Equestria; Canterlot, Canterlot Castle, Celestia’s Tower

After Twilight had become a princess and the whole Plunderseed issue was dealt with, Celestia was back at her tower looking through a few things about reassuring her ponies that an incident like the Plunderseed one wouldn’t happen, and that repairs at Ponyville for destroyed property was fix. It was at this very moment when she was overlooking some papers… did she felt an immense wave of energy coming far south… very… malefic energies.

By Faust, what is this power?!

At that very same moment, a pop noise was heard and behind her was Luna who teleported and too felt the immense power as well. “Sister! Did you sense that wave of magical power!?”

“Indeed, whatever it was seemed to come further south, possibly near the Badlands; I’ll have some of the Royal Guard to see what it was, but just in case… we should also see for ourselves to make certain it isn’t some that can be a threat to our ponies.”

Luna nodded in agreement but before she left, she turned to face her sister one more time. “Tia… this power… it is similar to the energies felt from Tartarus… you don’t think an entity from there escaped… could they?”

“No… and if they did, we would of noticed… no, this is something else… and I feel that whatever it is, may be greater than anything we’ve faced before.”

Elsewhere…

“FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK-FUCK OF ALL THE FUCKS! LILIAH IS MISSING, MY HORSE IS GONE; AGAIN, AND WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF WHO KNOWS WHERE! JUST BLOODY FAAAAAAHHHHHK!”

Xarcain was busy in ones of his tantrums as he smashed furniture and whatever he could get his hands on – right now he was throwing a vase filled with oil which sprayed its contents into a wall before proceeding to unleash a blast of flame to light the oil on fire. The smell of burnt dust and stone lingered as he stood before the destruction; many of the castle staff stayed out of their king’s angry rants while the remaining members of the Circle and other authoritative figures took a meeting to see what must be done, what resources they had and what they didn’t have, and the geographical location they were at and what was beyond from the scouts reports.

Those at the meeting – which took place at the Overseer Room, which was where most meetings took place – were the current members of the Circle; Oarleo The Fanged, Spirit Priestess Veano, Dread Lord Scres, and Dark Mage Kaalgao. Others who were also present, being part of the castle’s staff, those stationed within the mountain or were within half-kilometer diameter of the mountain when it was transported to this world were various generals, captains of the different guards at each stationed level within the mountain, high-ranked officers, researchers, and the heads of the castle staff.

While those listed for this meeting were numerous to name off, some important entities to name that would play important rules for the survival within this strange world – Head Alchemist, Doctor Yadve, was… eccentric to say the least as her taste in things was… exotic to put it at the least; Head Butler & Maid, Singulora and Finalis were responsible with organizing all castle staff, loyally for the centuries to come and were somewhat the ones responsible to make sure the king didn’t… end up blowing up the castle; General of all forces within Mt. Scyeal, General Loae Bokle, was in command of every military force within the mountain, and governed the several captains that each command at least over twenty-thousand troops within each of the mountain’s various levels; Beastmaster, Kronvi Blood-drinker cared and trained all the beasts that were inside the Lair Dens that were within the foot of the mountain; and finally, the last important figure present was Head of Research, Professor Obaion Utarala Esquire Comasnados the Third… or Prof. Obai for short.

As Kaalgao observed each of these important figureheads and their second-in-commands with them – except for Beastmaster Kronvi as he and his fellow tamers were the only ones to check on the creatures and all of them were his second-in-command… that and someone had to make sure the creatures stayed calmed and didn’t rampage with him absent. With a quick cough to get everyone’s attention, he pulled out some scrolls and began to read them out.

“We’re here to discuss the current problem we now face – due to us being separated from ninety percent of our forces back at Vestai, we can only depend on those in the mountain, but luckily some forces and structures that were half a kilometer in diameter around the mountain had also came with us to this… strange world. I managed to do a count and we haven’t lost or had any of our forces killed during the mass-teleportation… sadly some however did not teleport with us to this… wasteland. I am just getting telepath messages from small companies in different areas around this world – some are in a jungle, others up in some sort of frozen wasteland, while others are in some kind of forest… for now I told them all to regroup together and make temporary fortifications until we can reclaim in the future.”

To continue with the rest of the report, after the scouts have gathered from checking the perimeter, we know we are in a large wasteland expanse, and are surrounded by tall empty mountains; not as tall as Mt. Scyeal, but tall enough to make any force to at least take a day or two of climbing constantly without breaks. The scouts have also found that beyond those mountains – especially south – are jungles, to the east are swamps, and to the north are forest… but to the north-west there appears to be some sort of… settlement, the scouts couldn’t properly see due to the distance, but we can confirm there is a form of sentient life on this world so we may encounter this world’s equivalent of other kingdoms and the like… as to what kind… is what we will find out later.

Some other reports to make are our troop count; not counting the lost companies that are somewhere else in this world, those we have in total in the castle, Mt. Scyeal and the surrounding area that was teleported with us are categorized to this. We have two-hundred thousand ghouls both for construction and assault purposes, willing and ready, as well as five thousand minion imps; out of the ten thousand skeleton foot-soldiers, the five thousand skeleton knights, five hundred phantom armors for each of the twelve captains under General Loae making a total of one-hundred-eighty-one thousand, and two hundred worth of three to four or more field armies.

Including the bonus heavy forces and ranged forces that accompany all twelve commanding officers; of five hundred phantom armors, two hundred abominations, two hundred ghoul ogres, two hundred warrior imps, seven thousand skeleton archers, and three thousand imps. There is also the special forces of the stealth troops, magical troops – magic, elemental, or otherwise – support troops, and siege troops, consist of; five hundred decay ghouls, twenty-five shades, two-thousand skeleton rogues, fifty-thousand necromancers, five-hundred and fifty death giants, seven hundred plague doctors, another fifty death giants equipped with siege equipment, and an estimation at least… twelve thousand disease bombers or more… and this is our basic infantry nevertheless.

So if we add up all twelve forces combining their melee infantry and the ranged infantry, combined with our builders and special forces…

“We have at least estimating around five-hundred-eighty-five-hundred thousand and three hundred basic troops,” said Kaalgao. “As for our advanced infantry and King Xarcain’s personal army have either been teleported from us or were elsewhere from Mt. Scyeal.”

At least a quarter-half of the advanced troops have been teleported elsewhere while only half of the king’s personal army is present, one quarter is missing – possibly teleported off – while the other quarter was not present at the mountain as they were elsewhere in the kingdom.

Those we have present – and accounted – are; five thousand ghoul berserkers, five hundred death knights, two hundred plague abominations, four hundred imp lords, five death golems, three hundred death hunters, seven hundred armored shades, twenty-five giant skeleton archers, two hundred and fifty possession spirits, one thousand and five hundred hell hounds, twenty-five thousand imp casters, ten thousand earth warders, twenty thousand demon sorceresses, one thousand death mages, five thousand cursed skulls, two hundred decay death giants, fifty alchemy makers, fifteen decay dragons, and five giant spiders from the remaining advanced troops, which makes a total of one-hundred-forty-five thousand, seven hundred and forty troops from the advanced forces.

Those part of King Xarcain elite forces consist of the ones that both weren’t teleported and aren’t at the kingdom still; those numbers are, seven hundred and fifty summoners, six hundred corpse wagons, five thousand death lords, two-hundred and fifty thousand chaos warriors, fifty banes of sin, five tormentors, twenty-five thousand monstrosities, one-hundred and twenty-five thousand undead canonneers, two thousand and five hundred shade beasts, one thousand and five hundred death assassins, four thousand and five hundred old ones, five thousand spirit priestesses, five hundred chaos casters, one thousand and five hundred hell casters, twenty-five thousand death mages, two million and five-hundred thousand fog fiends, three thousand and five hundred corpse carriers, two thousand and five hundred nightmares, three-hundred and seventy-five thousand corpse riders, two thousand and five hundred corpse giants, two den spiders, and three death diggers are still within the king’s elite forces, which make a total of three million, three-hundred and thirty thousand, and four hundred and nine troops.

All in all, all our troops combined together make a total of over four million… the problem is that this wouldn’t been much an issue back in the kingdom, sadly we are in unknown territory and the only amount of territory we have is Mt. Scyeal and half kilometer diameter’s worth of land.

“Which is why… this in mind, I’d like to hear each of your opinions and ideas of what should we do best?” asked Kaalgao facing all those present.

The first to give their opinion was General Loae; he was demon with two hooven legs, four appendages that were all three-fingered, and had several horns, a few of them broken from previous battles. His eyes were a fiery red and was muscular averagely for a demon of his kind, and wore his usual Hell armor on, without his helmet, while having his cape clipped on the back of his chest-piece.

“I suggest we focus on making fortifications by creating three sectioned walled areas around the mountain; one around the farthest perimeter, one that is between this world’s land and ours, and the final in between Mt. Scyeal and beyond. Due to the abundance of rock formations in the vicinity, we may gather materials from the area than having to search somewhere else. I proclaim we have at least three groups for three separate jobs – first group will mine for materials; rock and whatever ore and gems this land may give, the second group will transport said materials back to Mt. Scyeal, while the third group will use materials to construct these defensive walls,” said Loae, his arms crossed.

Everyone agreed on this, and soon the next to speak were Head Butler Singulora, the undead man had thin white hair and a white bushy mustache while one of his eyes had an eye-patch on while the other had a monocle on it. He wore a fine suit that while looking extremely ancient was still in pristine condition, after all these years. “I’d like to suggest we do a check of our current resources, as if we are indeed to be here for a while, we need to see what is our current resources and how long we can manage them until we can find a more permanent solution,” said Singulora.

Kaalgao agreed and would put this in secondary priority until the king has calmed down to hear the suggestion. The next up was Doctor Yadve, she looked like what the Alchemy Makers would normally look other than her outfit was… unique to put it simply and that she had several potions strapped around her waist, torso, and had a large canister full of a green viscous liquid inside. “Now this is an important request but if possible, once reconnaissance operations begin, I’d like for them to gather as many of the local fauna and anything of interest… it is important we see what we’re dealing with and avoid any problems to come. Don’t you agree with me, Prof. Obai?” asked Yadve, glancing at Obai.

The professor wasn’t looking back but had his hands clasped together and eyes closed as he was in deep thought. For awhile he stayed like this until he opened his eyes; Obai has hetero-chromatic eyes with one being a pleasant light green and the other being a very dark red. Obai wore a clean white scientist outfit while underneath it he wore chain-mail, and had one hand covered by a customized gauntlet that had tubes and several bolts integrated into it, with the other hand was severely changed and had tentacles and spikes coming out of it. His face while one half had a mask on, the other had mechanical pieces and cogs integrated in his skull, the final detail was that his legs were completely and utterly mechanical which left only his chest remaining its original form.

“I… will have to agree with Doctor Yadve; it is important we understand this world – both its physical properties and magical ones – before we make any rash decisions. I would also suggest we create a system that would easily allow us to transport our troops, resources, and ourselves while also hiding ourselves from prying eyes. It is already confirmed that some of our advanced troops and the king’s personal army have been split from us somewhere in this world… would it be a grand chance for them to make gateways from their position to the Soul Cavern, perhaps?”

Many muttering went around as everyone thought about the idea, with Kaalgao to silence them, and answer. “That idea was actually something I wanted to bring up; since we have no connection back to the kingdom, a permanent form of transportation would be needed. I told the separated groups that had summoners with them to create gateways and small encampments at their current location, and so far only three groups had mentioned having summoners with them.”

Obai nodded at that his suggestion was already planned ahead; the next and final person who hasn’t spoke was Beastmaster Kronvi. Kronvi a demon like Loae, but had only two short horns and two limbs; the only notable detail about him was he had a draconic tail and his legs while ended with two feet had sharpened points like a lizardman’s.

Kronvi eyed everyone and sighed, sitting down but gazing back at everyone. “I have no suggestions to give, but if you gotta chance… capture some of the wild-life… I wanna see what kinda beasties they got in this realm,” said Kronvi.

With that done, Kaalgao said some final things and ended the meeting; as everyone began to leave, Xarcain came inside just as everyone except for Kaalgao, Veano, Oarleo, and Scres were still in the room. “Well… what do you got that we can do?” asked Xarcain, begrudgingly.

“My king; General Loae has suggested we fortify our positions around Mt. Scyeal by making a three-tiered circular walls. I’ve been also told by Head Butler Singulora, that we should check our current resources in case we’d run out in the future; and also that Doctor Yadve and Prof Obai both agreed upon the needed to gather anything of interest in this world and that we should make gateways back in the kingdom that would connect to the Soul Cavern and making traveling around the world easier… Oh and that Kronvi asked that we capture any beasts we encounter of worth for him or Yadve.”

Xarcain nodded, as he thought through this information in better detail. I’ll have a twentieth of the ghouls, with two of the captains leading ten thousand skeleton knights, twenty thousand skeleton foot-soldiers, and three thousand imps mine for stone to build these walls. I’ll also have another captain lead fifty of my corpse wagons, one thousand minion imps, and one thousand skeleton foot-soldiers to transport said materials; and three twentieths of the ghouls and one hundred and fifty of my summoners will work on the walls in three teams by three of the captains.

For the rest, I’ll send three reconnaissance squads led by three of the captains; consisting of one thousand ghouls each, one hundred decay ghouls each, twenty shades each, one hundred skeleton rogues each, and fifty hell hounds each for all three squads. The rest I’ll let Kaalgao and my other heads handle everything else.

“I want three reconnaissance squads consisting of ghouls, decay ghouls, shades, skeletons rogues, and hell hounds led by three of the captains; I also want six of the captains to be in charge of the gathering of resources, transporting the resources and building the walls with these forces,” said Xarcain. Xarcain extended his left gauntlet which had a symbol of an eye on the palm, an ominous glow enveloped the gauntlet until said glow extended to Kaalgao. Soon all the information Kaalgao needed to know was sent to him telepathically, which he nodded at the understood orders.

“I’ll tell the captains to be chosen to get ready for the mining operation, and construction of the walls,” said Kaalgao, exiting the room.

Soon the rest of the Circle also left, leaving Xarcain alone in the Overseer Room; he stared blankly at the circular stone table with a mystical orb in the center. The orb would allow him to see everywhere across this world just like back in the kingdom, so on the stone’s surface was a 3-D model of Mt. Scyeal and the surrounding area which showed small figures which were his subjects moving around this wasteland they were in. Where are you Liliah?

Equestria; Everfree Forest, Everfree Ruins

Liliah stood alone in the empty and desolate castle, and while she resided in the Castle of Souls… which was also an empty and desolate castle, it was empty in the sense that it hadn’t been in good condition for awhile, as there were some… people she could speak to. This castle however, was indeed empty, so the chances of her finding anyone was… nil.

“Hello… Is anyone out there?!” shouted Liliah. Liliah clutched her sword’s handle tightly; while she has been trained by Xarcain – the king himself – and several other experienced trainers for different things; he was taught by Kaalgao about magic and death magic in particular, Mr. Singulora and Mrs. Finalis taught her about proper etiquette, how to act like a proper lady, and such. Her favorite teacher had to been Kronvi as she loved petting the creatures he took care of, especially the hell hounds how they’d yip and bark happily whenever she would come to visit the Lair Dens.

...I haven’t felt this alone since… since… Because of she was an undead her memory has been foggy and couldn’t remember much of her past; this was a common trait for all undead as while they’re given the ability of near-immortality and still regain their physical skills due to muscle memory, any mental memories are hard to regain unless the recipient sees something to spark a memory… so far nothing of the sort has happened to her since she became an undead.

Shaking away the headache from attempting to remember, she decided to wander around these castle ruins to find anything of remote that might be useful. So for several hours – or what felt like hours – she searched every inch of the castle, finding some traps that weren’t… dangerous but more like pranks of sorts, some ancient suits of armor, tapestries depicting of the sun and moon and of two winged and horned horses of some kind – one being marble white the other a night dark blue.

After continuing to search the castle, Liliah stumbled upon what appeared to be what remained of the library of some kind, as some books were so old that simply touching might make them fall apart and rot. There were tons of windows either dull from age or had cracks on them; there were a lot of piled up books and some dust, but it looked like someone had moved these books, specifically ones that were partially readable. At first, Liliah thought someone was here but noticed some of the book piles had a good layer of dust on them so whoever was checking these books were long gone, so deciding to open one of the books, she grabbed one book in particular.

The cover was surprisingly readable for being in another world, but it appeared to be in ancient human dialect, the kind that involved the words “thee”, “thine”, and “thou”, but luckily that the books back in the Castle of Souls that were given by Kaalgao were also in ancient dialect so she could read these books flawlessly. The book she was reading was called, “An Atlas of Equestria” – which answered her question of her being in another world – and once opening it, the book was surprisingly still intact while looking somewhat moldy; Liliah could sense magic seeping from this book, just by touching it. Probably a preservation spell of some kind, whoever put it was probably going to come back to get this book… welp, finders keepers.

Reading through the book explained several different cities and settlements; landmarks, roads, forests, mountains, it had everything… but Liliah could tell this book was outdated and most likely, a lot of these locations could of either wasted away through the years or changed drastically from the small settlements they were called. After reading it, a large piece of paper slipped out of the book, picking it up she found a really old map of what she assumed was Equestria.

The map showed that the forest she was in was called the Everfree Forest, and that there was a castle here called; Castle Everfree. North of her was an empty piece of grassland with a lake nearby; there was also a city on the side of a mountain, which showed stylized lettering for the city’s name. Canterlot… I guess that’s where I’m going next.

There were other cities and settlements but they were blurred or didn’t catch any interest for Liliah; putting the book and map away into a satchel she always carried with her with her personal belongings – which wasn’t a lot – and some basic survival things for her… well, for an undead. Some wrappings for any wounds she may receive – while being dead, it didn’t stop from blood dripping from any open wounds – a needle and thread to stitch wounds, some healing balm, soul potions – basically a beverage designed for the undead to enjoy – and several varying potions of healing, replenishing stamina, and for offensive and defensive purposes.

She also had her sword – a simple short-sword for her to use – a carving knife, and a slingshot – the only item that was hers before she was dead… possibly during her life when she was alive – that was surprisingly in pristine condition for a slingshot made of some quality materials, with a small bag full of stones for her to use.

“Now then… which way is to that mountain?”

Deciding to head to the highest point in this castle, a decrepit tower that was connected to a stone building beside the castle; climbing the steps was… odd, as it looked like the steps were built for something with several limbs, probably a quadruped of some kind considering the way the steps are bigger than they need to be. Reaching the top, there was some sort of pedestal and some stained glass windows too were present, but none of it seemed out of the ordinary, as Liliah walked to a part of the wall with a gaping hole to look through.

Liliah could see the tops of the trees of this forest she was in, as in the distance was the mountain with a city on the side, but there appeared to be some sort of town as she saw the rooftops of some thatch homes and what appeared to be a town hall. I suppose making a town near that lake would of made sense, and who knows how hold this castle it, so some differences may appear between this map and the ones that I may find in that town.

“Okay, with the direction planned correctly, if I follow that way I should make it to that town in an hour or two,” said Liliah. Climbing down the steps, Liliah later found a suspension bridge to cross, until she later found a dirt path of all things which led toward the town; with nowhere else to go, she walked down the trail without any problems.

Deep in the woods, several sets of yellow eyes stared deep in the trees; a rancid smell and growling could be heard before the sets of eyes vanished as several figures sulked this strange new prey.

Equestria; Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library

After that freak accident with her experiment, some of the Royal Guard – which were sent by Celestia herself after sensing the strange magical signatures coming from Ponyville – to investigate the crater at the park. Twilight also received a letter from the princess that both Celestia and Luna would visit tomorrow to see what the strange surge of magic was, and talk to Twilight and her friends about something both the princesses have sensed.

I wonder what the princesses want to tell me and the girls?When the letter and Royal Guard both arrived, the group all went to the library to drink some tea and snacks; Twilight herself though was busy looking a certain book about the phenomenon that happened with her device and that strange garbled voice she heard.

“What you looking at Twi?” asked Applejack.

“Well… when my experiment was going wrong, and that whole strange blast of magical energy, I’ve been thinking… that strange voice we heard… I feel like I heard it before when I was back at Canterlot as Celestia’s pupil. From my studies when I was a filly, there were five ways to use magic – and this didn’t limit to only unicorns or ponies but other creatures too – with the most basic way to use magic for unicorns and other creatures is using something to extend magic from one’s magic core.”

“Magic… core?” asked Fluttershy.

Here Twilight’s eyes seem to brighten as she smiled. “Oh dear, Twilight’s going to her lecture mode,” said Rarity with a smile and giggle.

Since unicorns have their horns, they can easily expel spells or raw magic from their own magic cores by using their horn as a rod of sorts; other creatures without horns use objects to expel their own magic, like a staff or stave for example – in ancient times, minotaurs while being known for their brute force did indeed have mages called Nature-Melders who can control the wild-life and nature itself… though the practice has been stopped as Minos has become the biggest industrial nation so it is rare to find natural places of nature and areas filled with nature magic.

The second method to use magic is using the elements themselves, the basic elements being fire, wind, earth, and water, and if you combined them you get different combinations of the kind – wind and earth together create nature, and fire and ice make steam. The most common way to do this is of course using the literal elements; they do this by going to places full of ambient magic like the Everfree Forest, the Frozen North, or anywhere depending on the basic element someone wants to train under.

The third method is through enchanting, as you can enchant certain spells or magical energy into objects or even yourself; there is a limit though in which you need to re-enchant said object and that there is only a limit of enchantments you can add on to an object or being.

The fourth method is through chanting or ritualistic methods; many of the holy temples use this to enact using Holy Magic or Light Magic as it is also called. By chanting a certain word or line, while using an object of some kind to output one’s magic to, they can create spells that require those with large magic stores or complex spells. This however is only useful for let’s say, creating a barrier around a city like how Shining Armor did – while his cutiemark allows him to make a barrier, it required other unicorns and some members of the holy temples to support the barrier on times when he couldn’t. Another example is the Crystal Heart as the citizens themselves give their own stores of magic from sheer emotion itself and thought, which restores and boosts the heart ten-fold.

“The final method though… is something that’s not exactly banned but tricky and hard to do, and if not done carefully may cost your life… Spiritual Magic, also known as; Necromancy,” said Twilight.

“Wait, NECROMANCY! You mean that magic that can bring ponies back to life!” shouted Pinkie.

“Well yes, but that is the speculation everyone often see for Spiritual Magic. The magic itself is the ability to commune with spirits – whether its those of the afterlife or ambient spirits near areas of ambient magic. It allows anyone to use the powers from beyond to due the impossible; though the reason this kind of magic is so dangerous is that most often use it to bring the dead back to life and rare is it that ends successfully through different methods but the basic end result… are zombies.”

The girls all shivered at the thought of anyone bringing someone from the dead, no matter what reason it could be. “Other times they manage to bring the dead pony’s spirit and may converse with them or something… though you may accidentally summon a vengeful spirit. The biggest risk however is that you may damage your own magical core or even your life energy. There are many reasons Spiritual Magic is never used… but the reason why I’m bringing it up is because when someone uses Spiritual Magic… there are two ways to do it – one is to use an object of some kind to bring forth a spirit depending on what kind of spirit you’re trying to bring; a spirit of a deceased or an elemental, while the other method… is speaking in ‘tongues’.”

“Speaking in what Twilight?” asked Rainbow.

“Its another word for gibberish or to speak something incoherent… its hard to describe but most necromancers would speak in an indecipherable dialect that not many ponies in the past could understand… well until they found out that what they’re speaking isn’t gibberish but all the words are backwards; many believe it is due to the Spiritual Magic seeping into their magical core and causing some sort of… self-possession to happen in which that the body does all the work for what is needed while the mind goes blank – empty of emotion and thought – until whatever reason that pony has for using spiritual magic is done.”

“So you’re saying that yoohay we were hearing was just everything backwards. Well that’s good to know but how is this going to help us, I barely remember what that voice said at the slightest,” said Applejack.

“Precisely, and as to how, I simply need to use a memory spell at that exact time and remember word-by-word then use a simple translation spell and voila; instant proper sentences. It’ll take a few days to find books on memory spells and another day to remember then translate it but I’ll get a head start right this-”

At that moment, Spike came downstairs with another scroll in claw. “Twilight, you got another scroll!” said Spike. Twilight levitated the scroll and opened it to see what was inside.

To Twilight Sparkle,

My Royal Guard and the mages I sent to examine the crater left by your device to see what ambient magic they could find; they sent their report to me just now and what was written is… troubling. The ambient magic they found around the crater and surrounding area of the park is Spiritual Magic and a mix of another kind of magic we and the mages there are unfamiliar with… they also found remnants of a dark presence around the crater.

With this information, and the recent strange feeling my sister and I felt south-east of us, we believe something may have slipped into our world when your device was activated. Instead of coming tomorrow as planned, we will both arrive today in a few hours, I am deeply sorry for all of this suddenly happening, but do not panic; we will also bring a squad of Royal Guard and Lunar Guard each as we believe that whatever has come to our world may be near Ponyville.

I hope this letter does not bring foreboding news to you and hope this is all in my sister and I’s heads.

From,
Princess Celestia

P.S. There is no need to make a grand entrance for us… remember you are a princess too so think of it as princesses wanting to see a fellow princess.

After reading this, Twilight had mix feelings about all this but shook aside as she told her friends and Spike; soon all of them went to go ready to meet the princesses at Sugarcube Corner… that and the group we getting hungry from all of this excitement.

Equestria; Everfree Forest

Liliah had followed the dirt path until she came upon a field of strange blue flowers, and sensed something off about them, but due to her being undead if the flowers were cursed or something, they would had no affect as all undead are curse-immune, poison-immune, and immune by magic with either dark or death types. After walking pass the strange flowers – they made a weird sound like laughter, and decided to pick one out of curiosity and how beautiful they actually looked – she wandered further down the forest when… she felt she was being watched.

For being trained by the king himself and his aides, there were many bonuses she gained from her unusual but helpful training regimen… she had a third sense of things, and this third sense of hers was telling her that there were several things surrounding her… and they weren’t friendly.

Pulling out her sword and keeping one hand close to her knife in case things go awry, movement happened; it was quick and sudden but she managed to block with her sword as a beast pounced onto her. She pushed back and over her with her unnatural strength, as the creature tumbled about until it slammed against a tree, so taking a look at her attacker, she saw what appeared to be a wooden wolf of some kind… a big one unlike the natural wolves in the wildlife or from stories she read before.

They had yellow eyes, were made of wood, sticks, leaves, and other forest-things, and has some kind of sap dripping from their maws like drool… and they smelled horrendously though that didn’t bother her as she was often around ghouls so the smell wasn’t even close to be tolerable and was actually pleasant to her.

If these are the wolves of this forest, then there should be more than-

Instantly, she dodged to the left as another of the wooden creature pounced; looking up quickly, she saw at least seven more came out, putting the numbers to nine now. She was in a dense forest, in a cramped space surrounding by several large wooden wolves, and alone too; remembering her training, there was only one option to do – find a better advantage – but to run.

She sprinted off as the beasts of the forest chased after they’re latest prey while looking scrawny, was still made of flesh and flesh is what they crave. Liliah wasn’t sure where she was running to, but she knew she needed to get to somewhere and fast, but after some running she realzied the surroundings around her began to… change; the trees were looking different and brighter, and more sun was beaming past the treetops, but the biggest clue was the trees bore fruit – apples.

Realizing she was out of the forest she slid to a stop and gazed at her foes, reaching to her satchel and pulled out orange potion with a piece paper wrapped around with a flame as a symbol. Pulling out her slingshot she armed it and prepared to aim, but realized only eight of them were present and quickly turned to the right and fired. The potion flew into the open maw of one of the beasts as the potion broke as fire engulfed the creature, burning it to firewood; the other creatures backed up but kept a close distance as they watched their comrade burnt alive. Taking this as her advantage she continued to run but armed her slingshot with a putrid green potion that showed a pool of green bumbling liquid, and with precise aim, slung it at the root of one of the trees, as the potion ate away the tree until it couldn’t hold its weight and fell down onto two of the beasts and the still burning corpse of the previously dead wooden wolf.

With this domino effect, a large bonfire was made and the fire spread to the other trees; this caused half of the remaining pack to flee except for three of them who glared back and continued to chase. “Why won’t you run like the others – I am not someone to mess with!” shouted Liliah, firing another fire potion.

This one dodged but it caused the forest fire to spread further, as Liliah was chased by the beasts even further into this apple forest.

Ponyville; Sweet Apple Acres, Cutie Mark Crusader Treehouse

The CMC were currently at their treehouse, bored as usual since they did what activities they could do this week for their cutiemarks. Sweetie Belle drew some drawings, Scootaloo read some Daring Do books, while Applebloom looked through what kind of cutiemarks they could do, asking her friends to confirm if they did them or not.

“Hang-gliding cutiemarks?” asked Applebloom.

“Nope, did that already,” said Scootaloo, flipping a page.

“Art critique cutiemarks?”

“Tried… and run out of Canterlot Musuem for critiquing that pony’s art… Though everypony else agreed it didn’t look that good,” said Sweetie.

“How about…” said Applebloom. Applebloom paused as she began to sniff the air, until gave a quizzical look. “Do you smell something girls?”

Both CMC members took a whiff too, when they caused outside and in the horizon they saw smoke some distance from them, and there could be only one reason why there was smoke in a place like this.

“FIRE!” shouted all three fillies.

They quickly exited the treehouse, and done the ramp; the last time this happened – one time was because of them, the other time was because of a freak thunderstorm by the weather team – Applebloom was told what to do in emergencies like this like any fire drill for the farm.

“Scootaloo, get to town and find help or my sis and tell her the apple orchard is on fire at the western orchard! Sweetie and I are going to find Granny Smith since Big Mac is at Ponyville selling apples today; we’ll try to make sure the fire doesn’t spread to the rest of the orchard or near the barn!”

“You got it Applebloom!” With practiced ease, Scootaloo clambered on her scooter and sped off with her wings buzzing like a hummingbird. Sweetie and Applebloom ran back to the barn for Granny Smith.

On the way there, they heard some nearby noise when something crashed by one of the trees and stood before them or rather was standing near them but facing something else. A timberwolf and two others of its kind were growling at something, but as the fillies stared at shock they gazed at what the timberwolves were looking at. They weren’t sure what it was but it had clothing that was similar to a knight’s, a cape that was somewhat torn and old, a sword on the right hand while the left held a slingshot, but the strange being had her mane or hair all crazy as it splayed on her back and around her head as it covered one side of her face, a piece of her torso was missing and showed her ribs and insides while her left leg was bare bone with pieces of cloth and a boot on it.

One of the timberwolves noticed the fillies but that would be its doom as the strange creature struck true and stabbed its sword into the timberwolf’s skull as the light from its eyes vanished and clattered into a pile of sticks. The other two timberwolves growled as one managed to struck a hit and send the creature flying past the fillies into a tree as a loud crack was heard – from the tree cracking or the creature.

One timberwolf lumbered to the fallen being while the other gazed hungry at the fearful fillies ready to munch on them; both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle shivered in fear as he clung to one another… but the impossible happened. Too quick for the normal eye, the strange creature stood up quickly and stab a knife into the approaching timberwolf’s eye socket, while not hurting it but surprising it… and surprise is just what Liliah needed.

A quick boot to the snout, she climbed over the dazed beast, jumped on its back and use her sword to slash at the other timberwolf, beheading the wooden wolf as its body fell over and turned to wood. She slowly turned to the timberwolf that had her knife in its eye socket as it tried to scratch it out fruitlessly, before it saw Liliah with cold crimson eyes before she held one potion in her left hand and shoved it into the beast’s other eye socket, the potion exploding as the beast was consumed in flames.

Liliah watched the flames consume the beast until ashes remained, which she sifted through the ash and pulled out her knife, putting it away until she glanced to the side and saw the two gawking fillies that stared back at her. Many thoughts were going through her head but even though she was trained to kill by the most deadliest of beings in her world… she was still a fourteen year-old girl, mentally in an eleven year-old body.

“PONIES! Ohhhh, you’re so cuuuute!” shouted Liliah as she crouched down to pick up the white… unicorn. “AND A UNICORN, OHHHH YOU TWO ARE ADO-RA-BLLLLE!”

She picked up Applebloom and began to hug them both, but as she did this something unexpected – well she did expect them to be afraid of her due to her appearance – happened… the filly unicorn started to cry and make crying noises like any sentient being. This somewhat shocked her as she slowly let go of Applebloom who fell plot first to the ground while she gripped both hands around Sweetie’s barrel as she continued to cry.

“Pllleeease don’t hurt me, I-I-I...” Sweetie continued to cry while Liliah gazed at her sadly until she felt something around her own barrel as she looked down at Applebloom bucking her with both back-hooves with a serious look.

“Let go, of my, friend, you, meanie!”

Liliah gently put down Sweetie Belle and began to smooth out her mane and wipe her tears, before pulling out some of her wrappings and ripped a small piece for her to blow on. After blowing on the piece of cloth, Applebloom ran to her side and hugged her.

“Sweetie Belle, are you alright, that thing didn’t hurt you did she?”

“No… she’s kind of nice… and gentle… like Fluttershy!”

“Fluttershy don’t beat up timberwolves like she does.”

“But Fluttershy did the Stare on that cockatrice once, remember!”

“...True,” said Applebloom, agreeing. Both fillies though looked up at the now standing Liliah and realized she was as tall as their sisters. “Ummm… sorry for thinking you’d hurt us… But who’re you and…”

Applebloom looked at her leg that was just bare bones and the piece of her torso missing with a cringe – Sweetie shared the same sentiment but considering the number of times she cooked and nearly burnt herself and the other things she got in trouble at Rarity’s boutique, she had her own scrapes and scratches, so she had surprisingly more guts than Applebloom when it comes to wounds.

“...Are you alright? Your legs is just bone and you got a piece missing… I think you need to go to the hospital.”

“What’s a hospital, and don’t worry I’m fine… though… you might helping me; I was chased by those wooden wolves and gotten lost. I saw a town here from the forest at this abandoned castle and another castle at the side of the mountain, I was planning to go there you see for… well, directions.”

“Not from here huh, well that castle you saw was Canterlot, and the town is Ponyville, but you’re at Sweet Apple Acres – my family’s apple farm – where we sell the best apples there is. The town is just down a dirt road by my family’s barn… Since we got off the wrong hoof, how about my granny check them wounds of yours and see if we can get that tummy of yours full, you look thin as a stick; and we should do it quick, I saw a fire some distance and I sent one of my friends to get help to put it out.”

“Thank you for the invitation, and I may have started the fire to scare off those… wooden wolves.”

“You mean the timberwolves?”

“Yeah those...”

“Well my sis is going be upset you nearly burned our family orchard down but I can understand considering there were three of them up against one.”

Originally there were nine though the other three out of the six that survived ran off, leaving those three to remain. “Yeah; again I’m sorry and I’ll repay back for that,” said Liliah with a bow.

“That kind of yeah, I’m sure my sis can find some work for ya. Anyway, let’s go before the fires spread and we’re stuck here!” Soon the trio went back to the barn, leaving behind the ashy remains of one timberwolf, and the destroyed forms of two.

Talking ponies… well I live in a world of undead beings, a king who’s thousands years old, and other mythical creatures… This isn’t the weirdest thing I’ve experienced so far.

Author's Note

The end of the prologue, and now into the story; Celestia and Luna are going to come to Ponyville earlier then originally planned, Sweet Apple Acres - well only a small western orchard of it - is on fire, and Applebloom and Sweetie Belle have met somepony or someone knew. What could happen next?

Narration/Dialogue: Kaalgao
Twilight Sparkle

Thoughts: Celestia
Kaalgao
Xarcain
Liliah
Twilight Sparkle