound of something breaking accompanied by a long pause. Twilight was not aware that Claudia has just dropped her coffee mug in disbelief. “You’re...” she finally managed to croak out, “talking about the entire population on that planet, right?”

“I wish I was. That’s just the amount of MS’s located in one location. I have no doubt there’s more out there, staying hidden.”

“Fuck.... I’m sorry, Noel. I’m going to say this now but there’s absolutely no way we can spare that many hunters at the moment. I’m not even sure if we can spare a thousand.”

“Well what can you fucking send us? If I try to get in there with even a few hundred hunters we’ll get slaughtered.”

“I don’t know, but I’ll see what I can do. It’ll... take some time. But they must not be actively attacking you, are they?”

“No, thankfully enough. They’re perfectly content to just dig their heels in and hide behind the walls of a city, for now.”

“I’ll make sure I get reinforcements there as soon as I can. Just... hold out, okay?” There was worry very much evident in her voice.

“I’ll get in touch with my master soon, as well. Noel out.” And without waiting for a response he closed the portal. Noel let out a sigh and turned to Twilight while also deciding to sit down.

Twilight walked up to Noel and sat on her haunches. She made no move to hug him this time. “So I guess things are really bad then?”

“Yeah. But I promised to answer your question.”

“Doesn’t preparing for... killing...” Twilight rolled the word off her tongue with some disdain, “Mary Sues take priority, or something? What about contacting your master?”

“We have time for both later. Now, this,” he said, tapping the crystal but not activating it, “is called a communication crystal. I think that just by hearing the name you can guess what it does.”

“It allows you to talk in real-time instead of having to send messages and waiting for a response?”

“Precisely. It has a limited range but that range is extended almost indefinitely if there has been an established link between two or more crystals. That’s why I’m able to talk to my soldiers here at such great distances. It definitely won’t work with sending messages through other universes, though. That’s why I had to open a portal to my dimension so that I could send a message to the council, or Claudia as the case happened to be. Don’t know why she was the only one there, I normally would’ve heard other council members talking in the background about the news I told them, at least. Still, when I opened the portal, the distance was effectively only about ten feet away at most. The signal goes through the portal and comes out the other end, just like sending anything else through.”

“Oh.” Twilight pondered with a hoof on her chin before asking her next question. “So what can you tell me about the portals you use then? I’m sure it’s complicated so I want to know how transportation works. What would happen if you opened a portal underwater? Wouldn’t the water start flooding through?”

“Excellent question, actually. My master encountered that problem when he started refining portals. Thankfully, he was able to perfect it, as far as I know, at least, for our use. The portal only allows things through that you send or want to go through. Can’t stop anything on the other side if it wants to come through, though. Not unless you put a barrier up.”

“I hope I get the chance to study under your master. He seems like he’s done so many good things! He could be like our world’s Starswirl the Bearded!”

“I knew that guy....” Noel started to say but he saw Twilight’s eyes widen with excitement. “But not like that, Twilight!” The eyes that were filled with disappointment would drive a lesser man to tears.... Maybe. “He and I only said hi to each other. I can guarantee you that Luna or Celestia could tell you more. I know of him, but not much to make a comparison to him and my master.”

“Oh.” Her adorable eyes went back to normal. Now that Noel really thought about it, all the ponies had cute eyes. If someone was really susceptible, and if the ponies really wanted to, the cuteness could be weaponized.

“As for being apprenticed under my master.... I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Why not?” There was a head tilt. I’ve been here before, did the ponies evolve to be more cute?

“If my time here in Equestria and with Celestia was any indication, my master’s methods would be radically different.”

“I said study, not apprenticed. Perhaps your master could give me spell books, ooh! Like a trade!”

“He... might actually agree to that.”

Twilight did a hoof pump at that. Yeah, definitely hasn’t been an alicorn for long, let alone at birth. She’s so full of life; she hasn’t had decades to temper her with experience. Noel idly thought. “Noel!” Came a shout from a familiar voice, it was definitely filled with urgency.

Noel turned and saw that it was Todd sprinting towards him. “Todd,” he started to ask, “what is it?”

“We’ve got a problem.” Todd responded, coming to a halt in front of Noel.

“What’s wrong?”

Twilight had risen to her feet by this point, able to tell that something was obviously wrong with the franticness in Todd’s voice. “What’s going on?” She asked.

Todd turned and pointed in the distance. “That!”

The human and alicorn princess looked at what Todd was pointing at. What they saw resembled something human but it was huge and bulky. And it was walking calmly towards Ponyville, stepping on and crushing anything that got in its way. “Is that a Mary Sue?” Twilight asked.

Todd shook his head. “No. We just found that out the hard way. He’s incapacitated at least three hunters already. I tried shooting him but his armor is too tough and my scanners show he’s not under the influence of Mary Sues.”

“So what is he doing here?” Noel asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Mary Sue HUNTERS!” Was the bellowed response Noel got. The trio took a closer look at the giant man, if it could even be called that. It was indeed a giant, standing at least five meters tall. Armor that looked scorched covered it head-to-toe. It lumbered towards the center of the town, completely trampling everything in its way and leaving large footprints from its sheer weight. A massive sword that no unmodified human could possibly hope to lift was carried in a single hand.

Noel decided to make sure that a fight would be avoided as much as possible. “That would be me and my friend here, along with at least a dozen other hunters in this town.” No reason to give him our real numbers like a dumbass. Though, I wouldn’t be surprised if the MS’s somehow already knew how many of us there are. “What is your business here?” He would have asked why he had attacked the hunters as well, but that was assuming this giant had made the first move in the first place. Besides, Todd had neglected to let him know who provoked who. Then again... he knew who and what the hunters were....

The giant stopped where he was. “To get rid of your presence here in Equestria.” He responded.

“Mine in particular right? Or just one of us? Because I can guarantee you that I can just get one of us to leave if that’s the case. No need for violence here.... Deal?” Noel finished with an uneasy grin. No way in hell he would actually accept that. Hopefully that can buy us a few precious seconds of not having to fight this guy.

The giant growled, completely audible from the distance he was at between the hunters and himself, before launching himself forward. The ground shook with every step that he took. He was surprisingly fast and he closed the distance in a few mere seconds as he lifted the sword high above his head. “No deal!” He shouted before bringing the sword down. Noel grabbed Twilight as both he and Todd moved out of the way, the sword just barely missing them. The massive piece of metal sunk deep into the earth, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Noel jumped up on top of a nearby roof to get a better look on how to fight this battle, Twilight still in his arms. With the dust settling he saw other hunters start to engage the giant as it attempted to dislodge the sword from the ground. Twilight jumped out of his arms, a determined look on her face. It was the telltale sign of the makings of a great leader. “He just wants the hunters.” She said. “Let me go and talk with him, see if we can work something out.”

“Bad idea.” Was the response from Noel.

Twilight turned her head, her eyes narrowing. “And why is that?”

“Think about it. When he attacked us you were between Todd and I; meaning that he didn’t care if he killed you in the process.”

Twilight looked back at the giant. “But if he’s not a Mary Sue that means you don’t have to kill him. This can still be resolved without killing.”

“Maybe.” Noel and Twilight noticed that the ponies had thankfully fled the scene, only the hunters were presently fighting the giant. “I need to get down there and help my hunters. If you can think of something to help do it quickly.” With that Noel put his helmet on, jumped down and ran into the fray, leaving Twilight to quickly think about several scenarios.

A few houses had human-sized holes in them from hunters being tossed into them. Unfortunately, there were still ponies inside those homes and a few had been crushed and killed. The giant had a hunter in his hand and he had started to squeeze when Todd took a shot at his head. The impact made the giant flinch and he dropped the hunter. He turned his attention to Todd, who took a few more shots before running off. The giant grabbed a chunk of earth and rock and hurled it at the running hunter. Todd swiveled to take another shot but he noticed the huge boulder too late as he was firing and he turned around to continue running only to be hit in the back.

Noel shot a magic blast at the giant while his back was turned. He expected that to at least hurt the creature but it only turned its head and bellowed. It turned back to its sword and with a mighty heave it pulled its weapon free. Noel fired another blast of magical energy, fully intending to kill. The giant merely shrugged it off as he made a sweeping motion, forcing Noel to jump high and land on the building behind him. The blade’s reach was longer than expected and it collided with the building, cutting its supports and sending it crashing with Noel still on top. Noel anchored himself with magic for a brief second before launching himself at the giant’s armored face, his foot wreathed in magical energy. When the impact was made there was a small explosion and Noel was repelled off but he could see that the giant was reeling from the blow.

Unfortunately, it recovered just as quickly and brought its sword down once more just as Noel was landing on the ground. Noel saw the sword and barely had time to move out of the way and then back flip to avoid the massive armored fist that slammed the ground in another attempt to get him. The fist pulled back and was heading towards Noel once again. Noel was completely cornered with no more room to dodge so he put his arms up protectively, trying to gather as much energy into his magic shields as possible and hope for the best when the inevitable blow would come. He didn’t have much hope, knowing that his magic couldn’t gather fast enough and the amount of force behind the blow would probably kill him even if he had his shields fully powered. And so Noel waited, his eyes shut tightly, waiting for his end. But it never came. Instead he felt a tug of magic on him even as he heard a resounding boom.

Noel opened his eyes and saw that he had been teleported back to the roof where he left Twilight at. The giant was in the distance, though not more than twenty meters, his fist still in the building until he pulled out. More hunters started attacking the giant and his attention was thankfully focused upon them instead. I think I know who I have to thank. Noel thought as he looked up at his savior and, as he had predicted, stood Twilight. “Thanks.” He managed to force out as he began to pant and look back at the giant once more. What the fuck is with this guy? He keeps shrugging off my attacks like they’re nothing.

“No problem.” Twilight responded as her horn lit up and engulf Noel in a magical aura as she helped him stand up. “You helped us, it’s only fitting that I help you. I think I know a way to knock him unconscious.”

“If it involves magic don’t even try it.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

“My attacks were utterly useless against him. And look,” he said, pointing at the scene unfolding before them, “he’s just shrugging off magic like it’s nothing.”

Twilight saw that Noel indeed spoke the truth. Every bolt of magic fired at the giant bounced off harmlessly, washed over, or faded away. “But how? There are species that have resistance to magic like dragons but nothing at this kind of level!”

“I don’t know what the fuck is with this guy. Maybe it’s his armor, or his sword, or maybe he has some kind of innate magic resistance. Do you really want to go through the process of finding out? Because at this rate he’s going to slaughter us. He hasn’t killed any of my hunters but I bet you he’s probably killed some ponies in collateral damage alone.” He grabbed Twilight by her shoulders for the second time today. “So think this through, Twilight. Is a nonviolent solution even possible at this point and is it even worth it?”

Twilight looked as though she’d been slapped. She looked at the damage the giant had caused and amidst the rubble she managed to spot a severed leg of a pony. A tear came to her eyes and she looked back at Noel. He wasn’t crying but Twilight could see he was panicking slightly through the eye-slits in his helmet; a somewhat pleading look in his eyes. Twilight nodded. “I’ll help you.” With a twist of her head, her horn glowed and shot a beam of magic at the giant, hitting it dead-on.

And it shouted in pain.

Noel and Twilight’s eyes widened. “I thought he was resistant to magic?” Twilight wondered aloud.

“It’s just against hunters, it has to be. Look!” Noel said, pointing. “The hunter’s magic still isn’t working!” The giant was thankfully still occupied with the other hunters as it tried swatting at them like flies. “Twilight, I have an idea. I can supercharge your magic if I start pouring energy into you. Then you can use it to kill him!”

Twilight shook her head vigorously. “No, get somepony else to do it. I can’t kill something.”

Noel didn’t get the chance to make a counterargument when the giant let out a massive roar that demanded everyone’s attention. Noel and Twilight looked at the giant as he plunged his sword into the ground and a large sphere of energy expanded outwards from him, knocking away every single hunter close to him and tearing off the roofs of some buildings and even the foundation of at least one house. Noel saw for a brief moment Kayla’s face as she flew past him and hit a billboard that happened to be on the building that Twilight and Noel were both standing on. Convenient. Now that I think about it, it’s the only building there that doesn’t have a sloped roof. Strange. “Kayla!” Noel shouted as he rushed over to her.

“Hey, Noel.” She croaked out. She looked relatively unharmed, still bruised but nothing life-threatening. “The fuck is with this guy?”

“Beats me.”

“Guys....” Twilight shakily said. Noel and Kayla looked behind and saw Twilight pointing at the giant... heading straight towards them. It took calm, great, lumbering steps, assured of its victory. When it finally stopped it had a scowl on its face from being denied its quarry for so long. It wasn’t quite able to tower over the building but it could still easily reach over and grab Noel, Twilight, and Kayla if it wanted to.

“Noel,” Kayla said, grasping his arm and putting something in his hand. “Take this.” Noel took the object and recognized that it felt like a magic grenade. Hopefully this’ll do something once I get the chance to use it.

The giant growled and started lifting his sword above his head. And that was when a most unexpected thing happened. Something hit it in the back of the head and landed on the roof, sprawled on all fours. “Derpy?” Noel asked in disbelief when he saw who it was.

“Oh, sorry about that!” Derpy said, obviously completely oblivious to the danger behind her.

The giant had a stunned look on its face which quickly contorted in rage as it reached for Derpy. Noel grabbed Derpy and threw her out of the way just in time for the giant’s fist to enclose around him. Noel was brought close to the giant’s face. Twilight was distracted as Noel had unfortunately thrown Derpy straight into her and knocked her off her hooves... feet... fuck it, we’ll just go with feet. “Do you have any last words before I crush the life out of you?” The giant said.

“Yeah.” Noel responded with a smile, his voice strained in the giant’s vice grip. “Don’t look at explosions.”

The giant gave his best what-the-fuck look which continued as he inspected a small sphere floating very close to his eyes... when then proceeded to explode.

The giant gave a roar of pain as he was blinded and dropped Noel in the process. Noel landed on his ass and saw that the giant was angrier than ever. Well, that’s all I got. Noel thought with defeat as the giant raised his sword and started bringing it down.

“Now, now.” A familiar voice rang out. “We can’t have that.” All looked at the sword the giant was holding. Except, that it wasn’t a sword anymore, it was Discord he was now holding. He was in the general shape of a sword but bent out of shape to make sure that the others were unharmed. The giant backed up and let go of Discord who transformed back into his ‘normal’ self. “Ah!” He said, stretching and getting the cricks out of his back. “Getting bent all out of shape can do wonders for your back!” He extended a paw to the giant. “Hi! I’m Discord!”

The giant took another step back before taking a swing at Discord who merely separated his body to avoid the fist and then reattached his body parts. “I’m sorry, but it looks like we got off on the wrong foot.” The giant suddenly started wobbling as his foot literally wandered off. “Oh, but you’re rather rude. You didn’t even give me your name! We should remedy that, but first let’s bring you down to a more manageable size, hmm?” And the giant started shrinking, his foot was now reattached to his body, and he kept shrinking and shrinking until Discord stuck him in an impossible bottle. “Much better.” Discord said, rattling the former giant around in the bottle.

Noel jumped down from the building with Kayla and Derpy floating right behind him with his magic, but there was no visible aura like a unicorn or alicorn. Twilight teleported down a second later to join the group. Noel set Derpy and Kayla down gently and walked up to Discord, panting heavily. “Thanks, Discord. I’m glad you came by when you did. I was completely out of tricks to throw against this guy.”

“Oh don’t worry about it. You saved this world before, Noel.” Discord held up the bottle and looked at the tiny man inside. “It’s about time I returned the favor.” Discord held out the bottle to Noel. “Would you like the honors?” He asked, knowing that Noel knew full well what Discord meant by the question.

“No. I don’t think my magic would work on him anyway so I doubt I’d be able to get any answers out of him because he was just shrugging off our hunter magic. From what I’ve seen, you’d have better luck than I would.”

“Hmm. Very well.” Discord snaked a talon down into the bottle, god that’s kind of creepy, and touched the tiny giant on the head. Twilight shivered, reminded of a bad experience with the first encounter that they had with Discord when she saw the tiny giant’s eyes swirl. “His name is Carl.” Discord said, pulling away.

“Seriously?” Noel said, snickering all the while.

“Yep. Pretty interesting story behind him though. I’ll have something special waiting for you in Twilight’s library, written in a detailed report when you go for it. And I just finished writing the report. When you go in there... well, trust me, you’ll recognize it.”

“Thanks, Discord. Now hand me the bottle, please.” Discord complied. As he was doing so, however, Twilight’s other friends started showing up, starting with Rainbow Dash.

“What happened here?!” She exclaimed. “There’s... dead ponies here....” She stopped flapping her wings and landed next to Twilight.

“You noticed that too, huh?” Twilight responded, grimly. Rainbow only nodded. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy soon followed, in that order. They each asked the same question, but none of them seemed to notice any of the dead ponies like Rainbow Dash and Twilight.

“What happened here,” Noel said, lifting the bottle containing Carl, “was the result of this guy.”

Rainbow Dash flew up and inspected the bottle. “This little guy? Psh, he doesn’t look like he could harm a fly.”

“Well, he was bigger a few minutes ago. A lot bigger. Discord here helped bring him under control. By the way,” he said, pointing at Discord, “you got everything of importance from his memories, didn’t you?”

“Even better, I have them all stored in here, too.” Discord said, tapping his skull.

“Good. That means I can do this.” Noel smashed the bottle on the ground, sending Carl sprawling. Noel bent down and picked him up in one hand, not unlike Carl had done to Noel himself earlier. “Hello, Carl. I want you to look at all this damage you caused.” He said, making Carl look at the destruction. The other ponies looked like they were about to intervene but Twilight stopped them with a hoof and shook her head. “Yes, that’s right, get a good look.” Noel put two fingers on Carl’s head, pinching him slightly. And then he twisted. There was a tiny little cracking sound and the tearing sound of flesh as Noel pulled Carl’s head off his body, an easy feat considering the fact that he was small enough to fit in Noel’s fist twice over. With a small flash of light Noel disposed of the body. He’ll be good for experimentation down the road. I want to see what makes him tick. Maybe my master can use his genes for something....

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash shouted, getting all up in Noel’s face. “What’d you do that for!”

Before Noel had a chance to respond he saw an aura surround the prismatic pegasus that he recognized as Twilight’s magic. “Rainbow Dash, that’s enough!” Twilight commanded. “Noel was doing what needed to be done.”

“But he just killed somepony!” Rainbow Dash countered.

“Look around you Rainbow!” Twilight gestured with a hoof at all the damage. “Carl destroyed homes here and killed ponies just in an attempt to kill Noel and all the other hunters here! I saw him try to kill Derpy just because she annoyed him! I don’t like what Noel just did but he did what he thought was right, and what Carl did was wrong and extremely evil.”

Rainbow Dash floated down to the ground. “Oh....” Was all she said.

There was a pause in the atmosphere for a minute. After a while, Applejack put a comforting hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “We’ll find a place to bury these ponies.”

“You won’t have to.” Noel stated.

“Pardon?” Applejack asked, confused. “Why wouldn’t we?”

“Just watch what I’m about to do.” I’ll deal with the fallout later. These were innocent ponies caught in the crossfire, they didn’t deserve to die. Noel thought. Reaching deep into the reserves of energy that he was only supposed to use in a fight against Mary Sues he started repairing the damage to the buildings... and bringing the ponies back to life.

Twilight and her friends looked on in amazement as everything around them was being restored to its original place, as if nothing had happened. When Noel was finished he turned to Twilight. “Twilight, remember how you said you wanted to meet my master?”

“Yes? Why?”

“Because you’re about to meet him, in a way. Right about-”

”NOEL!” Came a massive booming voice.

Noel flinched a little bit, while the others, aside from Discord, covered their ears. “There he is.”

A large ball of light started appearing and started hovering above the group, not more than four meters high. “Noel,” it said, “you have broken the rules. I expect an explanation. Now.”

Twilight stepped forward before Noel had a chance to talk. Wow, things really like interrupting him today, don’t they? “What are you talking about? What rules?” Twilight almost immediately regretted it. The light above them did not move but she could... feel its presence focus on its attention upon her. It was old and full of power.

“I am sorry for disturbing your world. Who might you be?” At least he has some semblance of being polite.

“I’m... Princess Twilight Sparkle.” She responded, a little hesitantly.

“Hmm. A pleasure to meet you. I created the rules for the hunters when I established their organization. I suppose Noel is about to inadvertently explain one of them to you.” The presence shifted its focus to Noel once more. “Won’t you, Noel?”

“Yes, master.” Noel said, his head bowed.

“You and all others shall refer to me as the Archon on this world until further notice. Now please, begin.”

“As you wish. About ten minutes ago there was a giant named Carl that came into Ponyville, the town we’re at now, and started attacking us. It killed ponies and destroyed property. These ponies were innocent and were simply caught in the crossfire.”

“Hmm.” The Archon paused and thought for a moment. “Noel, you’ve had a good record. I’m going to overlook this entire thing and call it a misdemeanor. I have heard word from the council however about the amount of Mary Sues in this world. Is there truth to these words?”

“Unfortunately yes.”

“I see. I believe the council is about to find that they can suddenly spare more hunters to your cause. This situation also warrants sending in Alexander.”

“What?” Noel said suddenly. “No, you can’t send him! He’ll-”

“I know your thoughts and opinion on Alexander’s... unorthodox methods. That’s why I’m going to be sending him here with very explicit instructions to obey your orders and he’s aware that there’ll be extremely dire consequences for him if he disobeys me. I have made my decision on the matter. The council will be contacting you again soon.” And with that the light disappeared.

Everyone stood there, dumbstruck. Noel and Kayla in particular were wide-eyed with fear. “So,” Twilight said, “that was your master?”

“....Yeah. That was the Archon.” I can’t believe the Archon is sending that fucking psycho here....

“Okay. So, who’s this Alexander character?” Rarity asked. Noel perked up and turned to look at her. “He sounds like an unsavory individual if I’m guessing correctly from your reaction?”

“Yes, who is Alexander?” Twilight asked.

Noel let out a sigh and removed his helmet, setting it on the hook on his belt. “Among the hunters, Alexander is among my master’s most, if not the most, feared of lieutenants and for a very good reason. Even I’m not trusted with the kind of work that he’s tasked with. Not that I’d ever want to in the first place.” Noel shivered, remembering some dark things about Alexander, accompanied by insane laughter....

“....Are you afraid of him? Is he dangerous?”

“Dangerous doesn’t even begin to describe him. I won’t lie. He absolutely fucking terrifies me.”

“What makes him so dangerous?”

“Oh where to begin on that subject. To start, he’s unpredictably violent. If I make a mistake, the Archon only scolds me and makes sure I don’t repeat it in the future. If I make a mistake with Alexander around, he’d beat me senseless or kill me. And no, I’m not exaggerating. He’s just as likely to hurt or kill his own allies, if we can indeed be called allies when around him anyway.”

“Then why would the Archon send him here if he’s so dangerous then?!”

“I assume he did give Alexander explicit instructions. Plus, it’s hard for Alexander to really hurt anyone when he doesn’t have a physical body most of the time.”

“What? You’re going to have to explain that.”

“Well, Alexander isn’t exactly a person. He was never even born in the first place like you or me. He’s just a being that represents a part of my master and lives inside his head. Now, my personal interpretation of morality is fairly laid-back but... Alexander is evil. But he’s still effective at what he does.”

“It sounds like he needs a friend!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

Noel shook his head. “I would highly suggest against that.” Just as Noel finished his sentence a portal started opening behind him. “That’s probably the bastard himself.” The portal closed quickly but not before a man walked through. He was short, definitely the shortest human there. His hair was black and his skin was brown. He was wearing lightly colored clothing which was an odd contrast to his supposed evil personality that Noel had described. He was also wearing something akin to a collar.

Alexander walked up to Noel. “My slave driver told me to give you this.” He said with a scowl and no small amount of disdain in his voice as he presented something to Noel. “This crystal will send a shock through me when you activate it. The Archon said to use it to ‘keep me in line’ just in case I get rowdy. Now. Direct me towards something so I can kill it and soon. I’m getting bored.”

That was when Pinkie Pie decided to do something stupid and she bounced up to Alexander. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and-”

Alexander turned on her quickly as his face contorted in utterly terrifying rage that could melt through ice. “I don’t care who you are and if you don’t get out of my way I’LL KILL YOU AND FUCKING EAT YOU!” Alexander shouted (dude turn off the caps lock) as he brushed past her roughly. Pinkie stood there, her hair instantly deflating as tears started to come to her eyes.

Rainbow Dash was having none of that. She flew straight towards him and was inches away from his face. “Hey! You can’t-” Her words were cut off as Alexander started choking her.

“I think you’ll find there are many- ah!” He shouted in pain and grasped at his neck, letting Rainbow Dash go and falling to his knees in the process.

“Alexander!” Noel shouted. The man in question looked at Noel as he walked towards him. He grabbed Alexander by his collar and hauled him to his feet. “You will not harm a single non Mary Sue here. Kayla here is going to guide you back to our camp. You will not verbally abuse anyone here. If I hear any complaints from anyone then I’m going to start getting trigger-happy with this crystal. Do I make myself clear!?”

Alexander’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the ponies and back at Noel. He stared at Noel for a few more seconds, his eyes filled with pure, raw, endless hate. “Crystal.” He replied.

“Good. Now get out of my sight.” Noel turned and nodded at Kayla, who knew what to do since she’d been paying attention.

“Come with me, Alexander.” She said. Alexander did as he was bid. As the two walked off he took one last look back at the ponies, Pinkie Pie in particular, and licked his lips, a manic grin on his face, before looking straight ahead.

As soon as the two were out of earshot Applejack walked up to Noel. “He didn’t really mean what he said, did he? About eating Pinkie Pie?”

“If he thought he could get away with it he definitely would, unfortunately. I think you should advise anyone and everyone to stay far away from him unless you have a hunter with you. In fact, make that a rule.”

“You got it, Noel. I don’t want him anyway near Ponyville with that kind of attitude alone.”

“What an absolutely dreadful villain!” Rarity exclaimed. You got that right, Rarity. Noel thought to himself.

Noel looked at Pinkie Pie, still a little shell-shocked with her run-in with Alexander. Fluttershy was with her, a comforting hoof on her shoulder as she held back the tears. He walked up to Pinkie Pie and knelt down and hugged her. “Shh... it’s okay Pinkie.” He lifted her up in his arms and cradled her. He didn’t know why he felt like doing that but... it just felt right to do so. Pinkie responded by gripping him tightly in her own hug, her hair regaining its poofiness. The nuzzle that accompanied it wasn’t too bad either.

Todd walked up to the group, stretching his limbs. He was otherwise unharmed from his encounter with the boulder. “So uh...” he slowly said, all eyes focused on him, with one pair not quite as focused as the rest, “did I miss anything important here or what?”