Monsters ravage Equus.

Beasts among Beasts destroy cities.

Purest of Monsters destroy, pillage, deceive, and kill by the score.

And Misunderstood flood the outer wilds, trying to survive.

A Cursebringer, marked by a pure white Skull, stands strong in the white.

Curses are brought to all.

The Pillars had managed to make it to an abandoned farmstead, finding refuge from the cold in the thankfully mostly intact barn. The other buildings were in pour repair, eaten away by time and the unrelenting cold of the Frozen North. The barn was the only building that still had sound roofing and walls, and thus they had made it their destination. Quickly scrambling inside and closing the barn doors, the ponies fanned out. They covered the entries and exits, watching for any sign of more monsters. When the coast was shown to be clear, they relaxed.

"I'll see if I can get a fire going," Meadowbrook announced, going to look for some kindling. The others nodded.

"I'll see if I can set up some left over hay for beds," Flash Magnus said, flying off and grabbing some haystacks.

"I'll help," Rockhoof offered, walking over.

"I will go keep a lookout," Somnambula stated, flying up to the hayloft.

"I'll do the same," Mistmane said, walking over to one of the barn doors and sitting by it, keeping an ear out.

This left Star Swirl to his thoughts. 'Those strange beasts... They must be the ones Skull summoned with that curse. I thought that they would be easy to dispatch, but to see them so easily overpower us...' He frowned deeply, looking down at the frozen ground in thought. 'This is not what I expected at all. That Skull creature... If the monsters it summoned are this powerful, just how powerful is Skull itself?' His frown deepened. He suddenly became aware of the crackling of fire, and looked up from the cold earth to see the others, save Somnambula and Mistmane, sitting by a makeshift flame of small logs. Haystacks were situated around it, far enough that the fire wouldn't burn them, but close enough the heat could just about reach them.

Star Swirl trotted over, sitting down on a spare haystack. They all stared at the flames, deep in thought. Finally, Flash Magnus spoke up.

"Should we tell Celestia and Luna what happened?" he asked. Their brows furrowed.

"I don't really like the idea of proving their fears right..." Meadowbrook muttered, still staring at the flames, a frown forming on her muzzle. Silence.

"..." Star Swirl sighed. "Well, if we don't tell them, they won't have any information to arm themselves with." The others looked to him a moment, before nodding their assent after a few moments more of relative quiet.

"...What we faced out there... Knowing that so many ponies are being killed by them every day... It's easy to see why now," Rockhoof said with a low grunt. Star Swirl nodded, but fire was still in his eyes.

"All the more reason to stop this at the source," he said resolutely. He pulled a scroll from his cloak, summoned an ink and quill, and began to write. He noted every detail he could and double checked it all before pulling a flask of dragon fire out and popping the cork, releasing it's contents onto the scroll. The scroll burnt up in the green and purple flames, then it's ashes floated away, outside one of the hayloft's windows. Star Swirl looked to his companions. "We'll win this, my friends, trust me." They all managed smiles.

Meanwhile, out in the storm...

An armored man with a skull for a face stood upon a hill, and watched as a swirling cloud of glittering smoke floated out of the barn below him. He tensed. He knew what that was. It was the pony's way of alerting their superiors. He had seen it many times during his days in the North. It would not end well for him if the pony's superiors decided to send an army. A patrol or scouting group he could ignore and circumvent, but he had seen the signs. The ponies were getting desperate. And desperate beings always took desperate measures.

Knowing this, he knew he'd have to take action.

"I guess I'll have to send a message..." he muttered to himself.

The Pillars were talking over their plans for tomorrow, only for a loud bang to be heard in the distance. They looked around in confusion, until the hayloft by Somnambula exploded in a shower of wood and splinters and fire. Smaller explosions rang out afterward, and as the Pillars recovered from the ringing in their ears, they finally heard the shrill screaming of Somnambula. Meadowbrook was first to take action, galloping toward where she heard the scream and almost vomiting at the sight she was witness to.

There, screaming her head off and clutching her now bleeding stump of a wing, was Somnambula, tears flowing from her eyes. Splinters had torn into her flesh, and the mangled bits of her feathers and remaining bones from her wing were scattered around the entire barn like trash in a young colt's room. The Pillars looked on in shock and fear.

Meadowbrook brought them out of their shock. "Somepony get over here and help me hold her down! I need to bandage her wing and get these splinters out!" She had her hooves on Somnambula, who only screamed louder as her friend tried to keep her still.

Mistmane was the first to gallop over and help, trying to hold back her bile at the grisly scene. The others frantically searched for the attacker. They didn't need to, however, as the attacker walked in from the door Mistmane left. Their eyes widened in shock and horror.

There, with a skull in plain sight and bearing the most wicked armor they'd seen, was none other than the fiend they were searching for.

"Skull," Star Swirl growled, horn glowing brightly. The creature looked to him, then Somnambula. It's vacant eye sockets lingered on her for a moment, before turning back to the others, who were preparing to charge.

"She brought it on herself. As have all of you," came the surprising, baritone response from Skull. They all blinked a few times, before their scowls returned.

"What the buck did we do to you?! What could we possibly have done to deserve-!" Flash Magnus began, before Skull interrupted him.

"Your kind chased me out when I had done nothing. Don't go all high-and-mighty on me and tell me your kind didn't do shit. I just reacted in self-defense," Skull replied harshly, tone cold as the grave. They all went silent, before Star Swirl's anger reached a boiling point.

"Self-defense? Self-defense?!" Star Swirl roared. "You, who brought beasts to our lands, you, who haunted our kind for years and schemed in the name of your master, have the gall to call this atrocity self-defense?!?" Star Swirl charged up his magic, and launched the spell towards the creature. To his and the other's horror, it didn't even scratch Skull's pulsing, purple veined chestplate. Skull let out a sigh and shook his head.

"Ponies," he said with utter disdain. Rockhoof was done, and charged Skull, swinging his shovel straight into his gut, aiming to knock the wind out of him. The sound of metal shattering and seeing his prized shovel break before his very eyes made his eyes bulge out in shock.

"Wha-?!" he tried to say, only for Skull to slam both fists onto his cranium sledgehammer style, knocking the once mighty stallion out cold and leaving a sizable gash on his head.

Flash, enraged, charged full tilt towards Skull, shield raised in front of him as he sped forward at his top speed. He suddenly found his windpipe being constricted roughly. He choked for air and struggled to free himself from the iron hold, but what he heard and saw next broke him. Skull grabbed his shield, Netitus, gifted to him by his old officer, and crushed it against his own skull like it was a simple tin can. Flash's eyes were open wide, vacant now as he stared at his crumpled shield. Skull tossed the pegasus like a rag doll into Rockhoof. He turned to face Starswirl and the others.

"This is my warning to you ponies. Leave. Me. Alone," Skull said, tone promising pain if his demand was not met. Skull kicked the two ponies to them. "Go. Get out of here, and don't let me see your sorry faces again."

Star Swirl was beyond shocked. Beyond angry. He made to shoot another bolt of magic, but Meadowbrook stopped him.

"Star Swirl! We need to get out here! If we stay here then Somnambula will die of blood loss or shock!" she cried.

Star Swirl growled, looking to Skull, who had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot, then looked to his companions. Broken, battered... He ground his teeth together.

"Fine! Gather around me!" he ordered. Mistmane grabbed the other two, whilst Meadowbrook carried Somnambula on her back, and they all huddled close to Star Swirl. Star Swirl shot a final look to Skull, glaring with hatred into the eye sockets. "We will destroy you one day, fiend." He promised, before they disappeared in a flash of white light.

Author's Note

EDIT: Opening theme is here!