The Hourglassed Stranger

As the six ponies make their way out of PonyVille, they all start to discuss the possibilities on what or who they might encounter that could've been the result of this sudden disruption in magical balance.

"Ah personally feel that it may be somethin' like Discord, and if I can be honest, I really don' wanna be right." Applejack said, slightly shivering at the chaotic memories of when Discord first returned.

"Come now, Applejack dahling, maybe it'll be a powerful unicorn who needs a bit of education on the... finer things in life, and not get overwhelmed by magical problems." Rarity stated, letting her mind wander as she nearly tripped over herself in the midst of her daydreaming as she kept up her pace to stay with her friends.

"U-um... maybe it's.. it's a lost Ursa Minor, and they got a hold of something they didn't understand?" Fluttershy suggested, obviously a bit worried if it was exactly like how she thought.

"Oh Oh! Maybe it's a changeling! Those buggy suckers wouldn't be able to take us on if it was one or two against all six of us!" Rainbow Dash suggested, imagining herself on top of two changelings, standing proud as her friends bowed before her.

"Oooohh!! Maybe it's an Alicorn! We don't see that many in Equestria, so maybe it's one of them! Coming back after eons of being nowhere to be seen or found, and maybe they came back to ask Celestia for help against a monstrous threat!" Pinkie Pie said with a grin, causing the other ponies to look at her with worry.

"Let's hope that's not the case," Twilight reached into one of her saddlebags, pulling out a small device that seemed to be tracking something as it flashed its light. "We're at the point, and who or whatever's here, it hasn't left since it arrived. Fan out, and stay within hearing range, we don't know what we might deal with." Twilight added. The ponies split up in 6 different directions, traversing the hills slowly, looking around for anything out of the ordinary.

Below the ponies was Swampfire, who had started dozing off after waiting for a bit. His entire body had rooted itself into the very ground, but one specific root was not a root at all, as on the very surface of one of the hills was a Rose coming into bloom. It looked like it was on fire, it's petals being in a flaming pattern with usual pinks, magentas and slight rose-y colors, with a small blue bud in the middle, looking like a lit ember, destined to forever burn, but also destined to never wilt the flower itself with its sweltering heat.

Rarity had noticed this rose, and could only admire its 'natural' beauty, sniffing it as she seemed to enjoy whatever scent this rose had about it. "My my, a beautiful thing like you would be fantastic to be on my dress for the Gala. Though I should figure out what kind of flower this is, because I've never seen a natural flame on a flower before." Rarity said to herself, blowing out the small blue wisp of fire as she turned towards the purple unicorn.

"Twilight, Dahling! I may have found something of interest! C'mere and look at it!" Rarity called out. Twilight quickly trotted over to Rarity, who was indeed right about the flower in question, because she's studied different types of flora before, but nothing like this was ever in her studies.

Below the unicorns, Swampfire was abruptly awoken, feeling the wisp go out sent a spine chilling feeling through him and it felt incredibly unpleasant. "Okay, I'll bite, what's going on up there?" Swampfire asked himself. He could hear low audible voices, but couldn't hear exactly what they were saying.

"Yer tellin' me that we came all this way... for a rose that looks like it was set on fire? You're kiddin' me." Applejack said bemusedly, putting her face in one of her hooves as she tried to not look irritated.

"Yeah, Applejack's got a point. A magical disruption happens over here, and all we can find is a flower? That makes no sense, why a flower? Why not a sword, or a stone, or a magical creature to fight?!" Rainbow Dash asked, obviously ticked that there wasn't gonna be something to fight.

"As much as I do like that it isn't a monster... um, what do we do with the flower anyway?" Fluttershy asked, a bit perplexed by the flower's blue wisp suddenly re-igniting, burning brighter as the rose-y color in the petals started to slowly change into a blue-ish sapphire color, some traces of the original rose-y hues still being prominent.

"I've truly never seen a rose like this before, this might be what the magical disruption was. A flower affected by transmutation magic. It's an outlawed magic technique long before the pony tribes came together, so this must have some kind of significance. Rarity, since you found it, would you like to pick it?" Twilight explained aloud, turning to the unicorn.

"Of course, dahling! I'm looking forward to incorporating this beautiful specimen into my dress! It would turn heads 5 times over just to admire the craftsmanship and the skill I've put to the test." Rarity said, using her magic to grip the base of the flower's stem, and lightly yanked. A sudden surge of pain suddenly traveled throughout Swampfire's entire body, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Ow!" The alien creature yelped. Rarity was a bit surprised that the flower did not come out right away, and kept yanking away, sending more painful surges through Swampfire's body, causing him to wince and jerk a bit, shifting the ground he was ingrained and rooted into.

"Rarity, let me try. This may be a pretty flower, but it's as stubborn as a weed." Applejack stated, pushing her aside as she bit on the stem, causing Swampfire to wince. He immediately yelled out in pain, the ground all around him muffling his cries of agonizing pain as Applejack managed to pluck the rose from the ground, and handed it to Rarity.

"Alrighty, pretty magic flower, picked. Can we go back now, and find out why this showed up?" Applejack said impatiently. Before the six ponies could move, Pinkie was starting to twitch. Her mane and her tail deflated, and her ears were twitching like crazy as her teeth chattered away. To anyone else, this meant Pinkie was scared. But to those who knew Pinkie well, this was a telltale sign of...

"P-P-P-Pinkie senses!! Someone's not happy right now! Like, REALLY Not happy!!" Pinkie stated, slightly worried as she started to get further ahead of her friends. The other five ponies knew her pinkie senses were always something strange, but they knew it was important to follow her lead when it happens. The ground where the flower had sprouted, suddenly began to crack and shake as green and charred black vines slithered their way out of the ground, and started to wrap around them, entwining themselves into something bipedal, unnatural and really angry.

The ponies kept getting further and further away as this creature, at a standing point was around Seven feet, and looked like an eldritch weed with a natural affinity for fire, as blazing flames could be seen within the creature's body, being contained by the blackened and charred body. Swampfire growled as he ran towards the ponies, angry about the pain he was having inflicted on him. Almost like it was basic knowledge for the alien, Swampfire slammed his fist into the ground, and erected a huge and thick root wall around the ponies, stopping them in their tracks as they saw the creature walking toward them, looking like if his stare could start a fire, the root wall would be set ablaze in burning blue embers.

"Ok, what the heck is that?! That's not something you'd see anywhere in Equestria!!" Applejack exclaimed, unable to look away from the creature, walking closer and closer towards them.

"I want to believe this is some kind of golem, but I've never seen a plant based golem control fire before. What in equestria are you, monster?!" Twilight tried to shake off her fear, readying her horn for a magical attack. Swampfire got up close enough to grab Twilight's horn and lift her up by it, his cyan ember eyes burning with irritation and aggression as Twilight feared for the worst.

"Who did it?" Swampfire asked, his voice nasally, but rough and warped. The unicorn was a bit confused by the question.

"What?" Twilight responded. The creature seemed more agitated as his grip tightened, the unicorn winced a little at the slowly rising burn she was feeling from the creature's mossy hands.

"Little pony, did I stutter or was I not specific enough? WHO. RIPPED. A PIECE. OF MY BODY. CLEAN OFF WITH THEIR TEETH?! That shit fuckin' hurt like hell, it was like getting a tooth pulled with no numbing agent to alleviate the pain! WHO. DID IT!?" Swampfire gritted angrily as Twilight stared into the cyan embers that burned bright as they gazed at her.

"Leave 'er alone! I did it, I plucked the flower you brutal varmint!" Applejack stated firmly. Swampfire let go of Twilight's horn, letting her drop to the ground as she scurried back over to her friends, as the fires inside the creature started to dim a bit and return to a normal color for fire, with reds, oranges and yellows. The cyan embers still burned in place of the creature's eyes, but it sighed.

"Don't do that again, that hurts like you wouldn't believe. Man that hurt, you really had to just chew it a bit and then yank on what was still attached?! That hurt too much, and now I feel like my day is ruined... more so than it was already." Swampfire stated, the roots returning to the ground as the creature turned its back to them and slumped down, unsure of what to do now as it sighed.

Rainbow Dash was not expecting any of what had just transpired, but she was very curious on what exactly this thing was, something about it felt like it was more than what it seemed, or this was her mind telling her she was still itching for a fight with something she didn't know how to fight, but it was obvious this thing was just minding its own business, and was just suddenly provoked.

Fluttershy carefully walked up beside the creature as it looked down on her, and despite the obvious lack of real emotion in the creature's face, it was just now starting to feel isolated.

"You look upset, do you want to talk about it?" Fluttershy asked, smiling lightly at the creature, who just felt something in him break down. Knowing that he's got powers, and the fact that something or someone brought him here while his home is going through god knows whatever kind of bad aftermath... and now he's stuck in the world of magical pastel colored ponies, that he knows will never be the same if he stays here.

"I'm too far from home... and I don't exactly know how to get back from here, let alone WHERE it could be... And now I'm yelling at a bunch of ponies because I don't know how to handle this type of situation! I could've been at home, trying to take care of my mother, but because of some purple lightning storm, I got pushed back... and now I'm probably... no, DEFINITELY stuck here. I'm a stranger in a foreign land, venting my emotional frustration to a yellow pegasus and her friends... to say I'm upset is an understatement, but it did feel kinda.. kinda good to get all that out, I guess." Swampfire stated, calming down.

Fluttershy smiled a bit more, rubbing the creature's grassy and rugged back gently. "It's okay, we all have our off days, but we don't let them ruin days that already made us smile." she said, trying to make the creature feel better. The creature slowly got up, and looked back at the ponies, defeated, calmed down, but still feeling like he shouldn't be here right now.

"Listen, I know I was more or less of an ass, but who wouldn't act like that if a piece of them was suddenly torn off? That's like if something lost their horn or a chunk of their wing, but I'm really sorry for acting so rash, I just need to get home and make sure everything's okay. Could you please help me for the time being? I won't try to be any trouble, I just need to get home." Swampfire stated.

"Of course, you must be really worried. We'll have to get back to PonyVille though, that way I can look up what spells can transport you back to your world of origin. Come on, everyone, we have a long trek ahead of us back to town. The sun's starting to slowly set." Twilight said, walking forward as Swampfire followed suite. The other ponies began to follow, but it seems like besides Fluttershy, the other ponies were aware that this creature had somewhere to be, but there was something about it that felt a bit... worrying.

...

Up above, past the planet's atmosphere, was a huge warship. Inside said warship was a tank, with an injured lifeform inside, possibly recovering from some sort of mostly recent attempt on its life. By the creature's side was a smaller creature, who kneeled before the tank.

"My lord, it would seem that the Omnitrix has been transported down to the planet below, inhabited by these Equestrians. Should I go down and fetch the Omnitrix for you, my liege?" The alien asked, its voice being high pitch, sounding wimpy, but with conviction. The creature in the tank snarled and gurgled something that wasn't coherent, but the smaller kneeling alien seemed to understand what it had 'said' in a way.

"Of course, my liege. These species could wipe me out if I underestimated them," The alien stood up, and pressed a button on some type of console, activating a remote controlled shock to several bipedal lifeforms who then stood at attention. "You heard your master, send down a couple receiver drones, let them collect data on where this device up and went." The alien stated. The other lifeforms started to type in commands within their stations as several drones on the outer end of the ship started to deploy and maneuver down to the planet.

All while this is happening, a stallion with a short slicked back mane and a tan colored coat with goggles and a lab coat watches on from afar, and can only wonder how things might play out.

...

Back on the planet's surface, the sun has begun to set, and the ponies were not anywhere close to being even a third of the way back. Rainbow Dash landed and relaxed a bit to give her wings a break as the beading sun's setting light dims more and more.

"Well, there's a likely possibility that we might get attacked at night, timberwolf sightings have been up quite a bit, but we also can't just keep goin' around in the dark. We need to stop and set up a camp for now." Applejack stated, trotting over to a couple trees and started to size them up.

"Oookay then... I guess with my natural control over anything plant-like, maybe I can use that as a way to make the site a bit more homey." Swampfire stated, moving over to a rocky mountain wall, and decided to place his hands onto the wall itself, slowly letting his fingers and his hands unravel and puncture the granite, feeling like he's got a grip on whatever Swampfire could do, the vines began to intersect and twist and tie together, and with a powerful pull, a slanted rectangular portion of the mountain had collapsed into pebbles and other various rock types, with a bunch of his vines holding the opening together without much effort. Swampfire tore away from the vines, letting his hands and fingers regrow and retie together before looking over to the ponies, and stepping out of the way.

"Uh... Mares first? Is that really how it goes, like ladies first but it's replaced with mares?" Swampfire mumbled to himself as he and the other ponies heard a powerful crack echo out, seeing a couple trees fall over with Applejack smiling proudly.

"A hard day's work is never done." Applejack said, slowly rolling the toppled trees over to the opening Swampfire had made, while he started to strip off the tree bark easily due to his enhanced strength. Swampfire made a circle on the ground with a few of the rocks, and tore a couple pieces of loose wood and moss off of his body, chucking it into the middle of the circle as it sparked into a small flame, illuminating the inside of the rocky site. As the ponies watched as a few apples began to slowly take in heat from the fire, one minor gripe was beginning to make the ponies feel a bit sick.

"Peew! I think there might be a skunk or two nearby, because somethin' smells downright awful! Smells worse than Fertilizer set on fire in a Hemp House floatin' on a bog in a swamp!" Applejack said aloud, lightly chuckling as she covered her muzzle with her hat.

"Good gracious, what is that horrid stench!? It's killing me!!" Rarity exclaimed, fainting onto the hard smooth rocky floor. Swampfire, who was sitting a good couple feet behind the ponies was smelling himself, obviously aware of the fact that the smell is coming off of him.

"Heheh... sorry, this is just a natural smell that uh.. that we secrete, we don't normally smell like fresh flowers or air freshener." Swampfire stated, smiling sheepishly.

"We? As in like, there's more of what you are? I guess it makes sense, if there's one Alicorn, there's bound to be another, but maybe like Alicorns, you're a rare species. Tell me, what is it that you are exactly, and does that thing in your chest contribute to anything about your natural growth?" Twilight inquired. Swampfire's smile faded, but he looked into the open part of his chest, seeing the Omnitrix.

"It's a bit of a complicated story about this thing. Listen, I need to get some sleep, so I'll be back here, trying to draw away the foul smell, so you six can rest... and let's just say if I don't look anything like I did today, then you'll have seen me in my normal state of being... which also means I will have some explaining to do, if you don't up and attack me right away." Swampfire stated. Swampfire tore a couple seeds from his body, tossing them up as he grew thick, but maneuverable moss curtains to conceal himself as he started laying down, trying to fall asleep.

Twilight looked at the curtains and back at her friends. "So, judging by what he just said, he can change into what he was normally... does this seem a bit off to you girls?" The unicorn asked. The ponies looked at each other, and Rainbow Dash spoke up, standing on all four of her hooves.

"Twilight, do you think he's a changeling? Those love draining bug weirdos? He's eluding that he can change his shape, but there's gotta be something else he wants, or we might get ambushed in our sleep." Rainbow stated, looking back at the curtains.

"If he is a changeling, we need to know if something truly is wrong, but if he isn't, then we should at least try to understand where he's coming from, or where he did come from, to be exact." Twilight said. She used a magic spell to dim the light of the campfire as the ponies started to drift off to sleep. As the ponies blissfully drift off and succumb to slumber, they don't notice the sound of something losing power, and a flash of red light from behind the mossy curtains as Leon returned to his human form, still sleeping.

Further away from the campsite, a few humanoid figures look across the fields and towards the campsite, one individual smiling as they backed away into the shadowy darkness of the trees enveloped by the night sky.