Courage Unknown

Chapters

The Twilight
The Dusk
The Night
The Dawn

The Twilight

Twilight awoke and raised her head. Her vision was a bit blurry, and she smacked her tongue and lips to wipe away the dry-tongued fuzzy feeling.

Around her and snuggled up to her and one another were her very best friends - Applejack slept with her spine against Twilight's - Rarity slumbered comfortably with her head resting on Applejack's shoulder - Fluttershy was curled in a tight ball against both Rarity's and Applejack's flanks as she made almost inaudibly quiet snores - Rainbow Dash was snuggled against Twilight's shoulder - and sprawled impossibly over them all was Pinkie Pie, who mumbled in her sleep something about applesauce and how it grew on special grape-flavored rocks.

As her vision sharpened and she very gently untangled herself from her friends, Twilight saw the purple tail of her Dragon Friday and Number One Assistant, Spike, draped over the edge of his bed above the library's main floor. Given that the drink cups and snack plates were gathered on the central table, along with Rarity's glasses (no doubt lovingly - even reverently - placed at the center of the table) it was evident that, once again, Twi' and her friends had chatted and giggled their way into the wee hours of the night, fallen asleep, and left Spike to do a bit of tidying up before bed.

Fortunately, Spike didn't in the least mind when this happened. He enjoyed these get-togethers as much as the six ponies did. Well he should, as each pony considered the baby dragon to be as much a friend as any of the other mares were to one another, his presence not merely tolerated, but fully and lovingly accepted.

Twilight made sure Spike's blankets were properly tucked in around him, giggling ever so slightly at the glimpse of the aqua blue Tourmaline gem Rarity had given him as part of his reward for a job well done helping her collect gems - and then rescuing her from those odd Diamond Dogs.

Feeling refreshed and fully awake from a good brushing, Twilight glided to the kitchen to start on breakfast. Smells of very basic - but none the less delicious - breakfast foods crept in to tickle the noses of the five sleeping mares.

Soon the library was alive with sound and activity as the friends went about gathering themselves for the day. Rarity and Applejack sniped playfully at one another. Fluttershy brushed her mane luxuriously. Pinkie Pie bounced merrily to the kitchen, intent on making sure everyone got a muffin for their breakfast. Rainbow Dash tried to do stretches and limbering for her morning exer-flight, but it was obvious to all who could see that "awake" had not quite yet been achieved.

Soon the six friends were chatting and having their fill of breakfast. Twilight found herself watching her friends, found herself feeling the warmth in her heart grow a tiny bit more. She had studied powerful magic her whole life, thinking it to be the ultimate thing in the universe. Thank Celestia (ever so literally) she had discovered friendship and it's vastly more important magic!

Many leagues north of Canterlot, nestled between two mighty mountains, a magic research center sat. It's halls were filled with magic users of all sorts. Unicorns mostly, but with a few rare earth ponies, pegasus, griffins and buffalo who had learned to tap the ley lines that was magical power. Really, only dragons were not represented here, as they had their own magic and were possessive and secretive about it.

In one of the older labs, among the original buildings tucked deeply into the vale, an older unicorn with a dark blue coat and dark gray mane, scowled at the scroll held by glowing horn before him.

"Again." he grumbled.

"What?" His young assistant asked, really knowing full well what had his mentor upset.

The older unicorn turned to glare at the brown-pelted red-maned young unicorn.

"You know full well." He said - as it was obvious. "Princess Celestia has ordered we stop our research again, pending another of her reviews."

"Well, ", the younger said, "we know why. We are doing some potentially dangerous work here. It makes sense to be cautious!"

"Bah." The older spat. "There is caution, then there is fatuous paralysis."

The younger shook his head. "You know we need to..."

"I know nothing of the sort! There isn't the slightest evidence that what I do here poses any extraordinary threat." He snorted and stomped a hoof. "Celestia is merely afraid to discover that hers is not the only world!"

"This again?" The younger near-whispered.

"I tire of this re-hash." The older said, words dripping with disdain. "Go home. I will inform you when - if! - we are allowed to return to our research."

The younger cocked his head. It was new and especially strange to see him acquiesce so quickly to this kind of order. Last time he'd fought for weeks before finally having to give in. Still, home early! He had been looking forward to playing the new magical game "Luna Scrolls: Groundrim". He waffled for a moment, concerned for this odd behavior, but really wanting to play instead of be responsible.

"OK. Bye!" To hell with the batty old unicorn.

It was not like any of the other letters Celestia had sent to Twilight. It was not personal in the least, purest business.

Twilight had been ordered to study a particular - and decidedly peculiar - branch of magic she had only touched on before. One that was - at the very most - a postulate that this was not the only possible universe. That not only were there other possible cosmos, but that those could be visited.

To call the idea controversial would be to seriously understate the matter. There were wizards who held it as fact that there were no alternate universes. Others who thought it was plausible, but visiting one would by the nature of these muliverses be impossible. It was a rare one indeed that thought both were true.

This made studying the work done fairly easy, as there was so little to study. The first work had been done before Celestia and Luna had become Equestria's leaders. Mage Skycanter had discovered that the ley lines tended to be arranged not around the celestial body that he stood upon, but around a center that itself moved about. From this he postulated an outside force, and that force had to emanate from someplace.

Twilight was very surprised to find some very serious study of this phenomenon had been done by a very young Princess Luna. She had discovered that it was possible to tap directly into this center, opening a gateway into unimaginable power. The princess also concluded, however, that despite having the sense that this could bridge worlds, there was no actual evidence for those other worlds, and the power was terrifically dangerous in itself, the slightest misstep releasing waves of destruction. She abandoned the research for being too dangerous and unethical a pursuit.

There were later peeks at the idea - vastly more cautious in light of Luna's research. Each time someone managed to tap the center, more evidence would be gained of its source and each time it would appear to be from outside their world. Each time the center was tapped, the experiments were abandoned because the destruction was impossible to contain. Usually it was just some ruined lab equipment, or part of a building. But, sometimes ponies died, or worse.

For a very long time there was nothing but theoretical research into the phenomenon. Experimental confirmation was largely considered unethical at best. But as wizards began to have a real grasp of how magic worked - began to have a real understanding of the underpinnings of the universe itself - this ley-center became increasingly important to that understanding.

Recently there had been one old wizard who had chosen to start confirmation experiments again. He was considered a bit of a fire-brand at best, and eccentric and even outright crazy in some corners of the wizard world. Sorcerer Raik Leeves was insistent that he had found a way to control the power of the center. The long safety record of his experiments suggested that he had indeed found a way. In the record Twilight had access to - which was a few years old - he had tapped the center no fewer than 14 times without incident. He likely would have run other experiments since.

Luna had counseled her sister to pause the experiments, having others (and herself) go over the findings and raw data. They had to be sure there weren't other effects. Luna and Celestia both were satisfied that Raik and his graduate student assistant were taking proper and effective steps for safety, and allowed him to continue - three times.

Twilight was utterly amazed by the raw data. Without peer review and independent verification it wasn't possible to claim knowledge, but what the data suggested was astonishing. Infinite alternate universes. Universes where magic only expressed itself as a weak nuclear force. Universes where magic was the sole force. Universes that could support pony-like life!

All being fed by this one central bit of... nowhere. This center that was not in a place, didn't have location unless it was viewed from within a universe.

It was a difficult concept to grasp. But the maths made any other conclusion nonsensical.

Twilight could only come to one conclusion herself as to why Celestia wanted her to look into this. Those experiments were ongoing, and something about them or some data to come from them changed things. A cusp had been reached, and Twilight was certain she knew how to deal with that.

"Spike?" Twilight called out to her friend.

"You rang?" Spike said as he entered the study room, using what Twilight considered a very adorable impression of the "master butler" that Spike had been playing at lately.

"Time for a letter to Celestia."

Princess Celestia read aloud from the parchment that had arrived in the traditional puff of green flame and light smoke. Her sister listened intently.

"...so it is my opinion is, if these other, alternative universes do exist then it is supremely dangerous to open a doorway to one at random. The differences must by definition include reversals of charge in matter among other potentially reactive changes where simple contact could be catastrophic. This is significant over the problem of loosing uncontrolled energy from the ley-center during portal openings.

"However, there is a way to mitigate the danger, if the portal can be controlled to only allow vision to pass (Please see attached standard grimoire notations), in this way the researcher can decide on the compatibility between our universe and whichever universe has been accessed.

"Limiting the reach of the fist doorways would, if my calculations are correct (again, please see the attached standard grimoire notations), help make sure the alternative universes are similar to our own, further reducing the risks involved."

Celestia looked up inquisitively at her sister, who had been going over the notation Twilight Sparkle referred to.

"It is obvious why you chose her as your pupil." Luna remarked. "She seems to have an innate feel for the magic as well as the theory."

Celestia nodded, the glimmer of pride in her eye obvious.

"'Tia, when I experimented with this... I really can not describe the sheer power involved."

"I remember all to well. I don't think I've ever been as frightened as the day your experiment unexpectedly gave us Long Hoof Ravine." Celestia bowed her head thoughtfully. "As we know more about magic, this becomes more and more important... Luna, it is inevitable we will have to face this one day. Right now Raik Leeves has managed to further this arm of research faster and safer than any other, his assistant is level-headed, and a strong influence for caution. The only other living pony in the world who can understand this level of magic has just told us there are further ways of keeping this safe. I fear if we stop this now, it could be generations before the opportunity again arises."

Luna bit on her lower lip, and returned her gaze to Twilights calculations. After a few moments she sighed.

"I take your point. I say we look at Raik Leeve's lab one last time, to be sure the magical wards are in place and still strong. If so, then allow Raik to continue. How say you, dear sister?"

Celestia nodded. "I agree. Scribe? We have a letter to send!"

Raik rumpled the scroll with a flash of red-hued magic.

"What gives them the right to bring in anyone else to judge my work!?" He snarled. "What gives them the right to threaten to halt my research on foalish 'safety inspections'!?"

He trotted out of his office and past the 'keep out' tape across his lab door.

"I decide what becomes of my work!"

He came to a short, skidding stop at the center of the arcane mural on the lab floor. His presence made the many defensive wards light up, growing in power to contain the energies of the ley-center.

"I'll show them the real data. They can't help but be convinced if I have even the merest sample from another world to show them." He concentrated, his horn glowing now in the red hue of his personal magic.

"And to hell with Sparkle's insipid suggestions. Only the most remote and bizzare universes hold the evidence I seek."

With that, he sent magic out to the huge arcane murals that surrounded the center of the room. They glowed bright red with his magic, then lightened, becoming white with the pure power of the ley-center.

Raik muttered words in an ancient tongue, guiding these energies into the shapes he needed, shapes with width, height, depth, and dimensions there were no words for. Raik felt the portal take shape, then hook into a new reality. It felt bizarre. Indescribable.

"At last!" He found himself saying, quite against the safety protocols he had written.

Raik quickly returned to casting the spell.

The tiniest opening formed at the lab's center. Raik risked a look and adored what he saw. Red and orange light flickered through the portal, a smell like hydrogen sulfides and hot metals. He took a cautious step forward to the edge of his protective circle.

Through the keyhole he could see a new world. It was brightly lit, and there was movement. He wondered it it was life, and if so, might it be intelligent?

He glided over a sampling container, and positioned it near the portal. Concentrating hard, he urged a bit of the surface of that world slowly through. Just the tiniest sliver of... well, dirt might be the closest analog.

As it settled into the container, he brought the top over and sealed the container with it.

Success!

Setting the sample down, he began to relax the flow of energy from the ley-center. The portal began to shrink, exactly as he postulated it would. He had just become the first wizard ever to open a portal to another universe, retrieve a sample, and safely close the portal.

He allowed himself to bask in his success for a moment, imagining the adulation, the reward that would be showered on him. With a smile, he thought to make sure his assistant was treated as well - he knew much of his progress came form the young unicorn's natural sense for caution and his sense for finding ways to make things work.

Raik startled from his reverie. The room had impossibly gotten brighter.

The arcane murals on the walls were dark. They no longer tapped any energy at all. Yet the portal was open still, and wider. Much wider.

Something reached through it. It was like a Gryphon's grasping talon, only seeming to be made of a rough gray clay and with an extra digit. He'd heard of a creature in the far southlands, Zebras called it a "monkey". This was like some horrible, twisted version of a monkey's hand. It gestured, and the portal opened further.

A second hand appeared, then a third and a fourth. The hands seemed to grasp the edges of the portal (Impossible, as it had no edges) and force it open, wider and wider.

Raik found he was without any idea of what to do. He'd never for a moment considered the need to force the portal closed.

The portal was wide enough now that it came dangerously close to his circle of protection. He could clearly see a burning, writhing world that was part chaos, part order. The owner of the hands rose through the portal.

The head was ridiculously like someone had used and ice-cream scoop to plop some dirty gray clay atop the creature's neck. Along the bottom of the scoop thousands of long villus wriggled disgustingly.

As the creature swung the first of eight cloven-hoofed legs into the lab, Raik looked up at the head.

Thousands of tiny, shiny black eyes looked back. Randomly scattered around the entire head. Cold. Hungry.

Terror.

It pounded on his mind like millions of sledgehammers.

Terror.

There was no looking away.

Terror.

His legs buckled. His mind was nothing but a cacophony of screams of abject horror. It produced no more rational thought.

The creature rose to its full height, destroying the roof of the building. It stretched out it's four arms and made a shrill cry. Darkness enveloped the research facility. Faded back to the twilight of the day, only a deep pit left behind.

The Dusk

Twilight Sparkle was a bundle of nervous energy, barely suppressed.

She rode with both of the Princesses of Equestria aboard the large, gold and gem encrusted Sun Chariot, pulled through the air by four powerful armored pegasuses. They were guarded by two well armored and armed pegasuses on each side, forward, left, right, rear, top and bottom.

The sisters chatted quietly about something to do with some other matter of state, leaving Twilight with her thoughts.

Twilight had been to the research facility many times, as a student, an assistant, and later as a researcher. That wasn't the cause for her anxiety.

This time she was along as an official, royal adviser on a mission of inspection.

She was utterly terrified of making a hash of things right in front of not only the Princess of the Moon - whom Twilight respected and was (sadly) still a bit frightened of - but also the Princess of the Sun, her mentor, teacher, friend...

And that she'd have influence of the judgment of a real researcher's work - someone who had spent longer on this line of inquiry than Twilight had lived.

She had to get this exactly perfect.

She stepped over to the edge of the chariot, hoping that watching the landscape would relax her. She recognized it all, of course, having watched it go by under her hooves each trip to the facility - similarly to relax.

She saw they were close to their destination, the land rising up on either side to form the towering mountains that bordered the vale where the research center sat. She looked forward toward the center.

Her head tilted, eyes squinting in concentration. Something was very different. She leaned into the air and let her sharp mind work out what it was.

"Oh, my Celestia." she whispered - the prayer instantly focused the attention of her mentor and teacher on what Twilight saw. "It's gone!"

Luna startled and barked orders to their guard. Their escort closed their formation as the chariot built speed and banked hard toward their new destination, the housing village that stood on the opposite ridge from the research facility.

The turn gave Twilight a clear view of the place where the facility once stood. In its place, a semi-spherical crater gaped before her.

Luna cane to stand by Twilight, also surveying the damage.

"This isn't from the ley-center. Not like Long Hoof Ravine." Twilight observed, speaking up over the rush of air. "This is far too organized."

"I agree." Luna said. "Cast thine eyes to the center of the sphere."

Twilight shifted her focus. It was barely visible to a regular unicorn's eyes - only an alicorn was likely to notice it at this distance. A tiny, dim sparkle of red-orange light.

Luna put a protective wing around Twilight. "Brace thyself. We make a military landing."

Before Twilight had a chance to ask what that meant, the chariot slammed into the ground, it's wheels and axle creaking under the stress. The pegasuses transitioned instantly from flight to a gallop toward the border of the village.

The crater was obscured by rapidly passing trees. With nothing to observe, Twilight's mind was free to fully cognate the gravity of what she had just seen.

An icy shiver ran down her spine, and fear wrapped its cold fingers about her heart.

Had this been an annihilation event? Could it happen again? She drew a sharp breath: Was the gateway still a threat?

Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed with her lavender magic. She reached out cautiously toward the center of the sphere. She could feel it was still charged with magic - but a very alien magic. That magic intensified as her senses approached what she hoped wasn't a portal.

As her senses stretched toward the tiny glimmer, it became obvious that it was, indeed, a portal. She could see the otherworldly landscape through it. She curiously crept up on the portal...

"No!"

Luna's Canterlot Voice command broke her spell, snapping her awareness back to the chariot.

"We can not afford to risk you!" The Princess of the Moon chided her sister's pupil.

"But..." Twilight stammered.

"My sister is right." Celestia said in her most gentle voice. "Until we understand what has happened here, the bearer of the Element of Magic must be protected."

"I..." Twilight's thought went unvoiced, interrupted by a call from the point guards, the chariot slowed and stopped.

"Luna, I think you and Twi' need to inspect the crater. I will go see if Raik and his assistant survived." She brought her head level with her beloved student's "Be so very careful, my Twilight. Do as Luna says. Take no risks."

"Yes, Princess. " Twilight said, simultaneously frightened, proud, and touched.

Twilight was surprised to find Celestia placed a quick but tender kiss on her cheek before leaping gracefully over the edge of the chariot and starting a powerful gallop toward the village - four pegasus guards flying after her.

"Come, young wizard." Luna said to Twilight. "We have work needs attending."

Being referred to as a wizard gave Twilights pride another boost. She followed at the Princess' easy trot toward the crater, surrounded by the watchful eyes of their own royal guard.

Celestia galloped along the gravel road toward the house that Raik Leeves had been assigned. As she and her escort approached the edge of the village, they slowed and approached a sky blue maned, sea green young and small mare unicorn who stood in the middle of the road.

Two of the royal guard landed near the unicorn. Celestia saw they seemed startled - looking at the unicorn, then one another, then giving a glance back to their Princess before returning their attention to their duty.

Celestia approached cautiously.

"What is your name, dear?"

The horned pony stayed as still as when she first saw her. Celestia took several more steps forward. She could make out the poor thing was shivering. Dark streaks flowed down from her eyes.

"Why are you crying, my beloved citizen?"

Celestia grew nearer - and startled. The mare was not crying - her eyes were missing, the dark streaks was her blood.

"Who has done this to you?"

No reply was made - she simply stood and shivered.

Celestia 's horn began to glow with a soft golden light, which reached out and stroked the young unicorn's face. Celestia's consciousness stood at the edge of the mare's. She gently urged she be let in. Even on this level, there was only stillness.

Celestia, worried ever more for this young unicorn, chose to push a bit, set aside the rudeness and terribleness of invading her mind. A crack opened, stuttered then widened. Celestia peered in.

Chaos. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" repeated in the unicorn's own voice. Fear. Denial. Insistence on impossibility. No other thoughts were there. No images, no memories. This insanity had pushed everything else out.

Celestia released the link with the unicorn's mind, deeply unsettled.

"Leave her for now." She instructed. "I fear for the rest of the researchers."

Her escort took to the air again as she passed the ruined, shivering unicorn.

As they crested the last ridge and the village proper spread out before them, Celestia's fears were confirmed.

Ponies were strewn about yards and roads. Some lacked eyes, some had slit their own throats. Some appeared to have died while fighting another pony. They were bloodied, many had been brutally dismembered. There were a few still living, shivering in silence as the mare on the road.

Two of her escort landed near her. "I don't feel this is safe for you, your highness." The lieutenant said, eyes scanning their surroundings.

"No doubt it isn't." the alicorn replied "We press on." She ordered.

They made their way to Raik Leeves home, their path strewn with the the dead and dying.

The lieutenant insisted he be the one to search the house, and Celestia agreed. While he entered, she magicked a piece of parchment from her torque and wrote orders for medical assistance and a small garrison of soldiers to guard the crater. The parchment vanished in a flash of her golden magic.

"The home is empty and undamaged." The lieutenant said, emerging from the house.

Celestia sighed. "To his assistant's, then."

The two royal guards in flight headed down the small road. Celestia trotted after, flanked by her Lieutenant and his colleague. As they moved further from the crater, there were fewer ponies in the street. They rounded a corner, now in sight of the young apprentice's home, Celestia's heart jumped with hope.

A small gathering of unicorn ponies stood in the yard, alert.

"Oh! Thank Celestia!" one cried out without really realizing the irony. The crowd surged toward her - stopped when two guards made a hard landing intended to be intimidating.

It took a moment, but once the crowd all started to bow, the familiar protocol seemed to help them gather their wits.

"I am seeking the apprentice of Raik Leeves." Celestia said, using a gentle but clear voice.

"That would be me." a very young brown-pelted red-maned unicorn stallion said, standing.

"Come to me, please."

The young unicorn suddenly looked nervous, despite having met the Princess before. He walked to her, and she led him a few more steps away from the others.

"Lieutenant? Please see if you can get some idea of what happened here from the citizens?" The pegasus nodded his order and trotted to the crowd.

Celestia turned her attention to the apprentice. "I apologize, my young unicorn. I do not recall your name."

"Cloudy Dawn, your majesty."

"Cloudy, what do you know of what happened?"

"Your majesty. I really don't know anything - I was inside, playing a game. Professor Leeves sent me home while the inspection took place. First I kind of heard a lot of screaming, like from the other side of the housing village. Then there was this really loud bang - it rattled the windows! That's what made me come outside. Um..."

Celestia waited for the unicorn to gather his thoughts.

"My neighbor. He had been tending his garden." The unicorn's voice was unsteady. "I saw him pluck out his own eyes, and snap his own neck. He just kept screaming 'no'." His voice broke, and he began to weep. "I think everyone who was outside went mad, Princess. I think what they saw was more than they could stand."

Celestia put her wing over his shoulders.

"I am sorry, Cloudy Dawn." Celestia spoke softly. "I have to ask, do you think this happened because of Raik's research?"

He nodded, head held low. "I know it, your majesty. I saw the portal. It's almost exactly as he predicted - down to the cross-universal symmetry." He looked up at the princess suddenly. "I wasn't there! He was going to his office during the stoppage. If I'd been there I could have stopped him..."

"No, dear. No. There is no cause to blame yourself, and no way of really knowing if you could have prevented this."

He simply hung his head low.

Celestia worried for the unicorn for a moment, and caressed his side motherly with her wing.

"Wait here." She said, gently.

The Princess trotted over to her lieutenant.

"I want you and two others to stay here and keep these ponies safe." She ordered. "I also want you in command of the garrison. Here is what I need you to do..."

Twilight sparkle ran her hoof over the edge of the crater. It was glassy smooth, as if the crater had been made by perfectly removing the mountainside. Teleportation? She'd seen results like this, albeit on a far smaller scale. But there was no remaining magic. Something this big would have left a magical echo even the least magical pony could sense - but there was simply nothing.

"Pardon me." Twilight idly said as she pushed past her escort. The two burly pegasuses stayed very close to her. They were wound tight, eyes flicking to every sound, and Twilight could not blame them. The massive crater felt as unnatural as it looked, it was oddly upsetting.

Luna had ordered her not to use magic, before she and her guards had flown to inspect the portal. But Twilight felt so blind without it.

Sighing at her own impertinence, Twilight reached out with her magic and explored the crater floor. At the macro level, there was little she didn't already know from looking. It was a clean bowl of rock, broken only by natural fractures. Some water had begun to collect at the bottom.

The closer she looked, and the smaller the scale, the stranger it became. Familiar patterns of matter were... perverted. It was igneous rock, but somehow just a little bit something different. It became increasingly normal the farther from the center she probed, but right at the crater's edge it was so odd.

Twilight expanded her awareness, staying at this microscopic scale. The pattern of this perversion of the rock was not even. There were marks on the bottom. Eight particularly strong marks around the newly forming puddle. They reminded Twilight of goat's hooves, if a goat could stand twenty meters tall. There were similar 'marks", less intense.

Hoof-prints.

Like a giant goat-spider.

Leading toward New Gryphonton.

Twilight reached out for Princess Luna to tell her of her findings... and was shocked out of her magical reverie to find Luna right beside her.

"Princess!" Twilight acknowleged the alicorn with utterly undisguised surprise.

"Twilight Sparkle." Luna said, sounding disappointed. "I ordered that you use no magic."

"I'm sorry." Twilight said in a tiny voice.

"It is for your protection. Please do as I say, Equestria needs you alive and unharmed." The alicorn shook her head as if to shake off a thought. "No use discarding what you have discovered, however. Pray thee tell what you saw?"

Twilight swallowed, and tried to speak clearly. "Something like footprints, Princess. Like the ground itself has been - for want of a better word - perverted a little."

As she described the hoof-prints, Luna's horn glowed with her silvery moonlight magic. Quickly she found what her sister's pupil described.

"An invader." She whispered.

Luna magicked a scroll and quill from her torque. There was a pause as she talked with her sister through that same magic, the conversation complete she quickly wrote orders and teleported the scroll back to Canterlot.

"To the chariot." Luna said, taking off at a canter, twilight taking a brief moment to react and follow.

It wasn't far. Luna announced as they arrived that her sister was near.

Galloping through the forest had been one of Cloudy Dawn's favorite pastimes. Any comfort from familiarity was rendered null, though - following her royal highness and flanked by royal guards was alone enough to make the situation surreal and dreamlike, and this situation had so much more to make it feel unreal.

He saw that they approached the Moon Princess and things just seemed even more unreal. Behind her two bat-winged pegasuses brought the infamous Dark Chariot into a gentle landing. A lavender unicorn stepped from behind the Sun Chariot. Cloudy recognized her, twice a hero of Equestria and a legend among young wizards and magic researchers. Cloud could not feel any more out of place, and certainly no more intimidated.

"We must be quick!" Celestia spoke loudly. "Luna! Take Twilight and Cloudy and assemble the Elements. I will see if I can find the invader and slow it or stop it before it gets to New Gryphonton."

"Sister! It is likely hours before the airships arrive."

"I know. But we owe the griffins this much at least."

Twilight seemed to bow her head in unspoken acquiescence. Cloudy had no clue what ponies owed to griffins.

The Sun Princess entered her chariot, and the powerful pegasuses immediately took to the skies.

"Come." Luna commanded and headed for her chariot.

Twilight and Cloudy silently followed and sat behind the Moon Princess.

"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed, wriggling in to the soft red interior of the chariot.

Luna looked at Twilight with obvious curiosity.

"Sorry." Twilight said unnecessarily. "I wasn't expecting it to be so comfortable, with the rest of it being so... well, so pointy."

Luna let go a heartfelt laugh as the two bat-winged pegasuses towed them into the air with astonishing speed.

Cloudy Dawn's ears were plastered tightly to the sides of his head, his expression one of misery.

"What's wrong?" Twilight said, putting a hoof over one of Cloudy's, trying to be comforting.

He startled and withdrew his hoof. "I..." He stammered for a moment. "I don't know what to make of all this. I'm just a pony from a quiet little neighborhood in Manehattan. I'm not built for this."

Twilight smiled. "I know what you're feeling." she admitted "I'm just a bookworm - I pretty much lived in the library in Canterlot. I wasn't at all prepared for - well, adventure, I guess."

Luna chuckled. "You now do live in a library."

Twilight giggled. "The more things change!" she started.

Cloudy found himself smiling.

Twilight was happy that she'd be with her friends soon. The gravity of the situation was becoming increasingly real to her, and she knew the mere presence of her five best friends would make her feel ready to face it. Having Spike at her side had already made her feel a bit more at ease.

Cloudy had been very happy to learn he was to stay in Canterlot castle and start working with the wizards there on methods to close the gateway. Twilight saw as he simply dove in to his task, scrawling on the many blackboards the relevant enchantments, wards and grimoire notations from memory. The elder wizards simply draw in to his steady-voiced descriptions, none bothering to try to be more important (something Twilight too often saw among wizards).

The Dark Chariot came to a soft landing in front of the large, rustic red house that was the center of Sweet Apple Acres.

"Hear thee! Hear thee! I call the Element of Honesty to be at mine side!" Luna ordered in that ear-numbing Royal Canterlot Voice.

A large, bright red earth pony's head popped out from a window in the adjacent barn. He almost looked startled before retreating back inside.

"Princess?" Twilight sheepishly said.

"Yes, Twilight?"

"If I might suggest, I can, um... just go knock on my friends doors..."

"Oh." Luna said, a bit surprised by the thought. "I suppose that would be better."

An orange earth pony galloped out of the barn, making short time of the distance to Luna and Twilight. She came to a near-skidding halt and curtsy beside the chariot.

"Yes, Princess Luna?" She said before rising. "Hey there Twi'!" She greeted her friend with a smile.

"Come aboard, dear Applejack." Luna said.

"Oh. Well, Princess, we're spot in the middle of makin' applesauce, Ah really can't leave 'em in the midd..."

"Thou think I act on a lark?" The moon princess said sternly.

"Oh my. No, I'm sorry." Applejack said as she stepped on to the chariot.

"Big Mac!" She yelled over the side, startling Luna. "I gotta go! I'll be back..."

She turned to Twilight "When're we gonna be back?"

"I don't know. This isn't exactly a predictable situation. As usual."

Big Macintosh's head re-appeared in the barn window.

"I dunno when I'll be back. Jus' gotta go!" Applejack shouted.

The big red stallion waved his understanding and good-bye. "Ah understand, sis. Y'all be careful now!"

As the chariot took to the sky again, Twilight found her self amazed - she had no idea that Big Mac could shout.

"What's goin' on, Twi'?"

"Can't really say until we're all together and on our way to Canterlot."

"She wouldn't tell me, either." Spike said with a hint of annoyance.

Applejack sighed, but didn't press.

Fluttershy was happy to see Twilight, but had to be essentially dragged to the chariot when she saw Luna. She only remained aboard after Twilight promised that she had arranged for someone to take care of her critters.

Pinkie Pie was aboard before the chariot landed, more than happy to be off to wherever with her friends.

Rarity caused the longest delay, insisting on packing proper apparel for an adventure - and looking ever so hurt when Luna refused to let her bring her suitcases aboard.

Luna disembarked to knock on Rainbow Dash's door - everyone but Fluttershy would have fallen through the cloud, and she was tucked tightly in between Twilight and Applejack looking quite timid. There was a long pause, and Luna knocked again, more forcefully. A bit later the door flew open, and a disheveled, sleepy Dash stood at the threshold.

"What the buck do you want?" Dash said from behind bleary eyes.

"That the Element of Loyalty be by mine side." Luna said in a warning tone.

Dash looked up and her expression changed in a mighty hurry.

"Uhm! Ohmigawsh! I'm sorry! I... I'm ready to go!..." Rainbow Dash said from behind a very forced smile. "...Princess." She made a half-finished curtsy as an afterthought.

They boarded the chariot and were quickly underway.

"Stay classy there, Dash." Applejack quipped.

"To early for this cra..."

"OK, so let me tell you what's going on." Twilight interrupted.

"Oh!" Pinkie Pie bounced in her seat. "Can I guess? Can I?"

Twilight smiled. "Pretty unlikely that you'd..."

"Is it that some wild experiment went frightfully wrong and now we have to save ponykind from a freaky scary eldritch horror?" Pinkie said rapid-fire.

Twilight looked utterly stunned.

"How... How do you do that?" Twilight muttered, nonplussed.

"The Element of Laughter seems to posses a unique skill." Luna offered.

"Wait. Yer tellin' us that Pinkie's right?" Applejack asked.

Twilight nodded, and proceeded to let her friends know the story as best she knew it.

It was a lot to digest, and so the flight back to Canterlot was almost silent, save for an up-beat pretty little tune hummed by a bouncy pink pony as she watched the landscape pass.

The Night

"There is news." Luna announced as she entered the room where the Elements and Spike sat with Equestria's military leadership.

A tense, silent attention befell all, save Pinkie Pie, who sort of wiggled where she stood with an expectant smile.

"My sister, along with three capital airships, now harries the enemy. The creature seems highly resistant to our magic."

The commanding generals each had a disappointed grunt or half-spoken curse for that news. If Celestia could not kill the beast, what chance did their cannons and guns have?

"The griffins have dispatched their own airships to defend New Gryphonton. I have granted their airships permission to come into Equestrian territory."

"So, what're we waitin' on?" Applejack asked.

"The perfect scenario." General of the Air Forces of Equestria, Blewe Welkin, said. "Well, near as perfect as we can allow."

The bright blue pegasus stepped up to the large map of Equestria and surrounding territories, pointing to the area the creature was currently in.

"This range of mountains here is the key. It provides two things I and the Princesses insist you have. The first is this ridge here - we could not have planned a better place for you to use the Elements. It overlooks a wide plain, her highness Celestia and our airships are driving the creature there now.

"Secondly, these mountains are a maze of valleys and gorges where we can get you all out and hide you if things go pear-shaped."

"Hiding? I'm not a hider!" Rainbow announced with a lot of bravado.

"You will be if we say so." The olive colored unicorn - General of the Army of Equestria, Scutum Terra - warned. "I know you're ready for this, Rainbow Dash. Your reputation and what you have already done for Equestria is hardly unknown here. That goes for all of you - including you, young master dragon." Spike was surprised, but not so much he couldn't look very pleased with himself.

"But please keep in mind, you are not expendable. You must live. We don't know what it will take to kill or drive that thing out of Equestria, but we are utterly bucking certain that we have no hope at all without the Elements. Got it?"

The general's gaze was squarely on Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy let loose a quiet whimper. Rarity swallowed, her perfectly kempt facade showing a brief crack.

There was a quick, but rather brutal, internal conflict for Dash between that part of her that was all bombastic piss and vinegar and that bit that knew the gravity of this situation and her responsibility to it.

"General, " Dash finally said, a steady confidence in her voice that no one had heard from her before. "I will make sure that I and my best friends stay alive." She looked at each of her friends, feeling her words as truth within her heart. She gave Fluttershy an extra smile and a hoof on her shoulder.

The General smiled, truly pleased. "Good. Excellent. I think we're ready then. Princess Luna?"

"We depart in fifteen minutes from the courtyard yonder. Colonel Aegis Hoplite and his squad will be your escorts." She indicated a older, wiry and tough looking earth pony, who in turn nodded his greeting to the group.

"C'mon." He said in a gravely voice. "Y'all should fill yer bellies 'n' empty yer bowels. Might be kind of a long campin' trip."

The Colonel led the way to a buffet that had been prepared for the Elements and Spike.

General Terra stepped up beside Dash as they walked. "Just wanted to let you know, you show real signs of leadership."

"Yeah?" Dash said, surprised and a touch proud.

"Yeah. I think you'll make a damn fine Air Forces flier one day - probably be a Wonderbolt."

Dash had never been told that before by someone who'd actually be involved with her selection process. "You really think so?"

"I'm certain - both because I think you'd be one damn valuable flier, but more so because I know you'd be General Welkin's problem."

"Hey!" Dash and Welkin said together.

The military iron chariots flew low, swerving along the valleys along the planned approach to what the Generals referred to as the "action area".

Fluttershy was tucked deep into a corner of the chariot, looking a bit unwell. Dash would go to her now and again and give her an encouraging word or touch, and it seemed to help tremendously. Pinkie Pie was clearly enjoying the ride, her curly mane flapping behind her head as she leaned over the edge a bit to watch the world whiz by a mere few pony strides away.

Rarity was enjoying a chipper conversation with Spike, both apparently happy to ignore the situation, for now, and talk like the long time friends they were. Spike, of course, never passing up the opportunity for some attention from Rarity.

Applejack and Twilight stood at the rear, watching Luna and her guards peeling away from the main formation, off to reinforce Celestia.

"Ah am suddenly feeling very much outa mah element here." Applejack confessed, eying the hoof-blades and light chain mail armor on a bored looking soldier sitting near the front of the chariot.

"I know." Twilight said. "This isn't anything like before. Night Mare Moon and Discord were known quantities - they had been defeated by the Elements before. This. I'm a bit extra scared."

Applejack shoulder-bumped her lavender friend supportively. "We're all feelin' that - well, 'cept maybe Pinkie."

"Ohmigawsh! Ohmigawsh! Ohmigawsh! That's so cool!" Rainbow exclaimed pointing skyward.

Twilight and Applejack looked up to see one of Equestria's airships just visible over the mountain peak they were passing behind. It was making a steep-bank turn, her cannons spoke and fire spat out the opposite side of the gondola.

Rainbow, Spike and Pinkie oohed and ahhed, utterly caught up in the somewhat juvenile thrill of seeing a warship in action.

"We're comin' up on landing!" Colonel Hoplite yelled over the rush of air around them.

The friends quickly moved up to the front of the chariot, as they had been instructed to before leaving Canterlot. This was a "military landing" as Twilight had experienced the day before, except in an actual military chariot, with military ponies, in a military situation.

It was harder, rougher than the landing she experienced in the Sun Chariot. Everyone but the Colonel and his soldiers were knocked off their hooves.

No time for recovery was given. The soldiers - earth ponies all - grabbed the young mares and hauled them off the back with them, some tumbling with their charges as they hit the ground. Spike took advantage of being both bipedal and quadrupedal, scurrying off the back in a far more dignified manner.

"Oh! That was totally undignified." Rarity exclaimed as she picked herself up.

"I agree, ma'am." The soldier who had hauled her off the back said as he stood up. "Not a lot of choice, though. Sorry."

"Let's keep it movin'!" Hoplite barked as the chariots took back to the air behind him.

"No need to apologize." Rarity continued as they all started walking. "You were doing your job - commendably, I might add. It's simply that this is very much not what I do. You've probably walked off the back of one of those contraptions hundreds of times looking perfectly dignified while doing so."

The soldier blushed and smiled at Rarity.

Twilight smiled, Rarity had a talent for making people feel better about themselves.

The climb was steep, and the unprepared mares had to keep asking for a rest. Spike was well within his element, on the other hand, and had to be rained in several times to keep from getting ahead of the group.

Hoplite was mildly annoyed by the pauses - though he had expected it and had made allowance for it in the time schedule. Instead of letting the annoyance get to him, he decided to just accept the slow pace and make like this was a pleasure hike. It had been a while since he stopped to smell the alfalfa anyway.

Fluttershy took a long drink of water, re-considering that offer from Rainbow Dash to get in some regular morning exercise with her.

"Cool! Another one!" Spike called out, pointing up at an airship.

It was much closer than the previous one. When its cannons spoke, the sound was startling and loud.

"The thing must be close." One of the soldier commented.

"Yeah. Dammit, it's moving faster than we thought." Hoplite snarled. "Break's over. We gotta get t' the top o' the ridge toot-sweet!"

No one hesitated, despite aching hooves and tired muscles. Hoplite set a faster pace this time.

The airship began making a turn that would take it back toward the plain, firing continuously as it turned.

They crested the ridge, and the Elements - and even some of the soldiers - gasped collectively.

They could see now there were two airships orbiting the plain, staying roughly equidistant. The flashes from their guns were nearly continuous. In the distance, the frame of another airship was on the ground, burning.

The creature, however, quickly had their full attention. It was nothing more than a dark shadow in the middle of a maelstrom of exploding shells and a swirling wind it seemed to generate around itself.

"Lock 'n' load, ladies." The colonel spoke sternly. "Won't be long now."

Twilight removed a bejeweled box from her packs, and opened it to reveal the jewelry that comprised the Elements of Harmony. The bearers quickly retrieved their part and went to stand at the edge of the ridge.

The airship above them reached the apex of its turn, almost overhead.

"Don't let nerves make y' go too soon, hear?" The colonel said, shouting over the reports of the airship cannons. "It's unlikely it even knows we're here. We blend in t' the underbrush pretty good."

Twilight nodded, not taking her eyes off the creature's silhouette.

There was a bright flash from behind the creature. It grew into a wide, golden curtain in the air, traveling quickly toward the creature.

"Celestia!" Twilight cried out with excitement.

The spell struck the creature, which was violently thrown to the ground where it skidded toward their ridge. It took a moment for the bone-rattling thunderclap to reach the ponies.

Another bright light appeared in the sky, silvery and looking like the moon was up early. It was almost peaceful for a split second - the sphere seemed to focus on the creature before becoming a shaft of light. Everywhere the shaft touched the creature, there was fire and force enough to shove it back down as it tried to recover its footing. Luna kept the creature pinned for almost a minute before her spell finally faded.

"Never been so glad they're on our side." Rainbow commented.

The creature was able to stand again now that the goddesses' assault had paused. It stopped and lifted several large stones - well, probably boulders - and launched them into the air.

"Hmph." The colonel snorted derisively. "Pointless. Our sovereigns are far too fast. It'll never hi..."

Pinkie Pie drew an almost comical gasp. "Twitcha-twitch! Twitcha-twitch!"

"Scatter!" Rainbow shouted, taking to the air.

The Elements didn't need to be told, they were already abandoning the ridge.

"Where the hay are you chicken-crappers goin'!?" Hoplite was enraged. "It's almost here!"

"Run! Get off the ridge!" Twilight called over her shoulder. "Pinkie has a sixth sense!"

The boulder slammed into the ridge.

Luna passed her most powerful assaulting spell over the creatures legs, knocking it over again. The creature's durability was astonishing. She had used that spell before to level - eradicate, really - whole fortresses.

We are past the intended goal, dear sister. Why have they not used the Elements? Luna asked.

I don't know, but I felt Twilight's fear. I fear something has gone wrong. Was the reply. If you can keep the creature down, I will check on them.

Luna's answer came in the form of a sustained attack on the creature.

Cloudy Dawn was not comfortable. He knew if he let himself become comfortable in the least, he'd join the elder wizards in the room in slumber. So he sprawled his front over the corner of the table so it dug into his ribs, rear hooves standing on the floor, head drooped over the mass of notes and ideas they had generated in the past long hours.

This problem was unique. Any magic spell you cared describe was a matter of putting energy into a system - from the simplest levitation to the most arcane counter-spell. Energy either created an effect or broke the system making the effect.

But this system could absorb and use any amount of energy they cared to throw at it, in any way one cared to throw energy at it. Raik had been utterly certain that the one and only way to close a portal was to starve it of magical energy. Neither Cloudy nor his professor had suspected that the portal could be fed energy from some other source than the ley-center.

But that was precisely what was happening now. Some other source of magic was sustaining the portal.

He reached a tired hoof over and dragged some notes closer. Sparkle's ideas about the structure of the spell-work were hard for him to understand. Her notations were very concise, and her handwriting was almost ridiculously clear, and she was such a lovely shade of lavender...

Cloudy shook his head to re-focus.

Her equations seemed oddly self-referential. He'd never seen that in spell-work before. Spells were always more like pipelines, from magical source out to intended effect.

He magicked over another scroll, this one had his professor's theoretics on the portal's structure. His familiarity with the portal theory meant a mere glance before letting the scroll drop onto the mess of papers on the table.

Cloudy sighed. He felt so close to the solution. Perhaps he was just that tired.

He randomly wriggled papers with his hoof as his tired brain wandered. The princesses were fighting a leviathan, soldiers risked their lives. Six beautiful young mares braved a monster, all for Equestria. All he had to do was turn off one spell.

One stupid pipeline of energy.

Well, one symmetrical pipeline.

One cross-universal symmetrical pipeline.

... one self-referential ... cross-universal ... symmetrical ...

"Oh buck! Twilight Sparkle, you are a genius!" The young unicorn shouted, standing suddenly and startling the others awake.

"Back on the ridge! Back on the ridge! Princess Luna is holding it down!" Rainbow shouted as she flew toward their 'action area'.

Twilight and Applejack struggled as the loose stone and pea gravel slid under their hooves.

Pinkie appeared at the top of the ridge, looking very uncharacteristically down. She offered a hoof up to her friends once they reached the edge. It was immediately obvious why Pinkie could not be her chipper self.

Two soldier ponies attended a third, who breathed laboriously. His flanks looked flattened, and his belly was wrapped tightly with field dressings soaked crimson.

Another soldier lay perfectly still nearby, and Spike was busy spreading a poncho over his head.

There was no sign of the colonel.

Twilight's mind demanded order, and so imposed it. As much as she wanted to tend the soldiers and ease suffering, there was one task that clearly had priority.

"Get ready." She said softly, but with authority.

Fluttershy stood beside her, her eyes awash in tears. "W... we have to stop this."

The six faced the monster on the plains as it writhed and struggled to rise under Luna's attack.

"Makes ya wonder why there's no element of courage, dunnit?" Applejack said to no one in particular.

Twilight felt her friends around her, felt the readiness to face this.

The spark came easily, each of the elements taking on a glow representing its individual power. They quickly supported one another, raising each bearer into the air. Twilight felt that warm feeling of deep connectedness.

The colorful, life-affirming magic leaped out. The monster was completely engulfed - the torrent and vortex around it faded quickly. Clear sun reached through the sky to illuminate the plain clearly for the first time since its arrival.

The six bearers settled back to the ground, feeling that funny but pleasant weariness they had come to associate with using the Elements.

"Well done, girls!" A familiar voice sang from above them.

Celestia landed beside the group, smiling at them.

Fluttershy's shrill scream of abject terror turned their skins cold.

Cloudy was frustrated and tired.

The crater where the research center had been was covered in ponies, who were in turn covering the crater with arcane symbols. Each pony had a scroll to work from, and Cloudy was running about checking on the accuracy of the work.

Thank Celestia all of them were graduates of more-than-basic magic training, so there wasn't a lot to correct, but each correction cost time.

This was already going to take far more time than he wanted it to. He had taken so long to find a possible solution. Now it would take even more time to see if the solution worked. What was this costing?

The creature brought the boulder down again. The blue-hued magic shield shattered under its blow, only to be stopped by the lavender-hued protective bubble.

Rarity re-cast her shield spell again, looking almost spent. Every erg of energy her spells could absorb was that much more time Twilight's spell would hold. She redoubled her efforts.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack struggled with Fluttershy. She lay between them, muttering a rejection of what she had seen, trying hard to hoof at her eyes.

The creatures shrieks were deafening, and the bell-ring of the strikes against the bubble were worse.

It stopped its attack, letting the boulder drop on the bearers again. It reached past their protected space and plucked something from the forest.

The solder screamed, repeatedly slamming his foreleg hoof-blades into the twisted hand that held him. His screams of fear turned to terror, and the writhing mass of villi silenced him.

Again Rarity's shield shattered. Again Twilight's protected the friends.

"What so we do?" Rainbow's voice was barely controlled panic.

"Clo... close to me." Twilight's voice was soft and low, she looked utterly exhausted.

"What she say?" Applejack asked.

Pinkie was already trying to drag Fluttershy over to Twilight. "She wants us close, she said!"

The friends cuddled in close to one another. Twilight's protective bubble shrank to encompass only what it had to, and intensified.

A golden curtain flowed over them, seeking the creature.

"I love you guys." Rainbow whispered.

Blinding light.

Cacophony.

Everypony had been cleared from the crater area, save for Cloudy. There hadn't been time to set up the wards that made tapping the ley-center a relatively safe act, so everyone had to be away.

He took a moment to gather his wits and his strength. The nap he had gotten on the chariot ride to the crater had been welcome, but was hardly sufficient. He was exhausted, and feeling a bit dopey. Yet he was going to cast a spell so unstable and unpredictable that it had even gotten away from a goddess.

He sniffled and shook his head. "Oh, nuts to it all. What could go wrong?"

Twilight lay unconscious next to her friend Fluttershy. The two were unable to be aware that they were now in a thicket of trees, in a well hidden place chosen by Rainbow Dash.

Dash and Applejack huddled close to them, keeping low but watchful. Pinkie Pie stroked the manes of Twilight and Fluttershy.

A spent Rarity numbly enjoyed the attentions of a small purple dragon, who carefully dabbed at the variety of small cuts along her neck and chest.

"Why the hay didn't it work?" Rainbow finally felt safe enough to whisper her question.

"Ah dunno." Applejack admitted.

"Rarity?" Dash looked at the white unicorn hopefully.

"I am so sorry, sweetheart." Rarity said slowly. "I graduated basic magic school like most unicorns, but it has never been my forte."

Rainbow snorted with frustration. The only one who might be able to answer had dropped from enervation after spelling Fluttershy asleep.

"I think it did work." Pinkie offered.

"What?" Rainbow was gob-smacked. "If you recall, Pinkie, the score is monster one, elements nothing!"

"Really, Dashie." Pinkie said, tilting her head at Dash. "The storm went away and the sun came out. Harmony was restored, just like before."

"But..." Applejack tried to protest.

"It's eldritch!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I think it can't be in harmony with us. Ever."

Everyone who could, stared with bemusement at a smiling Pinkie Pie.

Arcane symbols glowed brightly with the power of the ley-center. A small pony stood at the edge of this vast field of magical guides and circuits, sopping with perspiration, face scrunched in concentration.

He could feel the portal in his mind, the spell reached out to it and touched it gently. There was an intermingling of intent and reality, and the spell released its primary charge, leaving the slightest twist in the structure of the portal.

Cloudy let the flow of energy from the ley-center ebb. The magical fields around him faded quickly.

He opened his eyes and looked up. The flickering orange-red light was gone.

His horn glowed as he reached out with his magic to have a better look.

He frowned. There was still something there. It wasn't a portal, though. It was hard to get a sense of. Like a tendril rooted where the portal was, spreading out to the strange perversions of reality around the crater base, reaching out to the last place he knew the creature to be...

"Oh." Cloudy said to himself. "Extrusion."

Celestia and Luna watched the creature shamble across the plain from atop a nearby peak. The airships retreated, one smoking from an engine after being battered with a tree.

It was time to re-think strategy. The current one was far too costly in terms of precious lives.

This creature seemed utterly invulnerable. It absorbed destructive spells easily, with the only effect requiring nothing but standing back up. It passed over wards and protective circles as if they weren't even there.

For all that, it didn't seem to be able to use magic itself. It's most destructive act involved throwing large rocks. The swirling storm around it seemed to be a function of its villi surrounded mouths. It was consuming trees, homes, grass, and even ponies essentially by sucking them up.

"A physical trap, then?" Luna suggested. "Construct a pit, leagues deep. Herd the foul thing to fall within."

"I don't think we know enough." Celestia sighed. "Any decision we make now will have consequences we can not predict."

Luna stomped her hoof in frustration, glaring at the silhouette of the abomination. "We can not just herd it around the plains! It would be an eternal task."

Both princesses sat for a moment, finding themselves at a loss.

Then the monster fell, as it its leash had been yanked.

"What in the nine skies?" Celestia asked.

It dug its hooves and claws into the ground, but the tug was relentless. It simply made deep furrows as it was dragged.

Luna rared up and cried out "Huzzah!"

"What?" Celestia looked at her sister with raised eyebrows.

"I believe we have been saved by one of our dear young and very bright ponies!"

"Oh no."

Cloudy Dawn saw the storm approaching. It moved at the same rate the extruded tendril retracted. He knew the creature would be at the end of it.

He could not make himself move. A combination of fear and exhaustion both physical and mental rooted him in place.

The creature came into sight, clawing at the ground and clutching at every outcrop and tree. At the crater's edge, it flew toward the center, and all movement stopped.

Cloudy tried not to look at it, but could not turn completely away. A stillness fell around him as the creature stooped generating the storm. Its limbs flailed uselessly in the air for a moment, then it shuddered and hung still.

For a moment that to Cloudy was an eternity, he could only make out the sound of his heavy, ragged breath.

It shuddered again, seeming to draw itself into a ball.

The ball seemed to be crushed, as if in a truly huge hand. The creature let out a shriek.

Smaller and smaller the ball became, louder and louder the creature's shrieks of pain.

There was a pop. the contents of the creature's - well, stomach one supposes - fell to the ground as the creature itself was finally expelled from the universe.

Cloud looked at the pile at the crater's bottom. All manner of detritus made up the pile, recognizable bits of pony houses, trees whole and part, bodies upon bodies of unicorns, pegasuses, earth ponies...

Cloudy retched.

The Dawn

Fluttershy was in a small, dimly lit room.

The room had a single feature: A door. From that door the muffled sound of voices could be heard, too low to make out what they said.

All Fluttershy knew was that door had to remain closed.

"Hi Flutters!"

Fluttershy startled, half tripping to back away.

"Pinkie?" She asked when she was able to focus on the voice.

"Yeah, silly-filly!" Pinkie's smile grew.

Pinkie pranced to her friend and gave her a pony hug. Fluttershy held the embrace.

"We miss you, Fluttershy." Pinkie said, still chipper. "Come back with me?"

"Oh, I can't do that, Pinkie. There's something... something wrong out there."

"Nuh uh!" Pinkie's denial sounded playful.

"Yes. I saw it... sort of." Fluttershy leaned close to her pink friend. "It can't be, see. But it is. So I can't be, either." She whispered conspiratorially.

"Turns out, " Pinkie explained "It was never really here! Twilight said!"

Fluttershy looked dubious. "But I saw..."

"Nopie nope! It looked like it was here, but it was still there."

"That doesn't make sense." Fluttershy said.

"I know!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Sometimes I think Twilight makes things up to tease us. It's fun!"

Now Fluttershy looked frustrated. "So which is it? Was it or wasn't it?"

"Yes!"

The pegasus and the earth pony stared at one another.

The pink pony let a giggle slip past her lips.

The yellow pegasus felt her frustration turn into a sense of the absurd. The absurdity made her giggle.

The giggles began to pour out of the two ponies. Fluttershy had to lean on Pinkie to avoid falling over. She didn't even notice Pinkie open that door.

Celestia let the spell fade.

As its power dissipated, the two ponies on the bed began to giggle. It was a wonderful, infectious sound.

Spike was the first to start giggling with the two. Applejack and Rainbow Dash started in soon after. Rarity and Twilight had no chance of avoiding the giggles now, even if they had wanted to.

Fluttershy rose up on her forelegs, still giggling as she looked at her friends.

Her giggles started to turn to sobs as a sense of having only just avoided a terrible loss overwhelmed her.

The friends all rushed in, each hugging the rest, awash in relief, joy, and a host of emotions pent up after a horrid adventure and in need of release.

Princess Celestia silently slipped out of the room, satisfied that her student and her best friends were going to be fine.

Cloudy was comfortable. He was curled up on a luxurious couch in his assigned apartment within Canterlot castle, sipping a warm cider drink. Splayed out on the floor before him was the beginnings of his written report to Celestia and Luna of the events that led to the expulsion of the horror.

He was happy to be obeying the princess' order to take his time and relax.

Letting the quill settle into the ink well, he paused again to let more pleasant thoughts wash over him.

There was so much new data, so many new ideas that had sprung from this tragedy.

Symmetrical self-referential spell substructures and inter-reality extrusions with facets of frequency specific particle/wave exchange. Who would have guessed?

He had already approached Twilight Sparkle about co-authoring a paper on the subject, and was very excited to have discussed it well into the wee hours with her. Writing the paper was going to be a very pleasant task. Her intelligence and her amazing insights into magic along with her somewhat awkward friendliness would assure that. She was totally adorkable.

He hoped she found him adorkable, too. Probably not, and it didn't really matter. It was still an enjoyable thought.

Being a guest and witness to Cloudy Dawn's ceremony as a Hero of Equestria was quite satisfying. It certainly was nice not to have to be up in front of all the major personalities of the land.

Twilight stamped her hoof in applause with the rest of the audience as Cloudy turned to face the audience and bow. She was one of the few who managed to stifle laughter when she stumbled while leaving the stage. He smiled sheepishly and waved meekly to the uproarious audience.

That self-aware humility was something she liked about the brown unicorn. It was an aspect of him that promised to make writing that paper with him a pleasant task.

Besides, he was totally adorkable.

Should you be interested: My Author's Notes.

Author's Note

Story: Courage Unknown.
Wow. I really can't stand how awful I feel after a writing project like this.
Despite writing an outline for the story and having what (at the time) I considered a clear idea of how to get from start to finish, I didn't manage my main goals.
I was never able to get around to making the title make sense. I was able to get in Applejack's line about there not being an element of courage, but it would have seriously bogged down the story to let the characters discuss it.
See, the courage to face this horrible abomination came from their bonds as friends and with their bonds to their community and Equestria at large. It's a sort of courage we don't know we have until it has to be tested.
I hoped to get across that:
* The elements had that courage tested both by facing the creature and finding their magic did not avail them.
*Cloudy had his tested by being a young pony with no real responsibilities being thrust into being responsible, essentially alone, for the portal and the safety of Equestria.
Not sure that I managed that.
Also, sorry for the shipping-like Cloudy-Twilight mutual appreciation club. They're just young ponies admiring one another.
Anyways, I have an idea for another fic, this time far, far less extreme. Lets see if I can make that title make sense :P