It was a quiet night in the village of Ponyville. Not a single noise filled the air besides the regular sound of crickets singing their natural courtship ritual; in essence, it was the perfect night to be resting. That is, unless you were the owner of a bar and had to put up with a group of drunks who refuse to stop (in his words:) until they burst.

Steel Hoof was a one this meter tall, just a little over the average height, with dark blue fur and a short black mane. He was also the bar owner previously mentioned.

The stallion sighed wearily, “I hadn’t planned to have the tent open all night…”

Steel Hoof would never have expected a bunch of ponies to show up and drink till they drop on a damn Monday. A whole night of partying no less, not that he carried why, but apparently they were out due to some love drama he didn’t feel like getting into. Without more to do Steel began to uselessly clean everything on the bar-stand while trying to ignore the group’s conversation, and failing in the process.

“That bitch! How could she do this to me? It was a whole year of relationship and I was ready to take the next step!” Said the pony in the group with tears, but not the only one with clear signs of intoxication bleeding into his voice. “I abandoned myself with that bastard… supposedly my brother…” The pony clenches his teeth to the point where it was almost audible as they ground together.

“Dude, you’ve been repeating that for three hours, forget it! As they say, there’ll always be grass on the mountain right?” The stallion laughed by himself, his joke falling flat on the inebriated crowd.

“Sand, if your attractiveness was based solely on how much grace you generate, believe me that that scrub would become a desert.” Said the third member, with a notable complete lack of grace. “But Sand has a point; leave the past behind, that’s what we’re here for after all. We’re going to leave our sorrows with our old reliable alcohol.” The stallion leaned over and rested a comforting hoof on the depressed pony’s shoulder, “You’re a good stallion Fern, considering the difference in the population? I’m sure that you’ll find someone much better if you give it another try.”

“You don’t understand Shein… He not only left, but he took everything! All the money I had made with my goods and real estate! I lost everything! I have nothing left..! Nothing…” He dropped his head to the table wearily, stewing in resignation.

“Whoah whoa, relax for a moment, really? Surely if he took everything from you, you can report it to the princess’ guard, they’ll help you for sure.” Sand said in a relaxed manner.

Fern sighed again, with his head still on the table. “Not even Celestia or Luna are able to deal with this; they can’t be everywhere at once.” He said as she whipped away tears. “My damn brother is a retired officer, he has plenty of contacts, and I have no proof that it was him, in the end, it’s my word against his. He has so many ponies covering his back, there’s no chance I could get him in court.” Fern grit his teeth and his tone turned dark as he continued, “He didn’t even need the money. The only reason he would’ve done this to me is out of spite…”

“Boy, are you bucked, my friend.” Sand said with indifference and mockery, “I wouldn’t want to be in your place right now.”

Shein frowns, and turns to Sand, “Drop the shit, Sand. Could you have a little empathy here? Bullying and bad jokes isn’t what Fern needs right now.”

Sand looks back with a hint of irony and equal frustration, “You want me to act just like you,” The stallion faked a false clipped laugh, “I’m sorry, I’m not good at lying Shein.”

Fern’s eyes widen as he lift’s head head up from the table and locks his gaze with Sand, “What do you mean?”

Shein’s eyebrows wrinkled even more, “Sand, no-” But he was interrupted

“No, what? Shein?!” Don’t you want me to explain what we clearly did?” Sand shouted, yelling while rising from the table.

Fern felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over him while the two continued to argue. Fern’s mind began to work at one hundred while trying to piece together what the two were implying in their argument. Something clearly important, and different from what he originally assumed.

“CUT IT OUT ALREADY!” Shein took a breath, trying to calm down, “Outside! Let’s go talk outside!” Shein got up from the table while approaching Sand and dragged him out of the bar. Despite the struggles and insults from Sand, Shein still managed to drag the stallion past Steel, who was watching them out of the corner of his eye.

“Poor wretch… Wouldn’t want to be in your shoes… almost make sme want to give you a free drink. Almost.” Steel mumbled to himself as he wiped another perfectly clean glass cup. Ignoring the conversation of the three was unfortunately impossible; listening to all the rubbish that happened to the stallion. Clearly the troubles of the unknown pony was not an anguish to him, but he was aware when life was clearly not on the side of a pony.

Steel grabbed the glass he was cleaning and filled it with a good wine, he set it out to move in the direction of the stallion. “Damn it all, this’ll be my first good deed in months.”

Before heading over to the wilting stallion, Steel moved towards the door where his supposed friends went. “I have seen this too many times to wish it would end well.” The bartender was torn between staying out of it, and stopping whatever was going to happen before making up his mind and moving towards the exit door.

The sound of muffled shouting drifted to Steel’s hearing, “Let me go Shein!”

Sand separated from the other stallion and he shook himself off, cheekily grinning at him. “So are we done with your little show now?” After his mockery he frowns in rage, “I had plans to get out of here as soon as I new his stupid marefriend an away, but no, you had to play at being a good friend and bring us here, and for what fucking purpose!?”

“Fern is my friend, I just wanted to help him feel better…” Shein swallowed saliva while staring at the ground in guilt.

“You consider yourself his friend after this?” Sand scoffed, “You should have thought before accepting his idiot brother’s proposal.” He finished with disdain dripping from his tone.

“He promised me that he would help my sister with the funds to make her restaurant, you know how much is resting on her shoulders from that! If I had to choose between her or Fern, then clearly I know who to choose.” Shein looked up, a stern look of conviction settling onto his muzzle.

“I’d be surprised if your sister ever talks to you if she ever finds out what you did to your friend” He said as he raised a hoof wave off the conversation, “Whatever, I don’t care.”

“Shut up.” Shein slurred, while gritting his teeth.

Steel stepped to the side as Fern stepped up besides him, equally listening to the conversation while wavering, clearly having drunk a too much.

Sand laughed, “I’m not any better than you either, I only hung out with him since he always offered drinks.” A dry chuckle sounded out, “But at least I know where to set a limit; Breaking into his house and taking his money using the trust he placed in you? You are a friend par excellence” Sand said ‘excellence’ like he was from Prance, adding onto the mocking he was doing.

Fern stopped his swaying after hearing the truth. It was what he’d been thinking before it had been confirmed right in front of him. A war waged in his head, everything they had gone through was a lie, his family, his partner, and the friends he had made… was it all just a lie? He always thought that Ponyville was a place where he could truely escape from the falsehood that surrounded the city. The ponies here proved so many things that convinced him that it was worth putting his heart and trust in these ponies…

But the truth hit him with all the force it could.

Fern lowered his head as new tears came out as he began to trod away from the door, feeling serious discomfort in his stomach.

Steel continued listening, “Leave me alone!” Shein shouted, as he clicked his tongue, “I was planning to give him one last outing as friends to cheer him up, but you ruined it.”

Steel missed Shein saying “I’m leaving” as he turned to Fern who was dizzily standing in place. He was worried about the altercation that was likely to follow. He placed a hoof on Fern’s shoulder and asked, “Hey friend, you doing okay?”

A mocking shout from Sand echoed through the door, “Oh! And considering that, you deserve a medal for best friend!”

Fern tried desperately to order his thoughts, but the only thing that resonated in him was the word friend. He persistently tied to calm the feeling that was beginning to burn deep inside, but the damn broke as the word filled her brain.

Friend… Friend, Friend-FriendFRIENDFRIEND

FRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN

Fern shrugged off Steel’s hoof, spun around and kicked open the door. Both Sand’s and Shein’s eyes quickly locked onto him; the stallion's face was practically dead while his red, irritated eyes ejected tears, the pupils frighteningly shrunken and staring straight at Shein.

Shien took a step back as he glanced at the tavern wall, “Fer-n” He stuttered, “Did you hear everything?” He said, the anguished phrase coming out more as a statement than a question.

Fern walked towards Shein without saying a word.

Sand, noticing Fern’s current state, simply turned and subtly moved away from the tavern. This wasn’t his problem anymore, he hadn’t done anything wrong in his eyes, not like Shein had.

Shien, meanwhile, tried to placate Fern as he continued to back away from the stallion’s advance. “Fern, please just listen! I did it for my sister, she’s a very hard working pony.” He lifted a hoof to put in between him and the advancing Fern. “I just thought she deserved more, you understand that right? Friend?”

fRieNd

Something snapped inside Fern, his expression turning wild as he rushed Shein.

“Hey w-!” Fern didn’t let Shein say anything else, the rush turning into a lunge as Fern grabbed Shein by the throat

“BASTARD! I TRUSTED YOU” Fern shouted as he pushed his hooves harder against Shein’s throat. There was no reason left in Fern’s mind. All he wanted was to satiate the feeling that was welling up from his core. The demand to satisfy the vengeance with this pony’s life.

“I-m so-rry-” Shein tried to say as his breath ran out and his strength left him.

“AAAAAAAAAA” Fern kept screaming and pressing until Steel grabbed him from behind while pulling him away from Shein.

Steel Hoof couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was obvious this would end in conflict, but he never imagined that Fern would try to kill his old friend. Such violence wasn’t anything seen or even heard of in the quiet town of Ponyville. It took him a few seconds to compose himself when he returned to reality and jumped forward to pry the stallion off of the other.

Fren writhed furiously in Steel’s grip while Shein began choking and gasping on the ground. “You have to calm down kid! Do you know what you just tried to do!? Do you understand the seriousness of this!?” Steel wasn’t paid enough for this, where were guards when they were needed. There’s none, of course, given that most altercations in this town were minimal and never amounted to anything, plus the presence of the Elements of Harmony meant there was no need to manage a guard post. A rather stupid decision if you asked him, it was always better to be prepared than not, and regret it.

“LET ME GO!” Fern was still fighting to free himself, he couldn’t understand why he was being held back from his revenge. This pony had to get it, had to fill the pit of vengeance that had grown and consumed his mind. There was no other option, all the anger and pain filling his mind directed at the only pony he could direct it at.

Steel applied more force and twisted to send both him and Fern to the ground, causing a cry of pain to ring out from Fern. From there it was easy to keep him down, and Steel turned to speak, “Your name is Shein right? Get up and go get help, I’ll keep him here! Go get the elements or something!” He grunted from exertion, turning his attention back to the thrashing pony full of adrenaline and rage. Without a doubt, this would end up being Steel’s most problematic night in years.

“G-good.” Shein said, standing and trying to regain his composure.

Fern’s mind had long since silenced everything around him. This was how it was all going to end, with Shein escaping, he’d be escorted, tried and convicted of attempted murder. With all of his brother’s acquaintances it was certain that the sentencing wouldn’t be short. If the stallion on top of him wouldn’t’ve stopped him…

From there, any reasoning Fern had broke down into empty rage and loneliness.

“Why?” Fern said, barely whispering while staring up with a blank face.

“Look kid, I know that what’s happening to you is shit, but what you’re doing won’t help. You’re drunk, if you just relax for a moment, your mind will clear.” Steel tried to sound as empathetic as possible.

“I’ll kill them.” Fern said in a whisper. His eyes went from staring off into nothing to focusing on Steel in an instant. Fern’s look was lifeless, filling up with something Steel couldn’t distinguish. “I’ll kill them all.”

Steel blanched as his ears stuck down over his head. Did this pony really just say that? The mere thought of taking a life was such an atrocity, and Fern said it with such conviction and feeling just after trying… Steel shivered as something unnatural came over him; the stallion half considered just letting Fern go and making a run for it when a guttural voice tried to gesticulate some word.

“FF-RII-E-EEN”

Steel shuddered at the sound of the unnatural voice, his eyes going wide as he looked off to the side and saw it. What the hell!? He thought to himself as he began to tremble uncontrollably under the pressure of the gaze the thing was sending him… Monster… There was no other way to describe it. He quickly let go of Fern and stepped away towards Shein, who was frozen in place in terror.

Across the street was an amorphous being that could hardly be considered a pony despite vaguely resembling one. The eyes were abnormally placed in their sockets, black and empty. It was a monster.

None of the three were able to do anything as the monster simply appeared before them, rushing forwards with impossible speed. Steel flinched, thinking it was about to attack, but he bewilderedly watched as the creature grabbed Fern and quickly dragged him away with that same unnatural speed towards the outskirts of town.

Fern’s struggling cry was muffled as he was dragged away, just as quickly as it all started, suddenly the alleyway was plunged into silence. The only thing breaking the empty black surrounding the area was Shein’s hyperventilation. Steel himself was trying to focus on evening out his breathing, the lack of the monster's presence slamming him with the unnatural state his own body had taken without his permison.

Shein began to shout in fear, eventually turning to try and run just before Steel grabbed his tail. “Stop! Boy! Listen to me, go find the Elements, get a search team!”

“That-” Shein was cut off by Steel’s intense shout

“JUST DO AS I TELL YOU!” Steel turned again towards the direction Fern was dragged away in, his eyes tracking the gouge in the dirt up and into the dark. “That’s towards the Everfree.” He said to himself as he began to gallop along the trail. “This is stupid! I’m going to rescue a criminal from a monster?” His instincts fought against his will, it would have been far easier to turn tail and go find someone else. It couldn’t be a coincidence though. Fern needed help now. He pushed aside his fear and moved as fast as he could to catch up with the creature.

Shein stuttered to himself as Steel disappeared into the darkness. “The Eve- Shit, shit shit SHIT!” he shouted, backpedaling and then running as fast as he could away from the tavern. Whether or not he was going to actually go get help, or just run away, Steel couldn’t know.

Elsewhere, deep within the Everfree Forest

Deep in a cave, a set of candles could be seen subtly illuminating the interior, the humid environment was adorned with sets of tables, artifacts, crystals and runes scattered everywhere the light could reach. In the center, a huge dark crystal stood ominously in front of a circle composed of a series of interlocking runes, carved into the plinth the crystal rested on.

“Lubazi, how much longer do we have to wait?” The first individual was hidden by a robe, looking at the other besides him.

The other sighed. “Don't call me by my name Three. Right now I’m One. You don’t know who may be listening in this strange forest. Also, stop complaining, we don’t have much longer anyways.”

A third robed individual stepped into the candlelight, “We’ve been planning this for days.”

A fourth made themselves present, stepping up next to the third, “We cannot fail.”

One began to speak, addressing the three as he flipped through a series of pages in a book resting on the table. “If the records of king sombra investigation are correct, then everything will be fine.”

“With our success, we will bring a new era of greatness for all of Zebra kind!” Three said enthusiastically. “We will be the pride of our race.”

“Don’t get over excited Three. Although it’s clear King Sombra went into the Zebra Realm in search of information for his experiments, the records are still incomplete” One said stoically.

The group, now revealed to be Zebras, debated the veracity of the king’s records. Within them, the King recounted the way in which he obtained his powers, and the coordinates of multiple dark crystals that, according to his writings, were the very same crystals he used to curse the whole of the crystal empire, and erase it from time.

Unlike the rest of the species on Equus, Zebras didn’t have anything special to make them stand out. Griffon’s had the dexterity and strength in flight along with their industrial society and handle of metallurgy and chemical sciences. Minotaurs were by far the strongest living organism on the planet, capable of feats of strength far outpacing any of the other species.

And as for ponies? They shone for their versatility, they carried with them the strength of the earth, the power of the sky, and the infinite creation that came with manipulating magic. Add this to the existence of Alicorns that united all such powers into a single being? Three of which exist, two of them currently control the sun and moon with merely their will.

Yes, it wasn’t a favorable situation for the Zebras. The feeling of inferiority was constantly clinging to their beings and digging into their culture. The Zebras remembered the ancient era well despite the suspicious lack of history, hidden by the princesses and their thousand year rule. For Zebras, those times before the emergence of Harmony were unforgettable. It was a constant war for resources and territory, a war in which the Zebras lost, due to their simple lack of ability.

With the birth of Princesses Celestia and Luna, along with the rise of Harmony, they managed to put an end to the war using simple overwhelming power and changing the nature of the world to provide equity, and suitable land for the development of each race. With the new peace imparted by the princess came an era of plenitude, at least for most races, but for the Zebras, it was only a demonstration of their weakness. They had to depend entirely on the charity of others to thrive. If it weren’t for the princesses themselves, the Zebra species would not have endured.

“I said don’t rush Three.” One said, slowly becoming more agitated. “There are still things to understand, we should review what we’re doing. Two, explain to us once again how the crystal works.” He commanded, hoping that if they went over all the information again, they could spontaneously come up with new ideas.
Two nodded, and began to speak. “The crystal is a solid amalgam of dark magic that is anchored to the physical plane, as well as to the immaterial plane. Think of it like an apple. If you cut it open, the inside oxidizes, and begins to rot; though since the apple is also present in the immaterial plane it cannot come in contact with the air, and so, doesn’t rot. The forces upon the crystal force it to remain in its natural state, I’ve theorized that it is only orthogonally present within th-”

“Can you stop rambling already and get to the point!?” Three whined impatiently.

Two spared a blank look for the Zebra, then shook his head. “To summarize, the crystal is present in two dimensions simultaneously. It’s more complex than that, but you get the idea.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard. If this-” Three pointed at the crystal, “-is in two dimensions, it’s an absolute that the King’s power was sourced from this, other dimension, using the crystal.” Three says, full of dumb confidence.

Finally deciding to include themselves in the conversation, Four began to spin a theory. “The stories hint at that, in order to survive the sisters’ attack, king sombra unleashed a curse on the crystal empire, and in doing so, both he and the entire empire disappeared; perhaps they were taken to that non-physical plane that you mentioned Two. It would explain why when they returned, the Empire was simply untouched by the hundreds of years that had passed.”

“That only confirms it, if the crystal is able to take things from here, why wouldn’t it be able to bring things too?” Said One, filled with determination.

“It’s not that simple. As I said, it’s not in another dimension as such, but is outside of all dimensions. If we want to bring something, we first have to know where to bring it from. The crystal will act as a hook that catches what we need, but we need to do it right.” Two monologued as he trotted into the Book of sombra Records. “My theory is that the king sombra used his dark magic as an anchor to search for something similar so that the crystal could bring it to him; with the innumerable dimensions, there would have to be a massive signal of energy. Something so great that it was able to reach both ends of an infinite path. Therefore to be dragged into our world, those conditions perhaps… Manifested themselves one thousand years ago, allowing the King to achieve his mission.” Two finished. His theory hang in the air as the group mulled it over.

“And it turns out that recently, one of the crystals gave off a similar signal. When we discovered it, the Zebra ruler wasted no time looking for a way to get at that power. In case anyone forgot, that’s why we are here. This crystal is the King’s legacy in this world.” One frowned, “but in order to use the crystal, we need the anchor. The King did it with dark magic, of which we lack the ability to effectively channel.”

Three growled in frustration, “So can we, or can’t we do it? Because I didn’t come to this Celestia abandoned cave just to go sightseeing!” He stomped, seething.

“We can’t use magic… But the ponies can.” Two emphasized, stepping over to another table and pointing to the runes, “These runes were designed by King Sombra and emanate his particular energy. Their records indicate that to use them, you must come into contact with the aura that they give off; then you will experience incredible negative visions, when that happens, a creature will manifest and fulfill a simple order that you have indicated in the rune.”

Four got back into the conversation. “A few hours ago, I sneaked into the village of Ponyville and placed a rune in the furthest place from the largest groupings of ponies. The Zeba queen bribed one of the Equestrian guards with the aim of disrupting the life of a pony. The moment that happens, the runes will manifest the creature, it will abduct the pony and bring it here by tracing the signature of the matching runes here.”

“We’ll use the magic generated by the pony. Use them as the anchor and once the signal manifests in the crystal, we’ll be able to open the path, and reach what’s on the other side.” One lifted his robe, revealing a series of potions and artifacts, “The Queen spared no expense, we have the best equipment to deal with anypony that is pulled to us. From the best unicorn soldiers possible we have plenty of provisions to contain and control them for a couple of minutes.”

As if it were the work of fate, the runes began to glow and flicker, the group turned their gazes to the runes, alert. “Good! How opportune, did you practice that little boss?” Three said in amusement, flicking his tail at One to annoy him.

One set his jaw and grit his teeth, “Disrespectful mare, if it weren’t for your skill in combat, I would never have brought you.” Said One in a whisper, deciding to ignore his partner's words. “Everyone get ready! They will arrive at any moment. We must act swiftly, we don’t know when or for how long the crystal will be ready!”

Everyone began to take positions, making their way towards the mouth of the cave.

Three laughed anxiously, “Finally, I was beginning to think this was a waste of time.” She galloped from the cave, following the other robed figures.

“Doesn’t that damn thing get tired?!” Steel gasped as he tried to keep up with the creature currently successfully absconding with an abducted pony. At some point during the chase, the pony had been rendered unconscious.

Steel’s mind was going wild trying to maneuver through the trees and underbrush as he thought. What am I even supposed to do if that thing stops? I don’t think I can fight it if just looking into the eyes freezes me in place.

It had been minutes since they had left the village, and they were only going deeper and deeper into the Everfree forest. When they had come to the threshold of the dangerous place, he had hesitated again but rallied instead and continued his pursuit. Steel thought that sooner or later, some Everfree creature would attack them, perhaps for food, or just to defend their territory; yet he noticed as he charged through the underbrush, the lurking green and red eyes of monsters in the dark flickering away as the monster he was chasing passed them by.

Even the Everfree animals don’t want to get close to that damn thing and I’m chasing it!

As he continued to think, Steel’s agitated heartbeat only grew more erratic. He shook his head and recomposed himself. He had to calm down, his goal was only to track them, not to fight the thing. He just had to find out where it was taking the pony, then if it gave him the opportunity he would grab the stallion and try to sneak back to the village. Otherwise he would leave the forest and wait for help to arrive and guide them to Fern.

If that pony Shein went to get help that is. If not, Steel would have to handle that himself. If he went to get help, that makes thirty minutes to leave and get them back, if not, it’ll take nearly an hour. An hour this stallion may not have.

The creature continued to run and jump from tree to tree, performing acrobatics sickeningly impossible for a body like that. Ten minutes had passed, and taking into account the speed at which they were galloping, the distance the creature had moved at impossible speed implied that it simply wouldn’t ever stop.

Upon reaching a large crossroads of rocky mountains on the other side of a lake, the creature jumped from another tree branch and used it’s leg like a hook to latch onto another branch. It spun itself around in a circle until it was practically a blur, then lept, breaking free and shooting across to the other side of the lake, and continuing its cimlb up the mountain.
Steel planted his hooves on the ground before touching the water, with obvious exhaustion filling his tone, he followed the creature with his gaze as it climbed up the side of the mountain. “I don’t remember mountains so close to Ponyville.” He said between gasps, “How far did we go?!” He looked at the lake and moaned in frustration.

I’ve already come this far.

He jumped into the water and began to paddle his way across, wishing to Celestia that he would make it in time.

“Didn’t they say that this thing was created by King Sombra himself? An evil, taken directly from Tartarus?” Three was outside the cave, standing around with an irritated look, waiting for the arrival of the much-acclaimed creature of darkness. “For being a monstrous force of evil, it’s pretty slow. How long have I been out here anyways?” A slight growl came from her mouth, “I hate to be kept waiting.” She mumbled to herself.

Three, or better known as Lendary, at first thought that this mission would be much more exciting than it turned out to be. She didn’t understand why they brought her; she wasn’t a nerd like the other three. She stood out for her skills in alchemy and hoof to hoof combat. Being one of the most promising Zebra soldiers in the country, she was perfectly capable of dealing with crowds, and could even beat a handful of earth ponies easily due to her sheer skill combined with her talent for potions.

She would bet she could even take on a Minotaur.

That’s why when she was summoned by the Zebrican ruler and assigned to, according to her own words, ‘the most important mission in the history of Zebrica’ she was alramingly excited. A mission that would go at the top of the history books! Requested by the queen herself. Who would refuse something like that? She thought it would be an exciting battle in search of glory and military success.

Instead, their mission was simple. Go into the pony lands and find an ancient artifact created by the most sinister pony in history. Protect these old fools while they did their crazy scientist things.

She kicked a hoof at the dirt. “We just sneak into a village, arrive at the Everfree forest, the runes chase away anything interesting from the forest, and we arrive at the cave just to spend days doing nothing.” She moaned, bored, barely keeping herself focused by going over everything that happened in her head. The process only seemed to generate more irritation. “What a disappointment. I’m an elite soldier, not a damn security guard. This better be worth it, or I swear I’ll resign.”

As she continued with her complaints of the mission, in the distance he could hear her rapid footsteps thanks to the echo of the mountain. Lendary put her gripes aside and concentrated on the sound by swiveling her ears in the direction of it.

There, on top of a large rock in the distance, was an amorphous and aberrant creature climbing. The being jumped quickly off the rock and continued its run towards the location. Lendary bristled slightly while adopting a fighting stance while arming herself with potions and weapons alike. Just as she was about to attack, she realized the monster was carrying something. Once she could make out the pony slung over its back, she realized what it was.

Too stunned to react, the creature passed by her without looking at her, as if it had not even noticed her. It rushed past and into the cave.

Lenary sighed. “So it finally came. No doubt something like that could only have been created by king sombra.” She only had a split second next to it, but the thing gave off a suffocating aura she could barely describe. She began to move towards the cave entrance. “Well I hope they don’t expect me to sit out here and play guard dog. Let’s see what’ll come of this.”

“Shit!” Steel growled and grunted with effort as he tried to find footing on the mountain, having hooves didn’t make it any easier. After a several tortuous moments, he reached the top and continued galloping in the direction he thought the monster was headed.

He continued until he came across a large rock with holes and claw marks covering the rock. Obvious indication that something had been past here recently. After he went around it, he found in the distance a deep cave. Through the dark he watched a robed figure carelessly trot inside.

Was that a pony? Steel thought to himself, incredulous, The monster had to have entered there, what the hell is going on?” Steek took a few seconds to lie on the ground and catch his breath. I knew something was wrong about all of this. Those ponies did something to that stallion, sent that monster to abduct him, did something to his mind.

Steel stood again, taking a breath of air as he slowly and cautiously advanced towards the cave. He stopped right at the entrance. Am I about to risk my life for a stranger? Come on Steel, what do you have to gain by playing the hero? You know where they’re hiding, just go get someone else and they can take care of it.

He wondered why he cared so much to risk his life for a pony he'd barely spoken to, but the words of the stallion rang in his mind.

“I lost everything. Now I have nothing left… Nothing”

Steel’s jaw set and a determined look came over his face as he entered the cave with a firm but stealthy step. “I’ve lost everything too.”

As he continued into the cave, hugging close to the wall and hiding in the shadows, he began to notice several details. This place didn’t seem natural, coated in strange darkness that clung to spiraling patterns that pierced the walls. This place gives me the chills. At the end of the path, the corridor turned right where dim light emanated from, along with the telltale sounds of conversation. Voices drifted through the wet cave air from deeper inside.

Apparently the pony he saw entering the cave early was not alone, he silent;y stuck to the wall and glanced sideways at the room, taking sight of the tables and tools, but mostly, being drawn to the massive ominous black crystal dominating the room. His eyes and ears swiveled to focus on the four figures conversing with each other along with Fern, unconscious in the center of a circle of runes carved into the floor.

Steel saw the inside of the hood, and the unmistakable black and white stripes. Zebras?! What are they doing so far away from their lands? I thought the only Zebra in the area was Zecora? Steel tried to understand what purpose these Zebras had in Ponyville. Did they come from somewhere else? Did they infiltrate Ponyville? Where the hell was the monster? The questions only increased more, deciding to simply listen for answers, he focused his attention to the conversation with the Zebas.

When Lendary arrived at the crystal’s room, she was surprised to not find the creature. Her eyes glanced around, searching for any remnants of it. “Hey, what did I miss? What happened to the… Thing?” She continued her futile search. Mindlessly picking up a book just in case the monster had shrunk down to hide beneath it.

“Relax Three, didn’t you listen to anything I said? The amalgam is only born to fulfill a single order, after that, it can’t maintain its form and fades away.” That’s why king sombra considers them failed experiments, they requirements are too high for what they can produce.” Two admonished, irritated by the lack of the soldier’s attention.

“The amalgam of what?” Asked the mare, bored, the technicalities were definitely not her expertise.

Two rolled his eyes. “The thing.” He replied simply.

“Well why didn’t you just say that from the damn beginning?” She commented as she approached the unconscious pony. “Well? We have our anchor, now what? I swear if we have to spend another damn week living like moles I’m going to-”

“Stop complaining Three! You’re driving my crazy!” One interrupted, “Two! It’s time we get ready.” He said, raising his voice. One and Four approached the circle of runes where the pony remained in the center. From their robes, they took out magic crystals in the shape of thorns and nailed them down over the runes.

The instant they stuck the crystals into the ground, all of the runes lit intensely, drowning out the candlelight. the big crystal began to vibrate, and Two slowly approached and placed himself in the middle of both of them. From the crystals, a beam of vibrant light was abruptly released directed at the head of Two. Slowly the circle of runes formed a dome that caused the unconscious pony to begin levitating in the air. Two closed his eyes and waited calmly, after a long fifteen seconds, the Zebra’s eyes snapped open to be greeted to a completely white emanating light.

Lenary was impressed by the display of energy coming from the glassy crystals. “This is what they meant when they said ‘something that would change history.’” Said the soldier equipped with a euphoric smile. It was easy for her to appreciate the impressive display of power.

So absorbed in her surroundings, she wasn’t able to catch the sound of the muffled scream from behind her.

Steel had already frozen in the presence of the monster, this? This was different, it took all of his will not to scream, a heavy hoof pressed tightly into his own mouth as to not reveal himself to the group.

This is MADNESS! It was so much pressure that it made his legs tremble. What are they going to do to that pony! Celestia’s sake! What am I supposed to do now!?

Ignoring everything happening around him, Two began to lose consciousness. Rather, his consciousness was being pulled into the immaterial plane. When the sensation of transition ceased, Two opened his eyes, or would have if he had eyelids, or eyes to begin with. Here, he had no such features, no body. Only his mind.

It was exactly as he had theorized, something, somewhere, at the same time as nothing at nowhere. It was indescribable with words. It was empty, but at the same time it was full, his mind was simply not able to comprehend the higher dimension totally alien to the natural laws of his own home plane of existence, with its measly things like physics, time and three dimensional space.

Two would have loved to stay and investigate this place more, but he knew he had a task to do and set about doing it. Determined, he concentrated again and tried to spread his consciousness everywhere in search of the energy. Being in this higher plane of existence allowed the action to be just that simple, he was connected to everything, every existing location at every point in time. He had to hurry to find it lest the spell collapsed around him, or his mind simply homogenized with the infinite worlds crashing against his will. The time passing didn’t matter, he only knew that when the pain came, he would have to cut the connection immediately, but his building doubt cut short when he finally felt it.

Two wasted no time and connected with the desired dimension. In doing so, he was slightly aware of the world around him in a strange alien way, looking down from infinity was, in a word… Advanced. Lot’s of giant buildings and lights shining as far as his eyes could see, it was a place that even the most revolutionary inventions of the greatest minds could never match.

Author's Note

I just realized I didn't change this part.

I wanted to tell you that to avoid errors in the writing I asked a fic editor for help.

Not only does it help me translate (because I don't speak English) and improve my writing, it also helps me with its structure.

so this work is a collaboration of both. His name is noobblue.
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/335044/Noobblue

He has much more experience in fics, plus he has his own.

They are short and quite interesting stories, so I would appreciate it if you would also take a look at their work.

No more to say, I say goodbye.