My Little Balladeer

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21: Author's Notes
Chapter 4
Chapter 9
Lyra's Song

Chapter 1

Often in the mountains I hear the people say
“You needn’t fear the dark, my child, since John has passed this way.”
And when I stop and ask them of this person who has gone,
They tell another story of a wanderer called John –
They say he packs an old guitar; he picks it and he sings;
They say that evil flinches from those fabled silver strings;
They say he stands up tall and straight and more than passing fair,
But gave his heart up long ago to gallant Evadare…
-- Catherine Faber
My Little Balladeer:
Chapter 1

John’s my name, and those who know me know that it’s no brag for me to say that I’ve been in many a strange place and seen many a strange thing. But I nair did see or be in any place half so strange as that forest I found myself in that night. And it turned out to be the least of the strange things I saw over the next few days.

It started out normal enough. I’d been traveling through the mountains I was born and bred in, traveling over and around places named Hark and Wolter and Dogged, a-trying to find the thing I felt tugging at me. It started a few days afore as I played my old guitar at a play-party for Luke Forshay and Holly Christopher, two friends of mine who I’m proud to say I was able to help the one time when they were in some bad trouble. It was a good party, fine blockade to drink and fine food to eat, whole barbecued hog and corn pone and some prime venison. There was good dancing and good talk and good music, some of it from me and my silver-strung guitar. But right in the middle of my playing Vandy, Vandy I felt something that made my fingers go wrong on the strings for the first time since I could remember; five notes in a rhythm I’d nair heard afore, the same five notes again, then five chords in a different rhythm.

It was a thing kindly like a-pulling on me, like someone was a-calling for help and none other could hear it.
“What is it, John?” Holly asked me. “You look like someone walked over your grave.”

“Nothing so bad as that,” I tried to joke her back. “It’s more like someone is a-trying to say something, but can’t get it out right.” But that wasn’t exactly right, for when I closed my eyes I did see something I knew, a trail that ran in the deepest part of the deep woods maybe a day’s hard hike from Mister Forshay’s cabin. I wondered myself if maybe it was just my mind a-playing tricks on me, but I soon set that aside. Whenever I closed my eyes, the rest of that day or when I slept that night, I couldn’t think or dream of anything but that old trail, and of someone or maybe several someones I couldn’t see a-calling out for someone to come and help them. I heard those notes again and again, too, like I’d heard afore. And something like a distant chorus of women’s voices singing along with it. One a-sounding like any young mountain woman and one so soft and shy you strained to hear; one bold and brash and one smooth and cultured, like some scholar lady’s; and the last two, one that near about laughed air word it sang and one almost a music in itself, like some actress from the stage. There are only a few things that can make you dream that clear and none of them are what you’d call a natural thing.

I slept as much as I could, and then the next day I got up early and told Mister Forshay my apologies for not being able to stay any longer. He thanked me back and asked me to come back when I finished with whatair was doing this. He offered me a pistol to take in case what I met was no ways friendly. I gave him thanks but no thanks.

“I have what knowledge I’ve gotten in my life,” I responded him, “and I’ve got my guitar,” I drew my fingers across the strings, and the sound rose sweet and clear from them. “They’ve both done me all right this long. I bring a gun, maybe someone might try shooting without there being a need for it.” He begged me for a friend to at least take some food along. So did his son Luke, and so did Holly. I thanked them kindly and waited while they put some of the ham and cheese left from yesterday between slices of thick homemade bread, wrapped them in wax paper, and put them in my old soogin sack. All the time I felt that song a-tugging at me, and I wondered me why anyone needed to see me that bad, and if they were a foe or a friend. I filled my canteen with fresh water from their well, asked them to tell my wife Evadare that I might be a few days late getting back depending on what befell, and then I went.

I wondered as I walked through the woods, passing from open areas with dogwood and laurel and bushes that’d be showing strawberries and blueberries in just a few more months when spring got further along into ground where it turned thicker and harder to get through, with massive old oaks and willows that’d nair seen the cut of an axe. I didn’t wonder myself about Evadare. She trusted me as I trust and love her. No, what wondered and maybe worried at me was what was a-happening here. I like to think I don’t brag when I say that I’ve seen and done more than some others, and some of what I’ve seen and done and fought against were no natural things. Things like One Other who came out of the Bottomless Pool, and the Ugly Bird that filled a whole countryside with fear until I killed it, and Kalu, who turned out to be not near as bad as I’d thought when he saved my life and Evadare’s. I’ve seen magic done by human folks and things noways human at all, and this tugging song I felt was like no human feeling I’ve ever had. Nothing wrong in it, mind, but nothing willing to let go, either. The one choice it gave me was to follow, and follow it I did.

And so hours later, with the sun going down and the trees a-hanging in over and around me like they maybe wanted to reach down and grab me off my feet and the first stars beginning to come out overhead, the winter constellations leaving until next year and the summer stars a-coming out, Orion and what mountain folks call the pole star and what astronomers call Polaris, I found my feet on that old trail.

It looked like no one else walked it since maybe the Indians. The trees made a wall to either side and the ground ran mossy underfoot. That pressing in my head, right between and behind my eyes like what you feel the morning after drinking some mean blockade, felt stronger than ever. It felt like it near about wanted to drag me down that trail, and no mistake. It felt as quiet and lonely right about then as the inside of a coffin the night before Judgement Day. I looked down that trail and near felt it a-looking back at me.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” I said aloud to myself, purely to hear a human voice in all that stillness, “so here I go.” And I started ahead, hoping to find someplace where I could lay my bedroll down for the night. I’ve slept under the trees and stars before, but I didn’t want to be a-doing that here if I could avoid it anyhow. This stretch of woods felt too wild, somehow, like a place where you expected to find wild beasts. And not normal wild things, but ones few natural men got to see and came back to speak of.

As I walked, I felt like I was pushing through something. It was like if you’ve ever had to go a-pushing through a big spider web, or went from cool air inside a home into a hot humid summer outside. It felt like I crossed a boundary and I wondered where to. I looked at the trees around me and saw they seemed even bigger and older than just a few moments before. They were set closer together, too, closer than I ever remembered seeing trees set before. I looked around me then, and I near about tripped over my own feet at what I saw.

I still stood in a wood, but it wasn’t the wood I’d been walking in nor yet any other I’d air seen before. The trees looked too big, somehow, and old and mean, what with how their branches like to claw at the air and their bark twisted itself up like they tried to make faces with it, faces set with mouths full of sharp teeth. Oaks were there, and elms and willows and all the trees I’d seen all my life long, but so were others I’d nair seen or even heard of before. One showed bark that glittered like polished brass and was the same color. Another place on the ground there showed leaves and flowers a blue brighter than any I’d ever seen before in my life. In fact, it all seemed brighter and more colorful, somehow, than air place I could ever recollect seeing before. Where I stood the trees were just open enough for me to see the sun dipping down towards the horizon, nearer than it should have stood. Whereair I was, it was later in the day then from where I’d left or been taken from.

I wondered myself what I saw and how I came to be a-seeing it when I heard a noise that made me freeze. It was the sound of something moving along in the trees beside the trail. It sounded big, maybe big as a man, and a-judging by the wariness of it was trying to not be heard. I maybe wished for a moment that I’d taken Mister Forshay’s offer of a gun. Instead I called out.

“My name’s John,” I said. The stealthy sounds stopped, and I added, “Whoair is there, and why don’t you come out here where I can see you? I’m willing to be peaceable if you are.”

No answer; but I felt eyes on me, and not friendly ones. And now I heard more noises further off, something bear-large and bull-heavy forcing its way through the brush. I bent down, found a good solid piece of wood that would make a club if I needed it and picked it up. More branches lay beside it, cedar branches. I took them and bound some of them together around the larger branch I held. From the way that sun looked, I’d need a torch soon.

I lit a match and held it to the branch, a-hoping it’d burn. It did, and I felt right glad to see that light and feel the warmth from it.

I started down that trail again. The heavy thing sounded to be heading away from me and I felt pure down glad to be a-hearing it go. But the feel of those eyes still lay on me, cold and killing angry. I paid it as little mind as I could as I walked, wondering myself where this place stood and how I’d gotten here and however I’d get back home. If it wanted to stare, then it could. I’d taken worse. And if whoever owned those eyes wanted to come out and face me, I’d face it and say, “All right then. Whatair you want and what do you think to do about it?”

I can’t remember how long it was I walked under those trees and in that wood. Long enough, anyway, that soon enough I needed to make my club a torch. It lit up right quick, the way dry wood will, and it looked to burn slow enough that I’d have me some light for a few hours. The air felt cool around me. Not winter cold, but I figured it to be coming on to early spring here just like back home. Up overhead I could see the moon and stars a-coming out. They looked bigger and brighter than I’d ever seen aforetimes. I looked up at them and wondered me if there was air soul there to be a-looking and wondering back. I asked myself if I might not learn the answer to that here where I was. Whereair I might could be, anyway.

And all that time through, I felt that something just watching and hating on me, a-hoping to come in on me and do whatair I couldn’t even guess. I ignored it best I could and pressed on under those trees as it got darker. I hoped I’d find some place with people in it as it got darker out. I’ve been in a right many places I didn’t like, but few quite so unlikable as right then and there.

Along about then I began to hear noises from before me. First I thought they sounded like people talking, but then as I got closer I could hear them better and they weren’t people. They were whinnies and snorts and all the other sounds that horses make. Those sounds made me glad, even gladder than the light from my torch. Where you find horses you find people, most often. I pushed a ways further down the trail and the noises got louder.

Then I saw the horses before me, and they looked right strange. They were small, for one thing. One looked downright tiny, her withers, that’d be her front set of shoulders for air person reading this who doesn’t know horses, coming maybe up to my knees at best, and the other seemed just big enough to be either a small pony or a filly, barely coming up to my waist. I could feel something right peculiar about her, nothing I could lay name to but something strange all the same. She owned a pale gray coat with a mane and tail that looked a shade of yellow that some women would be proud to have. The moonlight looked odd against her coat, almost like she glowed in it. She tossed up her head and looked around, and then she went and ran off into the woods. As she went I saw an odd brand on her flank, but before I could see closer she slipped between two trees and was gone. I hurried up, hoping to catch her. She looked more like some show pet than a plow horse. Either way I figured that whoair her owner was they would be sorry to lose her. And I didn’t want to be responsible for her spooking and running off to be lost.

“Whoa, there, girl,” I called to her, keeping my voice calm so as not to scare her and the other any more than they already were. “Don’t go a-running off, now.” I might as well have not bothered. By the time I got to where she’d been standing, she was off in the distance and barely visible between the dark and the bushes under the trees. I caught sight of her one last time in the distance, her coat a-shining in the dark. She seemed to look back at me. Then she slipped between two trees and I saw her no more.

The other horse, the tiny one, just stared at me as I came up, and I slowed to take a look on her. Her eyes looked bigger than they should be, and they were set more frontwise like a person’s rather than on the sides of her head all the horses I remember seeing. They were the pale gold of amber, and rested above a muzzle shorter and smaller than any other horse’s. Her snout showed smaller and her head larger for her size than air other horse I’d ever seen. Her pale chestnut coat looked well-kept, and her mane showed red as a rose, a brighter shade of red than I thought any real horse could have. But that wasn’t the oddest part of it. The oddest part was that she wore a bow in her mane the way some women do in their hair, a big red bow tied in a fancy knot. She looked at me, her eyes wide, for all the world like a little girl scared of a stranger-man but trying not to show it.

I spoke her slow and gentle, hoping not to spook her like I did the other.

“Now, you take it easy,” I spoke to her. “I’m a friend and no enemy to you.” I knelt down, moving right slow, and kept speaking to her. “See here? I’ve got something you can eat.” I reached in my pack and took out half of an apple I’d been eating before and offered it to her. She gave me a look, tilting her head to the side, before she stuck her neck out and sniffed at the apple. She snorted in disgust and jerked back from it like I’d insulted her by the offer. I had to smile at it. I’ve seen many a horse aforetimes, but none that particular.

Then I heard that sound from before. The sound of something maybe man-sized coming through the trees and brush, but not so quietly now. Now it forced and shoved through in a rush. I turned and rose to see what came from the woods, and right then two things happened that startled me more than I care to remember.

First was what came from amongst the trees. It looked like a shadow in the light of the torch, tall and black and shaped in some way like a man, with a lump for a head and two long things like arms or maybe snakes a-reaching out to grab, and beneath it two long stretched-out legs that didn’t move, they just hung there while it came on at me. Right dead center showed a single white spot, maybe as big as my hand, looking like a patch of dead flesh against the rest of it. I knew it for a sending, though I’d only read of such before this and nair seen one. I remembered what I read. They were ghosts called up by sorcerers from Iceland, sent after their enemies to kill them. I wondered myself what enemies I had here, and how they knew where to find me, before I thought if maybe they were after the little pony. But that, friends and neighbors, wasn’t what truly scared me.

I felt something tug on my pants leg. I looked and I suppose maybe I stared to see the tiny chestnut pony a-holding the leg of my pants, the cloth pinched in her hoof like she held it with fingers. She showed fear in her eyes, but not an animal’s fear, wild and unreasoning. This was the fear you see in human eyes, the kind that knows it’s in trouble and can think a way through it if it doesn’t panic. She whinnied at me, longer and fancier than anything I’d ever heard afore from a horse’s throat. She whinnied high and fearful and tugged with one forehoof and pointed off down the trail. Just like a person could call for you to run.

And she did that, and I wondered how this could be, and then the sending came on at us both.

* * *

“C’mon, Mister whatever-yah-are!” Apple Bloom said as she tugged on the strange creature’s pants leg. She thrust her other forehoof down the trail, away from the ghost. “We got to get out of here!”

The creature, hairless Diamond Dog, whatever he was, said nothing. He just stared at her with wide eyes, reminding Apple Bloom a little of the look some adults got on their faces when she and her friends got into trouble. And as he stared, the shadowy thing came at them both.

The Diamond Dog held his his torch up and out, thrusting it at the shadow. It shrank back, recoiling like some sort of giant snake or maybe flowing back like dirty water. As it fell back, he set himself between her and it. Apple Bloom shivered at the sight and the feel of that shadow-monster. It reminded her a little of what she’d felt that night she and everypony in Ponyville saw Nightmare Moon, the feeling of rage and the need to hurt something, anything. The hairless Diamond Dog must have felt something too. He made barking noises at it. It recoiled again, but it didn’t run away. The Diamond Dog looked worried, like he thought it should have run. He waved his hand at Apple Bloom in a go and run gesture. Apple Bloom almost did. This was scary, and right then she wanted nothing more than to be with her big sis and brother. She trotted a few steps away and looked back. That nasty shadow was trying to get at the Diamond Dog again. He waved the torch at it and it flinched back from the light, but less than before. As it did he tugged at a back pocket of his pants. But when he did the torch dropped slightly and the shadow ghost slapped at his face and throat with those long snaky arms. He jumped back from it and waved the torch again. It touched the thing, lightly, and a bit of it boiled away in a dark cloud.

See, he don’t need my help, Apple Bloom thought, but then she saw the arm grow itself back out as long as ever. He could hurt it with the torch, and scare it a little, but he couldn’t beat it. He waved at Apple Bloom again, obviously wanting her to run. She thought, he’s tryin’ to save me even if he gets hurt. I could run, but if I did, what if he gets hurt so bad he dies?

As soon as she thought that Apple Bloom found her little legs working as she charged back up beside the Diamond Dog.

“Gimme thet torch and I’ll hold it for yah!” She said up at him. He glanced at her and she pointed at the torch. “Please, let me help!” He looked and decided. The torch dropped to the earth before her. Apple Bloom thanked Celestia it didn’t go out. She snatched it up in her mouth. As soon as he did he reached into his back pocket and began pulling something out about the size of his hand. Apple Bloom held the torch and charged at the shadow thing. It reached for her with those long arms. They looked as black as the inside of the Sweet Apple Acres barn at night. That white patch showed pale in its body. She waved the torch at the reaching hands and they smoked away where it hit. The reek filled her nose and made her gag. The torch dropped to sputter against the dirt of the forest floor. The shadow thing towered above Apple Bloom, cutting off the sight of the trees and sky. No features showed on the lump-head but somehow Apple Bloom felt a cold glee from it.

“Ah’m sorry ah didn’t listen, big sis,” was all Apple Bloom could think to say.

And the Diamond Dog moved between her and it. She saw his hand thrusting up and at the white spot. The torch shed just enough light to show what he held. A knife, the blade driving into that pale spot with a sort of soft wet grinding that was the most quietly horrible sound Apple Bloom could ever remember hearing.

The shadow vanished, popping out of sight. The Diamond Dog sagged in relief. He looked down at her and smiled, reaching down to scratch her on the ears.

“Hey!” Apple Bloom said, jerking her head away and giving him what she hoped was the indignant look her big sister would have used. “I ain’t a dog like Winona, or some kind ‘o pet! First you try an’ give me thet nasty apple, an’ now this!” He pulled his hand back, looking confused. At least she would have thought it a confused look on a pony’s face. Who knew about Diamond Dogs?

However, as she looked closer, she began to wonder he truly was a Diamond Dog. His legs were too long, his arms too short. He had no fur save for some short brownish mane. His coat looked pale pink, but as she looked closer, she realized it wasn’t a true coat. That was his bare skin. He wore pants and a shirt and beat-up old boots and a jacket, and whoever ever heard of anypony, even a Diamond Dog, needing so many clothes? And that face, with no muzzle and small round ears and eyes, didn’t look right at all.

“Uh, mister, just what the hay are y’all?” Apple Bloom walked up to where the shadow thing stood and looked around. “An’ what did you do with thet monster?”

He must have understood somehow what she wanted. He knelt down to the ground and pointed at a spot right by her feet. Apple Bloom looked and saw his knife. It looked thick made in the handle, with a long blade that could be folded out. The blade stuck through a pale white stick. Apple Bloom gave it a closer look and felt a chill. It wasn’t a stick. It was some sort of bone and the knife blade had been driven into it. She looked back at the Diamond Dog. She didn’t think he was one, but she didn’t know what else to call him, though something about him did nag at her memory. Maybe a story she’d heard from somepony? He took the knife and pulled it free from the bone.

“You m-mean that really was some kind of spook we fought? And I – wait!” Apple Bloom turned and looked at her flank. Her hopes were plunged once again as she saw the same bare flank she’d always seen.

“Awww… I coulda got a ghost fightin’ cutie mark…” She sighed. “Better luck next time, I reckon.”

She looked back at her new friend. The Diamond Dog looked at her, kind of curious. Then he took the bone in his hand and began digging at the dirt with the knife blade. Apple Bloom went beside him and started digging with her forehooves. Together they quickly opened up a small hole. He touched her lightly on the shoulder and nodded his head. He dropped the bone in the hole and shoved the dirt back on top of it, patting it smooth with his hand. Apple Bloom watched, wondering what he was about. He said some words as he finished and stood up, wiping his hand clean on his pants leg. He bent back down to pick the torch up before he looked around, rather obviously lost.

Apple Bloom thought and decided. She tugged on his pants leg again and when he looked, she pointed off down the trail and spoke slowly and carefully. Applejack told her once that if you did that sometimes you could get an idea across even if the other pony didn’t understand what exactly you were saying.

“Mah home’s that way,” she said, “An’ I know a shortcut that’ll get us there before it gets to be too dark out. Mah family will be settin’ down to eat supper, and they’ll have food for y’all if you want it. Hay and alfalfa,” she fought down a shudder, “N’ plenty o’ apples. Good ones, not like that one you showed me.” She started off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. When he didn’t follow, she went back and tugged on his pants leg again. “C’mon! You don’t want ta be out in the Everfree when it gets darker. I was only here ‘cause Ruby kept me safe from the monsters.” He shrugged and followed her down the trail, holding the torch out.

Boy, Apple Bloom thought, wait ‘til Applejack an’ Big Mac an’ Granny Smith ‘n everpony else see what ah found! Maybe I’ll get a findin’ aliens cutie mark! And with that hopeful thought in mind Apple Bloom lead her new friend back to Sweet Apple Acres, trying very hard whenever she could to get a look at her flank.

Chapter 2

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 2

That little pony and I walked for what felt like hours through the dark woods. I swear to nothing, I’ve walked through many a dark and lonesome woods before and heard a right many animals and other things in the dark, but never such a one as that. The sounds coming from deeper in amongst the trees sounded like what I thought it must have been like for the very first human men and women. The crashing of trees being torn up and falling, the slow heavy distant thudding of something walking, and once overhead the soft heavy thump of wings a-catching at the air. I looked up then and thought maybe I saw something the big as a good-sized house go by high up. The moonlight glittered on a hide that shined. I was right glad for the light from that torch and the company of little Red Mane.

“You have some sand in your craw, a-using around a place like this after dark,” I told her once as we walked under dark trees and those almost-familiar stars above. She just gave me a look with those golden yellow eyes of hers, whinnied another of her long and complex whinnies at me, and went on.

After a time the trees along the trail showed shorter and sparser, and when you looked up you could see more of the night sky. I had to stare. I already knew or kindly thought that this wasn’t my home, nor air other place I knew of, but those stars settled it. I recognized Orion, but when I looked north for the Pole Star I didn’t find it. It gave me a turn, more than a turn, to see it gone. I can make my way by the stars, I know them by all their seasons, but right then I knew myself to be more lost than I’d even dared guess. No Big nor Little Dipper, either, only some stars so faint you could just barely make them out where they should be. I saw some new and strange constellations I didn’t know the name of. I thought I might could recognize some of them, but even they seemed bigger and closer than the night sky I’d always known. I wondered me if it was just because there might be less dirt fouling the sky here, or if those stars were just that much closer. I reckon I must have stared for a right long time, because I felt that tugging on my pants leg again. I looked to see her a-asking me to keep on walking with her eyes.

“I’m coming,” I said, and then soon after we came out from under those trees and along a dirt road. Even in the dark it looked tramped down hard. I looked up and down along it and saw just night and dark both ways. Across from it, a wooden rail fence such as you can still see here-there in the mountains. No gates set in it but it owned gaps for folks to pass through. We walked across it and in under more trees. I wondered if it were more of that forest but changed my mind when I saw them set in neat rows.

“This is an orchard, a farm then?” I said to her. She looked at me again like she wondered why I kept a-stopping at every new thing I saw. I spoke more. “I’m not rightly sure why, but I figured you for a farm horse when I saw you.” She just snorted and tossed her head. I followed her deeper in amongst those trees. I liked the feel of them. This place might be strange to me, but these trees felt safer, somehow, than the ones we’d just come out from among. I looked to see they bore leaves on them despite it feeling like early spring. Some of them looked to bear fruit, which struck me as odd for the time of year.

“You and your folks must know their trees,” I told her, “If they can make them bear this soon in the season.” She didn’t stop or look, she just kept going. I’ve wondered myself many times since then why I kept a-talking to her when she didn’t know air word I used. I think maybe it just felt so silent in that night, and I felt so uneasy after coming to whereair here was, I needed to be talking to someone.

Right then I heard barking, not too far away and coming closer. I relaxed to see how the little filly seemed right pleased to hear it. I doubted it’d be a mean dog if someone as small as her liked the sound of it. The dog came up out of the dark, barking and wagging its tail to see her. I recognized it as a border collie. It looked and acted right friendly. It jumped and licked her face, though it didn’t have to jump very far. She neighed soft-like and rubbed one of her forehooves over its back and along its ears like most anyone would do with a pet. Then it turned and ran over to me in that excited way most dogs do. It acted a trifle wary, but I saw the tail still a-wagging.

“It’s kindly good to see you,” I said, giving its ears a scratch. She was a right friendly dog. It sniffed my fingers and then licked them, its tail a-wagging. She rolled at my feet and I scratched her some more. I like dogs, most animals in fact, but I think I rarely liked one so much as I did then and there. After seeing the little filly, I wondered if I’d recognize air thing in this place, and how whoair lived here might end up a-treating me. I figured air person human enough to own a dog and kindly enough to treat it as well as they’d treated this one couldn’t be any too strange to me. If they were that human, then I reckoned they couldn’t be alien to me, as some old Greek thinker once said, or close to it.

The little dog kept us company as the filly and I came out from the orchard into what I could recognize even in the dark as a farmyard. I saw a big barn and someplace smaller that looked kindly like a stable and yet like a house too in some way. Maybe it was because lights showed at the windows. The lights shined steady but soft, not flickering like a candle nor yet like electricity neither. Fields showed in the distance, where I figured that whoair lived here would raise the crops they ate themselves. I saw a pen for pigs and a paddock for cows, and from somewhere I heard neighing from more horses. The little filly perked her ears up at the sound and ran out before me, whinnying and sounding like any little human girl-child who hears her family calling for her.

The dog raced off barking after her. I hurried after them both. I saw two horses, both bigger than the filly, standing in front of the smaller house. By the lights in the windows and the fancy but plain work done on it, hanging eaves and a fancy weathervane atop something like a small steeple set atop it, I saw this must be where the family lived. The little filly pressed up right close against first one and then the other of those horses, wrapping one of her forelegs around theirs. They both bent their long necks down and nuzzled her like any horse with its foal. The two horses both gave whinnies that sounded relieved. But then they caught sight of me. They snorted like any horse that’s a-warning you they’re not certain sure of you. They trotted closer into the torchlight, trying to set themselves between the filly and me. She ran ahead of them and set herself against my leg. I stood and looked closer at them, and they looked back at me.

Right then I clapped eyes on something else new to me in this place, though a trifle less new than some other things I’d seen so far. The smaller one was a palomino, the smallest mare I ever did see, her withers barely up to my belt. Her blond mane and tail hung long and were tied back the way some country women do to keep their hair from their eyes as they work. She wore a cowboy’s hat, what you call a Stetson. Her eyes showed big and blue, more like a person’s than an animal’s, the same as on the big sorrel stallion beside her and on the little filly. And like Red Mane and the sorrel beside her they showed larger than air horse I’d ever seen and set frontwise like a human person’s. Those eyes went from wary on me to relieved on her and then swung back to me again, a trifle less cautious now. And I got the same feel from her and the stallion that I did from the filly. These were folks and no animals. Not human men and women, no, but people all the same. Had you been a-standing there with me I reckon you’d have felt the same.

The palomino mare whinnied at me and the filly and she whinnied back. I wondered myself what they said and hoped it was nothing bad or unchancy. While the mare and filly spoke I looked past them to the stallion. He was about the size of ponies I’d seen afore back home, maybe a trifle bigger. He looked like a little sorrel draft horse, collar on his neck and all, but redder than any sorrel or roan I’d ever seen before. A wisp of straw hung from his mouth. When he whinnied at the other two, it was shorter than the sounds they made.

I noticed something else then that I’d not before. The mare and the stallion bore marks on their flanks, like the little grey in the woods bore. I thought them to be brands of some sort and then I saw they weren’t. The marks grew right from the hair of their coats, three red apples for her and one big green apple sliced in half for him. He looked me in the eyes, steadier than some animals and many a man. I looked back at him in what I hoped was a friendly way.

And right then the palomino mare turned from the little filly to rear up before me, her hooves up high and a-looking ready to fight.

* * *

Applejack reared herself up before the whatever-it-was that’d followed Apple Bloom home and looked it right in the eyes. Her initial fear, that this was Thorn or something else like him, lessened as she looked at him. Its gaze held hers like a pony’s would – well, like some ponies would. She just didn’t imagine something like Thorn being so bold. It just felt so odd, though, to look at something so alien even by Equestrian standards.

Under a short gray-shot brown mane she saw bright but too-small eyes, small nubs for ears and no muzzle beyond a fleshy lump in the middle of its face. The body below looked near as tall as Thorn’s. The clothes covering near all of it looked old but well-made. Work clothes, Applejack decided approvingly, and ones he’d actually worked in. He held a torch in one hand, and on his back he wore a small old pack and a guitar. The moonlight shone oddly bright on the strings.

She looked him in the eyes, trying to get a read on him. Even before she’d been chosen by the Element of Honesty she’d been known for her ability to get a handle on ponies by talking to or just watching them. He looked back at her, not afraid but not trying to stare her down either. Applejack dropped back down on her hooves. Whatever he might be, she felt sure he’d be no threat to her or her family.

Apple Bloom still talked behind her, going on about how she’d met this creature. “…an’ then he killed thet monster an’ tried talkin’ to me, but he don’t speak any Equestrian. He don’t seem lahk that other one you tole me to watch out for, big sis. Maybe he kin stay the night?”

“What monster, Apple Bloom? Where did you see a monster?” Aside from him, Applejack thought as she glanced at their ‘guest’. She looked at her baby sister. Apple Bloom suddenly seemed very interested in the dirt at her feet. Applejack scowled and said, “Hold on now, sugarcube. Were you in the Everfree again after dark? Didn’t we have us a little chat about that?”

“I was just lookin’ around,” Apple Bloom said defensively before she looked straight at her sister. “You-all don’t have to worry. Ah’m a big pony an’ he helped me!” She pointed at the creature.

“We’ll talk about how well you listen when I warn you about somethin’ later,” Applejack said to her. Apple Bloom shrank under her gaze. Applejack sighed and hugged her little sis close. “Ah’m glad you’re okay. But you gotta stop goin’ in there all alone, even if you like seeing Zecora!” She looked up at Big Mac. “Mac, you better go find Caramel. Tell him we found Apple Bloom and to come back for supper. Umm,” she darted a glance over her shoulder, “An’ tell him that we found somethin’ strange and that it’ll be stayin’ with us, okay?”

“You sure that’s smart?” Big Mac said to her, looking at the creature.

“Not rightly,” Applejack said back, “but he don’t feel like that other one that made all the trouble. I’d say we kin trust him. Besides, anything does go wrong, there’ll be you an’ me an’ Caramel. Tomorrow, we can send word to Twilight. She’ll know how to handle this. Now git goin’ before all the food gits cold.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac said before he turned and trotted off into the dark.

Applejack watched him go and turned to her little sister. “An’ as for you, you go inside an’ help Granny Smith set the table. Tell her we’ve got company and we’ll need one more place.” Apple Bloom went with no further argument. Applejack turned back to the creature. “Now, what-all do I do with you?”

He said nothing in return. He did relax some, however. He must have figured that they wouldn’t be doing him any harm. Applejack pointed to the double doors of the house with both snout and forehoof. He looked and nodded. He carefully set his torch down and made sure it was out. She nodded and set off for the doors. He followed her quietly. She opened the doors and went in and he followed. Then once inside the doors, he froze, holding them open.

“Hay, now,” she told him, “I don’t know where you come from, but here you don’t hold a door open when it’s a cold night out! Were you raised in a barn?” She took the knob from his hand with her mouth and closed the doors. Then she looked inside, wondering if maybe she’d see something strange. By the way he stared, you’d think he’d never seen a dining room before.

It all looked the same as ever. Deep-set windows in the wood and cemented stone of the walls, shining cheap light-jewels in the lamps sitting on the windowsills, wallpaper over plaster on the walls. She felt comforting warmth from the fireplace and the large iron stove in the kitchen where dinner was cooking, smelled the mouth-watering scent of baked apples, and heard the scratching of Apple Bloom fetching the dinnerware and plates out. And in the middle of the room a long wooden table, made by Granny Smith’s father and still as solid as when he’d made it, back when their branch of the Apple family first settled their land grant.

Speaking of Granny Smith, she stared as they came in. Her old eyes widened as she saw what stood in the door and she near dropped the plates balanced on her back. She said, “Land sakes, granddaughter! What did y’all bring home this time?”

“Ah don’t rightly know, Granny,” Applejack responded. “Better ask Apple Bloom, she found him in the Everfree.” She looked over her shoulder and added, “Ah reckon we’ll be findin’ out what he is sooner or later.” As her strange guest looked back at her, startled by something he must be seeing in the room, she mentally added, Ah hope.

* * *

I walked into that house behind the little palomino. She opened the double doors with her mouth – Dutch doors, they call them, set so you can open the top half without opening the bottom – and walked right in. I went to go in behind her, but when I saw what waited for us inside that room, I stopped and stared.

The house its own self didn’t look air much different from the houses I’d seen and lived in back home. Four walls of wood and stone set around with windows of glass, a fireplace against the wall, a wooden floor beneath that showed clean but scuffed from long use with hooked rugs set here and there. I saw lanterns along the walls that glowed soft-like, not with the flicker of flame nor yet with the steadiness of electric light. I wondered if it might be gas, though if so I didn’t smell air such a thing. I saw a table set for dinner in the center of it, long and low and set with cushions on the floor instead of chairs. I smelled and saw fresh corn bread on it, saw apples made into sauce and boiled up and done air other way you might could make an apple. I thought they smelled right good.

That all held my attention less than the new horse I saw inside the room. She rose up right slow and careful the way old folks move, and I saw that she owned a thin coat and her silver mane done up in a bun such as old ladies still do in the mountains. But I say to you all, that caught my eye less than the fact that she looked green. Yes, as I live and tell you all this, her coat showed green as fresh-grown grass. She had a mark on her flank like all the others save for the little one did too. Like theirs, hers was some sort of an apple. And on her back she had a set of old-style dishes. They looked more like platters, fired from clay before they’d been glazed and painted with scenes of horses and trees.

The palomino snorted at me and took the doorknob from my hand with her mouth. I felt the brush of her lips against my hand as she took and closed the door, and they felt like the warm wet velvet of air normal horse. I needed that right about then. It felt real to me, more real than air thing I saw. I knew then if nor afore that whereair I stood, it wasn’t the Earth I’d been born on. While she did, the old green mare whinnied like she felt surprise to see me. The palomino whinnied back at her. The old mare seemed to settle some at that. That palomino ran that place, and no two ways about it.

The little filly came back into the room, holding what looked like table silver in her mouth. The old mare turned and gave her a look as the palomino whinnied and neighed at her. I wondered me if I’d somehow gotten the little one in trouble. But then the old mare turned away from her and walked up to me, moving right slow and careful the way people and horses alike will when their joints hurt them. She whinnied something at me and indicated the table like to say, sit and eat with us.

“Thank you kindly, I’ll do just that,” I said back to her, a-taking my hat off and doing my best manners. She nodded slow-like. Then she turned and began heading for the table. She winced like something pained her. Right then, I reached out and took the dishes from her back afore they could fall. She and the palomino looked at me in surprise.

“If I’m to be a guest,” I said to them all, “Let me help you here with this.” First of all I set my old guitar down off to the side, a-making sure it would be safe and out of the way. I went to the table and saw how the little filly set the knives and forks, and I set the plates down by them. No chairs that I saw, but pillows on the floor to sit on. The little filly watched me near about as much as where she set the silver. The old mare tossed her head like she approved. Then she made her way to the head of the table, like any old granny woman with her kin back home. I saw how the palomino nodded on me afore she whinnied and whickered back at her. They might not have spoke like human folks, but they spoke, sure enough.

I went to sit and froze right then. Noise at the door, sudden like, and neighing with a frightened sound to it. I moved back off and to the side, a-wondering what would be happening now. The palomino mare snorted and went to the door. No sooner she opened it than a new horse came in and went right for me, his ears down and snorting.

I backed away, wishing I had a chair or something to set between me and him. He looked smaller than the other stallion I’d seen, and about as big as the palomino. He owned a soft brown coat and mane just a little darker, like the color of the caramel candy you could get at a store. Three blue horseshoes showed on his flank. He whinnied something at her and then started snorting at me again. I tried to balance myself on my feet, ready to move as fast as I could if I needed to.

The palomino neighed something at him, short and sharp. He stopped and gave her a look like any human man called on his foolishness by a woman he knows. She whinnied some more, less sharp, and pointed at the other side of the table from where I stood. He went to it with his head hanging. I saw the sorrel coming in from outside. He just rolled his eyes like he’d expected no less and went to sit down his own self. I sat myself down with them all while the little filly and the palomino went into the next room. By the smells I reckoned it to be the kitchen. They came back out a moment later and set the food down on the table. We all sat ourselves down. The palomino mare sat to the one side of me, and the big sorrel on the other. The little filly tried to squeeze herself in between the big stallion and me. The palomino snorted at her. The filly gave her the saddest eyes you air did see. The mare just repeated herself and pointed with one hoof. The filly pouted but she went down to the far side of the sorrel away from me. I reckon maybe I smiled a bit to see it. They might not have been human-looking, but most other ways they were so near like human folks as made no difference. The palomino caught how I smiled and it looked like she grinned back some.

“I hope that means we’re to be friends to one another,” I told her and smiled my best.

We all tucked in then. That food was right good, let me tell you all. Those apples I saw looked near about as big as the ones I reckon Johnny Appleseed or Paul Bunyan might have grown in one of the old tall tales about them. I needed my knife to cut them up just to eat them. They tasted like the best apples I’d air eaten, and no lie. They also had hay and oats and what I reckoned to be alfalfa, fresh and raw from the ground, but naturally those I didn’t eat. No meat to be seen air place, either. I could hear the little dog eating out in the other room from her bowl, maybe she had some meat but I didn’t. It all finished with cider, pure and sweet as waters from Eden, and some apple pie. Those ponies loved their apples and no mistake. Once in it I caught the eye of the palomino again and saw how pleased she looked at how I ate.

“I do relish good food,” I told her, “And your cooking is to be honored.” She lifted up her head a bit at what I said. We might not have words to speak to each other, but she knew when someone liked the food she grew and cooked. When we finished I smiled around at them all and rubbed my stomach.

“You-all set a right good table,” I said, and meant it. The palomino puffed herself up some more before she whinnied at me and nodded at the old mare at the head of the table. I nodded my thanks at the old mare. I figured her for the mother or grandmother of the ones I saw here when I saw one of the pictures on the wall showing a younger version of her with little versions of the sorrel and palomino, and two older ponies aside. They looked something like the sorrel and palomino and little Red Mane. I wondered me where they were.

I gave my attention back to the palomino when she whinnied and whickered more at me. She held her hoof right out. I took it and felt some surprise at how it felt compared to a normal horse’s hoof. Then she shook my hand. Believe me, when she shook your hand, you shook. I smiled at her when it stopped and hoped she didn’t notice me a-flexing my fingers to make sure they weren’t broke.

We cleared the table off then. I went by one of the lamps as we set the plates away for washing in an old sink with a hand or maybe I ought to say hoof-pump for water by it. I looked into that lamp and maybe I stared when I saw what lit it. It was a little jewel or crystal in there glowing to beat all. I looked away and saw how those ponies all looked curious on me.

“I crave your pardon,” I told them, “But it’s all kindly strange to me here.” They just looked funny at me and then went back to cleaning everything up. I saw how the brown stallion still looked nervoused by me, but less than before. I saw too how the little filly kept giving my guitar a longing look. She saw that I noticed and pointed at it, giving me one of her high-pitched whinnies. The palomino frowned at her like to say, wait until he says yes.

“I’ll play it some,” I told them all, “If you want to hear it.” I picked it up and drew my fingers along the strings. The palomino had her mouth open for to say something, but when I started to play she fell silent and just nodded for me to continue.

* * *

Applejack remembered having some unusual dinners, but rarely as odd as that night. Between explaining her reasons to Granny Smith for why she wanted to keep the stranger here to dealing with Caramel’s foolishness and Apple Bloom’s nonstop curiosity, she felt glad when the meal ended. She sat back with a sigh as she let the meal settle. Judging from the way her ‘guest’ acted, he liked it as much as she did.

“Thank you kindly,” Applejack said to him, smiling in contentment herself. Then, puffing herself up slightly, she added, “Granny ‘n me cooked all of it.” He must have understood some of it, for he nodded at Granny Smith in obvious respect and then held his hand out to Applejack. She gave him her usual firm and friendly hoofshake. She noticed with some approval that he didn’t wince or shake his fingers after, though it took him a second to recover.

After eating he helped them clean and set everything away. Caramel still seemed uneasy with him, but less so than before. Apple Bloom glanced constantly at the guitar where it sat. Finally the stranger noticed and pointed at it.

“Kin you play it?” she asked. “Kin we hear some music? I bet you play real good!”

“Now, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said to her, going over and standing by her sister, “he’s a guest here, and you don’t go bothering a guest like that. He’ll play it some if he wants.” Applejack privately wondered if it would be a good thing if he did. Thorn seemed harmless at first, maybe even funny, but then when he started telling everypony things they didn’t want to hear, and what he’d done or tried to do to her when she spoke up and called him out…

This fellow didn’t seem to need any further encouraging. He picked the guitar up and tuned it. Applejack leaned in close and looked at the strings. They shone in the light and she recognized the color.

“He’s got silver strings on that guitar,” she said, thinking out loud. “I wonder why?”

“It’s kind of an old custom with some musicians,” Caramel said. She turned to look at him. He blushed under her direct gaze and he said, “It has a better sound to it than the usual kind of strings.”

“Whut kind ‘o sound?” Applejack asked, and then the stranger began to play. And when he did, she didn’t want to say anything more for fear that she might not hear all the music. Everypony else fell silent too. The song, whatever it was, went slow and gentle as a spring rain. It sounded to Applejack like something a stallion would play or sing to a mare he meant to court. She thought she might not be the only one to think that. Applejack caught Caramel giving her a longing look. She looked down, and told herself that she did not feel her cheeks reddening. She looked back at the stranger and saw how he smiled to see the way Caramel looked at her, and the way she’d reacted. Then he went into another song. This one was the kind of stomp your hooves and choose your partner song you did for barn dances. Before it ended near all of the ponies, Applejack and Big Mac and Caramel, were clapping their hooves against the floor for the joy of hearing it. Even Granny Smith clapped her hooves against the old wooden floor and showed a smile.

“I swear to nothing, Applejack, he does know how to pick that guitar,” she said, closing her eyes with a sigh. “That’s mighty like the kind of songs your grandpa loved listening to, when we were courting.” Sadness washed over her face and vanished.

Applejack felt an old twinge at her own last memories of her grandfather. Of a younger her standing under the full moon, looking up at the Mare in the Moon and asking, “Please, please, make mah grand-pappy stop hurting all the time. Even if ya got to take him away…” Applejack shook herself at the memory. Nopony in her family had said anything to her when they'd learned about the wish she'd made, they'd seen his suffering too, but it felt like a cold lump in her belly to remember it.

Meanwhile Granny turned to the stranger, “We didn’t ask for no payment for dinner, so I thank ye for the gift, whatever ye be.” She lowered her head with the slowness of the very old. The stranger nodded back to her gravely. Then he began to lower the guitar

“Wait, now!” Apple Bloom said. “Cain’t we hear some more?”

Applejack frowned. “Apple Bloom,” she said, “Now don’t go be getting greedy. We got to hear two good songs, and that’s plenty.”

“Yeah, but…” Apple Bloom looked first at her big sis and then at the stranger with that pleading look she could do so well. “Do ya know this one?” She closed her eyes and furrowed her brown in concentration and began to hum five notes. Applejack recognized it as the song her friend Fluttershy sang all the time, as the one she and her friends, the fellow bearers of the Elements, used just a few days ago in their summoning. The stranger looked at Apple Bloom in obvious surprise. He picked the notes out on the guitar strings before trying a few more. Apple Bloom looked delighted.

“He likes somethin’ I sang! Did ya see that, big sis? Wait’ll I tell Sweetie Belle tomorrow, she’ll be so durned jealous!”

“I bet she will, little sis,” Applejack said, but she watched the stranger with a new wariness and worry. How did he know that of all songs? She wondered,did we call him here from wherever he comes from? ‘Cause if so, then I’d better get him to th’ others first thing I can.

Applejack decided right then and there what she needed to do concerning this stranger tomorrow. She went over to her little sister and lowered her head to push her gently off towards the steps. “Okay, little sis. It’s way past your bedtime, an’ I think you had more’n enough fun for one day. You get on upstairs and get to bed. I’ll be sleepin’ down here tonight.” She looked at the stranger. “I reckon he will, too.”

“Awww…” Apple Bloom said, but she headed for the stairs with no further argument. She stopped long enough to wish everyone “G’night,” and then headed up. She really must be tired, Applejack thought. Granny Smith rose and slowly followed her, Big Mac keeping close behind. He glanced at the stranger and shot Applejack a wary look. She smiled at him. He went slowly up the stairs. They creaked under his weight. Caramel went to follow, but he stopped and gave Applejack a pleading look.

“Maybe I can stay down here tonight?” He looked down and blushed before saying more quietly, “You think it’ll be safe with, you know…” He gave a hopelessly obvious sidelong glance at the stranger.

“Ah’ll be fine,” Applejack reassured him, wondering if she ought to feel amused or insulted at Caramel’s actions. Which of them had faced down two mad gods, after all? Some lone stranger coming in from the Everfree was nothing in comparison. “You go on upstairs and keep an eye on Granny and Apple Bloom. She’s done enough wandering for one night.” Caramel looked like he wanted to protest. Ha gave her one last glance before joining everyone else upstairs.

Applejack took down the lamps and covered them, dimming their light. Then she went to the closet and pulled out a pair of pallets as well as some blankets. They seemed wide but a bit short for him. If he felt any shortcomings he didn’t show them. He took a bedroll from his pack and rolled it out on the pallet she gave him, took off his boots, got into the roll and dropped off almost instantly.

He must’ve slept in stranger places than this, Applejack thought as she laid herself down. She heard Winona go in under her pallet and curl up. With a final look at the stranger, she closed her eyes. I hope this goes better with him than thet other sidewinder, she sleepily thought as the day finally began catching up with her. Better remember to ask Twi iffen she still knows that speakin’ spell… Sure like to know where you’re from… A dreamless sleep took her.

* * *

Inside Sweet Apple Acres all lay peaceful and still. Five ponies and one human slept in their beds; the chickens roosted in their coop; and cows lay in the barn and the pigs snored in the pen.

And out along the edge of the property, where it ran up against the unexplored depths of the Everfree Forest, a pair of red-eyed, near-skeletal figures stood with the unnatural stillness of the walking dead.

“Are you sure it’s here?” One whispered to the other in a voice like leaves blowing over a grave.

“I am sure,” came the equally soft response. “It’s right here, in the same place as Ruby’s little friend who got away from us. Should we try and get him?”

“Not now,” came the answer. “For now we just watch. That’s what Thorn said. Just watch, and wait, and get ready to bring his book back. The book that will make us live again.”

“And if the other ponies interfere?”

“Then we do what we’ve always done. We make them part of our herd…”

Chapter 3

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 3

I slept right well for a time there in that barn-like house with that little palomino right nearby and more like her upstairs. It might sound odd to whoair hears this, but I’ve been in the army in wartime. And I’ve spent most of my life in the outdoors. You do that, you learn to sleep air time and place you get the chance. I wondered myself if I could trust these ponies, but I put that thought out of my head. I doubted much that they’d have fed me and let me in their home if they meant to do me any wrong. And I never saw how being a-scared over nothing profited air soul much in life.

I slept and I dreamed, and they were right strange, the way most dreams usually are. In one I met the little filly again in the woods, but this time she spoke American English to me and sounded like any young human girl a-talking to you. Then another dream, and she and I were inside of a village filled with other little ponies, full-grown ones like her family. But these ones were strange compared to them. They had none of those marks on their flanks. It seemed like they were doing a play party too. But all the food and drink on the tables was dust like it’d been there forever and a day. When I turned to point it out to the little filly, she wasn’t herself any more. She was made all of black bones and bloody red light for eyes. Another of the big ponies was a-touching her, and that one was like she was, and so were all the rest. And the homes all around them looked ruined and tumbledown, like they’d been abandoned and gone to nothing long ago. Then they all started to come at me. I tried to play my guitar with its silver strings which are a protection against all unchancy things, but someone snatched it away from me with a nasty laugh. And just as the little filly and the others reached out for me, saying that they wanted me to stay there with them forever, I woke up.

I don’t shame to say that I looked around me in the dark and felt right glad to see four walls and a ceiling and everything like it’d been when I went to sleep. A part of me wondered if maybe I’d expected to see it all gone and nothing but bones around. I might not even have been surprised to see that thing happen. That farmhouse was one strange place, and that’s the truth.

But all the same, I felt something to be wrong. Like something stood right behind me, a-waiting for me to stop being careful so it could drop on me. It minded me of one-two times in the war, when I’d figured on an enemy ambush somehow before it could happen. Once my unit and I turned one such around when I felt that. I thought maybe that might be what I was feeling here.

I heard something whimper under the table that gave me a start. I closed my eyes tight and opened them, using an old hunter’s trick to help see in the dark. It helped some bit. I saw what whimpered. It was the dog. She hid under the table and looked at the doors. She looked right scared, her ears down and a-shivering. I heard another sound beside, a soft whicker almost like a whisper. I looked to see the palomino sitting up and looking at me. She looked to the door. I strained my ears and thought maybe I heard what she like to have heard. The softest sort of whispering and the light click of a hoof striking a rock.

She rose and moved quietly to one of the lamps they’d been using before. I followed her silently, like I’d learned to do in the Army. I stayed away from the windows and when I reached her, I put my hand on the lamp and held it so she couldn’t remove the cover from it. Little bits of light came out from under it.

“Don’t do such a thing,” I said to her, though I knew she didn’t understand the words. “Whoair is here might not know that we’re awake.” She gave me a confused look. I stuck my fingers in the thin beam of light that cover let out and wiggled them. I pointed at them with my other hand and then outside. She caught my meaning right quick and set the lamp back down. She turned and went to the door, moving right quietly.

I stopped just long enough to fetch my guitar and followed her to the doors. She reached up and opened the top half and we both looked out into the farmyard.

The moon sank back down towards a horizon where the faintest pale grayness showed. If this place were like my own home, I reckoned it to be just an hour or two until dawn. No sound at all outside, not even the little sounds you learn to expect when you’re in the country of nocturnal birds and beasts a-looking for dinner or trying not to be dinner. I saw nothing at first as I swept my gaze across the yard and the barn and the pen. Then the palomino snorted softly and tugged at my arm. She pointed off towards the orchard. I looked. I saw what she’d seen.

First I thought it to be two pair of fireflies there, but fireflies don’t shine red. They weren’t that big either. Nor do they turn to settle on you like eyes. I made out some little more of what stood there watching us. They looked like horses, about the size of the ones I’d seen here, but different someways. They near melded into the dark like they were a part of it and they looked too raggedy, with stringy manes and hides that looked to be as much bone as anything. We looked at them and they looked back at us. I wondered myself if they might be friends or at least not enemies. One look at the palomino told me that reply. Her ears were down close to her head and her eyes were wide with what looked like anger and fear together. Human or pony, ain’t air soul greets a friend thataway.

I got my guitar across me, my left hands on the frets and my right clawing the strings. I felt the palomino a-looking all curious at me as the strings sang out and I started the Last Judgement Song. When I was a boy my uncle T.P. Hinnard told me it was a strong protection against evil things, and it helped me many a time. I just hoped it’d be a help here as well as I played.

Three holy kings, four holy saints,

At Heaven’s high gate that stand,

Speak out and bid all evil wait,

And stir no foot or hand…

I felt some surprise to see them flinch back. I’d wondered me if it’d work against them or air wicked thing here in this place. It worked on evil things in the world, true, but that would be in my world, and this was another place entirely. I sang another verse of the Last Judgement Song:

The fire from heaven will fall at last

On wealth and pride and power,

We will not know the minute, and

We will not know the hour…

They flinched back further still. They stared at us just a heartbeat more. It felt to be one of the longest I’d ever known. Then they turned and went back under the trees and vanished amongst them. I stepped back from the doors and turned to see the palomino a-looking at me like she didn’t know how rightly to trust me now. I wondered whatair she thought. Maybe she thought I was an evil enchanter of some sort. I looked at her and she looked right back at me.

Whatever she saw, she must have trusted it, for next she went and bolted the doors, as solid as the gates of a fortress. She went and checked all the windows, making sure they were shut and bolted tight. I heard her hooves clicking light on the floor as she walked into the other rooms, then the sound of her seeing to the doors and windows there. Whatair came from those woods, these ponies feared it a right much, and no mistake. Finally she returned to the front room and lay back down on her pallet, watching me. I went back to my bedroll. I set my guitar within arm’s reach in case I needed it and lay myself down. She watched me the whole time, near as silent as those things we’d seen in the yard. It took me a long time before I went back to sleep but I eventually did it again. Gentlemen, you can sleep through anything if you’re tired enough.

When I awoke again the sun was up and shining. I heard the ponies up and moving in the next room and smelled someone cooking breakfast. It smelled like eggs, and they smelled right good. I sat up and noticed the little filly from last night a-watching me. She smiled to see me, and I returned her one.

“And a good morning to you,” I bade her as I rose and went into the next room. I heard her following along behind. I must have been a strangeness, but I was a welcome strangeness to her at the least. The horse with the three horseshoes on his flank was walking out for whatair work these horses did on their farm. The palomino stood by the old, old mare from last night, the strange one with the snow-white mane and the green coat, and they were both a-washing dishes and bowls in the sink. The sorrel stallion looked to be finishing up a bucket full of oats. The sorrel nodded at me like air human soul would and pointed a hoof at the table.

“Thank you, and I will,” I answered him. Not much was left but what there was looked right good. Some eggs showed scrambled up, and bread that smelled fresh, and more apples and some apple muffins. Hay and oats and such as well, but I left those for the ponies. I sat down and forked some eggs on to a plate, took up some bread they had there, and made a meal of it. The eggs were like air other I ever ate and the bread had that warm rough taste to it that most homemade bread does. The little filly seated herself nearby and had some food. By the time I finished the sorrel walked out the doors. The filly looked like she wanted to stay there and keep a-watching me. The palomino whinnied at her and she went out after the stallion. She gave me a sad-eyed look and then showed it to the palomino. The palomino just whinnied at her once more and pointed her hoof out the door. The little filly looked to sigh and left.

After I ate and helped at cleaning the dishes up, I walked outside and took a good look around. The house and barn sat on a rise in the midst of one of the biggest apple orchards I’d ever seen. Farm fields stretched out around as well, looking like good fertile bottomland, a warmer brown than I’d ever seen back home. They smelled like they’d been fertilized for planting. I could see the sorrel and the filly heading off into the orchards, with him pulling a wagon. They’d probably be clearing the deadfall and broken branches from the trees.

Maybe a mile, maybe more, past those fields and orchards, I saw a whole little town. Some of the buildings looked right fancy for such a small place, with one like a carousel like you get in traveling circus shows and another that looked like someone’s idea of a fancy-made cake. I saw another place that looked more official, somehow, like a tower hung with banners. Past it all there rose a windmill, with the blades turning in the cool breeze I felt. If there weren’t more of these little ponies there I’d be right surprised. This whole place felt something like that one place in Gulliver’s Travels that none of the retellings air seem to get right, that land of the horse-folk and the Yahoos who served them.

And past all of that a skyline of near the steepiest mountains I’ve ever seen stretching clear across the horizon. They rose up high and sharp like the Rockies, rather than short and ground down by time and the elements like the Appalachians back home. I beheld something shining white like untouched snow or the finest marble set aside one of them, like it sprouted from it or grew fast there. The sky above looked bluer than blue with near no sign of haze or distance. I thought I saw birds flying around in it, but they looked a sight bigger than any birds I remembered seeing before. It all looked cleaner and clearer than aught I’d ever seen on Earth. It wasn’t quite a paradise, not quite, but it looked a lot closer to it.

Looking back at the orchard reminded me of what the palomino and I saw earlier. I went to the spot where I’d seen them. As I approached, I slowed a bit. I smelled a sharp nasty smell there, like from spoiled meat or maybe something worse. I wondered me if I’d find sign that air thing had been there.

When I reached the spot I found it, and no mistake. Black splotches showed on the green grass and brown soil with a nasty, greasy look to them. The grass in and around them looked withered like from a hard frost, and the marks formed the u-shape of a hoof print. I heard hooves and a soft neigh nearby. I near jumped out of my skin before I looked to see the palomino there with her hat on. Some distance behind her the border collie watched and whined, but it came no closer to those hoof prints.

The mare came up beside me and looked at the prints, her eyes grim. I started back along the line of those two sets of hoof prints, a-wondering if they’d lead where I thought they would. The palomino followed me, snorting and lowering her ears once or twice as we passed apple trees with broad sickly-looking patches on them. The trail led right where I thought it would, back through the orchard and across that dirt road and into the edge of the forest. Right where that little filly and I’d come last night, near as straight a line as made no difference.

“We were followed,” I said to her, “And no mistake.” I looked at the palomino and she looked back, her eyes wary and cautious. I wondered myself if maybe she blamed me some ways for this. I wondered if she might could be right somehow.

The trail went on into the woods, but after what I’d seen and heard last night I wasn’t such a gone gump as to follow it in there. Nor did she seem eager to follow. We just looked at each other again and turned to head back to the farm. I wondered as we went, going back under the trees and her staying close by, whyever did those things follow the filly and myself back to her farm? Judging by the way the palomino acted, this was no normal thing for here. Was I a-bringing a heap of trouble onto people who’d been nothing but friendly to me? I can tell you, that thought didn’t sit easy with me. I’d slowed to think on that and so the palomino was ahead of me when we came out from under the apple trees.

A shadow passed overhead, like a bird’s but different. Bigger than near air bird I’ve ever seen ‘cept for the Ugly Bird, and the body looked too large for those wings. Whatair it was, it wheeled over us.

And then I swear to nothing, I heard an angry neigh overhead and something dropped down between me and the palomino. I heard her neigh, either shocked or angry her own self. And what I saw then, well, now, maybe you’d better sit yourself while I try and describe to you what I did see.

It was a pegasus, the flying horse from the legends of the old-timey Greeks across the sea, small as the palomino. But I nair ever heard of one colored blue as the sky before. Or with a rough-cut mane and tail all the colors of the rainbow. Nor did I ever expect to see one, alive and real, no picture in a book or moving picture, landing down afore me with fire in her eyes. She whinnied something back at the palomino. Then she came on at me, her ruby eyes burning like coals.

* * *

Applejack came back out into her farmyard with the stranger when Rainbow Dash finally showed up. AJ knew Dash’s usual morning flight took her over the farm. And right now, with all the trouble Thorn had caused, Dash was making it her business to keep an eye on everything. Applejack hoped she would catch Dash’s eye and bring her down so they could get Twilight and the rest of their friends together to meet her “guest” and decide what if anything to do with him. So when wings whirred overhead and Dash dropped down between her and the stranger she felt no great surprise. She couldn’t say the same for her “guest”. He stared at the pegasus in wide-eyed surprise as she landed before him, down low in a crouch and ready to attack.

“Ohmigosh, AJ, it’s a monster like Thorn! Run and I’ll hold it off! And you,” Dash turned on the stranger, her rose-red eyes alight with fury, “What’s the idea of threatening one of my friends? Did that creep Thorn send you here? Are you a spy?”

He said nothing. He just shifted to bring his guitar up and around. Applejack remembered how his music drove the haunts away. Right then she didn’t want to see what else it could do. When she saw the muscles in Dash’s shoulders bunch as the Pegasus got ready to hurl herself at him, Applejack promptly grabbed a mouthful of rainbow tail as she’d done so many times before.

“Now just hold on there, sugarcube!” Applejack mumbled the words out around a mouthful of pegasus tail. “He ain’t no enemy, he’s a friend.” Dash shot her a disbelieving look but she relaxed. Applejack spat the mouthful of tail out and said, “He saved Applebloom just the other night. But he don’t speak any Equestrian. You go and fetch Twi and she can do that speakin’ spell of hers that she mentioned to us once and then we can figure out more about him.”

“You sure about this?” Dash said as she darted a suspicious look at the stranger. He seemed calm but still paid close attention to them. Dash said, “We’re supposed to go and tell the Royal Guards in town when and if that Thorn creep showed up again. And he sure looks a lot like him.”

“Looks like ain’t the same thing as ‘just as bad’, Rainbow,” Applejack said to her. “He stayed the night here and didn’t do us any harm. He was right mannerly, too.”

“AJ, I’m under orders as Captain of the Ponyville Weather Patrol and a bearer of the Elements of Harmony to bring him to Captain Bastion and his guardsponies. Hay, so’re you. We’re supposed to try an’ arrest him!” Dash stomped one hoof against the ground for emphasis.

“Well, then say Ah’m holdin’ him in a citizen’s arrest until you go get Twi and we figure out how to talk to him!” When Dash looked ready to argue some more, Applejack nudged her with her head, adding, “Besides, if he is here with that snake Thorn, then the sooner we talk with him the sooner we can figure out what else he’s up to.” She hesitated before adding, “An’ maybe we should’ve been expecting him after what we did.”

“Huh? What?” Dash blinked and gave her an incredulous look. “Y-you mean… that when we used the Elements to try and get help like the Princess suggested, that he’s what we got?” She flapped her wings and rose up off the ground, going over to the stranger. She eyed him critically. He looked back, seemingly fascinated by her flight. Dash flew back over to Applejack. “He really doesn’t look like any kind of help I’d expect, Jacky.”

“Well, you don’t always look like the best flyer in Equestria, but y’are,” Applejack said to her. Dash shot her a dirty look but she ignored it. “Now go an’ get Twilight. We need her here.” Dash looked reluctant, but she turned to fly off. Then at the last second she turned and flew at the stranger, hovering right before his face. She thrust her hoof under that lump under his eyes and gave her best intimidating look.

“Okay, I’ll go, but I’m warning you. Applejack’s a friend of mine, and if you hurt her or her family, it’ll be the sorriest day of your life, whatever the hay you are!” She shot off like an arrow, heading for the library. Applejack watched her go and sighed.

“She’s mah friend, but one o’ these days she has to learn to ask some questions first,” she said to the stranger. He tilted his head, giving her what she imagined to be a curious look. She added, “Ah’m right sorry about that.” He looked at her and then after Dash before raising one hand and waving it from side to side in a ‘no worries’ gesture. Then he pointed at the farm and mimed holding one of the baskets, obviously wanting to help with the work. AJ’s opinion of him rose.

“Naw,” Applejack said, “this is more important. We got to wait a spell for Twilight to show up, and then we’ll see what we’ll see.” She sat down by the edge of the orchard. He looked at her, shrugged, and sat down nearby. She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile and mentally added, An’ if you are the help we asked for, then Ah’m sorry for what we did to ya. An’ I hope we didn’t do wrong by either us or you.

Chapter 5

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 5

None of us, not human nor pony nor little dragon, said anything as we went to the spot Applejack and I’d seen that morning. If we’d gone to see air other thing, I’d have right relished that walk. The green of the grass and the leaves on the apple trees shined like jewels, brighter than I could ever recollect seeing before anyplace else. The fields where I could see them looked a mite bare, but even this early in the season I could see where the plants were a-starting to sprout. The sky hung blue and clear overhead with only a few white clouds here and there dotting it all.

I didn’t know what else to say, so I just commented on the farm to Applejack. “If this is all yours, you and your family must be right hard working to keep up with it all.”

“Aww, shucks,” she looked away but I saw how her freckled cheeks flushed, “Thank yah kindly. Granny Smith an’ Big Mac and Apple Bloom an’ me do work pretty hard at it, but we got some help. You’ve met Caramel already. Later on in the season we’ll hire a few more hooves iffen we need them…”

By now we were coming up on the edge of the orchard, right by where I’d seen the walking dead from the night before. As we came closer I smelled that stink from before, the nasty sweet rotten odor you get from off of a dead animal that’s been allowed to lie. I could see those splotches on the ground where they’d stood, black and greasy against the clean brown of the dirt and the fresh green of the grass. I could hear and see flies buzzing through the air, and they looked like any other flies I’d ever seen in my life. They didn’t talk to me or bid me howdy or air such a thing. They seemed like any other flies to horses too, to judge by the way Twilight and Applejack started switching their tails at them. I saw the one land on Applejack’s rump. Before I could say anything or shoo it, she yelled and slapped at it with her tail like you or I would with our hand. A trickle of blood showed when it flew away.

“Durn yah, yah nasty little bloodsuckers!” Applejack gave those flies a dirty look. “Say, Twi, yah know any spells good for gettin’ rid o’ flies?”

“Sorry, Applejack, but – ouch!” Twilight twitched and flicked an ear. Spike just grinned. I reckon those flies didn’t bother him with his scales air bit. “Nothing that comes to mind right now. Besides, you’re a farm pony. Shouldn’t you know something?”

“Yeah,” she grumbled back, “Ah hang up flypaper.” Then, a bit quieter, “Right here’s where John ‘n Ah saw them. See it?” She pointed one forehoof at the ground by the tracks. Twilight and Spike bent closer to look, and so did I.

The dirt under and around the prints looked rotted and slimy. Like it’d been made sick from those dead ponies just a-standing there for howair long they’d been a-watching Applejack’s house last night. The air even felt the slightest itty bit colder by them. Spike gulped and swallowed like it scared him. I reached out to poke a finger at it, but stopped when Twilight spoke up.

“Don’t,” she said, and I listened. Her horn glowed again, and some of the slime on the dirt rose up by her nose and mine. The stink got sharp and fierce, and I winced back from it. Spike gagged where he sat before he dropped from her back and hurried back to where Applejack stood. Twilight snorted, but she looked for a moment or two longer before she let it drop. It splatted like mud would. She and I both stepped back from it, and I felt right glad to be a-doing so.

“Well, what d’yah think?” Applejack asked from behind us. Twilight looked at her as she added, “It don’t look to me like any natural thing.”

“Maybe it’s zombie ponies?” Spike said where he stood, and his voice shook to say it. Twilight just shook her head and sighed.

“There’s no such a thing, Spike. And it’s not some fungus,” Twilight said. “It looks and smells like something rotten, but that’s all I’ll say. And it sure looks like hoofmarks.” She pointed her horn at the mess. “John, Applejack, you said there was more of it?”

“That I did, and that there is,” I responded her. “Look and see there.” I pointed further down the trail leading between the planted lines of trees. Twilight looked and saw what we’d seen earlier, those rotted-looking hoofmarks going back towards the forest. She let Spike get back aside her back and then followed them. Applejack and I followed her. We all went slow like as though to watch for anything that might be a-lurking there, maybe trying to sneak up on us and jump from behind. Though the way poor Spike shook and how his fangs rattled, I doubt we’d have heard air thing a-sneaking up on us. I saw no new thing from that morning. The air seemed stuffy and closed in under and among the trees where those marks lay. The closer we got to where the prints left the forest the thicker the smell got until it stank worse than a skunk. I saw Twilight and Applejack wrinkling their noses up at it, and I reckon my eyes watered at the nastiness of it. Spike held his nose against it. Once we passed by one of the apple trees that stood right tall and proud and looked thick enough through the middle for a good-sized dining room table. Save where one of the tracks lay against its roots. We could all see a big gray rotted-looking patch spread on it. Applejack groaned at the sight of it.

“Mah great grand-pappy planted that tree,” she said. “Right the year after Princess Celestia gave this land to mah family, when Granny Smith found the zap-apples and we brought in the first harvest o’ them. She won’t be any too happy to find out what happened to it.” She looked down the trail and scowled, her ears going flat. “Ah don’t know why those things came here, but if they’re looking for enemies, they’re on their way to makin’ some.”

We came out from under the orchard’s trees and into the dirt road. Twilight stopped out in the front of us and looked at the edge of the forest. I reckon it was the first time I’ve ever seen a forest that looked darker in the daylight than at night.

“Okay, so it did come from the Everfree,” she said with a little tremble in her voice.

“Didn’t Ah say as much?” Applejack responded her. Then, sounding nervoused herself, she said, “Say, Twi, ain’t that where Thorn run off to? Yah don’t think he could be in that village Apple Bloom told us about? It’d be his kinda place.”

“Please, Applejack,” Twilight said. She turned to her and took a deep breath before she started to say just like some teacher lady in a school, “They’re just some type of Everfree monster we haven’t seen before. The walking dead and curses are just old mares’ tales. None of the books I researched in Canterlot said anything else about them.” She looked right certain of herself to say it. I might could have said something about the times I’ve seen curses and dead men walking my own self, but just then wings sounded overhead and Rainbow Dash dropped down by us.

“Twi, AJ, Spike,” she said, greeting them all. No word to me, just a sharp glance. She said to her friends, “I found Pinkie at Sugarcube Corner. I think I convinced her not to go throwing any parties just yet, and I found Rarity and Flutts at the spa. They’re all gonna meet us at the library. And I have ta tell you, Twilight I heard what you were saying, and,” she pointed her hoof at me as she hovered there a-flapping, “Humans are supposed to be just stories, too, and we’ve got one standing right there.” She looked at me and said, wary again, “Or maybe these things ain’t from Equestria. Maybe they followed you here from wherever it is you come from.”

“Might be they did, and I don’t know about Equestria,” I said to her, “But I’ve run up against both curses and dead things that walked by night in my time. I nair was happy to see them, either. And whatair those things were that we saw last night, you all act like it’s not common for something to come right out of this Everfree Forest and up to folks’ front doors.” Twilight and Applejack both looked unhappy at that. The unicorn opened her mouth but Applejack spoke first.

“Granny Smith told me when Ah was little that back when they first got the land grant and settled here, sometimes the Everfree critters would come prowling around the farm looking for food. Pigs, or chickens, and once or twice they tried snatching ponies. But that all stopped when Ponyville got founded and we got ourselves a guard and lights at night. These days, you got to go into the forest most times iffen you want to see something big an’ nasty.” She looked at the hoofprints and asked, sounding worried, “So why did these here things come right up close by the farmhouse?”

“Whatever they wanted, they don’t seem to have gotten it,” Twilight said, “Besides, you said John chased them away just by playing some music. So how scary could they be?”

“Unless his music’s that bad,” Spike said and snickered to say it.

I frowned to hear it and got ready to say something, but then Twilight bespoke her first.

“Spike! Show some manners, okay?” She looked at me. “What did you play, exactly, that drove them off?”

“The Last Judgment Song,” I answered her. “I learned it as a boy from an old uncle of mine, T.P. Hinnard. He allowed it to be strong against evil and unchancy things, and I’ve found he was right to be saying it.” They looked at me curious-like, so I added, “It goes a bit like this.” I pulled my guitar around and played the first verse from it:

Three holy kings, four holy saints,

At heaven’s high gate that stand,

Speak out and bid all evil wait,

And stir no foot or hand…

I wondered myself when I’d done playing it if it would do anything to Twilight. It was only bad against wicked things, true, but I didn’t know how my music and her magic might could get along.

If it did her anything, it didn’t show. Instead she half closed her eyes in concentration. The purple light started along her horn again, and she bade me: “Play those lines again.” I did as she asked, and the warm purple glow from her horn went on my hands and along the strings of my guitar as I did. It tickled, almost. When I finished it faded away.

“What kinda song is that?” Dash asked no one in particular. “Something about alicorns and the Summerlands? It sounds kinda weird, Twilight.”

I looked at her peculiar, for I’d not sung those words she used. Twilight must have seen the wonderment on my face for she spoke up.

“I think some of that’s due to my translation spell. Not every word is exactly the same when translated from other languages. Sometimes you just get the closest equivalent.” She pointed at my old guitar with her horn. “But there’s a power in that and in your music, John.”

“I don’t know about me or this old guitar,” I lifted it towards her, and the sunlight shone on the silver strings, “But the song has always been right good. I might not be alive and here to tell of it save that I’ve used it when I needed to. That aside, I’ve got some little learning I picked up here and there and it’s been a good shield by me. I hope to learn something new today, and live to profit by it.”

Twilight smiled to hear me say that. Then she shook her head, her mane whipping around. “Ah, I forgot! The others will be at the library by now. We’d better get going.” She jerked her head at the road and down it towards where the town lay. Rainbow Dash flew off down the road, circling around to keep an eye on us. Twilight started after her. I walked alongside of her and I could hear Applejack coming along behind me.

“Yah oughta like this, John,” Applejack said to me. “Ponyville’s a right nice town. Er, most ‘o the time.”

“I’m right eager to see it,” I responded her, and they were true words. And I wondered myself if I’d finally find out just who this “Thorn” was, and why I might be here, and what sort of trouble could be brewing here.

Because something about the way these three kept a-acting told me that trouble was a-brewing here by the double bucketful.

* * *

Twilight felt a little thrill as she went along the Everfree Road and Ponyville came further into sight. She’d lived here for close to two years now, and actually felt a little surprise at how much she’d grown to love this place. She wondered if Celestia expected as much when she’d first sent her here. It wouldn’t surprise her a bit if she did.

She glanced sidelong at their guest as he accompanied them. Twilight made sure to go at a slow canter to give him ample opportunity to keep up with her. Being a biped, she doubted he could run as fast as a pony, though something about the easy way he ambled along told her that he possessed quite a bit of endurance. She thought, as a loner and a mountain dweller, he’d probably need it.

“So who is this Thorn fellow you all keep talking about like you were a-scared of him?” He asked out of the blue. “The way you all talk about him, he’s no good man to know.”

“No,” Twilight said, fighting down a shudder, “He isn’t. He… visited Ponyville, just over a week before you arrived. He scared some of us pretty badly.” Part of her wanted to laugh at how mildly that encapsulated what he’d done. Instead she just said, “I’ll explain everything when we’re all together in the library.”

“Who else can I be expecting to see there?”

“Well, there’s Rarity. She’s the local dressmaker and fashion designer. She’s a unicorn like me, but with a white coat and purple mane and tail. Her cutie mark is three diamonds. Then there’s Fluttershy. In fact, that’s her house right across the bridge there.” She pointed to the low bridge as they passed it. Fluttershy’s house was just barely visible, the green of her roof showing beyond the little stream. As Twilight spoke Rainbow Dash dropped down before her.

“I looked, and they’re all at the library,” she said. “Pinkie looks like she wants to start hanging some streamers and balloons, though.”

“Urrgh!” Twilight facehoofed. “Dash, please go and remind her that when I said no parties, I meant no parties!” Dash grinned at her words and shot off like an arrow. Twilight started as a new thought struck her, and yelled after her, “And Dash! Dash! Remember to tell Captain Bastion we’ve got company, and he’s okay! Rainbow Dash!” If the blue-coated Pegasus heard, she gave no sign as she vanished towards the town.

“What-all is that last part about?” John asked. Twilight thought she heard a faint wariness in his voice as he said, “The part about a captain somebody needing to be a-told about me?”

“Oh, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t too big a surprise for the ponies in town,” Twilight said back to him, giving what she hoped was a reassuring smile. She felt Spike shift uneasily on her back, and saw the curious look John gave her and the annoyed one Applejack sent her way at her less than honest words. Swallowing and hoping there’d be no trouble with the Royal Guards posted in town, she said, “Like I was saying, that’s Fluttershy’s place…”

* * *

After we left from by where those things from last night came up out of the woods and onto Applejack’s farm, we started down a road that ran near about half a mile as I can figure. That haunted forest loomed all dark and forbidding on our left hand. I tell you all, even by the light of day it looked like no kind of a place for air soul to go if they wanted a long life. I wondered me how these little ponies found the sand in their craws to stay here.

When I looked over on the right I saw sights kindly better to see. I could see ponies plowing their fields with pony-sized plows, getting theirselves ready for spring planting just like in the bottomlands back home. I heard some of them a-howdying to Applejack and Twilight and even Spike. One or two of them froze and went silent when they saw me. Like I say, they knew Spike, but I was a stranger to them. And I began to guess, a frightful one.

“You’ve been here in this town a while now, I’m guessing,” I said to Twilight and Spike. They both gave me surprised looks.

“Ye-es,” Twilight said, looking mighty curious. “About two years now. How’d you guess?”

“By the way those ponies react to him,” I nodded at Spike. “You said dragons were rare here, but they call to him like they do Applejack and you. I reckon he’s been here long enough to become known.”

“Sure have,” Spike said back, and he drew himself up to look proud when he said it.

By now we were coming closer up on that little fairy-tale town. It looked to be a pretty enough place. True, you smelled the kind of smells you get around farms and fields with horses when you approached it, but the ponies seemed clean enough that it didn’t get too thick.

The sky hung blue and clear overhead with only a few white clouds here and there dotting it all. And one big cloud by the mountains to the north. I reckoned I stared to see others of the pegasi flying around those clouds and a-pushing them like they were solid things.

I must have said as much out loud, because Rainbow Dash answered me. “That’s my job, normally,” and she flew in front of me, a-puffing her chest up. “I’m in charge of the Ponyville Weather Patrol. Every year when the kingdom gets polled about who has the best weather ponies, we come in at the top or near it. We did better this year than we did the last, and we’ll do even better the year after that.”

“You’re to be admired,” I responded her, and she puffed herself up even more. “But howair do you move clouds? I thought they were just water vapor.” She just stared at me like I’d said fire was hot.

“Duh,” she said, “of course they’re just water vapor, what else would clouds be? But us pegasuses can move them. It’s a part of what we are, like cloudwalking or using our wings.” She flapped hers for emphasis, and then said with a grin, “Nopony else is as good as me at flying or doing cloudbusting, though.”

“Ten seconds flat,” I heard Applejack say from in front of me. Twilight giggled a bit to hear it. I figured it for a joke on Dash when her blue cheeks just turned red.

“Arrgh, I only said that once! Can’t anypony let go of it?” She flapped up higher and went on ahead. She looked more than a little annoyed by it all. I turned to Applejack to see her grinning over her shoulder at me.

“You might could want to be careful about saying things like that to her,” I said, “especially if she can witch the weather. Bad weather can pure down kill a harvest.”

“Ah know,” she answered me, “believe me, Ah know. But it’s all good. Dash knows we’re just funnin’ her. To be honest,” and she slowed a bit so we could walk alongside each other, “She probably is the best weatherpony we ever did have here in Ponyville, but she’s got a big enough head as it is. Once or twice she got a little too full of herself and caused some trouble, going ‘round and callin’ herself a big hero, ‘fore we could get her to settle back down.”

As soon as she flew out of sight I minded me of what Twilight said about her friends and how to know them, so I asked, “You were a-saying how I can know your friend Fluttershy when I see her?”

“Oh, yes! Fluttershy’s a Pegasus, yellow coat, long pink mane and tail, and three butterflies for a cutie mark. And Pinkie Pie, well, she’s pink, mane and coat, and her cutie mark is three balloons. Trust me, you’ll know her when you see her.”

“Good to know I won’t be mistaking them for anyone else here, then,” I responded her. She gave me a look like she wondered if I was a-making fun of her. She must have seen I meant no such thing, because she nodded at me and turned back to walking, or I reckon I should say trotting or cantering. She might have said more but that Rainbow Dash dropped back down and told her that her friends were all at the library and waiting on her. There was something or other about how one of them, Pie or the like, wanted to set up for a play-party or frolic. It seemed an odd time for it from all Twilight said to me. That purple unicorn didn’t look any too happy about it herself. She slapped her hoof against her face the way some human folks will when they get just plain tired of others’ foolishness, and told Dash to try and settle Pinkie Pie down. Those ponies had some right strange names, but I figure mine to be air bit as odd to them.

Twilight said more, words I wasn’t sure I liked to hear, about some Captain or other who needed to be told about me. It looked like Dash either didn’t hear or much care. She flew off without air sign she’d noticed.

“What was that last part there, about your Captain a-needing to be told about me?” I asked her. She gave me a smile, and it looked like a nervous one.

“Oh, I just wanted to make sure the ponies in town knew about you,” she said. The way I saw Spike and Applejack looking on, I figured there to be more to it than that. But Twilight just said, “Like I was saying, that’s Fluttershy’s house.”
I looked and maybe I stared. I’d seen Sweet Apple Acres, and it looked like any well-kept old farm back home. And I’d seen the houses in town from a distance, and they looked enough like the ones I’ve seen elsewhere to be no great surprise. It did wonder me a bit that pony houses looked so much like our own. But Fluttershy’s house? No mistaking it for any human home, howair you tried.

It stood on the far side of a small stream, a little cottage all roofed with grass like it’d pushed itself up from the meadow instead of being built there. Like it grew there like a Gardinel, that’s a rare plant that makes itself look in some ways like a house for men to tole them in where it can eat them. Only I nair heard of a Gardinel that would have birds a-fluttering around it and all singing away, the sweetest birdsong you ever did hear. Nor yet would it have birdhouses hung on every eave and tree.

I saw something else there too, and it almost made me run. Something like a little hairy hill, all brown and shaggy. It lifted up its head and pointed its snout at me. I saw how that wet black nose twitched to catch my scent, and heard that bear grunt as he stood up, higher than air man could stand. He looked at me and I looked at him and I wondered if I could get high enough up one of the trees if he charged before he caught me.

“What’s the matter, John?” Applejack asked me. She looked at me and wondered, “Ain’t yah ever seen bears afore? That’s just one o’ Fluttershy’s friends, he won’t do yah nothin’.”

“I’ve seen bears afore,” I answered her. While I did that bear dropped back down and curled hisself up to sleep. I saw chickens clucking around the yard by the bear with no care at all, but they were chickens and those birds got no sense. “I just nair yet seen one kept for a yard dog afore.”

“That’s Fluttershy,” Twilight said back to me. “She gets along with animals better than most ponies do.”
“Like that fellow they call Saint Francis from over the sea,” I said as the road jogged a hard right away from Fluttershy’s little hill-house. “Or like Johnny Appleseed.”

“Johnny Appleseed?” I reckon no surprise to see Applejack take interest in that. “He sounds kinda like you n’ kinda like me. Who was he?”

“He wandered the whole country over, my country air way,” I responded her, “And air place he went, he made friends with beasts and folks alike, and he planted apple trees.”

“Sounds like mah kinda fella,” Applejack said with a chuckle. And no more words then for a bit as we went maybe another half mile or so, away from that Everfree Forest and right down into Ponyville itself.

The fields gave way to pasture, or what would be pasture back home. We passed by more cottages such as I’d seen at a distance, most all of them half-timbered and thatch-roofed like houses in fairy tale books like the ones by Andrew Lang or the Brothers Grimm. I smiled for a moment. Then I thought myself of what those stories were really like. Not the versions you see at the movies, but the old ones where folks died, often in right bad ways. It gave me a turn and maybe more than a turn to think I might be ending up on some ogre’s table for dinner.

Off in the distance I saw a big clock tower sitting in the middle of a field, right at the edge of town. More ponies like Applejack in the streets, but all different colors. Some of them like her or air pony back home, and some of them colors such as you’d nair see on any pony that hadn’t been painted for a show or a joke. And flying up above, more pegasi like Rainbow Dash. But no sign of her air place. I must have said that out loud, because Twilight responded me.

“She ought to be at the library with Rarity and Pinkie and Fluttershy,” she said. “I just hope she mentioned you like I asked her to.”

I wondered myself if she did as Twilight asked. The way she’d glared at me, she might not have seen air reason to tell the ponies about me.

By now we were down in the town proper. I saw just a few ponies out in the streets. Most looked like they were either going for their morning shopping or off for their work. The few to be seen started to wave and call hello to Twilight and Applejack. But when they clapped eyes on me they went scared and quiet. Conversations stilled when we went walking by, and after we passed those ponies leaned their heads together and started a-whispering. I caught many a fearful glance sent my way. I saw how Twilight shifted like it bothered her or reminded her of something

“Folks seem less than neighborly,” I said. “Is it just me, or are they always this unfriendly?” Twilight looked on me like she wanted to say something, but Applejack spoke up first.

“It ain’t you, exactly,” she said. “It’s just that the last fella looked like you caused some ruckus here, and folks ‘r still a mite scared.”

“Glad to know it’s not just me, then.” I said. I went so far as to tip my hat and smile at three bright-colored mares with flowers on their flanks as we passed, hoping they’d see it for a friendly gesture. I recognized a lily on the one, and what seemed like a rose on another. They all wore saddlebags the way womenfolks back home carry baskets when they go to market. They flinched from me and hurried away.

We passed by a one room schoolhouse, painted barn red. I saw a few smaller ponies outside of it, about the size of Applejack’s little sister. I saw Apple Bloom her own self getting shooed in with the others by a purple pony who followed along behind to make sure that her little scholars went where they were supposed to go. I figure I smiled on seeing it. I‘m not so old that I don’t remember how little I loved schooling on sunny spring days. I looked to my side and saw Applejack there, looking both tired and happy at the once.

“Leastways I know where she is,” she said, and shook her head. “My little sister keeps me busy, and no mistake.”

“Most little brothers and sisters do,” I said back to her. Twilight laughed like she agreed. Spike just crossed his arms and snorted. I wondered me how he could be a little brother to her.

We passed through another cluster of houses and came out into the town proper. More buildings here but less ponies to look scared or curious on us all. And all of them with those marks on their flanks, and they curiosed me more and more to see. Off a ways, one house like a big gnarled tree. No, not a house, but a right big tree itself, set with windows and a balcony with a telescope on it and a carved wooden sign out front. And setting aside it, big tents with little flags at their tops like what they used to call pavilions, striped gold and white, and what looked to be a chariot big enough for more than one pony to ride in.

“Here we are,” Twilight said. “Everypony else ought to be inside by now. Come on, John, and let’s get everything explained.”

“One thing I’d kindly like to know now, if I could,” Twilight cocked an eyebrow at my words like to say to go on. So I asked, “What-all are these marks you and everyone else here has on their flanks?” I pointed at the star she bore on hers, and said, “I thought at first they were brands of some sort, but they look growed in to your coat.”

“’Growed’ in?” Twilight rolled her eyes at my words, but then she brightened. Just like some scholar lady a-teaching students, which I guess she was right then, she began to say, “Cutie marks are very ancient among ponykind, being metaphorical images of a pony’s most basic personality traits and desires, and have been traced back to cave art from the Paleo-Pony Period. Poets have called them ‘the pony’s soul made visible’…”

“They’re marks yah get when yah figger out just who yah are or what you ought to be doin’ with your life,” Applejack broke in, and it sounded like she hurried to say it all. “Whatever it is that you’re best at or most love doin’. They don’t control what yah do, but they can help guide yah where yah need to be.” Twilight gave her an annoyed look like she didn’t relish being interrupted. I wondered my own self. Applejack seemed better mannered than that from what I’d seen. She didn’t look at the either of us. Instead, she looked off to the side, and worry showed in her face. My eyes followed hers, and I felt some worry at what I saw. AJ said, “Sorry, Twi, but I don’t think we got the time for one o’ your long explanations right now.”

Twilight looked and saw what Applejack saw, what I’d seen. Two armored, white-coated pegasi walked towards us along with an armored and gray-coated unicorn. The crests of their helmets waved above their eyes, which were set right on me. Their armor and helmets looked like someone took the armor of the old Greeks or Romans and tried to make it fit a pony’s body somehow. The armor was a mixtry of solid pieces, what they call plate, and the rings worked together that make what folks call mail, all golden-colored. Blue crests on their helmets like old-timey Greeks, and the one in front with the biggest crest showed scars on his coat and decorations on his armor like rank bars. I took him for their leader right there, and those scars made me think of a sergeant more than an officer. The looks they gave me weren’t friendly or welcoming air way.

Twilight flinched. Then she set herself between him and me.

“Captain Stalwart Bastion,” Twilight said, and even though I didn’t see her face somehow I knew she smiled broad and friendly to say it. She jerked her head back towards me like to point with her horn as she said, “Let me introduce you to John. He’s new here to Equestria, and…”

“And it’s our duty to place him under arrest, Miss Sparkle.” No anger nor yet fear in that voice, just calm and steady, like a man with a nasty job he knows he needs to be doing. He shifted slightly as he spoke. The sunlight glittered off of his armor where it’d been buffed to a shine. “You know this just as well as we do. It‘s Princess Celestia’s express command.” He looked right at me and said, “I order you to place yourself into our custody, right now. Don’t make us have to hurt you.”

* * *

Worry blossomed in Twilight at the guard captain’s words. Behind the white-coated Royal Guard pegasi and their gray-coated unicorn companion from the Spellguard she could see one of the chariots Celestia ordered sent to Ponyville in case she and her friends were needed in Canterlot. She sagged a bit in relief at what that meant. Discord’s still held in stone. Good. The guardsponies’ pavilion stood nearby, striped gold and white. She wondered where the rest of them were. Then she looked at Captain Bastion before her and gave what she hoped was her friendliest smile.

“Oh, captain, there’s no need for that,” Twilight said with what she hoped was a reassuring laugh. The look on Stalwart’s face didn’t change. He watched John closely, his gaze not wavering. Twilight added, “He’s nothing like Thorn.”

“That’s not my call to make, Miss Sparkle,” he said, “Nor yours either. I have my orders. We have to take him in.”

Twilight kept the smile on her face as she maneuvered to keep her eyes on both the captain and John. John still looked calm, but she saw how he balanced lightly on the balls of his feet, ready to run or fight if need be. Captain Bastion noticed it too. He lowered his head and scraped at the ground with one forehoof, getting ready for a charge. His subordinate followed suit, the muscles bunching under both their coats. Unconsciously, they spread their wings wide, making themselves look larger. The Spellguard unicorn went off to the side where he could use magic if he needed to without endangering his fellows. In another second, Twilight thought, they would tuck their wings in and try to bear John down beneath their weight until they could restrain him. Something told her he wouldn’t give in any more peacefully to them than he had to Dash and Applejack.

And if he was really the help they’d summoned, then what?

“Now just hold on there!” Applejack stepped between John and Captain Bastion. Applejack pressed her forehead against his, looking him eye to eye. “This here John’s a guest o’ mine. He spent last night under mah roof and ate at mah table. An’ he helped save mah little sister’s life last night in the Everfree. He ain’t like Thorn. Ah’ll vouch for ‘im if that’s what the trouble is.” Captain Bastion stepped back and looked ready to say something, but Applejack said, “As a Bearer o’ the Elements of Honesty, I’ll stand fer his good behavior.”

At that Captain Bastion snorted, sounding impressed. But he still looked to Twilight Sparkle. Worry showed in his eyes. “And you, Miss Sparkle? Will you promise good behavior from this John being, as well?”

Twilight hesitated only a second before she stepped forward and said, “I do, and so would Rainbow Dash if she were here. Yes, she’s met him,” she said quickly, cutting off any further complaints about disobeying Princess Celestia, “and furthermore, I also speak as Princess Celestia’s apprentice and Bearer of the Element of Magic. I’ll stand good for this pon – this being’s behavior.” She stepped close and added in a quick whisper. “Besides, it’ll be him with all six of the Elements of Harmony at once. How much trouble could he actually be under those circumstances?”

“Some of us wondered that about Discord,” he answered her, his voice soft but stern, “And we know what happened then.”

She winced at his words. “Discord got us separated in the garden maze and discorded us one at a time. This time we’ll all be together.”

The captain’s nostrils flared, then he added in a more conversational tone, “But you are the Princess’s representative. We were commanded to obey you. If you promise to prevent him from hurting any of Her Highness’s subjects, then so be it.” He turned and went back to his post by the chariot, accompanied by his fellow guards. Twilight let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding until then.

“I so hope that’s the last interruption,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry about that, John. Things are just a little tense around here right now what with everything that’s happened.” She started off towards the library. “But come on, we’re almost there.”

To Twilight’s relief, they reached the library with no more problems. John made some sort of comment on a tree of knowledge in a way that suggested the words meant more to him than her. She looked at Applejack and was rewarded with a shrug. Inside, she could hear her friends’ voices as they talked. She opened the door with her horn and entered, followed by John and Applejack. Spike dropped off her back as they entered and went over to stand by Owlowiscious’ perch.

“Well, here we are,” she said. They were all there. Rarity and Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. She smiled at them and said, “Ladies, this is John, and I want you all to meet him.”

* * *

“Well, here we are,” was what Twilight said when we walked into her treehouse library. I admit with no shame, I’d felt a moment or two of worry when those two guards wondered if they needed to try and make a prisoner of me. I felt right glad for them and me, more for me maybe, that they didn’t try any such a thing. I ducked under the doorframe and stepped through to the side to let Applejack come in. Spike dropped down off of Twilight’s back. They all went over to their friends and greeted them while I looked around. There was a right much to be seen.

It was built into that tree, one even bigger than the ones I’d seen thus far in the Everfree or on Applejack’s farm. Kindly like a gnarled oak, over thirty feet across at the base, big enough to enter through a double door such as I’d seen on Applejack’s house, anyway, and big enough to have more than the one floor inside from the stairway leading up behind a big safe that looked like it belonged in a bank. I did wonder myself why these ponies made so many things that might better suit folks with hands. And books everywhere, on shelves carved into the walls and on desks and even piled on the floor here and there. I reckon maybe I envied Twilight Sparkle some to see it. I’ve always dearly loved books. And in the middle of the room, a circle-shaped table like a reading desk with a statue of a unicorn atop it. All carved out of the heart of the tree, not built. And by that table, three new ponies.

I looked closer at them as they crowded around Twilight and Applejack. Dash was there, hovering up off the floor, the wash from her wings blowing over the open pages of some big book lying open. Applejack and Twilight stood between what must have been their friends Rarity and Fluttershy, greeting them horse-style with whickers and craning necks. They both noticed me looking at them and walked over.

“Oh, thank you, Mister John,” Fluttershy said in near about the softest voice I ever did hear, so soft and shy you strained to hear air word. Her name suited her right well. When I looked down at her she hid partways behind her long pink mane and blushed. “Applejack told us how you saved Apple Bloom from that terrible creature in the Everfree Forest.”

“Could be more like she saved me,” I knelt down and answered her. “She most likely could have run and gotten away, but when she saw me in trouble, she stayed and helped me. It was a brave thing for her to do.”

“But what else could she have done?” Fluttershy spoke me back, like it would be the most natural thing to risk your own life for someone you just met. I looked closer at her and she flinched back, “Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that I doubted you.”

“You have nair thing to be sorry for, Miss Fluttershy,” I held out my hand by her hoof. “And if we’re to be friends here, just call me John.” She looked up at me through her mane, smiled, set her hoof in my hand and gave me a gentle shake.

“If we’re all friends, then you can just call me Fluttershy,” she said, and then added quick, “I mean, if that’s alright with you.” I might have said more to her, but right then the white unicorn with mane and tail like a long curly purple ribbon spoke up in a smooth voice that sounded like she practiced to make it so musical, like an actress on a stage. It put me in mind of some of the rich ladies from up north who come to the resorts we have in the mountains. The kind who like to say how quaint we all are to our faces.

“These are handmade, aren’t they?” I saw how she looked close at my hickory shirt and blue duckin pants, like someone who knew sewing. “But it wasn’t all done by the same pony. This tear here,” she pointed to one I’d mended shortly before I found myself here, “It was done by someone other than the original seamstress, yes? If you like, I’ll gladly redo the stitches later if we have the time.”

“You’re kindly right, Miss Rarity,” I answered her. “My wife Evadare made the shirt and pants, but now and then I’ve torn them and I fixed them up myself.” She looked surprised at how I knew her name, so I added, “Your friend Twilight was kind enough to tell me some little about you all.”

“Ooooh! Did she tell you about me too?” I near about jumped out of my old boots when a pink blur hopped up in front of me. She like to have appeared out of nowhere. Her mane showed all puffed out like cotton candy at a county fair, and she had the happiest eyes and biggest smile I’ve ever seen. “Hi, John! My name’s Pinkie Pie! I’m so glad to meet you! I was worried a teensy-weensy bit when Dashie first told me about you because I wondered if you were like that big meanypants Thorn but now that I’ve met you I know you’re a really nice guy for a human even if you get mad when people call you Silver John and…” Applejack stuck her hoof around from behind and set it over Pinkie’s mouth.

“Take it easy, sugarcube! Give the poor fella a chance ta breathe.” Pinkie Pie followed her back to a corner by Twilight. Fluttershy already stood there, slightly behind them. I just looked at Rarity and she smiled at me.

“That’s our Pinkie Pie,” she said. She accompanied me over to right before where Twilight stood, her elegantly groomed mane and tail swaying as she moved. “She’s a bit intense, but she’s a darling. And you, sir, perhaps you might be a gentlecolt and tell us a bit about yourself?” I noticed too now how she wore saddlebags, the same way Fluttershy did, the same way Applejack and Rainbow Dash did, all marked like the marks on their flanks. Only Pinkie lacked them – the saddlebags, not the mark.

I looked at Twilight. “This here is everyone who you think needs to hear this?”

“It is.” She nodded back. “Please, John, maybe you could tell us something about yourself?”

I like to think I did my best. I told them what there was to tell, how I’d been born at midnight along Downing Creek, how my father died right afore I was born and my mother right soon after, how I’d been raised by a maiden aunt who taught me my letters and when I grew went into the army and saw the lands overseas where we fought the war. And it was like the good book says, all confusion and garments rolled in blood. They looked ill at that, so I hurried on to other things. How I’d returned to the mountains where I’d been born and raised. I learned to play the guitar and traveled the whole country over, gathering up the old songs that were a-dying like flies.

And then the parts I reckoned they wanted to hear. About witch-men and women like Mister Onselm and Tiphaine and the Voth brothers and Mister Loden who’d lived near three hundred years and might have gone three hundred more but for my a-calling up George Washington’s ghost without meaning to and killing him. And about the things I’d seen that weren’t people but weren’t either natural things either, like Kalu and Molech and the Raven Mockers who’d tried to drink my blood. If they didn’t believe, they showed no disbelief. They acted special interested when I told them about One Other, who came up from whatever strangeness could be found beyond the Bottomless Pool, and how I’d driven him away. And then, how for the past week I’d been a-hearing the same five chords I’d heard from Applejack’s sister the last night, sung by a chorus of women’s voices, and how they seemed to pull at me until I came here.

I didn’t say air word yet about how their voices reminded me more than a bit of the women’s voices that sang that song. I wondered me if it might not be the wisest thing to say right then.

“Wow, you’ve done a lot in your life,” Twilight said to me when I’d finished, sounding impressed. By the way the sunlight shone in the window and over her we’d gone from early to mid-morning, if days here were like those back home. “You’ve faced a lot of evil sorcerers and monsters and won every time.”

“Yeah, we did right when we used the Elements and got you!” Pinkie Pie said, sounding pure down delighted. I saw she had a plate of cupcakes in her hoof and wondered me where they’d come from. Then her words hit me.

“Wait, what does that mean, that you all got me here?” I looked around at them all. None of them would look back at me. They all looked away, shamed of a sudden, like small children when the store owner caught them with candy in their pockets. I turned around on Twilight. She did look at me, but I saw how she blushed.

“It’s like this, John...” She broke off, trying for the words she wanted to say, and just sighed. “I think maybe we’re the reason you’re here. I think maybe we called you across worlds to help us, and – please! We wouldn’t have done this if we’d any other choice!” Hurt and worry showed in her eyes.

The others broke in, sounding just as sad as Twilight.

“It’s the pure down truth, John! We reckoned on some help and asked for it…”

“Oh, please don’t be angry with us, John, if we weren’t so frightened for Twilight…”

“Believe us, sir, if we’d had any other choice available…”

“That big meany-pants Thorne scared everypony so bad…”

“Hey, we got desperate, okay?”

I reckon I gopped at them like a gone gump before I could make the words come. “Whyever would you do that, and how?” I asked them when I could speak again.

They all just shifted where they sat or laid and looked at Twilight. The purple unicorn looked down, sighed again, and then looked straight at me.

“John,” Twilight bespoke me, “This won’t be easy or short. Maybe you’d better sit down yourself, and I’ll tell you about Rowley Thorne.”

Chapter 6

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 6

“Rowley Thorne, you said?” I rubbed my chin. “I’ve heard that name afore this, from one-two friends of mine like Judge Pursuivant and Reuben Manco. They said he was a pure down bad man, and that he’d been taken clean away and out of the world entirely by his own doings some years ago.”

I didn’t say then what else they’d told me about him. How he’d worshipped devils and had power, the kind of wicked bad power I’d fought against all my life, and used it to bully and control and sometimes even kill people. Time and again he’d tried to make himself a leader over others and lead them into black magic and witchcraft and worshipping evil spirits. And time and again he’d been beaten by other good men like that other John, Thunstone from New York City. But it wasn’t ever easy to do, and I didn’t look forward to facing such a one even if I had to.

Twilight nodded at what I said. “He’s as bad as they said, and he’s here, and I’ll need to tell you what he did and why we called for help like we did.” And she started to speak, and none of it was what you’d call a pretty story, but I’ll set it down here just as she told it to me.

* * *

“Oh, you mad passionate mare, you!” Captain Thunderbolt of the Pegasus Guard said as he embraced Lady Amethyst Eyes. Her bosom heaved against his mighty withers as she batted her eyes, blushing from the force of her own passion. He groaned out, “My duty demands that I imprison you, yet I cannot! My heart has become your keepsake, and…”

“BLEAH!”

Twilight used her horn to hurl the book onto her reading table. It wasn’t far enough. She could still see the title and publisher over a picture of the most unrealistically done unicorn mare and pegasus stallion imaginable. “I’ll have to thank Rarity for thinking of me, but the next time she offers me something for the shelves like ‘Mad Pegasus Passion’ from ‘Merry Mare Publishers’, I’ll tell her thanks but no thanks.” Twilight walked away from the desk and looked around the library’s stacks. She wondered if she might get away with tossing them out and claiming that she’d lost them. Then she sighed and began to mentally rearrange the fiction shelves again. “Still, I guess it’s better than those Thrilling Wonderbolt Sky Adventure magazines that Dash keeps trying to foist off on me…” She broke off as Spike strolled out from the back.

“Morning, Spike. How’s Equestria’s best library assistant?” He grinned and rubbed his scaly belly with his claws.

“Feeling a lot better, now that I’ve had breakfast. Those diamonds hit the spot!” He walked over to her desk and saw the book where it laid. “Say Twilight, are you going to finish that book that Rarity,” a sigh as he said her name, “Gave you? She seemed to think it was great.”

“Probably not,” Twilight answered. She glanced at it and shook her head, smiling. “It was nice of her to think of me, but our reading tastes aren’t quite the same. And that reminds me, here’s the list of today’s chores.” Spike groaned as she levitated a piece of paper off the main desk and into Spikes claws. He took out a quill and got ready to write as she recited from memory, “First item, make list. Done! Second item, make breakfast…”

“Looks kinda short for one of your lists, Twilight.”

“I expect it’ll be a quiet day, Spike.”

And a knock came at the library door as though summoned by her words. “We’re not open yet, sorry!” she called. “Come back in about an hour, please.” She turned back to Spike and the list. “Third item…”

The knocking came again, louder and insistent. Twilight shook her head. Didn’t some ponies understand Equestrian? She turned to tell whoever it was to come back later, but stopped at a gesture from Spike.

“You’re busy, Twilight. Let me handle this.” She grinned to see him marching up importantly to the door. She turned away and was going back over her daily list for the fourth time that morning when she heard his shriek.

“AAAAAAAAAAAA!”

“Spike! What is it? What’s wrong?” She hurried to the door. Spike staggered back, his eyes wide and pointing his finger at something. His muzzle worked for a moment before he got the words out.

“AAAAH!” He shrieked again. “Twilight, help! It’s some kinda freaky monster!” Twilight was about to ask what kind of freaky monster when she heard a new voice speak, one she’d never heard before.

“Hardly a monster, my little dragon,” it said in a bass rumble, with a hint of either amusement or maybe just mockery. “I am but a wanderer from worlds afar from this, come to greet the most important unicorn in Ponyville.”

Twilight reached the door and froze at what she saw there, standing just outside the library. Spike hurried behind her and hid, peeking around her as she stared.

She first thought that a large and oddly well-spoken Diamond Dog stood there. A second glance showed how wrong that thought was. Her mind ran down what she could see. The being itself stood tall and broad, taller than the doorframe, with a massive build that reminded her of Big Mac and some of Celestia’s Royal Guards. Bipedal. Hands like Spike or a Diamond Dog. No coat, no mane, no hair at all, not even eyebrows or eyelashes. Heavy in the face with a high brow and gray eyes that seemed to burn at her, and a beaky nose that put her in mind of Gilda for some reason. No real ears to see at all, unless those lumps on the sides of that large bald head counted. More clothing than she’d ever seen on anypony, even when Rarity dressed to the nines, covering everything except head and hands, a near-black robe or cape with an equally-dark two-piece form-fitting outfit beneath. Twilight wondered why anypony would wear that to go strolling around Ponyville. It seemed to swallow the sunlight that tried to trickle in around him. It smiled at her, or maybe it just bared its strong white teeth.

And to her surprise and mingled joy and trepidation, in its hands it bore a small satchel of books with old leather covers. Leather, she thought uneasily, From animal’s hides – meat-eater? She tried to get a good look at his teeth. What kind of meat?

“Greetings, Miss… Sparkle, is it not?” it said to her. His Equestrian sounded perfect, with a faint upper-class Canterlot accent. “I am a traveler from very far away, and someone we both know told me to seek you out when I arrived in Ponyville. Please, may I and all I bring with me enter your home?”

“Why, yes, yes of course, sir,” Twilight said to him as she remembered her manners. Something in those last words sounded ominous to her, but she added, “Please come in, Mister…?”

“Thorne, young lady. My name is Rowley Thorne.”

* * *

“I think you might could have made a mistake there,” I interrupted her. Twilight and her friends all looked at me, wondering. I held up my hand and said, “I crave your pardon for interrupting thisaway, but sometimes it can be right bad to let someone you don’t know in your home when they ask for entry like that.”

“How so?” She asked me, and I answered her.

“It’s an old belief in many a place where I come from,” I said, “that you have to go and give wicked things or people permission to do whatair it is they mean to do to you. That’s in stories about vampires, and with the witches in a poem called Tam O’Shanter.” I thought and rubbed my chin. “Even in a little children’s story about the three pigs, the wolf that wanted to eat them all had to ask to be allowed in the door.” She didn’t look any too convinced. Or maybe she was. I haven’t been raised around unicorns, I don’t rightly know what looks their faces have when they believe or don’t believe you.

“Umm, maybe in your world, John, but here in Equestria evil sorcerers don’t ask anypony’s permission before they put a spell on you,” she said with a smile. That smile ran away when Spike spoke from behind her.

“But Twilight, remember what he did next? And what that spellbook of his did to…” He broke off when she shivered. She took a deep breath and went on with her story.

* * *

“Hello, Mister Thorn,” Twilight said, stepping back into the library and allowing him to enter. He did, bowing to fit through the door, moving with the slow heavy tread of a bear. She walked over to the reading table at the center of the room and slid a stool out with her horn. It looked small and low for him, but he managed to sit in it. She looked around for Spike and saw him standing close by, watching with wide and frightened eyes. She turned back to her guest and said, “Would you like some tea? Spike and I just finished breakfast, but I imagine we have some tea and maybe a few oat cakes left.” He waved her offer away.

“Thank you, no. I came here on business and I would like to get down to it immediately.” He smiled at her again and licked his gray lips with an equally gray tongue. Twilight fought down a shudder at the thought that it looked like he kept a large slug in his mouth. He said, “I imagine you have some question as to where I come from, and why I’m here, and who sent me.”

“That would be very helpful to know,” Twilight said to him. She took her cup of tea and put some sugar in it as he spoke.

“As I said, I am Rowley Thorne, that’s Thorne with an ‘e’,” he said.

Not from Equestria then, as though I couldn’t guess, Twilight thought as she remembered her lessons. We don’t have silent letters in our language.

Thorne went on, saying, “And I am not of this world. I am from one like it but also unlike it. For instance,” Twilight fought down brief irritation as he chuckled and tapped her on the nose, “We have ponies there, but not unicorns. And none of them can speak, or come in such interesting shades as you possess.”

“I’ve… heard of things like this. Yes!” Her horn glowed and she levitated a book over from the shelves. Thorn licked his lips again when she did it and his eyes seemed to light up, but the look passed before she could be sure. “Here it is! Hairy Trotter’s Investigations of Parallel Planes and Dire Dimensions. It says, let me see now…” her horn glowed more brightly as she flipped through it to a point about a third of the way through, “Aha! ‘There are no reasons to assume that other dimensions, provided that they actually do exist, have physical laws like those of Equestria. Other forms of sentience, radically different from our own, may rule these worlds’. And here you are, proof of it!” She smiled. “And to think, when I studied his work in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, I was told that his theory was impossible to prove.” She looked back up at Thorn. “Oh, please pardon me! I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Then don’t do so again,” he said, and she heard a snap in his voice. Just a heartbeat long, he glowered at her, and Twilight wondered if she should run. Then it passed and he smiled benevolently as he said, “You do seem remarkably unfazed to be meeting what is almost certainly something from outside your usual comprehension.”

“Not so much,” Twilight answered. She wondered why she felt vaguely like she’d been insulted. “There are several sentient races here. Some of them, like griffons and Diamond Dogs, have their own nations. And then there are dragons like Spike.” She looked at him. Spike gave her a sickly grin, but his eyes never left Thorn. She looked back at her guest. “So really, you’re not that much of a surprise.”

“I might be more of a surprise than you think,” he said, his voice sounding tight. He relaxed and said, “As I was saying, I am from worlds other than this one. I am afraid that I am a bit of a refugee, for I was cast out by jealous and small minds,” and no mistaking the growl in his voice then or the way his eyes narrowed, “Who failed to appreciate all I wished to do for them. They turned allies of mine against me and sent me out of my own world entirely, into some in-between place.”

“What sort of in-between place?” Twilight asked. She sipped her tea and added, “The book I just mentioned postulates a sort of interdimensional ‘foam’ or glue holding everything together, but it didn’t even try to guess what such a place would be like.”

“How can I even say?” Thorn responded. “I felt no sense of time’s passage. I didn’t grow hungry or tired or thirsty. It could have been just a second there, it could have been a millennium. Who can tell?” He shrugged his massive shoulders. “It is of no consequence. At any rate, someone of great importance from your world, someone you know,” and he looked at her meaningfully, “Found me and asked if I would rather come here than stay where I was. I would have been a fool to refuse, and Rowley Thorne is no fool. So they brought me here and set me down a few miles down the road from your little village, and asked me to look in on you when I arrived.” He smiled and spread his hands out wide to either side. “And here I am.”

“Princess Celestia saved you?” Spike said. Twilight and Thorn both looked at him. He shrank a bit under their gaze, but he said, “It sounds like the sort of thing she’d do, Twilight.”

“I’ve been asked to keep some things quiet for now,” Thorn said – to Twilight, not Spike. A knowing grin crawled up one side of his face as he added, “I will say that this person has ruled here for a very long time, and things more or less happen the way they want them to.”

“O…kay…” Twilight said. She wondered why Thorn acted so mysteriously. For that matter, why would Celestia tell him to behave like this? All he would need to do would be to announce to her that the Princess sent him and everything would be fine. He was starting to sound an awful lot like the Great and Powerful Trixie.

* * *

“Just who-all is this ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’?” I asked her. When a chorus of groans answered me back and Twilight shut her eyes and shook her head, I said, “I imagine she’s no friend and not so great as her name makes her sound.”

“No, she wasn’t, that poor silly showmare,” Twilight shook her head again and sighed, a-sounding right sad. “But I began to think that’s all that Thorne was. I found out different to my regret.”

* * *

“As for what I do and how I occupy my time,” Thorn said to Twilight when she asked him, “Let us say that I am seeker of those truths and such wisdom that lay beyond what most minds care to understand. One small example of such is what permits me to converse with you in a civilized tongue.” He indicated the walls of the library, the carved shelves crammed with books. “I imagine you know something of what it must be, to have knowledge most would never dare to attain to, and yet to have to subordinate your own desires and dreams to those of the ignorant.” He looked out one of the library windows at Ponyville.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Twilight said, trying not to feel nettled at the way Thorne’s speech made her feel like he was patting her on the head, like a Canterlot snob to a country pony. “Ponyville’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Sure, I’d like to be back in Canterlot sometimes so I could talk with some of the other students, but I’ve made some great friends here.”

“’Up to the gallows or down to the throne, he travels the fastest who travels alone’,” Thorn said. At her confused look, he said, “My pardon. I was just quoting a comment made by a poet of some popularity in my world. Rather too easily grasped by ordinary minds for my liking, but that remark of his stuck in my memory. I would urge you to consider it yourself, young lady. Those called to the study of magick often find that they must sacrifice much of what they value to attain greatness. I myself,” and somberness entered his voice, “Lost much when I embarked upon my studies. Those I hoped to call friends turned false. Love, and once I hoped for love, was taken from me. I had properties that were in my family for generations and I lost every last stick and penny of it. My reputation was smeared by lesser men, and in the end I lost even my own world, cast out and exiled.” Grief and fury washed over his face. “So be careful, young unicorn. Never trust anyone so much that you give them power over you.” Twilight wondered if she was seeing something of his real personality for the first time. She reached out and set her hoof on his hand. He almost recoiled at her touch.

“I’m sorry to hear it,” she said. She walked around the reading table and looked up into his face. “Please, you can stay here in Ponyville as long as you want. I’m sure you’ll find some friends here.” It looked as though he smiled at her words, that smile that seemed to go up only half of his face as though it didn’t want the other half to share in it. Her gaze wandered down to the bundle of books he held. “Just what sort of books are those?”

“I got these from the associate who sent me here.” Pride rang in his voice as he spoke. “They are very old and rare grimoires, some of them I had thought lost to me forever. I will not lose them again.”

“Grimoires?” she asked.

“Spellbooks, young lady. I use them in my labors as a karcist.” Twilight wanted to ask him what a ‘karcist’ was, but then he asked almost casually, “Would you be interested in seeing them?”

“Would I? Oh, yes yes yes!” A thrill shot through Twilight as she looked at them. Spellbooks? Of a completely new and unknown type of magic? She could practically feel her cutie mark tingling at the thought. “Magic is what my studies specialized in. Which one may I see first?”

“Firstly,” Thorn said, directing a look off to the side, “Send your servant away. This knowledge is meant for certain chosen individuals only.” Twilight’s gaze followed his to see a very huffy looking Spike standing there.

“Servant!” He drew himself up as tall as a seven-hoof-tall, not-quite-a-baby dragon could. Eyes blazing at Thorn, he began “I’m no servant –“

“Spike?” At Twilight’s voice he turned and looked at her. Anger still showed in his green cat-eyes, but he calmed at her next words. “Maybe we’d better have some privacy after all. Here,” she levitated some of the books Rarity had dropped off over to him, “Maybe you can take these back to Rarity and thank her for the offer, but explain that we have enough romances around right now? That is, if you want to see her.” She fought down a giggle at the smile that spread over Spike’s face.

He grabbed the books and nearly teleported out the door, with only a “Thanks-Twilight-see-you-later!” as he left.

She shook her head and closing the door turned back to Thorn. “Looks like we’ve got privacy now.”

Thorn spread the books out on the table before her. She looked down at them and frowned. The titles were in some alien language. Possibly several, judging by the differing shapes of the letters – fifty-sixty unique characters, instead of the 200-odd of written Equestrian. “So, your written language is alphabetic and not hieroglyphic, like ours?”

She floated the Hairy Trotter book over to show him. He briefly glanced at it and nodded in agreement.

“It would seem so, Miss Sparkle. However, I will oblige you with the titles.” He held one up that looked slightly less battered than the rest. “This is The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, teaching one how to use divine power to command nature and find wealth and love and revenge on one’s enemies.” He set it back down and raised another, this one slightly older and bearing several depictions of very unsettling looking creatures embossed on the cover. “And this is the Lemegeton, sometimes called The Lesser Key of Solomon the King. I received it from an associate of mine who sadly lacked the constancy to be a true friend and ally, something I hope to correct here with you and others like you.”

As he put it back down, Twilight shifted uneasily. Part of her worry came from the binding of the books – leather, instead of the varnished fabric used by pony bookbinders. Griffons and Diamond Dogs used leather and parchment, though they'd stopped using ponies as the involuntary donors when the Princesses came to rule Equestria. And from what she’d seen of Thorn’s dentition his species, whatever they might be, were at least partly meat-eaters. Maybe they just used the hides of whatever they ate in this fashion?

Her bigger worry, however, came from the magic he spoke of. Some of it sounded like very dire magic, the kind that both Celestia and Professor Bastion Yorsets warned her and the other students at school to avoid. She indicated the last book, the oddest of the lot, covered with hide that looked like it’d been taken from some hairy animal. She knew it’d been hairy because the hair was still on the hide, long and dark and lank. Diamond Dogs sometimes leave the hair on… In the midst of it all showed a strange embossed symbol like an eight-pointed crimson arrow that seemed to crawl when she didn’t look straight at it.

“And… what’s that one?”

“Ahhh, this?” Thorn took the book up with reverence, holding it between his hands. “This, Twilight Sparkle, is a book of magick great and wondrous, for which I have long suffered and searched. With it I could have created an age of wonders for any who would have willingly joined me, but enemies of mine took it from me and locked me away in –“ He shut his mouth with a snap. The look on his face warned Twilight against asking for more information. Instead he closed his eyes and almost caressed it with one hand.

Twilight sternly told herself that she’d faced mad gods and full-sized dragons. She was not feeling fear simply because some trick of the light seemed to make the hairs on the cover try to wrap around his fingers, as though returning the caress. But it’s still kind of creepy.

“This,” he said, his deep voice gone even deeper as though it echoed from great depths, “is the Letters of Cold Fire, from the Deep School. It can only be read by those willing to give everything they have and are for the knowledge it contains. But for those special chosen few, it grants powers and knowledge that can reshape the world.”

“I see,” Twilight said, nodding politely, but within she sighed. This “Letters of Cold Fire” sounded like every other read-me-and-I’ll-make-you-the-best phony spellbook that got sold by the cartloads in Canterlot and other major cities. Usually they contained some few minor cantrips, worded just differently enough so you didn’t immediately recognize them, some of which actually worked. If you were lucky, that was all they did. If not, they might well be designed to inflict some embarrassing transformation effect on you or maybe just blow up in your face. Celestia and Twilight’s teachers cracked down on them at every opportunity and warned the students against them, but there was always somepony who just didn’t listen. Twilight winced at the memory of the time she’d been that pony.

“So, what does it look like inside?” Twilight looked closer at it. She noticed one more oddity about the book. “It seems to have three different sets of pages, all in different colored paper.”

“That it does,” Thorn said, “and I doubt you’ve ever seen the like before.” He opened it before her.

* * *

“I reckon I can tell what you saw when he opened that book,” I broke in on her again. Twilight looked right annoyed but she motioned for me to go on. I held up my hand and ticked off on my fingers as I told her what I pure down knew she must have seen. “The first part was all white paper pages with writing on them in red ink, and a-looking to be done by hand. The second part was red paper pages, and the writing on them was in black ink,” and I saw a frightened and fearful look a-starting to go over her face as I spoke, “And the third and last part was all black paper with no words on them you could see, save when Thorne made you hide all the light away and then you saw silver letters come on the page–“

I got no further than that. Her horn glowed brighter than I’d yet seen like someone started a fire. I heard a crack and saw a flash like a lightning strike and Twilight vanished from her chair. Then something bore me down to the floor and on my back. She stood on my chest looking into my face. I think I nair seen air soul as plumb scared as she looked right then. Her eyes were wide and showing the whites all around and her nostrils were flared and her ears were back and down like on any horse frightened into either running or fighting. I heard yells from her friends. She didn’t look at air one there but me. I heard her friends a-moving. Right then Applejack spoke in the slow and steady voice people and I reckon ponies too use when they’re pure down scared.

“Don’t try anything,” she warned them all, “Jest don’t.” Then she spoke to Twilight. “Twi? Remember, honey, he ain’t Thorne and this ain’t that night. You’re safe with your friends now.” She swallowed and added, “That includes John too, sugarcube.”

If Twilight heard them, she didn’t show it. She just looked at me and worked her mouth until she said what it was she wanted to be saying.

“HOW DO YOU KNOW?” Those words were more a scream than anything, and her horn began to glow again. I could feel the heat a-coming from it. It felt like I stood right next to a smith’s forge and the coals were hissing and leaping and hungry for whatair they might could burn.

And I knew that unless I spoke right fast, I might be the next coal in the fire.

“When I was a young man, maybe a sight younger than you are now,” I told her, making sure to speak slow and careful the way you do to air thing that’s frightened this bad, be they a person or a horse or a unicorn that looked like she might could knock me dead with her mind if I said the least wrong thing, “I wandered into a town where they were a-burying a man that’d died and asked for someone to eat his sins and take all he possessed. Like a gone gump, I did just that because I was hungry and looking for a home place of my own.” The heat of her horn began to die down and I hurried on with, “It was a low-down trick. The people who’d offered me the house and all in it meant for me to become a witch with them. They tried to trick me into it with money and then food, and when neither of them worked they offered me a book to read. It was like the one I just described. It almost took me, but I got away and destroyed it and them.” I reached up, slow and careful, and patted her on the withers. “I’m not here to trick you or tole you into air wicked thing, Twilight.”

She looked at me just a moment longer, and then the light of her horn winked out and the fear went out of her eyes. She stepped back from me and gave out a breath like a sob. I heard her friends sigh in relief, all at once. I feel no shame to say I did the same.

“I’m sorry, John,” she said and sounded to pure down mean it. Fluttershy went past me and nuzzled her on the cheek, the way horses will when they comfort each other. Applejack came up and brushed the end of her muzzle against my hand.

It felt like warm wet velvet, like any horse’s mouth will.

“Y’all okay?” She asked me. I nodded her back. She shook her head and sat down aside me. For a little bitty bit nair a one of us spoke.

Twilight looked back up at me, and I could see she’d gotten her fear back under control. I wonder me if many a man or woman I know back home, some of them right brave ones, could collect themselves as well as she did. Fluttershy gave her one last nuzzle and then went back to sitting behind me. She gave me a wondering look as she passed. I smiled at her to show myself to be alright. She returned it and sat down.

“I’m sorry for that,” Twilight said, “but when I tell you the rest, you’ll understand, I think.”

“It’s kindly all right,” I told her. “I’ve been right scared many a time my own self, and sometimes I did worse than you near did right now. Don’t be ashamed for being afraid. You ever meet someone who says they were never afraid, that’s only because they never saw air thing they had the sense to be a-scared of.”

Twilight smiled a bit at that. “That sounds like something Celestia told me once, how a heroine isn’t any braver than any other mare, she just puts off being frightened for three minutes longer than anypony else.”

“There’s a saying kindly like that back home,” I said. “But I’m surprised that Thorne tried a-using that book on you, right then.”

“He didn’t,” she said. “That happened later. Right then…”

* * *

“The only way to see the last part here is to be in complete darkness,” Thorn told her. “If you have a room here with no windows, I can show you. A basement might be even better.”

“Really?” Twilight looked quizzically at the book. She did want to read it, and yet, something about it put her off – the creepy cover? She decided to try out a spell she’d been working on that Princess Luna showed her after last Nightmare Night. Energy gathered in her horn and as it did, the light in the room began to dim. It grew dark, darker, darkest. The shelves and her desk and even Thorn all became nothing more than deeper shadows against the walls, which might have been an eternity away for all she could see. No light showed at all. In her room upstairs, she heard Owlowiscious ruffle himself at the unexpected nightfall.

“You are indeed of no small skill,” she heard Thorn say, and he didn’t bother to hide the admiration and envy in his voice. He spoke again and his voice seemed to echo from all about her. “You truly are worthy to study the things I know.”

“Thanks,” she began, feeling her cheeks burn at the praise. She might have said more but just then she saw a pale glimmer begin to appear on the pages before her. The shine brightened, turned silvery, and began to form letters. Letters she couldn’t read. “Awww.”

“As I told you,” Thorn said to her in a chiding tone that nearly hid the mockery in it, “You must swear to use what you will be taught, and to bring others to this teaching. Do so and the book will become understandable in your eyes.” He chuckled and added, “Do I really ask for too much? And if this is a new magick, wouldn’t you want to bring others of your kind to study from it?”

Twilight shook her head, feeling her mane flop back and forth. This might be a trick, but it was definitely the strangest spellbook she’d ever heard of. It sounded like there was some sort of oddly specific geas on it, which decided her as to its validity. Nopony would try something like that with a truly worthless book.

Oh well, she thought, it’s not like I’d really do anything wrong. And how dangerous can it really be, anyway?

And yet why do I feel so… unsettled?

“How do I do this?” she asked. When Thorn spoke, it felt as though the darkness itself responded to her.

“Swear by the words I said to you, and use your full name when you do, and announce that you do this of your own free will.” Thorn said. “Then all within will be revealed to you.”

“Fine,” Twilight said, fighting down a giggle as she thought, this better not be spells for giving yourself a hoof-i-cure! “I, Twilight Sparkle, of my own free will and without any coercion, do swear to…” And Twilight broke off. For just a second, it felt like a monster from the depths of the Everfree stood hidden behind her, breathing its moist sickly breath down her neck in anticipation. She went on with, “Swear to study and use the knowledge contained within the Letters of Cold Fire and to accept whatever instruction may be required of me.” She mentally added, just so long as it doesn’t involve hurting or deceiving anypony.

“And I,” Thorn said with a sudden eagerness in his voice, “swear to teach you all that I have attained, withholding nothing, calling upon the names of –“

And then the library door hurled open to smash against the door. Twilight’s concentration shattered and the darkness spell fell apart. Light flooded the library. Twilight thought she saw something slither back into the walls. Thorn rose before her like a volcano ready to erupt. He wheeled on the door, his hands claws at his sides.

“What fool dares..?” He began, and Twilight heard a voice she’d been hoping to not hear.

“HE’S REAL! HE’S REAL! Spike told me the truth! Twilight Sparkle, don’t you dare say that this isn’t a human!”

Twilight facehoofed and groaned. It was going to be one of those days.

* * *

“Wait,” I asked her as she stopped, “Just who-all was this who came a-charging in? And what made her so excited to be seeing Thorne?”

“One of the biggest pains in the flank in Ponyville,” Twilight answered me, shaking her head as she did. I heard the others groan behind her. Her horn glowed and she brought a teapot and cup and saucer floating from what I supposed to be the kitchen. By now seeing such didn’t faze me nair bit. “Lyra Heartstrings.”

Chapter 7

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 7

“Lyra Heartstrings?” I asked Twilight. She just put her hoof against her face and shook her head. I looked from her around to all the others. They all more or less looked about as unhappy as she did. I turned back around to Twilight and asked again, “Lyra Heartstrings? Whoair is this Lyra pony, if she is a pony?” I turned to look on them all as the answers came from all about me.

“She’s uhh, kinda stuck on chasin’ down stories about humans.” Applejack rubbed one hoof along the back of her neck by her mane, and as she finished the white unicorn mare, Rarity, spoke up.

“The poor dear is utterly obsessed with you creatures! Oh, I beg your pardon, Mister John.”

Dash went next right then: “Yeah, she’s crazy on it! Keeps asking the weather ponies, heck, all us pegasuses to watch for things like circles of flattened grass in fields an’ weird footprints…”

“She’s quite skilled with the lyre, and she loves Bon Bon,” Fluttershy said. I looked at her, and she shrank down a bit, turning so that her mane hid part of her face. If she were like some women back home, she might be a-doing that for show, but I reckoned her to really be that shy. “She’s just, well, a little intense? She tries walking around on her hind legs all the time and some ponies think she’s a little odd.” She said that last part like she thought she might have to apologize for it.

“Odd is right,” Dash broke in. “She even ran the last Running of the Leaves on two legs!”

“I think she’s neat!” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down like one of those critters they call kangaroos from foreign parts. Then, just a little more seriously, “Gee, I sure hope her and Bon Bon don’t get into any trouble in the Everfree. It’d be hard for anypony to find them if they yelled for help out there!”

I nodded right slow at all that, trying to fit it all together. I began to feel like one fellow in a book by some British author or other that I’d read once when a friend asked me to. It was for little ones, mostly, but it felt right like this place with its dwarves and dragons and wizards. And one fellow in it could make himself a bear. And when the heroes in it needed his help, they kept introducing theirselves to him one or two at a time until he’d met them all. I’d wondered myself just how confusing it must have been for him, and I think I was a-starting to learn.

“Anyway,” Twilight said, and we all turned out attention back to her, “I’d been examining that spellbook, er, ‘grimoire’ of Thorne’s, and then Lyra came bursting in…”

* * *

“HE’S REAL! JUST LIKE EVERY ONE OF MY BOOKS SAID!” Twilight groaned as Lyra seemed to almost teleport across the room to Thorn’s side. Thorn’s face went from fury to confusion as the sea-green unicorn with the golden-lyre cutie mark stood on her hind legs and looked him in the face, her orange eyes wide with joy and sporting a grin so wide Twilight wondered why her face didn’t fall into it. “He wears clothes! He doesn’t have a mane! It’s just like in all my dreams when I meet a human for the first time! Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Lyra Heartstrings, oh, and I am a unicorn,” she giggled and sent a few pale green sparks of magic from her horn, “and I am SO happy to meet you! Wait until Bon Bon and everypony sees…”

“Young lady!” At Thorn’s snap, Lyra dropped back down on all four hooves, still smiling. Thorn looked at Twilight and said, “She is a friend of yours?”

“Uhh, more like a neighbor,” Twilight said to Thorn before commenting to Lyra, “Well, Lyra, this is Rowley Thorn…”

“And he’s human!” Lyra said with a squee of joy, before adding in a suddenly worried tone. “Wait, he is human, right?”

“I am indeed human, young Lyra,” Thorn said to her, his voice grave. When Lyra squeed again, he added, “However, right now I would rather not have everyone in your little town know about me or even what I am. I must demand your silence in this.” Twilight opened her mouth to warn Thorn. Lyra beat her to it.

“What?!” The look on Lyra’s face went from delighted to dismayed. Even her horn seemed to droop. She spoke more quietly, saying, “B-but this is my big chance! I can finally prove to Bon Bon, and, and everypony else that I’m not crazy or being a foal! Please, you have to let me tell everypony. I’ll do anything if you do.”

“Anything, you say?” Thorn showed that bared-teeth grin again like a flash of fangs before he drew Lyra into a huddle with him and Twilight. His hands were on their shoulders as he drew them close. Lyra looked delighted. Twilight fought not to wince. Thorn’s grip felt a little too tight for her liking. When Thorn spoke again, his voice sounded low and conspiratorial.
“You know, Twilight, this chance meeting may well be for the best after all,” he said, his voice almost a croon. “I was intending to make my introductions to the ponies of importance in your town a few at a time, quietly, but if the oh-so-eager Miss Lyra is willing to help…” He looked at her. Her wide grin was an enthusiastic ‘yes’. “Then perhaps I can meet everyone, er, ‘everypony’ all at once? I can see all of them, and all of them can see me,” and he smiled slowly, a smile that reminded Twilight of Rarity’s cat when it’d just caught a fine healthy mouse, “As well as I what I can do to help and advise them. After all, I do so want to make a memorable first impression.”

Twilight almost agreed, but a glance at Thorn’s face froze the words in her throat. He’d been licking his lips, and something in it reminded her more than ever of Opal. And not in any good way. The image flashed in her mind of Thorn as a giant hungry cat, sitting before all of Ponyville and just waiting for them to move so he could pounce on them. A new and wary voice within her warned about giving him too much freedom.

“I’m not sure…” She began. “You might be a bit overwhelming for everypony like that…” Her next words were drowned out by Lyra’s enthusiastic response.

“Oh, yes yes yes! This is the best possible thing!” Lyra nearly danced for joy, her hooves drumming against the library floor. “You can meet everypony at once, and they’ll all see I was right, and… Hmmph!” She fell silent, her mouth stuck together with a band of purple light. A grinning Twilight took Lyra by the shoulder.

“Excuse us, will you? I think we need to talk.” Thorn nodded and made a gesture of dismissal. Twilight bridled a little at his use of regal mannerisms but she took Lyra aside, or tried to. Lyra’s own horn glowed pale green as she worked uselessly to break Twilight’s grip.

“Now, now, let this young lady speak, Twilight,” Thorn said, indicating Lyra with his hand. Twilight looked at him and then at Lyra before letting her go with a sigh. Thorn spoke to her.

“Lyra, I assume you have lived in this town for some time? You have connections, you know the ponies I might need to deal with in order to make a proper introduction?” She nodded eagerly. Thorn smiled benevolently and patted her on her head. Like a dog, Twilight thought, and frowned at it. They both ignored her. Thorn went on with, “Then let us be going about our preparations. As for you, Miss Sparkle,” he indicated the Letters of Cold Fire, “I entrust that book to you until I need it again. I don’t need to ask if you value it. Study it. Learn the knowledge and wisdom that it alone can impart. I shall be back later after my introduction to your charming local society and we can see what you think of it.” Lyra preceded Thorn to the door. She opened it with her horn and waited, holding it for him. He passed outside, and Lyra followed him but not without shooting a last grin and remark at Twilight.

“See, I TOLD all of you they were real!” After the words left her mouth she all but bounced out after Thorne. After she did, Spike slipped inside. As he did Twilight walked up to him, swinging her tail against her flanks in annoyance.

“Spike! Why did you tell Lyra about Thorn’s visit? Did you tell anypony else?’ She lightened a bit when she saw how he winced. “I’m sorry, Spike, but I think we should’ve kept a little quiet about this.”

“Gee, sorry, Twilight,” Spike said to her, looking down at his feet. “But you didn’t say not to say anything. And Lyra, well, you know how she is about humans. I figured it’d make her day if she actually spoke to one. But I didn’t tell anypony else, I promise.” At her cocked eyebrow, he added, “Hey, Pinkie Promise! Stick a cupcake in my eye and everything!”

“Okay, Spike,” she sighed. “And you’re right. I should’ve thought of that. I shouldn’t blame you for my mistake.” She smiled. “And I think you made Lyra’s decade, not just her day. But still…” She cleared her throat and said, “Spike, take a letter.”

Spike produced paper and a quill with practiced efficiency. Twilight began to recite:

“Dear Princess Celestia…

“Something stranger than usual has just happened in Ponyville. We have been visited by a being that vastly resembles the ’humans’ of ancient legend and popular myth. He says his name is Rowley Thorn, that he was brought here from another dimension, and he seems to be in possession of magical books that are both strange and,” she glanced aside at the Letters of Cold Fire where it rested on the tabletop, “and rather unsettling in their implications.” She added a quick description of the book’s appearance. Celestia might know of it by description if not title. She made sure to leave out her weird impressions of it, however.

“He has also broadly hinted that you brought him here from wherever he was, and that you suggested he should visit me in Ponyville. I am flattered if this is true, but if not, I wonder how and where he learned so much about myself and the town. And if it is true, I would like to know why you sent him here and to me, of all ponies. I eagerly await your response.

“Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

She sighed and brought her tea over, taking another sip. “That should cover it all, Spike.”

“Umm, Twilight, do you want to use one of the emergency ribbons?” Spike showed her a black ribbon. “I mean, if Thorn creeps you out as much as he does me.” Twilight giggled and shook her head.

“Oh, Spike, he doesn’t ‘creep me out’! I’ve just got some questions I’d like answered. And no, I don’t see any need for an emergency ribbon. I’m sure she’ll read it tonight after she lowers the sun. That should give her plenty of time to respond.”

Spike nodded, and went to take care of his other work for the day. Twilight looked back at the grimoire and shuddered at the sight of that hairy cover. She picked it up and examined it closer. That crimson symbol intrigued her. What language did it come from? It could have just been a decoration, but somehow she got the idea that it possessed some sort of meaning. She felt the cover through her telekinesis. The hairs on it rasped against each other as she gripped it. Twilight wondered what animal could have provided it and if she really wanted to know. Just then she heard a sudden burp from the next room and smelled dragonfire.

“Twilight! The Princess must’ve taken your letter seriously, she answered already!”

“She did?” Curiosity aroused, Twilight set the Letters of Cold Fire down on top of Rarity’s pile of donated romances and walked into the next room. She met Spike halfway there. He held the scroll of royal vellum in one claw. Twilight took it and unrolled it, reading it aloud for Spike’s benefit.

To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle:

I most certainly did not send a human or any other creature to you. If I had, I would have written in advance to inform you of it. And this is the first time I’ve reliably heard of a human visiting our world in centuries. If he seems trustworthy, however, then I trust your opinion of the matter.

However, I do wish to meet him for myself. And I also wish to see this spellbook he left with you. After I lower the sun tonight and take care of some few quick state affairs I will visit you in Ponyville at the library.

Your teacher,

Princess Celestia

* * *

“Wait, hold on now.” I held up my hand like I was a student in a classroom, which I suppose I was in some ways right then. “You say your princess makes the sun to rise and set? Can’t airy person do that. The world goes round the sun, and it just looks like it rises and sets.”

“What? The earth orbits the sun?” She looked double curious at my words. I could feel the eyes of Applejack and the others a-wondering on me and what I said, too.

“Next thing he’ll be telling us gold and gemstones don’t grow in the ground.” That from the blue winged pony, Rainbow Dash.

“Maybe in your world, John,” Twilight said, “But not here. Here, Princess Celestia controls the rising and setting of the sun like how her sister, Princess Luna, controls the moon. But you, your species lives on a heliocentric world?” She broke out a piece of paper and a quill pen and started to write in a hurry. “This is absolutely fascinating! It goes against almost everything we know about orbital mechanics, but I suppose other dimensions can have greater differences then just in the development of intelligence… oh, this is so amazing!” She wrote more. “Tell me, who developed the theory of gravitation among your people? And your world, it is round, right?”

I wonder if I looked as confused as I felt right then, but someone spoke up to save me.

“Um, Twi?” Applejack said. “Try an’ focus, sugarcube. After everything’s all wrapped up and we settled with that Thorne fella an’ the book he left, maybe then you can ask John here whatever questions about the stars an’ whatnot you like.”

“Oh! Oh, yes,” she put the paper away with a sigh before she looked back at me. “I’m sorry, John, but this is such an opportunity I have here.”

“It’s kindly all right,” I said to her, still a-wondering if I’d heard her rightly, “But just let me ask one question afore you say the rest of it with Thorne. You have this Princess Celestia and her sister Luna, and they bring the sun and moon up just like the horses in the old Norse legends?”

“Yes, but they’re not legends, John. They’re both very real. We should know,” she waved a hoof at her friends, “We’ve all met them more than once.”

“And Twilight Sparkle is Princess Celestia’s personal apprentice and student,” little Spike cut in to say. “That means she’s the best, most powerful, most skilled unicorn mage in all of Equestria!” He puffed himself up like an old bullfrog to say it. She just looked near as embarrassed as I think I’d feel if someone praised me thataway. She smiled a forced kind of smile and patted him on one scaly shoulder.

“Heh heh, Spike! That’s enough. Anyway, getting back to that day, I didn’t see anything of Lyra or Thorne all day, though I became aware of an increasing anxiousness, I guess you’d call it, all through town. Spike finally brought me a poster he’d seen Rainbow Dash and Applejack putting up, announcing that there’d be a special meeting for ‘those seeking answers to impossible questions’ at the Town Hall that night, and…”

* * *

Twilight could see the stars and Luna’s moon riding in the clear night sky as she and Spike walked to the Ponyville Town Hall. They seemed to shine brighter than normal tonight. Part of her wondered if Celestia had not only read her letter, but told Luna to keep an eye open as well. Or maybe Luna would be watching regardless. Old mares’ tales had it that Luna did watch over the darker magics, after all.

“Nice night out,” she said. Her breath steamed as it left her mouth, but only faintly. Winter Wrap-Up lay behind them, after all.

“Maybe for you,” Spike grumbled from atop her back, “but I’ll be happier when spring really arrives.” Twilight looked over her shoulder and smiled to see little puffs of steam coming from his nostrils as his internal fires worked to warm him. He wore a sweater Rarity made for him shortly after arriving in Ponyville, but it was growing rather snug on him. A little pang hit as she thought of how that meant he was growing older as well. One day he’d grow too large and have to leave, and even if he would return on regular visits, she’d miss him.

Heedless of her worries, he said, “So, what do you think this Thorn guy will be doing tonight, anyway?”

“We’ll find out when we get there, Spike,” she responded, the dirt of the street crunching under her hooves. “Mostly I expect he’ll just try some of those stage magic tricks and phony fortune-telling I saw a few times in Canterlot… oh, hello, Mayor! Hi, Pinkie Pie!”

They’d reached Town Hall, and Twilight felt some surprise at just how many of Ponyville’s residents were streaming inside. She recognized Derpy Hooves, Filthy Rich, the Cakes, Lily and the other two flower ponies. Many of them were chatting away, wondering just what they’d see.
The Mayor and Pinkie walked up to Twilight. Both earth ponies looked less than pleased.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Mayor Ivory Scroll spoke first. She sounded insistent, but looked more confused than anything. “Why did you give that whatever-it-is that we’re going to see permission to use Town Hall? Lyra shooed everypony out about noon. We haven’t been able to get any work done! And she said that Thorn told her you ordered it in the Princess’s name!”

“Huh? What?” Twilight blinked. “Lyra and Thorn said that? I didn’t say any such a thing!” The Mayor looked like she wanted to say more, but then Pinkie Pie bounced up. If the Mayor looked annoyed, Pinkie looked downright heartbroken.

“Well, if you didn’t give permission, then who did? When I heard about this from Lyra she said it was going to be a celebration and I thought, ‘Oooh, it’ll be my first chance to throw a Welcome Humans to Ponyville Party!’, but then Lyra said it wasn’t going to be that kind of a celebration and I shouldn’t make any cupcakes or even punch for everyone. They just had me bring in some funny-looking food Lyra says Thorn got from somewhere. They didn’t even let me hang up balloons. No balloons, Twilight!” She said it with such grief in her voice Twilight had to fight down a grin. Pinkie could be as dramatic as Rarity sometimes. Maybe Pinkie guessed her thoughts, because she added, “Instead Lyra had Rarity do a rush order of these red and black banners that look all creepy and yucky. And they hung up purple velvet curtains everywhere and now it looks like it did when we thought that Celestia was going to visit but Queen Meanie showed up instead and this doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a very fun party, Twilight!”

“I, I don’t know either, Pinkie,” Twilight responded. She felt a little surprised to realize that she’d actually been able to follow all of that. If Pinkie Pie was starting to make sense to her, something felt very wrong. “Well, if we go in, we’ll find out what kind of a party it is.”

Pinkie rubbed one hoof against her chin before nodding so enthusiastically Twilight half expected her head to fall off. She turned and bounced in with her usual enthusiasm. Twilight looked at the Mayor, but she just shook her head.

“No, Twilight, you go in and have fun. I still have work to do, and to be honest,” she looked at the last few ponies entering and shook her head with a sigh, “I saw enough of these fortune-telling frauds when I was a filly to last me a lifetime.”

“I know,” Twilight said, “And I wish I could go back to my books and get some research done, but the Princess asked me to keep an eye on Thorn. Good night, Mayor.” The grey-maned mare nodded and trotted off in the direction of her home. Twilight turned and entered the building.

The first thing Twilight noticed was the heat. With roughly a third of Ponyville here, it felt comfortably warm inside. Spike let out a small sound of joy at the feel of it. A murmur of voices rose around Twilight as she headed off to the side, where she saw a long low table set with the snacks Pinkie told her about. Pinkie Pie stood there, and Rarity and Fluttershy were there with her. She heard Spike’s little breathy sigh at the sight of Rarity as she stepped up to them.

“Hello, girls,” she said. “Fluttershy, I’m kind of surprised to see you here in this crowd. And Rarity, I understand you helped Thorn and Lyra set everything up?”

“Lyra?” Another voice interrupted from behind. “Twilight, any of you, have you seen Lyra at all today? I’ve been looking everywhere for her.”

“Oh, hi, Bon Bon,” Twilight stepped aside and let the cream-colored earth pony with the triple-candy cutie mark step in beside her. “No, I haven’t seen Lyra all day. Not since this morning, when she met Thorn at the library where he came to see me.”

“Wait, you actually saw this Thorn creature?” That came from Rarity. “What exactly is he, Twilight? Lyra gave me measurements for a robe for him to wear, and asked for it to be set with onyx and rubies, but he certainly isn’t a pony, not with the dimensions I was expected to work with! And I don’t think he’s a Diamond Dog, either. The measurements for the arms and legs are all off.”

“Wait, Rarity, I thought you were making banners for Thorn’s show?”

“Um… uh… that was me, actually,” Fluttershy said, blushing a bit. When the other ponies looked at her, she blushed even more and said, “Rarity asked me for some help because I can sew nearly as well as she can…”

“More than nearly, darling,” Rarity said with a smile. “I’m just glad we don’t compete with each other for the local fashions.”

Fluttershy ducked her head but Twilight caught a quick smile at Rarity’s words. “So while she sewed the robe and set the jewels on it, I made the banners. But I don’t think I like them very much, Twilight.” She indicated the walls with a toss of her head, sending her long mane spilling. “See what I mean?”

For the first time since coming in, Twilight looked around the room. And she frowned at what she saw. The banners were hung at regular intervals around the room. Long and black and forked at their bottom, she saw that they all bore the same symbol as Thorn’s book. A many-pointed arrow, going in all directions. They seemed to absorb the light near them, and gave the room a somewhat oppressive air. Something else bothered her about them. Only banners of the Princesses were meant to be hung in that fashion.

“Isn’t there a law about doing up banners like that?” Bon Bon said. “Isn’t it treason or some such thing to do it like that?” Fluttershy eeped at her words, trembling. Twilight realized that her imagination must be running on overload, providing images of what kind of trouble she might have gotten herself into. Rarity looked somewhat ill herself. Twilight spoke up quickly.

“No, that’s just popular legend. It’s not treason in any form,” she said. Fluttershy and Rarity both looked relieved. Twilight rubbed her chin and muttered, “But it is getting kind of presumptuous. Strictly speaking, that’s supposed to be done for royalty only.”

Rarity shook her head, the lamplight within the room rippling over her elegant mane. “But like I asked, Twilight, dear, just what kind of a creature is Thorn? Lyra has been playing it all very coy whenever anypony asked her about him. He’s not a human, is he?” Amusement bubbled in her musical voice as she said it. Pinkie fought down a giggle, and Bon Bon – who Twilight knew regularly endured lectures on the subject from Lyra – rolled her eyes with a groan. Even Fluttershy looked like she wanted to smile at the absurdity of it.

“Actually, I think he might be one.” As they all gaped at her, Twilight added, “Well, I saw him this morning, and…” She quickly summarized their earlier meeting, leaving out only the events with the spellbook. She felt unsettled whenever she thought of talking about what she thought she’d seen. “I wrote a letter to Princess Celestia and she said she’d be by later tonight. If there is any trouble with Thorn, I’m sure she can handle it. Mostly I think he’s just some blowhard mage like Trixie. Different species, but that’s it.” She looked at the table. “So, anyone try the snacks?”

Twilight wondered at the uneasy looks she saw on their faces. Pinkie said, “I’d like to know what they are or how Lyra and Thorn made them. I thought I knew everything about making snacks for parties! Look at them, Twilight! Aren’t they kinda weird?”

Twilight looked at the table and gasped. She’d thought the plates set on it were brass or bronze. She realized now that they were golden, and worked with scenes of the history of Equestria. They reminded her of plates she’d seen set out for Celestia by the high nobles in Canterlot for royal receptions. Her ear twitched at the thought that Thorn seemed to think very highly of himself, indeed. And where did he get them?

The food on them looked hardly less strange. There were vegetables and small loaves of bread, but of a kind she’d never seen or smelled before. The greens and reds and oranges of the vegetables all seemed ever so slightly off from what she felt used to seeing. The bread was of a size more like a muffin, but brownish with a hard crust and stuck with little bits of brightly-colored fruit. Wine showed there too in golden goblets, rare to see in someplace like Ponyville, a wine so dark red it looked almost black in the light. Blood red, Twilight thought, and she switched her tail at it.

* * *

“I recollect seeing food like that,” I said to her right then. “In the same place where I saw that book I mentioned before. And as for those fancy plates, let me guess. A day or so later, you got word that someone in one of the villages or towns ‘round showed up a-saying they’d been robbed of those very plates?”

“Ye-yes,” Twilight responded me. She looked at me all cautious like. “We found out later that they’d been stolen from somepony in Hoofington. They were old family heirlooms. But how would you know?”

“I’ve seen that done afore, where I come from.” I shrugged. “Shoo, I saw it done once or twice right with my own two eyes when I was up on Cry Mountain with Ruel Harpe. He had a rope or cord a-hanging in one corner of his home place, and a window set into a dirt wall a facing the dirt. When he wanted to, he could look airy place he wanted with that window, and take airy thing he wanted to take by a-pulling that cord and wishing for it. Things or food or even people. I reckon Thorne can do something like that with his own magic.”

“You can do that with magic?” That came from Rarity behind me, and she sounded right worried.

“I can’t do it,” I turned to look at her as I answered her. “Nor would I want to ever.” She looked pleased at that, and then worried again.

“Twilight, darling, I hate to bring up this unpleasant thought, but does that mean that Thorne can reach right into our own homes, and grab us away?” You could a-feel the tenseness come into the air there inside the library at those words. Those ponies all looked right scared to think that. I reckon I felt some of that fear myself. Twilight nodded at her, but she spoke to me.

“You can, but it’s not easy. At all. I’m sure the Princesses can do it, and maybe one or two other ponies I know of.” She shook her head. “But it’s almost impossible to learn the spells required. They’re in only a few spellbooks, and they’re kept locked away under magical wards in only a few libraries in Canterlot and a few other magical academies. And I don’t think Thorne could do that. I hope.”

“Say, now, John, whatever happened with that food you mentioned?” Applejack spoke that time. “Did you eat any of it?”

“No, I didn’t, and I hope you all didn’t either.” I heard them sigh in relief around me. “It was meant to bring me into a kind of worship and service I wanted no part of. Like a feast on a holy day, or offering food and salt to a stranger. After you eat it, you’re a guest and you’ve given them rights and power over you.”

“Anyway,” Twilight said, “Right about then is when things started to happen.”

Chapter 8

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 8

A gong rang, filling the air with clear silvery sound. The chatter within the room died down as the ponies began to settle, expectantly watching the curtain. Rainbow Dash hovered over the crowd, angling for the best view, half-a-dozen other pegasi doing the same. Beneath Dash stood Applejack, her hat making her obvious. Twilight hurried to her side, Rarity and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie behind her. A glance showed her Spike trying to stand between her and Rarity. Bon Bon was nowhere to be seen. Twilight figured she must have gone off to try and find Lyra.

“Twi, y’all are here too?” Applejack hissed the words. “Ah was hoping t’get a chance t’ ask you ‘bout all this. Dash ‘n Ah spent near all day putting up posters all over town after we got them from the printer.”

“Yeah, Lyra said Thorn asked for our help in particular,” that came from Rainbow Dash, who eyed the curtain with an increasingly bored look. “She said he wanted the most dependable pony and the fastest Pegasus in Ponyville,” and her voice rose a bit to say that, “To do the work because then he’d know it was done, and how it couldn’t be done without our help.”

“She actually said ‘our participation’, Dash,” Applejack corrected her. Dash stuck her tongue out at her. The brown earth pony ignored her. “Ah’d kindly like to know just what-all I’m participatin’ in, Twi.”

“You’re not the only one, Applejack,” Twilight answered.

* * *

“Wait just a moment now,” I asked Applejack, and I felt right cold to be saying the words, “You say she said ‘participation’? She say that specifically?”

I saw Applejack rub at her jaw with one hoof, like airy human man or woman a-trying hard to remember something. She nodded.

“Those were her words, as near to exactly as I kin remember,” Applejack looked at me to say it. I saw a new worry in her eyes, and I felt low to be a-bringing all this to them, even if the damage’d been done afore and by another. ”Why, what’s wrong?”

“It’s an old belief, found one-two places yet back home where I come from and Thorne comes from,” I said as I ran my fingers along the silver strings of my guitar, “That if you sit and watch bad magic doings or the worship of wicked spirits and make no complaint, even if it’s just to yourself, you’re a-joining in and making yourself a part of it. It gives the bad thing power over you.” I might could have said more, but right then Twilight laughed.

“Oh, please, John! That’s not how magic works.” She pointed her hoof at a nearby wall of books. “I have centuries of magical theory and practice here. I’ve read those books through. I can quote chapters from memory. And there is no kind of magic in Equestria that works that way!”

Before I could say any more, Applejack spoke up again.

“That’s not how Equestrian magic works, yah mean. Remember what all Thorne showed us, Twi?”

“I, yes, I remember,” Twilight said back to her and me, sounding unsettled. “I saw everything everypony else did. Lyra walked out on the stage and it all started to happen.”

* * *

Twilight’s ears perked up as she saw Lyra walk out on the stage from the side. She stood upright and held her lyre in her forehooves, plucking the strings with her unicorn magic. She bore a smug look of victory, and as she walked she strummed a tune that Twilight couldn’t recall hearing before. It sounded dreamlike. She stopped playing as she reached center stage and turned to face the audience.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts!” she said in a voice filled with glee. “Tonight, we are honored to have among us a guest from worlds and spheres beyond our ken…”

Twilight winced. “’Beyond our ken’? Who talks like that?” She meant it for a whisper, but it still carried enough to bring a few whickering laughs in the crowd.

If Lyra heard it, she ignored it. “…bearing knowledge and secrets to be shared with us and us alone! All here tonight are called upon to witness and join in this new beginning…”

“When is it beginning?” Rainbow Dash called out, hooves cupped to her mouth. Several of the ponies laughed out loud. Twilight saw Lyra blush. But when she looked back up, she grinned in triumph as she said, “Greet our new friend and advisor, Rowley Thorn!”

The curtains swung back to either side, revealing a dais with a chair like a throne set atop it. An empty chair, at that. Two tall candelabras rose up on either side, their fetlock-thick candles shedding a dim light. Low whickers of laughter began to run through the crowd.

And Thorn appeared, seated atop the dais. He wore the robe Rarity made for him, and the jewels set at his throat flashed dark in the candlelight, giving his heavy face a sinister look. Twilight heard a low gasp of shock go through the crowd. She felt some admiration for Thorn’s showponyship in spite of herself. He’d just used an invisibility spell to mask his presence until the proper moment, but even so, judging from most everypony’s reaction, his use and timing were perfect.

Twilight thought Thorn looked somehow more massive than that morning, as though he’d grown in the hours since then. And then he stood up, and she realized that he’d grown and was still growing. He rose and swelled up like a balloon being inflated with air. Half again as tall as before, twice as tall, taller still, until she thought his head would be scraping the ceiling. His hands splayed out like pitchforks, his chest looked as broad as a barn door. He rose up on legs as thick as tree trunks. He glared down at the ponies as though the mere sight of them enraged him. A sudden gasp went through the crowd. Twilight saw some rise on their hooves as though getting ready to stampede. Even Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked a little daunted.

“Girls!” she hissed. They turned frightened eyes on her. “It’s nothing to be scared of, just another illusion spell! It’s all tricks.” She looked back at Thorn and got the idea that he looked at her in particular with those wrathful eyes. Twilight swallowed and said in a voice that sounded shakier than she cared for, “Just very well-done tricks.”

Thorn lashed out with his hands, left, right. He snuffed out the light of the candles and darkness fell, veiling him from sight. Somepony made a whimpering sound. Twilight heard Rarity comforting Fluttershy. The candles flared back into life and Thorn stood atop the dais, staggering and blowing like Big Mac after hauling a wagonload of stone.

“There,” he said, his voice deep and a little strained. “I did not do that to terrify anyone, but to make it obvious that I have power, such as some of your own folk possess, but even greater.” He indicated Twilight with a wave of his hand. Twilight flushed when she saw heads turning towards her from all over the room. She thought Thorn smiled at her embarrassment before saying, “It is a power that I am willing to use to your benefit and profit.” He sat back down in the chair. “Perhaps another demonstration will be helpful. The night showed clear outside when you came in, yes? No clouds, no rain or hail?”

“Not a bit,” Dash said proudly to her friends. “The Ponyville Weather Patrol scheduled a fair night and we delivered.” She added with a laugh, “There aren’t even any clouds over the Everfree tonight.”

“Really, now?” Thorn smiled at her boasting, showed his teeth. “No chance of rain at all, then?”

“Didn’t I just say there wouldn’t be any rain, buddy?” Dash shot back.

Thorn said nothing. He just closed his eyes and furrowed his brow in obvious concentration. A minute went by, then another. Twilight heard murmurs from some of the ponies in the crowd. Thorn showed no response. Lyra just watched him with a broad and trusting smile. Dash smirked at him until the first heavy crack of thunder overhead stole it from her face.

“Impossible,” she said. “No way is it raining. No way!”

“And I say it is,” Thorn responded. His eyes shot open, showing the whites all the way around. More ponies than just Dash flinched back. He near roared over the increasing sound of thunder and wind and hail tearing at the roof, “You think I’m faking? That it’s all just an illusion? Go and see for yourselves.”

A blond-maned gray blur flew to the doors. Derpy opened them and looked out, only to jerk her head back in with a yelp. Twilight could see past her from where she sat. Rain fell in sheets outside and she could hear the hail hammering the ground. Thunder growled and rumbled.

“It’s pouring out there!” Derpy turned and yelled to everypony. “Pouring bucketsful!” Water dripped from her mane. Other ponies hurried to the open door behind her to see for themselves.

“Ah horseapples, mah trees!” Applejack turned to the door, worry plain on her face. “The sky might as well be throwin’ rocks at ‘em!” She wasn’t the only one. Here and there in the crowd Twilight saw other farmponies looking worried at the thought of what that hail could do to their fields and crops.

“As I said, it’s raining.” Thorn waved his hand in regal dismissal. “However, I don’t want to make the Ponyville Weather Patrol look bad, so why don’t we return to the weather they promised?” He sat back in his throne and clapped his hands twice. As Twilight watched, the rain slacked and slowed. In moments a cold wind came up and scattered the clouds. Most of them went drifting back over the Everfree, thinning out until they vanished.

“Huh, that explains it,” Dash muttered beside her. Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Freak weather from the Everfree,” she said. “Nopony could have foreseen it. But it doesn’t usually come up that fast, does it?” The only answer she got was a worried look from Rainbow Dash. Okay, Twilight thought, he’s using weather control magics. They’re rare for non-pegasi to use with any skill, but still, skill and power aside he’s not doing anything new. But where is he getting the power from? The Everfree?

“Let any who have questions unanswerable by other means come forward and ask them, and they will be enlightened.” Thorn spoke again to his very attentive audience. A broad and not in the least friendly smile showed on his face as he indicated the floor before the dais. Twilight frowned as the thought struck her. We all have to look up at him and beg for help like supplicants, and he can look down on all of us.

“Who’re you, where did you come from, how did you get here, and what do you want?” Everypony looked at Rainbow Dash where she hovered forward. She flew up to be on a level with Thorn’s eyes and put her forehooves on her hips, looking quite defiant. Thorn merely smiled at her.

“You already know my name. I am Rowley Thorne. You should know it. You and Applejack took my money and did my bidding once already today.” There were a few laughs at that. Dash furrowed her brow in annoyance. Beside Twilight, Applejack snorted and scraped at the floor with one forehoof at his words. Thorn went on with, “As for where I came from, suffice to say that it was a place far less pleasant then this lovely little town, and as to how I arrived, well…” He waved one hand vaguely. “It is courtesy of someone you ponies all know of and have served with the utmost faith and loyalty in the past. And as for what I want, why, I merely want what everyone desires,” he looked over the crowd, seeming to lock eyes with everypony there. “I wish to find new associates and companions willing to learn what I have to teach and to grant me what I need to live and thrive. I hope this new friendship of ours leads to greater and more glorious things for us all, a new age of enlightenment. I mean to do so by bringing you a wisdom and knowledge none other can bring.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. What’s next, she thought, the story of how he defeated the Ursa Major?

Dash didn’t look fully satisfied, but she sank back down by her friends.

Thorn looked from her around to the other ponies. “Ask anything, and it shall be answered.” When nopony moved, Thorn said with a trace of contempt in his voice, “What? Are you all afraid of me? Are you mares and stallions, or just overgrown foals?”

Somepony stepped forward – Lily, one of three sisters who ran the flower-and-herb shop in town. Lyra stepped alongside the orchid-colored earth pony with a flower in her mane and guided her to the base of the dais. Thorn smiled down at her. Lily looked up, glanced away, looked back and finally began to speak.

“A few months ago, when Disc – when things were bad,” she flinched at nearly saying Discord’s name. Twilight felt a pang as she looked through the crowd. Many ponies there looked dismayed at hearing even that much of his name. Lily took a breath and said, “My cousin was visiting, but he ran off in the middle of everything. We haven’t been able to find him since. Nopony can remember seeing him and we haven’t heard from him since. Please, where is he? Is he alright?”

Thorn merely closed his eyes, as though turning his gaze inward. After a moment he said, “Write care of the mayor of Hoofington. Describe his cutie mark, those crossed branches of dogwood. You’ll find out how he died.”

“DIED? The horror, the horror!” Lily sank back with a sob in her voice. Rose and Daisy, the other two flower ponies, hurried forward to support her, standing on either side. They walked her back into the crowd as she sagged between them. All three were crying.

“Next question,” Thorn said as though she’d been told where to find a lost pair of scissors. The crowd shifted uneasily.

It parted as another earth pony with a three-moneybag cutie mark came forward, half-hesitating – Filthy Rich, whose family had co-founded Ponyville along with the Apples, who lived up to his name as richest businesspony in town. He stopped at the almost predatory smile Thorn gave him, then drew himself up and spoke.

“My wife is ill and has been for years. She’s in, in a hospital in Canterlot.” He breathed out and looked Thorn steadily in the face. When he asked, it was in a softer voice than Twilight thought she’d ever heard from him before. “Will she ever come back to me and our daughter?”

“Never,” came Thorn’s response, staccato but leering. “Why should Golden Tiara, poor Screwball as all of you call her,” he indicated the crowd with a wave of one heavy hand, “Come back to you from where she is, from the Bedlam where you put her when you finally got ashamed of her? She was happier when Discord ruled Equestria for one day. Everything made sense to her then. Just ask her if you have the nerve. She’ll tell you.”

Filthy flinched back. Twilight saw the look of shame and grief on his face. He wheeled and near-galloped out the door, head down. Other ponies looked after him. Some showed grief, others shock at what they’d learned. Twilight saw a few looks of triumph on the faces of other ponies in the crowd, especially pegasi and unicorns. Filthy’s feelings of contempt for “narwhals and featherdusters” were well known. Fluttershy stepped after him, as though she wanted to try and help. She stopped at more words from Thorn.

“Any more questions? Any of you? How about you, Mister Cake?” When the lanky yellow stallion flinched back and down, huddling protectively by Mrs. Cake, Thorn chuckled again, and this time he didn’t bother to hide the sneer in it. “Would you like to know if that unicorn and Pegasus your wife foaled are really yours?” Mister Cake said nothing, his jaw working. He turned to his wife, a blue-coated mare as chunky as he was lean. Something must have passed between them. She turned away, her head hanging. He began whispering assurances to her. Thorn asked in a tone of mock innocence, “Would anyone else like to know?”

A mutter ran through the crowd. Some ponies pressed forward, eager to hear something juicy. Others snorted, giving Thorn determinedly unfriendly glares. As they did, Twilight did some quick spellcasting herself – basic Detect and Analyze Magics, then more advanced ones. The confusion she felt must have shown on her face.

“Twi, what is it? Is it somethin’ about this Thorn polecat?”

“Yes, Applejack,” she said, “but I don’t know what. He’s casting spells, and I think I know which ones, but I just can’t get any more information on them. It’s like his magic is just passing right by mine like it’s not even there.” She frowned. “It reminds me of, of something, but for the life of me I can’t think of what.”

Thorn’s voice rang out where he sat enthroned. “How about some of the rest of you? There’s a young miss named Scootaloo in this town; perhaps someone wants to know just why she’s been lying about her parents?” He chuckled and added in a darker tone, “Or maybe you’d all like to know how your protectors, the Elements of Harmony, were defeated by Discord with tricks that shouldn’t have worked on a foal? Or why your oh-so-wise Princess Celestia picked for her champions six ponies who couldn’t even manage to –“

“But they beat Discord!” somepony yelled out.

“Yeah, tell ‘em!” Dash responded, pumping one hoof in the air. “He can’t lie to us!”

“I never lie when I reveal what is hidden,” Thorn said, and his voice cut through the crowd’s noise like a roll of thunder. “I have said that I see what is true, and I do. It’s not my fault that the truth hurts. It’s been said that truth is beauty and beauty truth, but anyone with true wisdom knows that truth is too painful for most to bear.”

At those words Applejack wheeled on Twilight. Her eyes blazed and her ears were down as she said, “Twi, that’s what Discord told me. In the maze. When he broke me!” She stomped out of the press and to a point directly before Thorn.

“Alright, now ever’pony settle yerselves and listen up!” The attention of the crowd turned to her. “Ah got a question for you, Thorn! How are we supposed to know all that you’re sayin’ is true? You come off mighty brave with everypony else. Tell me what truths Ah got hidden away!”

“Applejack!” Twilight hissed at her, and heard similar warnings come from Rarity and Fluttershy behind her. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash said something altogether different:

“Yeah, tell that jerk, AJ!”

“You show that big meanypants, Jacky!”

“Your hidden truths, Applejack?” Thorn leaned forward on his throne, that cold hard smile staying on his face. He spoke with a warmth that mocked more than open scorn as he stabbed one massive finger at her. “Very well then. Shall I reveal how easily Discord defeated you in the maze of the Royal Gardens? Or how, when your poor grandfather lay on his deathbed, you became so disgusted by the care he needed that you looked up at the full moon and prayed to Nightmare Moon to make him die?”

“Hah!” That came from Pinkie Pie. “Shows how much YOU know, Mister Jerky-Turkey! Our Applejack would never do that to her family, she LOVES them!” She turned to Applejack. “Right? Tell him!”

Applejack stood there motionless. Twilight saw that she flinched at the first words, but at the second revelation she paled. Her pupils went to pinpoints and her mouth dropped open, working uselessly. After a few long moments she finally spoke, and when she did, ponies all over the room strained to hear her words.

“Ah, ah was jest a little filly, younger’n Apple Bloom… He hurt so much, an’ all he could do was cry and ask us to make it stop… I jest got so durned mad at everythin’ I went out late one night when everypony else was sleeping and I looked up at the moon and remembered the stories about the Mare in the Moon… an’ I asked her t-to make him just stop hurtin’…”

“You made your wish,” Thorne said into the sudden deathly silence. “And your wish was granted. Be not ashamed of yourself, Applejack. Who knows what Apple Bloom might ask when it’s your grandmother’s turn?”

For the barest instant it looked like Applejack wanted to charge Thorn and trample him bloody. Then she drooped. She turned and slowly walked to the doors, her head hanging. Ponies silently moved aside as she did.

“Jacky,” Rainbow Dash said after her, her own voice bereft. Applejack paid her no heed. She just left the Town Hall, her tail hanging limp and dragging behind her. Fluttershy flew after her. Twilight was ready to leave the hall and follow them when Thorn again spoke from atop the dais in a voice that dripped false sympathy.

“As I said, the truth is more painful than some can bear.”

“You!” Dash spun, her rose red eyes blazing. She flew up to Thorn and shook one hoof in his face. Lyra began to hurry forward, but stopped at a gesture from Thorn. Dash snarled at him, “That’s it! Party’s over! What is your bucking problem, you big jerk? Who do you think you are? Discord’s little brother? A bucking Nightmare? I want you to apologize to my friends and everypony else, right now!”

“I’m flattered to be thought like Discord in any way,” Thorn said, chuckling in her face. “I wouldn’t set myself quite that high, however. But a Nightmare, er, Nightstallion?” He drew himself up and stepped forward off the throne’s dais into space. Dash flew back a few feet to avoid his falling on her. And then she hurled herself back with a startled yell. A cry echoed by dozens of ponies behind her. Twilight felt one almost tear from her own throat.

For where Thorn sat, now a massive pony the size of Princess Celestia stood on four powerful legs. At first glance it looked like an earth pony stallion, twice normal size. But a second and longer look showed the differences. Many ponies shared in a coat as black as night, or possessed Pegasus wings, or a unicorn’s horn, but only one in all Equestria’s history ever bore all three. And two years ago at what should have been dawn on Summer Sun she had stood on that same dais, in the same Town Hall.

It’s an illusion, Twilight frantically told herself, just a really tasteless illusion, but even so the shock of what she saw froze the words in her throat. Two years ago, on her first night in Ponyville, she’d stood in the same spot and witnessed the prophecy of the Mare in the Moon come true, as Nightmare Moon appeared in place of Princess Celestia to end the world in Eternal Night.

Atop the dais, the ebon Nightmare – or Nightstallion, if one wanted to fuss – spread its wings. It gave a heavy chuckle like rocks grinding together. Lamplight flashed from a black unicorn horn long as the Princess’s and sharp as a spear, played over a massive and heavy body that could have shamed Big Mac for strength, picked out silvery royal barding decorated with onyx and rubies.

“See me and know me!” the great beast said. “Me! Thorne, who has fulfilled every promise I made to you and can and will fulfill many more. I can perform wonders beyond what I have shown here. I can raise and command the dead. I can heal those none other can heal. Crops can grow or wither at my command. I can bring magick to any pony, not just unicorns, provided they swear loyalty to me.” He bent down and thrust his head out on that long, powerful neck at his audience. They flinched back from him. But when next he spoke, Twilight got the idea that his words were addressed to her. “The Princesses can affect this single world. I can create worlds. So tell me, my little ponies, if they are your gods and rulers, what does that make me?” It sat back, folding those wings around itself, and suddenly the human Thorn sat there again in his royal black robe. He breathed in deeply and exhaled heavily.

“As I said before,” he told them all, “This has been only a demonstration of what I can do for you all, if you accept my aid and wisdom. I will be here tomorrow night and all the day in between as well for anyone who wants to seek my advice, or any other help I can furnish. Until then, I won’t say ‘fare well’. My little friends, let us fare better together.” The curtain slid shut with a whisper. Lyra shot everypony one last grin and walked back through them.

* * *

“I reckon,” I said into the silence that fell after Twilight a-finished saying all that, “that he did something more than a little wrong when he made himself look like a, what did you say? An alicorn?”

“No bucking kidding,” Rainbow Dash said where she sat.

“It was practically open treason,” Twilight said to me, and she sounded shaky to say it. “The Princesses, Celestia and Luna, are the only true alicorns left in Equestria. Occasionally you see another be born, like my old foalsitter Cadence, but they’re only as powerful as a pegasus or unicorn. They’ve been our rulers ever since they defeated Discord, thousands of years ago. And more than that, when he sat up there on a throne, and, and hurt ponies I know, and he bragged about it to our faces…” She looked at me and sounded right confused when she said, “Why would he do that? With the power he showed, even if half of it was tricks, he could have asked for almost anything he wanted and gotten it. Instead, he tormented innocent ponies and left most of us wanting to buck him in the teeth.”

I wondered myself how to respond her. Then Applejack spoke up behind me.

“Well, Twi, why did Nightmare Moon want ta terrorize everpony? Why did Trixie go so far outta the way ta humiliate us when we called her out on her braggin’? Why did Discord do,” I heard her swallow, “Do what he did to us all an’ everypony else? For some skunks, it’s just plain fun ta get what they want by hurtin’ somepony else.”

I didn’t see how airy word I might could say could add to that, so I said nothing. Twilight just shook her head, her pink and purple mane flopping back and forth.

“Anyway, immediately afterwards, we all left and started talking outside. Dash and Fluttershy found Applejack and helped settle her down…”

“Ah weren’t that shook up, Twi,” Applejack snorted behind me. “It just kinda caught me off guard.”

“Yeah, she wanted to run back in there and kick the horseapples out of that guy Thorne!” Dash added in what sounded like the happiest voice I’d yet heard from her. “I wish we coulda watched her do it, too.”

“Rainbow Dash!”

The blue Pegasus just grinned all the wider. Twilight put her hoof to her face and groaned. “Ahem! As I was saying, we left the hall, and I decided to write Princess Celestia immediately…”

* * *

“Spike, take a letter,” Twilight said to the little dragon. They moved off to the side to get out of the press of ponies leaving the hall, many of them looking shocked at what they’d seen. Others looked impressed. Twilight wondered how many of them would return to get whatever help they could from Thorn, and what sort of a price they’d pay for it. “And Spike? Use the emergency ribbon.”

“Got it, Twilight,” he said. He produced a piece of paper and set his quill over it, ready to start writing. Twilight nodded and began to speak.

“Dear Princess Celestia, Thorn just spoke to Ponyville in the town hall. Things have gone very badly…” She quickly summarized everything he’d said and done, adding in her own suspicions about his trickery and spellcasting. She finished with, “Thorn says he’s staying here in Ponyville for at least one more day, and I can’t see this as being any good for the town or the ponies who live in it. He’s cruel, arrogant, and uses his power and vague promises of vast rewards to try and win ponies over to his side. Please, if you have any advice, I wish to hear it. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” Spike nodded at her and breathed his fire. She caught the familiar whiff of sulfur and the paper vanished in flame.

“Now what happens, Twi?” Twilight turned and saw Applejack standing there. Dash and Fluttershy were with her, standing close in support. Behind them Rarity and Pinkie Pie watched and listened.

“Applejack, are you okay?” Twilight said, not bothering to hide her concern. “That was pretty brutal in there.”

“Ah’ll, well,” she chuckled and shook her head. When she looked back up, she looked like her usual self. “Well, Ah’d be lyin’ if I said I felt fine. But right now Ah’m more angry at Thorn for what he did ta me an’ ever’pony else than anything else. Got any ideas along those lines, sugarcube?” She kept her voice light, but Twilight could see the anger in her eyes and in the way she stomped one back hoof against the dirt of the street. Right now Applejack wanted to buck somepony in the jaw good and hard.

“We wait until Princess Celestia responds,” Twilight said, and almost as soon as she did Spike belched and a letter formed out of his fire. Twilight unrolled it and read it out loud.

To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle:

I will be arriving shortly with some of the Royal Guard. Even if this creature is just the blowhard you say he is, I want to have a talk with him about how he has abused all of you and his usurpation of royal privileges. Until I arrive, under no circumstances are you to go near him for any reason –”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash groaned then, as Twilight continued.

“—but keep an eye on him. And if he tries anything suspicious, then do whatever you must to stop him from hurting any more of my little ponies. And above all, keep yourselves safe.”

Twilight hesitated at the signature. Normally the Princess signed her letters to Twilight with a simple “Your teacher, Princess Celestia.” Not this time.

“Her Immortal Highness,

Celestia Solaria Invicta.”

Twilight rolled the letter up and stowed it away. “Well, there we have it,” she said to her friends. “I guess we just stay here and keep an eye on the town hall until the Princess arrives, and then – wait.” Twilight looked off towards the library. “I’m going to examine that spellbook Thorn left.”

“But, Twilight, are you sure that’s wise?” Fluttershy said. “You said yourself, Thorn’s magic isn’t like any kind of magic you ever even read about before.”

“I know,” Twilight answered her. “That’s why I want to get a look at it. I know what spells he used, I just want to know how he cast them.” Her friends said nothing, but she saw the worry on their faces. “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll be careful,” she assured them. “Hey, I am the big expert, right? Celestia’s apprentice? The Element of Magic? And besides, it’s just another spellbook.” She turned and began heading for the library, only to stop a comment from Spike.

“You want me to help, Twilight?”

“I think you’ll help best by staying here,” She looked back at him. “Besides, if Thorn tries anything else and we need to get a message out fast, you’re best for that.” When he still looked worried, she went back and nuzzled him. “It’ll be fine, I promise.” He looked worried but shot her a salute and strode off for the rear of the town hall, accompanied by Rainbow Dash. Twilight waited until he went around the building before saying to Rarity and the others, “You’ll watch out for him, right?”

“He’ll be safe, dear, just you be careful.”

Twilight nodded at Rarity’s words. Then she turned and cantered back towards the library. Whatever the mystery to Thorn’s magic was, she intended to find it out. He wasn’t going to hurt anyone in her home again with his tricks and bullying.

And back in the library, a faint shimmer of silvery light that slowly grew more intense played over the Letters of Cold Fire where they sat on the reading table.

Chapter 10

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 10

John rose and turned towards the door. He said nothing, but the look on his face showed he was ready to try something if he had to. Dash and Applejack and the rest of her friends started to rise too. Twilight did not trust the look on Dash and Jackie’s faces at all.

“Wait!” She hissed. They all froze as she walked up to John, Spike tagging along behind. “John,” she said, “If any of what you said is true, then it might be best if any of Thorn’s friends don’t know you’re here yet. Please, go upstairs with Spike and stay by the top of the stairs. You’ll be able to hear what we say but not be seen.”

“That sounds right smart. I’d not have thought of it,” John said to her. He headed for the stairs, moving with a silence that impressed Twilight. He held his guitar as he moved to make sure it made no accidental noises. When he reached the stairs he stopped and looked back. Spike still stood beside Twilight. Worry filled his green eyes.

“I want to stay down here with you,” Spike hissed at her. “What if something goes wrong?”

“Then you send an emergency letter off to Princess Celestia asking for all the help she can send immediately,” Twilight answered back, her voice low. “And you explain to her about John and everything he’s told us so far.” When he hesitated, she smiled and gave him a gentle push. “Now go on, Spike. This isn’t Thorn. This is just Lyra. We all know her.”

“Maybe we only used ta know her,” Applejack grumbled softly.

“Twilight Sparkle?” The knock at the door came again, sounding a trifle more insistent this time. “Can we talk or not?”

“Coming, Lyra,” Twilight called out, hoping her voice sounded calmer than she felt. She said to her friends, “AJ, you and Dash go and stay behind those shelves there, back by the safe. In case anything does happen come out and help, okay?” Dash looked ready to argue, but she jerked her head in a nod and went off with Applejack, her wings beating softly. Twilight then turned to Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. “Just act casual, okay?” Pinkie Pie nodded enthusiastically. Rarity and Fluttershy both looked less certain, Fluttershy scraping at the floor with one forehoof. But they still nodded. Twilight gave one last look at Spike where he stood by John at the bottom of the stairs.

“Okay, okay,” he grumbled, preceding John to the upper floor. “C’mon, Stretch.” John’s feet on the stairs made less noise than Spike’s claws.

Twilight waited until they were out of sight before she went to the door and opened it, her horn glowing. Lyra stood right in the doorway, grinning like Pinkie Pie. She wore something around her neck that looked like an iron pectoral set with the strangest gem Twilight ever remembered seeing, either crimson shot through with black or black shot through with crimson. The way the colors rippled and flowed in the light, it looked almost liquid.

“Well, hello, Twilight Sparkle,” Lyra said gleefully. She stepped inside, forcing Twilight to step back to avoid being pushed back. Lyra looked around the library, taking it all in. She grinned at her friends. Twilight found herself beginning to think of it as needlessly smug. “Oh, hello, Rarity, Fluttershy. Hi, Pinkie Pie!”

“Hi, Lyra!” Pinkie said, bouncing up to her. “Oooooh, it’s great to see you again! We were kinda worried about you! Everypony wondered what’d happened to you after you went off into the Everfree with that big meany-face jerkpants Thorn. Hey, maybe we can do a ‘Welcome Lyra and Bon Bon back to Ponyville’ party, and…”

“Don’t you talk about him like that!” Her voice lashed them. She stomped forward, her hooves striking the floor so hard Twilight wondered if they would leave hoofmarks. Pinkie’s mane deflated slightly as she fell back before Lyra’s tirade. “Master Thorn is a great man! Don’t call him names just because we, I mean all of you, couldn’t appreciate real wisdom when you heard it!”

Twilight started. She’d never heard Lyra speak like that to anypony, no matter how mad she’d been. To judge from the looks on their faces, this was a side of her new to Rarity and Fluttershy as well. Even Pinkie looked shocked. Lyra looked around and saw the expression on their faces. She smirked, and it reminded Twilight all too well of Trixie, and even a little of Nightmare Moon.

“Well, dear friends, what is the matter? Surprised to see Crazy Lyra standing up for herself for once?” She trotted back over to Twilight, that superior look still on her face. Her breath blasted into Twilight’s face as she said, “You laughed at me for years whenever I talked about humans – all of you! Even Bon Bon thought I was crazy! But now everypony knows they’re real. Now you all see that I was right all along!”

“Umm, Lyra, where is Bon Bon?” Fluttershy asked, her voice barely audible. Lyra cast a scornful glance over her shoulder. Fluttershy wilted. But she still asked, “She’s okay, isn’t she?”

“Bon Bon followed Master Thorn and me into the Everfree when you chased us away, and right now she’s staying with him and the ponies we found there…” Lyra began, only to be interrupted by Rarity.

“What? Lyra, darling, do you mean to say that there are ponies living in the Everfree? I thought that was an old mares’ tale.”

“You ought to know,” Lyra shot at her, “Since you’re an old mare yourself.” She smiled at Rarity’s furious spluttering, then stood upright on her hind legs and walked over to the nearest table, leaning against it for support. Looking down at them all, she said, “Besides, I didn’t say these ponies were living in the Everfree. I said they were staying there. They tried to frighten Master Thorn and us away, but he made some marks on the dirt and said some words and now they do everything he tells them to do.”

“He made slaves of them?”

“Master Thorn was right, he said you’d try to make it sound somehow petty,” Lyra responded to Twilight with a sniff. “It’s like he told me, real philosophers and true brave thinkers are always feared and despised by the lesser minds around them. No, they’re not slaves. They serve him, I mean us, willingly. They’ve got some… problems,” an uneasy look passed over her face as she said it, “But Master Thorn said he can help them just as soon as he has the Letters of Cold Fire back. They’d do anything for us now.” She thrust her hoof at Twilight first before sweeping it around the room to include everypony else. “See, now if we’d been properly grateful here in Ponyville and if you hadn’t gotten scared by one simple spell, he would have been helping us. But you all ruined it with the way you treated him when he showed us what he could do…”

“Now just hold on, Lyra!” Twilight couldn’t take any more of this. She fought her anger down and stayed calm, saying, “Don’t you remember what Thorn did – to the Cakes, to Lily, to Applejack? He hurt them, and he was proud to do it! They’ve been your neighbors longer than they were mine, I’d think you’d be more bothered by what happened!” Lyra frowned and looked away. Twilight wondered if she was getting through at all. “And one more thing. Master Thorn?”

“It’s what humans call their teachers when they’re learning magic from them,” Lyra said with a sniff. Then, with a trace of her old exuberance, “He knows so much, Twilight, and he’s teaching it all to me! Secret, powerful human magic that no other pony knows! He even offered to teach it to Bon Bon when he gets his grimoire back, but she’s scared for some silly reason. I know spells that even you can’t do, Twilight,” Lyra’s voice went from excited to sly. Her eyes narrowed and her horn began to glow faint sea green. The book on the table beside Twilight, her copy of Thaumatological Theories and Treatises, vanished without the usual flash of light involved in unicorn teleportation. There was just a small pop of air as it disappeared before it reappeared in Lyra’s forehooves. She grinned at Twilight. “I never could do that before, and I studied for years! Now Master Thorn just gave me a few lessons and I can do it.”

“Just what does he want, Lyra?”

“Right now?” Lyra shrugged. “He just wants his grimoire back. And don’t say you don’t have it, Twilight,” Lyra tapped her on the chest with one hoof, “Master Thorn and I both know that you do. Even Celestia wasn’t able to get rid of it.”

“How do you know that?” Twilight asked. She glanced off into the shelves. She saw a flash of burnt orange from Applejack’s coat, thought she heard either her or Dash shifting around. Hoping to keep Lyra from noticing, she said, “That happened while you and Thorn were running into the Everfree.”

“Master Thorn and I just say certain words and draw certain images, and we can see and hear what happens at a distance just like we were there.” That thought did not please Twilight at all. Judging by the looks crossing their faces, her friends weren’t any happier. Lyra laughed at them all. “Oh, don’t worry. We’re not eavesdropping or anything like that. Master Thorn just wanted to know what you were doing about the gift he tried to give you. He wasn’t happy to see how you rejected it, but I think I am. After all,” and she puffed her chest up and raised her tail into an arch, “Now he says I’ll be his chosen student and apprentice and learn all of his secrets instead of you. You missed out on a good thing when you allowed Celestia to get jealous and frighten you into rejecting the Letters of Cold Fire, Twilight.”

“Let Celestia get jealous and frighten me away?...” Twilight stepped forward, eyes narrowing, until she was the one forcing Lyra back. “Lyra, that book is the most vicious magic I’ve ever seen. Only Discord was worse! It tried to use me to free him, and it nearly discorded me in the process! You remember what it was like when Discord ruled Equestria – and that was only for a few days! Would you wish that on anypony?”

Hurt and remorse swept over Lyra’s face like a wave running up on the beach. She opened her mouth, hesitated. Twilight hoped Lyra was about to admit to being wrong about Thorn and to offer to help them stop him from hurting anypony else. And then, just like a wave, the look on Lyra’s face swept back out again, leaving cold disdain in its place. She dropped back down on all fours and asked just one question.

“Where is the Letters of Cold Fire, Twilight? I’m taking it back with me.”

Twilight said nothing and hoped she betrayed nothing by her appearance. She just moved slightly to the side, hoping she shielded the sight of the safe from Lyra. Rarity looked dismayed but she moved over by Twilight. Fluttershy looked even more worried, like she wanted to run, but instead she went slightly behind Twilight and Rarity, backing them up. Pinkie Pie lay on the floor behind Lyra, watching everything with bright-eyed interest and munching on some popcorn. Another time Twilight might have wondered just how and where she’d gotten the popcorn, but right now she just took notice that Pinkie kept out of Lyra’s line of sight but close enough to help if something happened.

And Twilight suddenly felt quite sure that something bad was about to happen. Lyra was not about to back down or give in. Twilight felt ill at the realization that she might have to fight another pony. She hoped that Spike and John were keeping an eye on everything upstairs.

And Pinkie’s tail was twitching.

“I asked you where is Master Thorn’s grimoire?” Lyra snapped the question out. She stepped forward. Twilight heard the distinct soft clicks of her hooves on the wooden floor as she walked closer, the faint jingle of the buckle on her saddlebags. Her eyes seemed to burn from within. Right now she looked more like Nightmare Moon than Twilight ever thought possible. “Give it to me, right now!”

Twilight wondered at how her senses suddenly seemed sharper. She saw tiny golden dust motes dancing in the rays of sunlight streaming in through the windows, felt ever so slightly warmer where one of those sunbeams touched against her leg. Twilight even thought she could feel her own heart beating faster. She remembered an old veteran of the Royal Guard, pensioned out to working as security at Celestia’s School, once telling her that this was how you felt when your body was getting ready for a fight.

Another part of her wondered if this was how Pinkie felt when her wild-talent “Pinkie Sense” started twitching.

“If you and Thorn can see everything, why would you need me to tell you where it is, Lyra?” Twilight’s mouth and lips felt dry. She licked them and found herself oddly wishing that she could have some of Zecora’s tea right now.

“We watched you as it returned here over and over until the day before yesterday, and then you all got your Elements and we couldn’t –“ Lyra shut her mouth a moment too late. Twilight’s mind raced to think about anything other than the fight she expected. So apparently Thorn’s magic isn’t all-powerful. Celestia’s safe blocks their scrying spells, and so long as we bear the Elements on ourselves we’re protected to some extent. But how much? She looked off to the side to see where they’d all set the saddlebags with their Elements in a pile. What was that John said, Twilight thought, about good and evil spirits involved in this kind of magic? If Thorn’s power comes from something bad and wicked, then does that make the Elements good magic?

Twilight glanced at the safe just for a second, but Lyra caught it. She stomped forward.

“It’s in there, isn’t it? Step to the side, Twilight,” Lyra warned her. Her eyes locked on Twilight’s, looking cold and hard. Twilight heard Fluttershy’s small frightened whimper, but knew without looking that she held her ground, just like Rarity, like Pinkie, like herself. Lyra saw it too. She made a noise like a growl in her throat before saying, “I am taking Master Thorn’s grimoire back, and you do not want to get in my way.”

“Ef she don’t, maybe we do!”

Lyra stepped back, almost falling in her haste as Applejack came from behind the shelves, nostrils flared. Rainbow Dash flew over them and landed behind Lyra, cutting her off from the door. She dropped into a crouch and made a very intimidating face, almost snarling. Pinkie dropped her popcorn and rolled to one side, ready to back up Dash while Applejack set herself between Lyra and the saddlebags containing the Elements.

“You okay, sugarcube?” Applejack said under her voice to Twilight as she passed her.

“Never better,” Twilight answered, wishing her voice sounded less shaky. She said to Lyra, “Lyra, listen to us, please. We’re your friends. We don’t want to have to fight you!”

“Then give it back to me!” Lyra pointed her horn at the safe. She backed away, trying to keep her distance from all of them. “It’s not yours, Twilight, and Master Thorn promised he’d show me everything in it when I bring it back to him.”

“He promised you WHAT?” Twilight stared at her in horror. She stepped forward, Applejack beside her and Pinkie Pie getting up off the floor to bounce forward. “If you knew what was inside that book you’d be terrified at what he promised you!”

“You gotta be crazy, Lyra!” That was Applejack, pushing up beside Twilight. “Ef you saw what thet grim-more of Thorn’s did ta Twi, you’d know better ‘n ta even touch it!”

“Master Thorn said he’d teach me how to handle it, and Twilight just got scared…” Lyra began, sounding rather less certain than before.

“I got scared for the very good reason that it gave me plenty of things to be scared of!” Twilight said. She stepped close to Lyra, catching her eyes and hoping this warning finally got through. “That book isn’t like any normal spellbook, it’s dangerous! We have to get rid of it!”

“No! Y-You can’t get rid of it,” Lyra said, her eyes getting wide. She tried to step back again from Twilight but stopped when her rump hit the reading table. “Master Thorn and I need it. Besides,” and some of her former arrogance rang through her words, “He said there’s nopony in Equestria who knows how to get rid of it.”

“Yeah, well maybe we got somepony who isn’t from Equestria, and they do know how to get rid of it!” Rainbow Dash set her hooves on her hips as she snapped out, “We’re gonna take it out and bury it the right way, and that’ll be that!”

The look on Lyra’s face went from angry to terrified. Her jaw dropped and her eyes went wide at Dash’s words. Twilight realized with sudden dismay that they’d said things they shouldn’t have said. She opened her mouth to try and calm Lyra down but stopped when she tilted her head to one side, turning an ear as though listening to some unheard conversation.

“Okay, okay, I will,” she said, fear making her voice brittle. She looked back at Twilight. “Twi, please. What if you could ask Master Thorn himself your questions?” She smiled brightly at her. For a second she looked like the old Lyra again. “Then he can explain everything to you and it’ll all be fine.”

“How can we ask him anything, Lyra?” Twilight tilted her head to the side as she tried to figure out what Lyra was talking about. “He’s not here.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Lyra gasped and gave a shudder. She looked about to collapse. Twilight stepped forward in sudden concern. Fluttershy hurried past her to stand at Lyra’s side.

“Oh, Lyra! Are you alright?” Fluttershy bent her head down close to hers. “Do you need anything?”

Lyra’s eyes snapped open. She glared at Fluttershy and Twilight. A cold and superior smile curled up along one side of her muzzle, nothing like her usual look. Fluttershy shrank back as Lyra spoke in a tone that dripped contempt.

“Yes, child, you can give me something. Room.”

Fluttershy gasped and hurried back by Rarity. Twilight almost took a step back herself. Her voice sounded clipped and short and strange. Just like Thorn’s. Lyra turned her gaze on Twilight. Awareness of who really spoke blossomed in Twilight, and she chilled inside.

“You wanted to meet and speak to me, Twilight Sparkle,” Thorn said in Lyra’s voice and out of her body. “So here I am. Now what is this nonsense about thinking you know how to destroy my book?”

Twilight glanced back at her friends. She wondered if she looked half as shocked as they did. She swallowed and got the words out. “Hello, Thorn. As a representative of Princess Celestia, I should tell you that this sort of body-possession magic is very, very illegal in Equestria.”

“One does what one must when necessity demands,” Lyra/Thorn shrugged at her words. “Especially when I’m trying to stop you from engaging in very foolish behavior. Namely, trying to destroy the Letters of Cold Fire. I would have thought a fellow scholar and student of the magickal arts would display more curiosity and less fear.” Thorn sighed and shook his head. “I confess myself disappointed in you, my dear.”

“It’s unfortunate that you’re displeased,” Twilight said back to him coolly. “I wasn’t very happy myself with what nearly happened to me. Neither was Princess Celestia.”

“Yeah, and neither were the rest of us, either!” Dash flew past Twilight. Hovering before Lyra/Thorn, she pointed at the safe. “We’d be nuts to give that thing back to you after what you did to Twilight. So unless you’re gonna play smart and give up, you’d better just get back out of Lyra and go hide in the Everfree, pal.”

Thorn looked at Dash from under Lyra’s half lidded eyes. He turned a bored gaze on Twilight and said in an equally bored tone, “Call your horsefly off or I’ll say a few words and have the bones jumping out of her skin.”

“Horsefly?!?” Dash choked and spluttered. She raised her hooves and boxed at the air with them. The look of barely amused contempt Thorn gave her back only incited her temper further as she snorted, “I’ll show you a horsefly, jerk! Put ‘em up!”

“Uhhh, Dash?” Twilight kept her eyes on Lyra/Thorn as he/she spoke. He looked and sounded so utterly calm she knew better than to doubt his ability to do just what he said. He would kill Dash with no more concern than stepping on an ant. “I think it’d be a really good idea to come back here by the rest of us. Right. Now.” Dash looked at her and then at Lyra/Thorn. She opened her mouth to complain but Twilight repeated, “Please, Dash.” Dash grumbled under her breath and flew back to hover by Applejack.

“You saved your friend’s life.” Thorn buffed one forehoof against his, or rather Lyra’s coat. He idly examined it for imperfections. “But do know, next time I won’t bother with a warning. Now give me my book back, Twilight, and I’ll be going.”

“What would you do with it, anyway?” Twilight asked him. “It’s no good for anything but cursing and hurting ponies.”

“It has greater uses when you truly understand it,” Thorn responded with a sniff. “If you were stronger, you’d know. As for what I want with it, well, that’s simply told. I want to use it for myself and for those others who choose to acknowledge my guidance. That can still include you and your friends if you’re willing to be reasonable. I’ll bless my friends and curse my enemies, the same as your Princess does.”

“Celestia isn’t like that at all!”

“That’s right, she’s not like me at all,” Lyra/Thorn said back to her with a laugh. “I don’t ask for servitude or taxes or any of the things she and her sister demand from you. I’ll provide whatever your hearts may desire. In return I only expect the gratitude and respect such a good friend ought to receive. Grant me a suitable place to dwell in, students willing to embrace my wisdom like dear Lyra, and whatever other rewards such generosity as mine deserves by your rights. These are all I ask for. I dare say they’re less than I have a right to expect.”

“Right now, the only thing yah deserve is a kick in the flank!” Applejack moved forward to stand beside Twilight, with Rainbow Dash going to flank the unicorn on her other side. Applejack added, her voice rising, “Yah tried ta hurt mah friends ‘n me, yer hidin’ behind Lyra, and yah near freed Discord with that trap you left for her in that book ‘o yours. We’re not givin’ you anything ‘cept more trouble than you can handle if you keep on doin’ this.”

“She’s right, Thorn,” Twilight said. In her mind she began running through protective spells, feeling power gather in her horn. “I’m sorry, but unless and until Princess Celestia says otherwise that spellbook will NOT be seeing the light of day again, in anypony’s hooves!”

“Yeah,” Dash added, “And we’re getting’ rid of it just as soon as we can! So there!”

“Oh, you will, will you?” Thorn laughed at them. “Go ahead and try. You’ve made several efforts already and what good did they do you? But if you’re not going to keep it, then I’m taking it back.” Lyra/Thorn began walking to the safe, hooves clicking over the wooden floor. Twilight hurried between Lyra/Thorn and the safe. Rarity and Fluttershy went to back her up, Rarity looking determined and Fluttershy only slightly afraid. Applejack and Dash went to flank Lyra/Thorn, boxing him in. Pinkie Pie bounced over to stand by AJ. Thorn looked at them and smirked. “Is this meant to impress me? I’m not even truly here. I can leave whenever I want.”

“That’s right,” Twilight answered him back. “You’ll leave, but without Lyra and without that spellbook.” She shifted uneasily at the way Thorn looked around at them all. He planned something, but what?

“I made my wish before this,” Thorn said suddenly in Lyra’s clear, musical voice. “I make my wish now. I never saw the day in which my wish was not fulfilled. All of you, let your flesh be stilled and your joints be bound and your breath be taken away. Until you can count all the drops of water in the sea and all the stars in the sky…”

* * *

Right as soon as I heard those words coming up from downstairs, I took hold of Spike’s shoulder and began saying some of my own. The owl who’d been a-watching us since we went upstairs ruffled hisself up to hear them.

I said a few quick words I’d read once in The Long Lost Friend, that’s the good magic book I’ve carried with me many a year. It promises right on the first page that it’ll help keep you safe from any evildoer or bad spell hurler, and right then I was a-hoping for it to help me again.

“Beneath thy guardianship we are safe against all tempests and all enemies,” I said, and then quick added the three holy names you mustn’t write down or it’ll never work for you again. It sounded still as a graveyard the morning before Judgment Day downstairs, with no sounds at all from either Twilight or her friends. I flexed my hand to be sure I could still move. So could Spike. Once he saw that he made to rush right down into the room. I kept a good grip on him. He shot me a look that burned, but had enough wits about him to whisper.

“But Twilight, Rarity, all of them…”

“If Thorne meant to kill them, they’d be dead right this moment,” I whispered back to him. “He wants to fetch his grimoire back, and we got to make sure he doesn’t. I’ll go and keep him busy. You keep patient for your friends’ sake and wait.”

He gave me a right determined look and nodded his yes at me. I turned and began to creep down those stairs, quiet as I could.

* * *

“Ooh, I bet I can count them all!” Pinkie Pie shouted. She began ticking marks off against the library wall. “One, two, three…”

Thorn winced and hurried through the rest. “Be bound and held silent by my will!”

Pinkie’s gleeful, “Four!” was cut off as her jaws clicked shut. Dash thudded to the floor as if she’d been instantly turned to stone, landing half on Applejack. Twilight tried to open her mouth to say something, use a spell, but nothing happened. She couldn’t even close her eyes. Lyra/Thorn chuckled and walked past her to the safe. She knew that there had to be some sort of counterspell against this in her repertoire, but the problem lay in finding it. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Thorn point Lyra’s hoof at the safe and begin saying another spell.

“Now fly open lock, to the Dead Man’s knock! Fly bar and bolt and band!”

Twilight heard the tumblers start to click as they worked. The handle of the safe began to turn and then stopped.

Lyra/Thorn snorted his annoyance as he looked the safe over.

“Ah. Three locks and three symbols atop it, and Lyra’s mind shows me they’re signs for an earth pony, a unicorn, and a Pegasus.” He looked around the room and caught sight of the piled saddlebags in the far corner. He smiled thinly and licked his lips. “Let’s see what we can find there of any use, shall we?”

Thorn began to head for the saddlebags, walking up on Lyra’s hind legs. Twilight couldn’t see, but she heard Thorn rummaging about in them. Twilight wondered why he didn’t just use unicorn magic to bring them over. Maybe it would affect his control of Lyra? She began mentally running through her dispelling magic even faster as Lyra/Thorn returned, bearing her tiara and Dash and Applejack’s necklaces in his hooves. He seemed to be wincing from touching them but he held on to the Elements. She found herself able to slowly move her eyes and follow his progress, but nothing else. Then, at a soft cough from the stairs, he turned and stared. Twilight, still mentally running through her spells to find one to free them all, could only wonder what Thorn saw.

“I don’t kindly think I can be letting you do such a thing, Thorn,” John’s voice came from where the stairs were, together with the faint music of his silver guitar strings.

* * *

“I don’t kindly think I can be letting you do such a thing, Thorne,” I said to that little sea-green unicorn with the white mane choppy-cut like Dash and the lyre mark on her flank where she stood upright amidst Twilight and her six friends who might as well have been statues just then. I said it, and I meant it, and I hoped to think of a way to make those words true. To help with thinking I drew my fingers along the silver strings of my old guitar. They gave off a clear music. Thorne looked annoyed like the sound pained him. I tried it again and he flinched a bit.

“Enough of that,” he said. He waved his, or I suppose I might say Lyra’s, hooves at me like he wanted me to stop. “I thought I felt something else from Earth show up. I figured as much when my sending didn’t return the other night from watching Ruby as I commanded it. Now, who are you and what are you doing here amongst these creatures?”

“My name’s John,” I replied him, “And from what these here folks told me, I’m here because they asked for help in some way and it brought me. And I reckon that if you a-conjured that sending the other night, Applejack there might have some words for you, with what near happened to her little sister before I showed up.” Thorne looked thoughtful at me like as though he knew me now.

“I’ve heard of you,” he said, slow and deep, or as deep as he could make Lyra’s voice air way. If he cared about what I’d said about Applejack and Apple Bloom he didn’t show it. “I half expected my old enemy Thunstone to show up, but you’re that other John I’ve heard of. The hillbilly from Appalachia. You’ve interfered in the affairs of people like me before and to no good end. Onselm, Shull Cobart, and more besides.” Thorne kept a-moving closer to that safe while he bespoke me, like he hoped I’d not notice. I moved between him and it, holding my guitar out before me. He flinched back. Like I hoped, the silver of it was a danger to a witch-man like him.

“I don’t know how it’s to no good end where all those folk you named went, Thorne. I think it was a right good end for some of them. The one they deserved, anyway.” I leaned back against the safe and wondered me if I saw a bit of purple light along Twilight’s horn. If she could get free of his bewitchment, then I wanted to give her the time for it. “I wonder me how you got here. What little I heard about you from an old friend named Reuben Manco suggested you were gone out of our world forever. It’s a right shame you ended up here to make trouble for these little horse-people, though.”

“Ah, but I didn’t come here,” he responded. He stood by a desk and leaned on it with one hoof the way some people will with their hands, to make it look like they don’t need the help. I reckoned that it hurt to stand up manlike too long in a pony’s body. They wouldn’t have been made for it. “I didn’t come here, not by my own will, not at first,” he repeated himself. “I was brought here by a certain someone who wants to remain nameless at this point.”

“Might could their name be Discord?” I asked him. “They seem like the sort to want to be a-friendly with you, from the way these ponies told it to me.” His eyes went wide at my guess. Then he gave a small laugh.

“Oh, no, John,” He said and waved one of Lyra’s hooves like he waggled a finger. “I’ve got to keep some secrets for now. Suffice to say it’s someone that young lady knows.” He gave a mean-eyed look at Twilight. I reckon her eyes narrowed the least little bit in return. Thorne pointed at the safe. “Now I mean to reclaim the Letters of Cold Fire. Stand aside.” I made no move. Thorne snorted. “I imagine you’ve got some protection against me, or think you do anyway. What, a copy of The Long-Lost Friend?”

“Some such a thing,” I agreed him. He scowled at me and crossed his arms, or maybe his forelegs, across his chest.

“Were I in my own body I could take it from you by physical force.”

“You might could try,” I answered him. “I don’t much like to fight, but I’ve held up my end of it now and then.” He scowled back at me. It might have looked more impressive if he didn’t use little Lyra’s face to do it.

“Why must you be so stubborn?” He asked. “I can understand why these creatures have a bias against me. I’m alien to them and they see I have more power than they do. But you, you could do better for yourself if you worked with me. You could see your way to a greater profit for yourself.”

I thought to myself how I’d heard those words before, from Brooke Altic and the Shonokin, from the Voth Brothers, and from Ruel Harpe, all of them mighty evil and evilly mighty and now all gone to the place they were right sure to go. They’d all sought to bring me over to a-helping them when they’d seen I couldn’t be scared out nor yet struck down by the powers they owned. So right then and there I gave Thorne the answer I’d given all of them, one after another.

“I thank you, but I think that what will profit me best is whatever doesn’t help you,” I replied him. He glared at me and snorted like an angry old horse. I thought maybe I saw more of that purple light along Twilight’s horn, and her ear twitched a bit. Then I asked him just because it curiosed me, “Why do you have to try and frighten these ponies? They’d like as not give you all you asked for if you were just polite with them. And they nair did you any harm before this that I can see.”

“Tell me,” he said to me, not bothering to answer my question, “do you know what it was I set after Ruby that night that you so thoughtlessly destroyed?”

“Reckon I can guess,” I replied him. “It was a sending, that’s something from Icelandic stories. You take a dead man’s bone and carve certain marks into it and say certain words, and you get a thing kindly like a ghost that can kill people. You tried such with Apple Bloom and me, but we killed it instead.” Thorne blinked like he was surprised I knew that answer, and then he smiled.

“Very good!” he said to me like how some folks say to little children when they answer a difficult question right. Pointing at the safe, he added, “I learned it from someone who went to the Svartaskoli, the Black School.” Then in a tone that suggested he didn’t think I knew how to tie my own shoes, “Oh, you likely don’t know of it. It was a place in Iceland where the art and knowledge of magick was taught.”

“Like that big school for sorcerers legend says was in Spain, by Saragossa,” I replied him. “Like the Scholomance in the Balkans. Or what some folks say was at Salem, back in old Massachusetts.” I drew my fingers along my guitar and sang a few bars from an old, old song that I’d once sang to another witch-man named Mister Loden

There was a fair and blooming wife

And of children she had three

She sent them away to Northern school

To study gramarye

But the King’s men came upon that school,

And when sword and rope had done

Of the children three she sent away

Returned to her but one…

Thorne nodded at me as I stilled the strings.

“Yes,” he said, almost grudging. “Gramarye. Magickal knowledge. You’re far better educated than I’d have thought. I say again, you and I should work together rather than at cross purposes, John. I only want to bring a new knowledge into this world.”

“That might could depend on what this new knowledge is,” I answered him, “And what all you mean to do with it.” I wondered if Twilight looked worried at me from where she stood. I wondered what her friends thought, what her little dragon upstairs thought of all they’d heard.

“You’re direct. Good,” he said, like I’d already agreed to everything he said. “So shall I be direct then. My original plan was to humor my ally however I could and then flee back for home at the first opportunity. That was before I saw just how much raw magick there is here.” He licked his lips like he hungered for it, like it was just there for him to eat up. “These beings have so much power, but they lack the kind of magickal knowledge you know something of and that I know so much more about. With the Letters of Cold Fire I can recreate the Svartaskoli here. A new Deep School, and a new place to teach my science and wisdom in, and new students,” and he looked at the ponies then, “to absorb my wisdom. You could play a part in all this. You could grow great beside me.”

“I rightly reckon I will play a part in this at that,” I told him. He started to smile. My next words stole the smile from his face. “You mean to teach these ponies black magic and use it to make yourself a ruler over them. I remember from a-talking with Reuben Manco how you tried this before in other places and the things you did to those who didn’t do as you wished. I want no part in either your school or in you. You’ve done them evil already and you’d do more if you got any kind of a chance. My answer is no.”

“So that’s your answer, John?” He said with a smile, and it wasn’t what you’d call a friendly smile. “Tell me, have these ponies given you any idea on how they’d return you home?”

I was ready to say more, but at those words I stopped. I reckon I’d been a-thinking on that in the back of my mind ever since I got here, but until now there’d been so much happening that I’d had no chance to work it over. Whatever my face showed, it pleased Thorne. He smiled broader still, the way nasty children do at littler ones when they tease them.

“So, they’ve mentioned nothing to you about it. I confess myself unsurprised. I imagine they thought of nothing beyond their own needs when they summoned you here. Help me and I could easily send you home, to the very time and place you were taken from by their sorcery. And if not, then well?” He shook his head. “What would these creatures do with you once you served your purpose? Might they stick you in a zoo, poke you with sticks and throw rotten vegetables in to you? Or perhaps they’d just kill you and dispose of your body in the Everfree.” He chuckled to himself. “Even if they did try to send you home, who’s to say they could manage it properly? Who knows how time flows between their world and ours? You might be like Rip Van Winkle, John, or like the people who entered Faerie and found themselves lost forever from their own time and place.”

“More like Jabe Mawks,” I wondered myself, not happy. Thorne looked at me like he didn’t know that name, and I didn’t tell him. I’d heard of the things he spoke of, and more aside. Of places and people up and taken out of time for howair long, only to stumble back in years and years after all they’d known and loved was gone, like that Jabe Mawks fellow I’d just named. He left a neighbor’s home the one day with some fresh venison and vanished for twenty long years before he came back, looking like he’d just left and knowing nothing of where he’d been or how long he’d been gone. Like that place some call the Bermuda Triangle away down in the sea south of Florida, or one-two places here and there in the mountains. I wondered me about Evadare and our home place. I wondered me what would become of her if I nair came back to when and where I’d been taken from, or if I ended like Jabe and found her dead and gone for years when I returned. I thought all that and more as I heard Thorne right there.

“If I listened to you,” I told him. “If I paid the least heed to your mumbling talk.” Thorne scowled at me.

“So be it, then.” He said through tight lips, “I’ve destroyed fools like you before and if I must do so again, I will. I regret your lack of wisdom in choosing to oppose me. But now I’ll be reclaiming my book, and after I do, I’ll deal with you and these foolish creatures.”

“You won’t be going anywhere with airy thing,” I said to him. I saw the light of Twilight’s horn growing brighter all the while. Her legs began to twitch. I said to Thorne, hoping to keep him looking on me, “And don’t be any too fond of that spellbook. I know rightly how to be rid of it and I’ll be a-showing these ponies how as soon as I’m done here with you.”

“Will you now?” Thorne bit the words out at me. “Do you think you’ve got magick enough to defy me? Let’s put your so-called power to the test, then.” Then he began a-saying more words, words I’ve heard before and nair been happy to hear. I felt the air began to lay against me with a damp heat like it does right afore a big storm, like it pressed down on me as he said, “Molech. Hakabe. Rika, Modeca, Tasarith…”

And right afore I could say or do air thing, someone else spoke up.

“Want to try your magic on me when I know what’s going on, Thorne?”

Thorne started and Twilight charged into him from behind, knocking him head over heels. Thorne gave a sudden yell and I felt that pressure on me stop. Lyra blinked of a sudden like she’d just woke from a long sleep. She saw Twilight right by her and jumped up with a shriek. Twilight looked up at me.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine!” I yelled to her. “Stop Lyra before she gets away!”

Because Lyra was up and a-running for the door with all four hooves down on the floor like she ran for her life. Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated, and that purple flash of her magic filled the room. I had to blink it away from my eyes but I saw her friends all moving again.

“Stop him, er, Lyra, whatever!” Right at her words Applejack and Rainbow Dash sailed after Lyra like two hounds a-chasing a rabbit, Applejack on the floor and Dash in the air. Lyra ducked out the door and they chased right out after her. Twilight and I ran out after them and as we did I heard them both yell their surprise.

“Where the hay is she?” Applejack looked all around herself out there in the street. Some ponies stood there, both the local ones and the soldiers I’d seen before. They looked curious at her. I saw more than a few little ones there too, fillies and colts I reckon they were, including one I’d seen before. Apple Bloom stood right by two other little ponies her size, an orange Pegasus with a short cut dark purple mane and tail and a little white unicorn with a pink and purple mane and tail that looked like cotton candy. Apple Bloom looked right happy to see me again.

“See? I told ya’ll he was real!” She said that to her friends. Then she went to Applejack. “Hi, big sis! Kin I help ya with something? Y’all act like you’re lookin for somepony!”

“Thanks, Apple Bloom, but not right now,” Applejack said to her. She gave her sister’s mane a quick stroke and said, “None of y’all saw Lyra, did yah?” They all gave her no back, and she frowned. She turned and said to us, “Say, Twi, did Lyra turn invisible? I didn’t see any flash like unicorns make when they teleport.” She reared up, cupped her hooves by her mouth and called up into the sky, “How about you, Rainbow Dash? You see any sign o’ her?”

“I can’t see Lyra anywhere!” Dash’s voice came down faint to us. She dropped back down by us where we stood, hovering off the ground as she seemed to like doing. “I didn’t see her teleport either. So what happened to her?”

“Just a second,” Twilight said. She must have worked more magic, because her horn glowed for just a second. “Huh, that’s weird.” She frowned to say it. “I can’t pick up any magical residue. No invisibility and no teleportation. What did she do?”

“Might could be she did teleport,” I said to her. She looked at me, and so did Dash and Applejack. “I recollect you a-telling me that you didn’t pick it up when Thorne used his magic, either. And she said she was learning magic from him.”

“But teleportation spells just don’t work that – Oh. Right. Not Equestrian teleportation spells.” She sighed and headed back for the library door. Applejack and Dash were about to follow when Apple Bloom and her two friends started after her. Applejack saw it and turned around to face them.

“Not now, Apple Bloom. Y’all get on home to the farm. This here’s for big ponies.”

“Ah am a big pony!” She drew herself up as she said it, and her two friends agreed her. Applejack looked like she wanted to order her home, but instead she sighed.

“Okay, fine. Come along in. But you have promise ta be quiet, yah understand? This is important talk here.” They all agreed her and went along in with the rest of us. Once in, I saw Twilight talking with Rarity and Fluttershy. Applejack stood off to the side and so did those three. As soon as they stopped moving, they started asking her questions. Fluttershy saw the little ones and went right to them. She talked soft to them and they answered her the same way. It looked like Applejack gave a sigh as she sat down.

“I asked the guards if they saw Lyra enter or leave, and they didn’t see anything, Twilight!” Rarity said, and she sounded right confused. “They said they just heard some talking inside, and then we all came charging out. How could they have missed seeing Lyra? She must have come right down the street.”

“Thorne’s magic,” Twilight said, a-sounding tired. She walked to her library desk and sat herself down with a sigh. “That’s the best answer I can give right now. Where’s Spike? Is he okay?”

“He’s okey-dokey, Twilight!” Pinkie came down the stairs with Spike behind her. I saw that he held some paper in his claws and he held it out to her.

“It’s from the Princess, Twilight,” he said. “It came right after you ran out the door.” A purple glow surrounded it and she floated it up before her eyes.

“What all does she say to you?” I asked her. “Does she want to get rid of Thorne’s spellbook now or not?”

“Just a second,” she said, and began to read it out loud.

“’My dear Twilight Sparkle,

“I am pleased to hear that you are well and still safe. Discord is still bound in stone in the Canterlot Garden, but it now takes a constant effort from either me or my sister to reinforce his prison. I fear that soon it will take both of us all day long to keep him contained. As for John, I wish I could meet him in the palace in Canterlot, but that is currently impossible. I will trust you to handle matters with Thorne. And if John can indeed destroy or disable that spellbook as you say, then do so at once and…”

She blinked like as though she didn’t believe what she read. Twilight glanced at me and finally said,

“’And… I trust you, and if you trust this ‘John’ then so do I. Please stay safe, my little ponies.

“Your teacher, Princess Celestia.’”

She rolled the letter up and set it in a drawer of her desk. Then she turned to me.

“John, if you really know how to get rid of that book of Thorne’s…” She stopped as Applejack got up and walked to her.

“What all else did it say ‘bout John, Twi?”

Twilight looked from her to me and back to her. I saw how her friends watched her and me both. They looked near about as curious as I felt right then.

“Princess Celestia asked us to keep a close eye on him, because his knowledge makes him, ahem, ‘a valuable asset’.” She smiled me a nervous smile. “I didn’t know how you’d take it, John. Sorry if I made you nervous.”

“You don’t make me near as nervous as air other thing that’s happened here,” I responded her. Twilight laughed a little bit. She headed for the safe.

“Come on. Ladies, let’s get our Elements on and open the safe.” Her horn glowed and the piled saddlebags all went to one pony or another, including the ones Thorne tried to use. I saw golden necklaces come out, all set with a different colored jewel in the front. They each flew to a different pony and they set them right on. I saw how the jewels on the necklaces looked rightly like the cutie marks on the ponies. The ladies theirselves looked like someone lifted a weight from off their shoulders when they set them on. I looked to Twilight and saw she wore that tiara she showed me afore, and I doubt you’ll be much surprised to hear that I saw a jewel like a star on it, like the one she bore on her flank. Twilight saw how I watched.

“These are the most powerful magical artifacts in Equestria,” she said, and her voice went solemn. “They defeated Discord, and they restored Luna from Nightmare Moon. I think they’ll be able to handle Thorne with your help, John.” She turned to the safe, and hesitated. “You’re sure you can get rid of that grimoire, John?” She sounded nervous to ask it. I didn’t see how air soul could blame her after what she’d said happened.

“I promise I can,” I told her. “We’ll need a place away off from the town to do it in.” She looked at me. Whatever she saw must have been good. She sighed her relief and turned to the safe. Her friends followed her, and I followed them. The first thing Twilight did was to use the magic from her horn on the lock. I heard the tumblers click again. The door opened a little bit and then stopped. She took a deep breath. I minded me of what she said the thing inside the safe did to her once before. I patted her on the shoulder. She relaxed.

“Okay, it’ll take three of us to do this,” she said. “Dash, Applejack, if you’d like to help?” They stepped up beside her and then all three of them set their hooves on the safe. The Elements they bore lit up then, not bright, but it still seemed to go all through the room. For maybe a moment I thought I saw people I knew from back home, ones I liked and trusted like Chief Manco, like Judge Pursuivant, like my own dear Evadare. I wondered me if I’d ever see them again or if what Thorne said would come true. Then the door of the safe opened and the light from the Elements faded. I felt just the least bit sorry to see it go.

“There it is,” Twilight said, and her voice sounded just trembly enough to hear if you strained. I bent down beside her and looked in. Inside, metal sides and top and bottom like you’d expect. And right smack in the middle, something that looked like a bundle made of hairy hide with that crimson many-pointed arrow symbol on it. I went to take it out, but Twilight stopped me. “No. No, I think I’d better be the pony to do this.”

Her horn glowed again. The book slid out. Her saddlebag opened, the one on the other side of her body from where she’d taken her tiara, and the Letters of Cold Fire slipped in. The saddlebag closed and I reckon both Twilight and I let out a breath we didn’t know we’d been holding.

“Okay,” she said. She started for the door and as she did, Spike got on her back to ride her. “Now let’s go get rid of it.” We all started for the door and when we did I asked her something.

“Begging your pardon, Twilight, but are you rightly sure you told what all else that letter from the Princess said about me, if air thing?”

“What?” She gave me a sudden wary look and relaxed. I saw how Applejack looked at her. “Oh, nothing more really. Just, just to be careful that you didn’t get into any trouble. I mean, you are new here in Equestria.”

“I rightly am at that,” I agree her and we walked out together. And as we set out across Ponyville I wondered myself something about that letter she’d gotten, and what in it made her tell me the first lie she’d said to me so far since I’d come here.

Chapter 11

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 11

Twilight trotted out the library door, Spike on her back, her Elements in one saddlebag and that… thing, in the other. The sun felt blissfully warm on her face after the events inside the library. It looked like it would be a lovely finish to a lovely day. If not for what just happened with Lyra and Thorn, and some of what the Princess said to her in that last letter, she’d feel perfectly happy. The Princess’s words especially bothered her. Should John prove treacherous, do whatever you must to prevent him from doing any damage to yourself or anypony else. Do not let him escape like Thorn did.

John was the first to follow her outside, and as he did, he asked, “I’ve a question here. How are we going to be digging the hole for burying the book? Are you ladies a-going to be digging it with your hooves?”

Twilight froze, unable to believe that she hadn’t thought of something that simple. She looked at her friends as they exited the library, the Crusaders in tow. Rarity looked horrified at the very idea of rooting in the dirt. Twilight looked to the side and saw her answer.

“No, we’ll be using their tools.” She trotted over to the small encampment beside the library where the Day Guards stood watch by their chariot. Bastion approached as she did, leaving his stallions behind him. Twilight smiled her sunniest smile and hoped for something to go her way today as she said, “Hello, Captain Bastion. This will be an odd request, but do you have a shovel or some digging tools we can borrow for an hour or so?”

“Yes, we have some, but what would you need them for, Miss Sparkle?” Bastion’s voice was steady but his eyes were wary as they rested on John. The sunlight glinted off of his armor and helmet, kept at a parade level of polish even here in the field.

“I’m going to be getting rid of that spellbook that made all the trouble so far,” she said to him, her voice dropping. Nopony else was nearby right now, but given what Lyra said about her and Thorn’s capabilities, Twilight felt uneasy about saying even this much in public. “Our guest, John, said he knows how to remove its influence and I want to give it a try.” Captain Bastion looked uncertain, so she added, “I do have Princess Celestia’s permission. And one more thing. Could you please accompany us? In case somepony, I mean something, goes wrong.” She smiled nervously. Captain Bastion looked from her to John and then back to her. She wondered if he guessed at her real reasons. If John tried anything at the last minute, she wanted somepony there who could handle violence.

“I would be happy to accompany you, Miss Sparkle. It might be for the best in any event, if the summons comes through.” He turned and gave orders to his pegasi and the unicorn. They snapped to attention and the armored unicorn’s horn glowed that mix of pale light gray and chartreuse green all of their magic seemed to when they used it. Twilight wondered what color his magic would be when used out of armor, or if he’d even be gray. The first time she’d seen her own brother in uniform he’d looked like any other Spellguard, covered by the spells set on the armor. She’d needed him to speak before she’d recognized him. A pick and shovel came floating out from the pavilion they were using and came over to John and the captain. Bastion took the pick, setting it in a loop hanging from his barding’s harness and John took hold of the shovel. John nodded at Bastion in a friendly fashion. Bastion seemed a bit surprised at the gesture, but he nodded back as they began walking after Twilight and her friends.

“Where we goin. Twi?” Applejack said to her as they began walking south through Ponyville. “I don’t want to bury that book o’ Thorn’s anywhere near the Everfree.”

“Neither do I, AJ,” Twilight said. “I want to bury it in Whitetail Woods. That’s about as far as we can get from the Everfree with John along. But first, I want to grab some food to take along with us at Sugarcube Corner and I want to leave your sister and her friends off at Carousel Boutique. I really don’t want them near Thorn’s book at all while we’re doing this.”

“Ya think Thorn’s likely ta try something?”

“Right now I’m just being careful. Thorn and Lyra got chased away and I doubt they’ll try anything for a while.” She looked around as they walked down the street. She saw thatch-roofed houses, a few shops like the one where she and Spike took care of everything they needed for their letters to Princess Celestia, and some ponies in the streets. A few were foals or older fillies and colts playing before dinner, but most were either late day shoppers or coming home from work. She even saw Derpy making a late delivery. The mailmare gave her a friendly wave and Twilight and Spike returned it. Pinkie enthusiastically waved to several, and they returned her greetings. Most, however, looked worried at the sight of a Royal Guard in armor. And John’s appearance also seemed to unsettle them. Twilight understood why, given Thorn’s actions, but she still felt dismayed at their treatment of a guest. She looked at John, hoping he wasn’t taking it too personally.

If it bothered him he didn’t show it. He walked along with a steady pace beside Captain Bastion. Apple Bloom and her friends were sticking close by, with ‘Bloom holding forth to her friends about what had happened last night. Sweetie Belle looked frightened and Scootaloo looked envious. Rarity and Fluttershy were staying close by the Crusaders, and Rainbow Dash flew high above, sometimes doing loops or other aerobatics. Once she stopped and hovered before flying on again. Twilight realized that she was keeping an eye open for trouble. And Pinkie was being Pinkie, bouncing up to chat with various ponies before going back to her friends. She was just finishing a talk with a brown stallion bearing an hourglass cutie mark. Twilight remembered seeing him around town a few times before.

“So, you won’t need any help then?” He asked in that cultivated accent of his.

“Naww,” Pinkie said, “This is a different crossover entirely. But thanks for asking, Doc! We’ll see you later!” She bounced back over to Twilight. Twi wondered if she wanted to know what that was all about.

By now they were approaching Sugarcube Corner. Twilight smelled the delicious scents from within and heard her belly rumble in response. She wasn’t the only one. Pinkie’s belly growled like a dragon at the smells of the usual dinnertime rolls and muffins the Cakes were baking. Rainbow Dash dropped down, licking her lips. Even John and Captain Bastion looked hungrily at the building.

“Say, Pinkie,” Twilight asked her, “you think you could get a few muffins or the like to take along? I don’t think any of us have eaten since breakfast,” she looked at her friends and they shook their heads no, “and I think we could use something to eat on our way to Whitetail Woods. And I’m sure the girls would like something.” She indicated the Crusaders, who suddenly looked quite interested.

“We sure would!” All three of them said. Twilight smiled and gave Pinkie a few bits.

“Okey-dokey-loki!” Pinkie said as she bounced off through the bakery door. “I wanted to say hi to the Cakes anyway.” Twilight and the others sat down to wait. Spike dropped down off of her back and walked over to Rarity. The lovely unicorn and the young dragon began speaking. John crouched and balanced on the balls of his feet. The girls pressed around him, asking questions. Twilight hoped they didn’t tire him out.

“Twi, I got ta ask yah a question.”

Twilight started a bit. She hadn’t even heard Applejack walk up to her.

“Sure, AJ. What’s up?”

“Just this,” Applejack leaned close and spoke quietly, keeping her words for Twilight’s ears alone. “What all did Celestia really say ta yah about John?”

Twilight wondered briefly what she ought to say, and decided on the truth. Applejack was her friend, and a fellow bearer of the Elements. Not just any Element, but the specific Element of Honesty. She deserved nothing less.

“She asked me to keep an eye on him, and to make sure he doesn’t do anything to hurt anypony like Thorn did. And if he did, we should let the Guards handle him. I don’t think he would do anything,” she hurried to say, noticing how Applejack looked ready to protest, “but those are Celestia’s orders to me, Applejack.”

“Ah guess Ah can see why she said it,” Applejack answered her, sounding displeased, “But ah got to tell yah, Twi, if I thought he’d do us any wrong Ah’d have never said yah should trust him in the first place. He ain’t like Thorn.”

“I agree, AJ, but look at Lyra. Who ever thought she’d do what she’s done? And if Thorn can corrupt ponies like that, maybe John can too. Maybe he’s just,” Twilight wondered how she ought to put it, “Just being nice to us because Thorn’s his enemy.” Applejack gave her a wary look at that.

“Yah remember when yah warned me about judgin’ Zecora just cause she was strange ta us?” She reached out with her tail and tapped Twilight’s saddlebag where it hung heavily against her flank. “You’re startin’ to sound like Ah did, sugarcube. I think you’re still ascairt of Thorn’s spellbook an’ what it did to yah.”

Twilight gave her a shocked look. How could AJ even think that of her? Her anger suddenly boiling up, she hissed her next words at Applejack.

“And if it’d done to you what that, that thing almost did to me…!”

“Chow’s here!”

Twilight and Applejack both sprang back as Pinkie suddenly appeared between them, a sweet-smelling basket perched impossibly atop her mane. She bent her head down and offered the contents, sweet rolls and what smelled like apple muffins, to both Applejack and Twilight.

“Here, Jacky, the Cakes said to offer you these because they really liked that latest load of apples they got from you and all the customers do too so maybe you could let them buy some more next time? And Twilight, I remember how you like those sweet rolls I baked and why were you talking so angry to each other about our new friend John?”

“Pinkie!” Twilight gasped and winced. She looked over her shoulder. Her friends were looking at her, curious. Rainbow Dash fluttered down by her and Rarity and Fluttershy walked over to join them. John seemed to be busy talking with Bastion and the Crusaders alternatively. They seemed oblivious to their conversation. Twilight wondered how to put it when Applejack spoke up.

“Twi’s worried because the Princess asked her an’ us to keep a close eye on John in case he’s some snake like Thorn, an’ I told her I disagree.” She looked steadily at Twilight.

“Huh? Twi, Celestia asked you to do that?” Spike stepped up, holding a muffin that had tiny bits of ruby studded in it. Twilight wondered how Pinkie found a way to grind jewels for baking. Spike said, “She wants us to spy on him?”

“No, Spike, not that! It’s just,” she sighed and shook her head. “The Princess doesn’t want me to make another mistake in trusting too easily. And we don’t really know anything about him.”

“We know he’s here because we summoned him, darling,” Rarity said. She pointed her horn at Twilight and Applejack’s saddlebags where they held their Elements. “We used the Elements, and surely they wouldn’t allow something or somepony dangerous into Equestria.”

“What if we didn’t summon him, or he’s not the one we did summon?” Twilight saw Rarity and Rainbow Dash’s eyes widen at her words. Fluttershy eeped. “The being we wanted to summon might never have gotten through. And doesn’t it seem weird that we found almost the exact pony for the job?” Her friends looked as worried as she felt. Then Pinkie spoke up.

“Wasn’t it kind of weird that you were reading about Queen Meanie right when she was about to break free? Wasn’t it weird that you met the five funniest and most honest and loyal and all-around best for the plot ponies when you first came to Ponyville, Twilight?” Twilight fell silent as she considered Pinkie’s words. “Maybe that’s just the way they work. John was the best pony or whatever on his world to help us stop meanypants Thorn from making everypony unhappy, so they brought him here. Like how we were the best ponies to heal Luna and to stop Discord from ruining Equestria,” her mane drooped slightly as she said, “And bringing chocolate rain,” before it poofed back up and she finished in her usual bubbly voice, “So they made sure you met us!”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said, frowning. “That makes everything seem a little too predestined for my liking.”

“Oh, um, if I can say something,” Fluttershy cut in, “right now John does seem able to help us, and he wants to help us, even when he could have said ‘No’ after we admitted to bringing him here. And I have to agree with Rarity and Pinkie and Applejack, Twilight,” she looked back at him as he shared some of his muffin with the Crusaders, “He just doesn’t feel like Thorn does. He did help Apple Bloom when he could have run away. I, I think we can trust him.”

“Yeah, well, maybe you all do but I’m not sure that I do,” Dash said. “I kinda haveta agree with Twilight and the Princess. We really don’t know anything about this guy, and Thorn did work kinda hard on getting John to join up with him.”

“An’ John told him where ta stick it,” Applejack responded. She looked at the horizon, where the sun was just beginning to touch it. “An’ one more thing. If we’re gonna bury Thorn’s spellbook, Twi, we’d better go an’ do it now. Ah don’t want either Apple Bloom r’ me ta be walking back t’ Sweet Apple Acres in the dark, not with Thorn an’,” she shuddered, “those things still out there.”

“Okay, you’re right,” Twilight looked around at her friends. “I just… Thorn almost tricked me into freeing Discord. I don’t want to do that to you or anypony else. Ever.” She shivered at the memory of Discord’s brief reign and what it did to her friends and herself. The slight chill in the air from night’s oncoming didn’t help. She drew herself up and said, “So let’s get rid of Thorn’s book right now, and then we’ll decide on everything else. Okay?” They chorused agreement at that.

“You all are done eating, then?” John and Bastion came up with the Crusaders close by, Bastion licking his lips over the muffin he’d eaten and John looking pleased with his own meal. The Crusaders, for their part, looked like they could have eaten much more.

“Yes, we’re done,” Twilight said. Spike got up on her back as she added, “Now let’s just swing by the Boutique and drop the girls off,” the Crusaders looked ready to argue, but then Sweetie Belle whispered something to them, and they smiled innocently in agreement as Twilight went on, “and then we’re getting rid of Thorn’s grimoire.” The group of ten ponies, one dragon, and one human set off again, and as they did Twilight thought, and I hope this doesn’t somehow lead to even bigger problems.

* * *

The food that Pinkie got for us all from her little bakery was right good, and I said as much to her when I ate the first bite of the apple muffin I took. It was warm from the oven and smelled sweeter than near airy thing I could remember eating before. Maybe not better than Evadare’s cooking, but right close to it.

“Thank you, Mister John!” She said and bounced when she did. I tried to hide a smile, but she caught it and laughed her own self. “That’s okay, I like it when I make ponies laugh! And I cooked the muffins myself. Oh, but Gummy helped!”

“Gummy?” I inquired her.

“My pet alligator, of course!” She said, and hopped off to where Twilight and Applejack were talking about something, and sounding close to quarreling about it. I recollect I started a bit when she said about a pet alligator. I must have said it out loud, because Fluttershy answered me in her quiet way.

“Oh, yes, Gummy is her pet alligator. She takes such good care of him.” She looked at her friends talking up afore us. The look she wore wasn’t a happy one. They’d started talking quietly, but now their voices were a-getting louder. “Oh, dear,” she said. “Please, Mister John, Captain Bastion, I think I’d better see if I can help.” She hurried off to them. Rarity made to follow her, but first she turned to Apple Bloom and her friends.

“Sweetie Belle, you and your friends stay here and watch your manners around John and the good Captain.” She smiled at me and batted her long eyelashes at him the way some women will when they think it looks pretty. They agreed her polite enough. Bastion smiled back at her. She turned and walked up to where her friends were a-talking.

I ate and enjoyed it, the way I mostly like to eat good food. It looked about right for that bakery, which looked its own self like something from the fairy tale about Hansel and Gretel and the witch, like a gingerbread house big enough to live in. The little fillies – I knew Apple Bloom, and she made her friends known to me as the little orange pegasus Scootaloo and the little snowy unicorn, Sweetie Belle. She seemed shy of us both. Scootaloo was eager to be talking with Bastion, the way some children do when they meet a soldier. He seemed right happy to talk back to her about flying and what you needed to be able to do to belong to the Royal Guard. He spoke to her in what I’d call a fatherly way. I wondered myself if he had some little children or foals of his own somewheres else. So I squatted down alongside Apple Bloom and we spoke some.

“I tol’ everypony in school about you,” she said, and sounded proud to say it. “They all wanted ta hear ‘bout how you ‘n me fought that monster in the Everfree. Miss Cheerilee said I was real brave. Silver Spoon an’ Diamond Tiara said I was making it all up.” She looked less happy then. Then she cheered up again. “But then I tol’ Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle an’ everypony that after school they could meet yah and see I wasn’t no fibber. An’ Scootaloo was sayin’ we could talk to yah and maybe get ourselves a Monster Fightin’ Cutie Mark. And here we are!” The way she looked at me, I reckon she thought I could give her one of those marks right then and there.

“That all minds me,” I said to her. “Whatair were you doing out in that forest? And whatair happened to your friend, the one with the golden mane and gray coat?” The way she suddenly looked worried, I figured that wasn’t something she ought to have been doing. She held her hoof up to my mouth like to shush me.

“I don’t want mah big sis ta know,” she said, a-whispering it to me, “but she’s mah friend Ruby. She lives, ah mean, she stays with other ponies at this old village called Sunny Town out in the forest. It’s…” she looked away, like she wondered herself how to say it, “Applejack says it’s a bad place an’ I oughta stay away.”

“If your big sister says that, she like as not says it because she worries about you,” I replied her.

“Well…” Apple Bloom began to say, “She’s kinda right. Sunny Town is sorta haunted. I followed Ruby to it once, an’ the other ponies there tried to make me like them.” She shuddered, and when she spoke I could hear the fear in her voice. “They look normal sometimes, lahk other ponies, but real scary other times. They’re all black an’ red and if they touch you, you feel real weak and if you don’t git away, you die and become one o’ them. I ran from them an’ Ruby helped me git away and we’ve been friends since. I tol’ big sis an’ Miss Twilight, but Twilight don’t believe me an’ Applejack just tol’ me ta stay way – What’s wrong?”

“I think I’ve seen your Sunny Town,” I reckon her mouth looked ready to drop off her face. “I dreamed about it, and some little about you just this last night. They were a-having a party when you saw it, weren’t they? With balloons and cakes and such?” She looked on me with wide eyes when I told her the rest, about how I’d seen a young stallion and colt, a green mare like her granny but younger, and a gray stallion who seemed to be running air thing there. And then how they’d made her like them, and snatched my guitar away before I woke up. “One more thing,” I said to her. “Nary one of them had that cutie mark on their flanks like your sister and her friends do.”

“Ah know,” Apple Bloom answered me. “That’s why they wanted me ta stay, so I wouldn’t get the ‘curse’ an’ get my cutie mark.” She looked at her bare flank, and she looked sadder than sad.

“You’ll likely get it when the time’s right,” I told her, mostly because it felt like I ought to say her something hopeful.

“Ah know,” she looked at her sister and her friends. “But ah want it now!” I saw that Applejack and her friends looked to have finished whatair they’d been talking about. I’d finished my muffin and I saw that Bastion and the fillies were done with their own, so I picked up the shovel and walked over to them. I asked if they were a-done their own selves, and Twilight responded me that they were.

“Let’s just drop the girls off at Carousel Boutique,” she said, “and then we can go and get rid of Thorne’s spellbook.”

“That sounds good,” I answered her. “It’s getting kindly late.” The sun looked to be low, just about touching the horizon. It showed crimson and made the sky ruddy too, like iron worked in a forge. I said to no one in particular, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.”

“Around here, we say, ‘Pegasi’s delight’,” Bastion said. He seemed to be warming up to me some little bit. I liked him some, too. He minded me of my old sergeant in the Army, who’d cussed us all a blue streak when we made mistakes but worked harder than airy three other men to keep us all alive. He seemed ready to talk to me some more, so I decided to ask him something I wondered about from what Apple Bloom said.

“You were the one in charge of the search for Thorne when he ran into the Everfree, then?” He made me known he was, and I asked him, “Did you see or hear airy thing from your men, I mean your ponies, about some old pony village in there?”

“You’ve been listening to some of these locals, haven’t you?” He glanced at Apple Bloom where she ran along her sister, with Apple Bloom taking two-three steps to every one of her sister. “One of my troopers said they saw something like ruined buildings in a clearing, but when he checked closer he saw nothing there. And I heard how some of the Night Guard said they saw earth ponies once or twice deeper in than any searcher could or should be, but nothing came of it. I doubt there’s anything to it.”

“I did meet a nasty something in the forest, and it like to tried to kill Apple Bloom and me,” I answered him. He just laughed at it. I suppose I frowned. I didn’t rightly see what I said that was funny.

“It’s the Everfree,” he said, “The worst monsters still found within Equestria’s borders live in there. Most ponies in Canterlot and elsewhere think the Ponyville ponies are all crazy to be living here. I’d not be surprised to hear of anything seen in there, but a village of ghost ponies?” He ruffled up his wings like to shake his head no. “I’d have to see it for myself to believe it.”

I said nothing to that. I just thought myself how I’d seen a right many strange things in my time, and not all of them what you’d call good or pretty things, but they’d all been real and sometimes I’d been right happy to get away alive from them. By now we were a-passing by a tall building like a tower. I’d seen it that morning at a distance. Now that I walked closer I saw stands and tents around it. I saw what looked like a fancy porch built onto it, too, like for someone to stand on and give speeches. I could see a pool and a statue of a rearing pony on one hoof balanced on a ball. A chariot like I’d seen by the library lay there. White pegasi in their armor, what you’d call barding when it’s on horses, stood right by it. They saw me and one of them started over only to stop when he saw Bastion.

Just past that tower I could see the other fork of the river that I’d crossed this morning with Twilight and Applejack and their friends. I wondered me if it’d just been less than a day ago. I went through it in my mind. Me entering what I knew now to be the Everfree, and right soon meeting Apple Bloom and Ruby. The sending right after that, and then the night at Applejack’s farm and eating dinner with her family. The dead ponies a-using round for whatair reason that night, and that morning I met Rainbow Dash and Twilight and Spike and then all the others. They’d told me about Thorne’s wicked doings and I’d met him my own self and seen that they told no lies when it came to what sort of a bad man he was. And now here we were, a-trying to help some young woman and her friends and neighbors out of trouble they didn’t ask for nor deserve airy way. It was a right busy day when I thought back on it all.

By then we were passing over a small set of rail tracks with a neat-made station beside them. It mostly looked to be the ticket office and a place to wait for the next train. From a pole and crossarm there hung a lantern set with red glass. The rails were a narrow gauge such as you don’t often see any more. I wondered aloud if they were just a little spur route.

“That’s the Ponyville line,” Applejack answered me back. “We just got it put in this past year, but we got us a real steam engine to run on it.” The proud way she said that, I wondered me if steam was the best they had here.

“Whyever do you use rails, when you have folks that can fly or teleport?”

“’Cause not everypony can fly, especially not like me, that’s why,” Dash answered me from my other side. She flapped her wings and looked pleased. “’Sides, it’s easier to get food and cargo around that way. And for earth ponies who want to travel, it’s the easiest way.” We’d passed over the rails and the bridge by then. We were coming up on a place that looked like a fancy merry-go-round such as you see at circuses and big parks, all white and pink and purple. On the upper floor I saw weathervanes made to look like horses trotting. From the very top there flew a small flag like what they call a pennant. And right close by, more of those big tents and another chariot and more of those armored flying ponies I’d seen afore. Whatever worried these ponies must have been right bad for them to be keeping guards at three separate places in town.

“Sweetie Belle, girls, here we are!” Rarity went up to it. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo followed her. Apple Bloom looked back at me like she wanted to stay. Rarity’s horn glowed and the door opened. She said, “Now, I want you to stay here until we get back. You can have snacks, and please don’t harass poor Opal again. Play nicely with her! I’ll see you when I get back.”

“We will, big sis,” said the little unicorn, and “Thanks, Miss Rarity,” said the little orange Pegasus as they walked in. Apple Bloom made to go, but then she turned to Applejack.

“Cain’t I help you n’ John?”

“Apple Bloom, now I tol’ yah no.” Applejack gave her little sister a hug. “Y’all wait here. When I git back, we’ll go back to Sweet Apple Acres together. Go on now,” She gave her a nudge in the direction of the door. Apple Bloom went in after her friends, but before the door closed she gave me a sad look.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be back soon,” Rarity said in after them. She closed the door. Then she looked at me like she all of a sudden realized something. “Oh, John, I do beg your pardon, but perhaps I could impose upon you to stay here tonight after we return? It’ll likely be dark by the time we’re done, and I would hate to send you to Sweet Apple Acres in the dark, especially now.”

“It’s kindly all right, Miss Rarity,” I answered her. “I’ve walked through the woods after dark many a time, and I want to say my proper thanks to Applejack’s family for giving me dinner and a roof over my head the other night.” I thought that’d be it, but Twilight spoke up.

“Actually, John, I’d like to ask you some more questions about your world and its magic if that’s okay with you. And it’d be easier to do it here at the Boutique then to go all the way over to Sweet Apple Acres and back to the library again.” She sounded right hopeful. I looked at Applejack.

“Aw,” she said, “go on, it’ll be fine. Ah’ll make sure ta tell Granny Smith an’ Big Mac how much yah like what we did for yah. They’ll be pure down pleased to hear it.”

“Thank you kindly, I’ll do that then.”

“Can we get going before we’re here all night?” Dash flew out over the fields and towards some trees that grew a little ways off past them and we all followed. Those fields looked right well done, the earth of them looked browner, more alive somehow, than airy field I’d ever seen on earth. Just starting to be spring here and they’d already been worked and planted. We went a mile or maybe two across them, past signs with those cutie marks on them. I reckon the ponies did it that way to show which fields belonged to which pony. I saw how Applejack looked them over like she measured each field for how well done it was. Once or twice she shook her head like she’d seen something done wrongly, though whatair she saw, I missed it.

We reached the woods and stopped. The trees there looked tall and proud. I could see that nair axe ever touched them. The new leaves were a-coming out on the branches, in all the shapes you see on earth. Long and thin and short and fat, all kinds. I saw some maple trees, and they were being tapped. Buckets full of the sap hung under them. Pinkie went up to one and took a dollop out on her hoof to lick off. She smacked her lips like she’d tasted water from Eden. She saw how I looked and offered me some.

“Go on,” she said, “have a taste. It’s great!” It dripped off her hoof slow-like. The color looked like gold in that light. I tried some to be polite and wondered myself if I’d ever tasted airy thing as sweet as that.

“You’re to be admired for having trees that give syrup that fine,” I told her. “I suppose I’m lucky I came by now, when the trees could be tapped. A few weeks later and I’d have missed this.” She looked curious at me.

“Really? Why? They can be tapped all the way up to the Running of the Leaves. Oh, that’s when we ponies run a race through the woods and bring the leaves down off the trees.” She grinned with her whole face, took one more taste, and bounced off with her friends. That Pinkie was a right happy to be alive young lady, and no mistake.

I started after her and them and as I walked into and under those trees I wondered myself about her and her friends and this place. It minded me some of the stories from some old folks I knew, about how the little people – I suppose I ought to say little ponies, here – managed nature and the wild things. They seemed a right much friendlier and kindlier than the fairies I remembered reading about, though. It made me think of that place a poet named Yeats once said of, the Land of Heart’s Desire, where beauty has no ebb and decay no flood, where joy is wisdom and time an endless song.

But that thought reminded me of what Thorne said when he a-tried bringing me over to him. Those old stories of people in Faerie also said about the ones who never returned, or who returned to worlds that had grown old and distant and strange to them. Once I met me an old man who said he was me, the me from some other time and place, and we went to some men of authority and told and showed them things that might could have stopped a war that would have eaten up the whole world. He left after that and I nair did see him again. Now and then I’ve wondered whatair became of him, or if he even still existed or would exist since the things that brought him to me nair happened. It was noways a comforting or pleasant thought to have.

“Mister John? Are you alright?” Fluttershy said. She flew up beside me off the ground and said in that kindly voice of hers that soothed like goose grease on a bad burn, “You look unhappy about something. We can stop if you need to rest.”

I looked from her to the others. They all looked back and showed concern on their faces. All of it for me, and nair bit for their own selves. Dash looked to be annoyed the least bit, but I think she just looked that way most times.

“It’s kindly well,” I spoke her and them all back. “I was just a-worrying about some folks I know back home, and if they might be wondering their own selves about me.”

“We swear, John,” Rarity spoke, “We’ll get you back to the exact spot you were brought from as soon as Thorne’s been stopped. I promise. We all promise.” When she said it, she meant it, airy word. The other ponies and even Spike all made agreement with her. I felt a little unhappy myself then to think of the troubles they were all in. They’d asked for help and some power or other brought me here to do whatair lay in my hands to help them, and I’d do just that.

“I know,” I replied them, “But first let’s be doing this task we have here.” I looked around. We were off the main trail and in among where the trees grew thicker and close together. It looked like we were air the first soul to be there since they were first grown. I stopped and set the shovel down. The ponies gathered round.

“Okay, John,” Twilight said, “where do we bury it?”

I looked around and saw what looked like a good spot by a big old oak. If you’d cut it down you could have enough wood for a house and some for the chicken coop after.

“That there looks like as good as any,” I said. We all went to the tree. I reached for the pick but Bastion took it by the end in his mouth. The handle went broad there, for a pony to take a good grip with their jaws.

“I’ll do this much,” he mumbled around the handle and swung it down hard into the dirt. He brought it down a few more times, working it in the sod and earth to loosen it. When he stepped back I took the shovel and started digging. It felt right odd to use, made small like for a boy to use and with a short handle and wide grip, made for a pony’s mouth and no man’s hands. The work went hard, what with how I had to crouch to dig but I didn’t mind. Many’s the time I’ve walked down one rocky ridge and up another and maybe one or two more past that to get to a doing I’d promised to be at. And then once I’d gotten there I’d played and danced till near about dawn. I’ve kept myself active ever since I was a tad and I’ve been happy for it more than the once.

And so I dug out a hole, maybe as deep as your forearm and broad enough round for the book to be put in. I stepped back from the hole, and I felt it in my shoulders and back from using that shovel. Twilight stepped forward like to toss it in but I held up my hand.

“Wait,” I told her, “This needs to be done the right way.” I looked around on Twilight and Applejack and Dash and all the rest. “Thorne got you all to take part in inviting him here into Ponyville and Equestria…”

“We didn’t know!” Dash said, bristling herself up to be saying it.

“I know,” I responded her, “But airy way, he tricked you into helping him. Now you’ve all got to help in a-burying it. I’m asking your participation.” They looked from me to one another and then to Twilight. She looked wary, and then she nodded at me.

“Set it in,” I bade Twilight. Her horn glowed. Spike hopped off her as her saddlebag opened. The book came out. It looked near as nasty in the shadows under those trees as in Twilight’s library, with the hair crawling thick on it and that red mark on the cover like fresh spilled blood. She floated it over the hole and dropped it. It didn’t thud the way a book should. It more like flopped softly. Like a dead man’s body, I thought, and I shivered to think it.

“Now what?” she inquired me. “Now we have to do, what was that? Say a funeral service?”

“That’s mostly it,” I said. I stepped up to that hole and she stepped back. I tried to remember the words for a burying, and I said, “Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust.” I thought more, and, “In the midst of life, we are in death.” I made to start throwing the dirt back in.

“Hold on,” Applejack said. “It might go better if we do it the way it’s done here.” I stepped aside. She walked up to the edge of the hole, looked at the tree, and began saying as solemn as a preacher in church, “Y’all give ta feed and shelter us when we need it and no complaint did you make. So here we are, givin’ back ta you whatair yah need from our body an’ bones. We come up from the earth like yah did and now this one’s gone back to it.” Her face looked solemn to say those words. I saw how Pinkie past her looked the same and it wondered me who they’d had to bury and if they hoped to ever see them again. Then Applejack looked up and smiled at Twilight.

“How yah feel, sugarcube? Any better?”

“Actually,” she said, and her voice sounded lighter than I could remember, “Yeah, I think I do. John, Applejack, thanks. I really mean that.” She sighed and it sounded relaxed. “So, John, anything else?”

I held the shovel out to her. “You toss in the first spadeful,” I bade her, and she took it with her magic and did that. Before she could set in another I took it and threw some in. Then I handed it to Applejack. “Now you.”

“I know this,” she said. She took the shovel’s handle in her mouth and threw more dirt in and then gave it to Rainbow Dash. “Ever’ pony takes turns and puts a shovelful in. The work’s done faster and yah git less tired.”

“That’s rightly so,” I answered her. We took turns putting the dirt back into the hole we’d dug. It didn’t take long, and when we were done I looked and saw a rock about the size of a loaf of bread. I set that atop the dirt. “That should ought to do it,” I said. “Leastways, it did in every telling of this I ever heard of.”

“And that’s a relief,” Twilight said. She looked and sounded happier than I’d yet seen, like she already felt some weight be taken off from her shoulders. “Now all we have to worry about is Thorne, and without that he should be easier to handle.”

“I purely down hope so,” I responded her, and with that we turned and began to head back to Ponyville.

* * *

Twilight almost sighed with relief as they made their way back through Whitetail Woods as Celestia’s sun yielded to Luna’s moon. A weight she didn’t know she’d been bearing felt lifted from her shoulders with the removal of Thorn’s grimoire from the library and her life. She found herself humming cheerily as she trotted along.

“You look a lot happier, Twilight,” Spike said, sounding relieved himself. Then, more cautiously, “You think that what John did really got rid of it?”

“Yes, yes it did,” she answered. “I’m not completely sure how, but what he did and what Applejack said got rid of that spellbook. Thankfully. I feel like I want to sleep for a week!” She almost felt Spike’s joy at her words before she said, “But I want, no, I need to speak with John some more tonight before I collect everything and send it off to Celestia.” At Spike’s groan she added, “Come on, Spike! He’s from another entire universe. How many chances like this do you get?” Spike just grumbled at her. Twilight said in a sly tone, “Besides, we’ll be spending a few hours at Rarity’s.”

“We will?!?” Spike drew himself up to say in what Twi knew he fondly thought of as a more mature voice, “Oh, I can handle a few more hours of writing, then.”

By now they were passing the fields and headed for the river on the edge of town. Dusk had fallen and the stars were beginning to shine above. Luna’s moon showed too, waning now until it grew great again. Twilight looked up at the old familiar constellations, Orion and all the rest. She wondered if John’s world held similar ones. There would be so many questions she could ask, so many more that she wanted to ask, and the ones she ought to ask but wouldn’t simply because she didn’t know enough. She remembered one of her instructors telling her that it took lifetimes to know one single world. How many more, she thought, to understand another completely different one?

“You seem much happier than you were these past few days, Twilight,” Rarity said as she came up alongside her. Her white coat almost gleamed in the moonlight. “It is such a relief to see you free of that literary incubus of yours. I do hope nopony ever finds it where we put it.”

“It’s gone,” Twilight said. “I can feel it. Oh, pardon my asking, but it will be okay for me to stay a few hours at the Boutique to ask John a few questions?”

“Why of course, dear! I have to admit,” Rarity glanced back over her shoulder, “I’m curious about him myself.”

Twilight looked over her shoulder at her friends. Pinkie trotted along, going now and then to examine a rock or insect or plant that caught her attention before hurrying along to keep up with everypony. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were talking together. From what she heard they were discussing how they’d done in the Running of the Leaves. To her surprise she saw Fluttershy hanging back by John and Bastion. They seemed to be deep in conversation. She hoped they didn’t leave John too tired to talk to her later.

“Thanks for letting me stay late to speak with John tonight, Rarity. There’s just so much I, we, can learn from him.”

“It’s perfectly fine,” Rarity said. “Truth be told, if my sister and her friends will be spending the night, I’d like someone to help keep an eye on them. And with John, I hope you don’t monopolize his time too much. There are some things I’d like to try.” Her eyes held a familiar gleam. Twilight fought down a laugh.

“Rarity, please tell me you won’t be doing a makeover on him!”

“And why not?’ she said. “After the help he’s so freely given you and us, I want to do something for him. Besides, I rarely make clothes for stallions and never for bipeds. It should be a challenge. And artists need challenge, dear, if they’re to stay fresh.” She looked thoughtful and added, “Besides, I think I might want to hear some of the songs Applejack said he played at her farm last night. She’s hoping to hear them again herself.”

“Well…” Twilight realized that they were indeed a part of what he knew, and while she’d never studied music formally it might make for interesting listening. “Sure, why not?”

Twilight saw the Boutique ahead, majestic in the dark. Lights showed in the lower windows. Beside it, the Day Guards were changing off with the Night Guard. Their golden eyes with cat-slit pupils almost glowed under those web-crested helmets as they took their positions. They kept their bat-like wings tucked in close. When they saw Twilight, they nodded gravely. She politely returned it and then headed for the doors of the Boutique, with Rarity close behind.

“Well John, here we are,” Rarity said as they stopped at the front doors. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is sleek, chic, and magnifique!” Twilight wondered what the words sounded like to John through the lens of the translation spell. Rarity opened the door and looked inside, only to emit a shriek. “Oh, no! Sweetie Belle! Not my best fabrics again!” She charged inside with a panic-stricken look on her face. Twilight fought down a laugh. She looked around at her friends and at John. He seemed amused, and her friends all bore light hearted ‘here we go again looks’ on their faces. Fluttershy turned to head off for her home, and Pinkie and Dash and Applejack all went into the Boutique.

“Finally,” Twilight sighed, “things are starting to get back to normal again.” And with that she walked inside the Boutique.

* * *

And back in Whitetail Woods, at a spot only recently vacated by Twilight and her friends, several ponylike figures dug desperately at a spot of earth with their hooves. A glance would have shown they were no normal ponies. Not with those skeletal forms or empty eyesockets from which, impossibly, somehow tears flowed.

“It hurts,” one moaned in a hollow voice. “It’s like I’m digging in hot coals! It hurts so much!”

“Just keep digging, Starlet!” Another hissed at her. It whimpered in sudden pain but kept scraping at the dirt, which somehow seemed to never grow less despite how much they threw aside. “Thorn needs that book to help us! Don’t you want to be alive again?” Then, with a hiss of effort, “We should be making that backstabber Ruby do this. This is all her fault!”

“Just keep working,” said a third figure, larger than both of them, “And never mind Ruby. When we’re alive again she’ll be sorry to see that she missed on it. And when we get that book back?” It looked off in the distance at the dim lights of Ponyville, eyesockets flaring red. Anger and envy chased their tails in its speech as it said, “When we get the book back and Thorn does what he has to, Ponyville will be the new Sunny Town. And all of those lazy and selfish ponies will know what it means to be the monsters in the Everfree!”

And so they dug, and dug, and dug…

Chapter 12

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 12

After we’d buried that grimoire and said the words over it, we made for town. The trip back seemed shorter to me, the way it usually does when you’re coming back from someplace you didn’t know how to get to. I liked it better, too. For one thing, we’d rid ourselves of Thorne’s grimoire. For another, I saw the signs and sights again this time and now I could take the time to look closer at them.

We were strung out in a line. Twilight and Spike and Rarity walked out in the front, and I could hear them a-talking to each other. Twilight sounded right happy for the first since I’d come here, and that lifted my spirits some too. It’s always good to know you’ve done right by other folks. After them were Applejack and Rainbow Dash. They were talking about that Running of the Leaves I’d heard mentioned on the way here, and they sounded like two fishers or hunters bragging on how well they’d done aforetimes and how well they’d do again. Pinkie just went bouncing back and forth from the one to the other, a-talking about how she wanted to make it a victory party at Carousel Boutique. She looked happy, but she always did from what I could tell. Quiet little Fluttershy walked right there by me and Captain Bastion. She spoke to me about airy spot we passed, describing the plants and animals like they were neighbor folks.

“Oh, thank you again, John, for helping Twilight and the rest of us,” Fluttershy said to me in that soft voice of hers. “I hope that Lyra and Thorne both realize that they’ve been wrong, and come back and give in peacefully.”

“You’re a good soul to think and hope for that,” I replied her, but I doubted myself that it’d be so easy. Bastion snorted softly beside me, and I guessed he thought near the same. Fluttershy blushed at my words like any shy girl who’s been complimented. I reached down and scratched her by the ear. She made a little sound of surprise like a doe in the woods. She sort of unfolded her wings the least bit. I made my apologies to her if she hadn’t wanted me to do that.

“No, no, it’s quite fine,” she answered. “Just, unexpected, I suppose. Normally here you only do that to animals. Not ponies, unless they know you very well. Not that I’m telling you not to do it.” She rushed that last part out like she thought she’d hurt my feelings.

“I’d do it only if it made no insult,” I told her back. By now we passed out from under the trees and their buckets of maple syrup. I saw Pinkie hop away from the bucket she’d been at before, licking one last taste of it from her lips as she went by. I added to Fluttershy, “I’m still right new here, and I’m not certain sure what makes good and bad manners among you ponies.”

“Oh, you’ve done very well so far,” she said. We were going along the fields now, and they looked right pretty under that cool moonlight. The light of it showed clear enough to make our shadows long and strange looking, like some weird haunts were following us back to Ponyville. Fluttershy said, “In fact, I’d say you have better manners than some other ponies and non-ponies who’ve visited. Not that I want to criticize anypony. We all have bad days, after all. When I visited the Grand Galloping Gala…” She winced a bit, like at an old pain, before she said, “But Gilda especially had a little bit of a temper.”

“And she made Fluttershy cry!” Pinkie came up between us somehow. Bastion and I near jumped and so did Fluttershy, but less than us. I supposed she must just be used to Pinkie. “I even gave her a party to make friends with her, and she was just so mean! Like Thorne, and say, you don’t think Thorne’s kind of like a griffin, do you? Twilight said he looked sort of like a really mean eagle when they talked before everything happened. And I wanted to give Thorne a party too for being the first human in Equestria I ever met, and…” She looked right at me and jumped up in the air and gasped like someone in a cartoon you’d see in moving pictures back home. “OHMIGOSH! You’re a human too! I can give you my first ‘Welcome a Human to Equestria’ party! We can have food and punch and play pin the tail on the pony and have music and…”

“Pinkie!” When she heard Applejack yell, she calmed down. Well, she stopped jumping so high. She listened right careful as Applejack spoke more to her, calmer now. “Let’s just wait until we got Thorne corralled. Then we can have a party welcomin’ John ta Equestria and ta celebrate our victory over Thorne all at once, okay?”

“We haveta wait on the party?” Pinkie looked like the saddest little girl in the world to say that, so I spoke her right then.

“I’ll be sitting and talking with Twilight a bit tonight,” I told her. I strummed my guitar, and she perked up at the music I drew forth. “I’ll play her one or two of my songs for to know. You can stay and listen to them if Twilight and Rarity say no never mind.”

“I can?” She said, looking happy again. “Okey-dokey-loki!” She bounced off to where Twilight waked alongside Rarity to ask. I guessed what the answer must be when she cheered for joy.

“You can stay there too, if you want to listen in,” I spoke to Fluttershy. She gave me a smile that looked like it could light up the noonday sun.

“Oh, thank you, but I’m afraid I have to check on my animals. They’ll need to be fed and some of them have to be cleaned. But I do so want to hear your songs later, John. Applejack said so much about them.”

By now we’d reached the edge of Ponyville. I could see some last few ponies heading for home by the moonlight. A few lights showed along the streets here and there, but mostly it looked like the small mountain towns I’ve known. Dark and quiet and folks settling in for a night’s sleep until the sun brought them back up again. Lights showed in the windows of Rarity’s boutique. As we reached it, Fluttershy flew up off the ground, but not so high or easy as Dash did.

“Goodnight, girls,” she said to them all. “I’ve got errands to handle back home. I’ll meet you early tomorrow to discuss what we want to do about Lyra and Thorne. I mean, if that’s okay?” Twilight nodded her back.

“Early would be best, Fluttershy. Have a good night! Oh, what about you, Dash? You staying? Scootaloo is here, and…”

“Well, I kinda need some sleep, but…” She shot me a quick look, her rose red eyes suspicious, and then shrugged. “Eh, why the hay not? I wanna hear what’s so great about his songs anyway.”

I suppose I scowled to hear that, because it wasn’t what I’d call neighborly. I wondered myself why Rainbow Dash seemed so quick to distrust me, maybe even want to start a fight. I purely deep down hoped that wouldn’t happen, because if it did then I knew only the one good way to get her to back off and that’d get someone hurt, maybe the both of us.

I wondered myself all that as we walked around the edge of the Boutique. I heard Rarity begin to say something about her Boutique being sleek and chic and other fancy French words, but I’m sorry to say I spent the more time staring at what I saw by the Guards’ tents.

I saw two things that looked someways like ponies coming out of their tent. The open flap showed blankets set on the ground inside for them to lie on and sleep, but I noticed them the more. They looked dark-coated, like bats I reckon, and like bats they bore leathery wings with a framework of bones like long skinny fingers in them. Their eyes showed gold and glowed like a wolf’s and the pupils in their eyes were slit like a cat’s. They wore barding like Bastion and the other Guards I’d seen, but where Bastion and his ponies wore a sun symbol these wore a crescent moon. They greeted him like soldiers and then returned my stare. They minded me some small bit of the Raven Mockers I’d seen once atop Wolter Mountain, and not in what you’d call a happy way. So I stared at them and they stared back. Then Bastion went between us.

“Good night, all of you,” Bastion said. Rarity asked him something about staying a bit, but all he said was, “No, not unless my ponies can come in as well, and I doubt you have the room for that. But I thank you for your generosity, Miss Rarity.” Then he turned to the dark bat-winged pegasi and said, “This being is John, and he’s someone to be trusted. So no need for you Night Guards to be hovering outside his window all night long.” He sounded serious to say it, but when he turned and bade me good night I saw the glint in his eye. I figured it then for the teasing you get between different units and services back home. He set off in the dark towards the library.

“You try and rest up,” one of the dark ponies called after him, the Night Guards he’d called them. He added in a whispery voice, “After all, someone has to be awake when the sun’s up and all the monsters are hiding.” Bastion snorted at that and flapped his wings out. The two Night Guards laughed softly at it and went back to their posts. There might could have been more but then I heard Rarity cry out.

“Oh, Sweetie Belle! Not my best fabrics again!” She hurried in, looking horrified. Twilight shook her head and laughed, her mane spilling around her face, and followed her. Pinkie followed Twilight, and Dash flew in over her head. I headed for the door, and Applejack came along with me.

“Ah’d like ta stay,” she bespoke me, “if that’s okay with you, John. Ah know how Rarity ‘n Twi can get, an’ Ah figgered you might need some help here sooner or later. ‘Sides, Apple Bloom is here, an’ Ah haveta admit,” She stopped and scratched along her mane with one hoof, “Ah think Ah’d like ta hear some of those songs o’ yours when I can understand the words ‘n not just listen ta the music.”

“You can stay as long as you air like,” I told her. “I’m never sorry to spend time with a friend.” She grinned at me to hear that, and we went in together. I ducked my head to get through the door.

Once inside I saw a place that minded me in some ways of Evadare’s home and mine. Evadare sewed quilts for selling at fairs and shows, and she usually had some around to work on. More times than not she had needles and thread and patterns out too. I’d found those needles the hard way once or twice. It looked kindly like that in the Boutique, but made of better material and cloth than Evadare could afford, all purples and fancy decorations. I saw sewing machines and bolts of cloth and models of ponies like the ones of people you see in fancy dress stores. I saw Rarity standing by that snarled-up sewing machine and looking right upset at her little sister and her friends. Twilight and Pinkie and Dash were nearby, sitting down and looking right happy to be a-doing it. Apple Bloom saw me and Applejack and came right up to us, smiling her biggest smile.

“Hi, big sis! Hi John! Y’all take care of everything you needed ta?”

“Shore did, ‘Bloom,” Applejack gave her a hug and then asked the way a big sister has to sometimes, “Now, what did yah do with Rarity’s cloth?”

“Uhhh,” she said, looking away, “Our Cutie Mark Crusader capes got soaked in tree sap ‘gain,” She pointed off the side to three small capes made from what’d once been right good cloth. Now they looked stained and stuck all over with leaves and twigs. Apple Bloom said, “An’ so Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo decided that we might as well try an’ make new ones while you were all out in the woods.” Applejack gave her a wary look. Apple Bloom said quick, “We were gonna make it up to Rarity!”

Applejack looked to Rarity where she was talking with her own sister. Rarity caught the look right off. She turned to her own little sister and said, “Sweetie Belle, is this true?”

The little unicorn squirmed like most any youngster caught doing what they shouldn’t have. Scootaloo opened her mouth to speak about the same time Sweetie Belle did.

“It was my idea, Miss Rarity, please don’t blame Sweetie Belle…”

“I remember what you said the last time, and I was just gonna use a little of it. You said you had more…”

“Dears, that’s not the point.” Rarity sighed. A purple glow covered her horn and the cloth alike as it floated up and away from the sewing machine. The three little fillies looked right sorry. Rarity said to them all, “I’ll work on your capes later on, I promise. Here, let me keep them nearby.” She opened the flap of her one saddlebag and set the capes in after folding them right careful. I watched with no little curiosity, let me tell you. I thought I saw something heart-shaped inside that had the bright cold glow of a gemstone. She closed the saddlebags and set them atop her work table. Rarity headed for a door into another room. When I looked beyond I saw a sink and stove and all the stuff you can find in near any kitchen. She called back, “Oh, Pinkie dear, I hate to be a bother, but could you help me with this? I want to make something up for everypony so we have some warm food inside ourselves.” Pinkie hopped off to help her. I stepped forward, but when Rarity saw it she shook her head. “Oh, no, John, you’re a guest! But I do thank you. Besides, I think some ponies want to speak to you.”

“Can I help?” Spike said. He looked after Rarity like he dreamed to see her. Rarity smiled gentle on him and he looked like someone slipped him half a jug of blockade from the smile he gave her.

“Oh, no, Spike, that’s quite alright. Please help Twilight, I think she needs you right now.” He looked unhappy to hear that, but perked up when she said in that soft voice of hers, “I do have some fine gemstones here for you. I set them aside the last time I gathered some. I hope you like them.”

Spike sighed like he dreamed and sat back down beside Twilight. I looked and saw how Twilight watched me with eager eyes. Spike took out more paper and another quill in his claws. He looked less eager than she did. I saw how he looked after Rarity. I could rightly guess where he wanted to be. The three fillies sat nearby and were a-watching me. The wide-eyed way they looked on, it looked as if they thought I’d breathe fire or the like. Applejack sat by them with Dash right by her, both of them looking on, the one friendly and the other less so. The smells of some right good food started to come from the kitchen as I sat down. And near as soon as I did, Apple Bloom and her friends were up and clambering on me, right curious.

“Wow, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said as she nuzzled her soft velvety nose against my cheek. “You were right. He doesn’t have a coat, or scales either. Just a short kinda mane on top of his head. How do you stay warm?”

“He wears clothes, silly, don’t yah see?” Apple Bloom said back to her as she tugged on my old jacket with her hoof.

“Hey, wow, cool, a guitar!” Scootaloo tapped the strings and they thrummed to her touch. “But it looks real old, and it’s got chips in it.’

“It looks right old because it is,” I answered her back. They sat back down off from me and I showed my guitar to them. I ran my hand over it, and I could near feel airy little chip and dent in it. The little fillies looked on, and so did the older ponies. “I doubt me airy soul I know has a guitar as old as this that they still play. I keep it tuned and repaired my own self, and I know it inside and out. I’ll keep this guitar to my last days if I have the choice.”

Those little fillies looked impressed. They sat themselves down right there by me.

“Well, Twilight, the rest of you all,” I began, a-wondering myself what I might could be getting into, “What all do you want to know?” They all started speaking at the once. I had to hold up a hand. “Now kindly hold on, I can only speak to the one of you at a time.”

“John, what’s your world like?” Twilight asked.

“May we hear a song? Pleeeease?” That from Apple Bloom and her friends. Twilight and Applejack smiled to hear them, and I reckon I did too.

“Better play the songs first, John,” Applejack told me, reaching out to rub her little sister’s mane, “it’s already late, an’ these three need ta be gettin’ home and ta bed.” They looked so unhappy at that I bit my tongue to keep from bursting out laughing.

“Awww,” Apple Bloom said, “it’s not that late! An’ why cain’t we stay here and sleep up in Sweetie Belle’s room? We done that other times.” And the other two echoed her with a “Yeah!” from the both of them. Applejack looked ready to say more when Rarity came back in from the kitchen, with Pinkie close by.

“It’ll be alright, Applejack,” she said. And then, with a bit of a shiver, “Right now I’m not sure it would be good for them to go outside after dark, even with you and Dash along for protection.” She turned her eyes on me, and fluttered those long lashes the way some women will when they want to hold your attention. I almost had to remind myself she was a pony and not a human woman, no matter how she minded you of one. “And I would like to hear some music myself.”

I’ve never needed to be asked twice for music. I took my guitar off and made sure it was tuned right. I saw how Twilight and the rest looked at the strings as they glistened in the light.

“Why do you use silver, John?” She asked me and pointed her hoof at my old guitar. “Most strings on musical instruments here are made of metals like steel.”

“It’s the same back in my world,” I responded her. I drew my hand along the strings and they made the sound I wanted to hear, bright and clear. I saw those ponies strain their ears to hear it. “Silver used to be used back on my world for a right many instruments, for the sound it gives. I reckon I’m near about the last balladeer who uses it.” I wondered if I should say more, and then Applejack said it for me.

“But why did that skunk Thorne run off when you got in ‘tween him and the safe back in the library an‘ played some verses on it?”

“It’s the silver,” I spoke her. I drew my fingers along the strings again. “It’s a strong protection against unchancy things and black magic. It’s protected me against wicked spirits and evil spell-hurlers many’s the time. Other things help, like ash and oak trees, or cedar and tobacco from the Cherokee, but silver works best. It wonders me that you ponies don’t have things to protect you against bad magic.”

“Well, we used to use silver that way,” Twilight began to say. When the others all swung their attention around on her, she flushed a bit. Then she started to speak like some teacher lady in school. “Back before Luna became Nightmare Moon, when she was still ponydom’s protector against monsters and predators in the dark, silver was called ‘Luna’s Shield’. Ponies made amulets of it displaying her crescent moon for protection. But when she became Nightmare Moon nearly everything associated with her became something to be feared.”

“Yeah, an’ then we used the Elements of Harmony and saved Luna and she got back together with her sister Celestia and everything got better!” Pinkie said, right before she turned and dashed back into the kitchen to check on the food.

Rarity went after her to help. Spike started to follow Rarity, but Twilight’s horn glowed and she drew him back. I held up my hand like a student in school and Twilight asked me what I wanted.

“Who all is this Nightmare Moon and Luna you talk about,” I asked them, “and howair did you save her?”

Well, now I tell you, that was the question to ask. I got the whole story in bits and pieces from Twilight and the rest. It seems that their land has the two princesses, Celestia and Luna, who looked after the ponies and made the sun and moon to rise and set. The ponies called them princesses, but if they really could do all that I wondered myself if they weren’t more goddesses of some sort. Airy way, Luna got jealoused of her big sister and tried to make herself the single ruler. She ended up banished away to the moon for a thousand years. And those thousand years went by and Twilight learned the old story and got sent to Ponyville to make some friends there. She met the others, and when Nightmare Moon came back they all helped to stop her from a-doing her wickedness with what they called the Elements of Harmony. I allowed how it minded me of some stories I’d heard back home in old myths and such. They told me more as well about theirselves, about Discord and something called a sonic rainboom – Dash looked right proud to tell of it -- and a dragon that’d roosted nearby and near choked them all out before Fluttershy made it haul stakes and flee away. I reckon I gopped some to hear how Fluttershy made a dragon bigger than a house cry and beg pardon. And there was more still, but if I told you all of it you’d call me a liar to say it.

I tell you all, it was a joy and a wonder to sit there and hear it all. I wished that I had someone there with me like Holly Forshay or Judge Pursuivant with me to hark at what they said, maybe to ask wiser questions than I could rightly ask. I wondered me what they could have learned from that talking. I just tried to remember near all of it I could so I could pass it to them when I returned home. If they were still alive when I returned home, if Thorne hadn’t told the truth about returning to find a hundred years gone.

I wondered special about those Elements of Harmony they kept mentioning; they’d used them to heal Luna from being Nightmare Moon and to set Discord back into stone for howair long they could keep him there. What they told about him in particular was a story, and not what you’d call a pleasant one. First you heard it, some sounded right funny, like chocolate rain and him a-giving rabbits long legs. But then it got the worse, like how he’d made them all go mad and turn on all they’d ever loved and held true to. Twilight’s exact words were “Honesty became Deceit, Generosity became Greed, Kindness became Cruelty, Loyalty became Treachery, and Laughter became Despair.” The way they talked, what they could recall after that made it sound like their whole world became something from a fever dream you couldn’t wake up from. They didn’t speak much of it, and what they did reminded me of some old veterans a-trying to explain a battle to someone who hadn’t been in any. Even the little fillies looked pure down scared when they heard it. They climbed up in my lap and sat against me. They were warm and I felt them shiver at the story.

“Like Coyote among the Indians, in some old stories,” I said aloud when they told it to me. “Like the folk tales of devils in Europe, or the fairies in old legends. He pure down tricked you just for the spite of it.”

“He did, but he outsmarted himself in the end,” Twilight said back to me. Her horn glowed. That tiara from before rose from her saddlebag, all set with jewels like something in a fairy tale. “He thought we couldn’t recover from what he did to us, and when we did, he refused to believe it until we stopped him.” She shuddered and looked sorry. “And I almost let him go again.” Applejack and Rarity and the rest of her friends went to her and nuzzled up close.

“It weren’t you, Twi,” Applejack said, and they all echoed her. She rubbed her nose against Twilight and said, “Thorne did it, and we’re going to stop him tomorrow.”

“That we rightly will,” I promised her and them all.

In the middle of the tale-telling Rarity and Pinkie brought the food out they’d made, Rarity a-making it float out and Pinkie balancing it on her fluffy mane. The little fillies cheered to see it and went to get some. I reckon I gopped to see the small bowl they set down before Spike, filled with gemstones big as your fist and cut fine as the ones in a royal crown. He picked one up, an emerald green as new grass, and crunched down on it like it was an apple. He saw how I watched.

“Oh, sorry,” he said through a full mouth. He gulped it down and reached into the bowl to offer me one. “Want one?”

“No, I thank you,” I assured him and he went back to eating them.

“Here we are, maple-glazed carrots and broccoli almondine!” Rarity said, proud where she set it all down before us in glazed plates of white china decorated with fancy images of ponies. “Please, everypony, eat and enjoy!” We got ready to but Applejack stood up.

“’Fore we do, I got one question for yah, Rarity. Yah still got that apple brandy I gave yah last Hearth’s Warming?” Applejack looked at me and said, “This seems kinda special, so I figgered we might want to have a little bit of it.”

Rarity’s horn glowed, bringing an old-fashioned thick glass bottle that sloshed floating out from the kitchen with a heavy cork in it. Near as soon as she set it down half a dozen fancy wine glasses came from the kitchen to join it. The older ponies looked right happy on that apple brandy. Dash licked her lips at the sight. Rarity poured the brandy out all around. The little fillies and Spike looked like they wanted some. Applejack saw it and smiled at them.

“Sorry. When you’re older, you can have some.” The little ones looked down at that a moment and then they went back to their cider. I took up my brandy, and it looked like liquid gold in that glass. “Be careful now,” Applejack warned me, “It’s strong but it’s smooth. Just sip at it, else it’ll make you want to bite the top offin’ the bottle. Old family recipe, right from the family still.”

I drank it and it tasted as fine as she said, better than any blockade I’ve ever had. The food was right good too, and I said as much. All save some alfalfa they offered me fresh from the front yard that I politely turned down. Rarity batted her eyes to hear it and thanked me.

“But, John,” she said after everything had been cleared away, “perhaps now we can hear some of your music? Something nice and light? It’s been a wretched enough day, what with burying that spellbook and, well, poor Lyra.”

“I reckon I know a few songs like that,” I said and I started in on old favorites of mine such as you’ve likely all heard aforetimes such as Vandy, Vandy and Evadare’s Song. Rarity and Twilight liked them right well, and Applejack looked pleased to be hearing the words with the music this time. I think maybe even Dash looked pleased some. As for the fillies, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked happy, they even danced a bit to them. So did Spike, though I saw how he watched Rarity as I sang about Vandy a-waiting for her true love to come marching home. Twilight asked me questions after each song, about how old they were and what else, and I answered her as best I could. She looked near as pleased to be hearing that as to be hearing the songs their own selves.

“You play beautifully, John,” Rarity said to me, “Like few I’ve ever heard before, ponies or other. I wish a pony I know from Canterlot named Octavia could hear this, she plays classical music and she could appreciate this even better than I can.”

“Oooh!” Pinkie said from where she’d finished gulping down air thing on her plate so fast I wondered she’d not eaten it too, “Maybe after we beat Thorne we can take John to Canterlot? They he can play WITH Octavia and I bet the Princesses would love to hear it too and it’d be great!”

“You flatter me to say all that,” I began, but Rarity shook her head.

“Oh, no, I mean every word! But still,” and she rubbed her chin with one hoof, “I wonder if you could play this tune?” She hummed me a few bars of something. I played right along after hearing it some. She looked pleased, and then she began to sing and I played along. It was a song about dressmaking, and it was right clever and a joy to hear, and I wish I knew it better to play for you all here. Her little sister Sweetie Belle joined in and sang like an angel along with her. They were both fit to be great singers, and I told them such. I saw how her friends all winced a bit when she said lines to her song I reckon she got from them.

“Aw, come on, Rares,” Dash said, looking embarrassed. “Those dresses weren’t that bad! And everything ended okay for you, it wasn’t like the Gala!” At that they all shuddered. Twilight just shook her head and laughed.

“Yeah, but we had some fun in the end, didn’t we?” She looked at me and smiled when she said, “I wonder, John, we’ve asked for so much music tonight. Maybe just one more song?”

“Give me the tune,” I said to her, “and I’ll be right happy to try it.” They all sang something they called ‘At the Gala’ then, and I played along as best I could. They were right happy to sing it and I was right happy to hear it. I wish you all could have been there to hear it too. You rarely hear the kind of singing they did. The little fillies all clapped their hooves against the floor and cheered at the end of it. Then they yawned.

“And now,” Rarity said, going over to her little sister, “I think it’s time for little fillies to go off to bed.” Sweetie Belle pressed against her and Rarity gave her a hug with the one foreleg. Apple Bloom went and gave her goodnight to Applejack and got a hug for it, and I saw Scootaloo by Rainbow Dash. I wondered me if they were sisters or mother and foal or what, I never did learn. Then all three of them came over to me, and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle came up in my lap where I sat on the floor. Scootaloo hung back a moment, but they pulled her in too.

“Thank you, John!” They rubbed their heads against me and I gave them a quick hug back. Their coats and manes felt soft, not rough like most horses’. They all three turned and headed off for the stairs then. Rarity saw them up and then when she came back down, Pinkie and Dash both stood up.

Pinkie bounced over, maybe just a little less high than earlier, and thanked me for the music and the stories and for helping Twilight and why shouldn’t I come over to Sugarcube Corner tomorrow and have my breakfast there? Before I could get to thanking her for any of it she went out the door. That just left Rainbow Dash. She flapped over to me and tried to put the wary look from her face. She might could have tried a bit harder.

“I just wanna say…thanks, for helping Twilight and everything else.” She looked like she wanted to go, but made herself stay just long enough to add, “And the music was pretty cool.” Then she went.

“Okay, John,” Twilight said to me, sounding right relieved, “Maybe now we can talk about your world. Please, tell me about it?” She sat herself down by me, and so did Rarity. Spike sat between them, though maybe just the least bitty bit closer to Rarity then Twilight.

Well, I ask you all, how can you tell about your world and your life in it in just the few hours? I reckon I tried my best. I told her what I could about my own little place in it, about the people I knew and had met, about such as I remember from school and air else I could think of that she asked me about. She knew what kind of questions to ask, too, and again I wished for someone better read and learned then me to be there to talk with her about it. Though it might could have taken more time than the either of us had to cover it. She asked me about magic, too, and that was the bigger part of it. Given what we’d faced and what we seemed likely to face, I reckon you can understand why.

“A whole world,” she near breathed out when we had a stop at one point, “A whole world, and I’ll ever know more than the least part of it. I’m not blaming you, John, please don’t think that,” she said, looking sorry on me, “but still… If I had the time and the power, and I could go to your world and visit someplace like your, what was it you called it, Library of Congress and the Smithsonian? A month, a week, even just a weekend! I could learn so much!” She sighed and closed her eyes. “How can you cover a whole world in less than a lifetime?”

“I feel kindly the same about you all here in Equestria,” I said back to her. “From what I’ve seen back home it could take more lifetimes than many a human or pony could have to know airy thing about airy thing. If I knew the way, I’d like to bring some scholars and other learned folks back with me sometime, so they and you could sit a few days and figure out all the ways we’re alike and the ways we’re different.”

“One way that’s important right now is Thorne’s magic,” she said to me, and her eyes and talk were all business. Applejack and Rarity paid close attention then. “We’re going to have to deal with him tomorrow, like it or not. You said that people in your world don’t have innate magic like ponies do?”

“That’s kindly true,” I responded her. “It comes from outside of us. Some say it’s from God or a god, or from spirits good and bad, or even from something in the world its own self; but you have to ask for it, call it into yourself and what you want to be doing, before you can try any spell making.” She nodded at me and began talking as much to herself as me.

“Then Thorne’s power comes from outside of him, but from something native to Equestria. That explains why I was eventually able to get through that spell in the library; the same power source as our magic, but done in a different way and worked so oddly I had to learn it from inside to break it.” Her eyes lit up and she took out more paper from that saddlebag of hers, her horn glowing as she wrote on it. I saw fancy math, what you’d call equations, and the sigils and marks I knew to mean her own language. “This is amazing! Rarity, John, Applejack, I think I know where Thorne is getting his power from!”

“Okay, Twi, but how does that help us?”

“Applejack, listen,” Twilight showed her and Rarity the paper. “If Thorne is using a local entity or power source to work his magic, then that means that the Elements can protect us against it to some extent and might even be enough to break Thorne’s attachment to it!” She frowned then. “Only, he’d have to be using a lot of it when we did it, like trying to cast some big spell on us or somepony else. And we’d have to hit him with the rainbow before he could finish it…”

“But what local entity could he be using, dear?” Rarity broke in to say. “Windigos are savage things in the legends, but I never heard where they were worshipped. And the only Nightmare I ever heard named was Nightmare Moon, and she’s gone, so…” She went silent then, her lovely eyes going wide. I saw the same look on Applejack and Twilight’s faces too.

“Discord,” Twilight said, and I reckon you could have dropped a pin in the silence that followed and heard it strike. She repeated herself, saying, “Discord. It couldn’t be anypony else. Everything Thorne did here is helping him. It explains why he started to break free again, and why Thorne’s magic is so familiar and so hard to defend against all at once. When I tried breaking Discord’s spells, his chaos magic just flowed back as soon as I stopped it. And Thorne’s spells are the same way, which means…”

She broke off when I yawned.

“I’m rightly sorry,” I told her, “But I think this day’s a catching up to me.” Both Rarity and her started to speak then.

“Oh, no, John, that’s perfectly fine! I have just a few more questions to ask…”

“And please, I simply have to do something for your wardrobe, John! After all you’ve done for us I’d feel like such an ingrate if I gave nothing in return.”

I tried to ask them both not to kill me with too much kindness, but before I could speak, Applejack spoke up.
“He don’t need no makeover from ya, Rarity; and he needs ta sleep sometime, Twi! An’ so do you!” She snorted and walked over to set herself between them and me. “Yah both know it’s true.”

“I sure do,” I heard Spike say, sounding pure down tired to say it. Twilight heard it too and sighed.

“I guess you’re right, AJ. Come on, Spike, time to head for home.” Spike looked happy to be hearing that as he got up on her back, only to groan when she said, “First we send one last letter off to the princess, and then we sleep.” They went out into the dark. I saw the Night Guard out there, though they looked to be a-lying down rather than standing guard.

“Reckon I’d better be going too, then,” Applejack said. She stretched and yawned. “It’s gettin’ kinda late for us all, and we’re likely ta have some work ahead o’ us tomorrow.” She walked up to me and said. “Once more, thanks for all yah done for us, John. I don’t know how we’ll ever repay yah.”

“Just the being here and meeting you all is rightly enough of a reward,” I told her. She smiled tired-like and nodded before she headed out the door. That left just me and Rarity, and I asked her where I might could set out my bedroll and sleep.

“Oh, dear! No, John.” Her horn glowed and she drew out a cot from the back of the room. It had a mattress on it that looked well-kept with silk sheets atop it. It didn’t wonder me that Rarity would keep something so fancy even for guests. She said, “I have this for naps when I’m working on something big and have to finish a rush order. I hope it’ll be good enough for you.”

“Airy place I can lay down and sleep is good when I’m tired,” I told her, “and I thank you for it.” I made to lie down on it, but stopped when she set her muzzle by my face. I could smell the perfume she used, and she used it rightly. Just enough to smell sweet but not so much it choked you.

“I also wanted to say,” she sort of stage-whispered to me, “I’m sorry, again, for the trouble we’ve brought into your life. Had I known what that spell would do when it drew you to Equestria, I’d have never gone through with it.” She looked sorry to say it, too, and so I said what I hoped were good words to her.

“You asked for help for a friend, and got it,” I bespoke her. “Airy way I can help, I’m glad to do so. And I nair would have seen this home of yours or you and your friends but that you called me here, and I’m right glad I did. So nair you mind about if you did me wrong or not.”

She looked happy to hear it. She went to the lamps and turned them out, one after another, drawing a metal hood down over each one to hide the light from them. I heard her hooves go up the stairs, and then it all lay still. I lay down on the cot pulling up my legs to fit and wondered myself what might could happen tomorrow when and if we met Thorne. But only a moment, and then I slept.

* * *

Applejack trotted back across the bridge, the water purling slowly below in the dark. She gave one last glance back at Carousel Boutique and saw that the lights were finally going out. Off on the edge of her vision she saw Twilight disappearing between the buildings of Ponyville as she returned to her library. She hoped that girl got some sleep tonight. They’d need all their strength come morning when it came time to find and face Thorn. She also hoped Rarity gave John some peace.

“He don’t need to go dressin’ like some Canterlot noble at a fancy ball,” she said to herself as she began trotting down the South Road for Sweet Apple Acres and her own bed. She hoped Big Mac and Granny Smith would be willing to wait to talk until tomorrow. At least she knew where Apple Bloom would be spending the night, and that she wouldn’t be running around in the Everfree. Not out there where the wild beasts roamed, as that one song John sang put it. She shivered, and it came only partly from the cool night air. After what she’d seen last night and this morning with John, she hoped fervently that those things Apple Bloom told her about from Sunny Town stayed far away.

And then Applejack looked up and saw them crossing the nearest field, the moonlight shining on and through them in places.

AJ dropped onto her belly by some tall grass almost before she realized what she’d seen. Millennia of equine hindbrain took over and warned her to flee. She fought her own fear that yelled at her to jump up and run. If she did, it would be the last mistake she ever made. She held still and silent as the undead ponies crossed the field, the growing corn around them withering as they went by. They seemed to be headed for town. She saw them break up into two groups. One circled around for the library, and the other headed for the Boutique. The breeze shifted and blew their scent to Applejack. She clenched her jaws together against a sudden nausea. It bore a sickly-sweet odor like a whole bushel of apples gone sour and rotten. It slowly passed, along with their limping hoofbeats. She waited a hundred heartbeats before she rose on shaky legs. They were nowhere in sight.

Okay, she told herself, remember what John an’ Twi said. The Elements give us some protection against Thorn an’ his pals, and these things don’t seem able to come into any actual home without someone invitin’ them in. An ain’t no way neither Rarity nor Twi will go doin’ that. The Royal Guards can fly an’ they got their own fightin’ magic, an’ Twi said they’d have wards protectin’ them against anypony they don’t want to come near their tents. I can follow ‘em and see what they’re up to, but if they catch me, then what?

Applejack decided quickly and galloped for Sweet Apple Acres. Everypony else she knew of would be safe. Right now, she wanted more than anything else to be watching over her family. But if when I come back tomorra’ at first light, I find any o’ my friends hurt ‘r gone, then there’s gonna be Tartarus to pay for Thorn an’ Lyra both!

* * *

Twilight passed silently through the darkened streets of Ponyville. Even after almost two years it still felt odd to her to walk through mostly unlit streets. Canterlot sometimes seemed to blaze with light from dusk to dawn. But tonight it felt less odd than what she’d heard from John.

A whole new world, she thought, one with natural laws so different as to border on the utterly alien, and an entire sentient race that discovered ways to control their environment without magic? If she’d read it in a story she’d have laughed at it for the airiest nonsense, but she’d spoken with the proof of it only moments ago.

She swiftly made her way back to the library. Once along the way she thought she heard somepony slipping along behind her, but when she looked, she saw no one. The Night Guard stationed by the chariot at the library nodded to her as she went by, their eyes yellow flames in the dark. She heard nothing from Owlowiscious as she let herself in. He must be out hunting, she thought. She trotted to her writing desk. A thrill went through her to see no sign of Thorn’s grimoire on the desk, and she got no sense of it in the safe like before. Spike dropped off her back and gave a yawn.

“Twi, do we really have to send Princess Celestia one more letter?”

“Spike, we’ve learned some things that she needs to know,” Twilight responded. She turned to face him. His eyes were half closed. Even the spikes along his spine seemed to droop. “And it might help her to know what we’ve done here. But I’ll make it as quick as I can, okay?”

“Okay,” he half grumbled, and got ready to write. Twilight drew herself up, focused her thoughts, and began.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

“I have some good news. John was indeed able to show us how to dispose of Thorn’s spellbook. I’ll know for sure tomorrow morning, but as I no longer feel its presence in my mind, I am hopefully assuming that it did indeed work. I was also able to ask John some questions about his worldstream and confirmed several suspicions. It is indeed magic-poor as compared to Equestria, and aside from some hints by John seems to possess only one sentient species. This may help to explain why its very existence seems so very alien to us. I did discover, however, that Equestrian magic can provide some defense against it; the Elements especially seem to help make one resistant. And there are natural substances that can be a protection. Silver is one such.”

Twilight quickly rattled off the list of things John suggested.

“He also confirmed for me that Thorne’s level of magic is not intrinsic but dependent, almost parasitic, upon the magical energy of beings outside their worldstream. In Thorn’s case, the equivalent of Nightmares and Windigos and their ilk...”

Twilight wondered for a second. Had any of their sorcerers like Thorn ever tried calling upon Luna when she’d been Nightmare Moon? And if so, what happened? She went back to the letter.

“The untranslatable words in Thorn’s spells are the proper names of these Nightmares and Windigos, called upon to attract their attention. It seems obvious that at some point in Thorn’s interdimensional exile, he attracted the attention of or actively contacted Discord. John told me more about his world as well.”

Twilight then swiftly listed some of what John spoke to her, about the technological development John mentioned to her that worked in place of magic, their organization and aggression and great curiosity about the world.

“They even intend to travel to their world’s moon by means of their machinery, according to John. I intend to question him further about this. Another world. Not just another world, but another universe, without magic but with physical laws that sound unnatural…”

“Twi, focus!”

“Oops.” Twilight blinked at Spike. He gave her the best glare back he could manage, as tired as he was. “I was meandering, wasn’t I?”

“Yeah, kinda. Does Celestia really need to know right now how their whole world works?”

“Heh, I guess not.” Twilight quickly summarized the rest of it, and then finished with her usual, “Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Okay Spike, that’s it. Send it off.”

“Gladly,” he said, and with a puff of dragonfire sent it off to Canterlot. He felt his writing wrist and winced. Twilight stepped forward, her horn glowing, and a purple glow enveloped Spike’s arm up to the elbow. He stiffened, then sighed and relaxed. He moved his hand more freely. “Thanks, Twi.”

“I owed you that, Spike, and…” She stopped when he suddenly burped a scroll into existence. Twilight took it with her magic, fighting down a sudden unease. “That was quick.” She unrolled it to read. Spike walked up beside her. She lay down to make it easier for him to see it.

“To my dear student, Twilight Sparkle,” she read aloud.

I am glad to hear that you seem to have been freed of Thorn’s enchantment and of that spellbook, and gladder still to hear that John has been such a help to you and your friends. The news of Lyra saddens me, but she can be either saved or stopped along with Thorn.

Twilight felt her blood go cold as she read the rest of it.

But for the rest of this letter, I am afraid that little will be good. Luna and I find ourselves in the garden constantly now. It requires the aid of the best unicorn mages in Canterlot to keep Discord from breaking free, and we are slowly losing this struggle. She and I barely dare to take the time to perform our duties by the sun and moon now. It seems that Thorn’s actions have already raised enough disharmony among ponies to weaken the binding you and your fellow Elements have set on him. I hate to set this duty on you, but I must ask you to stop Thorn as soon as equinely possible. You know far better than any other what kind of damage he can do when free, and what he will do with Thorn aiding him this time. Please, my student, one more time I must ask you to help all Equestria.

Your beloved teacher, Princess Celestia.

“Twi?” Spike’s voice sounded small and very afraid. He pressed against her side, hugging her across her neck. “What are you gonna do?”

Twilight rolled the scroll back up and set it on the desk, feeling a chill. Then she hugged Spike back, nuzzling him gently.

“First of all, I’m going to catch some sleep,” she told him. She began heading upstairs. “I want my full strength for tomorrow. Then, when the sun comes up, I’m going to get our friends together, including John, and we’ll decide how to stop Thorn. So come on, Spike, it’s time for bed.” For all his tiredness Spike hurried up the stairs before her. He went straight to his basket, and curled up in it. He started snoring almost immediately. Twilight smiled gently at him. Her horn glowed and she drew a blanket over him.

“Good night, little brother,” she whispered. Then she slipped under the covers of her own bed and in the midst of wondering just how she would stop Thorn, she fell asleep and dreamed. And for the first time since Thorn gave her that spellbook, her dreams were peaceful.

* * *

I don’t rightly know when it was I woke up, but I somehow knew what waked me when I did. The inside of Rarity’s shop showed dark, and a glance out a window showed the night to be at its darkest. The dawn looked to be hours off. Airy thing was quiet, as still as a graveyard.

Almost airy thing. I heard someone like to whispering outside. I crept to the door, a-holding my old guitar. Once there I stopped and listened. More of that whispering, a soft low sneaky sound. I could make out words now.

“The one who hid Thorne’s book is in there. The book Thorne promised he’d use to make us alive again.”

I reckon I swallowed hard to hear that. But I still opened the door to see who or what spoke there. A man’s got to be a man sometime. Moonlight spilled down across the bridge and the stream, across the tents of what Twilight called the Night Guards. I saw them slumped down on the ground, not moving save for their sides working just enough to show they yet breathed. And right less than six feet away, maybe just a long step, I saw what I’d seen at Applejack’s farm my first night there. Only now I saw them clearer, three of them, and I felt right sorry for it.

They looked like they did in my nightmare about Apple Bloom, like they did along the trees of the orchard. They looked kindly like ponies, but dead and rotted with holes a-showing in them. I saw the moonlight pick out the white of bone on their legs and sides and faces, if they owned what could rightly be called faces. Their eye sockets looked empty at me, glowing red within like from a fire. One place only did they look like they must have when they’d yet lived and breathed, and that place lay along their flanks. They all showed bare and barren there, not one of them bore those cutie marks Twilight told me of. The grass under their hooves looked withered and slimy where they trod. They looked on me and I looked on them, and then one of them bespoke me in that whispering voice.

“You’re the one Thorne told us about, the one who wants us to stay dead. You better go get that book back or we’ll make you sorry.”

“I’m already kindly sorry,” I said to him, and I wondered myself that I could say airy thing at all right then, “Just from a-looking at you all.” Somehow, those not-eyes of theirs went the wider. It hissed at me then and stepped forward, with the other two staying close by.

I brought my guitar around, and you better believe I did it quicker than near airy other time in my life. I began playing the Last Judgment song again. They flinched back at the sound of it.

But they didn’t run this time.

“We’re not afraid of you,” the one who spoke before said, but he didn’t come any closer. “We want you to give Thorne’s spellbook back to him. He’s going to use it to make us live again. To punish the Ponyville ponies for what they did to us.”

“What did these ponies ever do to you,” I wondered him, “And how will Thorne be making you alive again?”

“Bring Thorne’s book back,” he whispered back at me. “That’s all you need to know. Bring it back to Sunny Town. Then Thorne can help us. Then we get to live in Ponyville like we deserve and they,” he waved one hoof off towards the town, “Have to go be in Sunny Town.” They all looked at me then, and maybe they looked more hopeful than aught else. And I wondered myself, if Ponyville was a place for the living and Sunny Town one for the dead, then whatair might it mean for them to change places like he was a-saying?

“No,” I said, and I shook my head at them. “I’m rightly sorry, but I won’t be doing such a thing. If you came here to ask for that, you done drove your ducks to the wrong puddle.”

They hissed then, sudden and sharp. Those fires in their eyes blazed up hotter. They started to come closer, but now it looked like they forced against something to do it, like they tried walking into a high wind. I began to play again, but I played something else, that tune I’d heard when I came here and heard again from Apple Bloom and then tonight from the ponies when we’d talked and sang. They froze and shivered like frightened horses. I played it I don’t know how long, and they stood there and hated at me with their empty eyes. Finally I stopped.

“You see there’s nary thing you can do here,” I told them, “and so does Thorne. You go and tell him that if he wants his book back, he’ll have to come and fetch it his own self.”

They gave me one last angry look. I saw them scrape at the ground nervous-like with their hooves like any living pony. They turned and seemed to flow, like a nasty bit of water, off and away out of sight. But as they did one or another of them hissed back to me.

“You’ll be sorry you didn’t help us.”

I waited until I felt certain sure they were gone. First I closed the door. Then I pulled my bedroll out and unrolled it right down there by it. I sat on it and leaned back, a-holding my guitar on my lap. I watched like a sentry in wartime. Because to judge from what all I’d seen and heard and been told, this looked like to be war, with Thorne and all he could raise against us, me and these ponies both. And I wondered me how we might could win through alive.

Chapter 13

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 13

After some time there in the door of Carousel Boutique I finally fell asleep. I must have dreamed something, but I didn’t remember it a bit beyond feeling happier. So whatair I dreamed, it must have been a good dream. The next thing I recollect properly was feeling a warm wet velvety something touching my cheek and hearing elegant snorts and whinnies. I opened my eyes and looked to see Rarity standing there. Even this early, she had her mane and face done up, and she wore something like a fluffy nightgown and slippers, such as you’d see some lady wear in a Hollywood movie. She snorted and whickered some more, all the while giving me a curious look. Given that last night she’d seen me sleeping on her cot in the back, and now she found me here in the doorway with my guitar across my lap, I easily figured why.

“We had us some guests last night,” I told her. She gave me a curious look, and I added, “Thorne sent some of his friends from Sunny Town to pay a visit. We’d better go and tell Twilight and the rest right soon.”

She just looked on me, tilting her head to the side, and made more sounds like any horse would make. She didn’t speak a single word. I wondered why she didn’t talk, and then I realized what it must be.

“Twilight’s spell wore off,” I said to her. I pointed to her mouth and then tapped my ear, a-shaking my head no. “I don’t understand Equestrian anymore.” Her blue eyes went wide and she nodded, her mane spilling in purple waves. She nudged me with her snout, I reckon you’d call it, and backed away to give me room to stand. I rose up and moved my bedroll away. She’d turned to go behind a screen. I saw her silhouette through it as she removed her robe and slippers, and then she came back out from behind it. I wondered me why she felt the need to have privacy to undress but not to walk around naked as the day she’d been born, but I couldn’t ask. I opened the door for her. She smiled and nodded and stepped out. I followed her and tapped her shoulder.

“There’s something you need to be seeing,” I told her. I pointed to where those dead ponies stood the night afore. She looked. Her eyes went wide, and no wonder. The ground there showed slimy and fouled like it had the morning afore at Sweet Apple Acres. And in the middle of it, and leading away from it, a nasty slimy trail with hoofmarks set in it. I saw how it went down the street and it minded me of something that happened away over the sea in England, more than a hundred years gone, how one snowy winter morning dozens of folks woke up and to find hoofmarks running across their yards, their roofs, down streets and by windows. They nair did see whatair made those prints. I give you my honest word, I wish I hadn’t seen them myself that night.

I began to hear other neighs and whinnies, high and shrill, like from more than one frightened horse. I looked across the bridge and into Ponyville and saw other ponies out and about. In the distance the sun stood just clear of the horizon. It made long shadows lie across the houses and streets. In and around those shadows I saw ponies I didn’t know. They were a-pointing at the prints, and they were right scared. Even without Twilight’s speaking spell I could tell that.

I heard Rarity whinny nearby. She spoke to those Night Guards and pointed at the hoofmarks. They rose up, blinking like they were tired or maybe just against the sunlight. When they saw what she pointed at they went wide awake. They dashed back into their pavilion and started neighing. They came back out and those white pegasi, the Day Guards, followed them. They looked to have just rushed into their armor. When they saw what Rarity and I stood by, their eyes shot wide open. They whinnied into the big tent. Another one of them, a unicorn with what might be rank bars on his armor, came out. His horn glowed and a sort of cone made of pale gray-green light went over the hoof marks. He turned and looked like he wanted to speak with Rarity but she was already dashing back through her front door. I followed after her.

Once inside I saw her a-running up the stairs. I figured she meant to go and check on her little sister and her friends, so I waited. I heard more whinnies from the town, sounding further off. I wondered me if Applejack or Twilight had gotten any visitors like we did, wondered more if they’d be alright.

Right about then Rarity came back down. She gave a sigh when she saw me and smiled. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo all came down the stairs after her. They were sounding excited, and they began to head for the door. Rarity neighed at them once and they stopped. She hoof-pointed to the kitchen and they went for whatever breakfast little ponies eat, though they looked like they’d rather be looking at those prints outside. Rarity turned to me and whinnied and whickered. I shook my head at her.

“I don’t understand,” I told her. She touched her hoof to her face the way some folks will slap their forehead to show they should’ve known better than to do such a thing. Her horn glowed and a book nearby floated over to me along with a picture she had of her friends. I figured she wanted us to go to the library and have Twilight spell me again so we could talk. I pointed to her and me and then off towards where I recollected the library to be at. She nodded and set her saddlebags on. Then she went out the door, and I followed her.

Once outside I saw the Royal Guards guarding that patch of befouled earth. They said something to Rarity. She responded them back as she went past. They stepped back looking at her respectful-like. We both walked on. As I passed that patch of dirt I smelled something worse than a skunk dead by the road in summer. Rarity smelled it too by the way she screwed her nose up. She looked like some fancy lady who just found she’d stepped into something nasty in a barnyard. If things hadn’t been so right worrisome then, it’d be a little bit funny to see Rarity a-working so hard at acting like a lady. No, I take that back. She didn’t work at it. It came natural to her, like.

She hurried across the bridge and into Ponyville. She went in a swift canter, like what you use when you’re riding a horse and want to get somewhere right quick without tiring it out. I made speed to go along after her but she still moved faster than I did until she looked back over her shoulder and saw me trailing behind. Then she slowed, but only a little. We went through the square with its town hall and fountain. Some ponies had what looked like small wagons, like pushcarts with them, but none were setting up for the day. Instead they just pointed at those nasty hoofmarks and spoke to each other.

As Rarity cantered along some ponies who saw her neighed after her, like they wanted to know what we were about. She paid them no heed. We went by Sugarcube Corner and I heard an excited whinny. I didn’t need to look to know it was Pinkie Pie a-bouncing up to us. She whinnied and snorted and whickered at me with a happy look on her face before Rarity got her attention and pointed to the hoofmarks where a trail of them ran nearby. Pinkie and Rarity talked a moment or two before Pinkie jumped up on her hind legs and gave her a salute. She dashed back into Sugarcube Corner. As soon as she did, Rarity headed for the library again and I followed her.

I saw how the one trail of those hoofmarks seemed to be leading down the way we were going. I didn’t like what that could mean. I found myself hoping that Twilight and Spike were alright. We passed by some nice houses and buildings right then. I remembered them from yesterday but I’d paid them little heed with air thing that I’d been seeing and doing. I saw someplace kindly like a mansion with a big brown-coated and black-maned pony stallion outside, wearing a tie and with money bags for a cutie mark. A smaller pony stood by him, a little pink filly with a white-streaked lavender mane and showing a little crown, what they call a tiara, on her flank. She huddled back behind him as Rarity and I went by. He whinnied something after her, like he demanded an explanation. I saw Rarity’s ears go down just a moment long like whatair he said angered her and then we were past. We went by another place that made a flowery smell. Two mares stood outside, a pink one with a blue mane and tail and a blue one with pink mane and tail. They looked so alike I took them for sisters. They whinnied something after Rarity too, a-sounding worried. She didn’t stop but she answered them back. They nodded at her with wide eyes and went back inside their building. By now Pinkie was caught up to us and keeping pace.

By then we were approaching the library, and I felt some relief to see how the tracks went off and away around it without stopping. As we came up on it I heard wings flapping. Fluttershy dropped down by us. I saw that she wore her saddlebags like Rarity and Pinkie did. She nodded Rarity and me, and gasped to see those hoofmarks nearby. She whinnied and neighed at us more, sounding fearful. Before I could say air word I heard galloping and Applejack ran up. She had her saddlebags and I saw a lasso hanging at her side. I wondered me where Dash was. The ladies themselves whinnied and neighed at each other, sounding near as worried as I felt right then. I saw how the guards stationed at the library were just getting up, and I remembered the ones at Rarity’s boutique or in the town square, how they’d looked like they were just waking up.

“Thorne spelled them last night,” I said to myself, “Him or Lyra, so that those dead ponies could get in and by them.” Applejack looked at me when I spoke. I saw how her eyes widened when she realized I didn’t know Equestrian any more. She went past her friends and started a-pounding on the library door.

I reckoned I couldn’t do much else then, so I sat myself down and waited for Twilight to come and work her magic again so we could talk.

* * *

Twilight awakened from a pleasant dream in which she introduced John to Princesses Celestia and Luna to hear a noise like somepony sought to batter her door down. She groaned. This was the first morning after a nightmare-free night in days, and she wanted to luxuriate in it for just a little longer.

“Just another five minutes,” she groaned, but the racket only got louder. And now mingled in with it she could hear the voices of her friends. Pinkie Pie’s especially seemed oddly close by her ear.

“Twilight! WAKE UP!” And then something clashed and clanged by her ear. Spike yelled, and so did she.
“Pinkie!” Twilight almost flew out of bed. She looked to see Pinkie holding a pair of cymbals. The pink party pony swept them out wide for a second clash. Twilight’s horn glowed and they froze, held motionless. “Don’t ever do that again! And how did you get inside, anyway? And what’s going on?”

“I got inside through the back door, and John and everypony else is at your front door trying to get in because your spell wore off and he doesn’t speak Equestrian anymore and there’s a bunch of zombie pony tracks out in the streets like you and AJ found on Sweet Apple Acres yesterday and everypony in town is acting like they’re about to start running away and I think that big meanyface Thorn was here last night and…” Pinkie got no further.

“What?” Twilight jumped out of her bed, sending the covers and pillow flying. She wasn’t sure how, but somehow she managed to get her saddlebags on, pulled Spike out of his basket, and grabbed Pinkie with her telekinesis all at once before heading downstairs at a rush. The dragon and pink pony floated along behind her. The noise outside and the banging on the door both doubled in intensity. “Pinkie, there are no zombie ponies! And why didn’t you tell me Thorn snuck back into town?”

“I just did, Twilight, but that’s okay, he’s gone now!”

Twilight rolled her eyes at Pinkie’s words as she yanked the door open. Applejack almost went spilling to the floor. Past her, she saw Rarity and Fluttershy. They both looked honestly and deeply frightened. John squatted behind them. She couldn’t make out human facial expressions very well, yet she thought he looked concerned too. Off to the side she saw Captain Bastion and the Royal Guards, both Day and Night Guard, rising on shaky legs from what looked like a very deep sleep. She wondered what had happened to them but decided to ask later. Right now her friends came first.

“Girls, what’s going on?” Everypony started talking at once. Twilight shook her head and said, “One at a time! Rarity, you go first.”

“Twilight, this is the worst possible thing!” Rarity pointed back out into the street. Twilight saw a nasty, slimy trail like the one she’d seen at Sweet Apple Acres, but many times bigger and wider, in the dirt of the Ponyville street. Rarity said, “I woke just this morning and found John seated in the doorway with his guitar in his lap. Well, naturally, I woke him and tried to ask if my cot had been somehow below standard, only to for him to show me a trail of the most horrid-looking hoofmarks in the street just outside my door!”

“I saw them myself, just this morning outside my cottage,” Fluttershy broke in, her voice trembling. “Sometime last night I thought I heard and smelled something terrible outside. My animals were all terrified, and Angel hopped up into my bed and stared at the window like he thought something was going to try and break through. I crept up and peeked a-and…” She made a little whimper. Rarity nuzzled her reassuringly. John reached over from where he sat and gently patted her shoulder.

“Go on, Fluttershy,” Twilight told her, though she felt certain of what she’d hear.

“I saw some, some things standing outside my cottage,” Fluttershy said fearfully. “They were horrible, Twilight! They looked like ponies who’d d-died and rotted, and their eyes were empty sockets filled with red fire. They scratched all around my door like they wanted to come in, but they couldn’t. I remembered what John said about good things scaring away bad spirits in his world,” She turned and nuzzled John’s fingers, “So I put on my Element of Harmony and they started backing away. I worried about the rest of you, but I was too scared to go anywhere until this morning.” She looked down, shamefaced.

“Don’t fret none, sugarcube,” Applejack told her. “Ah saw ‘em last night when Ah was going back ta Sweet Apple Acres from Rarity’s. Ah figured on what John said too, an’ about how some monsters can’t hurt yah any ‘less yah give ‘em permission. Ah knew you an’ Rarity were smarter than that, Twi, so Ah hurried back to make sure Granny Smith an’ Big Mac were okay.”

“And?” Twilight asked, worrying. She looked down and saw Spike writing it all down, even though his claws shook. She brushed against him and he calmed a little.

“This mornin’ everything looked fine, but when Ah went outside Ah saw more o’ those nasty hoofmarks, right up by the house this time.” She shuddered. “Ah tol’ Big Mac ta stay an’ protect Granny Smith. Then Ah got my lariat an’ ma Element an’ I came right here to find ya’ll.” She froze and went pale before she turned on Rarity, saying, “Apple Bloom an’ the rest of the Crusaders were with you last night, Rarity. Are they okay?”

“Need you even ask, Applejack? I checked on them before I came here.” Applejack sighed relief. Rarity added, “Oh, and Twilight, I’m afraid that John here,” she pointed at him, “Doesn’t speak Equestrian any more. I trust you can renew the speaking spell? If nothing else, I want to thank him for standing guard at my door last night.”

“What? Oh, yeah, sure, I made sure to keep that spell memorized.” Twilight walked up to John. Purple light began to gather along her horn as she readied the spell. He looked like he was bracing himself as he bent forward, letting her set her horn against his forehead. She felt the spell rush into him and he winced. Twilight felt sympathy. Even the simplest speaking spell felt painful when cast on you as it briefly rewired the language centers of your mind to a completely different vocabulary.

“It hurts the less than yesterday,” he said, rubbing his forehead like it pained him, “But at least now we can talk. Wait, Twilight, I do wonder something. If, I mean to say when I get back home, will I be able to talk plain English again or will I just be a-talking to horses for the rest of my life?”

“No, you’ll be fine,” she said with a laugh. “Unless it’s renewed every day or two you’ll revert to speaking only your own language.” She might have said more but Rarity stepped up to him.

“John, I can guess that you guarded my door last night,” she said, batting her eyes. “That was a very gentlecoltly thing to do, and I wanted to express my gratitude.” Then, before he could say or do anything, she leaned in close and gave him a quick kiss on one cheek. Twilight thought she heard Spike make a choked sound.

“I thank you kindly, Rarity,” John told her. He patted her on the shoulder and added, “I’m grateful, but there’s no need to do air special thing. I’d have done that for a friend, whoair they were.”

“Yes, but you did it for me and my little sister, and I want you to know I appreciate it.” Rarity said in her most ladylike fashion, bowing her head to him. John looked more than a little embarrassed, if red cheeks meant the same thing on both humans and ponies.

“Rarity, John?” Twilight stepped between them and looked from her to him. “Maybe you could tell me what you saw last night?”

“I did more than just see things, Twilight,” John said. He gave a quick description of what he’d seen and heard at Rarity’s door. Twilight didn’t believe in zombie ponies, but John’s account still left her feeling cold, especially when it came to him describing what the creatures said to him before they left. She noticed that Pinkie had gotten a big tub of buttered popcorn from somewhere during the description, but she stopped eating and began looking a little green about halfway through.

“Wait, you talked to them?” Spike said when John finished. He shuddered. “You’re braver than me. I wouldn’t have even opened the door.” John looked at Rarity, and then the little purple dragon.

“You might could be right surprised what you’d have done, if it meant protecting a good friend,” John said to him. “I wasn’t all that brave myself, to be honest. I just opened the door and stood right inside there. I nair did go out by them or even want to, and I’m not ashamed to say that.”

“Still, John,” Twilight said to him, “It was very brave. Thanks for the information you gathered too. That was pretty clever.” John just shrugged at her words.

“I learned in the Army and after that the more you know about someone you’ve got to fight, the stronger you are against them. Knowledge is power is an old saying in my world, and I reckon it’s one here too.”

“It is,” Twilight said. “My brother serves in the Royal Spellguard, and he told me that once that the more you know about someone you have to fight, the better armed you are against them.”

“Fight,” Fluttershy said unhappily. She looked around at them all, worry in her eyes. “Will it really have to be that way? I don’t want to have to hurt anypony, even if they want to hurt me.”

“I’m afraid so, Fluttershy,” Twilight answered her. “I’m not looking forward to it either. But from what John told us just now, Thorn wants to fight, he means to fight, and that means we have one whether we want it or not. Either that or we let him do whatever he wants with Ponyville and everypony in it. And if he’s sending monsters from the Everfree right down into town, then the sooner we stop him from hurting ponies the better.” Twilight wanted to say more, but stopped at a rumble from her belly. Her friends grinned and Spike stifled a giggle. Even John looked amused. Twilight smiled herself and said,

“Maybe before we do any more planning, we ought to have breakfast.”

“Ooooh!” Pinkie Pie hopped up on her hooves. “That’s right! I wanted to invite you all to Sugarcube Corner for breakfast! I got up extra-early to make everything and it’ll be super-duper, so come on!” She turned and bounced off into Ponyville. Twilight and the others followed her. As Twilight walked down the street, she kept an eye on what happened around her.

A low murmur of conversation filled the air. Ponies huddled together in small groups, talking in fear filled voices about what they’d discovered this morning. In the distance she thought she saw Filthy Rich and some of the other more well to do townsponies headed off for the mayor’s residence. None of them looked happy. Twilight wondered what that was all about and got the unpleasant feeling that she’d be sorry when she learned. She saw how some of the ponies looked at John as well. He strode along in their midst, and given the hard looks some ponies sent his way she suddenly felt that it might be best for him to stay with them. She wasn’t the only one to notice. Both Rarity and Applejack, walking on either side of John, pressed in closer beside him. If John noticed himself, he gave no sign of it, though Twilight strongly suspected that he knew.

At least, she thought, it feels pleasant out for early spring. The smells of food cooking and even the dung odor of the fields around town were covering the foulness that hung around the hoofmarks the Sunny Town ponies left, whatever they might really be. The night chill was already vanishing before the dawn’s warmth and the sky above looked clear. She could just make out a few winged figures working among the clouds. Twilight wondered if that was where Rainbow Dash was. It seemed odd for her to not be here. She wondered if somehow Thorn had gotten her. She quickly dismissed it. If Thorn held one of the Elements hostage, she felt sure he would have already bragged to them about it.

She walked up to and down into Sugarcube Corner behind Pinkie, who hopped in with her usual happy mood. Mister Cake stood behind the counter, and Mrs. Cake was in front of it by a table loaded down with muffins and danishes and even some eggs and a few gemstones. Pumpkin and Pound were standing underneath their mother having their own breakfast, both nursing away. The only other pony inside was Derpy, devouring a plate of cherry and apple muffins like she was starving.

“Mornin’, everypony! Oh, and you too, er, John,” Mister Cake said as they came in, with a nod to them all. “Everything on that table is yours. Need anything else?”

“Yes,” Twilight said as she walked up to him, removing a heavy purse filled with bits from her saddlebags, “Some privacy. I’m sorry, Mister and Mrs. Cake, but we’re going to have to be talking about some very sensitive things. About, well, from a few nights back and what we’ll have to do about it.” She hoped she didn’t insult them. They looked a bit taken aback. Twilight quickly handed the bits over, saying, “I know the breakfast rush is good business for you, so I hope this helps cover for everything.”

Mister Cake opened the bag and looked inside. He nodded and closed it before saying, “Thanks, Twilight. Normally I’d say it’s no need, but with the foals…”

“I understand,” Twilight said. The Cakes turned and walked back upstairs to their actual home, but not before Pinkie promised them everything would be alright. She also gave Pumpkin and Pound a hug and promised to tell them stories later when their Auntie Pinkie came back. She also asked Derpy to go, but not before promising to bake a whole plate full of muffins for her later as a gift. Twilight asked Derpy to send Rainbow Dash right there if she saw her. Derpy promised to and the mailmare flapped out. Then Pinkie hopped over to the table.

“Everything’s okay, now we can talk, right?”

“Talk later,” Twilight said. “Let’s eat first.” She heard no complaints, and they set to. They all ate eagerly, though she noticed that John avoided anything with hay in it and that Spike’s table manners were oddly improved the way they usually did when he ate with Rarity. She sat back and sighed in repletion when she finished, noticing that the others did so too. John looked very satisfied and spoke to Pinkie.

“Pinkie, if I’m not here later, please tell the Cakes that they make some capital rations. Airy time I eat here, I think it’s the best meal I ever did have. If you ponies weren’t as good as you are I’d swear your cooking was witch magic.”

“Naawww,” Pinkie said back, looking thrilled at the compliment, “It’s just earth pony magic.” When John looked confused, she added, “Pegasi fly and control the weather, unicorns have fancy-schmancy magic like Twilight and Rarity, and earth ponies like AJ an’ me are real good with plants and animals and growing things and making food and stuff like that.”

“That you are,” John responded. He indicated Applejack as well as Pinkie and said, “I speak no slight against Rarity’s cooking, but between your farm and this here bakery, I doubt I’ve ever eaten better food aforetimes. Well, maybe at home with Evadare.” He looked down at that for a moment. Twilight felt a twinge of guilt again as she thought of how and why he was here, and of her share of responsibility in it. Judging from the look on everypony else’s face, they felt it too. Applejack took John’s hand in her hoof and gave it a squeeze.

“We’ll do all we can ta get yah home in one piece, John, we promise.”

“I know, and I thank you all,” he said, looking around the table. “It’s just that I’ve been thinking on something Thorn told me in the library the other day, about how I might return home to find time gone different between Equestria and Earth.” His voice and demeanor turned dark as he added, “How there might could be years gone, maybe whole decades of them, and airy soul I know dead and buried, and all because I came here.”

Twilight stared in shock. That, she suddenly realized, was one thing she’d never thought of when she used the Elements to summon help. Her own reading on alternate dimensions was limited. But from what she did know, she could see absolutely no reason to believe that two weeks in Equestria might not be fifteen years in John’s world.

“What?” Applejack said, sounding stunned herself. “Come on, John, why would yah take Thorn at his word? He lies like a rug.” Rarity and the others chimed in as well, agreeing with Applejack. AJ added, “’Sides, it don’t work like that. Does it?” She looked hopefully at Twilight as she finished.

“I…,” Twilight began, and then she forced it out. “I don’t really know. It might be a lie of Thorn’s, but it might be true, too.” As they gave her looks of stunned disbelief, she forced herself to add, “I don’t even know if we can return John to his own world after we beat Thorn. I, I’m sorry, John. I, we were desperate.”

We were desperate. Up until then it seemed like a perfectly serviceable reason to her. She’d been fearful for her friends, for Equestria, for her own mind after what Thorn’s spellbook nearly did to her. Concern for whoever they brought didn’t even enter her mind. She repeated so quietly she herself barely heard it, “I’m sorry.”

Twilight looked up. Fluttershy and Pinkie looked shocked. Rarity took hold of John’s arm and gave him a look full of sympathy. John looked stunned. And Applejack? Twilight saw the slow anger building in her eyes as AJ looked at her.

“Twi,” she said, her voice dangerously soft, “are you tellin’ me that to save our own necks, we mighta cost John his whole life in his world and everypony he ever knew?”

Twilight looked back at her. She wanted to say something, anything, but nothing would come to her lips. Applejack started to rise, but John took hold of her shoulder and she stopped. Twilight wanted to look John in the eyes to apologize, but right at that moment she felt she couldn’t have looked at her own reflection.

And then Pinkie jumped up with a yelp. Her tail stuck out behind her and shivered fast enough to blur.

“Twitchy tail! Something big’s gonna happen!” she cried and then something came smashing through the window behind her and into the room. Twilight found herself up out of her chair and facing it before she even knew that she’d moved. Applejack stood beside her. She heard chairs skidding across the floor as the rest of her friends and John stood up.

Rainbow Dash hovered before them. A few bits of glass showed in her mane but she didn’t notice them. Her eyes were big enough to show the whites all around her rose-red irises.

“Dangit, Dash!” Applejack said. “Cain’t yah ever just use a door like normal ponies…”

“No time!” Dash said. The words spilled from her in a rush. “It’s Lyra, she’s in the main square talking to everypony! She wants Thorn’s spellbook back and she has timber wolves with her!” And with that she turned and darted back out the window, not even bothering to look to see if they followed.

Twilight followed hot on her heels, hearing her friends behind her, wondering just what Thorn and Lyra were up to now and what else could possibly go wrong today.

* * *

“I’m sorry, John. I, we were desperate, I don’t even know if we can send you back home.”

I think it’s no lie to say I near about felt the world drop away under my feet when Twilight said me those words. I wondered which world it was. Equestria, or Earth, with all my friends and dear ones on it? The Forshays and Reuben Manco and Evadare, dear God, how the hell would I ever even want to go on living if I lost Evadare? These ponies were good, and I was right glad to have met them and to help them against a wicked man like Thorne. But I’d swear my good word on a Bible, I nair wanted to spend my whole life through here, no more than I’d want one of them to come and be stranded back amongst human folks at home.

I’m not rightly sure what happened in those next few minutes. Rarity touched me gentle on the arm, like to say her reassurances from last night again. Applejack spoke some hard words to Twilight. I saw how she started to rise. I found it in me somehow or other to take her by the shoulder and hold her. She stopped. I looked at Twilight my own self and wondered whatair I could say or ask. She didn’t look at me. I wonder if right then she wanted to look at airy one.

And then Pinkie yelled “Twitchy Tail!” and Dash flew in through that big window Sugarcube Corner had. She looked more scared than I thought she could be. I heard her yell something about Lyra back in the town square a-speaking to the ponies there, and how timber wolves were with her. Dash turned and flew off like someone set her tail ablaze. We all pounded after her like she was our last hope of Heaven.

The first thing I saw in the town square was a big crowd of ponies. I think most all of the town must have been there together. Their low talking was like a breeze rushing through cattails, low and scared. I heard something snarling like the world’s almightiest big dog, four-five of them, but odd in some way I couldn’t place. More than all that, I heard Lyra’s voice. I went to see what happened but stopped when I saw how Pinkie shivered all over. I bent to her.

“Pinkie, are you alright?”

If she heard my words, she gave no sign. Her tail bottled out behind her like the world’s almightiest big house cat, then both it and her mane just unraveled and hung straight and limp as she said in a voice with all her laughter fled from it, “This is Bad. Real BAD. It’s the Doozy!” She said no more that made sense, so instead I gave my attention to Lyra as she spoke to everyone there.

“So now you see what Master Thorne can do to Ponyville if you don’t make the Elements and John return his stolen property! He can send the beasts of the Everfree into town whenever he wants!” Lyra stopped then to let the ponies work that thought over in their heads. Twilight and Applejack and the rest got together and began forcing a path through the crowd to where Rainbow Dash hovered, waving her hoof at them. I heard Lyra say, “Please, everypony, listen! Master Thorne still wants to be our friend and, yes, our protector! He’ll forgive everything we’ve done to him in our mistaken ingratitude…” There was more such, but I didn’t hear it. Because just then the crowd parted enough that I could see what stood by and around Lyra.

I’d seen many a strange sight thus far, and this was one more that I’d be sure to remember. Later I thought on how I noticed the Day and Night Guard, the latter with goggles of smoked glass over their eyes, a-trying to keep the ponies back and away from Lyra and what stood with her. Captain Bastion was there and yelling orders to his men, or I should say his ponies, telling them to keep in stampede formation in case ponies panicked. Twilight and the others stood by him. A little further back I saw the black and brown stallion I’d seen before, along with a brown and gray mare who carried herself like someone important, and two-three other ponies who looked just a trifle better fed and kept than everyone else.

But what I noticed right off was the five timber wolves around Lyra where she stood on her hind legs. They were named right proper, let me tell you, for these were wolves made of timber. They were all of wood, dark and thick with bark. Their jaws opened and snapped and showed in place of fangs thorns like tenpenny nails, ready to rip pieces off of whatair they bit. Their eyes showed cold yellow with what some call corpselight and others call fool’s fire. I told myself that I’d be a fool right then if I rushed in reach of those jaws or let air other do it.

“Lyra, have you gone insane?” Twilight said to her. She stayed clear of those timber wolves as she tried to keep Lyra’s attention. “You brought these monsters into Ponyville!”

“No, you did!” Lyra yelled back at her. She stabbed a hoof at Twilight and her friends where they stood. “You got rid of Master Thorne’s gift to you! You summoned your own human to fight him!” She pointed at me. I saw some of the ponies nearby give me scared looks while others gave me sudden mean ones. I went up close by Twilight and her friends and by Captain Bastion’s troops. They seemed the calmest here, and I’ve seen what even a small horse can do to a man when it’s scared. Lyra went on, yelling in a shrill and scared voice, “You’ve resisted and defied Master Thorne at every turn, and took away every other choice he, I mean we, had. You’ve proved yourself unwilling to even pretend to listen to his efforts at a peaceful resolution…”

“Was sendin’ them monsters inta town last night his idea o’ peaceful?” Applejack yelled back at her. “They mighta killed somepony!”

“Master Thorne made sure they wouldn’t,” Lyra shot back. I watched her while she spoke. “Master Thorne is just helping them after Celestia and Luna abandoned them. He can cure them, he can make them be alive again.” A new murmur went through the ponies at that. She turned away from Applejack and the rest of the Elements and made as though she pleaded of the crowd, “Please, don’t we want to be on the side of such a being? Or will you let the Elements ruin our chance at such a friendship, just because they’re jealous of Thorne?” The murmuring in that crowd started to get louder and busier, like bees in a hive, bees that might could sting you to death.

Now that I stood closer, I saw more things. The timber wolves never got far from Lyra, but when they stepped close by her she shied away. I saw too how her eyes seemed to crawl over them now and then, like she wondered if they’d bite her. I wondered myself if the timber wolves were there to guard her, or to watch her. Because by the way she shivered and the way her voice sounded brittle it seemed like Lyra knew she’d made a deal with the Devil and wondered if the payment was a-coming due.

“Lyra, please!” Rarity spoke up. I saw her go up closer by Lyra and the timber wolves than I thought she should. I stepped up alongside her in case things went wrong. I reckon I wasn’t the only person to think that. Captain Bastion stepped up on her other side, a-spreading his wings out like to make himself look bigger. Rarity said, “Lyra, darling, you’ve seen what Thorne did. He took control of you in the library the other day when you spoke to us. He’s done nothing but cause harm since he came here. If he wants anything from us at all, he’ll have to come here and surrender himself into the custody of the Princesses.”

“And, Lyra,” Twilight said as she went up and stood in front of Rarity. I wondered myself how wise it was to have so many of us standing all together in front of her like that. Captain Bastion didn’t look any too sure himself as Twilight said, “I want to make sure we’re all very sure about one thing. Thorne is not getting that spellbook of his back, ever. It tried to use me to free Discord, and it nearly succeeded.” A gasp went through the crowd of ponies when she said that, and that low rumble of their speech started getting louder. From the corner of my eye I saw how the Day and Night Guard stiffened at what they heard and stood just a little firmer where they were. Twilight ignored it all to keep her eyes locked tight on Lyra’s frightened ones and say, “That book is staying where it is forever. I’ll die before I let him get it back and use it to do what he’s threatened to do to everypony. And that’s my final word on it.”

Lyra looked from her to me and Rarity, and then past us all to the rest of her friends. Or maybe just those who’d once been her friends.

“That’s it?” She said in a voice that sounded hurt and lost. “That’s really it, then?” Just a second long I thought I saw tears in her eyes. She looked down and sighed out so faint I barely heard her over the talk and growls and stamping hooves. “Then I’m sorry, but…” And she raised her head up high and showed no more hurt or regret there as she began to recite words we’d all heard before.

“Holaha! Eroyhe! Strong Alector! Somiator, sleep ye not! I made my wish before this! I make my wish now! I never saw the day my wish did not come true!”

And right then several things all happened at the once. Twilight yelled back, “No!”, and I saw the glow along her horn as she got ready to fight whatair spell Lyra sought to set on us. The timber wolves howled and charged the crowded ponies, and they screamed and dashed air direction all at once like frightened horses will when there’s a wolf in the fold. Captain Bastion went to try and set himself between Rarity and Lyra, and maybe between her and me too. His guards threw their selves at the timber wolves to hold them off from the townsponies. Rarity stiffened and gasped, her eyes wide like she didn’t believe what she saw Lyra doing. And me? I set one hand on Rarity’s withers and the other in my back pocket where I kept The Long Lost Friend, and I started to recite something from it air near as I could remember.

“I, John, go on a journey today. I walk upon God’s way, and walk where God himself walks… I pray that no wolf bite me, no beast tear me, and no murderer secretly approach me. Save me, O God, from sudden death!” And then, because else it sounded selfish to say it just for me right then: “Save my friends from sudden death!”

I heard Lyra finish what she was saying. And something seemed to reach itself into my chest and grab my heart like to crush it to nothing. Pain blew up in me like it set my chest and head on fire. I dropped and felt the dirt of the street scrape across my old jacket. I just thank whoever that I didn’t feel my old guitar smash to splinters under me. I heard someone scream right nearby, the kind of scream a dying horse makes. More screams followed, and I heard Twilight yell out, “Rarity! John!”

Hooves tramped all around me. I curled myself up and they went past without trampling over me. I opened my eyes and winced when the sunlight put nails right into my skull to do it. I blinked and saw Fluttershy standing beside me like to protect me. And then I looked and saw what made me forget about all else.

Captain Bastion lay sprawled in the street, his eyes wide and staring, his mouth wide open, and the blood running from his ears and nose and mouth to stain his white coat and golden armor. He didn’t move or twitch. And beside him lay Rarity. Her eyes were closed like she slept. I saw the least trickle of blood running from her nose and mouth. I started to crawl over to them both. I couldn’t have walked right then for my life. I made it to their sides when Fluttershy laid herself against me, holding me still.

“John,” she said in that soft voice of hers, “Hold very still. Try not to move.” I saw that she didn’t look at me. I wondered what she looked at. And then I heard the growl.

I looked up from where I lay beside one living friend among these ponies and the one dead one and saw one of the timber wolves, stalking closer with air step it took, as it got ready to leap at Fluttershy and me both.

* * *

Twilight’s memories of the next few moments would be an eternal confusion in her mind. She remembered Lyra starting her spellcasting. She cried out in warning and began working her own countermagic. And then the timber wolves charged, snarling and snapping and howling. Ponies screamed in terror and scattered in every direction. Twilight forced herself to ignore it and imagined what it would feel like to stand right beside Lyra, smell her scent and feel that dirt under her feet and hear her voice crying out Thorn’s spell.

A loud snap filled her ears and light flashed as she teleported. Lyra was still calling out the spell as Twilight hurled herself at her.

“—Never saw the day my wish did not come true! Let it be as Master Thorn will – OOF!”

Twilight and Lyra rolled over and over. Lyra cried out in sudden fear and anger. One of her forehooves caught Twilight in the ribs and drove the air from her lungs. From somewhere else far off she heard a scream of dying agony. Twilight collapsed, fighting for breath. She began rising. Lyra yelled. Something small and very, very hard collided with Twilight’s skull right beside her horn. She dropped, her head spinning. Somehow she forced words out.

“Lyra, why? Why are you doing this?” Lyra started to run off, but hesitated, and suddenly bent her head down by Twilight’s ear.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, I’m so sorry, but Thorn has Bon Bon!” Then she turned and charged off towards where John and Rarity and Captain Bastion stood. Twilight turned her throbbing head to watch and froze.

She saw the townsponies fleeing in all directions from the timber wolves. Several of the royal guard fell back before them, trying to shield their flight. She saw a filly from Apple Bloom’s class named Diamond Tiara go running by, screaming as one darted after her and ripped off a swath of hide from her flank, ruining her cutie mark. As it did Applejack lassoed it and pulled hard, and Rainbow Dash darted down on it from above straight into its head hooves first. It gave a yelp that choked off into a wet crunch as it slammed into the ground to lay there unmoving.

She saw Spike running towards her, fear and concern filling his eyes. Then one of the timber wolves hit him and they rolled over and over, the baying monster and a suddenly enraged baby dragon. It yelped and snarled and so did Spike as pieces of bark and wood went flying, ripped away by his claws and fangs. Another of the beasts charged for the townsponies but stopped when Pinkie popped up in front of it. She waved a stick she’d gotten from somewhere and yelled, “Go fetch!”

The timber wolf hopped up and down in a sudden eagerness to play as she tossed it off to the side where nopony stood. The timber wolf charged after it and as it snatched at the stick Pinkie covered her ears. There came a sudden loud boom and the timber wolf disappeared inside of a pink cloud. The monster reappeared, charging away from town, yelping in panic and stained hot pink.

Later Twilight would wonder that she noticed any of those things.

Because she saw Lyra charging towards Rarity and John and Bastion where all three of them lay motionless, with blood running from their mouths and ears and noses. Fluttershy stood between them and a timber wolf as it walked closer, licking its fangs in anticipation. Fluttershy shivered but she held her ground as the monster approached.

No, Twilight thought, No, that can’t have happened, I didn’t fail everypony again, I can’t have let ponies die…

And something growled close by her ear. Twilight turned her head and saw the last timber wolf, the biggest and fiercest of the lot, as it slowly stalked closer to her with every step.

Chapter 14

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 14

“Stay still,” Fluttershy told me and you may well believe that I listened to her right then. The timber wolf came closer, moving slow and crouching down close to the ground the way an animal will when it’s setting itself to leap on you and tear you apart. I lay still with Fluttershy on the one side of me and poor Rarity and Captain Bastion on the other and wondered myself what if anything I could do. Before I could think of airy thing, Fluttershy stepped away from me and towards the timber wolf.

I opened my mouth to call after her and tell her not to do any such fool thing. Before I could she drew herself up and looked it right in the eyes. It got ready to leap. Then it froze as she started speaking to it in a stronger voice than any I thought she owned.

“Look at you! You should be living in the forest, not running around Ponyville and terrorizing innocent ponies! I know we look like dinner to you, but this is still no way for you to behave. Now you turn around right now and march back out of town this instant.”

I reckon I stared at her to hear her say that. I wondered if maybe she’d lost her wits to fear. Then I looked at the timber wolf. It lowered itself like a scolded dog until its belly was against the ground, looking at Fluttershy all the while. It started a-backing away, whimpering. Just as I thought it meant to turn and run, Lyra came charging up and bowled Fluttershy over as she went by her.

“Fluttershy, I’m sorry!” She yelled it at the yellow Pegasus as she ran right by her. She kept galloping right up until she got to Rarity. She shivered and whimpered at the sight of her laying there. She bent her head down and snatched Rarity’s saddlebags up in her teeth. She slung them across her back. Before she ran, she saw how I looked on her.

“You shouldn’t have come!” she said, and sobbed to say it. “Thorne shouldn’t have come, either! I wish I’d never done any of this!” She wheeled and galloped away from the ponies as they all ran and screamed. She headed for the woods, a-crying as she went, “Master Thorne! Master Thorne! I have one of the Elements! Get me out of here now!”

I was about to get up and chase after her when I heard a growl. I looked and saw the timber wolf shaking its head before it turned its cold glowing green eyes back on Fluttershy. She was still getting herself back up. The timber wolf growled again and started for her. And me? I still felt it in my head from whatair spell Lyra used on me, so maybe what I did the next wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve air done. I ran at the timber wolf, yelling and waving my arms.

It flinched and looked away from Fluttershy and at me. Then it gave an almighty big growl and leaped over her to land afore me. I backed off as it came on like an advance agent for Judgment Day, snarling and snapping those thorny fangs together. They sounded like a bear trap’s jaws snapping together, and they wanted to snap right on to me. I heard Fluttershy cry out like she yelled for help. I backed away from it, wondered me if the silver on my guitar would stop it, wondered if I’d have the time or chance to try.

And a purple glow I’d gotten to know came and wrapped itself around the timber wolf. It tried to leap again and yelped when it got stuck floating off the ground. Its legs worked a moment like it tried to grab the air, and then it flew off at the statue in the square. It hit hard and fell. Most of the statue fell atop it and I heard a snapping like branches breaking.

“John! Are you alright?” Twilight said as she came up to me. I saw a knot on her head, right by her horn, and she gasped like she’d been punched hard in the ribs. Fluttershy stood close by her like she wanted to help hold her up. Twilight just shook herself and said again, “Are you okay? And, and Rarity…” She looked on her friend and I saw the hurt in her eyes. I felt it too, the worse in some ways. If I’d been quicker, she’d be alive. But right then neither of us had the time for such thinking.

“Hear me now,” I said to her as I pointed off down the street, “Lyra snatched her saddlebag, the one with the Element in it, and ran off that way. She’s a-yelling for Thorne to help her. Do you want him to get his hands on any of these Elements of yours?”

She started like I’d near about thrown cold water in her face. She turned and charged off after Lyra.

* * *

Twilight zigzagged across the town square at a full gallop, ignoring the stitch in her side and the way every strike of her hooves against the dirt sent spikes of pain through her skull. One of her best friends lay cold and still behind her, as did Bastion, and maybe more ponies soon to join them both. She’d heard cries of agony as she threw the one timber wolf away from John and Fluttershy into that statue hard enough to kill it. Part of her felt horror at her use of unicorn magic to kill and at how easy it’d been.

And then there was the other part of her that felt a savage satisfaction in seeing what she’d done to something that threatened her friends’ lives.

The author of it all grew larger in her vision as Twilight shot under an archway between two shops onto Library Lane. She saw the sweat along Lyra’s sea-foam green sides as she galloped, heard her sobbing for breath as she cried out to Thorn for help. Twilight wondered why she didn’t just teleport before realizing that the power of the Element must be stopping her. But most of all Twilight saw those saddlebags hanging over her flanks. White saddlebags, embroidered with three blue gems. Rarity’s saddlebags.

Her dead friend’s saddlebags.

Who’d died because Twilight failed her.

“No!” Twilight gasped as they passed the Riches’ mansion, both sets of hooves thundering. Library Lane opened onto another, smaller square, the one with Sugarcube Corner and the old well. Dirt clods flew from under Lyra’s hooves as she aimed for another archway on the far side, the one that led past the Library onto the Everfree Road. And Thorn.

Twilight grabbed the fire in her head and used it to power her teleport. The world exploded around her a second time, sending stars through her vision. But when it cleared she stood in the archway, facing a fast-approaching Lyra.

Lyra’s eyes engulfed her face. She tried to veer around Twilight and keep running. Twilight reared and brought her hooves down into Lyra’s face. She felt the shock of impact along her forelegs and heard Lyra’s shriek as she dropped, a hoofmark right by her horn. Where she hit me, Twilight thought, and felt her anger burn higher in her at it.

“LYRA HEARTSTRINGS!” The words boomed out of her. Her head felt like it wanted to split open, but that was unimportant now. Nothing meant anything but dealing with Lyra here and now. Twilight glared at Lyra, her eyes and horn glowing with a magic surge. Lyra got back on her hooves and shrank back, shaking and eyes wide as Twilight shrieked at her.

“YOU KILLED RARITY!” Lyra turned to run. Oh, no, that’s not happening. Twilight reached out with her telekinesis even as she thought it. Lyra gave a little shriek as she was snatched up off the ground, all four legs flailing. Twilight yanked her back to face her eye to eye. Lyra somehow started shaking even more.

“You killed Captain Bastion! You almost got Fluttershy killed!” With every accusation, Twilight tightened her grip on Lyra and gave her a shake. Lyra’s panic-stricken whimpering only enraged her further. “You tried to kill John, and you tried to kill me! And you were about to give Rarity’s Element of Harmony to Thorn after you stole it from her body!” Lyra’s half-voiced pleading was more of a wheezing now, mixed with gagging and choking. Twilight realized she was on the verge of strangling Lyra and found the thought oddly pleasing. The pain in her head became a roar as she got ready to bring her telekinetic ‘hands’ together around Lyra’s neck until they met in the middle. The green unicorn pleaded at her with her eyes. Twilight hissed in a voice as gentle as dragonfire, “Do you have anything to say before I give you what you deserve, murderer?”

Lyra didn’t, couldn’t, speak. Pain and terror chased their tails in her eyes as she cringed and kicked.

“Please,” she finally whimpered, “Please, don’t kill me.”

Twilight almost laughed in her face at the thought that Lyra dared to try and ask for mercy now, and slowly began to crush her neck. But then she looked into Lyra’s face again. And froze.

Tears spilled down Lyra’s cheeks, urine splashed into the packed dirt beneath the archway as her bladder let go. She shook helplessly, shivering like young filly Twilight once did when she’d tried to hide from a solar eclipse, convinced that a bad dragon just ate Celestia. All Twilight could see was fear in Lyra’s eyes. Fear of her.

“No!” Twilight cried out as she dropped Lyra into the mud puddle of her own urine. Twilight found herself panting as though she’d run the Running of the Leaves all over again. She looked at Lyra. The other unicorn cringed from her.

“Don’t hurt me,” she whimpered. Twilight took a step towards her. Lyra scooted back, on her belly, shaking. “Please. Please. Don’t kill me. I – I – I never wanted any of this to happen, I was just so happy I had proof humans were real, and Thorn promised he’d teach me great things, and, and then you all refused to just give his spellbook back, a-and,” she swallowed hard and said, “Then I said those words Thorn taught me, and everypony was running and screaming, and Rarity…”

“Those ‘words’ were Nightmares and Windigos, called upon to kill!”

“What? No!” Lyra choked at Twilight’s words and said, “B-but Master Thorn told me it was just an apportation spell. It was supposed to bring you to him in Sunny Town so he could talk it all over with you again, a-and…” She shivered and said, quieter than ever, “Did I really kill her? Am I evil?”

“Lyra, I’m sorry, I…” Twilight shook herself and felt her wits return. “Lyra, please, give up now! We’ll help you save Bon Bon, I swear, but you can’t give one of the Elements to Thorn!”

Lyra looked very strange then, as though she wanted to beg for help and run all at once. Twilight somehow thought of a pony trapped inside a cage, frightened to leave but even more frightened of what waited for her outside. She opened her mouth, to defy Twilight, beg her for help, whatever, she didn’t know.

Then Twilight felt something familiar, what she’d felt in the library when Lyra spell-bound her and the others, and Lyra vanished from under her eyes. One second she lay there and the next came the soft pop of air rushing in to fill the space where she’d been. Rarity’s saddlebags went with her.

Twilight stared, unwilling to accept what she’d seen and what it meant. She’d let Lyra get away or be taken away by Thorn’s magic. Thorn had one of the Elements now.

And it was all her fault.

She turned and began heading back into the square, her head lower than her withers. She wondered if the fight was still on, but by the time she got there it looked to be over judging by the lack of screams and timber wolf snarls. Pained whimpers filled the air as she saw Nurse Redheart and Tenderheart as well as a pair of the Guardsponies taking care of the wounded. Tenderheart seemed to be living up to her name, looking shocked, but Redheart moved with efficiency as she directed the help being given to the injured ponies. Several of the guardsponies were among them, as well as some of the Ponyville ponies. A quick fear went through her. She looked closer and relaxed slightly. None of them were anypony she knew well. The few Guardsponies still up and uninjured were stumbling around the square, their barding battered and dented with bite marks from the timber wolves. Some of them had greenish sap from the timber wolves smeared on their forehooves and along their armored greaves. One or two just stood still, supported by other ponies and shaking as the aftermath of the fight washed over them. One Night Guard staggered by her, shivering, his face a mask of blood from a wound on his scalp. Two of the Day Guard immediately went on either side of him and supported him as they led him to their pavilion.

The bodies of the timber wolves lay there as well, bulking large and ugly amid their own splinters. Part of her wondered what they would do with them. They’d have to drag them out of town and burn them, wouldn’t they? One lay smoldering and broken, like it’d already been partly burned. Another pair lay nearby, one looking like it’d been trampled to ribbons – Twilight guessed that to be from the Guardsponies – and the other displaying a pair of ragged holes blasted completely through. The two unicorn Spellguards were going around, checking the other timber wolves, their horns glowing as they kept battle spells ready.

Something CRUNCHed nearby. She looked and saw Rainbow Dash finish stamping in the skull of the timber wolf Twilight remembered throwing into the statue. Dash looked battered but otherwise okay. She rose back into the air, her wings beating furiously and sap dripping from her hooves. She headed for the next fallen timber wolf. Once there she flew up and then power-dived, driving her hooves into its skull with the CRACK of splintering wood. It twitched once but did nothing else. Dash looked around for more, anger in her eyes and tears streaking her cheeks. Twilight stepped forward, wanting to beg her to stop.

“Don’t, Twi,” Applejack said nearby. She walked out from behind the nearest fallen timber wolf. She looked as banged-up as Dash, and like her, the marks of tears showed on her cheeks. But when she spoke, a low fury boiled in her voice. “This is something she’s just plain gotta do.”

“This,” Twilight began, looking around, hearing the whimpers and sobs of pain, smelling blood, “This wasn’t supposed to happen, AJ. How could we, I, let this happen?”

“Weren’t any of us, Twi,” Applejack responded. “It’s Thorn an’ Lyra. Speakin’ o’ which,” she walked around Twilight and looked her in the eyes, “Where is she?”

“She, she teleported away,” Twilight answered her. Applejack said nothing, but Twilight looked down in shame. “I wasn’t able to stop Thorn from yanking her out. She got away with Rarity’s Element.” Applejack said nothing, but the breath hissed from between her teeth. Twilight quickly added, “It should be okay. Thorn can’t use it against us.”

“An’ we can’t use it or ours against him,” Applejack said, sounding just a little more tired than a moment before. She looked over to the side and added, her voice thickened with hurt, “Not that we coulda anyhow.”

Twilight’s gaze followed her. She felt her heart freeze as she heard Spike crying. The little dragon rocked back and forth, cradling Rarity’s head in his arms. He looked more battered than Twilight could ever remember, steaming blood trickling from several cuts and bites. Captain Bastion lay beside Rarity. Thankfully somepony had set a blanket across him, covering his face. John stood nearby, looking over the wreckage in the square like someone who’d seen this all before.

Spike looked at Twilight. For a moment his face brightened. Then the grief came back onto it as he turned back to Rarity. Twilight walked up to her. John went with her, and the rest of her friends gathered around. Twilight looked at them. Applejack held her hat in her hooves. Pinkie looked stunned. Fluttershy went to comfort Spike, tears filling her own eyes. Anger and grief chased their tails across Rainbow Dash’s face. Then she looked at John, and the anger drove the grief away.

“You!” she spat at him, “You were supposed to make stuff like this not happen! We trusted you, and ponies died because of it. Rarity died because of it! What good are you?” Twilight saw John’s hands double into fists at the accusation like he wanted to strike her. Instead he looked past Dash at Rarity. His eyes narrowed. He walked past Dash and knelt down by Rarity. She started after him, her eyes blazing. “You think you can just walk away from me? LISTEN UP, YOU BUCKING HAIRLESS MONKEY –”

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy flew up in front of her, looking angry herself. Dash dropped to the ground, looking surprised, as Fluttershy said, “This isn’t John’s fault! We brought him here! He warned us all how dangerous Thorn can be. We’ve got no right to be angry with him because Thorn,” her voice choked and she pointed at Rarity, “Because of what happened. We just have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Dash snorted, her ears flat and eyes burning. Pinkie and Applejack came up on either side of her and began talking to her quietly. Dash looked like she wanted to weep. Instead, she gave a fierce glare off towards the Everfree. Her wings flared and beat and she rose up off the ground like she wanted to fly there and fight it out with Thorn right then.

“Dash, no!” Twilight grabbed her with her telekinesis. She returned Dash’s glare with one equally fierce. “Listen, more than ever, we need a plan! If we go rushing off then Thorn will just do to us what he did to Rarity, and…”

“And I crave your pardon,” John said from here he knelt, and he sounded very happy indeed, “but Rarity’s not dead.”

* * *

“Rarity’s not dead,” It felt right good to say those words, maybe better than I thought it would feel given that I’d only known these ponies one day and most of another.

It’d been a scary few minutes there after Twilight chased Lyra out of the square. I’d nair thought she could do what she did, when she glowed like a falling star and hurled that timber wolf into the statue hard enough to shatter both. I near about ran after her before I looked and saw Fluttershy a-lying there stunned. I didn’t see any way I could get across the square as Twilight went running after Lyra, so I stood by Fluttershy and tried to protect her as best I could. Though after what she’d done, I wondered if maybe she wouldn’t be the one protecting me.

As for what else I saw, it was too much like what I’d seen in the Army in wartimes. The ponies might not have looked much like human people, but they screamed and ran and bled and died just like any man of woman born. I saw the one timber wolf leap on little Spike before they both went a-rolling over, the timber wolf snarling and Spike yelling words none of us would want written for our last. I wanted to go and try to help, but Applejack lassoed it by the neck and yanked it back from him. It snapped and snarled those thorny teeth together. Dash dropped on its head like a hammer, hooves first, just as Spike breathed his fire into it. It caught and screamed once like any dying dog before Dash broke its skull in. It went down and stayed there. Dash and Applejack raced off to find another of the timber wolves. And Spike just raced to Rarity’s side, where he held her head up and wept.

Past that I caught sight of one of the other timber wolves, backing away from several of those armored Guardsponies. They’d dart in on the one side, rearing up to lash out with steel-clad hooves and what looked like ax-blades set along their fetlocks like a rooster’s spurs, and when it turned on them they’d fall back and the ones on the other side would rush in at it. Once, twice, one of those brave ponies got hurled away with a scream and in a flurry of blood and feathers. Where they fell, they didn’t move again. I saw the two unicorn guards nearby, with things like spears made of light forming out of their horns. One of the local ponies ran past the timber wolf, a-trying to get away. It snarled and leapt on him. He screamed the once and then he hung from its jaws by his neck. It shook its head back and forth like a dog trying to kill a rat. The pony screamed and sobbed. I snatched up a rock and hurled it, hitting it on the ear. It hurled him away, yanked its head around and growled at me. Near as soon as it did, those spears of light shot from those unicorns’ horns right through it like bazooka rockets into a tank, wood chips flying everywhere. It howled once and then the Guardsponies swarmed all over it. Their plunging hooves and sharpened spurs rose and fell like they were stomping out a fire. It went down, but they trampled a little more before they stopped.

And when they did, I realized the fight was over. I saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash going from one timber wolf to another, making sure they were dead. No more sounds but sobbing and ponies begging for help. I went to try and do whatair I could. If you’d been there I reckon you’d have done the same.

“No, John!” Fluttershy came up by me and set herself between me and the rest of the square. I made to protest but she put her hoof on my chest and made me stand still, saying, “You were hit by that spell that,” she choked, “That killed Rarity and Bastion. Just, just sit down for a few moments. You won’t do anypony any good if you hurt yourself worse.” She spoke the truth, though right then I didn’t want to hear such a thing.

Past her I saw three-four ponies with cutie marks like red crosses come racing into the square. They set to helping the ponies they found. By one or two ponies I saw them look at the one leading them, a white mare with a pink mane and tail. She looked at them and shook her head no, and they went to other ponies. It made me feel a little cold to see it. I saw how Fluttershy watched, and wondered if I ought to say to her what it meant.

“Those are the ones nopony can help,” she said, her voice soft and sorrowing. One of them lay flat and still, which was a mercy. The other looked around, his eyes wide with fear, like he asked for someone to come be by him. Fluttershy started to go to him. She stopped and looked at me like she pleaded for permission. I just gave her a little shove. She settled over down by him and talked to him soft and gentle.

I shuddered to look around that square, and no mistake. It looked a ruin, like air town or village I’d seen in my Army days after the fighting ended and naught remained but broken bodies and folks weeping and wondering why this had ever happened to them. I looked at Rarity where she lay like she slept and wondered myself how I’d tell her little sister what had befallen. I’ve told folks a few times afore that ones they loved were gone to the place no one air returns from. Each time I did I nair wanted to do it again.

And yet I wondered myself as I watched and saw her bleeding from her mouth and nose and a cut on her leg. That meant something, but right then I was too foolish from being afeared and from that spell to think rightly what.

Right about then Twilight came back into the square. She stopped by Applejack and they spoke. Then they both headed for me where I stood, and where Rarity lay. Fluttershy came away from the pony she’d been speaking to. I saw some blood on her side from where she’d laid by him, and tears on her cheeks. He lay still and quiet behind her. Pinkie Pie followed, her mane looking like it lay near flat. We all stood there. None of us spoke for a second.

And then Dash flew at me. She looked like she wanted to either cry or hit someone or both. She said things I like to think she didn’t mean right then, and I worked right hard to stay calm my own self. Fluttershy flew to her and talked to her right sharp, a-telling her not to go blaming me for what happened. And while they did, I went to Rarity to see about that thing I’d wondered.

Spike didn’t notice as I knelt down by her. He looked too lost in his own grief. I saw how she still bled just a little. That wondered me, and I remembered. Dead people and ponies don’t bleed.

“I crave your pardon,” I said to all her friends, feeling happier than I’d been to say it, “But Rarity’s not dead.” They just turned and stared at me. I set my hand on her neck and held it there. You could feel the life in her, slow and gentle.

“John, what?” Fluttershy came up, and then she looked at the little trickle of blood. Her eyes went wide and I knew she understood what it meant. “Girls! Spike! John’s right! Rarity is alive!”

Spike looked up at me, sudden and hopeful. Twilight and the rest rushed over. They all took turns checking Rarity’s pulse and saw that she lived, she’d just been knocked cold. They all joined me in slapping her cheeks and rubbing along her legs, trying to wake her up. Right soon she groaned in an elegant kind of way and stirred.

“Ohh, my head,” she moaned, rubbing one hoof against her head by her horn. She looked up at us all. “Girls, what happened? Why are you all staring at me like that?” She might could have said more but I didn’t hear it, because right then Spike whooped and hugged her. Twilight and the others weren’t far behind, and they all wept and embraced each other. I took a step back. Right then it didn’t feel like I should be there. But Rarity said, “Girls, please! I have to ask John something.” They stepped back from her, smiling more than I ever thought airy soul could smile. Rarity got up from the street, wincing. She said to me, “What did you say, right before that spell hit? And why am I lying in this dirty street? My tail and mane are a mess!” Only then did she look around, and she gave a gasp.

“It was another one of those spells from The Long-Lost Friend,” I told her. “I said it as quick as I could when I saw what Lyra meant to do, and it looks like it helped.” I looked over to where Bastion lay. Some of his pegasi picked him up and were bearing him back into his pavilion. The ladies and Spike looked at him and went somber again. Past them, I saw the two Guard unicorns use their magic to help carry hurting ponies off. I said, “It helped some, just nowhere near enough.”

“I’m still alive, which I’m happy for,” Rarity said to me. She smiled, and if it looked weak, it still brought some heart back into me. “And John, I’m afraid that what happened would have happened under any circumstances. Something tells me that Lyra would have turned those timber wolves on us in any event.” She shook her head, slow and sad. “I simply cannot believe it. Lyra, of all ponies. How could she do this?”

“Don’t be too hard on her,” Twilight said, sounding tired herself. “When I had her cornered, she told me that Thorne is using Bon Bon to force her to obey. And that she didn’t know what that spell would do. Thorne lied and told her it was meant to teleport some of us off to him rather than a killing spell.”

“That sounds kindly like the sort of low-down thing he’d do,” I added. Twilight nodded me.

“Yeah,” she said, “And then Thorne snatched her away with his magic. Girls, John, I’m so sorry, but Thorne,” she choked and brought herself back under control, “Thorne has your Element, Rarity!”

Her friends stared, all but Rarity, and I reckon I did too. I didn’t know all about the powers of their Elements, but I knew they needed them all to stop Thorne. I wondered what we might could do next.

And then Rarity just laughed, soft and clear.

“Oh dear,” she said, shaking her head. “Twilight, are you quite certain that Thorne snatched Lyra away with those saddlebags of mine?”

“I was there, Rarity. I saw him do it!”

Rarity looked around at us all and smiled.

“I hope the poor dear doesn’t get in too much trouble,” she said. “You see, my Element is safe back at Carousel Boutique. I had my sister’s new capes in my saddlebags! I so wanted to work on them for her. That and,” she gave Spike a sad look. “Spike, darling, I was going to do something special for you with that fire ruby you gave me a few months back. But now it’s gone. I so hope you can forgive me.”

* * *

A few hours later, things finally started to settle down in Ponyville Emergency Care. Twilight sighed and sank down on her haunches in the small examination room room given to her and her friends. Most of the rest of the small hospital was filled with the wounded from the attack. Thankfully, most would not only live but be perfectly fine in a day or so. The few more seriously injured were being seen to and it looked like they would recover, according to what Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie told her.

All save, of course, the two townsponies and three Royal Guards in the morgue. Twilight shivered at the memory. Ponies had been killed in Ponyville. And it could happen again.

The least injured of all her friends, including Spike and John, immediately volunteered to assist Nurse Redheart and the rest of the staff upon arrival at the hospital. First, however, Fluttershy insisted on checking out John, Spike, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and herself. The nurses didn’t fuss much with Fluttershy’s decision. They seemed frightened of John, and gladly gave him room. Fortunately their injuries turned out to be minor, with Spike the worst hurt, and even he was ambulatory. Thinking of that, Twilight removed the ice bag from her head with only a slight wince and looked at her assistant.

“Hey, Twi,” Spike said. He sounded more tired than hurt, in spite of the bandages covering his injuries. Rarity sat next to him where she’d fussed over ‘her Spikey-wikey’ for the past hour or so. Her Element showed at her neck. Rainbow Dash had flown to her shop and fetched it back, informing them that Rarity’s parents were there. They’d heard the commotion – though thankfully not about Rarity’s near-death – and announced they were staying there with the Cutie Mark Crusaders until Rarity returned home. Spike must have noticed her concern, for he puffed up his chest and said, “I feel a lot better than I look right now.”

“You’d better,” Twilight said to him. “We’re going to have one hay of a letter to send Princess Celestia after this.” He groaned audibly, and she smiled. “We can wait a bit, though.” Spike smiled and sat back against Rarity. She looked much better herself, as did John. The effects of Lyra’s attempted death-spell seemed to wear off swiftly.

“We can’t wait any too long, Twi,” Applejack said from where she sat herself. Dash hovered nearby, calmer than before but still looking much like a lightning bolt getting ready to strike. AJ added, “I don’t want Thorn to try an’ get any more bright ideas. He did enough damage already for one day.”

“Ahh, we kicked his flank but good,” Dash said. She puffed herself up and threw her mane back with one hoof. “Right now he’s probably giving Lyra a hard time for snatching those capes and that ruby.”

“I purely hope so,” John said where he sat on the floor, his guitar across his lap. His injuries were minor, and when his offer to help the doctors and nurses was politely if fearfully turned down, he’d gone back to his guitar, checking it over and making sure it was still in one piece. Occasionally he’d played something quiet on it, no words, just music, but when he did Twilight and her friends made sure to listen. None of them were songs he’d played in her hearing before. She wondered how many of those mountain songs he knew and how many more he didn’t know.

“I purely hope so,” John repeated himself, “Because this was bad enough, and you pardon my saying it. We know about those timber wolves now, and the things from Sunny Town. What all else is there in the Everfree Forest that Thorn might could send at this town or us?”

“Ahhh, nothing much,” Pinkie said. She’d been on her hooves most of the day, and had been dashing in and out of the room to assist the nurses and other ponies, but she still seemed full of energy. “Normal stuff, mostly. One or two dragons, that hydra in Froggy Bottom, parasprites once in a while, manticores, the Ursas, some cockatrices...” Pinkie rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Oh, and Steve Magnet, but he’s okay.”

“That all is normal?” John blinked at what she’d said. “Wait, what about this friend Steve of yours? Any chance Thorn might try something with him?”

“Not really,” Twilight giggled at the idea. “Not unless he wants a fight with a river serpent who can control all the water in his river. That might be a bit much, even for Thorn.”

“A river serpent?” By the look on his face, John must have felt foolish to be repeating Twilight’s words to her. Rarity answered in her stead.

“Oh yes, and he’s such a dear. When we first met I cut off a piece of my tail for him when Nightmare Moon tried to use him against us. He visits sometimes along the river here in town, but not too often. He frightens ponies for some reason.” Twilight thought John looked like he wanted to say something to that, but he must have realized what it would sound like coming from him. Instead, he just asked another question.

“Is there airy other friend of yours in there, we might need to worry about?”

“Only Zecora,” Twilight said, “But she knows the forest pretty well. She should be safe.” Then, feeling curious, she asked him, “John, you seem surprised at what we’ve got in the Everfree. What kind of monsters do they have in your mountains?”

“Well, there’s…” He began, and then stopped. Twilight turned to the door of the room. She could hear voices outside, angry ones. Nurse Redheart was one of them. She sounded short and angry with whoever spoke to her.

“I will not have you barging into my hospital, bothering my patients, and I don’t care who you are! Now you just turn around and leave now!”

“We’ll leave,” an angry voice answered her, and she recognized it as Filthy Rich’s, “after we’ve had our say. Twilight and her friends and that, that thing have no right to allow their private problems to get ponies killed!”

Twilight looked at her friends. They were all standing now. Rainbow Dash, to her surprise, hovered between John and the door. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

Outside, she saw who she’d expected to see. Nurse Redheart stood defiantly between the door and the ponies facing her, most of them Ponyville’s more well-to-do citizens. Mayor Ivory Scroll stood there, looking decidedly unhappy. Next to her Filthy Rich stood with a bandage on one foreleg and his ears down as he glared at her. A silvery grey earth pony stood behind him. Twilight remembered him as the father of Silver Spoon, a nasty filly she’d heard about from Apple Bloom once or twice. Behind them, one or two other ponies she knew nothing of aside from their being business owners in town. Most of them looked more frightened than angry. Nurse Redheart looked over her shoulder when the door opened.

“Oh, Miss Sparkle! There’s nothing wrong here, you can rest and…”

“No, she can’t,” Filthy Rich said as he pushed past Redheart to glare into Twilight’s face. His friends seemed content to stand back and let him appoint himself their representative. “Young mare, we need to talk, right now, about the trouble you and your friends and,” he jerked his head at John, “That, are bringing into our town.”

“Thorn sent Lyra here,” Twilight said to him calmly, remembering what she’d read about conflict resolving. It helped keep her mind off of things like thinking how much she’d like to telekinetically toss Filthy through the nearest window. “We didn’t bring her or those timber wolves here. Thorn sent that trouble here. And he,” she nodded at John, “Has a name, and it’s John.”

“Well then, you and John,” Filthy laid a venomous emphasis on his name, “Need to listen to what we’ve decided about how to deal with Thorn.” He swept one hoof back to take in the Mayor and the other ponies with them. Mayor Ivory Scroll at least was decent enough to look Twilight in the face. The others seemed either too embarrassed or too frightened to do even that much. Filthy added, “Somepony has to do something, after all. You and your friends haven’t stopped him.”

“We’re working on it,” she said, knowing how weak it sounded. Filthy snorted at her words.

“There’s no further need for that,” he said, a little more calmly. Twilight worried that she knew what he intended to say next. “It’s simple. Thorn wants his spellbook back. Go and give it to him.”

“Are you crazy?” Rainbow Dash almost shouted it out before saying in a lower but still loud voice, “That thing nearly drove Twilight nuts, and from what her and John said, it’d only be worse if he got it back!” Filthy gave her a cold look. Dash began to ruffle up, looking ready to fight before AJ got a grip on her tail and pulled her back down.

“Yes,” Filthy said to her, pointing at John, “He said that. Do you know if it’s true?” He looked ready to say more but right then John stepped up to stand before him, towering over the stallion. Applejack stayed by him, looking as though she expected she’d have to hold him back next. The other ponies with Filthy stepped back, but he held his ground, though he flattened his ears in his fear.

“I hope you didn’t call me a liar there, friend,” John said to Filthy. “I nair lied with airy thing I said to Twilight or any pony here about either Thorn or his spellbook. I know about the Letters of Cold Fire from what I heard from people back in my own place who fought it and the people who made it. It’s the worst kind of bad thing, and if Thorn gets it back, he’ll do worse than he’s already done to this town and air pony in it.” He bent over Filthy Rich and added in a cooler tone, “And if you say you think that either me or my friends here are liars either one, then I’ll be asking you outside and see if I can’t teach you some better manners. I don’t lie and I don’t appreciate being called a liar, by either a man or a pony.”

Filthy took a step back, his tail swishing. Judging by the look Twilight saw on the Mayor’s face, she didn’t look like she’d be sorry to see Filthy get his flank bucked. But she still stepped up to speak.

“No one here is calling you a liar, Mister John. But this is the first time in decades that monsters from the Everfree have come right into the town, and it’s been longer since we had any kind of violence like this here!” Her words sounded as heartfelt as Filthy’s, if a touch less arrogant. “Thorn’s shown us all how powerful and fearless he is…”

“No he hasn’t,” John answered her, “and I beg your pardon for interrupting, ma’am. Thorn’s shown nothing but that he’s a scared out coward. Airy soul can hide and shoot people dead when they don’t even know what he’s about. And he’s not powerful. He’s lost every fight he’s made against you ponies, even before I showed up here.”

“How do ya figger that?” Applejack asked, curious, and Twilight had to agree with her.

“She’s right, John. Thorn’s done pretty well so far…” She broke off as John shook his head at her.

“No he hasn’t, and I’ll tell you how,” he said, holding up fingers and ticking points off on them. “The first night he came here, he hoped to scare all you ponies into falling down and doing whatair he said, and he tried to make Twilight set Discord free again.” Twilight heard a sudden intake of breath from Filthy and the Mayor and the rest. She realized that she should have told John not to mention some things. He went on, saying, “He failed at the both of them. Only the one of you went over to him, and from what Twilight said she’s wanting to get away from him right now. And she didn’t free Discord. The next was when I came through from my own home place and met Apple Bloom in the Everfree. Thorn tried to set something of his on her and kill her for whatair reason, but she and I stopped it. Then he sent Lyra into the library and tried a-using her to get his spellbook back, and that didn’t work.” Twilight found herself nodding, and she saw several of the ponies with the Mayor were also doing so and looking a little more hopeful. Spike groaned behind her.

“Twi? I feel kind of weird.”

“Not right now, Spike,” she shushed him as she listened to John.

“And now, today, he sent Lyra and those monsters into Ponyville. He tried to kill some of the Element-bearers here, and he tried to kill me, but he did nair such thing. He didn’t even snatch Rarity’s Element from her like he wanted.” Rarity preened and showed it off where it hung around her neck. John looked at Twilight and then at the Mayor. “He wants air soul to think he’s stronger than everyone, but right now he’s losing every fight he gets in. And air fight he loses makes him the weaker, and us the stronger.”

“Well then, should we just wait for him to make more attacks on Ponyville so you can beat him again?” Filthy asked sarcastically. John shook his head at him.

“No, because we’ll be finding him after we leave here,” Twilight wondered how, but she didn’t say it, “And then Twilight and her friends will use their Elements on him. And after that, he’ll be put past any troublemaking, here or air other place, ever again.” Filthy and the others looked at him, and then at Twilight and her friends. They seemed far less sure now than a moment before. With a sigh Filthy turned and trotted out the door, followed by the others. The Mayor lingered long enough to give Twilight a hopeful smile before she also left. Nurse Redheart followed them, and Twilight closed the door.

“That sounded mighty good there, John,” Applejack said as the door shut, and Rainbow Dash added, “Yeah, we’ve been kicking Thorn’s flank for him! Maybe we should just let him try an’ attack again, and then beat him when he comes at us?”

“That’d be a bad idea,” John said, shaking his head at her. “Someone wants to fight you, they’ll come at you whatair way they please and then you have to face them when and where and how they want to face you. We want to be picking out our own place and time, and make Thorn fight us there. Someone wants to box you, wrestle him, and if he wants to wrestle you, box him.” Twilight didn’t quite get the metaphor. To her surprise, Pinkie spoke up.

“Yeah, it’s like a really great game of checkers or tic-tac-toe, you can’t win unless you start making your own moves. Like this one time I played Rarity, and I won best fifty-four of eighty-one, and then she went first and I started to lose for the first time since ever, and…”A bandage surrounded by the glow of Rarity’s magic went around her muzzle.

“Ahh, I think we understand, dear,” Rarity said hurriedly. Ignoring Pinkie’s glare, she said, “Twilight, dear, if Thorn is in the Everfree somewhere, then we need to ask Zecora for help in finding him.”

“You’re right, Rarity,” Twilight said. She turned to the door and began opening it. She heard her friends getting up behind her. “We’d better get going if we want to get to Zecora’s before nightfall, and...” She broke off at a groan from Spike.

She turned to look directly at hm. “You okay?”

“Maybe not,” Spike answered her. He was scratching at himself like he itched everywhere at once. “I feel weird, Twi. Like something’s tugging on me, and—“

He vanished, and something dropped to the floor where he’d been standing. John exclaimed something that didn’t sound like a blessing. Dash added something that definitely wasn’t one. Rarity gave a gasp and picked up the object on the floor with her magic.

They all gathered around to look at it. Twilight brought it closer to her eyes with her own magic. It looked like a crude little doll of Spike, made from purple and green cloth, and with a long steel needle thrust through the chest.

“It’s a poppet.”

“John, what…?” Twilight said. She looked at him and wondered how he could look as grey as she felt.

“It’s something used in witch magic,” he said, his voice low. “You make an image kindly like someone, and if you have something of theirs to use, either some hair or blood from them or something they wore, you can use it to either kill or tole the person it’s made to resemble to you from whereair they are.”

“And the needle?” Rarity asked, her voice shaky.

John just looked at her. “Miss Rarity,” he said, “I kindly doubt you need me to tell you what that means, or what Thorn’s a-threatening to do by sending it here after taking Spike.”

“But, no,” Twilight said, unwilling to say it out loud but feeling forced to. She felt her blood running cold. “Spike’s not much more than a hatchling. Thorn wouldn’t…” And then a new and horrifying thought struck her. She looked at Rarity. “Rarity, he must have used the fire ruby, you had it in your saddlebags.”

“What? No!” the elegant unicorn said in return as she looked at Twilight. “Twilight, darling, I’m so sorry, I’ll go and bring Spike back myself, I swear.”

“No, no,” Twilight said, the words rushing out of her, “That’s not it. Rarity, what else did you have in your saddlebags?”

“The ruined Cutie Mark Crusader capes Sweetie Belle made for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo and herself –“ Rarity got no further. Her eyes widened, then shrank down to pinpricks.

“Sweetie Belle,” she moaned out. Before any of them could stop her she galloped out of the room so fast she seemed to almost teleport. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were hot on her hooves behind her.

“Girls, wait!” They ignored Twilight as they raced out of the hospital, leaving yelling ponies in their wake. Twilight pounded after them, John racing along nearby on his long legs. She could hear Pinkie and Fluttershy behind her, racing to keep up. Twilight saw Rarity galloping as fast as she’d ever seen her run, her long tail hanging out straight behind her as she raced for Carousel Boutique. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were the two best athletes in Ponyville and they only barely seemed to be pacing her as she charged through the town and over the bridge and railroad tracks to the front door of her Boutique. AJ and Dash followed her in. A moment later Twilight and John reached the doors.

Don’t let it be true, Twilight thought as she headed for the stairs. She dimly caught sight of Rarity’s parents off to the side, ignored their cries for an explanation as she pounded up the stairs. Not after everything else, please no please no…

And then she heard the panic-stricken neighing of ponies coming from Sweetie Belle’s room.

She ran down the hallway and entered it, dreading what she expected to find. The breath sobbed from her lungs. John stuck close behind her, and she heard him breathing hard.

Rarity sobbed as she lay beside the bed. Dash and AJ held her, tears flowing down their own faces. Twilight stepped past them to the pillow and what lay there. She barely heard more hooves pounding up the stairs or John when he spoke to her from the door.

“He’s got them, hasn’t he?”

“Yes,” Twilight said dully. She lifted the three poppets, of a pale yellow earth pony with a bow in her red mane, a purple-maned and tailed orange Pegasus with small wings, and a little white unicorn with a cotton-candy mane. She showed them to John, the steel needles driven through them. By now Fluttershy and Pinkie had caught up, and she heard them gasp. “He’s got them, and he left something for us.”

“Well, whatever is it?”

Twilight silently showed it to him, just as Rarity’s mother screamed behind her. It was a piece of parchment, tightly rolled and tied in a ribbon. It looked almost mockingly like her friendship reports to Celestia, save for the writing on it in symbols she couldn’t read. She didn’t need to be able to read them. She knew what they meant.

PLEASE GIVE THIS TO MY FELLOW HUMAN, SILVER JOHN

Chapter 15

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 15

I took that letter from Twilight where she held it. The English writing on it showed plain and clear. Maybe another time it would have made me feel the better, to see a language I didn’t need magic to speak or read, but not then. Not when I knew the only person it could have come from. I started a-reading it.

By now Rarity’s parents were upstairs with us all. Two unicorns, the white stallion with a black upper lip that made him look like he wore a mustache and the pink mare with her mane all piled up like a beehive. They’d pushed by me and were with their daughter, asking the kind of foolish questions most folks seem to at such times, be they human or pony. They gave me frightened and fearful looks. Her mother was weeping to see her younger daughter gone, and her father made to ask me something, but Rarity pulled herself up straight where she sat and spoke in a voice that had the tears but not the hurt gone from it.

“John, perhaps you could tell us what exactly Thorne says in his letter?” Her lovely voice sounded brittle but steady to say it. Her parents started to say something but she shushed them, as polite as ever, and they fell still. I caught the look she and Applejack and Rainbow Dash aside her were all giving me as she said, “I think we all ought to know just what kind of demands he’s making, though I think we can all guess.”

I reckon I shuddered the least little bit and felt glad I wasn’t the one those three wanted to get right then. Not with the looks they showed in their eyes.

“She’s right, John,” Twilight said, nodding at me. “Better we should all hear this now, so we can decide on whatever we’ll have to do.”

I a-started to read out loud as they wished.

My Dear Silver John,

On the outside of this letter just now I referred to you as my fellow, and I hope that wish proves true. I failed just recently in my efforts at killing you and Twilight Sparkle, and I confess myself glad that I did so. I understand that you and those ponies probably feel some animosity towards me right now, but let me remind you, had you and they returned my grimoire to me none of that would have occurred. However, that is all in the past, and let it remain there.

Right now I happen to have some relatives of your newfound friends as guests of mine. I brought them here before I claimed the little dragon, and I daresay they were quite surprised to see me and my, well, let us say my current associates. As to how, well, suffice to say that I said certain words and made certain gestures unknown to you –

“I’ve got a gesture for him right about now,” I heard Rainbow Dash say afore the others shushed her. Twilight nodded me to go on and I did.

They are with me now, in comfortable quarters for the moment. And now, I imagine, you are wondering what to do about it. Let me say only this as, yes, I dare hope as a friend. Be practical. Be reasonable. Return my grimoire to me. Earlier I was in a mood to destroy you and Miss Sparkle, and I admit, it was spiteful of me. I would even still accept her as my apprentice as originally offered if she can find it within herself to rise above childish fears.

All I ask is this. Return my grimoire to me. Do not come looking for me right now. I am in the village of Sunny Town at the moment, and were you and those ponies to attempt entry without me there to order restraint, I am very afraid you would be worse than killed by the inhabitants. You and Twilight can come to visit me two days from now at the old Palace of the Sisters – she knows where it is. I will meet you together with some of my allies roughly an hour after sunset. You will return my grimoire to me. Hopefully you will listen to the wise words I will have for you both. And of course I will return Spike and the three fillies to you and her, safe and unharmed.

And if you arrogantly refuse? I will be most downhearted. It may prove impossible for me to keep the Sunny Town ponies from forcibly inducting Spike and the fillies into their most unique herd. And even if they don’t, I will have to inform the youngsters that their elder sisters think so little enough of them as to sacrifice them for your pride and Twilight’s fears. They will refuse to believe at first, but eventually, they will prove receptive to my teachings. I will take my time and trouble with them. They will come to hate you all for abandoning them.

With great hopes for future partnership, I trust that I am and shall remain

Your future partner,

Rowley Thorne

“Well,” I said to them all, “there you all have it. Thorne wants his spellbook back, and he hopes you’ll trade it for Spike and your sisters.” I handed the letter back to Twilight. Her purple glow surrounded it as she took hold. “Now, what do you all want to do?”

* * *

Now, what do you all want to do?

The words were still echoing in Twilight’s head later, after they’d calmed Rarity and Sweetie Belle’s mother down enough for her to go and rest. Rarity’s father went with her, after they’d both begged Rarity to do something, anything, to save her little sister. Rarity promised them in the most serious voice Twilight ever heard her use that the next time they saw her, she’d have Sweetie Belle with her. Applejack sent a message off to Granny Smith and Big Mac at Sweet Apple Acres explaining what happened to Apple Bloom. It brought the big stallion galloping over from the farm to Carousel Boutique. He’d gone and told the Cakes as well, and now they were outside along with what seemed like a small crowd of their friends and relatives, along with a few Royal Guards. At least the Cakes brought food, which Twilight appreciated. They’d all needed something to eat. She could dimly hear the worried murmuring of the small herd through the walls of the Boutique. Twilight looked out and saw Big Mac. The big sorrel looked more frightened than she could ever remember, even after her reckless use of the Want-It Need-It spell. He pleaded at her with his eyes. Please, Twilight, don’t let my little sister die.

“I’m the only one with nopony out there,” she said softly. She turned and found herself eye to eye with Rainbow Dash. John stood behind her, watching her calmly. She flinched and tried to say something.

“Nah, it’s okay, Twi,” Dash said. She grinned crookedly. “Right now I wouldn’t want my family here. They’d just be gettin’ scared and beggin’ me not to save everypony. It ruins my style.” She flapped off to hover by Applejack.

“Okay,” Twilight said as she walked to the center of the workroom. She felt the weight of their eyes on her as five ponies and one human looked at her. “Thorn wants his spellbook back and he wants us to bring it to him.”

“Just me and you, more like,” John corrected her. “He doesn’t seem to value your friends right much.”

“That’s only ‘cause he knows we’re gonna kick his flank when he get our hooves on him,” Rainbow Dash said, but even she sounded tired.

“Not to interrupt, but we have to find him before we can do anything,” Fluttershy said. “Can we even find Sunny Town? Applejack, Twilight, you said Apple Bloom went there once. Did she tell you anything about how to find it again?” When AJ and Twi both looked at her, she quickly added, “I mean, if she said anything at all.”

“She didn’t say anythin’ to me about how ta find it,” AJ said, shaking her head. “The way she talked, she was more concerned with gettin’ away from there as fast as she could. An’ even so, if not fer her pal Ruby she mighta gotten killed anyway.” Applejack gave Twilight a direct look and asked, “One thing Ah want ta settle right now is, we’re all feelin’ the same about Thorn’s offer? We ain’t just gonna give him that nasty spellbook of his back, are we?”

“We,” Twilight began to say, we might have to, to save Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but the words died in her throat as she saw how her friends all looked at her. She guessed without being told what they were thinking.

“No, we won’t,” she said. “Thorn’s already shown that he’ll do anything, no matter how cruel, to get what he wants. He’s just as bad as Discord or Nightmare Moon. Worse, maybe, because in some ways he’s a coward. A coward with power, but still a coward. He’d just kill or enslave us all if he got his grimoire back to make sure we could never threaten him again. I’m not even sure that he’d return Spike or the Crusaders even if we did do all he said.”

“I’m of a mind with Twilight,” John said then. “Air thing she says puts me in mind of what the folks I know back home who fought Thorn told me about him. He doesn’t keep any promise he doesn’t have to. And I remember what those Sunny Town ponies said to me the other night. They seem to think that they’ll end up being here in Ponyville and that you’ll all end up in their town in the Everfree.” He stopped then, looked curious, and asked, “Just why is that Everfree Forest the way it is? It seems kindly unlike airy other place I’ve seen or heard of since I came here.”

“And how long have you been here?” Dash asked him with an angry snort. John scowled at her. Dash ruffled her wings up and returned glare for glare. Twilight spoke up hurriedly to forestall more trouble.

“It’s a place of power, from long before Equestria itself even existed,” she said. “After Discord I learned about it from the Princesses. It used to be the center of his power, his fortress. After they defeated him the Princesses dwelled there for centuries trying to redeem it, but in the end it proved to be too much for them, and after Luna became Nightmare Moon Celestia and the court abandoned it for Canterlot. Even today it’s still wild and uncontrollable.”

“The clouds just blow where the wind sends them, and the animals all have to fend for themselves!” Fluttershy said it in a voice that shivered from fear. Twilight saw how the rest of the girls shook from it, and she felt a trace of that fear herself. John looked more confused than anything. Well yes, she thought, her mind chasing the tangent down. Remember, he said that there is no pony magic in his world. I suppose that means humans are at the mercy of their environment. They must live in such fear of it that it explains some of what he told us about his world, the wars and the violence.

But some of them are like him, maybe a lot of them, so it’s not all or even mostly bad. Given their limitations, I wonder if ponies could have done so well if we’d been so defenseless…

“Hey, Equestria to egghead! Twi, focus!” Twilight blinked as Rainbow Dash dropped down in front of her and clapped her forehooves together. “Don’t zone on us, Twi.”

“Sorry, John, everypony,” she said. “I was just lost in thought for a moment there.”

“That’s far from the worst place to be lost in,” John said with a little smile on his face. Twi joined in the ripple of laughter that went around the room. More seriously, he added, “So, if Thorn’s in the Everfree, and he’s getting his power from Discord, like you said afore, then he’d be at his strongest in there, wouldn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Twilight responded, wincing at the thought. “He can draw on the chaos magic of the Everfree that’s been there since Discord’s fall and use it to power up his usual spellcasting. In fact, he’s probably been doing that since he came here.” She broke off as something nagged at the back of her mind, something hopeful. Whatever it was, she couldn’t figure it out, so she just went on with, “And since the Everfree is so chaotic and magical, it’s almost impossible for us to figure out where Sunny Town is and how to find him using normal locater spells.”

“Like the static on an old radio,” John said, looking thoughtful. “Or like how folks used to fight radar, a-throwing something they called chaff out to make bad signals.”

“Radar? Radio?” Twilight cocked her head and looked at him quizzically. Not now, she told herself, and said, “Uhh, yeah, I guess it’s like that. And it’s not like a lot of ponies know how to find their way around inside the Everfree.”

“Ah bet Zecora could find ‘im,” Applejack said. “Leastways, Ah bet she could find Sunny Town. She knows near everything in and about the Everfree.” It was John’s turn to look curious then.

“Zecora?” He asked.

“Oh, she’s somepony we know. The Zebra witch of the Everfree.” Sudden alarm showed on John’s face, and Twilight said, “No, not like Thorn. Zebra magic is based around herbalism and alchemy – potions and the like. Local ponies used to be suspicious of her, but we all found out she’s okay.”

“Yeah, an’ Ah used ta be one o’ the worst,” Applejack said unhappily. Then, brightening, she added, “But she’s a good pony, better ‘n some others. Every now an’ then she comes ta the farm and has dinner with us.” Twilight gave her a surprised look and saw her friends do the same.

“Applejack, you never told me that!”

“Never saw the need to,” she responded. She frowned and added, “It’s been a few days since we saw her, though. Before this whole business with Thorn started.”

“Anyway,” Twilight said, “if we get to her, she can show us a back way into Sunny Town if anypony can. And if we’re going to go ask her for help, we’d better get going,” she looked outside at how the shadows were lengthening. “It’ll be dark in a few hours.” Her friends made to get their things together. John stood up.

“I have only the one more question,” he said. “When we do find Thorn, how are you fixing to stop him? I doubt me he’ll just give up.”

“You got magic that can fight his!” Pinkie said. “You just do that so he can’t turn us into toads or anything and we’ll go all Orbital Friendship Laser Cannon on him with the Elements!”

Judging by the way John looked at her, he felt about as confused as Twilight usually did at Pinkie’s comments. Instead, he just asked, “And now once and for all, just what are these Elements you keep talking on, and how can they stop Thorn?”

“Aha!” Now, Twilight thought, she was in her element, and she almost smiled at the pun. She levitated her Element from her saddlebag and set the tiara on. She saw her friends doing the same with their own, putting the necklaces around their necks as she began to say, “The Elements of Harmony are the oldest and most powerful magic in Equestria. They combine the power of Generosity, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty,” She saw her friends perk themselves up as she listed them one by one, “And linking them together the Element of Magic, which is mine. All together, they create the Rainbow of Light and are the strongest force in Equestria.”

“That’s kindly good to know, then,” John said, nodding his head at her. “And howair do you use them? You can just stay hidden from Thorn and hit him with your rainbow before he knows we’re even there?”

“Oh, no!” Twilight looked at him, shocked. “First, we have to be all together. All six of us. Then we have to confront the Bringer of Disharmony – Thorn – directly. The Elements must be allowed to ‘see’ and judge the Bringer of Disharmony; only then will they activate completely. It takes,” she thought back to their encounters with Discord and Nightmare Moon, “a minute and a few seconds for them to come together.”

“That much time?” John said, sounding and looking worried. He walked over to stand before her and the others. “Let me just show you something right now. Make like I’m Thorn, a-standing here, and you’re about to use the Elements on me. Wait as long as you say it’ll take before you move.”

“Umm,” Twilight looked around at her friends. They looked as confused as she felt. “Okay. Positions, ladies!” They all fell in around her. She looked at John and said what she meant to say to Thorn when the time came. “You’ve done enough evil here, Thorn. We won’t allow you to –“

And she fell very still and silent as John stepped forward and set his knife at her throat. She felt, more than heard, her friends gasp in shock.

“John!” It was AJ’s voice. “What the hay?”

“I told you we couldn’t trust him!” Dash said. “He could kill Twilight!”

“That’s just the point,” John said, taking the knife away. Twilight felt slightly better to see that he’d kept the blade folded into the handle as he set it back in his pocket. “I’m rightly sorry to frighten you and your friends thataway, Twilight, but listen. If I could do that in less than a minute, Thorn can do something a sight worse still. How will you stop him from running off or killing you while you all are getting your rainbow ready?”

“But…” Twilight said, “But that’s how the Elements work! We don’t control them, we bear them! They chose us as their bearers, back in the Castle of the Sisters two years ago!” And, she thought, maybe years before that, when the six of us all got our cutie marks at the same time.

“Yeah, and they worked, too!” Rainbow Dash snapped as she flew over to hover before John. Twilight felt tired at her nonstop suspicion of John, but found herself agreeing with her as Dash said, “We had all the time we needed then! When Nightmare Moon ate the Rainbow! And Discord!”

“But Princess Luna was inside Black Snooty to make her hesitate,” Pinkie spoke up, and Twilight felt a chill at her words as she said, “And Discord was so sure we couldn’t touch him that he just stood there and dared us to hit him and we can’t count on script immunity this time so we gotta be sneaky to give Twilight time to face him down and make the big speech while the Elements come together into the Rainbow of Light and…”

“Pinkie!” Twilight couldn’t tell which one of them yelled the party pony’s name first, only because all of them yelled it. Pinkie winced and grinned, as irrepressible as ever. And then John spoke up.

“There’s only the one way I can see it,” he said. He held up his guitar. “I’ll have to use this, my songs, and The Long-Lost Friend,” he patted one of the pockets in his pants, “to give you-all the time you’ll need. I just need to keep Thorn a-looking at me and not paying you airy attention until it’s too late.” He paused, and then added, “Still, if you could hurry it a bit when the time comes, I’ll not complain.”

Twilight winced. She knew full well how dangerous Thorn could be, and how he’d react to any challenge. And that was provided he didn’t have any help with him. If he did, and John had to hold off more than one enemy…

“Ya sure ‘bout that, John?” Applejack asked. “You’re gonna be takin’ one mighty big chance there.” He shrugged.

“It’s been one big chance for me air since I came here,” he answered her, “And before that, too. And I’m still here to tell of it. And I crave pardon of you all, but right now I don’t see airy other way to do this.”

“He’s right,” Twilight found herself saying. “If we want to do this, he’ll have to hold Thorn’s attention long enough for us to get the Elements into play. When that happens, the fight will be over.” She looked out the window, at the frightened and worried ponies outside, at Ponyville and Equestria beyond. “It’s lasting until then that’s the problem.”

“Well, that and finding Thorn,” John said. “Even if your zebra friend knows her way around the forest, it’ll be kindly easier on her and us all if we can narrow the search down a mite.”

“Oh dear, he’s right, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “The Everfree can be hard to navigate at the best of times. With Thorn in there, it might be even worse.”

“But how shall we find Thorn?” Rarity asked. Her horn glowed and a large scroll floated out of one of the drawers in her nearby work desk. Rarity set it down in the middle of them all on the floor and unrolled it into a detailed map of the Everfree. She explained, “We spend so much time in there anymore I thought I should have the best map available, and even it’s rather vague. Look for yourselves.” Twilight and John and the other ponies bent over and looked. She knew he couldn’t read Equestrian, which gladdened her. She didn’t want him to see just how many places were marked both ‘Dangerous’ and ‘Approximate Location’.

“Wait,” Twilight said then. “John, you said something before about sympathetic magic from your world? How once somepony wore or used something, they’d have a connection to it?” When he nodded at her she looked to Rarity. “Do you still have the old capes your sister made, the ruined ones? Because if so, then while we can’t use magic to track Thorn himself we can trail the Crusaders using those capes.”

Hope lit Rarity’s eyes as she brought the capes over, wadded together with tree sap and decorated with leaves and branches. Twilight set them down beside her, and then looked down at the map.

“Okay, John,” she said, wondering if this would even work, “how do we do this?”

“I’ll do all I may here,” He said as he sat down next to her. She heard him whisper some words under his breath as he made a sign over the map, and she felt something gathering there. Not a lot of power, and it felt nothing like Thorn’s magic, but something. She saw her friends gathering around as he did it. Then he reached into a pocket and took out a small stone on a string. There was a hole through the stone. Without needing to be told she took a firm grip on it with her telekinesis and held it still over the map. This resembled a known Equestrian tracking-and-finding spell, and Twilight poured that spell into the stone and map, reinforcing the aura already there.

“Now all of you,” he said without looking up, “Air one, think on Spike and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Think on how they act, the things they say, the times you’ve had with them, and while they’re a-doing that, Twilight,” she focused her concentration at his address to her, “You think on all that, too, and try and feel for them where they are.”

Twilight thought back to some of her first magic lessons while she’d been helping to raise Spike, keeping him nearby and seeing to him as she’d learned. Don’t force it, she remembered Celestia telling her. Let it flow through you like the breath in your lungs or the sun in the air or the love you feel for your friends. And so Twilight let every memory of Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders flow through her and through the ruined capes and then down that stone on its string until it felt as focused as light through a lens. As one, so is the other, she thought, listening to the wet rustle of the ruined capes as somepony brushed against them. They are here with me in spirit. Now show them to me in flesh.

For a moment she thought nothing would come of it. She could feel her friends’ despair but she held firm. It would work. She knew it would work. And so it did.

The suspended stone began to move, first swinging back and forth and then going to form a circle over the map. Twilight dared to look at the area it marked out. She opened her mouth to ask somepony to mark it on the map and found Rarity drawing a circle around it before she’d even asked. She sighed and let the spell end. The stone dropped down onto the map. John picked it up and set it back in his shirt pocket.

“That’s a kindly big chunk of woods,” he said, pointing at the map.

“It’s smaller than we had,” Twilight responded, and frowned. “But you’re right. It’s too big for us to go searching around blindly in. It could take us days to find Thorn, and that’s assuming we don’t run into any of the Everfree monsters.” She fell silent and thought, and provided Discord doesn’t break free in the meanwhile. From what Princess Celestia said, he’s almost ready to do that right now. We need something to bring Thorn to us, some sort of bait. She realized to her dismay that she could think of only one thing they had that Thorn was interested in.

“John, come over here,” Twilight motioned off to the side. Looking curious, John followed her. When her friends started after them, Twilight said, “No, I just want to talk to John privately for a moment.” They looked curious, all save Dash whose face suddenly went suspicious, but even she gave a quick jerky nod as John followed Twilight into Rarity’s kitchen. Once there Twilight closed the door with her magic and said, “When we buried Thorn’s grimoire, we disabled it. If we,” She swallowed past a suddenly large and cold lump in her throat. “If we were to unearth it, it’d still be disabled, right?” She saw that he frowned and rubbed one hand against his chin.

“I don’t rightly know,” he said. “I nair heard of anyone digging one of those books back up after burying it proper-like. I suppose it’d be fine so long as we didn’t do anything to ruin either Applejack’s words or mine.” He gave her a wary look. “Why, what are you thinking on doing?”

“Thorn wants his grimoire back,” Twilight said, wishing she didn’t have to force the words out. “If it’s disabled, we might be able to use it as bait to draw him out into the open. I… I know it’s risky,” she hurried on as John’s eyes went wide, “I told everypony we should never let Thorn have any chance to get that book back, no matter what, but we don’t have time and this is the only thing I can think of.”

“It’s a kindly big chance,” he said, “For your own self and air pony else.”

“I know,” Twilight said, switching her tail nervously, “but he’ll be expecting us at the Castle of the Sisters in two days. We might not have two days. If we come in for him before then he’ll have to react to us, and it won’t be us reacting to him.”

“It’d be a sight better than waiting for him to come up with some new thing to do, either to all of us here or to your friends’ little sisters and Spike out there in the Everfree,” John said. “I wonder how your friends will like it, though.”

“I wonder that myself,” Twilight answered, “So let’s find out. They’ve got as much of a stake in this as I do.” She opened the door and walked out, followed by John. Her friends were looking at her, rather obviously wondering what was going on.

“Okay, ladies, we’ve got a plan, but first I need to know if you’re willing to go through with it.” She briefly explained her plan to them, ending with, “So, what about it?”

“Ah dunno, Twi,” Applejack said, rubbing her chin with one hoof. “Considerin’ all the trouble we had getting rid o’ that thing the first time, do we really wanna give Thorn any kind o’ chance at getting it back so he can cause more problems?”

“But Applejack, think! What about Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and Spike?” Rarity walked up to the farmpony, looking her in the eyes as she said, “What about Apple Bloom? You know Twilight wouldn’t make this decision lightly if at all. And besides, if the spellbook is disabled,” Rarity looked at Twilight and John, “Then it’s useless to Thorn in any event, isn’t it?”

“I do think so,” John said, “But there’s no way to be sure of it unless and until he gets his hands back on it. And if we’re wrong, by then it’d be a trifle late.”

“I, I’m for Twilight’s idea,” Fluttershy said. She looked down as the rest turned their eyes on her, but she said, “The less time we spend wandering around in the Everfree, the better. And I’m so worried for the girls and Spike. Who knows what Thorn could do to them?”

“Yeah,” Pinkie said, nodding her head so hard Twilight wondered if it would fall off, “I’m with Fluttershy and Rarity and Twilight. That big meany-face Thorn could really hurt them! We have to get them out of there as fast as we can.”

“Thanks, Pinkie,” Twilight said. She turned and looked at Rainbow Dash where she hovered, a scowl on her face. “What about you, Dash?”

“If it’s his idea, I don’t like it,” Dash said, jerking her hoof at John. “Didn’t he say burying that book was supposed to stop any more trouble from Thorn?” John showed no particular response to her words, but Twilight scowled. She opened her mouth to tell Dash to just drop the hostility already when the rainbow-maned Pegasus said, “But if it’s your idea, Twi, then it’s cool. And yeah,” she looked at the wall as though she gazed at the Everfree beyond it, and her eyes hardened as she said, “I really wanna take the fight to him for once.”

“And you, AJ?” Twilight turned to the blond-maned pony. “Are you in on this plan?” Applejack looked thoughtful and finally nodded.

“Yeah,” she said. “I want ta get Apple Bloom and everypony else back safe an’ sound, but this still feels like one mighty big risk ta me, Twilight. I don’t want ta give Thorn a chance ta hurt anypony else just so’s we can get Spike an’ our little sisters back. But,” Applejack sighed, “There ain’t nothin’ else we can do right now, is there? So yeah, count me in.”

“Good,” Twilight said, feeling relieved. “And at least now we have some idea of where to start looking.” She turned to her friends. “Okay, ladies, John, we know where we’ve got to go and what we’ve got to do,” she rolled up the map and set it with a pair of pieces of paper, “so let’s do everything we need here and get going.”

“Like make all our goodbyes?”

Twilight and the rest all looked at Applejack when she said that. AJ said nothing back. She just looked out towards the square where just a few hours ago, ponies had died.

“Yeah,” Twilight said, feeling a chill. “Like make our goodbyes.”

* * *

I tell you all, it was no light leavetaking we had there in Ponyville afore we set out into the Everfree to find Zecora and then Sunny Town. I remembered thinking to myself whatair kind of a name that was for a place that sounded like to be one of Pandemonium’s outlying towns, the city of hell from an old poem by a man named Milton, filled with the wicked living dead and what would like as not be a wickeder living man. Part of me wondered if I’d leave myself there, not dead but something a sight worse for the rest of time. As much to keep my mind from that and a-worrying about Evadare and all I loved at home I thought back on what we’d done and were doing.

First Twilight and her friends a-telling and showing me how their Elements worked, and that making me feel frightened because I saw how long they’d need to be a-working at it before the Elements did airy thing. I remembered me something my old army sergeant told me, how if you can see airy thing on a battlefield you can hit it, and if you do that you can kill it dead with one shot. I’d shown them the harshest way I could what might could happen. Then we’d decided on our plan, of them getting their Elements ready and me giving them the time to use them. They called that providing a diversion when I served. You let the enemy shoot at you while the real attack comes in somewheres else, and hope you live through it.

I wondered myself as I watched the ponies saying goodbye to everyone they’d be leaving behind them, maybe forever, just how wise I was to be doing this. I’d done it now and then in the war, but then I’d had only my own self to worry about if I got hurt or killed. Now I had Evadare back home, and probably wondering herself about me the same as I did about her. But then, if I couldn’t get back to Earth, or if I did and found the years and maybe the centuries gone as Thorne said might could be, would it rightly matter all that much if I lived or died?

“John?”

I looked to see who it was who spoke me then, though I had a good idea from the deepness of that voice. My guess proved right as I saw the big sorrel I’d met right my first night here a-looking me in the eyes.

“Big Mac,” I nodded at him. “It pleasures me we got to speak this little bit. I wanted to say to you, I thank you and your granny kindly for your generosity that first night here. I’m just kindly sorry for what trouble I’ve brought on you.”

“You didn’t cause none o’ this,” he said back to me, a-shaking his head. “This’s been Thorne’s doin’ from the start. I’m not entirely sorry it happened, though.” He chuckled and smiled. “Ah never woulda met yah if it hadn’t happened, and you’re a good fellow ta know.”

“That’s a kindly good thought of you, Big Mac. I’m glad I met you all here in Ponyville too. I do wish it could have been under some better circumstances, though.” He just shrugged.

“There’s nothin’ couldn’t ever be better somehow. Yah just gotta do all yah can with what yah get.” Then, more softly still, “Ah’ll just ask the one thing of yah. Please watch out for both my little sisters, an’ for the rest of ‘em, too.”

“I’ll do just that thing,” I promised him, and meant it.

“Ah’d go along if Ah could,” he responded me. “Ah’d like to have some words with Thorne my own self.” He scraped the ground with one forehoof and his ears went down a bit to say it, but then he said calmer wise, “But some o’ us have ta stay here in case things don’t go as well as they will.”

He meant in case you all die in there without trying to make it sound like he wished us any ill, and I found myself grateful to hear it said like that. He must have seen that I understood, for he said, “When it’s all over, come back ta the farm. Granny wants ta hear some of them songs again, an’ Ah reckon I do too. Might could be we can teach yah some old earth pony songs from Equestria for yah to take back home.”

“I reckon I will at that, and I thank you.” He nodded me the one more time and then walked off heavy like to say his goodbyes to Applejack. I watched and listened to what all I saw and heard right then.

“Rarity, please be careful!” You can guess whose parents were saying that to which white and purple unicorn. Her father looked kindly silly in what looked like one of those fancy-printed Hawaiian shirts, but he puffed his chest out and said to her, “I still feel like I should go along with you mares and him!” He pointed his hoof at me and said to her, “That, that sorcerer thinks he can threaten and try to kill my daughters? I’ll show him what I showed Forward Pass at the Ponybowl…”

“Father, mother, listen to me,” Rarity said, her voice soft and strong. She’d cleaned herself up from before, but she looked grimmer than air I thought she could as she said to them all, “I will be returning with Sweetie Belle, or I won’t be coming back at all—“

“Don’t say that!” Her father said, and I saw him trying to blink tears away as he and Rarity’s mother hugged their daughter horse-style by craning their necks around hers.

Past them I saw Applejack and Big Mac talking, just like how I reckoned many a young man or woman back home must have talked to their family afore they ever went off to a fight they didn’t know they’d win or not. Right close by I saw Fluttershy talking to a little rabbit, of all things. But then maybe that wasn’t so odd there, where so many beasts didn’t just have wisdom like human folks but could talk like we can too. She turned to go away, and he grabbed her tail like as though to bid her to stay. She just smiled at him afore she bent and gave him a quick nuzzle. The little hopper looked like he wanted to cry, but instead he gave me a look as though to warn me to look out for her like I would my own self. Then he turned and hopped away.

A-speaking of hopping and bouncing, I heard Pinkie a-talking to the stallion and mare from that gingerbread-house bakery. “Aww, don’t worry, Mister and Mrs. Cake! I’ll be back and we’ll have a great big ‘We Saved The Day Again’ party and John will play some more of his songs for us before he goes home and I’ll have a whole buncha stories to tell everypony about how we stopped old meanypants Thorne and…”

“Pinkie!” I saw that she stopped talking as the Cakes both bid her goodbye. I nair thought I’d see her be quiet. They both looked sad and worried, that lanky yellow stallion and the pudgy blue mare. They minded me some small bit of Jack Sprat and his wife from the old children’s rhyme. I saw how Mrs. Cake’s two little foals were looking out of something like saddlebags hung over her sides. They started to cry when they saw Pinkie turn to go away. She turned back around and stood up on one forehoof like what you’d call a handstand, only to fall down and roll over into some mud. They laughed at that, and I headed off for where I thought Twilight might could be.

I guessed right again. She stood by the tents of the Royal Guard, talking to one of those Night Guards who had fancy trim on his breastplate, like for an officer. Aside of him there stood one of the Day Guards, who looked sleeker and smaller than the others. I supposed him for what you’d call a courier, taking messages back and forth.

“…and that’s the most current up to now report for Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, a-handing over a thick sheaf of papers to the Day Guard. He saluted and set them into a satchel he bore. I saw Twilight hesitate, and then give over something smaller, saying, “And this is for my parents – and my brother, wherever he’s deployed. If, if worst should come to worst, please make sure they get it.”

“I promise they will receive it, Miss Sparkle,” the Night Guard commander said to her in a whispery kind of voice. He glanced at me just the once and then said to her, “I would feel better if you would accept my offer and take some of my troops along into the forest with you for protection.” Twilight just shook her head at him.

“I doubt it would do any good,” she said, “And it would probably only risk their lives to no good end. Thorne would kill them the same way he killed Captain Bastion,” she choked a bit to say it, “And tried to kill John and Rarity. He’s done enough damage to ponies, Captain Silver Crescent. I don’t want him to be able to do any more.”

“Hold on there,” I said, a-thinking of something. “There might could be a way for them to help without coming near Thorne or his Sunny Town friends. Could the Royal Guards try pushing their way into the forest from other directions than the one we’ll be using, a-making noise and a show of it to draw attention?” They both looked at me, and I saw the understanding go over first the commander’s face, then Twilight’s. “Thorne won’t likely know if they’re really going to fight him or not, and he’d like as not try sending some of whatair he has off to chase them away, and while he’s doing that…”

“While he’s doing that, we can get to him without having to worry about him sending half the Everfree down on us,” Twilight said. “It makes sense. That is, provided your troops would be willing, Captain?” She looked hopeful at the Night Guard. He frowned and looked thoughtful, narrowing his golden slit-pupil eyes.

“Diversionary Probes? It could work, but I’ll have to ask their Highnesses for another troop each of Day and Night Guard for it. I don’t want to leave Ponyville unprotected.” He took the packed papers from the courier’s pack and said to Twilight, “If you would sign your name along with mine, Miss Sparkle?” Twilight did so and I heard the quills scratching across the paper. That done, she and I walked out in front of everyone.

“Ladies, if you would? We’d better get going, it’ll be dark soon,” Her friends gathered around the both of us, and Twilight said to the crowd of ponies, “Okay, everypony, we’re going to bring the fillies and Spike back and to stop Thorne. All of you, stay safe here in Ponyville and don’t worry about us. We’ll be back soon, safe and sound, I promise.”

“Yeah, just as soon as we kick Thorne’s flank!” Dash said as she flew up in front of us all and made a kicking motion with her back legs like a little blue mule. The crowd cheered that and off we set.

“Yah know, Twi,” Applejack said as we headed back off towards the place where we‘d buried that grimoire, the girls trotting along the way horses will, “Who’s gonna carry that spellbook when we get it?”

“I figured I’d be a-doing that,” I showed them an old burlap sack. “I crave your pardon, Rarity, but I took this from your place when we decided on what we’d need to be doing. I doubted any of you would want to be holding it.”

“I’m not afraid of it,” Dash half grumbled at me, “But if you wanna carry it, go right ahead.” She flapped off ahead of and above us all, circling like to keep watch.

Not for the first time, I wondered myself what I’d done to get her so mad-sounding at me, but I didn’t see any way to bring that up right then. So I kept silent until we got closer to the place where we’d buried the book.

“Oh I hope we can find it,” Fluttershy said to my side. “It’d be terrible to lose it now, now that we have to get it.”

“Ironic too,” Twilight said, “And not the least bit amusing – hey!” She’d shouted the last bit as Dash dropped down before her, her feathers and mane all ruffled up. For all her bragging she looked pure down scared to me right then. Before airy one of us could ask her whatair the problem was, she pointed in under the trees.

“Twi, guys, you haveta see this! Come on!” She waved for us to follow and flew off. We hustled along after and soon enough found what startled her. It was the spot where we’d buried the Letters of Cold Fire last night. Only, something else’d been there afore us, and we could all guess what. The dirt showed greasy and slimy, like from some old graveyard, one where the coffins were buried just under the earth and sometimes stray dogs or worse things pulled them up and bore away what they contained. Something or other had been digging there. The dirt looked piled up beside a small pit set all around with those hoofmarks we’d seen before.

“They didn’t get it,” I heard Rarity whisper, and I reckon we all stood quiet enough to hear it. Even the birds seemed still around that spot. “Why? We didn’t bury it that deeply.”

“The words John an’ Ah said, Ah reckon,” Applejack said into that stillness. She stepped forward to try and dig the book back up with her own hooves. When she stepped onto that sickly-looking slimy ground it squelched under her hooves. She gave a disgusted sound and stepped back. I doubt airy pony there blamed her. I know I didn’t. Applejack drew herself up and made ready to try again, but then Twilight stepped up.

“I’ll get it,” she said. She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow. That purple light I’d seen so many times went along her horn. Something began moving in that hole, and then the spellbook almost seemed to leap up from it like some nasty toad or big jumping spider. It seemed to head for Twilight. I snatched it from the air. I just about dropped it into that sack I held when I saw how Twilight looked at it.

“Miss Twilight?” I asked her, hoping I didn’t need to be worried, “How are you feeling right now?”

“Fine,” she said and smiled on us all to say it. “It’s still disabled. I don’t feel anything from it. At all. It’s just another book.”

I nodded her back and dropped it into that sack I held. She gave back with a shudder. I felt just about as bad myself. It’d felt like the hairs on that cover tried wrapping around my fingers when I’d touched it.

“Now let’s get going,” she said. “The sooner begun, the sooner it’s done.” We all stayed quiet as we headed out from under the trees of Whitetail Wood and into the open hilly part north of Ponyville. Off northwards I saw those mountains from before, including the one with Canterlot on its flank looking like it’d been carved from ice and snow, and for all I knew there in Equestria it could be. We went over a bridge past a windmill. I saw ponies bringing up a cartload of grain to be ground into flour. They stared at us when we went by like we were a-going to a funeral. Then we went by something like a park and headed around back of the schoolhouse. I heard the bell ringing for the end of the day and I saw the little colts and fillies leaving. Even from the distance we saw them, they looked right quiet for children.

“The poor dears,” Fluttershy said next to me, like she’d guessed my thoughts. “They’re worried about Spike and the girls.”

“We don’t stop Thorne, they’ll be worrying about themselves, too,” Applejack responded her. I reckon we all thought on that a bit until we got up to the clock tower. It showed half past three, and I wondered myself why the ponies divided their day up into twenty-four hours, or did a right many things just like human people did back home. While I thought on that, Twilight spoke to me.

“Say, John, before in Ponyville Emergency, you were saying something about the monsters here. What kind of monsters are there back in your mountains?”

“There’s kindly a few, though they seem rarer and hard to find compared to the ones you have here; folks outside the mountains all think they nair even exist,” I said. I relished the chance to speak of it. It’d be easier than worrying about what might could be ahead of us as we began entering the Everfree along a dirt trail. It already showed dark under those trees, not night-dark, but dark enough. “There’s the Flat. It’s kindly like what you might could call an inchworm or what science folks call an amoeba, but it’s hairy all over. It hunches its way along the ground, and if it crawls onto you, it wraps itself around you like a big snake and crushes the life out of you.” The girls shuddered to hear that, all but Rainbow Dash. She just snorted.

“You’re scared of an overgrown carpet with an attitude,” she said. “Oh, brother. Okay, what else?”

“There’s the Toller,” I said back to her, my voice maybe just a bit cross. She was a-starting to wear on me, and no mistake. “It’s near about the biggest thing that flies…”

“Big as a dragon?’ Fluttershy asked, sounding scared.

“Might could be bigger,” I answered her. “Nair soul that ever saw it came back to say of it. It makes a sound like an almighty big bell to tell other critters their feed is near. There’s other things asides, like the Skim, that’s a thing like a flying plate or saucer that can cut into you, and the Rolling Claf. That’s something like a ball of fire that’s always hungry, and it chases after people in the woods. Unless you throw it meat or something else it can burn up, it’ll burn you down to ashes. And the Tripodero, and the Bammat, and the Behinder.” I shuddered a bit to say that last one.

“What the hay is a Behinder?” Dash again there, trying to sound brash.

“It’s something you don’t want to ever see, because if you do, it’s about to jump on you,” I said to her. “I’ve seen a Behinder twice in my life, and that’s twice more than I wanted to see it.”

“It can’t be that dangerous,” she kind of jeered at me, “If you were able to run fast enough to get away from it.”

“The first time I saw it, it was after some other body, and it got him,” I said, and I took a long step and stood before her. She stopped her flying and stared me in the eye, and neither of us looked friendly at each other. “The second time, I was lucky. And yes, there’s been times I lived through something because I ran faster than it could chase me. I’m not proud to say it, but there’s the plain truth of it.”

“Maybe you’ll run again,” Dash snapped back. I saw Applejack try and get her attention, but she ignored her to stare at me. She stuck her hoof in my chest. Any harder and she’d have punched me with it. “Maybe you’ll run when we have to face Thorne, and after we beat him you’ll try an’ claim you did it all. I don’t know why we even brought you here!”

“I’d like to know the why of it myself,” I said back to her, feeling hot in the face, “Why these five ladies keep you around, when all you do is brag on yourself air day and night and fly high enough to make sure no one can give you the lesson you might could deserve. And if you weren’t some little girl pony, I’d do it.”

“You’d what!”

Dash dropped down on the ground and braced herself. She snarled like a mean dog getting ready to fight. It looked dangerous right then to see, not that I cared. I brought my fists up. I’d been raised to nair hit women unless there wasn’t airy other way, maybe not even then, but right then I doubt I cared much. Dash made to fly at me but she stopped short. Just past her I could see Applejack sitting on the ground and holding on to her tail with her mouth. I made no move to swing at her, but even so I felt something warm and strong along my arms. I didn’t need to look to know it was Twilight and Rarity, holding me back.

“Dangit, Dash, can’t yah never keep your temper under control?” AJ gritted out at her. “’Specially now, of all times!”

“Oh, John, Rainbow Dash, please, can’t both of you just get along?” Fluttershy said, flying up and setting herself between us.

Twilight stepped up and the look she gave us both minded me of some teacher lady with two boys who fought air chance they got. I felt my cheeks burn as I set my hands back down. Twilight nodded, short and sharp, and then she looked at Dash.

“What is your problem anyway? We’re out here to save Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders and all of Equestria, not to watch you two fight each other!”

“That’s just it!” Dash yelled back at her. I saw she’d dropped back down to the ground, and both Applejack and Rarity were a-holding her. Fluttershy and Twilight stayed between us. I wondered myself where Pinkie was. The way the shadows were deepening all around, I knew the sun to be setting and I didn’t want her to get in some sort of trouble with the Everfree monsters. Dash yelled again, “He shouldn’t be the one you all need to help, it should be me! I’m the Element of Loyalty!”

“Too bad it ain’t the Element o’ Maturity,” I heard Applejack respond her. That just set Dash off again.

“No! It’s just… I’m supposed to protect you guys! I let Thorne hurt Twi and almost summon Discord back! I let Lyra almost steal the spellbook back again, and then I saw her kill Bastion and nearly kill Rarity and Twilight! And then Thorne ponynapped Spike and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo! And the whole time I didn’t do anything that helped, and every time he turns around,” she pointed her hoof at me like it was an accusation in court, “he’s got something new that works! And you all say how great he is!”

“Dash, I swear to nothing, I’m not trying to take air thing from you,” I began, but she cut in.

“That’s not it! These are my friends, and if I can’t protect them from stuff like this, what good am I?” She dropped down like she was exhausted, breathing hard. I think we all stared at her then. I thought back on what I’d been doing here since I came, and how much of hard times I’d given her whether I air intended it or not. I guess I have to say, I felt like a right sorry fellow about then. I was about to tell her as much when Pinkie came bouncing down the trail from ahead of us.

“Hey, guys!” she said. “I have a riddle.”

“Not now, Pinkie,” Twilight answered. I saw her roll her eyes to say it.

If Pinkie heard, she didn’t care. “No, this is serious! What’s all green and grassy and covered in bark and looks like a ruined treehouse and has stinky-nastyriffic hoofprints around it and no Zecora?”

I reckon it took about a second for her words to get through to us all, and as we all spun to look where she pointed at someone’s home built half into a tree like Twilight’s library, and a-looking old and tumbledown like the Gardinel, she said, “Because whatever it is, it’s where Zecora’s hut should be.”

“Pinkie,” Twilight said, a-sounding more lost than ever, “That is Zecora’s hut.”

“Oh!” Pinkie responded her. We went closer and could see the rotted hoofmarks around a hollowed-out tree with the door half smashed from its hinges and the dirt torn up outside like there’d been one hellacious fight before the one who didn’t leave those dead marks in the dirt marched away amidst the Sunny Town ponies.

“Oh,” Pinkie said again, “I guess this means we’re in trouble, huh?”

* * *

In the garden of the Sun Palace at Canterlot, cracks ran and dust rained from a statue like a Chinese dragon made of mismatched parts. Their horns glowing with gold and silver flame, two alicorns in royal tiaras and pectorals – one white as the new risen sun, the other the deep blue of the purest night sky – worked their magic, sealing the cracks and returning the figure to solid stone. As fast as they mended and sealed, more cracks appeared, the stone eyes shining as the cracks spread.

Beyond them stood a circle of a score of the best and most powerful unicorn mages in Canterlot, including one in the barding of a Spellguard sub-lieutenant with Specialist badges. Twilight Sparkle would have been in awe to see so many of her professors and teachers and even her own big brother working together like this, channeling all their power into their Princesses, holding the containment wards. Any one of them would normally have been a match for anything short of the eldest and mightiest dragons, but right now they looked like candles set beside the sun and the moon – which, in truth, they were – as they frantically worked to aid Luna and Celestia. Past them, at the edges of the garden, a small knot of frightened nobles and castle servants gathered and watched in fear. Between the assembled magical might of Equestria and the onlookers stood a full regiment each of Day and Night Guard pegasi in full armor.

A Day Guard Pegasus in light courier armor dropped down by the Day Guard Colonel, a scarred old Pegasus. They spoke hurriedly and as they did, Celestia stepped back with a gasp of effort.

“Sister, I must lower the sun,” she said to Luna. The alicorn of the night simply kept working on the statue. Beyond a quick nod she showed no other sign of notice. Celestia turned away and began bringing the sun down, trying not to hear the slightly louder than ever sound of stone cracking behind her.

“Highness!” Celestia looked at the Colonel and at the courier beside him. He gaped at her in what looked like shock and quickly lowered his head. She smiled at him, and it looked only slightly strained.

“Come now, Nimbus, surely I’m not that much of a mess, am I?” When the courier looked up in surprise, she said, “Yes, I remember your name, and yes, I am in a hurry. What is it?” The Colonel simply handed the package over. Celestia scanned it. “Twilight? From Ponyville? Why didn’t she just use Spike’s dragonfire…” and then her eyes narrowed as she began reading further.

“Sister,” Luna’s voice came from behind her, “I need to raise the moon. And Discord becomes more restless. Thy help would be most appreciated!”

Celestia read faster, finishing in seconds with, “…and if all else fails and you see or hear no sign from us within two days, then please, Princess, call down all the power you can spare on this spot I have circled on the map. I hope it’s enough to destroy Thorn’s stronghold. And if that happens, then please know that it was the greatest joy in my life to have been your student. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, and my friends…” Celestia ran through their names, and saw that it finished with, “And John, a human from Earth.”

“Sister!”

“Colonel!” Celestia reached out with her power and took Luna’s place, feeling Discord’s frantic desire for freedom beating on her will like a hurricane. As Luna began to raise the moon faster than she had since long before her exile, Celestia spoke to the Guard officer. “Dispatch a squadron of both Day and Night Guard with attached Spellguard to Ponyville immediately. They will put themselves under the command of Captain Silver Crescent of the Night Guard and assist him exactly as he commands. Understood?”

“Yes, Highness!” Both pegasi turned and flew off in a whirl of feathers. Celestia sighed and looked up at Discord’s statue, only to freeze as she saw the stone cracking away over his eyes as they locked right on hers. And then his telepathic voice buzzed through her mind like a hive of wasps poured into her ears and trying to come out through her eyes.

Why, hello, Celestia! Meeting again so soon? If I’d known how amusingly destructive Thorn and his kind could be, I’d have brought a thousand more like him here – and maybe I will!

“No,” Celestia spoke out loud, answering the monster in her mind. She felt her sister’s power added alongside her own again, and the stone over his eyes slowly began sealing itself shut. “No, you will not. You shall return to stone and your servant shall not harm any more of my little ponies!”

But even after the stone sealed itself shut, she could still feel his mocking, triumphant laughter.

Chapter 16

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 16

Twilight’s worries became a reality as they searched Zecora’s hut. It was most thoroughly wrecked. Smashed furniture and keepsakes from Zecora’s homeland covered the floor, both in the main room and in the smaller chamber off to the side where the zebra shaman slept. Twilight asked her friends and John to help search for any of Zecora’s potions, in the hopes that something might have survived. It was no use. The gourds and bottles they were in had been smashed against the stones surrounding her firepit or even on the cauldron itself, which lay on its side.

“I knew Thorn was every kind o’ a skunk,” Applejack said as she gently picked up what remained of a Zebrican mask. Twilight remembered seeing it hanging against the wall. AJ said, “But this was jest plain childish o’ him.”

“Zecora worked so hard on those potions,” Twilight agreed, shaking her head sadly as she looked at what must have been months of work in the firepit, all ruined. “And all her mementoes from home, smashed! She’ll be furious when she sees what happened.”

“If she’s still alive,” Dash muttered, casting a look out the door into the darkening Everfree. Fluttershy gasped to hear it. Dash spun on the others, saying, “Look, I don’t want her hurt, but we gotta be honest, guys. Why would Thorn bother keeping her alive?”

Twilight just looked at her, feeling ill at the logic in Dash’s words. Thorn had already proven perfectly capable of killing casually when angered. But she just didn’t want to accept the idea that yet another of the ponies she knew was dead at Thorn’s hooves, or rather hands.

“Might could be he thinks she knows something he wants to know,” John said where he stood. Twilight saw that he’d gathered up some of Zecora’s once neatly piled firewood, now scattered all over the room. He went to the firepit and dropped it in, bending down to carefully arrange it. Pinkie went to help him and Twilight felt mild surprise at how competently Pinkie aided John in getting a fire going. That is, until she turned around and showed a tuft of her mane was smoldering. Pinkie looked up at it, grinned, and patted it out with her hooves. As she did John added, “You-all said she’s got the name of being the local witch. Might could be that Thorn thinks she’d help him with his own doings.”

“She wouldn’t,” Twilight responded, feeling some welcome hope. She used her magic and set some more wood into the fire, carefully so as not to put it out. “Like we said, Zecora’s a decent pony. She wouldn’t help him in any way.”

“Then he might just want to learn whatair she knows,” John answered her. He indicated the broken potion gourds and Zecora’s worktable, now flung over. He bent down and set it back up, Applejack going to help him. “You said she makes potions and cures. He’d probably like to see if she knows airy thing he can turn to his own profit.”

“That does sound like him,” Rarity cut in from the side. She gathered up what remained of a few small Zebrican statues. She took them over to the table, floating just before her, and carefully set them down on it. Twilight saw several more masks, a small statue of some dark heavy stone, and Zecora’s carved and iron-capped meditation staff already resting on it. “Thorn doesn’t care about anything that can’t be turned to his own ends, does he? He is such a philistine!”

“He’s a lot of things we can’t say,” Pinkie said as she reached into her saddlebags and took out some muffins and bread. Then, to Twilight’s shock, she reached in and somehow took out a pecan pie that looked more than large enough to feed them all before reaching back in and rummaging around some more.

“Pinkie, why did you bring a pecan pie?” Twilight knew she would regret asking the party pony such a question, but she had to make the effort. Pinkie looked back at her and smiled.

“Because the cherry pie wasn’t done yet, duh!” She expertly sliced the pie into sections as she spoke. Twilight looked past her and saw John trying not to smile and failing. Twilight felt her lips curling in a grin to match. Pinkie picked up a long iron spoon and clanged it against the cauldron. “Soup’s on, everypony! Though I dunno why I’m calling it soup when it’s mostly muffins, bread, and pie!” Fluttershy, AJ, and Rarity went to sit down and eat. Rainbow Dash flew over and hesitated.

“Hey, Twi, we got the time for this?” She indicated the sack at John’s belt. “Thorn’s gonna be looking for his spellbook, and there’s Spike and the Crusaders…”

“I know, Dash,” Twilight said back as she sat down, “but right now we need to keep our strength up, and I need to try and figure out what to do next now that Zecora’s not here to help.” She took a chunk of the bread and chewed on it blissfully. It still felt just a little warm from baking. “We certainly can’t just give him the Letters of Cold Fire back, and we can’t just march into Sunny Town and tell him to give up. So it looks like we’re going to wait here, at least until dawn.” If we still have the time, she thought.

Dash nodded unhappily as she set herself down beside Twilight. She began to reach for the bread and then stopped, her eyes going wide.

“Wait, wait,” she said, shooting back up into the air as everypony turned their eyes on her, “what if me an’ Fluttershy tried sending a storm into Sunny Town right before the rest of you snuck in and grabbed Spike and the girls? All we’d have to do is make it big and nasty enough and Thorn wouldn’t see his hooves in front of his face. An’ then after that I could give Thorn a few dozen hoofshots to the jaw, and then…”

“Umm, Dash?” Fluttershy spoke up from where she sat, quickly swallowing a mouthful of muffins to add, “I’m sorry to interrupt your planning, but I never learned how to work weather. Remember?”

“Aw, c’mon, ‘Shy,” Dash said, “every Pegasus can do it! You did great that one time you helped. And if not, then I’ll handle that part. So like I said, after we, I mean I, send in the storm and take out Thorn…”

“What about the zombie ponies?” Applejack asked that from where she sat.

“I ain’t scared of them,” Dash answered with a contemptuous sniff. “From what we saw, they can’t fly. They couldn’t even touch Equestria’s best flyer!”

“But they could touch the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Rarity said, rising up to say it. Dash shot her a dirty look and opened her mouth to say more, but Rarity cut her off. “Please, think, Rainbow Dash! Thorn could just order the Sunny Town ponies to kill them! And that’s assuming that he’d do what we wanted in the first place. Dash, I know you’re almost as good as you think you are,” Dash began to sputter complaints. Rarity simply raised her voice until it whipcracked across the room, “But we are talking about my sister’s life, and Spike’s, and Apple Bloom’s and Scootaloo’s as well! I know that, that keeping Thorn’s hooves off of the spellbook is our primary concern for everypony else’s sake,” Twilight thought she heard Rarity’s voice catch, and she knew she felt it herself at the thought that she might have to sacrifice Spike, “But please, let us do everything we can to save our little sisters and Spike as well.”

“Okay, fine,” Dash grumbled as she sat back down. “Any ideas on how we even find Sunny Town? And hey, what’re you doin’, pal?” Twilight saw she directed the last remark to John. He’d taken some of the bread and was chewing on it as he sat by the broken door, using his knife to scratch some marks into the dirt.

“Twilight said we’d like as not be here all through the night.” He continued scratching the marks into the dirt as he said, “So I figured on trying something that might could help if Thorn sent us any visitors for the night. This is a protective charm I learned some time back, and it’s helped me once or twice.”

“A protection spell?” Suddenly interested, Twilight walked over to where John sat. She watched silently as he finished cutting a circle into the dirt. Set equidistant around it were a dozen symbols she didn’t recognize. She tried a spell to pick up on magical energies, and felt some relief that she picked up on power in it. She must have shown her joy, for she caught how John looked at her. She said, “I’ve been working on how to identify and protect against the magic from your world, John, and I’m getting better. I think I can give Thorn more of a fight then he might expect when we meet.” She indicated the markings with one hoof. “But what is this, exactly?”

“I’m not rightly sure,” John answered her. “I first learned it from a fellow named Jackson Warren, when he and I and some other folks were fighting the Shonokin.” He stopped as though expecting her to ask for more information. Twilight felt her curiosity gnawing at her, but she forced herself to ignore it and nodded for him to continue. “He allowed that it worked against what you might call unwanted company, and I’ve found it right helpful now and then against such. I don’t know how good it is here, but I’ll try it for safety’s sake. Or do you know a better protecting spell?”

Twilight thought for a second, and said, “I’ll try.”

She felt power flow down through her horn as she said the words to the most common such spell. There were stronger ones she knew, but she wanted to save as much of her power as she could for dealing with Thorn and whatever he’d have with him. To her surprise she felt her spell weaving itself around and through the ward John set into the dirt floor. If what she knew of Equestrian magic proved true here, that should double the strength of the ward. It would also make it possible to break it simply by kicking dirt over the marks and ruining it, but that couldn’t be helped. She stepped back and sighed.

“That’s done. Say, John, you don’t know of anything else that can be used to protect against Thorn’s magic, do you?” He looked thoughtful, the firelight from behind them both flickering over his face, before he answered.

“There’s holy words and prayers, though that’d be different for you than for me. And there’s spells as well, but we have that here.” He pointed at the ward before smiling softly and adding, “And old folks I know back home say that evil can’t prevail against a heart that’s both pure and brave. I reckon that may make you ponies safe. I’m not so sure about myself, though.”

“I reckon you’re brave, John,” Applejack said from her place by the fire. Twilight looked and saw her friends lying down together, huddled close for warmth. Rarity lay in the middle next to Applejack, with Pinkie and Fluttershy flanking them, both of the latter already snoozing. Dash flew over and dropped down to lie across everypony else, using them like a mattress. AJ rolled her eyes but said nothing. Rarity grumbled sleepily in her elegant voice and asked Dash to watch out for her mane. Applejack added, “If ya weren’t brave, ya wouldn’t be here in the first place.” She laid her head down, pulled her hat down over her eyes, and dropped off to sleep.

“What else can protect against Thorn’s magic?” Twilight asked again. “I mean physical things that we can try to bring along with us.”

“You got your Elements. Even if they take some time to use, they did save Rarity’s life,” John nodded at the purple-maned unicorn where she slumbered. He lightly drew his fingers along the strings of his guitar where they gleamed in the light. “And silver, as we’ve been seeing. Cold iron in some stories. Some kinds of wood, too, like hazelnut or ash…”

“Wait, did you say cold iron and ash?” Twilight’s ears pricked up at the last part. Before John could answer, she brought Zecora’s meditation staff floating over from the table. She set it down gently between them. She and John both looked closer at it. The metal caps and reinforcing bandings set roughly a quarter down the way from either end showed dull gray, and ornate carvings ran from tip to tip. Twilight lightly touched one with her hoof, a figure something like a fancy cross or hammer. “Zecora told me once that she made this after she got here, from local ash wood and using iron from an old staff of hers that got broken when she needed to defend herself. She said she hammered the iron parts to fit without a forge.”

“That must have taken some doing,” John responded. He carefully felt the staff, then took it and held it in one hand. In his hands it looked just big enough to make a good fighting staff.

“I imagine it did,” Twilight said. Her horn glowed and then so did several of the symbols along the staff, mainly the one like a hammer. “I remember how she said that one especially was sacred to her folk, that it was the sign of the blacksmith. Among her folk smiths are seen as being powerful wizards who made iron to protect zebras from hyenas and crocodiles and evil magic.”

“It’s like that back home in some places,” John said as he set the staff down. She hurriedly got some paper and a quill out to write his next words down. “Air place people worked iron, they saw it and the forge it was made in as holy. Some folks used to swear oaths on horseshoes, and some still think they’re lucky. Blacksmith gods were seen as protectors and champions among most peoples. Gypsies, a people who call theirselves the Rom, used to keep anvils for holy altars. And folks revered and respected the ash tree for a long time in old England and in the mountains. This might could be a help to us all, Twilight, and I thank you.”

“I’m glad,” she said absently as she wrote his words down. She promised herself that when this was all over she’d talk with him for however long it took to learn all he could tell her. And even so, it still wouldn’t be enough, not to know a whole world and the peoples in it. She set the paper back in her saddlebag and yawned. “Sorry, I think I feel a little sleepy.”

“I fancy you earned the right,” John told her. He looked out the door and into the dark. He went to the few windows looking into the room and closed the shutters. One of them was too badly broken. At that one he went to Zecora’s torn bedding and set one of her blankets across the broken window. He went back to sit by the door. Twilight watched with vast curiosity.

“Why did you do that?”

“I want to make sure nary person watching outside can see that light of ours,” he said as he leaned back against the wall, setting his guitar across his lap. Twilight felt a chill at his next words. “We don’t need more trouble than we’ll find.”

“What kind of trouble do you expect?” She asked in a soft voice. She could just hear her friends’ breathing as they slept.

“If you don’t rightly know,” John spoke back in as soft a voice as hers, “Then nair do I. But I know something will be coming along, and I want to be ready when it does.” Twilight saw that he kept Zecora’s staff close by, ready to seize it up if he had to. She nodded again, tiredly. Then, to her own surprise, she walked around the ward and lay down by John close enough to feel the warmth of his body. She looked and made sure that the bag with Thorn’s grimoire was on the other side of him from her. She didn’t want to be lying down next to that.

“Whenever it happens,” she said, “wake me up.” She faintly heard him promise to do that. She looked out into the dark, wondering where Spike and the girls were, if they were frightened or hurt. We’ll come and save you, she thought, that’s a promise.

She laid her head down on her forelegs and slept.

* * *

“HEAD ‘EM UP AND MOVE ‘EM OUT! YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER LIKE THE PRINCESS?”

Along the northern and western fringes of the Everfree, by Froggy Bottom Bog, Luna’s Night Troopers put hooves to dirt and started trying to penetrate the woods, looking for any sign of the invading sorcerer’s forces. They tried working their way inwards as best as they could towards where they’d been told Sunny Town lay. They were on edge. They’d heard from the Guardsponies stationed in Ponyville about the kind of things that were inside the Everfree, and more, of the events of the past few days. They were well armed, alert, ready for anything. They penetrated inwards under the trees, deep enough that the branches closed in above and around them.

So when the Foggy Bottom Hydra came roaring out of its swamp at them; when packs of timber wolves with armored collars on their necks leapt baying from the trees to rend and tear; when pony-sized spiders and even larger scorpions dropped from the trees above to bite and sting; when manticores and owlbears and cockatrices charged out of the underbrush; when immense panthers who never appeared to be where they really were leaped on them to slash with barbed shoulder-tentacles, they didn’t fall apart into panic. They formed up, and fought, and slowly fell back to the points where they’d entered the woods. And most of them escaped with their lives.

Most of them.

* * *

I don’t rightly remember how much time passed before I became aware that we had us some company outside, and not what I’d call a natural sort of company.

I jerked up from dreams I’d been having. First they’d been good, of me playing my guitar for these ponies and some others back in their town. Only this time Evadare stood there with me, and they all clapped their hooves and cheered when I told them all she was my wife. Fluttershy and Rarity came up and gave her flowers and some gemstones made into fancy ruby slippers. I played some more music and they clapped and cheered all the more, until I saw how the sun didn’t move airy bit through the sky. I asked Twilight why, where she stood right by me.

“Princess Celestia wants to hear your songs too,” she said, a-smiling on me. “Why do you think we asked you to play outdoors?”

Then that dream ended, and I had another, not near so nice. In it I saw black shadows a-coming all out from and over the Everfree, with one made like a giant winged and horned horse above it all. Air thing those shadows touched turned into ashes, and he laughed to see it all. Applejack and Apple Bloom and all the rest of the ponies I’d met were walking out from under him, only they looked dead like the Sunny Town ponies. Whatair they stepped on died under their hooves. I stood down before him with Twilight right by me again. I told her we had to either run or fight.

“John, why would I run from my own master?” She said those words, and turned and looked on me. Her coat looked black as a coal mine at midnight, and the pupils of her eyes were slits running up and down like on a cat. Standing by her was something like a long skinny dragon made from parts of different animals all stuck together, and he grinned on me like a crazy man.

I tried to play my guitar and call her back to herself. The dragon-thing with her just laughed and tapped me on the head, and of a sudden I couldn’t play airy note. It all came out a jangled mess. Twilight came at me, wicked and laughing, and the dragon and the shadow horse with her. And before they touched me I woke up. I felt right glad to do it too.

I looked around inside Zecora’s ruined tree house and saw what I’d seen afore. Twilight snoozing lightly by me, and her friends sleeping by the firepit, all in a pile. They must have slept lightly, for when I started awake, so did they a moment after.

“John,” Twilight said aside of me, her voice low and soft, “did you hear that?”

Hear what? I almost inquired her, and then I did hear it. The soft scrape of a horse’s hoof outside, right by that ruined door. I rose up and went to it, careful to not scuff up the ward I’d cut into the dirt. Twilight followed me. She looked right scared but ready for whatair might happen. Wings beat softly, and Dash flew over to hover by us both. I set my hand to the door to open it for a peek when someone outside spoke.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” Whoair spoke was a stranger person or pony to me. By the way Twilight and her friends looked, they didn’t know them either. The voice spoke again, sounding worried. “Please, is there someone there who knows Apple Bloom? I, I’m her friend Ruby from Sunny Town. If you can help her, please ask me in. There’s something I can’t see at the door and it won’t let me pass.”

“Hey, sure you can!” Pinkie came hopping up to the door. “Come right - uff!” I saw a purple glow come onto her muzzle and it closed right shut. Pinkie gave Twilight a glare. Twilight gave her an annoyed look back.

“Pinkie! If she can’t just walk in, there’s probably a good reason for that!” Pinkie worked at her muzzle with her forehooves and pulled Twilight’s magic muzzle away somehow. While she did, Twilight looked at me and said, “John, that ward of yours. Does it work on everything, or…?” I could see she hoped I’d say yes.

“No, only on unnatural things,” I responded her. She looked afraid. I saw past her how Applejack and Rainbow Dash set themselves between Rarity and Fluttershy and whatair waited outside. And when they did that, I took a deep breath and opened that door.

What I saw surprised me, because it was a pony I knew. It was that little gray one with the blond mane I’d seen my first night here, with Apple Bloom in the Everfree. She looked skittish and ready to run, and more, I could see something about her I hadn’t recognized that first night. Her eyes showed like yellow balls with no pupil or white to them, nothing like other pony’s eyes. And despite how dark it looked out - if Equestria were that much like Earth, I’d figure it to be maybe an hour or so of midnight, either way - she showed clear in it with a glow that didn’t come from our fire.

“Please,” she said again, that poor sorry-looking dead thing there, “please, let me in. Apple Bloom, she’s my friend, she’s in trouble and she needs help!”

I wondered myself what to say to a horse haunt, but Pinkie just bounced up the closer and looked her in the eyes. Twilight hissed her name at her. Pinkie ignored it to just give Ruby a long look afore she spoke again.

“Oh, we thought you were one of those nasty-bad yucky zombie ponies from Sunny Town, but you’re just a ghost pony. Now, are you a good ghostie, or do I have to giggle at you until you go away?” Pinkie said to her. Ruby looked as confused as airy soul’d be when they first met Pinkie. “I thought you’d be a zombie pony too and be stumbling around and going all ‘BRAAAIIINS!’ but you’re not a zombie, you’re a ghost, and I guess that even if you did want to eat brains you wouldn’t have anywhere to go with them since I never heard that ghosts have stomachs even if some people in John’s world put out food for them like how we give candy to Nightmare Moon on Nightmare Night but I guess you know all about Nightmare Night because that’s when all the ghosts and monsters come out to play and -“ Pinkie closed her mouth and made a zipping motion along her lips when she saw Twilight’s horn a-start to glow. Twilight just gave Pinkie a dirty look. Applejack walked up aside of me while she did.

“Wait, y’all really are Ruby?” She spoke to the haunt in the door. “I remember, Apple Bloom said ya helped save her from yer ghost friends when she followed ya to Sunny Town.”

“I did, and please let me in,” Ruby said, almost bouncing on her front hooves the way a worried or angry horse will, “Before something happens to her. Thorne wants to keep her prisoner, but my father Gray Hoof and Three Leaf and all the others are getting angry over how long he’s made them wait already! They said they’d make her one of them this time, and the other two fillies and that little dragon with her too…” She might have said more but right then Twilight pushed her way in between her and Applejack.

“Applejack, Pinkie, John, Ruby or whoever,” she said as she looked from one of us to the other, her ears flicking back and forth, “Listen to me. There are no such things as ghosts! Now, I…”

“No such things as ghosts?” Ruby said, and she sounded tired, like someone who hears the same argument over and over. “Look Miss Twilight, I’m sorry to break it to you, but there are such thing as ghosts and the undead. From what the others in Sunny Town have said, you’ve seen some of the proof yourself. And you’re seeing more of it before you!” Twilight still looked ready to a-argue it. Ruby just sighed and walked over to some of the wreckage in the yard and strolled right through it. I reckon I gopped to see that, and so did Twilight. Ruby came back over to us and said, “Now please, please, LET ME IN! I don’t want my only friend to get hurt!”

“Afore we do or say airy thing,” I spoke to her, “Just show me if you can touch this.” I stepped out of the house and up to her. I heard Twilight gasp, and Applejack gave me a quick, “John, watch y’self!”

I just walked up to that little dead pony where she stood. I crouched down by her and held out my guitar with its silver strings. She looked at me, and I saw the realization come into her eyes.

“That’s right, the others told me it hurt to try and get close to you when you held this towards them.” She reached her neck out and set her nose to the strings. It felt maybe the least bit colder where she touched them. She stepped back and looked at me. “Now do you believe I’m not here to hurt anypony?”

“I reckon we are,” I said. I turned and walked to the door and said, “Please come inside, Miss Ruby.” She sighed and followed me inside. I saw her twitch as she passed through the door and over the ward, like a fly lit on to her, but she showed no sign of any more hurt. I went to where the ponies sat by the firepit and so did she, and there we both sat down. Pinkie looked happy like always. Twilight and Applejack both seemed wary. The rest just stared at her.

“So…” Twilight said as she walked up to Ruby, looking at the soft glow and at her solid-color eyes, “you’re supposedly a ghost? From Sunny Town? You don’t look a lot like those other - things, we’ve seen from there.”

“That’s because I’m not like them,” Ruby shook her head to say it, her short mane spilling back and forth as she did. “They, they’re the ones who burned me all those centuries ago. Or was it years?” She shook her head again and looked at Applejack. “You’re Apple Bloom’s sister. She said something about you and Nightmare Moon once. You helped Celestia banish her to the moon, right? After she cursed Sunny Town, made us,” she looked down at her hooves like she felt shame, “What we are now?”

“No, we cured Nightmare Moon,” Twilight spoke up again. “She was sent to the moon a thousand years ago after she rebelled against her sister. She came back when the stars were right two years ago and banished Celestia. But before she could do any more than that, my friends and I,” she waved her hoof around at them all, and I saw how they puffed theirselves up just a bit, “Found the Elements of Harmony and used them to cure her, to bring Luna back.”

“Was he with you?” Ruby said, giving me a look. “I don’t remember hearing about a human in it. They were legends even back when we made Sunny Town, when we ran away from the Cutie Pox…”

“I wasn’t there, Miss Ruby,” I told her. “I’m here now, though, and what’s this you said about Apple Bloom? Can you lead us to her?” She looked back at me, and even though I knew her to be a friendly haunt like Lute Meechum or Devil Anse Hatfield or even General Washington who I’d met for maybe a minute, I still worked not to flinch back from her. You looked into her eyes, it was like looking into a bonfire.

“It all just gets so confusing,” she said, shaking her head. “Not just what Apple Bloom tells me, but my own memories. We keep having that party again and again in Sunny Town, every night. Roneo keeps losing his gift for Starlight, and I have to find it again, and, and then the curse hits and…” She looked at the magnifying glass on her flank and shivered. “Then Mitta tries to hide me, but my father and everypony else panics when they realize that I have the plague, and they drag me to the big fireplace in our house, and th-then they…” She looked down and her shoulders began to shudder, and she made sounds like weeping. I reached out, hesitated maybe a second, and set my hand on her shoulder. She felt cold, but solid air other way. I reckon she needed to think on it to make herself able to go through things. I looked at the ponies and saw how they looked on Ruby. Not scared so much as sad now.

“There, now, it’s okay.” Fluttershy walked up on her other side and nuzzled her. “We won’t hurt you. But how can we find Apple Bloom?”

“I was friends with Luna,” she said. “I loved her stars and she loved talking about them, said I was her only real friend. She told me later, after she became the Nightmare, that she came to Sunny Town after I’d,” she swallowed, “After what happened, and when she asked about me nopony would look her in the eyes to answer. Finally she cornered Mitta and got the truth from her. And then she just surrounded the whole town with a wall of solid night nopony could get past and hurled lightning down into it again and again until they were all dead. And she cursed them,” and now a shiver of fear to her voice, and I reckon maybe I felt it to hear her. “She cursed them to never have any peace, for the earth to cast them out and the Summerlands to reject them, until they asked for my forgiveness. And she made me,” she indicated herself with her hoof, “What I am, so I could hear their apology and watch them suffer.”

“But, Ruby,” Rarity spoke up, staring at her with wide eyes, “If that’s true, then Sunny Town’s been in the Everfree for more than a thousand years! Are you telling me that nopony there ever asked for your forgiveness in all that time? After one thousand years of being those,” she shuddered and made a face like saying it disgusted her, “Those monsters in the dark?”

“They just said it’s my fault anyway, for befriending Luna,” Ruby answered her, sounding tired. “They keep doing that party over and over and over, thinking that if they just do it one more time it’ll finish the right way and they’ll never have to say they’re sorry.”

“You were also a-saying about Thorne,” I asked her. “That you can find him and get us to Sunny Town.”

“I can,” she said, looking a little happier to say it. “I’m good at finding things. And please, you’ve got to help save Apple Bloom.” She began heading for the door, and Twilight and her friends followed after her. I stayed just long enough to make sure the fire was out, and to take up that iron and ash staff. I liked the heft of it, and if I ran into Thorne or maybe even one of those other Sunny Town ponies, I’d learn for myself if maybe it wasn’t just a little bit harder than their heads.

I went out into the dark to find the girls and Ruby at the edge of Zecora’s clearing. I saw Twilight and Ruby a-talking to each other. Her glow made just enough light to see them by. The rest were shadows in the dark, though by now I could tell them apart by the things like Pinkie’s bouncing and her puffed-up mane, or Dash’s hovering in the air.

“We’re glad for your help,” Twilight said to Ruby as I caught up, a-holding up one hoof to get her attention. “But why are the other Sunny Town ponies helping Thorne?”

“He,” she looked away, like she felt shamed, before she said, “He made us a promise. If we helped get his spellbook back, and kept an eye on him,” she pointed her hoof at me, “He’d use the magic from the Letters of Cold Fire to give us our lives back. He’d make us be alive again.”

“But he can’t do that!” Twilight yelled and winced, like she’d been caught talking out loud at a fancy concert or the like. She added a little quieter, “I’m no longer as sure as I once might have been about curses not being real, but I do know Equestrian magic. Something that powerful just can’t be lifted like it was no more than some cantrip, it can only be broken by the alicorn who set it. And since Nightmare Moon doesn’t exist anymore…”

“That’s what my father and the others told Thorne,” Ruby said. She began leading us all into the woods, following what looked like glowing hoofmarks in the dirt and fallen leaves of the forest floor. I saw Applejack staying by the rear and nodded to her. She’d make sure none of us fell behind. I went up by the front where Ruby and Twilight spoke.

“They were going to frighten him and that light-green unicorn with him away, but he made some marks in the dirt, and said some words that burned in our heads, and then they were all on their bellies before him,” Ruby said to Twilight. I listened to her with the one ear and tried to keep the other one open for whatair might be around us, though the normal night sounds you hear in a woods seemed quieted down then. I wondered me if it was because Ruby was a haunt, or because of all of us a-tramping through the woods. Ruby said, “Thorne said he’d been chased away from Ponyville because he defied Princess Celestia, and he wanted sanctuary with us. Gray Hoof and the others laughed at him and said they didn’t owe anything to the living except death. Then Thorne said he could make them all live again.”

“I remember,” I said to her and Twilight alike. “When I saw some of your people in Ponyville last night, they said some such thing about how they were needing Thorne’s spellbook for just that reason.” Ruby nodded at me.

“Yes, and Thorne wasn’t happy when they came back without it. He hurt them, somehow.” She shuddered again. “They were scared. They’d never felt real pain since their deaths, but Thorne reminded them that if he could hurt them he could heal them too.”

“But breaking an alicorn’s spell?” Twilight wondered at her.

“Thorne said that when he gets his spellbook back, he can use it to remake the world of the,” Ruby frowned and said the word right careful, “The Svartaskoli, and that in it everything will be as he wishes it to be. He’ll be the new alicorn there, the king of a new Equestria, and if he wants us to be alive again we’ll be alive again.” Twilight frowned at that. I guessed she thought on the show Thorne gave all the ponies, where he’d bragged of doing all those things. Ruby added in a worried voice, “But he’ll need somepony to take our place. He says that he’ll have to take a life for a life for everypony in the village. We’ll get to live again, but others will have to take our place.”

“Which others?” I asked, though I felt sure I could guess who he’d chosen.

Ruby just looked from me to Twilight and the others. They stopped, and I heard them gasp as she said, “All of you. Thorne promised to put our curse on Ponyville and make you all into undead ponies, drain away all your lives and give them to us.”

“Wh-what? That’s horrible!” Fluttershy said, “Who’d take care of my animals?”

“No no no!’ Dash waved her hooves like to chase something away. “No way do I want to be a ghost in the Everfree! I’d never get to be a Wonderbolt! And I don’t want to see it happen to anypony else, either!”

“Ruby!” Rarity gasped at her. “You and the others, you can’t help him do this! It’d be worse than murder to do such a thing!”

“I don’t want to do it!” Ruby almost yelled back. “And I’m not helping them! It’s the others. They say we’re owed this, that if hurting some of ‘Celestia and her monster sister’s little ponies’ is what it takes, then so be it!” She broke off and shivered. “I begged them not to listen, but they just beat me and chased me into the Everfree. They can touch me like I was still alive, they just don’t do it very often.” She looked at me. “That night I saw you, I thought Thorne sent you to bring me back. I’d gone to warn Apple Bloom about it, but you showed up first.”

“I wasn’t a-coming after you,” I answered her. “I was just a stranger. But I did help Apple Bloom stop the thing Thorne tried to set on us both.” I tried to pay attention to the forest while we spoke. I wondered myself if I heard other hoofbeats, close by but trying to be stealthy.

“I know now,” she nodded me back. “But then earlier Thorne brought Apple Bloom and her friends into a cage inside my father’s old house in Sunny Town. They’re all afraid, but the little dragon and the Pegasus told Thorne that they weren’t scared of him.”

“That’s Scootaloo,” Dash said, sounding proud. She ducked under a low-hanging branch with moss dangling from it. “She’s one tough little filly. Kinda like me.”

Ruby just nodded, watching her trail while she walked. “I sneaked in later, and Apple Bloom told me to go and get her sister and Twilight and John, because they’d save them all. And so I went. I was going to just pass by that zebra’s hut on my way to Ponyville in case you were there, and well,” she shrugged, “there you were.” She looked back at her trail of those glowing hoofprints then. “It gets kind of tricky from here on,” she said, her voice low, “and we’re just a few miles from Sunny Town. Better be quiet.”

“Why don’t ponies find Sunny Town more often?” I heard Applejack ask, but quieter than we’d been speaking. “It sounds like a right good-sized place, even if it is in the middle o’ the Everfree. You’d think pegasi flyin’ over would see it, if nothin’ else.”

“You can’t see or find it unless they want you to find it,” Ruby whispered back. “And even if you do, unless you get very close all you see are ruined buildings. And if you go any closer, you don’t ever leave.” She looked back on us all, her eyes like soft yellow lamps. “Now please, no more questions. I have to concentrate to do this.”

So we followed a pony haunt there under the leaves of the Everfree, a-wondering ourselves what we’d find with her leading the way. For a time we didn’t speak any more, we just followed Ruby in and out and around trees and bushes and rocks. Once we stopped when we heard something a-using nearby, something big that made the ground shake when its feet came down. You felt the regular thud, thud, thud of it coming up through your legs.

“Whatair was that?” I whispered to Ruby and Twilight after it passed by and left us. Twilight looked at Ruby like she wondered herself.

“Something bad,” was all Ruby said, and we went on. Right soon after that we came up on an old trail. I bent and looked close as best I could in that dim light under the trees. I saw it’d been a road a long time ago. You could see where the grass had been tramped down and grown back in different-like from the way it did on the sides of it. And there showed another sign we couldn’t mistake. Those rotted-looking hoofmarks, dozens of them, both a-coming and a-going along it.

“This is it, isn’t it?” Twilight said to Ruby, keeping her voice soft.

“Yes,” Ruby responded her. “This is the trail into Sunny Town.”

“Should we be rightly using the road up to Thorne’s front door?” I asked her. “I’d rather he didn’t know about our being here.”

“This is only for a short bit,” Ruby said back to me. She turned and gave me a look from her glowing yellow eyes. “Just until we get up to the outskirts of the village. Then I know another way around, and we can use that to get in…”

While she’d been speaking we’d all walked along the trail, and when she of a sudden stopped so did we. I heard a surprised noise behind me as somebody walked into somebody else. It kindly sounded like Pinkie and Fluttershy. I didn’t look to see who it was right then, for someone else stood in the trail before us. And they showed the red and black and bones of the Sunny Town ponies.

“Ruby,” it said, and it sounded like a woman’s voice, or maybe I ought to say a mare’s. It stepped closer, and I could see how it looked like she’d been weeping on howair much of a face she still owned. “Ruby,” she said again, and her voice sounded so sad it felt like she’d nair laughed or smiled in her life, “You know you’re in so much trouble for this.”

Ruby just stepped away from us, a-looking surprised. She said just the one thing.

“Mitta?”

Chapter 17

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 17

Twilight Sparkle felt this to be one of the roughest nights of her life. Aside from having a great certainty of hers shaken – that ponies didn’t walk after death – she followed something that all her learning and studies told her shouldn’t exist. She remembered her teachers telling her again and again that neigh-cromancy was just an old mare’s tale. That no pony, not even Princess Celestia, could restore life to the dead, despite the dozens of letters she got every month ranging from foals wanting a beloved pet back to heartbroken ponies begging her to restore their loved ones, letters that the Princess privately told Twilight broke her heart.

And then just a few hours ago Ruby came up from the woods, looking just as she did when Apple Bloom described her, and showed herself to be quite real. And in an even worse turn Twilight learned that Thorn plotted to turn everypony in Ponyville into shambling undead horrors to give the Sunny Town ponies their lives back.

And now, right on the edge of Sunny Town, a place that felt as close to Tartarus as any she’d ever read of, she faced one more horror, this walking dead thing before her that sounded like it wanted to do nothing but weep forever. At that moment Twilight learned that if she ever wondered about her courage, she’d always know she was brave. Because when Ruby stepped forward with a shocked look on her face, Twilight followed her to stand before it. She felt more than heard Applejack and Pinkie close behind her. She glanced to see John holding Zecora’s staff ready to use.

“Mitta?” Ruby stepped closer still, stretching her neck out like she wanted to nuzzle the corpse-thing before her. She stopped and said, “What are you doing here?”

“Trying to stop you,” Mitta looked from Ruby to Twilight and past her to John and the rest of her friends. “Have you gone mad, Ruby? You know what the others will do to you if they think you’re going to stop us from regaining our lives.”

“She ain’t mad, lady,” Applejack said, only a hint of a tremble in her voice. “But she don’t want ya ta hurt anypony else. ‘Specially not mah little sister an’ her friends.”

“What?” Mitta just glanced at her and looked back at Ruby. “Ruby, you know how angry they’ll be! If they,” she pointed at Twilight and Applejack with one rotted hoof, “don’t bring back Thorn’s spellbook, he won’t help us!”

“Please, Mitta,” Twilight stepped up beside Ruby. She gulped as she felt a chill from her, and a bigger one from Mitta herself. Forcing herself to ignore the smell of decay, Twilight said, “Ruby said you tried to help her once before. Whatever’s happened, you can’t have become so cruel as to want to see innocent ponies suffer for your sake, not little fillies who never hurt you. And who knows if Thorn would really help you if you help him?”

“He’d better,” Mitta said, her voice going from sad to harsh and brittle as the edge of a rusted axe. Her eyes blazed up. It took more nerve than Twilight thought she possessed to not step back from the rage thickening that voice. “He’d better help us like he said when he gets his book. Or else we’ll make him a part of our herd.” She looked back at Twilight and said in her normal sad voice, “But you’re right. I don’t owe you anything, but I do owe Ruby. And if she wants me to, then I’ll lead you to where you need to be.” Twilight wondered about her wording as Ruby spoke up.

“Yes, Mitta, that’s what I want.”

Mitta seemed to sigh. She turned and said, “This way.”

She forced her way between two trees that looked as old as the Everfree itself. Ruby followed her, and Twilight followed Ruby. She felt John stepping alongside her. Twilight slowed to ask him a quick question.

“John, do you trust this?”

“I reckon I should be the one a-asking you that question,” John said to her. She saw that he patted the sack holding the Letters of Cold Fire with one hand where it hung from his belt. In the other, he kept a firm grip on that staff. “I’ve met haunts two-three times in my life, but I’m noways an expert on them. I’d think you’d know more about ponies like Ruby and Mitta than I would.”

Twilight nodded back at him but she wondered. She looked around. She couldn’t see the stars from here, but she felt that they were walking perpendicular to the path Ruby had been following. Why would they be walking in this direction, of all the ways?

“Just a little further,” Mitta said from up before her where she walked alongside Ruby. “Just in this clearing.”

“What clearing?” Ruby asked. Twilight heard confusion in her voice. Then they broke through a screen of bushes, out into a clearing open to the sky above and allowing the moonlight to shine in, picking out trees and ponies alike in a silvery light. “Mitta – this isn’t the way back to Sunny Town!”

“No, it isn’t,” a hatefully familiar voice said. Twilight looked and froze to see a shaven head atop a massive two-legged form still dressed in Rarity’s royal raiment, its cold hard eyes glaring at her. “Hello, Ruby. Greetings, Twilight Sparkle, Silver John. I am Rowley Thorne, and I want my book back. Now.”

He stepped further out into the moonlight. His hands were folded before him and he smiled beatifically, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. They were like knives, she thought, trying to cut her where she stood. More of the Sunny Town ponies stood by him, the moonlight picking over their bones and empty eye sockets. Lyra also stood beside him on all fours, still with her jewel-set breastplate, looking hopelessly at Twilight. Twilight thought she mouthed run before Twilight stepped forward, keeping her own eyes locked on Thorn’s.

“Thorn,” she said, her horn glowing as she called up all the defensive wards she knew. Behind her she heard John getting his guitar ready, heard her friends getting their Elements out and setting them on. Her saddlebag opened and her tiara floated out and set itself on her head. And as it did, she said, “Rowley Thorn, in the name of Princess Celestia, I’m going to give you one last chance to give up peacefully and to return Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. If you don’t, we will hurt you.”

“I’m hoping he says no,” Dash said where she hovered, looking ready to fight. Twilight glanced and saw how the muscles twitched under her blue coat. “I’ve never wanted to buck anypony in the face so hard in my life.”

“And I,” Thorn said, giving them a mocking leer, “Say in my own name, the only authority I must needs respect, that if you bring my book to me right now and declare yourself my apprentice, I will allow your little friends to go away alive and unharmed.” He waited, and his brow furrowed in anger. “I won’t ask again.”

“Good,” John said as he set his guitar down and lifted his fists. Twilight thought he looked a little bit like Dash at that moment. “Then there won’t be the need for more words from you. You meet me whereair you want, this’ll be over right quick.”

“As if I’d lower myself to brawling in the mud with some hillbilly,” Thorn snorted at him. “I have other ways. Mitta!”

Before Twilight could do anything, Mitta turned and charged John. Ruby cried out and tried to grab her. Before she took three steps the zombie ponies were on her. They bore her down beneath them. She cried out Mitta’s name and one of them hoofed her savagely in the face.

“John, look out!” Twilight saw him reaching for his guitar, stunned at this unexpected assault. It was too little too late. Mitta rammed into him and sent him rolling. The staff and his guitar both went flying beyond his reach. Twilight instinctively reached out with her magic and snatched the guitar, yelling as she did, “AJ, Dash, Rarity, stop Mitta! Pinkie and Fluttershy, you help John!” She set the guitar down gently and turned away, wondering if John would rise as a walking corpse from Mitta’s touch. She tried to snatch at their treacherous guide with her magic. Something reached out and batted her grip away. Twilight shot a glare at Lyra. “I don’t believe it, you’re still helping him?”

“I told you, he has Bon Bon!” she yelled back. “I don’t have any choice!” AJ’s lasso whipped out at Mitta’s legs as Dash stooped on her from above, but the lasso shot up and wrapped around Dash’s forelegs before it tightened. Dash yelled as she got pulled back into colliding with Applejack. Both ponies rolled over the ground. Rarity chased after Mitta and reached out with her magic. She gave a victorious yell and snatched the bag away.

“Twilight, I have it!”

Rarity held it open. Twilight reached in with her magic and froze. It was empty.

“Looking for this?”

They all turned and stared, humans and ponies alike. Thorn smiled on them all, holding the spellbook in one massive hand. He held it open before him and began to intone, “By the names of Aamelek, Nahemah, let the power of this tome be restored! By the power of Discord, let my will be done…”

“STOP HIM!”

Twilight didn’t know who yelled it, but she charged him, her horn glowing. She couldn’t let this happen, she just couldn’t…

And Thorn finished with a triumphant cry of, “Let this world be as I will it to be! Let me be its master! In Discord’s name, let it all be mine!” He slammed it shut and gave her a look of triumph, his eyes wide and wild. “As I desire, so mote it be!”

And Twilight screamed as the Everfree turned itself inside out around her.

* * *

And leagues away in Canterlot, Princess Celestia looked away from Discord’s rapidly crumbling statue and prepared to raise the sun when she felt something shudder through the very fabric of Equestria. Cries of panic came from within Canterlot itself as she saw an inverted pitch-black funnel cloud reaching up from the middle of the Everfree Forest to cover the moonlit horizon, with what looked like tentacles made of tar reaching out from it to cover even more of its boiling surface. It looked black, a pure and lifeless black, no sun or stars or moon, like the inside of a closed grave. Flares and flames shot into the sky beneath it, pinpricks of fire that could only be dragons in flight as they abandoned their lairs and hoards in terror. Celestia breathed out a phrase she thought she’d forgotten since her cutie mark came in and all but hurled the sun into the sky.

She heard panicked neighs from the crowded nobles as several of them, with one golden-maned unicorn stallion leading the way, hurried to the terraces overlooking the valley and looked down on the Everfree. Cries of panic arose and they turned to flee, ears flat and eyes rolling. If they stampeded they would trample each other. She saw the realization flash over the faces of Shining Armor and the guards, but before they could do anything, a pink alicorn flew out and over the terrified herd. Cadence dropped down beside Blueblood, talking gently yet strongly to the unicorn stallion. He froze, and slowly, shivering all the while, walked rather than ran away. The rest of the crowd calmed themselves as well. Celestia sighed her gratitude and glanced one last time out over the twisted magical storm engulfing the Everfree.

Twilight, she thought desperately. And then the wasps-nest laughter of Discord came back, echoing inside her mind so hard she thought it wanted to crack her skull open from the inside. Celestia turned back to the statue with a snarl of effort, resealing stone around one entire limb that was breaking free. She saw her sister’s mouth working, knew she was saying something to her, but all she could hear was the laughter of Discord crawling inside of her mind.

* * *

Big Mac trotted stolidly up to the front doors of Ponyville Hospital in the gray light preceding the dawn, bringing along the usual shipment of apples and other foods they bought from Sweet Apple Acres for the staff and patients. He’d wanted to stay at the farm with Granny Smith, only for her to shoo him out the door.

“These vittles ain’t gonna deliver themselves,” she’d told him in her quavering voice. “An y’all ought have more faith in Applejack n’ her friends. They stopped Discord and Nightmare Moon, didn’t they? They’ll bring little Apple Bloom and the rest back safe an’ sound.” When Mac nodded at her, still unwilling to leave, she added, “’Sides, if Equestria does come to an end, it’ll happen whether you’re here ‘r at the Hospital. And if it doesn’t, they’ll be wantin’ their apples. So just git goin’!” So Mac went out, hitched himself to the wagon, and took the food up the doors.

It wasn’t until he got there that things began to start. One of the patients from the cellar mental ward was helping, Screwloose (or so they called her; Big Mac wondered what the poor mare’s real name was). Thankfully she seemed calm today, smiling vacantly at everypony and only barking once in a while. They were unloading the apples, with Big Mac watching Screwloose closely, both to make sure that she didn’t snitch too many apples and that the nastier attendants didn’t pull any pranks on her, when it happened.

Something began howling off in the Everfree to the west. Big Mac thought it sounded like a frightened timber wolf. And then another joined it, and more and more. It sounded like the entire Everfree was going mad with fear, just like a few nights back when that Thorn creature first showed up.

Screwloose tossed her head up and whimpered, doglike. She began to bark and howl, her eyes rolling wildly, before she ran to Big Mac and took hold of a mouthful of his mane and started trying to drag him back inside the hospital.

“What th’ hay?” He pulled free from her. “What’s th’ matter with ya, mare?”

She whimpered and pressed against him as though seeking protection. She stared at the Everfree, shivering. Big Mac’s gaze followed hers and he stared as well. Equine forms in dark armor came racing out from it, heading for the hospital. He recognized them as Princess Luna’s Night Guard, their batlike wings folded tight to their bodies and their heads down as they sought all the speed they could get. A powerful wind howled and hammered over and past them, whipping debris against Mac. He saw that if they tried flying they’d have been torn away by it. Behind them Mac saw rabbits and ferrets and the other animals from Fluttershy’s menagerie. He thought he could see her little rabbit Angel leading the way.

“What’s goin’ on?” He asked one of the Night Guards as they dashed around him and the attendants and Screwball.

“Get inside, fool,” he hissed at Mac in what seemed like the loudest voice they owned, “and bar the doors!” Mac almost asked why. Then he looked past them and saw why.

Long, animal-like forms studded with thorns and branches came racing from the Everfree; timber wolves, ears down and heads outstretched and running as fast as they could. Behind and above them what looked like a pillar of darkness sprang up from the Everfree, tendrils dropping down from it and covering more of the forest, hiding it from sight. One timber wolf headed straight for the hospital and the knot of ponies at the door. Everypony shrieked and tried to force their way inside at once, leaving only poor terrified Screwloose and Big Mac standing between the monster and a hospital full of injured and frightened ponies. She whimpered back against him, and then with a howl turned and ran off into the town.

Big Mac stepped up with a snort, hoping this wouldn’t be his last mistake. Maybe he could distract it long enough for everypony else to get away. The timber wolf ran at him. And past him, uttering high-pitched yelps of panic. Hot on its heels went the rest of its pack, and behind them came more – a massive bear with an owl’s head and claws, a manticore yowling like the world’s biggest alley cat, all of them racing into and through town, frightened so badly that not even the sight of normally delectable ponies made any impression on their minds. And overhead, Big Mac gulped to see the sun in the sky, but higher than it should be, in a position it shouldn’t be in for hours yet.

Big Mac looked into the Everfree where monsters and ponies alike fled from something that terrified them past all thinking and wondered if he’d ever see his sisters or their friends ever again.

* * *

And in Canterlot’s mental hospital, a pink pony with a white-striped purple mane and a screw and ball for a cutie mark began laughing for joy and jumping up and down in her cell.

“It makes sense!” She cheered, “It’s all starting to make sense again!”

* * *

Right after Mitta bowled me over I heard Thorne a-calling some names I nair did like to hear for all the times I’ve heard them. I heard yells from Rarity and Twilight and the rest of the ponies, wild and frightened and scared half to death. And Thorne finished, a-calling out, “By Discord’s power, let this world be as I will it! So mote it be!” And the thickest and heaviest darkness you ever imagined could exist rolled over us all like someone just blew out the sun like a candle. One last laugh from Thorne, what sounded like a cry from Ruby, and no more sounds.

I tried to get my wits back together. I touched where Mitta had run up against me. It felt right cold and nasty there. I reckon I shivered when I rubbed what I found on my hands off against the clean dirt underneath me. I heard no sound from the ponies where they’d been. I bent down to get my guitar back and found it gone. I remember how Twilight had snatched it up with her magic, and wondered where she might could be.

“Twilight?” I called out. I thought maybe I heard some pony yell back to me but she sounded to be miles away. I called louder this time, “Applejack? Rarity? Any of you? Where are you-all at?” No response, just that darkness and silence all about. The only real consolation I can remember me right then was that I must still be alive. Whereair I stood, it wasn’t any kind of a heaven, and I figured hell would be livelier.

“John!” I heard one of the ponies yell, closer than before but still sounding far away. More voices joined the one that called out, saying, “John, girls, where are you?... Hey now, John, where are y’all at?... Where the hay is everypony?... Oh, please, John, don’t you be lost too!... Ooh, if we’re playing hide-and-seek, can I be it?”

Then a sudden spark lit up that darkness, almost white-hot before my eyes. I yelled and saw the ponies again. They stood right about me. Applejack and Fluttershy stood so close I would have tripped on them if I’d taken more than one step. The rest were near as close by me. The light came from Twilight’s horn, and I say no lie when I say I felt relief to see my old guitar laid on the ground against her. I think we all just stared on each other there for a second. I spoke first.

“Why did you all sound like you were miles and miles away?” Twilight looked at me, and when she spoke she sounded as confused as I reckon I felt.

“Us? You were the one who sounded like you were on the other side of the Everfree!” She looked around at her friends. “So did all of you.”

“I thought you’d all been dragged away somehow, darling,” Rarity said to her. She added with a graceful kind of shudder, “I thought I was all alone here, and I just felt this place pressing down on me somehow, like it…”

“Like it wanted you to just lie down and shiver in the dark forever,” Twilight finished for her, sounding afraid. The way Rarity and the others looked at her, I knew she’d spoken true words. She looked around and shuddered. “I know where we are. I’ve been here before.” Her friends gave her looks that wondered. I didn’t, for I could guess what she meant.

“This is the place Thorne’s book sent you to,” I said to her. “Where you were meant to stay in the dark, alone forever.”

“Yes,” she nodded back at me. She looked around again, directing the light from her horn the way you would with a bullseye lantern or a flashlight. “This sure isn’t the Everfree.”

“No, it isn’t,” Thorne, for it was he who spoke, chuckled down at us all. I looked around for him, and if I’d seen him then I reckon I’d have learned how he could take a punch, but he hid himself from us. His voice like to seem to come from air place around us all at once as he said, “This is the world the Letters of Cold Fire came from originally, before I found it on my world, before Discord re-created it for me from my memories. This is going to be my Equestria, little ponies. What do you think of it? Ah, but I forget. We ought to have some light so you can look upon my new kingdom.”

No sooner than he said that it happened. A raw red light shone down over and around us. I felt right sorry to see what it showed. The trees showed more spread out now, but shorter and sickly-looking, soft and nasty like some almighty big fungus, maybe something poisonous to touch. The ground gave a little under your feet and sprang back when you stepped away, like you walked on something alive. And the air felt warm and thick where it blew down on you in steady puffs like you walked inside of some living thing, something that wanted to eat you right up.

We all looked up and saw more still. The light came from a swollen blood-red moon hanging in the sky, looking broken and jagged like a shattered rock. I tell you all, it looked like someone up and murdered the moon and hung its corpse in the sky for air soul to look on. It made me feel the least bit ill just to see. And no stars save maybe things that looked like guttering embers from a fire. And less use to talk of the clouds we saw, great big things that seemed to boil and twist like snakes in a bag made of smoke. I could tell more still but I’d rather not speak of it. Thank you, I won’t even try.

“It suits you, Thorne,” Twilight responded him, “But not anypony else. We’re still going to find you and stop you from doing more damage. And where are Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“I said they would be returned to you if you returned my book to me…”

“An’ we did!” Applejack yelled then. Rarity and Rainbow Dash nodded at her words, both looking right angry then. She stomped up by Twilight and called up into the air like into Thorne’s face, “Ya got your nasty spellbook back! Now where’s mah sister, n’ where’s Sweetie Belle n’ Scootaloo n’ Spike at?”

“You brought it here, but I took it from you,” Thorne’s voice came back to us, from air place and no place all at the once. It seemed like he drew off away from us, up into the sky by those clouds. “I don’t owe you anything. If you want your little friends, come and take them from me.”

“I’ll do just that, you big jerk!”

“Dash, don’t!” Twilight called, but it did no good. Rainbow Dash took off, her wings beating like an angry bee’s as she flew straight up towards those clouds. I half wondered if I saw a rainbow trail along after her as she flew. Twilight and her friends and I all looked after Dash as she became littler and littler against those clouds and that starless sky. She went from the size of your fist to the size of your thumb and then she vanished against those cloud-things.

“Ah hope she ain’t bit off more’n she can chew,” Applejack said. “Dash’s pretty good, but this place looks –“

And from high up there a cry, first of surprise and then a sharper one of pain.

“Dash!” One of the girls called that out, or maybe I did, or all of us. I saw what looked like a blue rag tumbling from the sky, rolling over and over. I think she fell to just a few dozen feet up before she got her wings back under her and started to come down a little slower. She circled once or twice and then set down amidst us all, shaking as she spoke.

“It, it was the cloud! I t-tried to fly over it and it swatted at me with something like a tentacle. It felt wet and runny, and it burned me!” She lifted her wing and showed us where it’d touched on to her. Her blue coat along that side under her wing looked seared away. Not deep enough to show muscle, but enough to show raw red flesh.

“Oh my goodness, Dash!” Fluttershy pressed up close and looked at it the way folks do when they know something about treating injuries. She pressed and checked around it. Dash winced but said nothing. Fluttershy reached into her saddlebag with one wing, using it like a hand and fingers, and took out what I could see were medicines and bandages. She said to us all, “Girls, I have to treat this now. But I’ll make it quick. Rarity, maybe you could help with the bandaging?”

“Of course, dear.” The elegant white unicorn walked up to Dash and Fluttershy. Her horn glowed and the bandages floated up. “But we have to hurry. I will not leave Sweetie Belle in that fiend’s hands any longer than I can possibly help!” I stepped back by Twilight and Applejack to give them room as Dash started a-trying to tell them that she felt right fine.

“Oh, here, John,” Twilight said as she set my guitar back into my hands. “I knew you’d want me to be careful with this.” She and Applejack looked on as Dash got treated and they both winced to see what’d been done to her.

“I did, and I thank you,” I said to her. I checked it and sighed to see my old guitar wasn’t the least bit damaged. I looked around and frowned “Wherever is Pinkie at?”

“Right here!” Pinkie bounced up from behind us all. She looked as happy as ever. Well, maybe the least bit less happy. She said, “I just took a quick look around. Meany-pants Thorne is gone, and so are Lyra and the zombie ponies. But Ruby left us a trail! I knew she was a nice ghostie.”

“What trail?” I asked her. Pinkie turned and pointed off amongst what might could have been bushes back home but looked more like coral here, if coral shivered like a dying man in his sickbed. Dash and Rarity and Fluttershy came up alongside the rest of us as we looked and saw what Pinkie pointed at. It was a trail of glowing hoofmarks in the dirt. When we looked closer, we could see more marks alongside them, one of them from someone wearing boots.

“Looks like that’s the way Thorne an’ his pals went,” Applejack said. She pointed off down the trail they’d used where it vanished under the trees.

“Then that’s the way we’re going.” Twilight set out along it, saying as she did, “I don’t like this, but right now we don’t have any other way to get around. Dash and Fluttershy don’t dare fly, and I am not pushing my way through that.” She indicated off to one side as she spoke. We looked and saw one of those puffy trees all wrapped around with vines set with thorns fit for the world’s meanest set of barbed wire. The vines crawled on it like angry snakes. One of them tried to reach out as she passed, and then of a sudden it flinched back from her. I began to head after Twilight, but stopped when Applejack got in front of me. Twilight looked back as she spoke.

“Tell y’all what, John,” she said. She jerked her head at the vines and trees. “Ah’m pretty sure the Elements’ll keep me n’ mah friends safe, but you I ain’t sure about.”

“I’ll kindly take that chance right now,” I told her, but she shook her head at me.

“Ah know ya got your book an’ your silver strings, but we’ll probably need ya yet,” she said, “So how about you walk along in the middle o’ us? If those things Thorne made try anything, they’ll have ta get by us.”

I shook my head at her. “I thank you kindly, but I’m not about to have you all set yourselves between me and air wicked thing here…”

“It’s not that simple,” Twilight broke in, not very mannerly for her. “John, you’re a source of information, and you’ve been a help since this all started. Thorne probably knows that by now. Losing you now would weaken us against him.” I opened my mouth to speak, but she spoke first. “No complaints, please! We need you in one piece, and these trees will stay away from us. They seem to be afraid of Equestrian magic like the Elements.” While she said all that, she dropped back until she walked before me, what they call the point in the military. Rarity and Rainbow Dash, just this once keeping her hooves on the ground, went up to stand behind and off a little to the sides of her, and Pinkie and Fluttershy went behind them. I looked in back of me and saw Applejack there, a-giving me a smile.

“Ya helped us a lot, John, and ya protected our families” she said to me, “An’ now it’s our turn to be the ones watchin’ over you.”

I might have said more then. I don’t like feeling like I need to be kept safe from airy thing, but what they said were true words. And the more we fussed about this, the more time Thorne had to do whatair he wanted to be doing with Lyra and Spike and Apple Bloom and her friends. So I just bent down and picked up that ash staff of Zecora’s.

“Let’s be going, then,” I said to them all. We all went off under those trees. I do admit, it felt less creepy to be there with friends. Especially when I saw one of those vines make to drop down on me but jerk back when it got close by Fluttershy. I wondered aloud, “If what I had was enough to stop the Sunny Town haunts and Thorne’s magic afore this, why not now?”

“That’s a heck of a good question,” Applejack said behind me. “Ya got any ideas, Twi?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, shaking her head. “I can only imagine that it’s the same reason why Thorne’s been able to accomplish so much more here lately. He’s been drawing on not just Discord’s power, but the wild magic of the Everfree. I think his magic is becoming Equestrian, in some ways. Sure, he’s still using it the way he did back in your world, John, but it’s a familiar power being used with some different skills…” She stopped talking then, and looked thoughtful. If she’d had hands I reckon she would have been rubbing her chin.

“You thought of a thing that might help?” I asked her.

“Maybe,” she said. She spoke slow and careful, spacing her words out to make sure we all heard them there. “I couldn’t fight Thorne’s magic before, but he’s using so much Equestrian magic now. And there’s what you told and showed me, so I have some idea of how this all works. And there’s this.” The light from her horn played over the sickly trees and plants around us. They seemed to try and pull back from it, like her magic pained them. “He’s making Equestria a part of him, but at the same time he’s becoming a part of it, and…” She broke off and stopped dead in the path. I saw that here it widened out some, making something like a clearing.

“Did any of you hear that?”

We all stopped and listened. I strained my ears. I heard Dash snort.

“Aww, it’s just the wind.” Then she perked her ears up, and so did I. I heard noises from down the trail, down the way we were going. A sort of heavy dragging in the dirt, and clumsy footsteps. No, not footsteps. Hoofbeats. But whatair horse or pony made these sounds seemed kindly like one about to fall down dead.

“Guys?” Pinkie said, and she sounded right bad scared to say it. I looked and saw how her tail twitched and she shivered. “This is big. Like in town. But it’s gonna be worse!”

I slung my guitar around over on my back and took that staff up, ready to hit with it. Dash flew up into the air. I heard her hiss a bit at the pain as her bandages pulled over her side where she’d been burned. Twilight’s friends went up by her, looking right ready for trouble. Those noises got louder. I wondered myself what we’d be seeing.

And it showed itself, and I was sorry I’d wondered. Four figures stood there. Well, the three of them stood, and one crawled. The crawling one out in front showed scales and slit-pupil eyes and fangs like a snake, but it also had two short arms or legs it used to pull that long length of its body along behind it. It looked on us and hissed like a steam pipe. And on its head set between its eyes, a crimson jewel that shone and pulsed like a living heart.

And behind it, three things like ponies, as big as the ladies with me, save that they’d been flayed from lips to tail. Their hides showed a wet dull red streaked with white where the fat marbled their muscles. The sockets of their eyes showed empty like the Sunny Town ponies I’d seen, all filled with fiery light. They differed from each other too. One showed a long jagged horn coming from her forehead like a saw-toothed swordblade. One shrieked, showing a thicket of fangs in its mouth, and spread tattered bat wings like I’d seen on those Night Guards in town, but too ripped and torn to ever fly. And the last owned muscles like Applejack’s. All three wore the capes I’d seen Sweetie Belle making for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo and herself.

We stared on Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders and they stared back at us just a moment long.

Then they screamed like someone took the lid off of hell and charged.

Chapter 18

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 18

“Oh, no! Please, Celestia, no!”

Twilight would never remember who screamed those words as the things that had once been three fillies and Spike, her little brother Spike, charged at them screaming and howling so loud and shrill it hurt her ears. Twilight just stared for a second at champing fangs and hooves like a rooster’s spurs and at those flayed bloody marbled-white bodies and the final mocking touches, Spike’s fire ruby and the CMC capes, hung out to let them know who came to kill them.

Spike came slithering at her with the speed found only in nightmares, his green eyes blazing with rage and pain as he snapped at her with dripping fangs.

“Spike!” Twilight yelled as she fell back from him. She gagged to see that his hind legs hung useless and broken. He hurried after her and hissed and whimpered as they bounced over rocks. Twilight yelled again, “Spike, this is me! Twilight! Please, Spike, if that’s still you, then say something!”

He stopped and stared at her, the nictitating membranes sliding over his eyes. Twilight dared hope, only to jerk her head back as he thrust his long neck out and snapped at her. Madness and pain chased each other in his gaze. He threw himself at her with a scream, only to drop as John stepped forward and cracked him hard alongside the head with Zecora’s staff. Spike curled around to strike at John, rearing and hissing like the largest snake Twilight had ever seen. She wondered why he didn’t breathe dragonfire and reminded herself to be grateful he didn’t.

“John!” Twlight moved back in on them both. Fighting the revulsion she felt, she yelled, “John, please don’t hurt him! Thorn did something to him, to the girls! They don’t know what they’re doing!”

“Whatair he means to be doing, he seems to be handling it right well!” John yelled back at her as he held the stick sideways, forcing it into Spike’s open mouth and holding him back. Spike chewed furiously, his fangs scoring the wood and iron but not breaking it. He brought his tail, now longer and set with barbed spines, up and around to coil around John. Twilight grabbed it with her magic and held it, eliciting another shriek of raw rage from Spike. Choking down a sob, she threw him to the ground where he coiled, stunned.

“Thankee, Twilight,” John yelled at her, “but how are the rest doing?” He dropped on Spike’s back and held the stick across the back of his head, holding those snaggle-toothed fangs away from him. Spike shrieked and lashed wildly.

Twilight heard screams from the others, shrieks of pain and rage from the transformed fillies and of grief from their sisters. She turned to see and felt her heart sink.

“Not good,” she said, her voice thick in her throat. “Not good.”

* * *

“Apple Bloom,” Applejack choked the words out, “Lil’ sis, what did they DO ta ya!”

The thing charging at her stopped and stared. Applejack hoped it recognized her, that it would stop. She took one step close, then another.

And she hurled herself back as those fanglike teeth snapped shut where her muzzle had been a second before. It screamed, high and wild, as Apple Bloom wheeled suddenly and lashed out with her hind legs in a kick that might have broken Applejack’s neck if it landed. AJ dodged, the breath hissing between her teeth as she saw the hooves lash by her eye. They looked broken and jagged, like something out of a foal’s scare-story for Nightmare Night. AJ yelled one more time.

“Apple Bloom! It’s your big sis! Applejack!”

If the monster recognized her words, it gave no sign. Instead it charged in close and reared up to bring its hooves down in a classic hoof-boxing move. Applejack knew it expected her to dodge aside and strike back, hitting ‘Bloom in the side. She’d taught Apple Bloom that one herself, as her father had taught it to her.

So instead she charged in under those broken and sharp-jagged hooves, ramming into Apple Bloom as she reared. The blood stench and the slippery feel of that flayed hide almost made her vomit. The knowledge that this thing, this howling maddened monster that sought to kill her, was her little sister, didn’t help. But ‘Bloom fell on her side with a crash, screaming in shrill agony.

“’Bloom, Ah’m sorry!” Applejack fell back and snatched her lasso. ‘Bloom rolled on her back, trying to rise. AJ deftly hurled her lasso, getting it around her forehooves. She charged in, ignoring another snap of those jaws, to wrap it tightly around Apple Bloom’s hind legs, hogtying her and leaving her to flail helplessly. Applejack fell back from her as ‘Bloom snapped at her and shrieked her pain and fury.

“Little sis,” Applejack said as she slowly stepped closer, watchful for a sudden attack. ‘Bloom stopped moving and stared at her as though pleading from the empty eye sockets set in that flayed skull. Please, big sis, I don’t wanna be like this. It hurts, it hurts so much!

“Don’t worry, baby sis,” AJ said, her voice cracking as she began to plan just how she’d most quickly break her transformed and monstrous sister’s neck and put her out of this torture, “Ah won’t let ya hurt no more. I wish I coulda worked harder, done something, and not let this happen to ya. Ah’m sorry. An’ after this is all over and I’m done with Thorn, I’ll be with ya forever, I promise.”

* * *

“Sweetie Belle! Oh, Celestia, why my little sister? Why – EEK!” Rarity barely dodged to the side as Sweetie Belle’s horrid horn slashed at her. Rarity felt a tug along her side, and then something flowing, warm against her coat.

“Rarity, you’re hurt!” Fluttershy ran up to the white unicorn. Rarity shook her head.

“It’s only a scratch. But my poor little sister!”

Only a few feet away, Sweetie Belle lowered her head and snorted, scraping at the ground with jagged hooves. Her once-fluffy mane and tail both hung tattered and limp, clotted with blood. Fresher blood dripped slowly from the tip of her horn. She shrieked, her once musical voice turned into a berserker scream, and charged them both.

Fluttershy moved faster than Rarity could ever remember seeing her move before, putting herself in between Rarity and her transformed little sister. She opened her eyes wide and Stared harder than ever before in her life. Sweetie Belle froze, her horn ready for a thrust that would have gone through Fluttershy’s skull, as the yellow Pegasus snapped an order.

“Now you just stand right there! That’s it, like that!” As the monster froze, its empty eye sockets locked on Fluttershy’s gaze, the Pegasus said, “How dare you! This is your sister! We are your friends! Sweetie Belle, we want to help you, but you have to stop fighting us!”

The monster groaned. It twitched and jerked, the muscles jumping on its body, as though it fought against bonds. Rarity stared at it in horror, trying to see her little sister in that hulk of muscle and bone and blood. I promised to bring her back, she thought, fighting her own grief and pain down. I promised, but mom and dad would never want to see her like this!

“Fluttershy, can you hold her?”

“Just a little bit, she’s fighting me so hard! If she breaks free I don’t think I can stop her again!” Fluttershy looked like she strove to hold an avalanche back with her hooves. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, and she braced herself against the earth. “Rarity, what can we do?”

“The only thing I can do,” Rarity said as she took several steps back from Fluttershy and her maddened and monstrous sister. Rarity lowered her head, setting her horn in line for one quick charge and thrust. She heard Fluttershy gasp in horror, heard the creature before her rumble menacingly in its chest.

Don’t think of it as your sister, Rarity told herself, wondering how she could think at all right now, telling herself to forget things like the Sisterhood Social and birthday parties and the saddle she’d made for Sweetie for when she got her cutie mark. It’s an animal, an animal in so much pain there’s only one mercy left for it. Through the eye into the brain or through the chest into the heart? She eyed the spot right behind the shoulder blade, judging where the best place to strike would be. And then, after we stop Thorn, if I’m still alive, I’ll go and be with her again.

Through the chest into the heart. One quick charge-and-thrust. There would be an instant of pain and realization if anything of her sister remained, and then nothing.

“I’m so sorry, Sweetie Belle.” She braced herself for the charge. Her sister looked at her in sudden fear. Rarity searched for more words, and could only find: “I love you. I’m sorry.”

* * *

“Scoot! It’s me, kiddo, it’s your idol Rainbow Dash, remember?”

If the beast charging at Dash knew what she said, it showed no sign. It just howled, wild and pitched so high Dash could feel it stabbing into her head through her ears. Dash dropped back before it as it lashed out at her with snapping teeth and razor-edged hooves and even those batlike wings. She noticed the little fishhook claws set on their leading edges and wondered how something so small could stick out in her mind.

“Scoot, don’t do this!” Dash tried to fly out of reach. She yelled as she felt something take a firm hold of her tail. The yell turned into a scream as what had been Scootaloo flung her to the earth and dragged her along her wounded side. Pain flashed as her raw skin tore on sticks and rocks. She kicked out, hitting Scootaloo in the jaw and sending her stumbling back. Dash hovered nearby as the maimed Pegasus rose back up, blood oozing along her exposed muscles and tendons. She cried, “Scoot! Please, ya gotta be in there somewhere! I’m Dash, I’m your friend!”

“So’m I!” Pinkie said as she charged under Dash and hopped up on Scootaloo’s back, her mane straight as Rarity’s after a dousing. The transformed filly gave an agonized shriek at the touch of Pinkie’s hooves on her raw flesh. Before she could do anything else Pinkie whipped out some of her party ribbons from her saddlebag. Working fast, she wrapped them around Scootaloo’s forelegs, hobbling her. The Pegasus-thing tore at them with her teeth. Pinkie hopped away.

“Dashie, if you’re gonna do something, better do it quick!”

Dash just stared, wishing she could think of something, anything else. Only one plan came to mind. She flew as high as she dared before winging over and power-diving down towards Scootaloo, aiming for her neck and head like she’d done back in town with the timber wolves.

I’m sorry, squirt, she thought as the thing grew in her sights, everypony, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry I let Scoot and Spike and my friends’ little sisters get hurt like this, I’m sorry I didn’t get Thorn when I had a chance, I’m sorry I’m such a big failure who always lets everypony down, I’m so sorry…

* * *

I fought to hold Spike down, and I tell you all, I felt like Pecos Bill from some old story a-fighting to ride a tornado. He hissed and shrieked and tried a-lashing at me with his tail even while Twilight held him down with her magic. I saw the spikes on it, sticking out like rusty nails. If they hit you it’d be like being whipped with a logging chain studded with Bowie knives. I tried to ignore that thought, like I tried to ignore remembering how just the day afore I’d played music for Spike and Apple Bloom and her friends and they’d all laughed and enjoyed it.

And I began remembering something else from that, something that Twilight told me from what the Letters of Cold Fire did to her. How she’d been pulled out of herself and her friends saw her changing, and then that Princess Celestia of hers spelled her to pull her back from whereair she’d been sent.

“John,” Twilight said as she came up to us both. Spike tried snapping at her, but she held him with her magic and all he could do was hiss like the world’s biggest kettle, “John,” she said again, her voice hurting, “Please, let me do what I have to.” I hope to never that I don’t air again see such a hurting look in any eyes as I saw in hers then. Her horn glowed brighter still. I saw something like a spear of purple light forming out of her horn, just like those unicorn soldiers in the town square. “I’ll make it quick for him.”

“Wait!” I hollered at her, “Remember what you said to me the other night? About what Thorne’s magic tried a-doing to you? If that might could be what Thorne did to Spike, then if you can do what you say Celestia did to you…” I got no further. The look on her face changed right fast.

“Oh my gosh, yes!” I saw how she concentrated. Spike just hissed and snarled. He tried to snap at her, but I used the stick to hold him down, forcing it across his neck. I saw how Twilight timed it, and then she went in, her horn glowing like hot iron, but more gentle somehow. She set it to Spike’s forehead. “Spike! Little Brother!” she said, half pleading and half a-telling him, “Return to us immediately!”

One second a thing like a serpent crossed with an alligator snapped and fought beneath me. The next second just little Spike again, looking tired and confused. Just like someone switched a picture on you, only no screen, just me and Twilight and Spike, all of us as real as life.

“Ooooh…” Spike groaned and rubbed his scaly forehead. “Twi? John? Yeesh, pal, what’s wrong with you? Get that thing offa my neck!”

“I’m rightly sorry,” I told him as I got up and stepped back, “But you weren’t yourself there for a time.” Twilight rushed past me to hug him with a sob. Then she looked around on her friends. I looked too, and I didn’t much like what I saw.

Applejack turned around and made ready to kick, looking ready to break what I thought must be Apple Bloom’s neck. The flayed mare screamed at her before she lowered her head and gave a sudden snap of her jaws at the rope binding her legs. Her jaggedy teeth sliced through that good strong rope like scissors through twine. She snapped at Applejack, who threw herself back just in time to dodge that bite.

Past her, I saw how Fluttershy stared in the eyes of a flayed unicorn with a horn like a sawblade sword. Off aside of her, Rarity with her head down and her horn straight out like she meant to charge in and thrust it through her sister’s heart. That jagged-horned unicorn jerked her gaze away from Fluttershy’s at near about the last moment and sliced at Rarity with hooves like axes as she charged in. Rarity dodged and cried out. She and Fluttershy ran back to where Twilight and I stood.

And last of all, Pinkie a-running up to us with Rainbow Dash slung across her back. Dash groaned in a weak-sounding voice as she came up to Twilight and me.

“She dived down to,” Pinkie gulped and spoke more, “To stop Scootaloo, but Scoot threw me and rolled aside at the last moment. I kinda hadda hoof Scoot in the face before she hurt Dashie.” She winced at that last part, like she felt shamed to do even that much to Scootaloo when those three fillies were a-trying to kill us all.

“Twilight, you, you saved Spike?” Rarity said that when she saw the little dragon getting up on his feet. He smiled at her, not very strong, and hurried up to stand beside her. Rarity said to Twilight, “Our sisters, Twilight, look at them! What can we do?”

Those three ruined and mangled ponies were coming at us slow-like, that flayed and full-sized Apple Bloom in front and center, stomping her hooves against the ground so hard I think I saw them strike sparks from the rocks. Sweetie Belle went on the right of her and Scootaloo was on the left. Their heads were down and they snorted and screamed like dying horses. They came at all of us like three of the four horses that’ll be ridden on the last day by War and Conquest and Famine and a certain fourth fellow I reckon you know of without my saying.

“John,” Twilight said, and she talked right fast, “Play some of your music. Maybe they’ll remember it.”

I pulled my guitar around me. I saw Apple Bloom and her friends stopped coming forward to stare at me. I hoped it was a good stare.

“Play,” Twilight bade me again before she said, “Girls, help me.”

I wondered myself what in hell I could play right then, with those three looking at me like they wanted either music or maybe my heart to rip between them. I started in on that song I’d heard nights ago before I air even heard of Equestria, those five notes that had called me into all this, over and over. I hummed along with it as I played, soft and gentle. Those three began to relax the least little bit as I did. I recollected how it’s said that music has charms to soothe a savage breast, though most think it says beast. Well, we had three savage beasts right there, and if I didn’t charm them I‘d nair have to worry what any soul thought of how I said airy thing.

I played my best, because I played for my life. I caught sight of Twilight out of the corner of my eye. She had her eyes closed and was concentrating while the power built up around her horn. Just as I began to wonder if she’d burst or what, it came out from her in a rush. And as it washed over me I remembered things I’d forgotten long ago, like the first book my old granny gave me, or the Christmas we spent together with old Uncle Hinnard when he taught me some songs, or what it used to feel like when I went swimming in the old creek by her house.

I saw a light come into the eyes of the three horse-things. Apple Bloom lowered her head and shook it slowly, and she began to speak. The girls all came closer as she did.

“Applejack?” She said, her voice hoarse and shaky with pain. It looked like tears began to come from where her eyes had been, trickling down her bloody cheeks. “Is that you, big sis? Ah was Apple Bloom once, but not anymore… Ah don’t know what Ah am now…”

“Ah know what ya are.” Applejack went up past me and nuzzled against her. Apple Bloom flinched like even that small a thing hurt her, but she nuzzled her sister back as Applejack said, “Yer MAH little sister, and y’ain’t no monster!”

Rarity and Dash went by me too. “Keep playing,” Dash hissed at me as she went past, heading for the one with the tattered bat wings. I heard her begin talking soft and low to her, calling her “squirt” and suchlike. Rarity went to the horned one and embraced her, paying no never mind to the way blood seeping from that flayed hide smeared over her neck and side.

“Rarity?” I heard Sweetie Belle say to her big sister in a voice that shook with pain. I saw how Rarity blinked her tears away as Sweetie said, “Don’t ever say ‘This is the worst possible thing’ ever again, because THIS is…”

“I won’t,” Rarity promised her back as she hugged her, giving no never mind of how she got her little sister’s blood in her mane and on her coat. “I promise, never again Sweetie, never again.”

Twilight followed them and worked her spell again, touching her horn to their heads, one after another.

“I hope this works,” I heard Fluttershy say beside me.

“So do I,” I responded her, “And it looks to be doing just that.”

Those flayed and bloody raw forms before us dwindled, going from full-grown pony mares down to the little fillies I’d seen the night afore. Apple Bloom looked up at her sister, cried out for joy, and the next few moments they spent hugging and weeping and acting like any human folks will when they see their little children safe again. Twilight sighed to see it and walked back by me to where Spike stood.

“Ooh, Twilight,” he groaned and rubbed along his skull. “I had such a crazy dream! I was in this town full of zombie ponies, and Lyra was there, and all of a sudden everything went dark like it did when Nightmare Moon attacked. That Thorne guy was there too, but he turned into an alicorn again and looked like a stallion Nightmare Moon…” He might could have said more but Twilight just hugged him with a happy sob. I looked around at all those ponies with their little brothers and sisters, and I say no lie when I say it made me feel right happy to see them all safe and alive.

But I think maybe I wondered me some what kind of a welcome I’d have when I went back home, if maybe I’d find long years and decades gone in the blink of an eye; and what sort of a welcome we’d all get in Sunny Town, and if a single one of us would go away from it alive.

* * *

“An’ then we were in this cage, an’ I saw alla them zombie ponies I tol’ you an’ Twilight about before!” Twilight heard Apple Bloom telling her sister as Applejack held her close, hugging her tightly. She walked closer, Spike on her back, as the little filly spoke on. “Ruby sneaked in later on an’ tol’ me she was gonna get help. I tol’ her ta go to Zecora’s place, ‘cause I figured you’d go there ta try an’ find help, an darn it, big sis!” Apple Bloom squirmed in Applejack’s embrace. “Do ya gotta hug me so darn tight? This is embarrassing!”

“Just take it easy, there,” Applejack said. Twilight heard the relief in her voice as she said, “Right now I just wanna be sure you’re you again, sugarcube.” Then, hesitantly, “Do, do ya remember anything ‘bout it?”

“Kinda,” Apple Bloom said, furrowing her brow. “It felt like we were there for years after it got dark, like so much time went by we couldn’t even ‘member Equestria or all of you. Then Thorn came in waving his spellbook around, saying how he was going to fix you an’ John an’ Miss Twilight for fighting him. First he made himself look like a stallion version of Nightmare Moon. Then he said he was gonna send us back to meet you all on the trail, an’ that it was gonna be so funny when you killed us…” Apple Bloom’s voice trailed off as Applejack snorted, her ears flattening and mane almost bristling. Looking past her Twilight saw Rarity and Rainbow Dash looking almost as angry. Rage clawed at the edges of her own self-control as she thought of what she nearly did to Spike.

“Are you mad, big sis?” Apple Bloom asked in a small scared voice. Applejack looked at her and smiled, tousling her mane.

“Ah am.” she said, “But Ah ain’t mad at you. Ah’m mad at Thorn right now.”

“It hurt a lot when he put that spell on us,” Sweetie Belle said, her sister embracing her. “It felt like we got tugged out of our skins. Everything hurt us when we touched it, and when we saw you, we remembered what Mister Thorn said, about how this happened because you wanted us to be hurt, and…”

“That was a lie, Sweetie,” Rarity hugged her sister tight. “Thorn tells a lot of lies, and he did it to hurt you. But he won’t hurt anypony else.”

“Yeah, and how do we do that?” Dash rose into the air from where she’d been talking with Scootaloo. She pointed at Scoot, and then at Spike and Sweetie and ‘Bloom. “And what about them? We can’t take them with us.”

“We’re going to have to,” Twilight said unhappily. As her friends gave her shocked looks, she said, “What other choice have we got? We can’t send them back by themselves, not through all this.” She indicated the twisted trees and other plants around them. The little fillies flinched back as branches seemed to reach out for them. The girls quickly surrounded them for protection. Twilight nodded and added, “We can’t send someone along with them, either. It’ll need to be all of us when we’re facing Thorn. And I don’t think he’ll give us another chance at this.” Twilight sighed and looked at Spike. “I’m sorry to do this to you, Spike. I want you out of here. But right now, there isn’t any safe place.”

“Can’t we just go back along the trail ta Ponyville?”

“Okay, Applejack,” Twilight told her. She pointed her hoof back the way they’d come. “Just show me where it is.”

The girls turned and looked and stared in disbelief. Only a few moments before Twilight knew that they’d been walking on an old trail of some sort from Zecora’s cabin to here. But now? Now trees and rocks and all were grown in and tumbled over it, hiding any evidence of any trail. Even as they watched, they saw one of the trees slide itself out over it. Its bark looked almost like an angry face as it moved into place.

“Ah, maybe that’d be a bad idea,” Rainbow Dash said. She flew a little higher up, but not too high. She looked around over the trees and dropped back down with a frustrated scowl. “This don’t make any sense! I just tried looking back at Ponyville. There oughta be some lights or something, but all I can see is more of this weird creepy forest!”

“I kindly expected that,” John said. He walked closer, Pinkie and Fluttershy staying close by. A thorny vine tried to drop down on him but recoiled at a glare from Fluttershy. He ignored it to say, “This minds me more of what I heard about Thorn in my world, how he got the Letters of Cold Fire from the Svartaskoli.”

“What the hay’s a swart-a-whatever?” Dash asked the question before Twilight could. She paid close attention as John spoke.

“It’s a foreign word,” he said, “From Iceland, that’s an island way off up north all set with glaciers and volcanoes. They used to have some trouble with witchcraft and bad magic there, like how we’re doing here and now. Anyhow, the way I read it and the way some folks explained it to me, the Svartaskoli was like a school for witchcraft. It lasted long years in Iceland. The man who faced Thorn most times back home once had to stop some folks who had their own Svartaskoli in a basement in Manhattan…”

They have their own Manehattan? Twilight told herself once more, we have got to talk after this!

“…they said it looked to be just a basement from the outside, an old room, but when you went inside of it you found a whole other world in there. They saw some right strange things, and they were glad to get back out again.” He paused, and then added, “They even brought back out the one man who’d gone in maybe an hour or so before them, taken in for a prisoner. When they found him, he looked like, well, like how the girls and Spike all did. And when they brought him back, he said it’d felt like years went by in those hours.”

“Ah can believe it,” Applejack said, looking around with a shudder. “Say, John, how did these fellas ya spoke to ever get out o’ that place?”

“They burned it down,” he said, grimly. “They burned it and they ran.” Twilight felt a chill at his words. She shifted uneasily from hoof to hoof as she wondered if the magic that created and sustained this place was also causing time to flow differently for them, the way John worried it would for him. What if they came back out and found Equestria itself gone? As she thought, Rarity spoke up.

“Twilight, dear, couldn’t you teleport out with them?” Rarity’s hopeful look fell when Twilight shook her head. She hugged Sweetie Belle closer as Twilight spoke.

“I’d be teleporting blind, with no idea of how far I need to go or what I could find when I arrived,” she said. “This place, I think it’s another world of some sort. Right now it’s overlaid on the Everfree, but if I tried teleporting inside of it I could end up even deeper in it with Spike and the girls, and that’s not a good idea.”

“Maybe you could have Spike send a message back out to the Princess, then?” Rarity looked hopeful. “Or to anypony who might be able to help at all?” Twilight looked at Spike. The little dragon sadly shook his head.

‘Sorry, Twi,” he said, “but Thorn did something to me right after he snatched me and the girls here. I tried breathing fire a few times to send you a message, but see,” Spike tried spitting some fire, but only a few smoky sparks came out. “Nothing.”

“Hold still, Spike,” Twilight said as her horn began to glow. “Let me take a look here.” She magically examined the spell set on Spike and groaned in misery. “It’s some sort of binding I’ve never seen before. I can break it, but not quickly or easily. Sorry, Spike, but I think it’ll have to wait until after this is all over with.”

“So, the only way out is through, huh?” Applejack said. Twilight nodded tiredly at her. Applejack walked by her and said, “Okay, then let’s do this like we did it afore. Girls, Spike, y’all walk along with us on the outside. You’ll be by John, an’ he oughta be able to keep ya safe.”

“I’ll kindly do my best,” John said. He set his guitar over his back and picked up Zecora’s staff. “Can air soul see where Ruby’s hoofprints are?”

“Right here it is!” Fluttershy pointed it out where it ran among the trees. They stood wide of it, giving a broad lane for them to walk down. Twilight flinched when she saw how obvious it looked. From what she could see, her friends and John all looked as unsettled as she felt.

“It’s gotta be a trap,” Dash said.

“Probably,” Twilight said, “but have we got any other choice?” She looked around at her friends and they all looked back at her. She sighed and went to the front, looking back to make sure that the fillies and Spike were surrounded by her friends. They all wore their Elements. The long cut down Rarity’s side had stopped bleeding, and Dash was still oozing through the bandages, but both looked about as well as they could be under the circumstances.

“If we don’t stop Thorn,” she said, “This is going to be every part of Equestria that Discord doesn’t rule. And we saw what he’s willing to do to hurt others. So let’s go and get this over with.” Twilight wondered if she ought to feel heroic or determined or even furious at Thorn for what he’d done. All she felt was scared and worried and desperate to make sure that no other pony ever even saw what Thorn wanted to do to them all.

And so six mares, three fillies, one baby dragon, and one human all headed down the trail Ruby left for them. To Sunny Town, and to Thorn, and to whatever end he had planned for them.

Chapter 19

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 19

Sometimes I wonder myself just how long we tramped through that dark and lonely woods Thorne turned the Everfree into, following Ruby’s bright-lit hoofmarks. There was myself, with Twilight and Applejack and all the rest all around me, with their Elements on and shining bright in that gloom like six stars in a sunless sky. I admit to you all, I didn’t relish staying inside of that little box the ladies made of theirselves to ward off the things creeping all about. And riding astride Twilight came little scaly Spike, and Apple Bloom and her friends sticking close by their sisters, all in there with me, and they stayed right quiet. After what happened to them, I doubt airy one could blame them. Now that I think back, it’s best we all stayed right quiet. I learned in the Army that when you’re a-sneaking up on someone who means to make killing trouble for you, the longer you can keep them from guessing whereair you’re at, the better.

After some time went by, and who could tell how long with only that shattered red moon in the sky, the trees and plants began to thin out. I felt right glad of it too. I’ve enjoyed walking in the woods many a time, but that was with natural trees, not whatair Thorne conjured up. We started to come up on the edge of a village. On buildings, anyway, and as we did we all stopped and I reckon stared.

Those buildings looked kindly like the ones I’d seen in Ponyville. Little differences here and there, maybe less of a peak to the roofs and built more like stables back home, long and broad and less of them with more than the one story, but you could see how the same sort of folks that made Ponyville made these. No smell to it like Ponyville, though. This place smelled dry like old mold. Howair, that wasn’t what we all looked at right off.

The place looked ready and set for a party. Banners and streamers hung up here-there, all of them what I reckon you’d call royal purple. On and over them all you could see that red arrows symbol Lyra and the timber wolves bore when we’d seen them. Letters on those banners too, red ones that read big and bold in one place, WELCOME TO SUNNY TOWN. In another, rough pictures of Twilight and her friends and my own face, but done with “X”s for eyes and tongues hanging out like how little boys sometimes do to show someone’s dead.

“So much for us surprising Thorne,” Twilight said, not happy. She looked around on those signs and banners. “He certainly looks confident enough that he’ll win.”

“Pride goes afore a fall, they say,” I answered her. I looked around and saw no sign of those Sunny Town ponies. I saw how the girls looked around too, the older ones wary and Spike and the little fillies right scared. Apple Bloom pressed against Applejack and got a quick hug back from her. I said, “Now, how do you all want to handle this?”

“First things first,” Twilight said. Her horn glowed as she took Spike from her back and set him down. “Spike, you stay here with the girls. Keep an eye on things. If we lose,” I saw her gulp, and I reckon her friends and I all felt a little chill then too. “If we lose,” she repeated, her voice stronger, “Then take the girls and get out of here, back to Ponyville. I don’t want Thorne to get his hooves on you again.”

“No, Twi, I wanna help!” Spike snatched a handful of her mane. The Cutie Mark Crusaders pressed up by their sisters and pleaded with them too, asking to be allowed to go along.

“Spike, no!” Twilight shook her mane free from Spike’s claws. He tried to say more, but she shushed him. “If worst does come to worst, I’ll be happy knowing that you and the girls are far away from here. Please, Spike, do this for me?” Her eyes pleaded at him. Spike looked like he wanted to argue it. Then Rarity stepped up to him.

“Please, Spike,” she said, batting her eyes at him and looking on him the way many a human man likes to be looked at by a pretty woman. Right away he gave her all his attention. She said, “I’m so worried for poor Sweetie Belle and her friends. It would make all this so much easier to do if I knew they had a brave dragon like you protecting them. Please? For me?”

Spike shifted where he stood, looking right uneasy. He looked from her and Twilight to the little fillies and said, “Okay, if you and everypony else here wants me to. I promise I won’t fight Thorne or the Sunny Town ponies.”

“We promise too,” the fillies said after him.

“Thanks Spike,” Twilight told him.

“Oh, thank you, my little hero.” Rarity leaned in and kissed him on one cheek. Most little boys would have been right embarrassed to get kissed by a pretty lady thataways, but Spike looked right proud to have gotten it. He bowed to her formal-like. Both those unicorns smiled on him. Then they turned to me.

“John,” Twilight said, “I’ve been thinking. Remember, Thorne said before that he can’t spy on you or us when we have the Elements. If he sees us all together he may try something, like you warned us about. But if he only sees us, he might not think about you. Maybe you could wait here while we go to him.”

“Hey, Twi, we need his help,” Applejack warned her.

“That you do,” I said to her, “Pardon my a-saying so. I won’t be hiding away while you all are risking your own lives.”

“And I don’t want you to,” Twilight said back to me, shaking her head. “Just wait until we’ve gone a bit and then follow. We’ll confront Thorne. Maybe we can still convince him to give up.” Fluttershy looked hopeful when she said that. I reckon I looked on Twilight more like how Applejack and Rainbow Dash did, not what you’d call a hopeful look. She saw it. “I know. I’m not expecting it either. But we have to try. And if he refuses…”

“More like when, sugarcube,” Applejack said. I saw Rarity nod behind her. Something from the look in both their eyes told me that they purely hoped he did refuse and make it a fight.

“Or when,” Twilight agreed her, “Then John, you do whatever you can to distract him. I won’t say what.” She smiled at me, “You probably have better ideas than I do along those lines. But just keep him busy.”

“An’ then we’re gonna make that jerk taste the rainbow,” Dash said, pumping her hoof in the air. I thought to myself that if we weren’t all careful Thorne might be getting a taste of a rainbow in ways Dash wouldn’t like, but I didn’t say any such a thing. Like as not she knew it as well as I did.

“I’ll wait right here by the girls until you pass just out of sight,” I told Twilight. I patted her on the shoulder. “Better get going then. I’ll be along presently.”

“Okay.” She said as she turned and headed off, her friends with her. She stopped just a second long and said, “John, if I didn’t say this before, I’m glad we met you. And I’m gladder we helped each other.”

“I’m rightly glad too,” I responded her. I watched them all go off down the dark road in that village and under those bragging banners of Thorne’s until they went around the corner of a building and out of sight. Then I turned to Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They all looked on me with wide eyes, wide and maybe just the least bit scared. I held out Zecora’s staff to him.

“Spike, take this,” I bade him. He shook his head back at me.

“You keep it, you need it more than I do,” he said. He showed me his claws and scratched at a stone nearby in the dirt, one big enough to make a right good-sized headstone. A handful of it came away in his claw. He grinned on me, showing white fangs, before he popped it into his mouth. His jaws crunched together and he spit out a mouthful of gravel. “See?” he said. “You can’t do that.”

“And howair much good did that do you with Thorne and the Sunny Town ponies?” I asked him. He frowned to think of it. I held the staff out again. “This is something they can’t stand against. If you and the girls have to get away, this might could give you the chance.” He didn’t look the least bit happy, but he took it. I turned to go but stopped when Apple Bloom tugged on my pants leg.

“Y’all be careful, John,” she said to me. I looked down and saw her giving me the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen. Her two friends gave me looks that worried too. Apple Bloom added, “An’ please look out for ma big sis an’ Miss Twilight an’ all the rest.”

“I’ll do just that thing,” I said. “And just so you know, whatair happens, I’m rightly glad I met you too, Apple Bloom.” And with that I turned and headed off down the way Twilight and her friends had gone. I moved as silent as I could, when a body goes hunting, though right then it’d be more the truth to say I was the one a-being hunted. I slipped past what looked like picnic tables set with food and drinks on them like someone just walked away from a play party. In the dark I think maybe I saw what looked like rows of planting by them, with whatair crops I couldn’t see or guess. I got down to the end of a lane, right by the door of a right big house. I looked back and could just see Spike and the fillies watching me. I waved at them and they waved back. Then I slipped past that house and saw them no more.

I saw buildings scattered all around now, and more of those banners strung up between them along with paper lanterns such as I’ve heard they use in places over the sea. But no normal light to be seen in those lanterns. Only some pale greenish glow to them, kindly like what they call will-o’-the-wisp or corpse candles back home. And no person or pony to be seen in those houses, except maybe a stir at closed drapes here or there. I wondered me what made that stir, wondered more if I’d be happy to know. About then I recognized all I saw. This was that town I’d seen a-holding their party in that dream on my first night here. I prayed to myself that this didn’t all end the way that dream did.

I went on, past more furrowed earth and tables set for a party no one seemed to be at. I think maybe I saw cake or the like on plates there. Once when I slipped close I got a whiff of something worse than a skunk from those tables. I remembered me what Ruby said, how the Sunny Town ponies did this party again and again since forever, hoping they’d make it happen different. I wondered if I went the right way along after the girls. I looked down and saw hoofmarks. Six for them, and one larger set. Not as big as Applejack’s brother might make, but big enough. They’d gone along here, sure enough. So I followed, in and between buildings and around those tables, until I came right up on the edge of the town where it looked to go back into the woods. The hoofmarks went on and I followed them, out along a hard-tramped dirt trail, a-wondering where it would end, and just whose end it would be.

* * *

Twilight gave one look back as she and her friends walked into Sunny Town. Spike and the girls were hiding themselves as best they could. John stood by them, and it looked like he spoke to Spike. Whatever else happens, she thought, stay safe, little brother. She led her friends around the corner of the nearest building, only to stop suddenly. Somepony stood there.

“Greetings, young ladies,” he said. In that crimson half-light Twilight saw an earth pony stallion with a gray coat and a heavy build. Not quite so powerful as Big Mac, but close to it. She saw something else as well. He wore a servant’s livery decorated with Thorn’s eight-pointed red arrow symbol. He indicated one of the nearby tables, set for a party, and smiled, or tried to. Maybe he just bared his teeth at them. As he turned to the table the breath hissed between Twilight’s teeth. She heard her friends’ surprise join her own as they saw what she’d seen. The stallion’s flanks were blank. If he saw their hesitation, he ignored it as he said, “I’m Gray Hoof, Master Thorn’s majordomo. He sent me here to bring you to him. Or would you rather eat from our table first?”

“Does everypony know we’re comin’?” Twilight heard Dash grumble as they walked up to the table. It was set with food and drink, cake and punch of some sort. It looked like nearly any party back in Ponyville. Provided you ignored the punch was being served in silver cups, and the food set on golden plates.

That, and if you ignored the faint reek of corruption under the smell of fresh-baked cake. Twilight wondered what she would see if she saw the table’s contents as they really were. The thought made her queasy.

“Thanks,” Twilight said, “but I’m really not very hungry. We’re here to see Thorn.”

“We’re here to kick his flank, she means,” Dash said where she hovered. She flew closer to Gray Hoof and locked her eyes on his. “An’ even if we weren’t, I ain’t gonna eat anything with a guy who killed his daughter because she got her cutie mark.”

“She brought disease into our village,” he hissed back sharply. The look of polite friendliness slithered off his face as he said, “Ruby brought the Cutie Pox here. It was her life or all our lives. It was a tragic and heroic decision I made, and…” Gray Hoof broke off as he suddenly lifted into the air. He opened his muzzle to shriek, but stopped when Twilight brought him over to look directly into his eyes. He thrashed his legs, seeking escape. Her horn glowed just slightly brighter and he held perfectly still.

“I don’t care about your excuses,” she said coldly. She tried to ignore the stink of rot hanging around him and the terror in his eyes as she said, “We are here to see Thorn and to deal with him, and that’s it. Now you take us to him before I decide to remember what you did to Spike and Apple Bloom.” With that she dropped him to the ground. Gray Hoof shot her a glare from where he sprawled at her hooves. She just returned his look, allowing a spark of magic to play along her horn. He cringed back and rose to lead the way through the village.

“Follow me,” he half whimpered, and set off. Twilight followed him, hearing the emptiness all around her and the dry scrape of her hooves against the dirt beneath. She looked back and saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash closest by her. Rarity stood behind them, and all three looked very intent. Fluttershy trotted up close to her.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy said in her usual soft voice, “Did you really need to do that to the Sunny Town ponies? They serve Thorn, but he’s been tricking and lying to them just like everypony else…”

“I think I do,” Twilight said back. “I’m not happy to do it, but what choice have I got right now? This has to be ended as fast as possible. I don’t want Thorn causing any more damage to Equestria or the ponies in it.” Fluttershy said nothing. She just looked away sadly. Twilight shook herself and went on.

Gray Hoof led them past the broken buildings of Sunny Town. They were tumbledown heaps, doors hanging off their hinges and windows broken out. Like open eyes on a dead pony, Twilight thought, and shuddered at the idea. They soon passed through the town and headed down another dirt trail to a clearing with the largest building they’d yet seen in Sunny Town, a mansion vaguely akin to some of the ones back in Ponyville, but older and Twilight thought, trying to look grander in its style.

“Here we are,” Gray Hoof said, having stilled his voice back to its original tone. He indicated the building before them, all of wood painted pitch-black and stone done in crimson. More earth ponies in livery stood outside, including a young and shy-looking stallion and a sad-eyed young mare. “Roneo, Starlet,” Grey Hoof said to them both, his tone chiding, “Don’t just stand there, open the doors.” The two young ponies hurried to obey, taking the bolts with their jaws and drawing them back. Twilight noticed without being very surprised that their flanks were as blank as a foal’s. Applejack started to walk past them. Then she froze and looked into first Roneo and then Starlet’s eyes.

“I know y’all,” she said, and they flinched back. “You were the ones that were hangin’ around my farm t’other night, right?” When they said nothing, she added, “’Course, Ya looked a mite different then.” When they still said nothing, Applejack leaned in closer and said, “Ya don’t gotta do this. Whatever Thorn promised Ya, he won’t deliver.”

“Master Thorn wants to see you,” Roneo said, refusing to look her in the eye, and Starlet echoed him in a musical voice.

“Yes, he wants to see you right now. And after he deals with all of you, he’ll give us what he promised.”

Twilight saw Applejack just give them both a sad look. Then she shook her head and marched in under those doors. Twilight waited until all her friends entered, keeping an eye on Grey Hoof and his fellow ponies. They just looked away, trying to maintain a servant’s indifference. He leered at her.

“Now you’ll get yours, narwhal,” he muttered at her as she passed him and entered the chamber.

“Someone will,” Twilight answered him as she entered.

Darkness hung heavy within. Faint pale greenish lights, like something from a swamp, showed in the corners. Twilight could just barely make out the outlines of her friends as she joined them before what looked like a dais with a throne on it such as Celestia and Luna might use.

“Well, we’re here,” Rarity said, “so where’s Thorn?”

“Did you want to see me?”

The lights in the corners flared up. Twilight turned on the dais and saw what she’d expected to see. From the corners of her eyes she could see her friends stiffen and heard their sudden intakes of breath as they saw the inside of the room.

It resembled what Thorn had done with Ponyville’s town hall – was it only a week ago? Banners, either black or a purple so deep it might as well have been black, hung from ceiling to floor on all the walls. They bore Thorn’s crimson arrows symbol, but with a difference. Now the insignia showed a black disc at the center with the arrows surrounding it. The sun in eclipse, Twilight realized, and then turned her attention to what else she could see.

Against one wall she saw iron bars, and behind them two ponies she recognized. They walked up against the bars, hope mixing with fear in their eyes.

“Twilight? Pinkie Pie?” Bon Bon called out. The cream-coated earth pony threw herself against the bars, sending her pink-striped blue mane spilling. “Please, get out of here! Go get help! That Thorn guy is crazy, and…”

“We are the help, Bon Bon!” Pinkie called back to her with a smile. “So don’t worry, we’re all gonna fix this mess!”

Bon Bon just looked from Pinkie to the rest of them before she set one hoof to her head and sank down with a moan. The zebra beside her stepped up in her place, a look of fear on her face that Twilight never thought she’d see there.

“Twilight Sparkle? Applejack? Beware, for Thorn is filled with evil might,” Zecora called out to them both. “He sought to draw you here, so he can make a final fight –“ A bolt of crimson lightning lashed against the bars. Zecora and Bon Bon jumped back whinnying in fear.

“I hate her rhyming,” a voice said from the throne. “But still, she is the Witch of the Everfree. She might end up being useful to me in some way.” Twilight looked to see a black equine form larger than the Princesses that rumbled laughter. “Though it’s hard to see how any of you creatures can teach me anything as I am now.”

“Hello, Thorn,” Twilight said as.

Thorn grinned down at her. He spread ebon wings out wide to either side, wings of batlike membrane rather than pegasus feathers. His eyes shone like blue jewels and his build made Big Mac look puny. Muscles worked under an ebon coat as he stepped down to the floor. His horn looked oddly twisted, more like a broken ebon fang set in his forehead than a normal unicorn’s horn. The corpse-light from those lamps in the corners picked out the ruby-set iron of his royal barding, shone over the eight-pointed crimson arrow both on his flank and on the book that floated in the air near him.

Twilight saw something else as he spread his wings. Two chains ran back from his barding to a pony on either side of him. On his left stood Lyra. She still wore her own barding, less ornate than Thorn’s but still showing his cutie mark on her breast. Grief and pain filled the look she gave Twilight and the others. On the other side, Ruby stood, her glowing yellow eyes closed as she shivered in fear.

“Hello yourself, Twilight Sparkle,” The great beast addressed her as he settled to the floor. He stepped towards her, the chains falling from his barding to attach to his throne. The purple unicorn saw both Ruby and Lyra tug on them to no avail. If Thorn noticed their attempts, he ignored them to speak to the rest of her friends. “Greetings, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash. Tell me, how are your little sisters doing?” Twilight glanced sidelong and saw her friends bristle at the words. He must have seen it too, for he smiled again and asked in a voice that dripped false concern, “They seemed so very eager to see you again when I sent them away from here.”

“They are quite fine, now that they’ve gotten away from you,” Rarity said, her voice colder than Twilight could ever remember hearing. She stepped forward, her eyes showing pure ice. “And I think you know why we’re here.”

“That I do,” the Nightstallion said agreeably. “You’re here to try and meddle in my affairs, yet again. What is wrong with you ponies? You could have anything you desire, if only you showed some sense and cooperated with me.”

“Y’all got nothin’ we want,” Applejack said, bracing her hoofs where she stood. When he swung his massive head around to look at her, Twilight saw how she flinched at his gaze, but AJ held her ground. “’Less Ya learned some sense and decided to give up, peaceable like.”

“Why should I surrender to you, abandoned and forlorn as you are?” The great beast laughed back down at her and all of them. His wings flapped, kicking up a wind that sent bits of dirt and dust against their faces. Twilight gagged from the carrion stink of it as he added, “I could destroy you silly little mares with a thought, with less than a thought, as I am now. I’m an alicorn in here. A god! But I can still be generous if you show wisdom and accept my, I won’t say rule, but my guidance in all things.” He paused, and added grandly, “I’ll even allow you to bring your families and friends in here with you after Discord awakes and conquers the other Equestria. I don’t think I need to tell you how little they would enjoy his rule.”

Bring them here to be your worshippers, Twilight thought, but didn’t say it aloud. Instead she stepped out in front of her friends, confronting the bringer of disharmony as she addressed him. He looked at her and smirked. His wings seemed to beat only slowly, but the wind from them rose higher, begin to keen shrilly in her ears.

“We won’t serve you!” Twilight yelled, raising her voice to be heard over the ever-increasing noise of the wind Thorn raised. From the corners of her eyes she saw her friends forcing themselves forward against the wind, bracing their legs to hold fast before it. “Discord doesn’t rule Equestria yet, and neither do you! And we’re going to make sure you never will!”

Thorn snorted and the Sunny Town ponies began crowding up around him. Lyra flinched back from them, her eyes wide with fear, as they set themselves like a wall of ponyflesh between Twilight and her friends and Thorn. She shivered at the looks they gave her. She’d seen anger in pony faces before, even directed at her, but never did she think she’d see looks that promised such a slow and cruel death before on any pony’s face. She’d never wanted to imagine such looks were possible. She gagged as their flesh began melting away, exposing crimson light and black bones.

“Here you stand, abandoned and forlorn,” The great beast jeered at her. “Who is there to aid you against me now?”

Before Twilight could say anything more, she heard a familiar voice speak up. And when it did, the wind from Thorn’s wings stopped.

“Right here there’s such a one,” John said as he stepped out from the shadows by the cage.

* * *

I dropped into the shadows along the trail. The trees here looked normal, nothing like the ones in Thorne’s forest. I still made sure to stay along the edge as I moved in closer. As I did I began to hear voices, Twilight’s and one other. That other one sounded like a pony’s voice, but deeper, a-trying to sound majestic but a little too nasty to make it if you know what I mean. I followed them up close to what looked to be the biggest house I’d seen here yet. I saw Twilight and her friends standing and facing something on a throne. All around them I saw ponies in something like saddles or the like done with that red arrow-mark of Thorne’s on them.

And I saw Thorne his own self. A devil-horse, such as you hear in legends about the Wild Hunt that thick men’s blood with cold, with great black bat-wings and bearing an ebon horn on his forehead, sharp as a sword and looking even deadlier. His coat showed darker than the darkness around it, and he stood bigger than all the other ponies I’d seen, a full-sized horse, big as a Clydesdale. On his flank the sole bit of color to him aside from those corpse-lamp eyes, that crimson mark I’d seen on his grimoire of that eight-pointed red arrow, looking like a fresh wound. He looked down on the girls, mocking them. Right by him I saw two ponies I recognized, Lyra and Ruby, both held close by with collars and looking pure-down scared. And floating at his right hand or hoof I guess you’d call it, the Letters of Cold Fire. I set myself down by an old iron cage and made to listen.

“You do not seem to be a friend of Thorne’s, I judge by your face,” a strange voice whispered right by me, and I near jumped. “Why then, strange one, do you come to this dreadful place?”

The voice came from the cage. I looked into it and saw a zebra, such as you’d see in a zoo, looking back at me. She was the size of the other ponies, and wore a stack of gold rings as a necklace, like you see in magazine pictures about Africa. I knew her from what Twilight and the others told to me.

“You’re Zecora, I imagine,” I said to her. Her eyes widened, but she showed no more surprise than that. Behind her I saw another pony, with a pink-striped blue mane and just enough light to show what looked like little candies for a cutie mark on her cream-colored coat. I added, “I’m here to help Twilight and the others when they need me.” Zecora looked like she thought on that, and then nodded.

“Then they may need your aid quite soon, for Thorne seems intent on bringing about their doom!” She pointed her hoof out at the girls. I looked and saw how Thorne descended from his throne to face them. And coming up and out all around him were the serving ponies, but now their flesh a-started to melt away to show the bones and red light of the Sunny Town ponies.

“Here you stand, abandoned and forlorn,” Thorne said to the girls. He stepped closer, his wings unfolding and looking like they swallowed all the light near them. Lyra and Ruby were dragged along with him, and I saw how the Letters of Cold Fire stayed close by, shining with the cold dead pale light of the lanterns in town or of Thorne’s eyes. The girls ignored him as they fell into a sort of formation, with Twilight at the front. The Sunny Town ponies came closer, stretching their necks out like they hungered for what they saw before them. Thorne rumbled at them in a voice like a thunderstorm, “Who is there to aid you against me now?”

“Right here there’s such a one,” I said, and stepped out in front of them all, a-wondering if it’d be the last thing I air did.

* * *

Twilight felt more than heard the relieved breath go through her and her friends as John stepped out to help them. The Sunny Town ponies started when he stepped out between them and her, his guitar in his hands.

“Master Thorn, he’s the one who kept chasing us away,” one of them whimpered, a green mare. She showed fleshless below her neck, caught halfway in the transformation from living to undead. The others began whimpering as well, shrinking back from the shine of John’s guitar strings and the soft music that began to rise from them as he ran his fingers along them. Twilight recognized it as one of the songs he’d played for her before, the one that called on alicorns against black magic. So did the Sunny Towners. They fell back, their ears flat and eyes wide as they stared at him.

“Three holy kings, four holy saints,

At Heaven’s high gate that stand,

Speak out and bid all evil wait

And stir no foot or hand…”

“Stop it,” they moaned, their voices hoarse. They began to fall back, opening a path between them and Thorn. “Stop it!” they repeated themselves, “It’s like something’s grinding in our heads. Make him stop!”

“The fire from Heaven will fall at last

On pride and wealth and power…”

“Get ‘em, John!” Twi heard Rainbow Dash yell behind her.

“Be silent, you cowards!” The great beast snarled at the Sunny Towners as he dropped to the floor. They stopped pulling back, but they drew no closer as he stalked forward towards Twilight and John. He spread his wings out wide to either side, shutting out all the light around him save only the pallid glow of his eyes as he said, “This is my place and time, my hour, my place of power. They have nothing that can affect me. There is no Strength here but mine! There is no Will here but mine!”

“Okay, ladies,” Twilight said as she stepped up beside John. She felt her Element begin to activate and its familiar warmth flowing through her. “I think it’s time we showed Thorn the false alicorn just how Equestrian magic deals with Discord’s power!” She felt her friends’ Elements activate as well, felt the connection with them all.

Thorn’s laughter broke out over her as he said, “They are the greatest artifacts in Equestria, my foolish little ponies. But this isn’t Equestria, and no lying ties of friendship exist here!” A terrible and familiar darkness swept out from him over her and John and everything. Thorn’s mocking laughter rolled over her. “In here, everyone is alone in the dark forever!”

She cried out in fear as she felt the dirt drop away beneath her hooves at his mockery. And then nothing but a terribly familiar endless darkness, around and above and below her.

“John!” she cried out. She heard her cry echoing off into the distance. What, was she in a cave? She called, “Applejack! Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie, anypony! Where are you?”

“No need to yell,” a voice hissed back at her, amusement bubbling through it. “I can hear you just fine, Twilight Sparkle.” Her belly began to feel hollow as she recognized it. “Which is rather odd, given that thanks to you and your wretched little herd, I currently have ears of stone.”

“Discord?”

“Who else?” A form began to appear before her. Even though the darkness stayed absolute, somehow she could clearly see Discord’s serpentine form, curled up on the air before her. Or on whatever passed for air in this place. He grinned down at her and tapped a watch that suddenly appeared on his wrist, saying, “Thorn has been such a useful servant, in so many ways. It looks like my time here is running out early thanks to him. But don’t worry, my dear,” he dropped down beside her to run one claw along her cheek, “I’ll make sure this place has a replacement for me, somepony to keep an eye on everything and never ever be able to affect it in any way.” His grin turned savage as he grabbed a handful of her mane and twisted her around to face him. “Can you guess who that’ll be?”

“Or she can take my offer, Discord,” Thorn said as he appeared from the emptiness in his dark alicorn form, “Accept my instruction and become my apprentice.” He bent his head down close to her face. Twilight winced. His breath smelled like sulfur mixed with raw meat as he said, “I can teach you things your precious Princess would never dare to. I can make you so powerful, not even Discord can stand against us.”

Stunned, Twilight looked from him to Discord. The draconequus caught her look and chuckled.

“Oh, Twilight, Twilight, you didn’t think we were friends, surely?” Before she could say anything, Thorn spoke, sounding almost as amused as Discord.

“I’m using him the way he’s using me,” he said. Discord nodded cheerily, showing a broad smile. Thorn flapped his wings out in a shrug. “He may have brought me here, but I owe him nothing beyond that. If he meddles with my things in here, I’ll break him.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Thorn,” Discord said drily.

“Where are my friends?” Twilight yelled up at them both, no longer able to contain herself. The dark alicorn and Discord both smiled crookedly down at her, and she couldn’t say which one frightened her more. “Where are they?”

“Elsewhere,” was the answer she got, and she couldn’t tell which of them said it.

* * *

“Now where th’ hay...?” Applejack began to say, and then stopped. From the endless darkness all around, something began walking up to her. It sounded vaguely like a pony, one that limped along as though it were old and tired and weary unto death. Applejack said, “Twilight? Rainbow Dash?”

“Naw.” The voice was old and frail, almost a whisper. “It’s just me, big sis.”

“Apple Bloom?”

AJ’s breath caught in her throat as the form somehow, impossibly, came fully into view. The mane and coat were ‘Bloom’s, but she looked more wrinkled then even Granny Smith. Her mane and tail hung stringy across a scarred neck and flank, the latter showing blank. Bloom lifted up eyes half fogged with cataracts to look at her.

“Applejack?” Her voice sounded strained, filled with a bone-deep pain and exhaustion Applejack remembered hearing from her grandfather before that night of his death. It was the voice of a pony so tired from hurting that life itself had become a curse. “Applejack, why didn’t y’all never come back from Sunny Town? Spike an’ Scootaloo an’ Sweetie Belle an’ me all ran away. We been wandering Thorn’s woods ever since. I cain’t find the way out… Help me, big sis, I hurt so much anymore since the others all died…” She came closer. Applejack felt the chill from her.

“Apple Bloom, if’n that’s you… How’m Ah supposed to help ya?”

“Ya know how,” Apple Bloom said, a hard gleam coming into her eyes. “Like how ya helped granddad. Just pray to Thorn ta make me stop hurtin’, an’ he’ll do it. He’s the ruler o’ what’s left o’ Equestria.” Applejack hesitated. Apple Bloom croaked out,

“Please, big sis! Ya asked the Nightmare to kill granddad for ya, why can’t ya show me as much mercy?”

Applejack looked at her, and then dropped her gaze with a sigh. She didn’t notice the gleam of sudden triumph in Apple Bloom’s eyes as the palomino mare said, “Okay, let’s do this thing then.”

* * *

“Girls? Girls, where are you!” Rarity looked around, wondering where everypony was. She checked to make sure of her necklace. Good; the Element still hung around her neck. She called out into the darkness as she turned around, “Where is everypony? Where is – you!”

A unicorn stallion cringed against the ground before her, dressed in the tattered shreds of noble raiment. His matted white coat and tattered blond mane and tail showed scarred and stained. He looked up at her, his eyes rolling wild in near-hysterical fear.

“I know you,” Prince Blueblood said to her, cringing back, “You’re that mare from the, what did we used to call it? The Gala, all those years ago?” He clutched at her with his hooves as she recoiled in shock. “Please, please help me!”

Rarity looked closer at the once-proud unicorn stallion, the Prince of the Platinum Stable who had treated her like common dirt that entire evening. She could see his ribs outlined against his sides. His horn looked to have once been broken off short before regrowing. He twitched and shivered as though ill. Fear filled his eyes as he dropped down on his belly before her with a sudden scream of pain. Rarity gasped as she saw something else behind him.

Sweetie Belle stood there, smiling as she showed off the unicorn poppet-doll with a white coat and a blond mane and tail, held up by her magic. A lit candle floated nearby as well, as did several of Rarity’s best knitting needles. Sweetie laughed her musical laugh as she thrust the needles through the doll and moved it into the flame from the candle. Blueblood screamed in agony.

“Make her stop! Make her stop!”

“Hi, Rarity!” Sweetie said as she trotted closer to her. Rarity saw that she was an adult mare, saw too the nasty gleam in her eyes and the five-pointed star cutie mark on her flank. Two of the points thrust upwards like horns, and was that a goat’s face inscribed? Her little sister said, “I waited out in the woods until you didn’t come back. Then I wandered with Spike and my friends until Thorn took us all in after he destroyed Canterlot and killed the princesses. He taught us all sorts of neat magick, see?” Sweetie’s tongue protruded from one corner of her mouth as, with great care, she thrust one needle right into the doll’s eye. As she did, Blueblood screamed and clapped one hoof over his own eye. Blood trickled from behind it.

The look he gave Rarity begged for mercy. Rarity stepped forward, horrified.

“Sweetie Belle, stop this at once!” She tried to snatch the doll from Sweetie’s grasp, only for it to be jerked back by her sister. “This isn’t you!”

“No, sis, this is you,” Sweetie Belle snapped back at her. “This is what you really want to do to Blueblood and Dee Tee and everyone else who ever hurt you or me, so admit it! Stop being generous to everypony else and start being generous with yourself for once!” The doll drifted over to Rarity, along with one last needle, right over the heart. “Go ahead, do what you know you want to.”

Blueblood, no longer His Mortal Highness Prince Blueblood, 52nd of his line, whimpered bleeding at her feet.

Rarity looked at her sister’s face and shuddered. But she still took the doll and needle with her magic. Sweetie Belle’s eyes lit with victory as she did.

“All right,” Rarity said. “I will.”

* * *

“Scoots? Squirt?” Dash blinked as she looked at the figure that’d come out of the darkness that dropped down over her, thick as a thundercloud. “What the hay are you doing in that Shadowbolts costume? And when did you get big?”

“Hey, Dash!” Scootaloo strutted up to her, a lovely and confident young mare. The Shadowbolt suit fit her like a black-and-purple second skin. She batted her eyes and stretched her wings out as her voice preened, “There’s no Wonderbolts anymore, only the Shadowbolts. I suggested it to Thorn after he got rid of the princesses, and he thought it was a great idea…”

“Thorn got rid of the princesses? What the hay?” Dash flew up in Scootaloo’s face and yelled, “We were just fighting him! And how could you be loyal to him if he killed the princesses?”

“It’s better inside the Svartaskoli than out in Discord’s Equestria,” the orange Pegasus snapped back. “We have to survive! We learned to be pragmatic and realistic! And you weren’t ‘just fighting him’, that was years ago. He beat you all. Right before Discord broke loose and this became all that was left of Equestria.”

“What? No!” Dash dropped back, feeling stunned. “This doesn’t make any sense. And, Discord rules Equestria?”

“Only until now,” Scootaloo said with a cruel grin that Dash never thought she’d see on the little filly’s face. “Thorn decided it’s the right time to beat him, but the Shadowbolts need a new leader for that.” She reached into a saddlebag and drew out another Shadowbolt suit, one that looked to be of an even finer make and cloth then her own. She offered it, saying, “That’s going to be you, Dash. We want you with us. We want to give you everything your loyalty deserves, Commander Dash. Now, what do you think of that?”

“What do I think?” Dash said as she reached out and took the suit in her hooves. She didn’t see the wicked grin going over Scootaloo’s face as she said, “What do I think? Here, let me show ya what I think of what’s gotta be the dumbest lie I ever heard!”

Dash flung it into her face. The other Pegasus yelled, a yell that became a screech as Dash rose up and gave her three quick hooves to the face. The blue-coated mare cried out then herself, feeling a softly yielding rottenness under her hooves and a fetid odor rise about her. Scootaloo fell back, changing in appearance, her coat going filthy and mangy. Her wings shriveled away as Dash charged after her, raining hoofblows down on the transformed Sunny Town pony.

“Ya think I’m that dumb? Ya think I never read even one fairy tale when I was a foal? Ya think Nightmare Moon didn’t try the same trick on me?” Scootaloo, or the undead pony masquerading as her, leaped up and ran away with whinnies of panic from the furious Rainbow Dash. “Why’d you even try something this lame?”

Then she looked and saw why they’d tried this. Thorn, still in alicorn form, watched the undead ponies of Sunny Town closing in all around her friends. Twilight, Jackie, even John, they all stood as though entranced, not even seeing what was happening around them. In another moment the Sunny Town ponies would have them in their hooves, and they’d all die.

“Buck that!”

Dash could think of only one thing to do, and she did it. She flew at the great beast, pivoted in mid-air, and kicked both hind-hooves into his face like Applejack bucking an apple tree. She cried out at the pain as bandages stretched and tore over her burn. Thorn bellowed as he stumbled, caught off guard. Dash shot down to Twilight and John and slapped them both, hard.

“Girls, John, WAKE UP!”

* * *

Right as soon as I heard Dash’s voice, I woke up from what had seemed like a nightmare and worse of me a-going home to find Discord doing to Earth what he’d done to Equestria. Evadare’d been a gray-haired and crazy old woman, and all I loved and cared for were gone down to dust. Then something hard and solid smacked me right in the face. I’ve been hit harder once-twice in my life, but never quite like that. I blinked and the darkness all about me was gone. Dash hovered in front of me, glaring.

“Yeesh, are you awake or not?” I brought my guitar around, and she nodded and said, “You do your thing, and we’re gonna do ours!”

Twilight looked up at me, stunned. Past her, I saw Applejack rear up and put her hooves into the face of another of the Sunny Town ponies. It shrieked and ran from her. One that stood near Rarity went flying through the air together with a little pony doll, giving a yell as it did. Her horn glowed brighter than I’d air seen yet.

“An illusion,” Twilight breathed beside me, “Not a very good one, but enough to make us hesitate – AHH!”

One of the Sunny Town ponies, a right big one with a gray coat, shoved his head out on his long neck to touch her. It hissed and twitched, from the nearness of her Element I reckon, but it still went for her. Twilight jerked back and before I could even think I thrust my guitar with its silver strings at its face. They brushed against it. He screamed like I’d set a branding iron to his hide. The look he had of a living thing ran like some nasty painting as he jerked away from me, showing bare bones and empty crimson eye sockets. I saw dark lines that smoked across the rotted flesh of his face where my strings touched it.

“Master Thorn, they’re awake!” he croaked out. “And his guitar hurts to touch! Help us! Help!”

“It’s the silver, you fools!” He roared down on them all. They flinched back. His horn glowed, that same pale greenish light of the lanterns. And so did the Letters of Cold Fire, blazing up like a bonfire. He shot a killing mad look at Twilight. He surged at her on his hooves and roared, “I have the power of Discord himself, combined with my own! You can’t fight me!”

“That’s right, Thorne,” Twilight answered him. She and her friends all looked like they feared naught in this world right then. “So we’re not going to fight you.” She looked from him to the Letters of Cold Fire where they floated at the end of the chain tethering them to him.

Thorne looked confused and then I saw his eyes go wide as he figured out what she meant. He pulled his spellbook in close and wrapped his wings around it, yelling at the Sunny Town ponies as he did, “Kill them all! I give you the power to do that!”

The trick or illusion of being alive faded from the Sunny Town ponies, leaving nothing behind but scorched flesh and white bones. They surged forward as I saw Twilight and her friends getting together, their necklaces and her crown glowing like stars in that darkness.

I set myself between the Sunny Towners and Twilight and the others, put my fingers to my old guitar, and started to play the first thing that came to mind. I can’t rightly think of where it came from, but I knew the tune but not the words I used as it came from me or maybe just through me:

“Ruby, pretty Ruby,

Won’t you please help me,

Ruby, pretty Ruby,

Won’t you please help me,

To find Starlight’s present,

A treasure from me…”

I knew the tune, it was from an old and scary mountain song called Pretty Polly, but the words I sang to it I nair heard in the mountains afore. They weren’t my best ever, but I’d kindly like to see air soul do better right then and there. But those Sunny Town ponies knew them and what they meant, and they stopped and stared frozen on me to hear them.

“…They dragged her to the fire pit

And burned her alive.

No pony would speak of her

Or their part in her doom,

No pony would speak of her

Or their part in her doom,

But all would be known

To the Mare in the Moon…”

* * *

Twilight saw the Sunny Town ponies hesitate at John’s music. The tune sounded strange to her, but if it stopped them from and Thorn from attacking her and her friends while they did this, she didn’t care if he played a love song.

“Okay, ladies, if everypony’s ready,” she said as she felt the power of her Element filling her, flooding through her body, filled with joy at being used and wrath over Thorn’s desecration of Equestria, “Let’s show Thorn just how we handle tyrants and bullies like him!”

She floated up into the air, lost completely in the summoning, and felt the power building ever more in her, joining to her friends and what their own Elements saw in Thorn: Honesty’s loathing of his self-serving lies to ponies living and undead, Generosity recoiling from his endless greed, Laughter’s joy mocking his arrogance and conceit, Kindness’s dismay over his murderous cruelty, Loyalty’s fury over his abuse of Lyra’s freely-given service and Ponyville’s freely-given hospitality, and Magic’s revulsion at the utter corruption of his “Magick”.

Twilight felt the Elements looking on and into Thorn, seeing all that he was and would do to Equestria if he was allowed to go on as he’d done.

And then they decided.

And lashed out with all their power.

* * *

“A debt to the Nightmare

Sunny Town must pay,

A debt to the Nightmare

Sunny Town must pay,

For killing pretty Ruby

And hiding her away,

Ruby, pretty Ruby, yonder she stands…”

It was magic in those words and along my strings. The Sunny Town ponies moaned sad-like and fell back, and they looked paler than ever, somehow. Like shadows or like they were getting less real by the moment. Thorne whinnied like a big and angry old horse.

“You miserable hillbilly! Do you think I’ll let you stop me now?”

The next thing I knew he reared up over me and brought his hooves down. I did all I could think of and held my guitar up between us. He bellowed when his hooves came down, and I reckon I gave a cry too, for under them my old guitar shattered into a hundred pieces. All that remained was the neck with the silver strings hanging from it. He tried to rear and drop down on me again, but behind I saw Lyra stick out her neck to grab his tail with her teeth. She gave a yank that pulled him off balance. He stumbled and lashed out behind with a kick that caught her in the side. She gave a scream and hung down at the end of that chain she bore fixed to his throne, whimpering.

The Sunny Town ponies saw it all where they cringed back. They gave neighs of fury and charged in on us all. A light seemed to be growing brighter and warmer behind me, like memories of summer days as a boy. I knew someways or other I had to keep them off from whatair made that light. I stepped up and flailed with the neck of my old guitar like I was a-threshing wheat. The strings whipped against their eyes and muzzles and forelegs and they dropped back shrieking. The silver burned them, they hated it, feared it, they couldn’t stand before it. Thorne saw it and cursed. He charged at me again.

“If I have to kill you with my bare hooves, so be it!” He flinched back when I whipped the strings at his eyes.

“That will take better than you can air do,” I told him as I whipped the strings up so they wrapped around his neck. The alicorn Thorne hissed at the pain, but he jerked his head back sudden and sharp. The guitar neck flew from my hands and the strings went off and away from us both. His shoulder rammed into me with his weight behind it. The next I knew, I lay on the ground and looked up to see his hooves a-coming down, ready to trample me to death. He laughed.

The Letters of Cold Fire burned like a Hand of Glory where it hung beside him.

Then the air itself glowed around me, all the colors of the rainbow. I saw it come arcing up and around from behind me to come washing down over Thorne and the Letters of Cold Fire and Lyra and me like the almightiest big flood you ever saw. I couldn’t see anything for the light but I could hear things. Like Lyra sobbing in pain and something hissing like hot iron flung into cold water. Thorne a-giving a roar and sounding more like a human man than a horse. And my own self, for whatair reason I remembered all the good I’d seen, here in Equestria and back on Earth with my friends and my own sweet Evadare.

And then I knew no more.

* * *

Twilight strained to see into the heart of the rainbow whirlwind. She gasped, heard her friends gasp, as she felt the Elements drawing on her and exhausting her. To her horror she saw John and Lyra both in there with Thorn and the Letters of Cold Fire. She almost cried out, we have to save them!

And then she saw it, the Letters of Cold Fire, the gift from a monster that had started all of this. They glowed like an old horseshoe flung into a forge to be melted down and reshaped. She heard a voice, like Discord’s, like Thorn’s, in her mind, pleading for sanctuary as it offered her anything she could ever desire.

“This is what I desire,” she spoke her thought aloud.

She could swear she heard one last thin wail of despair as the Letters of Cold Fire collapsed into a smoldering pile of ashes that blew away in the whirlwind.

It’s done, she thought as the rainbow faded. She collapsed to her knees, feeling her senses swim as exhaustion took her.

We won.

We’re finally safe.

She heard an angry snort. Twilight looked around to see the Sunny Town ponies closing in, fury and the promise of worse than death blazing in their empty eyes.

Then again, maybe not.

* * *

Rainbows flashed on Canterlot’s horizon, from the depths of the Everfree. A soundless scream echoed through the palace garden. The constant cracks veining the statue between the two alicorns reversed, sealing themselves until the patchwork serpent-dragon was once more solid stone, its face frozen in open-mouthed shock. The alicorns – one white with a shining sun on her flank, and the other midnight blue with a crescent moon on her flanks and a star-sprinkled mane – let the gold and silver glows fade from their horns and embraced horse-style, craning their necks around each other’s. The dozen unicorn master magi around them dropped the wards they’d been casting for days and cheered. All but the one in Spellguard barding, who collapsed into a heap. Two others swayed on their feet, on the very edge of collapse themselves from exhaustion and overstrain migraines.

“Somepony see to Captain Shining Armor,” Celestia commented as she stepped back before suddenly jerking her head up. She turned and gazed out over Equestria, towards Ponyville and the Everfree. The black cloud over the forest was dissipating like it had never existed, save in one spot. There it hung thick and dense, fighting the light of her sun as it hid whatever lay there from view.

“Sister,” Luna said beside her, “Why does it remain so, above the old cursed village?”

“Luna, stay here,” Celestia told her. “Twilight is in danger, and so are her friends. I have to go to them now!” And with those words she spread her wings and flew, rising up against the sun, until with a flash like the dawn’s first light she vanished from sight.

Chapter 20

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 20

“John?” I heard some voice or other call through the haze in my head. I swore to myself that I’d never get into that much blockade again. The voice yelled even louder as I finally recognized it, “John! Wake up, we got us some trouble here!”

“Applejack?” I opened my eyes and sat up. She stood right afore me, the necklace of her Element still glowing the least little bit as she gave me a right worried look. “What trouble?”

“That!” she said, and I saw that she’d spoken the truth.

Darkness still hung over and around Sunny Town, and so did the undead ponies of it. They’d fled back when Twilight and her friends exorcised Thorne’s spellbook, but they were coming close back in now. The ponies were staggering up on their hooves, looking like they’d run a race up a mountain by the way their sides heaved. Rarity stumbled closer over by Applejack and me, shaking her head. I heard Zecora and Bon Bon yelling from their cell off behind me, and someone a-hammering at the door. Another pony groaned nearby. I saw Lyra’s sea-foam mane and green coat as she stirred. I remembered how Thorne fell close by as well, right after he’d…

I snatched my guitar up in my hands. What was left of it, anyway. Just about half the neck and maybe most of the strings. The rest of it lay on the ground, hammered and smashed into nothing. I looked on it and I reckon I felt nothing much at all. Just empty down deep inside.

“Oooh…” Lyra said nearby as she rose up on her legs and looked around. “Thorne’s gone? Thorne’s gone!” She near about danced for joy before she looked and me and flinched. “I’m sorry for what happened to you and everypony else, I’m so sorry, but Thorne swore he’d hurt Bon Bon and…” Her gaze slipped past me and went wide when she saw who stood there. She opened her mouth, maybe to say she was sorry again, maybe to say something else, but nair word of hers got out.

“YOU!”

Rarity screamed that word out before she dove past me and on top of Lyra. Before I could blink she had her down. Rarity set her horn to Lyra’s throat like she held a knife there. Her eyes blazed.

“Lyra,” she said, her voice full of warning, “Don’t try to run, don’t move, don’t even blink.” She stopped, and when Lyra whimpered, Rarity said, “I saw what you helped Thorne do to Sweetie Belle. Be glad you’re alive.” Then to me she said, “John, maybe you better go and help Applejack and the others.”

What others, I almost said, and then I turned and saw what she meant. At the door of the cell, I saw Applejack working to open it. Apple Bloom was there too, and her friends, and Spike too. He was clawing at the lock and little bits and pieces of it were coming away in his claws. Apple Bloom and her friends were tugging on it aside her big sister, Sweetie Belle using her magic and the others their mouths. Zecora’s staff rested on the ground near him.

I looked around and saw an old iron bar lying nearby, part eaten up with rust. I prayed it’d be strong enough and that cell lock weak enough to do this as I stuck the neck of my guitar in my belt and snatched that bar up. I went to the door and called, “Stand back a moment.”

One mare, three fillies, and one dragon stood back, their eyes wondering at me. Apple Bloom caught on the fastest as I slipped it in between the lock and the bars. Applejack saw it next. Both of them set to push on it when I pulled. Inside the cell, Zecora and Bon Bon set to pull when we did.

“Put your mare to this,” Applejack said aside me, and then we all heaved on that bar. If it’d been me alone nothing might have happened, but while those ponies were a man’s size at the most, they were more than a human man for strength. The lock squealed and broke open. Zecora and Bon Bon came rushing out only to both yell.

“Applejack, look out!”

Applejack yelled her pain as they did. I spun and whipped the neck of my guitar and the silver strings across the face of the Sunny Town pony grabbing her flank with its hooves. It stumbled back with a screech. Past it, I saw more of them using up around us.

“Big sis!” Apple Bloom pressed up close by Applejack. “Are y’all okay?”

“Ah’ll live,” she said back, and sounded strained to say it, “But let’s get back from here.”

We didn’t waste airy time doing what she bid. The Sunny Town ponies pressed close by us, killing mad, snorting and champing their long bony teeth together, scraping the ground with their hooves. They wanted our lives and no mistake. I whipped my silver strings out at them again as we fell back on where Twilight and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie stood. Rainbow Dash flew over them, looking around for something. And a-circling all around I saw more of those Sunny Town ponies. It looked like air dead pony in that village closing in on us.

Applejack looked at her friends, her eyes unfocused. She looked and sounded like she’d been on the bad end of a hard times party and taken most of the punches. She glared at her little sister.

“Apple Bloom, didn’t Ah tell ya to stay out o’ here?”

“Ya didn’t,” Apple Bloom said, sounding right defiant. “”Ya tol’ me an’ mah friends ta not help ya fight Thorne, and we didn’t. Ya didn’t say anything ‘bout not helpin’ Miss Bon Bon and Zecora from out o’ their cell.”

Applejack looked like she wanted to give her a swat, but then she relaxed. “That’s right,” she said, “Ah didn’t. And ya were brave to do it.” She looked around at the Sunny Town ponies, holding back a bit from us now like they were a-getting the sand together to charge in. Applejack said to her, “But Ah still wish all o’ ya’d ran.”

“We’re not dead yet, Applejack,” Rarity called from where she retreated like the rest of us. She hauled Lyra along with her horn’s magic, that purple glow surrounding the other unicorn. I saw how Lyra’s eyes pleaded at Bon Bon, like to say she was sorry. Bon Bon glared at her and turned away. I don’t rightly know how, but Lyra got even sadder in the face. Rarity said, “But listen, Twilight can teleport us all out of here with my help.”

“Ah thought ya said that ya didn’t know how ta teleport!”

“I don’t,” Rarity said back to her, “But any unicorn can supply magical energy to another unicorn’s spell working when they need to, even if it does leave us weakened afterwards. And Twilight can cast the spell on all of us, even that scoundrel Thorne...” Her voice trailed off and she looked around. “Just where did he get off to?”

I looked too, and I reckon I yelled, for then I saw Thorne where he stood right by Twilight as she looked at us, a stone in both of his hands and up over her head.

“Twilight, run!” I yelled at her. She gave me a confused look.

“John, what?” She said back just as Thorne brought that rock right down aside her horn and across her head.

* * *

Twilight rose with a groan. She could hear her friends around her, sounding drained and stunned from using the Elements. Somewhere close by other ponies whinnied in fear and anger. Then a skeletal equine face bobbed into her vision. Even though no eyes showed in those empty crimson sockets, it somehow glared at her in murderous fury as it shrieked.

“You condemned us to this all over again!” It reached out for her with hooves that reeked of rot. “We’ll kill you all and take you into our herd! Ruby won’t be the only one going into the fire every night!”

“Ahhh!” Twilight thrust with her magic and sent it stumbling back to fall in a tangle of skeletal legs. “Girls, get up now! We’re in trouble here!” She wondered frantically, why aren’t the Elements forcing them back? Did we use up that much power from them in defeating Thorn? Because if we did, then how do we stop them? As her friends got up, she looked around. “Wait, where’s John? And Thorn?”

“John’s right there, sugarcube,” Applejack pointed with her hoof. John lay off to the side and seemed to be moving feebly. Twilight gave a sigh of relief. She’d wondered what the Elements would do to him. True, they’d summoned him here, but she didn’t know what their full unleashed energy would do to something not of Equestria.

“Please check him out,” Twilight said, “make sure he’s okay.” AJ nodded and ran off to help John. Twilight yelled after her, “And somepony get Zecora and Bon Bon out of that cell!”

“We’ll do it!” Three familiar voices said as the Cutie Mark Crusaders charged right by her, accompanied by Spike. As soon as they reached the cell door they began pounding and hammering on it with whatever they could pick up.

“Girls, that won’t work, and we told you not to come in here anyway!” Twilight yelled after them.

Rarity called as well, “Sweetie Belle, Spike, all of you, get out! These monsters will kill you!”

“We ain’t gonna let them eat Miss Bon Bon or Zecora!” Sweetie Belle yelled back as the tiny unicorn tugged at the heavy door with her magic, a look of vast concentration on her face as her horn glowed.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity began to yell, only to stop when she saw Lyra rising next to Applejack and John. The mint-green unicorn looked to be saying something to them both. Then she looked up and paled at the sight of Rarity’s furious glare. The unicorn mare said just one word: “YOU!” She seemed to almost teleport over to Lyra, setting her forehooves on her and putting her horn to Lyra’s throat.

“Well, we know where Lyra is,” Dash said as she rose off the ground, her wings beating. Twilight saw her eyes widen as she saw the Sunny Town ponies gathering around. “Uh, Twi,” she said, “I think we oughta be getting out of here. Like, right now!”

“We will, but we can’t leave anypony else here,” Twilight said. She felt Fluttershy and Pinkie backing up against her. A glance showed her the Sunny Town ponies circling around behind as well. How many of these things were there? “I’ll teleport us all out, but you have to get everypony here, even Thorn!” Dash stared at her in disbelief.

“You have got to be kidding me! HIM?” But even as she said it she flew up higher, wincing at the aches of the battle, and began looking around to find everypony.

“I won’t leave anypony here,” Twilight said, as much to herself as to Dash. She could see a staggering Applejack and John whipping those silver strings of his at the Sunny Town ponies, driving them back as she said, “Not even Thorn. Besides, we took away his grimoire, so he’s harmless now, and…”

And then several things happened in rapid succession. John yelled something like a warning at her, and Thorn’s voice said right in her ear, “Does this feel harmless, you meddling beast?” as something hard and heavy came crashing down alongside her horn.

Twilight dropped, feeling a hot wetness running down her face. I have to get up, she thought through a slow crimson haze in her mind, we have to get away.

Then that painful heaviness came down again, on her leg this time.

She screamed when she felt it break.

* * *

I charged in when I saw Thorne standing over Twilight in the shape of a man, bringing that stone he’d found back up to hit her a third time. I saw how her leg twisted under her where he’d broken it, where the blood ran down her face from his striking her that coward’s blow of his. I saw I’d not reach her in time to stop him from a-smashing her brains out. Then something yellow and pink flew up in front of him.

“Don’t you dare!” Fluttershy said, sounding right angry. Thorne just swung that rock of his at her. Fluttershy shrieked as he caught her in the belly with it. She dropped, coughing and sobbing her pain. But when she dropped she held onto that stone, and Thorne had no more than his bare hands left when I leaped over Twilight and into him.

He staggered a step or three back, but he didn’t fall down. He lashed out with those big heavy hands clasped together of his and caught me high on the forehead. I staggered under that hit, and he came in grabbing for me like someone who knows how to use a grip that’ll break bones.

“You took literal godhood away from me! Godhood!” he spat, “You and these wretched animals! Do you know what I’ll do to you?” His arms went out wide to grip, like a bear or ape.

“I know what you mean to do,” I said to him. “Now let me show you what I’ll be a-doing.”

I stepped a step back and brought my own hands up, doubled up, and gave him a quick jab right into his nose, hard and fast as I could. He yelled but he didn’t try and run, the way near any other man might have. Instead he just tried to get close in on me again, to where his weight would be the main thing. I stayed back and tried keeping him at a reach, punching harder and faster than I’d air done before, because I was a-fighting for my life.

“I’ll call the Sunny Town ponies on you all,” he said to me. I saw the blood from his nose where it looked to have a new dent in it running down around his lips. “They’ll kill every one of you!” He stopped then when I put a punch right into that mouth of his.

“And you too,” I said to him, holding back for a second, and feeling it where he’d hit me hard, in my ribs and along my arms. If I’d hurt him, it didn’t much show. “You promised you’d make them come alive again. Whatair do you think they’ll do, now that you can’t keep that promise?”

“Who says I can’t?” Thorne said back to me. He grinned and I saw the blood on his teeth when he said it. “I may not have Discord’s power now, but I still have some magick. Enough to keep them away from me, which is more than you or those ponies can do. I’ll still find my worshippers here.”

“Like hay you will!”

And with those words Dash flew down into him like a bullet and hammered him down into the ground, her hooves a-pounding on his face.

* * *

“Twi? Twi!” Dash shook Twilight. She seemed only half conscious, blood running down her face from where Thorn struck her with that rock. Dash fought down panic at the sight. Yes, she knew that scalp wounds bled heavily and looked worse than they were, but still, this was her friend and there was so much blood!

“Nnnn…” Twilight said, looking up at her blearily. She tried to rise only to sink back down with a sob of pain as her broken leg buckled beneath her. “Dash, get the others… Get away from here…”

“No, I’m not leaving any of you!” Dash looked around. This isn’t right! She thought, We won! Everything’s supposed to be better now!

She saw her friends, and the CMCs and Spike and Zecora. Even Bon Bon and Lyra, all of them falling back in fear as the undead ponies of Sunny Town advanced on them, their eyes aglow with hate and rage. They’d touched Applejack just once, and she looked ready to collapse even as she shielded her little sister from them. Flutts whimpered where she lay, coughing up blood as she tried to rise.

Pinkie bounced up to two of the Sunny Town ponies. “Giggle at the ghosties!” she said, but when she tried they just grabbed at her. Pinkie shrieked and jumped back from them.

“It didn’t work!” Her mane seemed to deflate, hanging limp. She looked up and saw Dash hovering over her. “Get away, Dashie! Never mind us! And if you ever see some ghost ponies in the Everfree, and they giggle at you when you giggle at them, you’ll know who they are!” She paused and then added, “Just remember to give them some cake, okay? And say goodbye to the Cakes for me!”

Dash heard the rest of her friends join in, yelling at her:

“Dang it, Dash, get outta here an’ take the fillies with ya!”

“Please, Dash, save Sweetie Belle and Spike and the others, we’ll be fine!”

“D-Dash, take Spike and the g-girls and go…”

“I, I…” Dash looked around helpless, and then stared. She saw Thorn, no longer the Nightstallion but the hairless monster from that night at the Town Hall. He was fighting John, forcing him back in on the others, and saying something about, “I still have enough magic to protect myself from the Sunny Town ponies. I’ll still find worshippers here…”

Dash decided in an instant between her loyalty to her friends and to Equestria. She decided, flapped for altitude, then winged over in a power-dive right into Thorn, driving her forehooves into his face.

“Like hay you will!” She yelled. Thorn cursed and snatched at her, grabbing one of her wings as she pounded him as hard as she could. “I’m not lettin’ you get away to hurt anypony else! If we’re gonna die, we’re taking you with us!”

Thorn snarled like a beast. With a sudden twist he snatched at her wing joint and wrung it between his massive hands.

Dash screamed in pain as she felt something inside her wing tear. She would have dropped on it except that John caught her.

“Like jointing a chicken,” Thorn jeered as he retreated back towards the Sunny Town ponies. Dash snorted and tried to plunge after him, but John held her.

“Lemme go!” she yelled.

“Hold it there a second, Dash,” he said to her. He pointed. “Thorn might could be in trouble his own self right now.”

Dash caught his meaning. She looked and hoped as he got nearer to the undead ponies. They turned their empty eye sockets on him. Dash idly realized that the sunlight seemed to be growing stronger. The cloud overhead was fading away. When the sunlight struck the Sunny Town ponies, they flinched from it.

Thorn walked up to the Sunny Town ponies. They gave him the cold stare of walking death. He returned it, made gestures with his hands, spoke words and Names that crawled in her ears. And they dropped onto their bellies and let him pass.

“Return when you can help us,” One of them half moaned as he walked by them. As soon as Thorn did, they rose and began closing in. He turned and looked back, a broad smile on his bruised and bloody face.

“No,” Dash said, her last hope dead inside. John half carried her back to the others. Pinkie and AJ hugged her from either side. It hurt her wing and her wounded flank, but she ignored it to return the hug. The pain wouldn’t last long, after all.

Just the rest of her life.

“Guys,” she said, her voice soft, “I’m sorry.”

“All of you little ponies,” she heard John say from where he stood, “I’m rightly sorry too.” Dash looked and saw that he had one hand along Twilight’s mane and with the other he held the guitar neck, ready to whip. Apple Bloom pressed against his leg.

Flutts dragged herself next to Rarity. Rarity gave her a last hug as well before turning to the approaching Sunny Town ponies, snorting and scraping at the ground, horn ready to thrust. Fluttershy glared at them from where she lay as though already giving them The Stare, Pinkie and AJ and Dash all faced outwards in primeval equine instinct, protecting the wounded and fillies behind them. Spike stood to protect Twilight, Zecora’s staff still in his claws, and Zecora and Bon Bon joined the rest of the mares in their defiance.

“Zecora! Pinkie! Rarity! Try to break out! Take Spike and the fillies! Make for Ponyville! We’ll hold them off!”

“Rarity? Can you carry Flutts?”

“Rarity, don’t… I’m bleeding inside… I’ll never make it…”

The Sunny Towners closed in from all sides, advancing like a herd ready to trample, grinning those death’s-head grins. Two in front reared and made a charge, only to be whipped back by John’s silver strings. Another dashed in from the side, caught a faceful of Spike’s dragonfire and fell back with a curse.

And behind them Thorn, once more the “freaky monster” who’d appeared at Twilight’s door only a week ago, amusement worthy of Discord broad on his massive and ugly face. Twilight raised her head with a groan, making only a whimper of pain at her injury as she looked at the Sunny Town ponies.

“Maybe…” she said, “maybe it won’t be so bad after a while… Girls, John, all of you, I’m sorry this happened…”

And then the brightest and purest sunlight filled the clearing, somehow seeming to shine on the leaves from below, and a voice both beautiful and terrible thundered:

“WHICH OF THESE IS THORN?”

* * *

I stood there alongside those ponies, alongside these friends of mine, and we all watched those Sunny Town ponies a-closing in. It felt like watching Death itself and worse than Death coming at us. Thorne stood behind them all, grinning that grin that made me wish I dared charge through and knock it right off of his face.

And then the noonday sun came down into that Everfree Forest clearing, and a voice like God on Judgment Day spoke out:

“WHICH OF THESE IS THORNE?”

The Sunny Town ponies froze as that light came down amongst us all. The last of Thorne’s darkness over the town faded into nothing, and as it did, they all wailed as the earth seemed to just pull them into it. They fought against it like they were a-trying to escape quicksand. It did them no good at all. They sank down screaming, all of them, until the very last one was gone and swallowed up, back into their graves.

I took a look around at Sunny Town, and saw no more town there. All you saw was forest, not even a clearing, just more forest. Maybe some traces in the ground where there might have been foundations once, long ago. Just a second long I saw Ruby. She nodded at me, smiled on Apple Bloom, and then she faded away like a dream.

I wondered me what could be happening now until I saw what said those words. It was a white horse, not a pony, a horse, lean and graceful as a Thoroughbred and bearing what looked like the sun itself on her horn. Yes, as sure I’m telling you all this, she had a horn like Twilight’s and Rarity’s, and she had wings like Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. The mid-day sun showed on her flank. Her mane and tail were that shade of blue they call turquoise, and pink, and more colors asides, a-waving like a flag in a wind that wasn’t there. A golden tiara on her head kindly like Twilight’s Element, and a golden pectoral on her withers set with a purple gem like we’d just seen on Thorne.

I think it might just be the best to say, if there are suchlike things as horse archangels, I saw one right there.

She looked down at Dash, at Applejack, at Fluttershy and Twilight. They were straining to bow to her, like how Rarity and Pinkie and the little fillies already were. Past them all I saw Zecora nodding her head respectful-like, and Bon Bon a-bowing too. Lyra just hugged the ground, a-looking like she wanted to be sneaking off somewhere.

“My little ponies,” she said to them all in a voice that sounded regal and gentle all at the once, like she was their mother, “There is no need for this, here and now. Let me help you.” Light shined from her horn, more gentle this time, like every childhood summer day all at the once. I felt it soft and warm on me, and I looked down and saw the wounds on Twilight and the others closing themselves. Twilight drew a hard breath and let it back out more gently.

“Thank you, Princess,” she said. She looked up and craned her neck to return the hug Celestia, for that must have been who she was, gave her. Her blood stained the angel-horse’s white coat.

I heard Thorne give a curse. I turned to see him a-running off into the forest. I raced after him. Off to the side I could see Lyra racing off another direction, only to stop when Applejack and Rainbow Dash both piled on her. Right the next second I got ahold of Thorne. I jerked him back off his feet. He dropped with a yell, and I bent to grab him.

Right then there came another burst of light around both Thorne and myself. We vanished from where we were. When I looked up, I saw Celestia looking down on me, and it wasn’t what you’d call a friendly look.

“Again I ask,” she said, and she didn’t sound the least bit motherly or kind right then, “Which of you is Thorne?”

What Thorne did then I’d have nair thought him to do. He pushed me back and away and walked up to Celestia, a-looking her in the eye to say, “I have the distinct honor of being Rowley Thorne, Your Majesty.”

He took a step back and bowed to her, like he stood in a royal castle and not in a ghost village in a haunted woods. Celestia seemed to smile the least bit. She sat and held up her hoof. Thorne didn’t hesitate. He took it and raised it to his lips, proper as you please, like someone in an old-timey story about King Arthur.

“Thorne,” she said, sounding a mite calmer, “Perhaps you can see fit to explain why you aided Discord, why you hurt my little ponies,” she fanned her wings out like to indicate Twilight and the others, who stood near her, “And what you think I ought to do with you?”

Twilight walked over by me as Celestia spoke to him. Thorne his own self just smiled on Celestia and started a-talking to her as polite as if they spoke together at some fancy party.

“I thought she’d be, I don’t know,” She said, a little cautious-like, “Angry.”

“Let’s wait and hear this now,” I bade her, a-wondering myself what was about to be.

“…And so, after Discord brought me here from my unjust imprisonment,” Thorne was a-saying to Celestia, “I received the choice of aiding him against your just rule, or being cast back to – where I’d been brought from. I regret much of what befell here, and any unjust injuries that have been inflicted on your ponies or myself…”

“Unjust injuries inflicted on you?” Thorne scowled at Twilight as she spoke up. Celestia just looked calm on her as she said, “Princess Celestia, please, don’t listen to him! He’s done nothing but hurt ponies since he came here, and…”

“Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia just said her name, like a teacher shushing her students, and Twilight fell silent. I saw how her friends behind her looked like they wanted to say more, but they held still too, and so did I. Celestia just looked on Thorne and nodded at him to say more.

“I thank you, Your Majesty,” he said, bowing his head to her. “Greater beings should converse in peace, should they not?”

“Indeed they should,” she said in a voice like music. “Please do continue with your explanation.”

“As I was saying,” Thorne said to her, “I regret all unjust injuries, as well as any mistaken ideas your subjects seem to have arrived at due to my forced obedience to Discord. I ask only that I be returned to my own world, where further complications between us may be avoided.” He paused, and then added with a nasty gleam to his eyes, “Though perhaps even in that I may be of service to Your Majesty.”

“Really?” She tilted her head to the side and raised the one eyebrow, like she paid consideration to what-all he said. I think maybe I heard Twilight or some of the others gasp as she said, “And how, exactly, would you serve me, Thorne?”

“As a Goddess deserves, Majesty,” he said to her with a smile. “With worshippers, with temples, with sacrifices.” His gray tongue licked out over his gray lips. “In exchange, of course, I would require some small share of your own power to convince shallow and skeptical minds of the truth of my words.”

Celestia said nair word. She just sat herself back and raised one forehoof to her chin like as though she thought on what he said. I looked around on Twilight and her friends. Her jaw hung open and she stared, like how I reckon maybe I wanted to. From all I’d been told of Celestia, she didn’t act much like what they’d said.

“What of your servant Lyra?” Celestia said. As she did, her horn glowed and Lyra floated up off the ground and over to her.

The little green unicorn whimpered and tried to huddle into herself.

“Her?” Thorne shrugged and said, “Punish her however you please. She means nothing to me.” Lyra gasped at his words, and I think I heard Bon Bon do it too.

“What if I asked you to make her an offering to me?” Celestia’s horn glowed again, and what looked to be a knife made of gold appeared right in Thorne’s hands. He snatched it right fast, and I saw that slug-tongue of his go over his lips again at the sight.

Twilight did gasp then. Spike looked right about as scared as she did. Past them both, Rarity looked ready to faint. She held her little sister back against her so she couldn’t see whatair was about to happen, and so did Applejack.

“Majesty,” Thorne said, smiling on her, “I’m so happy to see we can arrive at a mutually beneficial understanding.” He took the knife and stepped towards Lyra. Her eyes showed white all the way around as she looked on that knife. I took a step forward. I don’t rightly know what I meant to do, but knew I had to do something. Celestia’s eyes caught mine and I somehow heard the word, No. I stepped back and listened as she asked one last thing of Thorne.

“Would you offer more to me, if I asked you to?”

“Majesty,” he said, giving her a smile and a nod, “I would give you nations, no, worlds, if you asked it of me.” He turned to Lyra, pulled her head back by the horn, and raised the knife above her throat with a smile.

Poor Lyra cringed away in her fear, screaming. No words, just a scream like any dying horse.

And Thorne gave a sudden yell. That knife in his hand glowed white-hot and vanished. He turned to run again, only to stop as the glow of Celestia’s magic surrounded him and held him up afore her eyes.

“THAT,” she said, and she didn’t sound curious or friendly to him now, “WAS THE WRONG. ANSWER.” Thorne tried to say something, the words stumbling over each other as they came from his mouth. Celestia frowned and his jaw shut with a click.

“I wanted to see for myself,” she snorted, “Just what sort of a creature Discord brought into Equestria, and you have been only too happy to show me. You are truly worthy of him.”

“I won’t give you the punishment you deserve, Thorne,” He grinned, but her next words took the smile from his face, “But that’s only because I will NOT have your blood contaminating this world. I will, however, do THIS.”

“This is for trying to turn Discord loose!” Something like a slap, then, loud as a pistol shot, and his face jerked to the side.

“This is for your cowardly murder of Captain Bastion!” she said, and another sound of a slap, and Thorne’s face jerked over to the other side, spitting blood.

“And this is for every vile thing you have done to my little ponies, from Twilight…”

SLAP!

“And the Elements of Harmony…”

SLAP! Thorne’s face showed hoofprints, like he’d been trampled but somehow lived through it.

“…to every single Royal Guard’s family and Ponyville resident who mourns their dead and injured tonight because of you!”

SLAP! Thorne dropped to the ground, tried to scramble away like a spider or a tick.

“Oh, no.” She stepped forward, pawing the ground like she was a-ready to charge, and her horn started to shine like the sun. “You are NOT getting away…”

And with that, the light of her horn grew brighter still, too bright to look at, hot and harsh. I think maybe Thorne tried to yell the once, but even as he did, it sounded like his yell was fading off into some distance. As the light faded out from under the trees, I looked for Thorne. He was gone, the last little bit of him. Twilight looked for him too, and when she saw nothing she approached Celestia where she stood.

“Princess, what did you do with Thorne?” Twilight bent close to hear her answer, and I reckon I took a step closer my own self to hear the answer.

“I cast him away,” she said, her voice calm again and maybe the least bit sad. “Back to whatever is between the worlds, where Discord found him. It’s too much to hope that he’ll stay there forever, but as I said, I wouldn’t have his blood spilled here. And I can hope he might have learned something from all this.”

“If he didn’t,” I said to her, “I doubt he’ll learn from any other.”

“Ah.” Celestia looked on me then, not angered or harsh, but there was still something in her eyes and voice that set you a-trembling. “So, you are John? The one who helped Twilight and the others, the one they summoned?” She smiled and added, “I seem to recall her mentioning something about you having a guitar?”

“I had the one, ma’am,” I replied her. I held up the broken neck with the silver strings, which was all I had left. I heard Rarity and Applejack both give a gasp behind me. “I’m kindly afraid it’s broken, though, which I do regret.”

“As do I,” she said, and she meant it to say it. “I heard the songs from your world once long centuries ago. I hoped to hear some of them again. But, however,” And her horn glowed as she brought Lyra up beside me to face her. “The last business of the day. What exactly do I do with the two of you?” She smiled on me, but her face went hard when she looked on Lyra. Not hard like some judge in court, but more like a parent who’s just caught their child a-making a right fool of themselves.

“Princess Celestia,” Lyra bespoke her, “I know what you have to do. Just, please, make it quick.” Her voice shook to say that last, and she added, “But, can I say goodbye to Bon Bon first?” She looked over at her friend. Bon Bon gave her a gaze that sorrowed back at her. Then she stepped up and spoke her own self.

“Please, Highness,” she said, and she pressed against Lyra as she said it, “Whatever happens to Lyra, if it’s something,” she swallowed, a right loud gulp we could all hear, “Something permanent, then please, send me with her too.”

“Very well,” Celestia said. She looked around at Twilight and me and the ponies. “All of you, please, gather around. I want this to be heard.” I stepped close, and so did Twilight and Spike and all the rest of us. I wondered at a sort of tugging I felt, but I ignored it as she spoke.

“Lyra Heartstrings,” Celestia said as she looked down on her where she huddled and shivered, “You have helped to do great evil to Equestria and its ponies. But you know this, and you regret it, which is more than can be said for Thorne. You will not be punished as he was,” and Lyra began to smile, but the smile froze right on her face as Celestia added, “But I won’t just let you go free, either.”

“Princess, please,” Twilight spoke up. When Celestia looked at her she said, “She was forced to do it by Thorne. She told me he was threatening Bon Bon, and…” Twilight went quiet when Celestia raised her hoof.

“I know, my dear student,” she said, “But before that, she aided him willingly when he injured ponies. Therefore, Lyra, this is your punishment.” She fell quiet and I saw that she thought on it. I strained, I reckon maybe we all strained, to hear what would be said.

“You will return to Ponyville to live among those you have harmed, and there you will work to help repair all the damage that you helped Thorne to do, to the town and to the ponies in it. You will also return to Canterlot with me where you will explain to Captain Bastion’s family just how he died, and your own role in it.” Lyra shuddered at that. I reckon maybe I would have too, no matter how just it was. Celestia nodded at her. “I’ll be there with you, and I will explain it to them as well, including the threats you and Bon Bon faced.” She looked at Twilight and her friends, and said, “I also ask this of you and the rest of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle. You will watch over Lyra while she is in Ponyville, and while she does what she can to fix the damage she helped to inflict. I put her in your trust, and I ask that if you see any sign of Thorne’s corruption in her, that you do what you can to root it out. Also, protect her from any ponies who think I’ve been too merciful with her.” She looked down at Lyra once more, and said, “That is my judgment on you, Lyra.”

“Thank you, Highness,” Lyra said to her, and no mistaking the relief in her voice to say it.

“Don’t thank me too quickly,” Celestia said to her. “I have set you on a hard road, Lyra Heartstrings, but it is one of your own making. But you have friends and loved ones,” and she looked at Bon Bon, “Who still care about you. And you know that you did wrong, and you want to fix it. Your life won’t be easy for a time, but you’ll be the better for it once this is all over.” Then she turned to me.

“John,” she said, and bowed her head to me politely. “You helped my ponies when I and my sister had to contain Discord. You stood to protect them from Thorne and his sorcery, even after you learned that it was my idea that you be brought here and you would have had the right to refuse, even when it risked your own life.” She smiled at me. “Ask whatever you desire, and it will be yours.”

Now, I ask you all, what can you say to such an offer? I know there were a right many things I could have asked for, but right then I could only think of three of them.

“That’s right kind of you, Your Majesty,” I said to her, and I took my hat off and bowed my head back to her. I said in my politest, “I can only think of the three things. I was a-going to ask for mercy for Lyra,” I pointed at Lyra where she sat by Bon Bon, the two of them with their heads close and talking low and soft to each other, ”But you’ve done that already.”

Celestia nodded at what I’d said, like she approved. She asked, “What else, then?”

“Just this,” I said to her, and I waved my hand around, where Sunny Town had stood and would stand again, next witching hour. “Is there airy thing you can do, for these poor ponies in Sunny Town? They only listened to Thorne because he promised to bring them back to life again.”

“Could you, Princess?” Fluttershy said from where she stood, and Pinkie added in, “Yeah, they must be really seriously unhappy if they wanted to help Thorne! And if you brought them back I could do my first welcome-back-to-life party, and –ummph!” She fell silent when Rainbow Dash put her hoof over her mouth.

“I wish I could,” Celestia said, looking down with a sigh. “The curse was set on them by Nightmare Moon. She alone could lift it, and she is no more. Otherwise they alone can remove it, when they realize that they did wrong. And they yet refuse to do this.”

“That they do,” I said, thinking back on what I’d heard some of them saying when we fought.

“Hopefully today’s events have helped convince them differently,” Celestia nodded back at me sadly. “But until then, the gates of their prison are locked from the inside.” I nodded, for it reminded me of something I’d read once long ago.

“Why then, this is Hell, nor am I yet out of it,” I quoted it, “for wheresoever Hell is, there am I; and where I am, there Hell is.” The ponies all looked curious on me to hear that. Twilight and Celestia looked like they’d heard it before.

“That’s almost something from Marelowe’s play about Nightmare Moon,” Twilight said. Excitement came into her voice as she added, “John, they have or had someone like Kit Marelowe in your world? There are so many things we can learn from each other!”

“Perhaps later, my dear student,” Celestia said to her with a smile. Then she looked back at me. “Now then, I believe you said you had one last request?”

“It’s a small thing, and maybe selfish to ask just right now.” I held up the broken neck of my guitar again. “It’s just that, if we could visit some crafter pony in Ponyville sometime yet, and maybe I could get a replacement for my old guitar?” She grinned to hear it. I made haste to explain, “It’s only that I’ve had it with me most of the last twenty-odd years, and I knew it inside and out. It kept me company and saved my life and some others now and then. I’ll rightly miss it.”

“No need for apologies,” she said, looking like what I’d said amused her. “And I won’t give a replacement.”

“I suppose I do understand, Your Majesty,” I said to her, breaking in on her speech. “It’s been a right long day for us all.” I might have said the more, but she just laughed like the finest music.

“Now let me finish,” she said. Her horn glowed and the parts of my old guitar gathered themselves up and floated before her. “I won’t replace it, but I will restore it.” She looked around at Twilight and the other ponies. “But I might need some help, from those who’ve actually seen and heard your guitar being used. Twilight? Rarity, Applejack, any of you?”

No sooner than she said it, then they all went to her. They gathered in something like a circle, with my broken guitar inside. A light came from Celestia’s horn. I saw it go to Rarity and Twilight’s horns, and theirs began glowing too, soft and gentle. Maybe Celestia said something to them all, for then I heard Dash and Applejack and Pinkie and Fluttershy begin singing, and what they sang was the song I’d played for them all that other night, Vandy, Vandy.

“Wake up, wake up! The dawn is breaking,

Wake up, wake up! It’s almost day.

Open up your doors and divers windows,

See my true love march away…”

Inside of that circle, the bits and pieces of my old guitar gathered themselves up and set themselves back together. Big, little, just plain splinters, they all fixed and set themselves together like my guitar nair once broke. Maybe a little crackling in the varnish, but that was all. Their circle broke apart, and they all watched as my old guitar floated back over into my hands.

I felt it once the more, that tugging from before, but stronger this time. I played the song I’d heard that had drawn me here, those five notes a-repeating, and I felt it even more. The same pull I’d felt near a week afore, when my fingers went wrong on the strings at Luke Forshay’s party.

I walked over to Princess Celestia and bowed my head to her again. “I thank you, ma’am, and all of you too.” I said that last part to Twilight and her friends. I bent down and when Twilight came to me, I hugged her by the neck. “I’m right glad I met you all.”

“And I’m glad I met you,” Twilight said back to me, sounding happier than I could remember. “We’re going to have so much to talk about before you go back home. You can stay just one more day, right? Maybe two?” Spike groaned. I reckon he thought on all the writing he’d be doing. Twilight turned and said to Celestia, “He can stay just a little longer, can’t he, Princess? There’s so much to learn from him.”

I looked at Celestia, and as I did, I felt that tugging again, right hard this time. It pulled me off towards a trail leading into the Everfree, one I recognized from when I’d come here. Twilight and Applejack and the others saw what happened, and they looked confused. Celestia looked back at me, and she saw it. The smile she bore went just slightly sad.

“Were it my decision, Twilight, I’d say yes,” she told her. “But it’s not my choice. The Elements called him here. He’s done what he had to do. Now they’re sending him back home.”

“No! Please, Princess!” Twilight went up to her and looked up, her eyes quivering. “I’ve learned a few things from him about his world, but there’s so much more.” Celestia looked at her and shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” she said. “But this is the way it has to be.” Twilight gave her one more look, and then she went over to me. I dropped down and hugged her round the neck. As I did, her friends all came round and joined in, and I heard them all giving me their goodbyes. Their voices sounded strange, like I was hearing horses whinnying behind the words.

“Y’all take care now, John, ‘n thanks for the music…”

“Oh, Mister John, thanks for all your help, and I’m sorry for the trouble we caused you. I’ll miss you…”

“I wanted to give you a we-saved-the-day party!”

“Please, John, if you ever come back, visit my Boutique and I’ll make something special for you; and thank you so much for everything…”

“Heh, hey, take care of yourself an’ thanks, alright?”

“I’ll rightly miss you all,” I told them as we hugged, “And I’ll nair forget a single one of you.” I rose from them and turned to go, and stopped when I near about tripped over Apple Bloom. I bent down for her and she hugged me hard.

“Ah wanted ya’ll ta stay,” She said, and sniffled a bit to say it. “Ah wanted ta hear more of your songs.”

“And I wish I could play them for you, Apple Bloom,” I told her back, “But it’s not always what we want in this world.” I rose up, that song louder in my head than ever, but before I set foot on that trail I turned and said the one last thing to Twilight and Celestia.

“Wait now,” I said to them. “Thorne told me that you couldn’t send me back to my own right place and time. I think he like as not lied, but if he didn’t, what then?”

Twilight looked like she wanted to say something, but didn’t know what. Celestia spoke up instead.

“I doubt the Elements are that careless,” she said, “But I’ll watch and so will Twilight.” Celestia touched her lightly with her wingtip. “It’s very hard to keep gates between worlds open, but I promise, if you need our help, just call to me and I will bring you back through to Equestria.” She paused afore she added, “Just know, that will be a one way trip.”

“And if that happens, John,” Applejack said, her voice a pure down promise, “Ah promise ya, you’ll have a home with me n’ Apple Bloom n’ the rest o’ the family.”

“I hope you get back and find everything as you wish, John,” Twilight said to me, looking just the least bit sad, “But if not, then I swear, you’ll always have friends in Ponyville.” She and Applejack both raised their hooves and said together, “Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a cupcake in my eye – OW!” Twilight rubbed her eye where she’d put her hoof.

“I know,” I replied them all, “and I thank you. Goodbye and bless you all.”

And with that, I turned and began walking back down the trail I’d followed that brought me here. I played the song as I went, hearing the sounds of the birds and animals all around me. They seemed different from what I’d heard in Equestria, kindly like those from home. My old guitar sounded the same as ever or maybe a bit better. The trail and the forest seemed to ripple around and under me, like I pushed my way through something. The ponies’ farewells started to fade behind me, a-changing from voices to sounds like any horse would make.

And then I was walking along a dirt road in a forest I knew. And I saw it, right there afore me. My own home place, mine and Evadare’s. I wondered myself if it looked dirtier compared to my memory of it from before. Or was it me?

Were Thorne’s taunts true, and I’d been a hundred years gone?

I went to the door, wondered if I dared to knock. And right then it opened, and someone came out. They stood about Evadare’s size, and the long gray hair hung down around their head. I opened my mouth to cry out back to Twilight and the rest, and then they looked up at me.

“John?” I knew that voice. Rueben Manco, a medicine man of the Cherokee, and near about one of my oldest friends in airy sense of the word. His bright wise eyes went wide when they saw me. “John, it is you?” he called into the house, “Evadare! John’s here, he’s returned to us.” He looked back at me. “Where have you been this past week?”

I opened my mouth to reply him, but right then I heard a “John!”

Evadare came out at a run, and she held me like we hadn’t seen each other for long years. We just hugged, and I reckon I nair felt happier to hold her and look on her than I did right then.

“John,” she said to me, “I swear to nothing, where did you come from? Did you find out whatair it was that was a-calling to you? And…”

And then she stopped, looking over my shoulder where I’d just come.

“Who… What-all are they just down the road?”

I turned to look, but I knew what she saw. Reuben Manco was looking down the road too, and I heard him singing or chanting something soft and low, maybe like a prayer.

I turned and looked and I could see them in the road under the trees, maybe a hundred yards away. A herd of bright-colored little ponies, Twilight and Applejack and Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, Lyra and Bon Bon and Zecora, the three even littler fillies and one tiny dragon, Rainbow Dash a-hovering in mid-air, the rest on the ground. And stretching her wings over them all, a white angel-horse, shining like she stood in full daylight instead of the shadow of the trees.

I pulled Evadare around tight, and waved my other hand over my head, like you signal “all clear” in the Army or howdy someone at a distance.

Celestia tossed her head and neighed, her wings spreading even wider over all the others. Pinkie bounced up on top of her back a-waving like a crazy woman. Then they all shimmered like the heat rising off a blacktop highway in summer and were gone as if they’d never been. Only the road and the trees. Naught else.

“Them?” I said to Evadare and Manco. “They’re just some friends of mine.”

Like I said afore, John’s my name, and those who know me know it’s no brag for me to say that I’ve been in many a strange place and seen many a strange thing. But I nair did see or be in any place half so strange as the time I went to a place called Equestria.

END

Often in the mountains I hear the people say

“You needn’t fear the dark, my child, since John has passed this way.”

And when I stop and ask them of this person who has gone,

They tell another story of a wanderer called John –

Every time they finish, and I ask where John did go,

They shake their heads and smile at me and tell me they don’t know,

And tell their watching children “There’s no need to be afraid,

There’s nothing in the darkness now but things the Good Lord made.”

Chapter 21: Author's Notes

My Little Balladeer
Author’s Notes

First of all, thanks for reading the story. Sorry to say that this isn’t a new chapter, but rather some quick notes for those interested in finding out more about John the Balladeer and his creator, Manly Wade Wellman, a writer worthy of a far wider audience. I doubt there’s any need to concentrate on the ponies proper; I imagine most of the people reading this know where to find everything they could ever want to know about the wonderful show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

You ask me what my name is

And what I’m a-doin’ here,

They call me John the Wanderer

Or John the Balladeer…

Though little-known today, Manly Wade Wellman was a name to conjure with in the genres of pulp SF/fantasy, adventure, mystery, and dark fantasy/horror from his first publication in 1927 until his death in 1986. The “Silver John” stories were set in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina by Mr Wellman, where he lived for the last few decades of his life. The language and customs and songs and very often the people found in them are all from the stories and songs he heard and the people he met during his years there. He did make up some of the songs and the locales are usually his own, but it all has the feel of reality. I have used those legends and names in my own homage here, along with a few Pennsylvania Dutch tales that I imagine John would have been likely to know.

John himself was never very well described by Wellman, probably deliberately. Wellman only ever said that John was a veteran of the Korean War; that he was a great shot, very intelligent and well-read, a brilliant musician with his silver-strung guitar, that he could hold up his end of things in a fight, and that he looked rather like a younger Johnny Cash. That aside, we never really do learn much about John’s background aside from a pair of earlier stories, “Frogfather” and “Sin’s Doorway”, that Wellman later said were about John before he found his guitar. I referenced the latter story in this one where John warns Twilight about his experiences with a grimoire much like hers.

“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria…”

In John’s worldstream, My Little Balladeer takes place sometime in-between Mister Wellman’s later novels about John, after he married Evadare and settled down in his native Appalachia. In Equestria’s worldstream, it’s somewhere in the middle of second season, after the Day of Discord and birth of the Cake twins but well before the Royal Wedding. Equestria itself is done more as a serious fantasy world, a place of wonder matching and balancing the magic realism of John’s Appalachians. Except for a certain party pony, of course – Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie, and there can be no other.

“Rowley Thorne, you said? I’ve heard that name afore…”

And the villain of the piece? Rowley Thorne was the main villain in an earlier series by Wellman, the John Thunstone stories, some very well-written tales of the occult investigator type. Thorne was basically a nastier version of Aleister Crowley, and much of the things he was shown doing in the stories were based on the sort of things Crowley himself boasted of doing; so much so that Wellman’s editor of the time worried about a lawsuit. Wellman set his mind at ease by telling him that Crowley could hardly bring a lawsuit against a fictional character for doing some of the things that Crowley himself had boasted in print of actually doing!

Thorne was Thunstone’s enemy for years, until he finally was dragged out of the world by his conjured spirits after his last defeat (and into Equestria by Discord, at least in my story). He did finally return in the novel The School of Darkness, written forty years after his last appearance. Summoned back to Earth by a Satanic coven (or the coven took the credit when actually Celestia threw him back – you think a man like Thorne would have told anyone the real story?), he proved as delightfully malevolent as ever. Most of the spells and curses Thorne uses in this story, and that he taught to Lyra, either came from the original stories or from authentic grimoires I’ve read myself such as the Lemegeton or the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses.

The Letters of Cold Fire and the Svartaskoli, the Deep School, are again from Wellman’s Thunstone stories. They only ever showed up in two Thunstone stories (“Thorne on the Threshold” and “Twice Cursed”), with the longer and more detailed of the two (“Twice Cursed”) occurring after Thorne’s defeat. Suffice that everything that John and the girls saw in Thorne’s Equestria was quite heavily inspired by what Thunstone saw in the world of the Deep School (and a few nightmares of my own), aside from the undead ponies of Sunny Town.

Sunny Town and its ponies (including Ruby, Mitta, Grey Hoof, Roneo, and Starlet), of course, are from the fan-made 8-bit game Story of the Blanks.

But enough. Once again, thank you for reading this far, and I hope you enjoyed the story. If I’ve convinced anyone to look further at either MLP or at Mr Wellman’s fiction I’ll consider it a victory and a delight. I’ve given some links below for anyone who wants to do some research of their own or who wants to find the original John the Balladeer stories and decide for themselves if I honored them properly.

Suffice it to say there will soon be a new stained-glass window in the Hall of Windows at the Sun Palace in Canterlot, featuring six ponies bearing the Elements of Harmony – and a strange upright creature bearing a silver-strung guitar.

And if there will be any more stories like this, we’ll just have to see.

There are many, many stories in the land of Equestria…

Somewhere the sun’s a-risin’ up

A-sheddin’ it’s foggy light;

And wind blows and no one knows

Where I’m likely to be tonight…

Web address for latest printing of Who Fears the Devil? (including “Frogfather” and “Sin’s Doorway”):

http://paizo.com/products/btpy85jz?Who-Fears-the-Devil-The-Complete-Silver-John

Web addresses for information on Manly Wade Wellman and John the Balladeer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manly_Wade_Wellman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_John

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ManlyWadeWellman

John’s songs are taken directly from the original stories; Vandy, Vandy and Pretty Polly were based on the Joe Bethancourt arrangements from the CD Who Fears the Devil? The Songs of Silver John, available at http://www.whitetreeaz.com/cd/whofears.htm .

No known recording exists of The Last Judgment Song, which may have been a Wellman original.

The Long-Lost Friend is an actual book of American folk magic dating back to the19th Century, originating among the Pennsylvania Dutch. Most of the spells and charms John uses in this story came directly from The Long-Lost Friend; like most folk magic of its kind, there is little distinction between spells and prayers. A copy is visible online at http://www.whitetreeaz.com/cd/longlost.htm .

Chapter 4

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 4

Twilight Sparkle cantered down the South Road from Ponyville to Sweet Apple Acres, barely feeling the dirt under her hooves or noticing the greetings she got from ponies she met along the way, heading out for their own morning work. Worry consumed the young unicorn as she moved, feeling the saddlebags she wore digging into her sides, her Element of Magic tiara in the left one and the spellbooks in the right. Spike hung on to her neck for dear life as she cantered past the Carrots’ farm. Part of her wanted to gallop, but the rational part of her mind warned her that she might need as much of her strength as she could conserve if things went wrong. The cool early morning air chilled less than her thoughts at that moment.

“Rainbow Dash, you’re sure it was something like Thorn?” She yelled upwards into the blue sky, hoping vainly that she’d somehow misheard. She glanced up and saw the blue-coated pegasus wheeling down, her wings working furiously. Twilight repeated herself, adding, “It wasn’t just a Diamond Dog?”

“I saw it myself, Twilight!” Dash called down to her. “It’s some hairless thing wearing clothes and standing on two legs just like Thorn. It looked funny at me. AJ said it was her guest, can you believe it? Then she said to go and fetch you, and why are we still wasting time like this?” She prepared to fly on ahead but stopped at another question from Twilight.

“Did it have anything with it? You know, like,” her voice choked in her throat and a shiver went through her, “Like another of those grimoires?” Dash stopped to hover, rubbing one hoof thoughtfully against her chin.

“Naw,” she called back, “But it did have a guitar over its back. I remember the strings were shining in the sunlight. You’ll know it by that. Now can we please hurry it up before something happens to AJ?!?” Dash’s wings blurred and she shot down the road to the farm in the distance.

‘You’ll know it by the shining guitar strings’, Twilight thought, disliking the brittle edge in her mental voice. Good to know we’ll be able to tell this one apart from the one that nearly killed me or worse. Steady there, mare. Right now the one thing I need more than anything is to stay calm, cool, and above all else, collected.

And then a pair of clawed hands wrapped around her neck from behind. Twilight almost shrieked before she heard Spike’s voice.

“Twi? Twi! Just what were those signals you said to watch for, again? I think I forgot.” She shot him a dirty look. The little dragon on her back gave her a sheepish grin and scratched at the back of his head with one hand, his claws scraping over purple scales. She snorted and returned to her canter. He nearly fell off and quickly returned his grip to her mane with a yelp. In the other he bore a piece of paper, his favorite writing quill, and ribbon to tie a message in.

“Spike, we went over them three times!” He flinched back at the anger in her voice. She took a deep breath and calmed herself, saying, “Okay, sorry. If there’s trouble, you’ll see a blast of purple light shooting straight up until it bursts like fireworks, and there’ll be a loud bang along with it, like thunder – wait! Or… if you see me grab Applejack and teleport out, then send a message straight to Princess Celestia asking for all the help she can send right now. If it’s all clear…”

“You’ll want me to use the black ribbon for that, right?” He showed her the ribbon in question. “You and Celestia both said it was for emergencies only, and this counts, doesn’t it?”

“Right,” Twilight said, hoping fervently there wouldn’t be any need. She saw they were reaching the last turn in the road before the gate to Sweet Apple Acres. She slowed to a stop. “Spike, this is where you get off.” He dropped down and went to hide in the boundary hedgerow. She heard the branches scratching over his scales as he pushed into their midst. When she could see nothing but his green eyes, she nodded and said, “Like I was saying, if it’s all clear I’ll send a calling spell to you shaped and colored like an amethyst butterfly. If you see that, come straight to me.”

“Umm, ‘amethyst’?”

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. “Royal purple, Spike. The color of Rarity’s mane and tail.”

“Like Rarity?” Spike’s eyes and voice went dreamy. Twilight coughed. He snapped back to attention. “Gotcha, Twilight. You can depend on me!” He shot her a salute. She smiled back at him and turned to head into Sweet Apple Acres. She could already see Dash wheeling over the farmyard back by the barn. She stopped at a sound from Spike.

“T-Twi?” She turned and looked back at the little dragon. He slid out of the hedges and gave her neck and mane a hug. “Please, be careful. I don’t want you to,” he swallowed, “I don’t want you to get almost hurt again like with what that creep Thorn tried to do to you.”

“Don’t worry, Spike, I’m ready this time,” Twilight responded. She hoped she sounded far more certain than she felt. Then she turned, took a deep breath, and trotted through the gate onto Sweet Apple Acres to meet Princesses alone knew what might be there.

* * *

I was still a-standing there in the farmyard with the palomino in her Stetson when I saw the blue winged horse come flying back from that pretty little town I’d seen before. Once she’d flown on ahead and circled up above us like some eagle or hawk, looking down to see whatair might could be seen. She’d whinnied down to the palomino, who I swear to nothing rolled her eyes before she whinnied back at her and sent her off.

“I suppose she worries a right much?” I said to her. She just gave me a look like to say, what are you a-talking for when I can’t understand you? I went quiet. I wondered myself what other strangeness I’d be seeing today.

I found out right soon.

The blue Pegasus came flying back, but now it looked like another of these little horses came cantering along beneath her. This one looked purple, I swear to you all it’s the truth, and she wore saddlebags. The palomino beside me neighed loudly to them, just like any human being howdying a neighbor or friend.

And as they came closer, I saw what made me near about fall down on the ground, and I did call out, “Lord have mercy!” The palomino whinnied like she wondered why I yelled but I paid her no heed. For the little horse cantering up to me showed a purple coat, like I said, and she had her mane's forelock done up in bangs just like a young girl back home. But that alone wasn’t what startled me right out of my manners.

Because below those bangs and between two large and brilliant eyes there set a spiral horn. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, as sure as I’m telling you all this, there set a purple spiral horn maybe six-eight inches long a-rising from her forehead. I knew what that made her even though I couldn’t have said the word right then. I’d even seen the like of her before in old-timey tapestries and books from the Middle Ages called bestiaries that a scholar friend of mine showed me once. That meant she was a unicorn, something that many a person tells you never did exist outside of stories, and right there she came towards me. Call me a liar if you will, I don’t have a gun here to hark at you and make you believe.

She slowed to a walk, giving me the same wary look I’d gotten from the palomino like she didn’t know what I might could or would do. The blue Pegasus dropped down by her, a-looking right angry on me like she dared me to try something. I got my legs back together under me and rose back up. I tried to ignore the way they wanted to be shaking.

All three of them looked at me, the palomino curious, the blue Pegasus angry, and the purple unicorn wary. The breeze blew cool against me and it helped bring me back a mite. I smelled all the scents and heard the sounds you usually do in any farmyard: sweat from the horses, the ripe earthy smell of fertilizer in the fields, the clucking of chickens and the grunting of pigs as they were fed. It gave me something to think on other than what I saw right then.

The unicorn whinnied something at the palomino. She whinnied back at her, pointing her hoof at me during it. The unicorn looked from her to me and I saw fear flash in her eyes. I fancied somehow she wasn’t so much a-scared of me as of something I reminded her of. She responded the palomino, but her whinnies sounded different, clearer somehow. I wondered myself that I’d been here long enough to tell these ponies apart by their voices. The Pegasus whickered something at her and the unicorn snorted like a short laugh. Then she looked back at me and the laugh seemed to die in her throat.

I decided myself something and stepped forward. The unicorn took a short step back, but when the Pegasus tried to get in between she motioned her back. Whoair she might be, she gave the orders right there, and no mistake.

“Hidy,” I bade her, extending my hand as I did. “I’m rightly hoping that we’re all to be friends here.” She just gave my hand a look before she whinnied some more at the palomino, who responded her. The unicorn gave a snort and she fell silent.

Then a new strangeness happened.

A purple light began to build along her horn until it glowed softly all the way along it, like fireflies or the lights on Brown Mountain that I’ve seen. As it did, the flap of her saddlebag drew back like as though someone was a-moving it. Right then I recognized it, and it calmed me some to see something I at least knew of. It was a thing I’d heard of called “telekinesis” by schooled folks. Once or twice I’d known folks who swore they could do it. But maybe they’d been able to move dice across a table or turn a piece of paper. I’d nair yet seen one who could do what she did and take a thick hardback book with a fancy old wooden cover from the saddlebag. The book floated before her eyes and opened, the pages flipping, but at enough of an angle that I could see what was in it. And what I saw wasn’t what you’d call a comforting thing.

The book showed less words in any form I might could recognize and more like diagrams and hieroglyphs that I’d seen before in books I’d been right sorry to see. Books with titles like The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses and the Grand Albert. Books of black magic, grimoires some call them, all of them, and the worst kind of bad thing to see someone a-getting ready to use on you.

She whinnied and her horn glowed brighter and hard to look at without blinking. She raised her eyes to look at me and the light was a-showing in them too. The book floated off to the side and she reared up before me. Even on her hind legs she wasn’t as tall as I stand. But if she reached up she could set that bright-glowing horn of hers to my forehead.

And that was right what she was a-trying to do.

“Nothing of the sort!” I took a long step back from her. She neighed in what might could be either fright or anger. I remembered a charm against bad spells and their makers that helped me aforetimes and I began to use it, stabbing two of my fingers at her like a gun as I started to say, “I draw three drops of blood from you. One from your heart, one from your bones, one from your liver…”

And she whinnied in real fear, and the palomino and blue Pegasus who I’d forgotten about like a gone gump just dove on me and forced me to the ground where I couldn’t even move. I saw my guitar lying nearby and reached for it, but the palomino put one hoof on my arm and held me.

Then that fierce bright purple light again, close by, and I looked just in time to see the unicorn touching her glowing horn to my brow.

* * *

Twilight stared at the creature before her in disbelief and no small amount of fear. She barely heard Applejack’s description of how she’d met him, talking about him spending the night here on the farm and something about creatures from the Everfree sneaking up almost to the farmhouse before he’d warned her. She felt the air beating down on her in steady bursts as Rainbow Dash hovered overhead, watching it – him -- closely. He turned wary eyes on her and Twilight fought down a shudder. He’s so like that other one, Thorn… She glanced at her friends and saw worry in their eyes. Twilight drew herself up and forced a note of unconcern in her voice as she spoke.

“Wow, Applejack, Dash wasn’t joking,” Twilight Sparkle said as she looked closely at the being before her, the neck of a guitar showing over his shoulder. He looked much like Thorn, definitely the same species or a closely-related one, but now that she looked closer she could see some differences. He seemed less heavy in the body and face and his clothes looked simpler and handmade, more like something ponies like Applejack would wear as compared to Thorn’s more courtly attire. Unlike him, this one showed a short brown mane on his head, streaked with grey at the sides and just back of the eyes. And she saw something about his face that inspired, if not trust, a sense that he wouldn’t trick or deceive her. She said, “You really did find one of these whatever-they-ares like Thorn?”

“More like he found us,” Applejack said. “Say, Twi, you don’t think he’s whut we called for, do yah?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said, wondering herself. “I don’t even know what he is.”

“He’s another human, right?” Dash suggested.

Two weeks ago, Twilight would have snorted, rolled her eyes, and lectured Dash on how “Humans are creatures from legends and campfire scare stories. Go ask Lyra for more, she doubtlessly has a hundred ‘first pony accounts’ to tell you…”

But now, after Thorn…

“Applejack, where did you find him again?”

“Better to ask Apple Bloom ‘bout that, Twi,” AJ responded. “She met him out in the Everfree last night, said he saved her from some sort o’ monster that tried grabbin’ her. Like a shadow with bones in it, she said.” Applejack scrunched her face up and shook herself. “She brought him back here and he spent the night. Seemed polite enough, nothin’ like that Thorn polecat. And then this mornin’ he showed me something by the edge o’ the property where it runs up against the Everfree…”

“Okay, that’ll do for now,” Twilight said. Her horn glowed as she opened one of her saddlebags and levitated a spellbook out. As she looked at it she faintly noticed what seemed to be a sudden unease on the being’s part.

“Twi,” Applejack muttered at her, “he’s gettin’ kinda antsy…”

Twilight ignored her as she paged through the book. “Let’s see, where is that translation spell? I can’t believe that Star Swirl’s Spells for Successful Speech has gone through thirty editions and still doesn’t have an index…” She whooped for joy. “That’s it! Universal Translation spell! Now let’s see if it’ll work on whatever you are!” She worked through the spell pattern in her mind, feeling the power concentrate in her horn. It began glowing with a bright purple light as she reared up on her hind legs. “I don’t suppose he can kneel or bend down, can he? I have to touch my horn to his brow to work the spell, and – what are you doing? Stop that!”

He’d thrust two of his fingers out at Twilight, like he was trying to duplicate her horn with his hand, and she heard him making noises alien to every language Twilight knew of among ponies, dragons, griffons, and Diamond Dogs. But for all of that she knew it to be speech. More, she knew it to be the casting of a spell. Because she’d heard something like it before, when Thorn… That book, and what it very nearly did to her when she started reading it…

“NO!”

Twilight dropped back, panting in sudden fear as the memories surged up in her mind. “He’s casting a spell! Like Thorn! AJ, Dash, stop him, please!”

The next second the being, human, whatever he was, went down with Applejack and Rainbow Dash piling onto him. Applejack pinned his shoulders, pointing his hand away from Twilight. “Woah there, take it easy, pardner! This ain’t nothing to hurt ya, we just’ wanna be able to talk to ya! Watch it there, Rainbow, don’t hurt him ‘less you gotta!”

“Tell him that!” Dash yelled back as she barely dodged a kick before she gripped his legs and held them down. She yelled at him, “Knock it off, you big galoot! I’m not letting you cast any spells on my friends! Come on, Twilight, cast the spell already!”

Twilight drew a deep breath, one more, and then forced herself to step forward and touch her horn to his forehead as she released the spell.

* * *

They held me down, or tried their level best anyway. I fought as hard as I could ever remember but those ponies were right strong for their size. I’ve known bigger men than me who’d have lost that fight. The palomino and the Pegasus neighed at me and each other, sounding frantic. Then the unicorn set her horn to my head. It glowed like iron taken straight from the forge.

I’ve been in my share of fights and I flatter myself to think that I’ve held up my end of them and maybe more, but I hope to nothing I nair feel a punch to the forehead like I did then ever again. My head swam like after a few shots of the best blockade, or if I’d just fought a good hard punch right atween my eyes. That lasted a second and then I found the whinnies and neighs and snorts all around me were a-forming into words. Words in a voice I'd heard afore, singing five notes over and over, a-coming from the purple unicorn.

“Did it work? Can you understand me?” She looked at me wary, and said in a voice that minded me some ways of a teacher lady’s, what you’d call an educated one anyhow, “If you promise no spellcasting or trickery, I’ll tell my friends to let you up.”

I suppose I goggled at her, but I was still able to say, “Wait. How do you all suddenly come on to speaking English?”

“Hey, Twi, it worked! He’s talkin’ Equestrian!” I turned my head at that voice and saw it to be the palomino speaking. For some reason her sounding like folks from where I lived back home didn’t surprise me air bit. She said, “He talks it near as good as I do.”

The unicorn gave her a sidelong look. “Umm, yes, but thankfully we can understand him anyway.” The Pegasus laughed at that, but not mean, more like the way old friends will when they josh each other. Her rough-sounding voice minded me of one I’d heard before, bold and brash, singing those same five notes. The palomino just snorted and turned back to me.

“Oh, and howdy, whoever y’ are. Ah’m Applejack, and this here’s my family farm where you stayed last night.”

“I’m kindly obliged,” I said to her. “Maybe you could be neighborly enough to let me up? I promise no trickery or such a thing.” She and the Pegasus looked at the unicorn. She nodded and they stepped back from me. I checked my guitar first. When I saw it to be alright, I stood up careful-like. I said to them all, “I’m right sorry I scared you all with what I was doing. I thought maybe you were a-trying to spell me for something bad and that was a good charm against witch magic. If I’d known you just wanted to talk, I’d have done nair such a thing.”

“Heh,” the Pegasus rose off the ground, her wings flapping. She looked from me to the palomino. I reckon I should say, to Applejack. “Say, Jacky, maybe you got cousins we never heard of before. He sure sounds like a relative of yours.” Then she turned and flew over to hover in front of me. “I’m Rainbow Dash myself. Now where do you come from, and how’d you get to Equestria?”

“Equestria?” I responded her. “Is that what this place is? I half thought that maybe I’d ended up in a children’s book or been taken under the hills by the little people.” I looked her over. “By the little ponies, I reckon I ought to say. And I have to say, the name fits this place right well.”

“What do you mean?” The purple unicorn that time, walking around in front of me. I noticed now just how bright her eyes shined, as well as the mark she bore on her flanks. It showed a pink-purple six-pointed star surrounded by five smaller white stars. Like the three apples on Applejack’s sides, and the rainbow-colored lightning bolt striking downwards from a cloud that Rainbow Dash bore. When I looked at Miss Unicorn, she blushed and looked right cute a-doing it. “My apologies for the unintentional scare. Oh, and my name is Twilight Sparkle. But what was that about our country’s name?”

“It means anything having to do with horses, where I come from,” I answered her. “It came from an old language nair soul speaks any more. When they called someone an Equestrian, it used to mean you were a gentleman.”

“Really?” She said, and got an interested look in her eyes. “They use more than one language where you come from? How many of them are still being used, and…”

“Uh, Twi,” Rainbow Dash flew between me and her, “Maybe you’re forgetting something. He knows our names, but we don’t know his.” She turned and looked right at me with those big rose-red eyes of hers, and it wasn’t a friendly look. “Now, who are you, and where do you come from?”

“I’m from the mountains somewhere between North Carolina and Tennessee, and my name’s John,” I looked from her to the others. They looked eager to hear more, and maybe just the littlest bit cautious.

“North Carolina? Tennessee?” Dash shook her head at those names. “And you say your name is John. John what?” She flew around me and I heard the beat of her wings and could feel the puffs of air as they washed against me. “You got that guitar, you’re some kind of a bard?”

“I reckon I’m something like that,” I answered her. “I’m a wanderer, a balladeer. Some folks call me John the Balladeer or John the Wanderer. Mostly I answer to just John.” She looked ready to ask more, but stopped when I held up my hand. “Maybe I’d better ask this. Is there air other pony around here who might need to be a-hearing this? It’d be better to be saying it just the once. And maybe then you can explain to me how I came to be here, and if you know how I can be sent back.”

At those words they all of a sudden looked like they’d been caught at something. I wondered myself what they knew and weren’t saying.

“He’s right,” Twilight said. “Let’s get everyone together for this. Spike!” She turned and called the last out. Then she stomped one forehoof against the ground. “Ah! I forgot!” Her horn began to glow again. I watched while she formed a little purple butterfly out of light and sent it a flying off, back the way she’d come. After a few moments I saw someone else a-coming down the road. I figure it was a good thing I’d seen so much, else I might have fallen right down from the surprise.

He, for some reason I reckoned the one I saw for a he, stood about as tall as a young child. First I saw that he looked purple. I wondered myself if maybe he was kin to Twilight. As he came closer I saw that he didn’t have a horse’s coat. Scales covered him, like on a snake or a lizard. His eyes owned a snake’s slit pupils, and he showed a lizard’s tail and green crest or plates like a dinosaur’s starting on his head and running down his back to his tail. He held a piece of paper in one clawed hand and its edges showed a roughness to them that made it plain it wasn’t factory-made. In the other claw he held a quill for writing, like how you’ve seen in old pictures. As he came closer he stared at me and I reckon I stared at him.

“So, he’s okay?” He said, and it sounded like any little boy you’d hear air place on Earth. He went up next to Twilight and stood close by her like a child by either his mother or big sister. “He’s not gonna put any spells on us?”

“He’s okay, Spike, and oh,” Twilight said to me, “Mister John, this is Spike, my assistant.”

“Hidy,” I said to him, and then, “I crave pardon for asking, but you’re a lizard, then?” I heard a pair of muffled laughs from behind me. Twilight looked dismayed, but Spike took it the worst.

“Lizard?” He huffed and stamped up to me as best someone that small could stomp. If he could have, I think he might have a-marched right up my legs and chest to look me in the eyes. “Listen here, pal, I’ll have you know that I’m a dragon! And I am the personal assistant to Twilight Sparkle, and she is the personal apprentice of Princess Celestia, ruler of all Equestria. And she and her friends,” and he waved one claw at Applejack and Rainbow Dash, “Have defeated rampaging dragons, attacking monsters, and saved all Equestria from destruction. Twice! And they’re the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. So you’d better respect them, whatever you are!”

“Spike!” Twilight said. She walked up to him, and of a sudden he looked as shamefaced as any little boy who’s getting scolded by a big sister. “This is a guest. And he didn’t know what you are, did he?” They both looked at me.

“I surely didn’t,” I responded her. “And I apologize to you all if I showed bad manners just now. Where I come from, the only dragons are in storybooks. And I didn’t know I was a-speaking to the local heroes.”

Twilight blushed at that. I thought that maybe I’d said something I shouldn’t have. Applejack looked embarrassed her own self, but Rainbow Dash looked pleased as anything at what I’d said.

“I’m sorry,” Spike said, and he held out his hand. He looked it too, so much so I took his hand in mine and shook it.

“It’s kindly all right,” I answered him. “You were just a-looking out for the lady who has you for a familiar.” They all looked odd at me.

“Familiar?” Twilight said. “Familiar what?”

“Him, Spike,” I said to her. “He said he helps you with what you do. Doesn’t that mean he helps you in a-casting spells? That’s what a familiar does, more or less.” I didn’t add what else familiars did, like help set curses on animals or people or sometimes even kill somebody or other and even suck blood from the witch they served and watched over. I’d only just met them, but I couldn’t believe any of those things about either Twilight or Spike.

Twilight and Spike looked somewhere between amused and confused at what I’d said.

“No, no,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “Spike just helps me around the library and sometimes with some of the problems we have here in Ponyville. Speaking of which,” she turned to Dash where she hovered, “Rainbow, go and get Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Tell them to head for the library. We’ll be meeting there to listen to Mister John,” she nodded at me, “and see to whatever needs to be done.”

“What? Huh? Why me?” Dash gave me a look that said clearer than air word she didn’t trust me a bit. “Can’t you send Spike? I wanna be here if he tries anything.”

“I don’t think there’ll be any need,” Twilight knelt and let Spike get on her back like the world’s littlest and scaliest jockey. She said, “Applejack trusts him, and,” she gave me a sidelong look, “So do I. I’m sure we’ll be safe with him. So if you could just get everypony together and tell them to meet us at the library, that’ll be a big help.”

“Okay, then,” Dash grumbled back at her. Then Spike spoke up.

“It’s Spa Day, so Fluttershy should be with Rarity.” His voice got all dreamy on that last word.

Dash made to leave but of a sudden she turned and shot up right into my face. She stuck her hoof under my nose and said, “But just in case I’m wrong, listen up. Twi and AJ and Spike are my friends, and no one hurts my friends and gets away with it. Understood? I’ll be watching you like a griffin.”

“That makes us about right equal,” I answered, feeling the least bit nettled by her, “Because I’m not so sure I trust you a right much, either.” She snorted at that, but before she could say air other thing, I added, “I’ll do none of them air harm.” She nodded like to say, you better mean that, and glared to do it. She didn’t like me much and no mistake. Then she shot up in the air and off towards the town in a blue blur. I looked at Applejack and Twilight. I could see how they blushed.

“Umm, John, ‘bout Dash…” Applejack began to say.

“It’s all right,” I told them. “I don’t pay it any heed. I do wish I knew what made her so angry with me, though.” They looked at me a moment longer before they relaxed.

“I wish I did too,” Twilight said, sounding unhappy. “Now then, Mister John…”

“Just plain John will do fine, and I thank you.”

“John, then,” she said, “if there’s nothing else, let’s get going.”

“There might could be the one thing,” I pointed back off towards the edge of the farm, towards the woods. “I don’t know if it’s air important thing, but maybe you ought to see what Applejack and I found this morning.” Twilight looked curious at me, and then at Applejack. She just nodded at her.

“It’s something you oughta see, Twi,” she said with a shudder. “It’s nothing good. I think it’s,” she swallowed, “I think it’s them things Apple Bloom said she saw that one time, when she went to Zecora’s with you.”

“I thought we hadda get to the library,” Spike grumbled. Twilight looked ready to say something herself, but she looked closer at Applejack.

“You’re not kidding.” She nodded. “Okay, we’re here, so we might as well go and check it out. Applejack, John, let’s see your zombponies.” Applejack nodded and turned to head off down the way we’d gone earlier. Twilight followed her, with Spike on her back. He looked frightened some. I didn’t feel air bit frightened my own self, and a part of me wondered if I felt so sure just because I didn’t know how right bad this whole thing would be for us all.

I followed the unicorn and the palomino and the little dragon, and that thought didn’t sit the least bit easy in my mind.

Chapter 9

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 9

Ponyville seemed quieter than normal for an early spring night as Twilight Sparkle returned to the library. She saw a few huddled groups of ponies here and there as she cantered down the dirt street. They huddled together and talked in shaken voices about what they’d seen. She overheard some of it as she went by.

“Made the Elements of Harmony look like foals, right in front of everypony…”

“Did you hear what he said Applejack did? She asked the Nightmare for help, and, and her grandfather did die right after that, didn’t he?”

“Then doesn’t that mean that the Nightmare can grant wishes when you ask her for them? I don’t want anypony dead, but I can think of a few who could stand being taken down a few notches.”

“That Thorn creature turned into a Nightmare and challenged the Princesses, right in front of everypony! Mind, I don’t like that sort of thing, but if he’s that strong, wouldn’t it be better to have him on our side?”

“Said he could give magic to anypony, even us earth ponies! Would we even need the featherdusters or narwhals after that?”

“Who are you calling a featherduster, dirt pony?”

Twilight felt a shiver that had little to do with the chill of the night air. She hurried, her hooves clicking as they struck a stone here and there. If Thorn intended to arouse strife and disharmony among ponies, he’d done a fine job of it tonight. She looked around at the buildings she passed. The windows of Sugarcube Corner were dark, save for one upstairs where the Cakes lived. She thought she saw Mrs. Cake’s silhouette against it and dimly heard a conversation from within. Twilight hoped for her and Mister Cake’s sakes that they’d paid no heed to Thorn’s mockery.

Lights also showed upstairs in Filthy Rich’s mansion. Twilight didn’t find herself able to sympathize with him as much as he deserved, but she still hoped for his sake that he didn’t go galloping to Thorn, either to try something drastic or to beg for his help.

“He did a lot of damage in just a few hours,” she said as she saw the branches of the library rising and spreading out before her, “and right now I’m going to find out how he did it.” She opened the door and shut it behind her. Upstairs, she heard a soft hoot of greeting.

“Hi, Owlowiscious,” Twilight said absently. She turned the lights on and the lamp shed its soft glow over the interior, the cheap glowgem within it giving everything that pale white light. Twilight went to her reading desk and began carefully setting books aside. “Now, where did I put that book? Ah!”

The book she’d held dropped to the floor as the crimson symbol set in that hairy cover seemed to jump out at her like a spider lying in wait for flies. It’d been in that box of Rarity’s romance novels. Twilight fought down a shudder. She was getting entirely too imaginative. A flapping of wings announced Owlowiscious’ entry. He took up position on the nearest shelf of books and watched with his usual wise interest.

“Okay, here we go.” She took a deep breath and cracked it open. She prepared to recite the translation spell she’d memorized earlier when she realized that the words on the page weren’t Thorn’s alien language. They were perfectly normal Equestrian.

“What the hay?!” Twilight flipped through the pages. It wasn’t just the first pages she’d seen. Every page now showed perfectly legible albeit mouth-written Equestrian writing. Twilight remembered seeing some fine horn and mouth-done calligraphy in Celestia’s school, and this equaled it. “How did that happen? Did someone change the book?” She remembered how ponies said that when you talked to yourself, you were going crazy. Desperate, she looked at Owlowiscious. “Did anypony come in while I was gone?”

“Who?”

“Nopony?” She looked down at the book again. “But then how… wait.” A sudden suspicion bit. Twilight brought one of Rarity’s novels over to her and opened it.

Rarity would have been dismayed at what Twilight saw. The Equestrian script and words within were gone, replaced by words she remembered seeing within Thorn’s book earlier. Twilight set it back down and snatched out two more. A glance within showed her they’d been similarly altered. Then an even more horrible thought struck her. She set Thorn’s book aside and looked at the massive tome that lay beneath it:

Equestrian Encyclopedia of Collected Magical Lore

Twenty-Third Edition

Edited by Bastion Yorsets

Professor Emeritus, Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns

Dreading what she expected to see, Twilight opened it.

“No, no, no!”

“Whooo?”

Twilight ignored Owlowiscious as she hurried through the pages. Nearly every word had been replaced by words from Thorn’s book. She groaned in disgust and nearly flung it aside. Then she returned to the Letters of Cold Fire.

“You’d better be worth this,” she snorted as she began reading it.

* * *

Before I could even say a thing, Twilight’s horn glowed and the books she’d been a-mentioning floated up from behind her desk and over to me. I just gave her a look, and she smiled.

“I figured you’d want to see them, you had that sort of look on your face,” she said. “Most ponies think I was exaggerating or making it up when I tell them. I wish I was, Professor Yorset’s book cost a foreleg and hindleg when I got it.” She looked at the fancy-bound book in my hands and sighed sad-like.

“I don’t reckon I blame you,” I answered her as I opened it. “I purely down hate to see a book get ruined like that.” I was about to look at it when a purple glow went around the other books. They looked like any paperback romance you’d see in a store, aside from the fancy-dressed mare and stallion on the cover.

“Pardon me, please,” Rarity said to me. “But I have to see this for myself.” She held it up before her eyes, her horn a-glowing like Twilight’s did, and opened it. I saw her face go angry as she did. “That, that wretched creature Thorne! He ruined one of my favorite books! Oh, Twilight, if this played any role in what happened to you, I am so sorry!” Real grief in her voice to say those last words, and in her eyes too as she looked at Twilight.

“It’s okay, Rarity,” Twilight said. “You didn’t do any of this, and I’m sorry you lost your books.”

“The books are replaceable, but what happened to you!” She walked around the desk, her hooves clicking lightly on the floor, and gave Twilight a nuzzle like I’ve seen horses do back home when they want to be a comfort to each other. They talked low and sorry-sounding to each other.

I looked into the book Twilight gave me and frowned as I saw what I’d near about expected to see. Hand-written words, a sort of mixtry of English and Latin and something I recognized as might could be Greek script from a book a wandering preacher showed me the one time. There were other words there too, or maybe symbols would be better to say. Some I thought I recognized, but others were strange to me.

“These here,” I said to Twilight as I held it out to her. “They’re Equestrian signs and letters, aren’t they?” Twilight and her friend looked at what I showed them. I wondered myself something and asked it out loud, “Wait. You spelled me to know your language and speak it. Then why can’t I be reading these here?”

“Because that spell only works on speech, not the written form of a language,” Twilight answered me. She looked over at one of her shelves, and I figured that to be where she kept more of her magic books. They looked thick and solid enough to make for a set of store bought encyclopedias, good ones. “There are other spells for written language. I can cast one on you if you want.”

“No, I thank you,” I said with a shudder. I remembered how that earlier spell felt when it bit. I’d not like to do that more than I could help it, maybe less than that even.

“Why are the words all jumbled?” Rarity asked that. She pointed her hoof at the book. “The Equestrian words, I mean. I don’t know about the alien ones. Or are they just set in randomly as well?” Twilight looked at me curiously then, too. I half noticed that the sunlight behind her was showing almost straight down where it came through the windows. We’d been listening to her some time now.

“They are, leastways the ones I can read,” I said to them both. “I reckon the others are too. Maybe Thorne’s book just took out whichever words it needed from the books near it, so you could be reading them? Wait, what did happen when you read it, anyway?”

Right then I felt that tenseness from before, when I described that book to Twilight. She took a deep breath, like someone who faced something hard and bad ahead. She closed her eyes and lowered her head like any tired and hurting horse. Rarity laid her neck across her back, and Pinkie and Fluttershy got up from behind me and walked around to stand by her. They sure did care about each other a right much.

“Twilight, if you don’t want to…” Rarity began, but Twilight spoke up then.

“No, I need to do this if we’re to face Thorne.” She looked at them and smiled. “Maybe you could help with some details on what was happening outside, though.” They nodded at her. She looked back at me and started back on her story again.

* * *

The first part of the book brought an eyeroll from Twilight. It was filled with the usual folk-magic ‘spells’ sold in books popular among earth ponies and rural ponies of all sorts. How to find water or cure disease or protect livestock. She did feel some unease at the wording of them, however. They seemed to suggest that you would be stealing the health or fertility from others to provide for your own animals and lands.

“Even when Thorn wants to help someone, he has to take it from someone else,” she muttered. Owlowiscious said nothing. He just watched her as she continued turning through the book. The second part held darker spells, the kind found only in protected spellbooks. Twilight remembered seeing a few before when she’d been favored with a glance inside some of the books in the sealed section of the royal library. These were spells for commanding and forcing the love and loyalty of others, for mind control. She squirmed as she remembered her own foalish acts along those lines. And there were more, and her excitement at finding new magic began to override her distaste for the way some of these spells were meant to be worked. Spells for winning when you cheated at gambling, to protect yourself from enemies by destroying the weapons they’d bear against you, for the finding of wealth and the taking of vengeance upon others, delivering plagues and blights on animals and crops and foals. The latter spells especially were both numerous and all too easily performed for her liking. She looked at Owlowiscious, rubbing her eyes.

“This thing seems to have been made to be abused,” she said. “Here’s hoping that the last section redeems it.” She flipped past to the black pages. They showed blank before her. “What the hay? Oh, remember, Twilight!” She focused her concentration and called up darkness again. It worked even faster and better now than before. The room was soon a landscape of vaguely-seen shapes. She heard the scrape of claws and ruffling of feathers as Owlowiscious shifted where he sat. He sounded uneasy to Twilight. She looked down at the page and saw the letters appear once more, only this time in Equestrian.

“Finally!” Twilight bent down to read it and winced at the first lines. She read them aloud, wondering if they’d somehow make more sense that way. “’Remember always, fear is stronger than love. Where love can but plead, fear commands. Serve Those Above in rejoicing. Serve Those Below in terror.’ Who wrote this, Nightmare Moon?” She wondered if she ought to set it aside. Then her eyes went wide at what she read next. “Prepare your mind to receive great knowledge. Empty yourself of your own thoughts, Twilight Sparkle, and proceed to invoke the names of…”

My name? This has gone from weird city to creepytown. I’m not reading any more of this! She thought the words, but she couldn’t say them, couldn’t look away from the book before her, couldn’t do anything but start reciting the names she saw there.

“Holaha, Eroyhe, strong Alector, Somiator, sleep ye not! I call to you, Mikaded, Tuma, Tumch…”

Her eyes grew wider and wider as they focused on the book, ignoring everything else. A Want It, Need It geas! It has to be! Counterspell after counterspell raced through her mind, first the specific one against Want It, Need It, then the generic Dispel Magic, then an emergency protection ward….

Owlowiscious’ frantic hooting faded away in a flapping of wings as he fled the room. As the litany went on, name after name, she felt something vast and terrible turning its attention to her. Mingled with and through her chanting came a howling like every monster in the Everfree roaring at once mingled with the maddened shrieking of ponies. Or maybe the ponies sought to sound like the monsters, and the monsters like the ponies. And it felt like something horrible was getting ready to crawl out from under the table and she cried at herself to stop saying the names!

But all she could do was scream them louder and louder.

“Hear my call, Mighty Tetragrammaton, Molech of the Flames, Ba’al-Zebul of the Flies, Bloody Asherah, Asmodeus, Athe, Stoch…”

* * *

“Anypony see anything?” Rainbow Dash called down to her friends as she watched the Town Hall from above. It lay quiet and still, with no sign of Thorn or Lyra or anypony else. Dash snorted as she circled low, dropping down by Applejack. She asked her in a quieter tone, “Jacky, you okay?”

“Fer th’ last time, Dash, Ah’m fine,” Applejack responded in a frustrated tone. “It’s Thorn we gotta watch for. You see any sign o’ him from up there?”

“Nah, nothing,” Dash said. She folded her forelegs and frowned over them. “I wish he’d come out and try something. Right now I’d really like to give him a hoof in the face, after what he did at that show of his.” The cyan Pegasus hesitated, looking around Ponyville, and then added, “It was nastier than anything Trixie did, wasn’t it?”

“It most certainly was,” Rarity spoke up as she trotted over from where she’d been watching. A quiver went along her elegant flanks as she shivered. “What a brute Thorn is! I suppose I can understand a performer quieting hecklers, but he, he savaged those poor ponies like a monster from the Everfree! And he was proud to do it!”

“At least nopony got a green mess of a mane out o’ it,” Applejack said. Dash grinned at her words. Rarity’s response drove the grin away.

“I’d rather a thousand, no, a million times over that my mane was the only thing he’d touched. I can fix my coiffure with far more ease – well, with slightly more ease – than you can repair the kind of damage he tried to inflict,” Rarity looked up as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie came up from opposite sides. Spike hurried along behind.

“Spike, dear, are you warm enough?” Rarity asked the little dragon in the sweater. He drew himself up, thrusting his chest out.

“Me? Naaah, I’m fine. I got my own heating system, remember?” He puffed out a bit of fire as he spoke. He looked off towards the library. “I sure hope Twilight is okay. I’m not sure she shoulda checked out Thorn’s spellbook after what we saw.”

“Ahh, she’ll be okay,” Rainbow Dash said, making a dismissive motion with one hoof as she did. “Remember what she said. Thorn’s spells are good, but they’re mostly just tricks. He’s just another loudmouth like Trixie. This time tomorrow he’ll be runnin’ out of town and we’ll all have a laugh over what happened.”

“I sure hope so,” Pinkie Pie said, an uncommon note of anger – well, of annoyance – in her voice. “Thorn was such a big meanie jerkface to the Cakes! Mister and Mrs. Cake would never even think of doing what he suggested they did! After all this I’ll go throw them a party and show them nopony believes what they heard. Oooh, maybe I can throw one for the whole town after we chase Thorn out or just make him realize he was being mean to us all?”

“Ah dunno, Pinkie,” Applejack answered her. She scraped at the ground with one hoof as she watched the town hall. “Somethin’ tells me Thorn knew what he was doin’ every minute, an’ that’s why he did it.” They were silent for a few moments, and then Fluttershy spoke up.

“I wonder, do you think he could do what he said?” She shied back when her friends all looked at her, but went on to say, “I mean, when he said he could give magic to earth ponies and others? I can think of some who’d do a lot of good if they could help everypony the way unicorns can.”

“Ah don’t think so.” Applejack shook her head. “Somethin’ tells me Thorn’s the kind of pony who offers ya a shiny new plow only ‘cause he wants to measure yore neck for the collar. Ah’ve done wondered now n’ then what it’d feel like to have magic like unicorns or pegasi do, but Ah’m not so sure I could handle it half as well as they do.”

“I think you’d do fine, dear. You show more maturity then some unicorns I know.”

“Huh, thanks, Rarity.” Applejack nodded at the elegant mare. “But it depends on just how easy it is ta do. If you could just cut loose with somethin’ when you got mad, just lost your head for a second…”

Wings sounded above them. The girls and Spike looked up and gasped.

“Princess Celestia!” They quickly dropped into respectful bows as the Sun Princess – Pegasus-winged, unicorn-horned, twice the size of any mortal pony – dropped to earth, shining white like it was day instead of night, triple-pointed Royal Tiara shining golden atop her head.

A moment later, a dozen golden-armored pegasi of the Royal Guard dropped down behind her, metal-shod hooves making soft thuds against the ground. Despite the long flight from Canterlot and the barding all wore, none of them looked tired or even smelled sweaty. The guardponies had their training, and Celestia, well, she was Celestia.

“Greetings, my little ponies,” The princess said to them, bowing her own head. “I came as soon as I could, and given some of what Twilight Sparkle told me about this ‘Thorn’ being, I thought it best not to come alone.” She looked at the town hall. “He is inside there?”

“Him an’ Lyra, we’re guessin’.” Applejack spoke up when she saw the curiosity on Celestia’s face. “Oh, uh, that’d be Lyra Heartstrings. She’s kinda, umm, fascinated with humans. So when Thorn showed up, she decided to help him with doing his show.”

“I remember her,” The princess said with a smile. “She wrote me once to ask if I knew anything about humans beyond legends. I told her I had nothing I could share with her, which was true.” She looked around, her horn flashing in the moonlight. “And where is Twilight Sparkle?”

“Oh, uh, she decided to take a look at that creep Thorn’s spellbook that he gave her, your majesty,” Rainbow Dash pointed towards the library. “I’m guessing she’s still there, and – WHAT THE HAY?”

The others all jerked their heads up and around. It started out in the Everfree, a wild howling and shrieking. They had heard the angry roars of dragons and the bellows of a hydra on the hunt, but this sounded worse than both. High and wild and shrill with gleeful madness, it started coming closer to Ponyville, heading towards…

“The library! Oh my gosh, Twi!” Spike raced off, his short legs working faster than any of them had ever seen before. They started after him. Wings flapped frantically, and Owlowscious flew out of the dark to hover before Celestia, hooting rapidly. The Sun Princess listened, and as she did her eyes went wide with something few ever saw there. Real and genuine fear.

“What? Twilight Sparkle? Doing what to her?” Celestia turned and shouted at her guards, “Stay and keep watch. If you see that creature Thorn, arrest him immediately! Captain Bastion, come with me!” She lowered her head and raced off, so swiftly the other ponies didn’t know if she flew or ran. Owlowiscious flew behind her, still hooting away. Applejack and the rest followed her, their hooves pounding the ground. Rainbow Dash flapped hard until she raced neck and neck with her.

“Princess! What’s goin’ on? Is Twilight okay?” Celestia said nothing. She just shot her a sidelong glance, and Dash saw so much dread and fear in it that she put on a burst of speed that sent her flying at the library door. As she approached the noises from the Everfree got louder and wilder, and to her horror Dash realized they were echoed by the sounds coming from within the library. It sounded like half the monsters in Equestria were behind that door, howling in victory. And through it all rang Twlight’s voice, sounding more frantic then they ever could remember hearing, calling names none of them recognized:

“I call to you, Melkor, Aazalek, Adramalek, Ka’ath, to open the gates we sealed and free the prisoner…”

Dash hurled herself at the door. The next thing she knew, she found herself looking up at a circle of her friends, their faces full of concern.

“Dash! Ya’ll okay?”

“What’re ya doin’ here, when you should be in the library?” Dash shook her head, wondering where her newfound migraine had come from. “I just knocked the door down!”

“No, you just bounced off the door, an’…” By now the shrieks were closer and louder than ever and Applejack was yelling to be heard. They could hear neighs of panic from within the town. Terror clawed at Applejack and Rainbow Dash and the rest, the awareness that a predator was near and ready to pounce.

Celestia cried out, and her voice was like a sudden splash of cold water that drove the fear down. “Applejack! Break that door down! NOW!”

Applejack lowered her head, scraped the ground with one hoof, snorted and charged. At the last second she wheeled and kicked out with both her hind legs, the best apple-bucking legs in Equestria. Pain shocked along her legs and back. She was flung back and down, like Rainbow Dash.

“Applejack! Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy was by her and Dash a second later. She tried to help them up, but both ponies got back up with a snort. Fluttershy stepped back at the look of newborn anger in their eyes.

“C’mon, Jacky,” Dash said as she stared at the door, head down and ears lowered. Applejack nodded her agreement. “We’re gettin’ in there!”

“Right behind ya, sugarcube. Ain’t no crazy door stoppin’ me from helping mah friends!” They prepared to charge again, shoulder to shoulder this time. At a word from Celestia they stopped.

“No – Stand clear!” she neighed as she stepped past them, looking ridiculously elegant as she did. Her eyes glowed like the furnaces of stars. Light glowed and ran along her horn as she approached the door. It gathered at the tip and flared up. And then it reached out and covered the wood and metal of the library door.

The door shuddered and held. The ponies stared in shock. Celestia herself took a step back in seeming disbelief. Something rumbled laughter within. And over it, they heard Twilight’s voice, risen to an equine scream.

“ARIOCH! GROGAR! IBLIS! LEVIATHAN! TIREK! TASH! ALL YE NAMED AND UNNAMED!”

“Twilight!” None of them knew later if one or all of them said it, but it was Celestia who stepped forward. Light played around her, bright and fierce as the summer sun, turning night into day. The ponies couldn’t see her at the door, but they heard her say something in a voice clear and strong as a golden bell. The door flew past them in pieces, the wood smoldering and the metal glowing as though fresh from the forge.

“Twi!” Before even Celestia could go in, a small purple-scaled form rushed past her into the darkened room. Applejack and the girls were hot on his heels, but they froze when they got to the door and saw Twilight.

Her mouth dripped froth as she tore through the words of the incantation in the book floating before her eyes. The maddened howling sounded like a storm now, ready to break over them and flatten them beneath it. But that terrified them less than what they saw happening to their friend.

Her coat was changing colors, a rotted gray running up her legs and along her body like gangrene, her eyes wide and filled with spiraling chaotic colors as she screamed out the last words of the spell being forced into her mind.

“I MADE MY WISH BEFORE, I MAKE MY WISH NOW! I NEVER SAW THE DAY MY WISH DID NOT COME TRUE! I, TWILIGHT SPARKLE, BEARER OF THE ELEMENT OF MAGIC, OF MY OWN FREE WILL…”

“Twilight!”

Five frantic ponies struck her, bearing Twilight away from the book. She vanished beneath them as they ponypiled her to the floor, all crying out as they did.

“Twilight! Stop, darling, can’t you see what you’re doing?”

“It’s bad magic, Twi! Ya gotta stop sayin’ it!”

“We have to hold you down, Twilight! Uh, if that’s okay with you… EEK!”

Fluttershy and the rest flew away from Twilight in a blast of purple light. Cries of pain rose all around as they smashed into the walls and shelves of the library. Spike was forced back, his claws digging furrows in the wooden floor. Owlowiscious dropped down before Twilight, hooting, only to be sent spinning into a far corner, feathers flying. The shrieking outside reached a fever pitch of madness and victory. And as it did Twilight began to call out the last words, oblivious to anything except the incantation forcing itself into her mind.

“DISCORD, AWAKE! I CALL YOU BACK TO EQUES--”

And then the noonday sun descended into the room. Ponies and dragon and owl all saw a ponylike form of white celestial fire, winged and horned, her mane streaming like the solar wind, stride up to their friend and lower a horn of pure light to her forehead. Twilight froze and shuddered, the creeping grayness stopping and reversing, as it spoke in a voice that echoed through the small library:

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE! Return to Us immediately!”

The demonic cachinnation cut out in mid-shriek, though later the girls would ask each other if they thought they heard something fleeing into the Everfree, whimpering in fear. The feeling of something crawling up out of a pit into the room vanished. The only sound to be heard was Twilight’s gasping and sobbing as Celestia held her.

* * *

Twilight broke off then, and shuddered at the memory of it. She took a deep breath, another. I wondered if she’d be able to say more and then she spoke.

“I have studied unicorn magic since I was a little filly, ever since my first Summer Sun Celebration, where I saw Princess Celestia raise the sun. My brother is in the Royal Unicorn Spellguard, a specialist in wards and protections. I was tutored in magic by the Princess herself, and she showed me magic and spells that no other pony knows. I was chosen bearer of the Element of Magic.” Her horn glowed softly and a star-topped tiara rose out of her saddlebag a little bit, surrounded by a purple light. “And I have never felt magic that vile in all my life. Except when we fought Discord.” She shuddered again to say it.

I wondered myself who this “Discord” was they all kept a-talking about. They said it like it was a name, and a right bad one by the way everyone here acted when they heard it. I half wondered if it was what these ponies called the Devil.

She drank some water down, and I waited until she finished. When she set it back down, I asked her, “What happened next?”

“First,” she said, breathing a little calmer now, “the Princess made sure I and everypony else was all right. And then she told us what she wanted us to do.”

* * *

“Twi!” Spike hurried forward to join in the embrace, rubbing his face against Twilight’s coat. She reached out with one leg and pulled him in close, holding both him and Celestia as though she feared ever letting go. Applejack and the others rose, groaning in pain. Celestia showed no signs of taking notice, but light flashed again in the room, soft and gentle this time. And when it faded, their aches and pains were gone.

“Twilight,” Celestia said, holding her close. She nuzzled Twilight like she was her own foal. “Twilight, oh, Twilight, you’re safe now. You’re free of it.”

“Darkness,” Twilight gasped and choked, “I was someplace that was all darkness, no floor or horizon or even stars. It felt like the world was crushing me, and all I heard was a voice telling me that I’d failed y-you, failed everypony, and I deserved to be there where I was and to be alone and in the dark forever and I’d killed you all…”

“Twilight!” The purple unicorn looked up at the command in Celestia’s voice, her face streaked with tears. Celestia locked eyes with her pupil and said more softly, “It was a vision forced upon you by dark magic. You were here the entire time. You’re fine, you’re still in the library in Ponyville, and your friends are all fine, see?”

Twilight looked past her to see her friends pulling themselves up from the wreckage. Applejack’s hat had somehow ended up on Pinkie Pie’s rump and her lasso was wrapped around Dash’s wings; Dash sported a sizeable knot on her head; and Fluttershy and Rarity had to untangle themselves from each other’s mane and tail before they could rise, looking rather woozy.

“See, Twi?” AJ said, sounding almost as bad as she had that long-ago day when she’d stayed awake for five days straight bucking apples and nearly poisoned half the town. She rose on legs that looked like they wanted to collapse beneath her. “We’re all just right as rain, and jest as soon we get th’ number o’ that dragon, we’ll bake him an apple pie with thorns in it.” Her eyes rolled up and she collapsed.

“Jacky!” Pinkie Pie snatched up a bucket of cold water from – somewhere – and dashed it over Applejack’s face. The earth pony shot up on her feet, eyes wide open.

“Ah’m awake! Ah’m awake!” Her eyes focused on Pinkie. She snatched her hat off Pinkie’s rump. “Darn it, Pinkie, that ain’t no way to go treatin’ my hat! Wait, how’s Twilight?”

“Still here,” Twilight said as she rose on legs made of rubber. The words of the spell seemed burned from her mind and that made her very happy indeed. “Wait! That spellbook of Thorn’s!” She looked to see it lying open on the floor before her as though it expected to be used again. Twilight shuddered and kicked it into the far corner. “Oh, Princess, everypony, I’m so sorry, that spell, it took over my mind, right through all my wards and dispels, it was calling me to free Discord, and…”

“And you didn’t,” Celestia said to her gently. “We would have felt it if he’d gotten free. He’s still bound. If Thorn intended that, he failed. And speaking of that creature…” She turned to the broken library door. A moment later two of the Royal Guards who’d accompanied her to Ponyville appeared in the doorframe. And gasped at what they saw.

“Your Highness! Are you well? Do you need any help?”

“Listen to me, all of you. You as well, Rainbow Dash.” Dash shook off her grogginess and flew, hovering at attention as the Princess spoke. “Gather the Ponyville Weather Patrol. I will be sending the Royal Guard from Canterlot. Captain Bastion!”

“Yes, Highness?” answered the Pegasus Day Guard with officer’s badges and helmet-crest.

“To the Town Hall. The Elements will accompany you. When reinforcements arrive, storm the building and arrest this ‘Thorn’ immediately – full magical precautions. And when you do, I…”

And then light flashed yet a third time inside the Ponyville public library that night. Twilight and her friends blinked and saw someone they’d seen only twice before – another alicorn, smaller than her sister but as large as Big Mac, midnight blue with stars sparkling in her mane and a crescent moon on her flanks instead of a royal sunburst, her triple-pointed crown obsidian instead of gold.

Princess Luna stood there, her eyes wide and her ears flat against her head. She opened her mouth to speak and Twilight felt herself flinching back. Hearing the Royal Canterlot Voice in close quarters right now was not something she would enjoy.

Instead when the Night Princess spoke, it was in a fearful voice. “Tia! Thou are needed in Canterlot! Now! I was just in the garden. Discord’s statue is cracking!”

Gasps went around the room. Twilight felt the floor dropping away beneath her. “No,” she said helplessly, hoofing herself in the face, “No, no, no…” Her friends gathered around her. She felt them trying to support her, but all she could think of was, I set Discord loose….

“WHAT?” Celestia’s horror looked scarce less than Twilight’s. She turned on her and said, “Twilight, hear me. None of this is your doing. If Discord is still in stone,” she glanced at Luna, who nodded frantically, “Luna and I can keep him there, but it will take all our attention and power. Captain Bastion, I appoint you liaison with Twilight Sparkle as my representative in Ponyville. Obey her as you would me. I will be sending reinforcements as soon as I return to Canterlot. But you and your friends will have to handle Thorn yourselves, Twilight. And be ready with the Elements to come immediately if I summon you. I’m sorry to drop this into your hooves. But first,” and sunlight played along her horn as Celestia levitated the Letters of Cold Fire up from where Twilight kicked it. She walked outside, the book floating along behind her. The Pegasus guards stepped aside, watching everything with wide eyes. Twilight and her friends followed her, and Luna followed them. Once there, Celestia stopped and moved the spellbook to a point on a level with her eyes and a few feet in front of her.

“As a rule,” she said in the icy voice she’d reserved for Discord, “I’m very against the burning of books. But this one time I’ll happily make an exception.” Her horn glowed and white-hot sun-fire poured down on the book. She let its remains drop to the ground. “Come on, Lulu,” she said, spreading her wings, “I want to be back in Canterlot as soon as possible. We have much to do, and the sooner we start…”

Twilight stepped forward and almost tripped. She looked down and cried out one word.

“NO!”

Everpony stopped at the cry. They all turned and stared.

The Letters of Cold Fire lay in front of Twilight on the ground at her hooves. No sign of burning showed on it beyond some minor scorching of the cover. As they watched, even that vanished, with new hairs growing in to replace the ones burned away. And then it flipped open, and Twilight felt the words start to run in her mind. Do not reject the gift you have freely chosen, Twilight Sparkle. Holaha, Eroyhe, strong Alector…

It yanked away from under her sight. Twilight staggered and gasped. She looked up to see Celestia bringing a set of her saddlebags out of the library. She pushed the book down into them and set them across her back, tying them on.

“Sister, what happened?” Luna stepped up and stared at the saddlebag.

“We’ll find out later,” Celestia told her. “We’ll return to Canterlot by the swiftest route. Twilight, Captain Bastion, all of you, I will send word as soon as I may. Until then, be well.” Light flashed as she stopped speaking, and when it cleared both Celestia and Luna were gone, teleported away.

* * *

“The very next thing we did,” Twilight said to me, “Was to go to town hall with the Royal Guards. We got there and found it empty. No Thorne, no Lyra, nopony, and no sign of where they’d gone. We asked around and heard from Derpy that while she hadn’t seen Thorne or Lyra, she’d seen Bon Bon headed off along the old road that leads to Zecora’s hut. Bon Bon told her she was going to go and bring Lyra back before she did something really stupid.”

“Stupider than she’d already done?’ Dash grumbled.

“Please, Dash,” Fluttershy said in that gentle way of hers. “Lyra was caught up in the moment. She didn’t know what she was doing.”

“Pardon my interrupting again,” I said to them all, “But did you have airy more troubles with that book?” They all stared at me again.

“Yes,” Twilight finally said, “But how would you know? Wait, never mind, I’m sure we’ll hear about it later. The next morning more Royal Guards arrived from Canterlot, a company each of Day and Night Guard pegasi plus a detachment of Spellguard unicorns. They brought along three chariots for us in case we needed to be taken to Canterlot in a hurry. And that wasn’t all that came back! That book the Princess took back to Canterlot for investigation under wards? She wanted to seal it in the Secret Archives she and Professor Yorset spoke of, with the shards of Nightmare Moon and other magics too dangerous for anypony. But it was right back here on the reading stand!” She looked at me like she expected me to be surprised, but I wasn’t. From the first she told me I thought I’d be a-hearing something like this.

“Well, wherever is it now?” I asked her.

“We did this twice. I set wards. She set wards. Still no good. Finally she brought this safe,” and she pointed off to the side with one hoof. I looked and saw the safe I’d seen when I walked in. It looked good and solid as a mountain. Twilight nodded when she saw the look on my face.

“It’s magically sealed, magically locked, warded with all the powers of an immortal alicorn plus spells from the most powerful unicorns at her school. It will take the willing and unmagically-coerced efforts of three bearers of the Elements of Harmony, a unicorn, a Pegasus, and an earth pony, to open it.” She spread her hooves out to indicate her friends. “And the next day,” she shook her head like she still couldn’t quite believe it, “The safe was back here, in the middle of the floor. At least the spellbook’s still inside, though. I can feel it.”

“What?” That was Rainbow Dash again. She certainly wasn’t shy when she wanted everyone to know something, let me tell you. She flew over to the safe and tapped it wary-like with one hoof. It made a dull sound. She turned to look at me. Glare at me might be more like it, really, and she said, “How can that happen?”

“I reckon it’s like a Grand Albert,” I told her and all of them.

“A what?”

“It’s a grimoire some folks use back home, here and there, but not near as strong as this one from what you-all told me about it.” They still looked a mite confused, so I said, “Like one of your spellbooks. You can’t buy or sell one, you have to either give one or be tricked into taking it, like you were.” I nodded at Twilight.

“Okay,” she said, sounding right wary. I couldn’t blame her for it. “And?”

“When you get one, you can’t burn it or throw it away,” I added. “You have to bury it like a person, with holy words over it, or else it’ll come back to you.” I might could have said more but Twilight broke in.

“Arrgh, that’s not how magic works! A spellbook is just, just a book! Okay, it has magical knowledge in it, and some private or classified ones have protective geases on them so ponies who weren’t given permission can’t read it, but the book itself is just wood and fabric and paper!” She lowered her head and shook it, and she looked and sounded tired when she looked back at me. “It just, magic’s not supposed to work this way!”

“Your magic right here,” I reminded her. “Where I come from, it’s all rightly different. Let me guess, magic’s a natural thing in your world, isn’t it? Something like fire or water or air, a part of the world?” She looked kindly confused, but she nodded at me. I looked around at her friends and I saw wondering looks on their faces too. “But where I come from, there’s no natural magic, or next to none. You’ve got to ask other things for it, angels or devils or spirits, and if they want to help you, or you pay them off enough to make them want to, you can do it.” Twilight and Dash both looked unhappy to hear that.

“Hold on now,” Applejack said as she walked up in front of me. “If that’s true, then how does Thorne keep on doin’ his magic? We don’t have any alicorns in Equestria ‘ceptin the Princesses, Cadence n’ Celestia n’ Luna. And only Celestia n’ Luna can do the kind o’ things we saw Thorne doin’. And you said, what, you could get power from Nightmares or windigos? But nopony can do that. Or else they’d have done it afore this, wouldn’t they?”

“I don’t know the answer to that,” I said to her. To myself I wondered that they had windigos here, in a place as peaceable as this. I hoped I wouldn’t be meeting any if they were aught like what Reuben Manco, a medicine man of the Cherokee, told me about them. I snapped my fingers to think of something. “Wait, you all said something about this Discord fellow. Might maybe he could do it?” Twilight opened her mouth to answer but Dash spoke up first.

“Yeah, if he wasn’t in stone, right where we put him,” Dash said, sounding right pleased to be saying it. I looked from her to Twilight, and she nodded to me.

“Discord’s still bound in stone in Canterlot. Both the princesses are watching him for any further sign that he’s escaping. All six of us who bear the Elements of Harmony are ready to leave for Canterlot on a moment’s notice. If it looks like he’s stirring, we’re going to hit him all at once before he can bring Chaos to the land like last time.” She sat down and sighed. She sounded and looked tired from saying it all, and I reckon she had more than the right to. By the way the sun shined through the windows, we were well along into the afternoon by now.

I wondered myself, if this Discord of theirs was the Devil or as close as made no difference, was his a-being locked in stone the reason these ponies lived in a place that looked like it ought to be right next door to Paradise?

“So there you have it,” she said. “We can’t call on the Princesses for help. We don’t know where Thorne is or what he can do, aside from the facts that he’s very dangerous and he has at least one, and maybe two, of our fellow citizens of Ponyville with him. And he has magic that’s alien to us and that we seemingly can’t defend against. From all you’ve said, John, you know more about his magic than we do. Will you please help us protect our homes and our families?”

“This is no small problem you have, and as I’m here I’ll be glad to help howair I can.” Well, I ask you all, what else could I say to that? But then I thought myself of something and stood up to look around at them all. “But what did you mean before when you said you think you’re the reason I’m here?”

Twilight looked round at all her friends. I saw she looked shamefaced, and I looked to see how the others fared. Applejack looked bothered like Twilight did. Dash looked like she didn’t quite trust me yet. Fluttershy looked on me like she wanted to say she was a-sorry for air thing that happened to me since I arrived here, and Rarity looked embarrassed like a lady who dropped a cussword before the preacher at Sunday dinner. Pinkie just smiled at me like she trusted me air way possible, and I reckon I had to smile back at her. Just a being near her made you want to laugh out loud for joy.

“John,” Twilight said to me, “It’s just that, Thorne’s magic is so different from Equestrian magic that we weren’t sure that even the Elements of Harmony could work against him. But Princess Celestia suggested something to us the last time we spoke to her. She said that, a long, long time ago, when the Elements existed in a completely different form, they brought help through from another world to the ponies who lived then. And if we asked, it might do so again.” She looked away, her cheeks flushing. “I remember, we were all gathered by the edge of the Everfree and we sang a few notes from an old song here in Equestria.”

“Let me hazard a guess,” I said to her. “It went something kindly like this?” I took my guitar and played the five notes I’d been hearing for days now, that I’d heard again in Applejack’s farmhouse from her sister. Twilight flinched a bit.

“Yes, that’s it. It’s the oldest song in Equestria, from before there was an Equestria. Older than the Princesses, and they’re as old as the world. We felt something happen when we did it, like a call or cry going out, but we didn’t know what would happen or who if anyone would come. We’re sorry to have done this to you.”

“We’re gonna be sorrier still if he’s like Thorne, or if he can’t help us,” I heard Dash grumble. Applejack shushed her with something about being polite to guests, but I reckon I just gopped at Twilight. I’ve seen spirits be summoned before, for a few good reasons and many a bad one, but I’d never been the thing someone called up before.

I reckon I stood there a bit while I thought on how to make an answer to what she’d said.

And right then there came a knock at the door. And a voice I’d never heard before asked, “I’m here from Rowley Thorne, and I’ve come to take his book back if you don’t want it, Twilight. May I come in?”

Lyra's Song

To find humans I've always vowed.
They called me crazy, they called me mad
For chasing a silly old fad.
Laughing as their words made me sad.
Well everypony who's laughing now?!

All of you take a look and see,
Then try to tell Lyra she's insane!
He wears clothes but has no mane,
So will your criticism wane?
Now do I have all eyes on me?

He has tricks that could make Twilight bow!
He's better than I could have dreamed!
It's even better than it seemed!
I'll go from outcast to esteemed!
It looks like Lyra's laughing now!

We ask you gather round the stage
Listen to what he has to say.
Want answers? You don't have to pay.
Oh, you wanted that hidden away?
Sorry! He let it out of the cage!

You've treated me like a mad cow,
Now Master Thorn will make me strong!
With his help I'll prove you all wrong!
Sorry you laughed at me for so long?
Is it because I'm laughing now?!

...No! Please! This isn't what I wanted...
I didn't want anyone to die...
This whole mess is no dream of mine...
Just a bad nightmare based on lies...
And Bon Bon's still with the haunted...

Innocents have suffered, I am how
Now a madman has become a god.
Because I fell for his facade
By not wanting to be thought odd
His laughter's all I hear now.

...Twilight and friends are coming now
To defeat him and save us all
I have to believe they won't fall.
Evil will fall, good will stand tall
I'll make things right, I don't know how.

His victory they won't allow
They are not afraid of his might
With their friend's help they end the fight
Darkness lost to music and light
It will be their turn to laugh now.

...A second chance I am endowed
Bon Bon is free Thorn is banished
But my misdeeds have not vanished.
I'll need to clean off the tarnish.
I'll laugh again someday, not now...

...And that my friends is...my new vow....

Author's Note

Done for me by Godzillawolf AKA Kendell2 on DeviantArt, here is a song about Lyra's rather unhappy experiences in the story, and what effect they have on her.