The Elements of Entropy

As the sun rose, a nondescript unicorn walked into the House of Enchanted Comics. Humming to herself, the shopkeeper started organizing the boxes. It was far too early for most residents of Canterlot, but she always believed in getting work done as quickly as possible. Besides which, today was shipment day, and she had almost a literal ton of customers to get ready for. After all, she mused, it's not every day that the Power Ponies franchise releases a new story arc. The rumor mill was running nonstop about the new villain it was going to have. So far, the only thing that had been verified was that the villain was dressed in a cloak made of shadows. Still, that was enough to get the fandom going crazy over what the name and powers of the character would be. Not that she was complaining. The more the comics were talked about, the more ponies came to her store, and the more books she sold. The nice part about catering to a fandom was that they kept up with literally every single release, meaning that she could count on them to buy anything and everything with the Power Ponies logo on it. Sure, there had been some complaints about magic in the comics, but those were ridiculous. It's not as if the Power Ponies are real. Suddenly, there was a flash of light from behind her. As she turned to see what it was, something blurred out of the crate and into her horn. The last thing she saw before she fell unconscious was a green aura traveling over her field of vision. Then everything went black.