Shadows stretched out from the trees as the nocturnal beast stalked its prey. Its fibrous limbs gradually creeping through the brush, carefully avoiding all the loose sticks as it didn't want to alert its next meal. A source of light in its territory drew its attention to the sleeping form laying by the fire. It didn't know nor did it care why this prey was so far from the rest of its herd. All that mattered was that it was alone and didn't appear to have noticed its approach.

The beast felt itself salivate as it drew closer, savoring the kill that would soon make. But just as it was about to pounce, its attention was drawn to the fire, or more importantly, what was inside it. The form in the fire resembled its own, the limbs a broken mess as the smell of smoke carried its rancid smell.

As it turned back to the unaware prey, a pair of eyes looked back at it. Not the look of something being hunted, but the look of a predator. A savage grin was reflected by the firelight as the monster ambled to its hooves, causing the beast to shirk back.

Instincts kicked in a moment too late as it made to break and run for the monster swiftly pounced the beast and snapped its neck.

As it turns out, timberwolves make good kindling.

Smokey Vines pulled his latest guest toward the fire and started breaking it into pieces. The pieces of enchanted wood that made up a timberwolf's body made for good burning as long as you got it into small enough pieces. He tore off a small piece and started chewing on it as he worked.

He breathed in the smoke created by the magical wood as it burned. The fouled air invigorating him as it filled his lungs and made his eyes water.

"Here you are," came a voice from the darkness.

Smokey leapt away from his work, spinning to face the noise that came unbidden.

Random Fact walked out from the dark forest, a tired look on his face. "You're not the easiest to find, you know."

Smokey relaxed after seeing who it was, "well well well, look who finished his nap. You picked a really bad time to start a career in demolition."

Random settled down next to the fire and stretched his neck, "And you did quite a number on the elements. Was all that really necessary? I had to manually separate two of them before either decomposition or insanity started to set in."

"It's their own dumb fault for not learning how to work as a group," he snapped back. "Has nopony bothered to train them to work as a cohesive whole?"

"I think education has fallen into disrepair in recent years," Random shook his head in disappointment. "The words straight out of the element of magic's mouth were, and I quote, 'no one takes the study of ley lines seriously and my magic instructors treat the topic like a joke.'"

Smokey's mouth hung open at these words, "you're kidding me! That's just downright irresponsible! What is old Sunbutt thinking?!"

"She might not know. The 'third' has been busy gathering intelligence and according to him, Celestia has stretched herself far too thin across her duties."

Smokey grit his teeth so hard that the piece of timberwolf snapped in his mouth. "That's no excuse! However, it does explain why they kept trying to grab me with magic. Don't they know an earth pony can ground themselves against that? His eyes grew wide in realization, "they don't do they...Damn unicorn nobles and their damn egos." He cursed. "Don't they realize how much damage they're causing?"

Random stretched as he stood back up and threw a few pieces of timber into the fire, "I doubt it. Starswirl and I were always fighting an uphill battle with them when it came to things that were good for Equestria and not just the unicorns."

Smokey rolled his shoulder and then chucked the rest of the wolf in the fire. The fire crackled and blazed as it greedily consumed the wood. "That Twilight mare surprised me though."

"Oh? How so?"

"I was sitting in the park, having a good smoke and minding my own business," he started. "And every so often she'd run by with all her friends frantically looking for something. It was cute for a while, until I watched her grab a cluster of magic threads and use them to pinpoint my location. I realized then that I had just watched her figure out magic tracking."

"Is that all? It's impressive but not unheard of."

"I'm not finished," he held up a hoof as he continued. "Then when I almost managed to get away, she used magic tracking as a teleport guide and showed up right in front of me AND...she was using the firebird technique."

Random buckled over while holding his gut, "HAHAHA! Sounds to me like you made her mad. I guess what you did wasn't completely overkill then."

Smokey huffed indignantly, "and I hope blowing yourself up was worth it." Smokey moved to stand in front of Random and held out his hoof, "anyway, I think I've had enough talking to myself for tonight."

"Well I need to bounce my thoughts off someone. It was worth it by the way, blowing myself up I mean, I managed to get a piece of myself back." He placed his hoof against that of the other stallion and Smokey started to turn transparent.

"Awesome! I guess that'll teach us to go and make artifacts like that and then let them go missing for years on end. At least we know where the last piece is." Smokey smiled as he finished disappearing, the stars in his body flowing into Random.

"Unfortunately that's gonna be the messiest piece to get." He reflected on his new memories as he looked down to the clear gem depicting a green apple. It shone for a moment before slowly dissolving into light and pulling itself into Random's hoof. "Just one more and I can finally end this nightmare." He spoke to the now empty camp before turning away and walking back into the forest.

Twilight was running down the path with her friends, determined to find the pegasus that hurt Big Macintosh.

What are you looking for, little filly?

At the sound of the voice, she spun to face it, only to find herself in Sugarcube Corner. "How could ya let em do that to ma bruther." Came a small voice from a nearby cake that was decorated with a Stetson. Her mentor, Princess Celestia, was floating a knife over to the confection while eyeing the cake hungrily. A spot of drool escaped the side of her mouth as she brought the knife down.

Tsk, Tsk. Temper, temper.

In a panic, Twilight dove at the cake, determined to save Applejack from the hungry alicorn. Just as she reached the cake she found herself in Carousel Boutique.

"What the..." She stared around in confusion at the change of scenery.

"Coming!" Came a voice from the back room. A few moments later Rainbow Dash came in from the back room. Her mane and tail were properly pressed and curled with some white mascara highlighting her long eyelashes. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique. Where everything is twenty percent more sheek. Ah Twilight, always a pleasure."

How bout a kiss?

"Rainbow Dash?!" Twilight looked around in a panic, "where's Rarity?!"

"Oh, she training to try and get into the Wonderbolts, like always." Rainbow gave a dismissive gesture and batted her eyelashes.

"She's what?!" Twilight ran from the boutique to the center of town. There she found Rarity doing pushups while wearing a track suit, her mane and tail were ragged and messy. Sweat glistened in the sunlight, dripping every time she went back down.

You are weak.

She shook her head. What was that voice? "Rarity! Since when have you been training to get into the Wonderbolts?"

Rarity sat up and drank from a water bottle, pouring some of it over her head. "Why, whatever do you mean darling? I've been working day and night to get in since the day we met. They said a unicorn could never get in, but I'll show them!" She gave Twilight a concerning look, "my word, you look awful. How bout you head down to the spa and try to relax."

She shut her eyes hard and massaged a hoof into the bridge of her muzzle. When she opened her eyes, she found herself on one of the spa's beds.

"How did I get here?" She made to get up, but then two stallions walked into the room with a swagger in their step.

You like what you see?

"Twilight!" Came the voice of Pinkie from the stallion on the left with the fluffy pink mane. "So glad you could join us today. Isn't that right Fluttershy?"

Twilight snapped her attention to the yellow stallion on the right.

"Um...right...woohoo." Came the voice of Fluttershy as she majestically strode up to her. "You've been carrying so much tension in those wings." She reached up and grabbed one of her wings and started massaging it.

Pinkie joined in and started massaging the other one as well. Twilight started to melt into the seat as their ministrations caused a shiver to run down her body. Hooves worked their way down into her shoulders and down her back, causing a warming sensation to creep up on her.

Suddenly remembering what she was doing, she spun around to look at them, but found herself standing in a dark forest. A shadow converged on her from the trees, creeping up her legs and wrapping around her torso.

You're all so weak.

Twilight charged her horn and teleported away from the shadow. Now finding herself back in the library, she struggled to catch her breath. Maybe she just needed to go to bed, sort this out in the morning. She took one step towards the stairs only to trip over her now much shorter legs.

Equestria will fall.

Smokey was sitting at the nearby table, embers burning in his eyes as he stood up and slowly strode towards her. Filly Twilight backpedaled her small form away from him as he towered over her. She found herself pressed against a wall as he drew closer. His mouth slowly opening to reveal large pointed teeth that dripped with venom. She tried to push him away with magic but she couldn't muster up a single mote of energy. Smoke wrapped around the two of them as his fanged maw grew closer to her neck. His warm breath causing her to tremble while her eyes narrowed to pinpricks, waiting for the inevitable.

"ENOUGH!" Came a booming voice.

A flash of light enveloped the room, causing everything to stop moving. Twilight continued to stare up at the monster hovering over her, afraid that if she moved a muscle, it would pounce.

A cool blue aura wrapped around her, picking her up and moving her away from the mad earth pony. She floated through the air for a moment until she was eventually placed at the hoof of Princess Luna.

"What is happening here?" Luna looked on in horror as she knelt down and scooped Twilight into a hug. She stroked the mane of the hyperventilating filly until she stopped shaking. "Are you ok, Twilight Sparkle?"

"No, I'm not," she quivered in Luna's hold as she turned to point at the still frozen form of Smokey Vines. "Him...He..."

"Relax, dear child." Luna said in as calming a voice as possible. "This is only a dream and he cannot hurt you here."

Twilight continued to breathe hard as her eyes stayed locked on the stallion. Luna continued to keep her wrapped up in her embrace, wings folded around her as a warm blanket. Eventually the little filly calmed down and was able to start thinking rationally again.

Luna, realizing that her charge had finally calmed down, slowly asked her, "now. Tell me what happened."

Twilight slowly covered the details of everything that had happened since that morning. Everything from finding Big Mac in the same state as Soarin to tracking down the one responsible and ending with the thorough trouncing she and her friends received by the one they found. She was crying again by the time she finished.

Luna stared at her unblinking as she took in the details, "we...are sorry you had to go through that." She held her tight while the tears flowed. "Had we known that you would've faced such an opponent, we would've gone in your stead. How dost everyone now?"

Twilight wiped the tears from her eyes as she clung to Luna's wings, "between Zecora and Random, they've more or less got us put back together."

"Ah Zecora, we remember her from the last nightmare night. It was she that set the stage for us finally feeling accepted that night." She then tilted her head, "we are not familiar with this pony named Random though."

"He was amazing," started Twilight. "He just took one at me and cleared up my stunted magic with a touch. Then he took a book and some chalk and separated the other two."

"He sounds to be an individual of particular skill," Luna mused. "And he's been in Ponyville this whole time?"

"No," she gave some thought. "He showed up in town only three days ago."

Luna's eyes lit up at this revelation, "three days you say?"

Twilight looked back to Luna, "is that important?"

"We've had another incident that started three days ago as well," Luna mulled over her thoughts. "Describe what this 'Random' looks like."

Twilight took a moment to think about it, "well he had green eyes." Luna sat up straighter, her eyes going wide. "He has a grey coat, a green mane, and his cutie mark looks like a scroll."

Luna settled down a bit crestfallen after hearing the rest of the description, "it's not him."

"So Princess Luna, if you don't mind me asking." Twilight asked with a little reservation. "What's the other incident?"

"We do not wish to alarm you, Twilight Sparkle," reflected Luna. "But it has to do with King Sombra..."

Twilight sat and listened to Luna tell her story, her own nightmare slowly fading away as Luna talked.

"Do you think there's a chance everything is connected?" She asked Luna.

"We suppose it's possible...although, it does worry us as to what the end goal may be." Luna mused as she watched the dream fade. "We will have to talk more of this later since thou appear to be waking up. Please do try to get some rest after your harrowing day."

Twilight yawned, her eyelids starting to droop, "I almost forgot I was still sleeping."

Luna smiled softly as she floated the little filly up the stairs and into bed, "rest now. Our problems will still await us on the morrow."

Twilight's eyes slowly fluttered open as she awoke to find herself in her own bed. Every part of herself felt sore since she apparently more than doubled in size overnight. She slowly stumbled out of bed and stretched her sore limbs. Everything hurt to move but she was still happy to be back to being a full grown mare.

She carefully made her way down the stairs, her hooves still aching with every step. The smell of something cooking drew her into the kitchen. Spike was there with a big plate of pancakes waiting for her.

"Twilight!" The little dragon rushed up and tackled her in a hug, causing her sore body to wince a bit. "You're ok. Applejack told me what happened after you left the hospital."

"Sorry to worry you, Spike," she returned the hug before sitting down to her breakfast. "Have you seen anypony else this morning."

He shook his head, "Applejack told me everyone else went home after you went to bed. The only ponies here right now are you and Random."

Twilight looked around, seeing no sight of the strange unicorn, "any idea where he is?"

"He's went downstairs about an hour ago, said he's looking for something."

"And I found that something," came a male voice as Random entered the room. He was carrying a book with him as he sat at the table. "Is there any more coffee, Spike? I had a bit of a late night."

"I'll get you a cup," Spike went to go fill a cup of the black ambrosia.

"Here Twilight," Random slid the book he was carrying over to her. "Spike said you'd most likely be running around in a panic trying to do research when you should be resting. So I took the liberty of tracking down something I think you'll find interesting."

Twilight looked down at the book as she took a bite of her pancakes. "An advanced guide to ley line placement and its relation to the body by," Twilight choked a bit as she read the last line. "Clover the clever. You've got one of Clover's old books! Do you have any idea how rare these are?!"

Spike returned then with the coffee, handing it over to Random, "thank you Spike." He took a slow sip of the black brew before turning back to Twilight, "They're quite rare. Clover was well known for enchanting his books so no pony could magic up a copy of them."

She was on him like a flash, a manic gleam in her eyes as she hovered over him, forcing him back a couple steps while floating his coffee out of the way. "Do you have any more of them?!"

Random choked down the mouthful of coffee he had in his mouth, doing his best not to spew it up at the alicorn that was right up in his face. "Yes..." He got out with tears in his eyes from the exercise. "I've got a number of rare volumes from a number of dead ponies." He reached a hoof up and pushed Twilight back down so he could breathe.

Suddenly remembering herself as she started blushing profusely, "sorry," She apologized. "I guess I forgot myself for a bit there. So what are you doing today?"

"I'm going to be cleaning my lab and fixing a door, looks like someone broke in there a made a mess while I was sleeping." He gave her a knowing look.

Twilight winced at that glare, "sorry about that. I didn't know what else to do. HEY!" She perked up, "I haven't had a chance to ask. What were YOU doing with the Alicorn Amulet anyway?"

Random blanched a bit, looking a bit sheepishly at her. "I knew that was going to come up sooner or later." He reached to his side and pulled up a scorched piece of metal and gemstone, placing it on the table. "I was trying to see if I could use it to treat my old injury...it didn't work." It's not completely a lie.

Twilight looked at the piece of scrap like it was a snake ready to pounce, "is it safe to have that out?"

"It's completely broken now. Whatever made it work is no longer there." He downed the rest of his coffee. "Well, the day isn't getting any younger." He stood up and turned to leave. "If you need me, you know where to find me."

Twilight spent the next several hours going through the book that Random provided. It was written in old Equestrian dialect, but aside from that, the amount of detail inside it was staggering. It covered everything from the way plants and animals coexisted with the environment on both a physical and spiritual level; and went as far as the movement of the planet and the stars and how to predict patterns in them.

More than once she had to put the book down and walk around while her headache subsided. What really got to her was if everything in the book was right, then so much she had come to understand as fact was...wrong? How could that be? She had been taught that unicorn magic was a result of the body converting biomass into a usable energy source for casting channeled through the brain and horn. But according to the book, unicorn magic was based on one's connection to the stars and one's ability to channel the will of the universe through a central medium that was located in the heart and stomach. And on top of that, if that wasn't strange enough, it wasn't limited to unicorns. Unicorns were just better equipped than the other tribes.

Twilight's headache kept coming back every couple pages until she eventually had to take a step outside. Hoping the fresh air would do some good, she went on a short walk. Unfortunately her mind kept wandering every time she saw the sun from the corner of her vision. The sun is more than a source of light that brings light and heat and helps plants grow. It also symbolizes life itself and it is from that life that power is drawn along with respect for that life. Where as inversely the moon's rising symbolizes the soul, its internal wellspring, and the nature of understanding itself.

Was all this true? What would the Canterlot scholars think of the knowledge in that tome? Would they treat it as fact or fiction? Which is it actually? And if that tome was really written by Clover, what does that say about Equestria's own history? She could assume that Random had already read that book himself. Was that how he knew how to treat them after having their bodies and their magic get all kinds of messed up?

She HAD to know more. Twilight raced back to the library, picked up the book, and flipped through the pages until she found a section she had recently become familiar with. "Whence one finds magic that thou art familiar with, thou may soon see what draws it forth to meet its kin." It sounded like gibberish when she said it out loud but it had some associated diagrams that she could draw and use to hopefully make a connection with errant magical signatures.

After Twilight made a quick trip downstairs to get some chalk from Random, which he gave her with a sly smile and a "good luck." She ran out to the Apple farm where she knew the closest cluster of bound up magic was from...where Smokey attacked Big Mac. Her heart went out to Applejack's family. Nopony should have to go through what they're going through.

The Apple's family home was empty as she let herself in and made her way to Big Mac's room. She took a moment to move the big guy's bed out of the way and draw a circle on the floor under where she knew the cluster was supposed to be. It took a few minutes to draw out all the symbols, or as the book called them, runes around the circle and by the time she was done, doubt was starting to creep back into her. What would this mean if nothing happened? What would it mean if something DID happen?

Nothing for it. She'd come this far already, only way to know would be to see it through. "Once preparations are complete, simply step inside and cast light with thine horn." She read the last step aloud as she set the book aside and stepped into the circle.

"Ok, here goes." As she lit up her horn, the diagram lit up with her and errant motes of...something started to jump up and connect with her horn. And as they did, the ball of yarn, or cluster of spirit as she now knew it was called, lit up.

The amount of detail she could see now completely dwarfed what she could see before. She looked and found the line she chased before that led them to Smokey. She now saw the the green thread she followed before was far more complex than she once thought. She sat up and looked around and was shocked that her sight now allowed her to see through solid objects and with absolutely insane amounts of detail and clarity.

As she raised her line of sight, she found it was easy to pull on a single thread and follow it without having to run the whole way. She could see the path they chased the earth pony from miles away, she could see the place where he had eventually escaped into the forest, however it disappeared beyond that point. Wild magic can cause natural interference when you try to follow something more structured.

She raised her vision further and she could see a broken line at the cliff where she lost Storm Chaser's signal. A headache started to build at this point, caused by the massive drain on her magic. She forced herself to follow that broken line as far as it would go. She saw further and further and by the time she was able to see as far as Canterlot, the headache had turned into a mad throbbing pain.

Twilight squinted as she saw something in Canterlot, a collection of lights in the streets that appeared pony shaped. It had the same signal as the other two. But this one was currently moving.

Suddenly it stopped, and she saw its head turn and glowing eyes looked right at her.