The Final Element: The Guardian of Equestria

Chapters

The First Chapter
The Second Chapter
The Third Chapter
The Fourth Chapter
The Fifth Chapter
The Sixth Chapter
The Seventh Chapter
the Eighth Chapter
The Ninth Chapter
The Tenth Chapter

The First Chapter

Now was the ending of Springtime; and as the radiant sunlight shown on the town of Ponyville, several sweat drops raced downward from a glass of iced berry juice that sat mostly full on a table at the out-door cafe.

Seated at the table, wearing an intently focused expression of concentration, was a lavender colored unicorn pony, engrossed in a thick book, and pausing only ever-so-often to lean over and sip from the high straw buried in the icy mix.

There was nothing wholly remarkable about this particular pony, unless one were to count the usage of her magic, which she used to turn the pages of the book. Or the fact that she, like all pony-folk, was capable of tasks that would seem otherwise absurd to those not from these parts. And regardless of the magic, or the preposterous notion of a pony sitting upright at a table, and reading a book; to Twilight Sparkle, it was little more than an exercise in the mundane, and the everyday. Completely normal to anyone from this world, utterly absurd to anyone not.

Seated with her, and absorbed in his own thoughts, was a small purple scaled adolescent dragon named Spike, who several years before had been entrusted to Twilight by her teacher, to serve as both an assistant to the magical pony in her day to day studies, and as a learning tool, to gain a better understanding of the lives of dragons, seeing as they were a rare thing.

Despite his youth, and his diminutive size, Spike was quite capable for a dragon, calm, polite and courteous; and though at the present he was seated with his friend and guardian, he passed his time with her at the cafe focusing on his reflection in a hand-held mirror; his occasional sighs and chuckles falling on Twilight's distracted ears, as she meticulously read through her book.

"Do you think I've gotten taller lately?" he eventually asked, still looking longingly at himself in the mirror.

"I don't know Spike. Maybe," she said.

"It feels like I've gotten taller,” he mumbled under his breath. “Even if I know I haven't.”

Knowing that his desire for added height was simply to impress their mutual friend Rarity, Twilight silently rolled her eyes behind the book, and casually leaned her head to the left to find the straw, and slurp from the juice drink.

The book she had been given was about advanced teleportation, a skill that had eluded her greatly in the past year since learning the basics of the technique. And though she was highly adept at magic from an early age, her one biggest shortcoming was control of her magic.

Furring her brow, at the distraction, Twilight turned yet another page, as she neared the part of the technique that she hoped would make everything she failed to grasp about the spell understandable and practical; but not before a huge sudden gust of wind erupted from the sky and a multi-colored streak came crashing into the nearby table and chairs of the cafe.

Twilight looked over at the devastation and noticed Rainbow Dash, a light blue Pegasus laying upside-down in the wreckage, as her eyes seemingly spun in circles, and her jaw hung slack with a quiver to her bottom lip.

"Are you alright Rainbow?" Twilight said as she dropped her book, and hurried over to her fallen friend, and picking up a chair and shoving it to the side.

"Who me? I've never felt better,” the discombobulated winged pony stammered. “But I don't think any pony is supposed to fly upside down for that long."

Twilight's muzzle formed a slightly sighed smile of comprehension as she knew instantly it had something to do with yet another attempt at mastering some new trick, or aerial acrobatic. "I swear Rainbow Dash, one of these days you're going to give yourself brain damage."

Getting up on wobbly legs, the aptly named—rainbow maned—pony clopped her hooves at the sides of her face to slap herself back into thinking clearly, swishing her equally multi-colored tail in frustration. "I'll settle for temporary memory loss at this point, 'cause that crash was totally forget worthy."

"Do I even want to know?" said Twilight Sparkle, using her unicorn powers of levitation to help straighten some of the mess, while the staff at the cafe—a couple of frowning earth ponies—glared and shook their heads.

As the three of them worked on cleaning up the mess, a loud "Yeehaa" came from behind them. Turning to look back, an orange hued earth pony wearing a brown wide brimmed hat, came running up to them out of breath.

Named Applejack, in part after her family's traditional business, and in part for her love of apples, the galloping filly came to an abrupt stop in front of the two ponies, and dragon, sending her blond ponytail swaggering from one shoulder to the other.

"Twenty-six minutes,” she huffed, “that's a new record Rainbow Dash!"

"Y...yeah, wait till next time," said Rainbow with her left eye still looking in an odd direction. "This technique is gonna stop the show!"

Twilight and Spike exchanged a glance, and Twilight just shook her head.

~ ~ ~

Near a stream on the outskirts of Ponyville, Futtershy—a bright yellow Pegasus pony—trotted back and forth outside her small cottage, amongst her flowerbeds and small herb gardens. She was humming a cheerful tune as she busied herself with the task of seed planting, while her pet Angel, a white fluffy bunny of incorrigible attitude, occupied himself in and around the colorful foliage.

Fluttershy was a Pegasus pony that didn't prefer flying. In fact, she was one of the only Pegasus ponies in all of Equestria that actually owned a house—on the ground no less—and didn't have a home in the clouds, made of clouds, and tossed about like the other homes made of clouds with all the other clouds.

It would be honest to say that her fear of most everything in life had left her grounded, but that would be an unfair assessment of the pink haired pony and her oft acts of heroism, when her friends were faced with harm or other ill intent. So it would be best to simply say, that Fluttershy could fly, though not strongly, and preferred instead to simply trot about on the ground, like the unicorn and earth ponies.

Tossing some shrubs away, Fluttershy looked over occasionally to see that Angel was digging madly in a nearby flower-bed thoroughly wrecking it. "Oh... no no Angel Bunny, we mustn't make such a huge hole, we are only going to be planting a few seeds. Little seeds."

Angel, stopping his digging long enough to raise his head from the ground, frowned once, stared straight ahead resentfully at the the lack of personal respect, and then resumed digging—sending a huge chunk of clotted soil onto Fluttershy's head, causing her to let out a frightened gasp.

"Oh now Angel, you need to be more careful, or you're going to get really messy."

When another dirt clod landed on her head, sending dirt and sod all over, Fluttershy realized that the tiny white rabbit was in another obstinate mood, and that she was not going to get very far with him at the moment, so she left him to his digging.

Of course, this also meant that she would need to bathe him again later, and she frowned slightly at the nuisance.

Without warning, as most things are without, a small vibration traveled through the country-side. A few birds that had been attracted by Fluttershy's singing earlier, suddenly fled in panic; and Fluttershy looked back and forth frantically for the source of the almost subtle vibration, though unable to detect where it had come from.

At the sight of her forest creatures scattering, Fluttershy felt a surge of fear try to overtake her, and she had to resist the urge to run screaming for the nearest shrub. Instead, she steeled her resolve, and forced her panic to calm, as best she could.

“Everyone!” she shouted, though barely at any volume. “We have to remain calm! This is an earthquake... and... we have to get to safety. Follow me!”

It should be noted here, that Fluttershy was one of the most soft spoken beings in the whole of the Ethereal Earth, save for the Cottontuffed Whisper Willows of the Southern regions; and naturally, none of the forest creatures paid Fluttershy any attention as they fled and ran; all the while she stood on wobbling legs pleading for them to form an orderly line and make for her cottage, at volumes of speech that would have anyone in a front row asking for a repeat, and bringing a hoof to their long equine ear.

“Everyone... please,” she whispered, as her eyes darted back and forth at the trees swaying, and the leaves gently raining down. “Please,” she said again softer, and squeezed her eyes shut.

At last she crumpled to the soft ground and brought her hooves over her face, and began to tremble for the duration of the shaking.

Then as suddenly as the vibration began, it seemed to stop, and with it the panic Fluttershy was feeling. Cautiously, Fluttershy slid a hoof down from her face, and opened one eye to see if the world were still there, and she saw to her great relief that it was. A small puff of white came bounding up from a nearby hole, and Fluttershy squeaked in fright at the sight of Angel Bunny coming up from his hole he had been digging, and then scurrying off toward Ponyville as he carried something reflective in his paws.

"Angel?" Fluttershy called after him in a weak voice, but the little white rabbit was already gone.

~ ~ ~

Elsewhere in Ponyville, away from all that was seemingly going on with Fluttershy on the edge of town, an overly hyperactive pink earth pony with a gluttonous appetite for sweets named Pinkie Pie hunkered inside the local bakery and confections shop, Sugarcube Corner. For the past several moments she had been scuttling about, in the hopes that she might nab a wayward goody Mister and Missus Cake had baked earlier that morning. Mr and Mrs Cake being the owners, and middle aged earth ponies to boot.

"Pinkie Pie!" growled Mrs. Cake, as she observed the unabashed attempts at stealth from the pink colored, pink haired filly. "We can't keep you supplied of treats today. We have a special order to be delivered later this afternoon. So please," she said looking beseechingly as Pinkie had her tongue out to rake in a tray of freshly iced cupcakes.

"Oh, alright," she said giving in and forcing everything within her to walk away from the table of goodness. "But maybe I can help with the deliveries!" she said excited at the sudden thought, and jumping up and down as if on an invisible pogo stick.

"We'll see," said Mr. Cake, as he walked up taping his hooves on the front of his apron to remove the flour from them.

Coming to a stop, some of Pinkie's aptly-named mane fell into her face, and she huffed the strands away in mock frustration.

It would be cruel to say that Pinkie Pie was a few straws short of a bale of hay, or that her greatest love in life was throwing insane parties for the slenderest of occasions that hardly warranted them; but when all things were considered, she had a certain craziness about her that formed an irrepressible black hole of entertainment and fun that caused anyone, pony or otherwise, to smile and enjoy life on any level. Except when she was utilizing all the powers of her skills to stuff her pink face with snacks and goodies.

While Mr. and Mrs. Cake had their backs turned, Pinkie took one large side step and extended her tongue to the newest blackberry pie, and licked it clean from the pan in one swift motion, no doubt the result of years of practice at such a feat.

"Pinkie!" yelled Mrs. Cake who turned in time to witness the consumption, grabbed a rolling pin and shooed Pinkie away from any more of the goods. "Be gone you sweet fiend!"

Like a silly child, Pinkie stuck her tongue out at Mrs. Cake, and suddenly belched a terrible loud belch. In fact, it was so loud that it seemed to reverberate off every wall in Sugarcube Corner, causing the entire room to shake.

Mrs. Cake in a moment of docile absence, dropped the rolling pin from her teeth and stood slack jawed as the very ground beneath her feet seemed to tremble from the force of Pinkie's rudeness.

"Why I never!" said Mrs. Cake.

"Guess I don't know my own strength," said Pinkie patting her stomach and looking around the inside of the shop, as various doo-dads and objects were coming to a standstill after the shaking ceased.

Suddenly and without warning—as we've mentioned before that sudden things often failed to have a warning—Pinkie Pie's tail began to twitch, causing her to look about in stark alarm, followed closely once again by vibration and shaking, only slightly more intense, with the pink Pinkie vibrating on the ground with it.

It is a fact that, Pinkie Pie has a low level, short range precognitive ability that resides in her pony tail. Whenever an event of substantial bad is about to occur, from mild to slightly worse, to down right catastrophic, her tail begins to twitch, and it's time for all onlookers to look-on from elsewhere, or become one with the badness that is about to be unleashed within their vicinity.

Ignoring the tail for the moment, Mr. and Mrs. Cake both looked at Pinkie for an explanation, but saw Pinkie looking just as confused.

"Don't look at me," said Pinkie with a massive vibrato to her voice. "I'm not doing this! Wee!" And she vibrated right out the front door of the shop giggling as she did.

~ ~ ~

Not long after the incident at the cafe earlier involving the light blue Pegasus pony and the clean-up; Applejack, the blond pony with the ponytail and hat, made her way back to her home at Sweet Apple Acres, and set about inspecting a new spot for the next generation of apple tree saplings. Now that Rainbow Dash had lost interest in perfecting the less than brilliantly named, "Upside Down Flying Pony" technique, Applejack—AJ to her friends—had more time to finish her chores for the day.

Fact. Sweet Apple Acres is the largest provider of apples, apple products, apple trees, and anything remotely to do with, be made from, or be associated or affiliated with apples, from Canterlot to Manehattan. It's also the originating homestead of the entire Apple family, which is extended across the entire country of Equestria, and currently overseen by Applejack and her older brother Big Macintosh.

There is also an elderly Granny Smith and younger sister Apple Bloom residing with them; though their skills at apple farming are less than adequate to do the work, and from time to time, additional outside pony-labor is required to bring in a harvest, tend to the inventory, or help out as best as possible.

It should also be mentioned, that Applejack has such a fondness for apples, that once while walking through the orchards with her head up and her eyes gazed intently on the fruit above, she wandered right into a fence, knocking it flat, and earning her a made up rhyme that went.

Silly pony needs a snack,

Whoops there goes a fence ker'splat.

It was of course a poorly made rhyme, and more words than most cared to remember. It was eventually refined to just, “Silly Applejack” which lasted about a Summer, and was soon forgotten.

"Well, that there makes a good spot if ever there was one to be had," she said out loud to no-pony in particular, swiping at her forehead with her front hoof, as she took a break from walking the perimeter of the new, soon-to-be extension of the current orchard.

As it was, the current orchard had several trees that were too old to produce much, and in a few more seasons they would most likely fail to produce anything substantial, so it was unanimously decided that a new area of Sweet Apple Acres was to be cultivated for a new section of trees. Once Applejack surveyed the uncultivated land, and her brother Big Mac tilled and fertilized it, it would set for a month, so the fertilizers and nutrients could work into the soil, and be ready to begin planing new trees. Barring of course, any natural disasters, such as fire, flood, or the random earthquake that would rip through the countryside and destroy all in its path.

Applejack deeply regretted the thought of possibly removing some of the weaker older trees, but such was the circle of the orchard. Her fondness for apples not withstanding, if she had her way, they would stay in the ground till they fell over, and only then be removed. Killing a non-producing tree was down-right heartbreaking.

Walking back toward her home through the orchards, Applejack was suddenly overwhelmed by a terrible shaking and looked up to see that every tree was swaying and dancing with the intensity of the earthquake that seemed to be spreading out over the countryside.

Several apples fell from the trees, landing dangerously close to her, and several animals ran from their cover in the orchard to seek safety elsewhere, as fruity falling meteors rained from the overhead canopy.

Confused and perplexed, Applejack bolted for her house to see to it that her brother and sister and Granny Smith were alright. She wasn't sure if the pounding in her chest was from the apprehension at the situation, or for concern for her loved ones.

Halfway there, the trembling stopped, yet Applejack continued to her home anyway.

~ ~ ~

Before all the hub-bub and hullabaloo that had began with the shaking, Twilight Sparkle had left the cafe after several rounds of apology for her friends, and went on some errands with her companion, Spike the dragon. They made busy for most of the afternoon, before eventually returning to Twilight's place of residence inside the local library.

Now before you get the wrong idea, and begin thinking that Twilight was living in the library because she was homeless, and needed a roof over her head, it would be best to explain that when she first arrived in Ponyville some time back, it was to oversee the preparations for the local Summer Sun Festival, and the Tree Library was the place she boarded. Though when her stay became more of a permanent thing, and partly because she was a bookworm of unimaginable proportions, it seemed most fitting that the Tree Library become her home.

Fast forward a tad, and she and Spike were gathered on the bottom floor of the library, as the last of a mild to moderate tremors subsided.

"Did you feel that?" said Spike, as he cowered under several open books in the corner of the library, using a free hand to stack one more on top of his small body, in the event something came crashing in from the outside.

"Sure did," said Twilight. "That is the third one in less than ten minutes," she didn't bother to look over at Spike, instead she was focused on skimming through a thick book laid open on the book stand, "and they've been getting stronger and faster all afternoon."

At first when Twilight and Spike noticed the tremors, it seemed such an oddity, and the vibrations so subtle that they paid them little mind. But after the second tremor, Twilight knew that there was something amiss about the whole affair, and began investigating it the only way she knew how. By using her books.

"There has got to be an explanation for this!" said Twilight in frustration, as she combed through the Guide to the Unexplained and Never-Before, and worked her way through the random unnatural things listed in the book in alphabetical order. At present, she was at a chapter entitled, “Earth-shattering Supple Blight”, which went into vivid detail about huge chunks of Supple Blighted objects falling from the heavens and wreaking havoc on the surface of which-ever planet they fell upon.

As if on cue, the front door of the library burst open, and a bedazzled and slightly frazzled white unicorn pony named Rarity rushed from the outside in a state of fright and somewhat elaborated panic. "Twilight Sparkle! Tell me that all this confounded ground shaking is your doing!"

Twilight regarded her with a look that suggested exasperation at the mere notion that disasters and ground-shakings could be her doing. "It's not me," Twilight said resuming her flipping through the compilation book. "I'm trying to figure out what it is."

"It's an earthquake of some kind," said Spike being helpful, as he lifted a talon clad hand from under the stack of books he hid underneath, and waved at Rarity at the sound of her voice.

"Well, of course it's an earthquake. The question is. Why are we having an earthquake in Ponyville!" Holding up her hoof which was bandaged all the way up to her shoulder. "I mean I can't work like this. I've already stuck myself with my sewing needle."

Looking over at her again Twilight commented, "Isn't that a bit much?"

It goes without saying, though it must be mentioned, that Rarity is by far the most self-described high-class in the whole of Ponyville. And despite the often middle-class ambiance of the town, goes out of her way to maintain her distinctive, snooty, and uppity air of superiority, whenever and where-ever possible.

She is also the premier drama queen and over-actor in three counties. Give or take a few miles.

Once more the earthquake rumbled, and this time it was accompanied by a high-pitched squelching that seemed to emanate from everywhere, and in all directions.

Both Rarity and Twilight instantly clutched each other in startled fright. Followed by Spike, who was all too willing to comfort Rarity in her greatest moment of distress.

~ ~ ~

Characteristic of her nature, Rainbow Dash now sleeping off her latest trick rehearsal, was drifting on a nice fluffy white cloud, as it teetered this way and that in the soft currents of the sky overlooking Ponyville.

While it is true that mostly the unicorn breed of ponies in this Ethereal Earth are born with the most predominant magic, pegasus ponies are not completely without their form of it, though it resides on a mostly subconscious level, and more akin to natural ability than something they can make happen or not happen.

So it is perfectly natural that Rainbow Dash being a pegasus pony, is capable of finding sure footing and landing on even the thinnest wisps of clouds, and more than capable of relaxing on them. They do after all make for far better bedding than any normal cotton stuffed mattress, from the most expensive of stores no less.

Since Rainbow Dash and her billowy pile of fluff were a good half-mile above the surface, it wasn't surprising that she failed to take note of the goings on below. Except for that last rumbling that was also accompanied by noise, which caused her eyes to suddenly fly open at the instantaneous squealing that erupted all around her.

"What the..." she started as she shoved both hooves over her ears, and looked around for the source of the hideous noise.

Looking over Ponyville she didn't see anything. Looking over the apple orchards, she didn't see anything. But when she turned to face the direction of Everfree Forest, there was a bright shaft of light erupting up from the center of the forest and piercing the sky.

The shaft of light was sending out a blast-wave of forceful air and energy in all directions, and Rainbow Dash leapt from the cloud with a yelp as the rolling horizontal vortex knocked her cloud away into thin air.

Deep inside the Tree Library in Ponyville, or perhaps the Celestial Imperial Library at Canterlot, or either of the two places—or both perhaps― is a book called, 10,001 Useless Things to Know Before Wandering Everfree Forest. It was written centuries before by the famous wizard, Star Swirl the Bearded. Not to be confused with the other famous Star Swirl that lived before that, who was a renowned fighter and warrior, not a mage, not an inventor of numerous spells, positively a she, and most certainly not bearded.

The book has this to say about Everfree Forest.

It is a wholly unnatural place, wrought with living things that date back to the dawn of the Etherial Earth; it is a living void of darkness and evil dwelling in contrast to the surrounding beauty and harmony of the natural world.

The ecology of the forest is such, that neither pegasus, unicorn, earthen equine or divine, can control the flow of the seasons there, as it is a spot of land mindful of its own, and doing as it pleases.

Any creature that sets upon a journey into the forest is warned to carry with them two lamps, a hoof-full of peanuts, sixteen raw eggs, a linen sheet...

As Star Swirl the Bearded grew in age, he saw fit to consolidate his tasks together, and at multiple points in the book, one is apt to find the insertion of grocery lists, things to remember, the occasional fan letter to the Princesses of Equestria, and even a recipe for making artificial butter that no one could believe was not butter.

Nevertheless, the fact that a strange beam of light and shrieking sound was now emanating from the very middle of the most frightening place in the whole realm, was ample cause for any-pony to be alarmed.

~ ~ ~

"Make it stop!" yelled Rarity in Twilight's ear.

"For the last time! I don't know what it is!" yelled Twilight back into her ear.

As the blast wave reached Ponyville, The library shook once more, as if the tree in which it resided were about to be overturned, and just as soon as the trembling, and the shaking, and the screeching began, it all suddenly quieted.

Big eyed and trembling, Spike was the first to see the shaft of light over Everfree Forest in the distance. "Uh... Twilight. I think you should see this."

Following the direction Spike was pointing out the window, Twilight saw an enormous shaft of light that ascended from the middle of the forest up into the sky.

"What is that?" said Rarity. "Some kind of monster?"

Just as the beam began to fade, the door to the library burst open again, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack both wedged themselves in the door-frame in their haste to make it inside, all the while talking excitedly in unison.

"Twilight!" yelled Applejack, shoving a panicky Rainbow Dash away. "What in tarnation is happening around here!?"

As the last bit of the shaft faded, Twilight shook her head. "I really wish I knew."

"Well if this is the end of the world, then we need to figure something out quick," said Rainbow Dash popping loose of Applejack and rolling towards some bookcases. "The town is a mess. There are ponies passed out and trash all over the place; and I barely survived that... whatever it was that tried to vaporize me from the forest!"

It was at times like this, that Twilight Sparkle wished her books could transmit their contents from their pages directly into her pony brain. As her friends gathered slowly around her for the answers that they assumed she had, she felt suddenly useless, and unable to either explain, understand, or predict what was about to happen.

At the moment Twilight was ready to throw her hooves up in frustration, a sudden greenish magical flame erupted from Spike's throat—explanation will have to come later—and a letter from Princess Celestia arrived, seemingly not a second too soon.

Twilight instantly felt overwhelming assurance at the sight of the letter, as she knew that the Princesses were no doubt on top of whatever the disturbance had been. "Oh thank the stars," she whispered under her breath.

Cracking the seal on the scroll, Spike cleared his throat.

To my most faithful and loyal student,

I regret to inform you that a terrible calamity has befallen Equestria, and your presence is required at the Royal Palace.

Your escort should be arriving momentarily. Please be assured that we are doing everything in our power to prevent this disaster from spreading over all of Equestria.

Yours Truly,

Princess Celestia.

"Calamity!" said Applejack in surprise.

"Disaster!" said Rainbow Dash, looking out at the streets of Ponyville. "Too late for that one."

"I'm sure the Princess will explain everything to me once I get there. For now we have to try and keep the ponies in the town calm, and do your best to assure them that something is being done." Twilight had a feeling deep down that it wasn't some simple task to be done, and being summoned back to Canterlot, on the heels of a set of earth-shaking tremors, only made it more ominous.

"You can count on us, Twilight!" said Applejack, grabbing Rainbow Dash by the tail, and dragging her away from the nearby window. "We got yer back while yer away."

Within the next five minutes, a chariot arrived in front of the library, drawn by two sturdy armor clad ponies, each with a helmet that featured a short cropped plume.

"Well Spike," she said swallowing hard, "let's get this over with."

"Do I really need to go?" he said wringing his claws.

"Spike!" said Rarity. "Please keep Twilight safe for us, will you?"

A sudden burst of power and courage poured through Spike. "Why yes, my lady. I shall indeed." He looked over at Twilight with an instantly chiseled chin and firm resolved brow, almost as if he had metamorphosed into a masculine persona of his normal self. "Come Twilight, let us depart to far yonder castle and learn the foul nature of this plight!"

Taking a heavy sigh, Twilight looked back and noticed her friend Rarity observing her with concern. "Do be careful Twilight," said Rarity.

"I will."

The Second Chapter

It must be mentioned briefly, that Canterlot is the capital of Equestria. It is a strong, lofty, fortified castle city, that is situated on the outcrop of a massive mountain range North-East of Ponyville. It has been in existence for several thousand years, and is the home of the overseeing monarch of the realms.

At the present, the rulers of Equestria, Princesses Celestia, and Luna live in Canterlot Castle. Their responsibility being uniquely distinct, to the point that they split their ruling of Equestria; one by day and one by night. Celestia raising the sun in the morning, and Luna raising the moon at evenfall.

In actuality, they do not raise the sun, or the moon. They merely turn the planet when the time calls for it. Since the planet was formed without any rotation to it what-so-ever. Were the Princesses, or some other highly skilled users of magic, mechanics or ingenuity not to rotate the world, then one half would be perpetually plunged in darkness, and the other would wilt under the constant temperatures of eternal day.

For nearly two thousand years, the two have shared the rule of Equestria, and only once—in recorded history at least—in all that time did they ever dispute amongst themselves, with regards to their leadership. It was eventually resolved with Princess Luna being imprisoned on the Moon for one thousand years, for threatening to bring darkness to the whole world.

It must also be noted, that the Royal Princesses do not rule the entire planet. There are many countries and realms that are uninhabited, and or independent of the Canterlot Monarchy. Due however to the overwhelming size of Equestria, as it is in relation to the small nature of the planet, the Princesses have more than enough political pull to get away with most anything they desire, should they desire it. All except for the plunging of the whole planet into eternal darkness however—that simply cannot be tolerated.

At this moment, as Twilight Sparkle and Spike arrived at Canterlot, every-pony there was in an uproar, and the guards had to take them through a massive crowd that had gathered outside of the castle demanding to see the Princesses. Among them were the occasional lot that cried in despair, and those that believed it to be some sort of hoax, and of course there was even the pony with the cardboard sign that read, “The end of the world is neigh” no doubt, a typographical error on the last bit.

Entering the castle, Twilight and Spike were bustled along the corridors and hallways, past several areas that most ponies did not see, or get privilege to see, and eventually down several sets of winding staircases.

“Where’s the Princess?” Twilight asked the closest guard, leading them.

“Further in the castle,” was all he said, in a sharp crisp tone.

In the bottom most part of the castle away from everyone else, Princess Celestia was pacing back and forth with Princess Luna in tow, both wore a worried expression on their pony faces, and had they the appropriate hands to wring, they would be wrung with much fretting.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight called out as soon as the guards led them into a small chamber with little illumination, and huge tapestries draped from every wall—and let's not forget the occasional resplendent painting here and there.

“Thank goodness,” said Celestia as she approached Twilight and Spike. “I am pleased to see that you have arrived safely.”

“It seems that for the moment, the earthquakes have ceased,” said Princess Luna appearing next to Celestia and nodding at Twilight and Spike, causing her iridescent blue hair to briefly wrap around her long horn, before it returned to its natural position of flowing waves.

Luna and Celestia are both a unique breed of unicorn, often referred to as Alicorn, or High Unicorn. They, unlike the standard fare of unicorn ponies are much taller, and in addition to having a long slender horn on their foreheads, have a sturdy pair of wings. To some they seem almost a unicorn and pegasus hybrid, but to the ponies of Equestria they are more akin to deities, due to their massively high ability of magic.

Their long lifespan also lends itself to the notion that they are in fact deities and not your normal run of the mill highly adept magical ponies; and in the several thousand years that they have lived, they seem to be the only such ponies of their kind.

“I have to apologize, for the abruptness of your summons, Twilight Sparkle,” said Celestia as she closed her eyes and breathed in a few times. “But, as difficult as it is to ask, and as many times as you and your friends have come to the aid of Ponyville, even Equestria, I now need your assistance once more.”

Twilight regarded both Celestia and Luna as if there was a big secret that was about to be revealed, and though she had absolute trust in the Princesses, she couldn't help but feel unease at the revelation.

“Of course Highness, I'll help however I can.”

“You have been brought here, because of your highly adept skills at magic, Miss Sparkle,” boomed Luna as she looked down at the purple pony. “As such, we require your assistance to perform a particular troublesome spell.”

Twilight was taken aback by this, “A spell?”

“Forgive me,” said Celestia, “perhaps it would be best if we started from what we know. It’s best you understand the full weight of the situation; and that you understand the task that has been set before us,” said Celestia fixing her gaze on Twilight. “Come, walk with us Twilight Sparkle.”

As Princess Celestia lead the way, Twilight and Spike followed after, waiting intently on the Princess to explain. Troubled and afraid, Twilight looked from Spike to Luna and was met with confusion from Spike, and solemn resolve from Luna.

Coming to a stop next to a long wooden table, Celestia sat back and regarded the two items on it. Two books, each old and frayed, with signs of wear seen only on the sorts of books that were not well maintained.

“Tell us Twilight Parkle,” inquired Celestia, “what do you know about Equestria's history? Or of the history of the planet?”

Believing this to be some sort of test, Twilight thought hard for a moment, and answered; “I know that Equestria was founded by the three tribes of ponies long ago, and that sometime afterward you Princesses came to rule over them. It's where we get the story of Hearth's Warming Eve.”

“An excellent summation,” said Celestia as she looked over at the two books, and lifted a hoof to rest on top of the one closest to her. “However, the events that lead to that first Hearth's Warming Eve, were somewhat modified into the tale that all of Equestria is now familiar with.”

Frowning at this bit of revelation, Twilight looked from face to face, and felt more lost in confusion that when she first arrived. “I don't understand Princesses. What does this have to do with the earthquakes that have been happening in Ponyville, and why would any-pony want to change the story of Hearth's Warming Eve?”

The founding of Equestria on Hearth's Warming Night, later renamed to Hearth's Warming Eve, is a tale that has been handed down to the ponies of Equestria for centuries. The story, in its simplest rendition depicts the three tribes of ponies separated and segregated from one another, and only working for their own ends, and only interacting with one another to pay for, or receive service for things that only the other breed of ponies were capable of providing.

In exchange for food from the earth ponies, the unicorn ponies would gather to raise the sun, and lower the sun each day. In exchange for armor and crafts, the pegasus ponies would clear the skies of storms and villains that roamed about the wilds. Each doing for the other, but secretly loathing the tasks expected of them.

As the story goes, the distrust and manipulation of the three tribes reached a crescendo, and eventually their cold bitterness toward one another made way for terrible spirits to create a frozen storm that threatened to turn the whole region into a wasteland of ice and snow.

Fearing the end was near, and with little recourse, a committee was assembled to discuss the future, or fate of the tribes. When no suitable mutual decision could be reached, the three tribes abandoned their country. When they separately found their way to the lush green warm lands of their new home, they began to instantly quarrel with one another again, causing the return of the storm, and the spirits.

Thanks to the efforts of the tribe's commoners, and their disinterest in conflict, and the desire for unity, they unleashed a magical force that dissolved the eternal Winter, and they banded together as common friends, instead of bitter rivals and enemies.

“That, is a story that has been fabricated to tell to foals,” said Princess Luna. “Like most things meant to instruct and instill moral value, it has been changed and crafted into a lesson, meant to be learned.”

Unable to take much more of the deep dialogue, Spike placed both of his talon clad hands on his head and swooned. “I am so confused right now.”

“I can't say it's any less clear to me,” said Twilight with some frustration.

With a level of resolve that Twilight had never before seen from Celestia, she watched as the Princess sighed deeply, and patted the book with her hoof. There was a subtle sense of sadness that seemed to emanate from her as she did.

“What if I told you, that there was a different version of events that lead to the forming of Equestria, and the unification of the tribes of ponies across the planet?” she said at last, watching Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight gave no response, though everything in her wanted to beg the answers out of Princess Celestia, she stood quiet and waited for what she felt was sure to be a terrible truth. As she glanced from Celestia to Luna, she could tell that what was about to be told to her was deeply troubling, and no doubt privileged.

“Some time ago, this book was discovered in the lower archives by our scribes,” said Celestia as she once again patted the old book her hoof rested on. “It is in fact, a forgotten book of prophecy by the wizard, Star Swirl the Bearded.”

Suddenly intrigued, Twilight's eyes seemed to glimmer at the thought of being in such proximity of one of the old wizened magician's works. Though she quickly caught her guard again, knowing that this was not the place or the time to get excited over the notion of lost works and the no doubt fascinating information therein.

“As you are no doubt aware, Star Swirl lived more than a thousand years ago, and in that time gained the ability to foresee the future. He has made many predictions, and most of which have come to pass.” Celestia scooted the book close to her as she said this.

“In this book however was a particular prophecy that alluded to events of the past that neither myself or Princess Luna were aware. It also gave a detailed exacting account of the recurrence of a terrible calamity that would be wrought upon the whole of the world.” Celestia spoke slowly at this point, to emphasize the weight of the matter. “In short, Star Swirl the Bearded gave forth a prophecy of the end of the world, save for the return of a heroic champion.”

“Oh, no,” was all Twilight could bring herself to say, as she lowered herself down on her haunches, in an attempt to steady her body that seemed to be wanting to swoon. Oh, no,” she said again under her breath, as she struggled to comprehend the meaning of a revelation of this weight.

“There was one thing in particular about the wizard's prophecy that we found as equally unsettling,” said Luna interjecting at this point. “The mention of Queen Stella.”

Both Spike and Twilight had a look of complete ignorance at the mention of the name, and in her dumbfounded inquisitiveness, Twilight asked who that was.

“She was our mother,” said Celestia with a thin smile.

At that, both Spike and Twilight's mouths seemed to hang agape, while Twilight looked from between the two Princesses in what can only be described as the most shocking look of disbelief ever before witnessed on the face of a pony from that day onward.

“Well, certainly you didn't think that Luna and I popped up from the ground like turnips did you? Of course we had a mother,” said Celestia suppressing a smile at her student's expression.

“So then, if you have a mother, then you have to have a father,” said Spike getting excited at the idea.

“That is how those things work,” said Luna uncharacteristically soft spoken. “Though, We have no memory of our father. He was taken from us while we were still very, very young foals.”

“I never knew, Princess,” said Twilight formulating the information in her head, “I never realized that you had a mother, I just always thought that you and Princess Luna were all there were.”

“Yes, sadly... we do not speak of our parents. It is a wound we have not been able to close properly in our hearts for all the time we have ruled in our mother's stead.” turning away from Twilight, and looking Luna in the eye, Celestia said, “Our mother died long ago, before Luna and I came to rule. It is doubtful any-pony would know of, or think to believe that there were any before us.”

“This takes us back to the prophesy of Star Swirl the Bearded,” said Luna, walking around to the side of the table with the books, and pointing at the second. “The prophecy referred to the past-tense unification of all ponies under the banner of Queen Stella. Which if correct, would contradict the ages past story of Hearth's Warming Eve.”

“For days Luna and I search tirelessly through the archives, and the libraries, even the catacombs, in the hopes that further light might be shed on this new history of ours, and of course on this cataclysm that Star Swirl alluded to.” Celestia lifted her hoof from the top of the book of prophecy and rested it now on the other book.

“It was a month into our search, before this book was discovered enshrined with our mother's most precious belongings, deep within the castle vaults.” Taking a deep breath, and looking once again at Luna, Celestia hesitated before continuing, but at a subtle nod of Luna resumed.

“This is our mother's diary, and daily thoughts,” said Celestia, as she patted the book and stroked it with immense delicacy. “Her collected writings over her near thousand years of life, and of our father, and of the formation of Equestria... even the great and terrible war that Star Swirl the Bearded prophesied would return.”

At the mention of the word “war”, Twilight Sparkle jerked her head up in yet another bout of shocked disbelief. “Wait... War?” she stammered out.

“That is correct Miss Sparkle,” said Luna in a booming voice, “war was the catalyst for the formation of Equestria. War was the reason all tribes of ponies united under one faction. And war is the thing that obliterated more than half of this world, destroying countless lives before its end came.”

“According to our mother's diary—nearly two thousand years ago—a great and terrible evil was unleashed, and armies of darkness entered this world, and decimated it.” Celestia was standing now, looking down on Twilight as she spoke.

“Tell me Twilight Sparkle. Do you know what a human is?” asked Celestia.

Twilight recovered enough of her composure to frown slightly in thought. “According to the books, they are a mythical creature unlike any creature on the planet. They're the stuff of fairy stories and old mare's tales,” she said remembering some of the fantasy stories from her foal-hood.

“Then it would surprise you to know that there were many humans, once, on this planet,” said Celestia. “According to our mother's diary, they were numerous, and they fought in the terrible war along side the horse tribes.”

Spike, during most of the conversation had resorted to cowering behind Twilight, and was now wringing his tail in his claws. He had gone beyond simplistic confusion and had substituted it for sheer alarm. Which he reasoned was better than trying to understand the depths of the issues he was now privy to.

“That's what the prophecy is about, isn't it?” Twilight asked.

“Yes.” Celestia nodded. “Star Swirl predicted that another war would occur, and that the only hope for our salvation would be to summon back our once legendary hero.”

“How did the war start?”

“According to the diary, the war began centuries after our mother arrived here,” said Luna. “She is not specific about her origins, or time before the war. But she makes it clear that the Dark Legions were bent on destroying the world, the moment they appeared.”

“For a long time, the humans that were the dominating species on this planet, fought the Legions, though they were eventually all destroyed,” said Luna sternly. “When the horse tribes began to fall prey to the circumvent of warfare, Queen Stella used her magic to summon powerful warriors to her aid.”

Thinking more clearly about the facts that were being laid out for her, Twilight asked how the armies of the Dark Legion were able to come to the planet.

“An astute question,” said Celestia. “They arrived through a complex system of gateways across the planet, an ancient portal technology that predates all known history.”

“It was through the use of one such portal, that Stella drew the legendary warriors to our world, and begged them to assist us in our peril.” Celestia once again resorted to resting her hoof on the diary.

Thinking for a few seconds, Twilight's eyes suddenly few wide. “So the earthquakes in Ponyville are...”

“Yes, part of the prophecy, heralding the arrival of the Dark Legion,” said Celestia with remorse.

“So then, all we have to do, is summon the legendary heroes, and they'll take care of the legions?” said Twilight. It was a rhetorical question.

“We do not know,” said Luna. “Our mother was not forthcoming in her diary about the exacting manner in which the Dark Legions were defeated. She goes on at length, to say that the warriors were all killed, save for one. And that he alone was responsible for defending against them in the end.”

Twilight was about to speak, but Celestia cut her off. “The war brought a terrible toll on the world. One which we fear may repeat itself, even were we able to bring this last warrior to us.”

“However, we must still try,” said Luna, reassuringly placing her hoof on Celestia's foreleg. “We must do everything in our power to save Equestria, and the world.”

“We're going to bring a human here? How are we going to do that?” asked Twilight.

Turning behind her, Celestia pointed at a door, which Twilight hadn't noticed until now. “Beyond that door, is one of the portal devices,” she said. “Before I asked you to come here, Luna and I used a spell in our mother's diary in an attempt to bring the last guardian to us... but we were only able to locate him.”

There are few words that can describe the overwhelming fascination and mystical awe that seemed to radiate from Twilight Sparkle, as she gazed at the closed wooden door. Behind it, she knew there lay a strange device of untold age and magic, and the depths of her limited understanding, coupled with her insatiable appetite for learning were more than she seemed visibly able to bear.

Never mind the fact that just moments before she had been told, that not only was her history of Equestria a fabrication, and that everything she had been taught to believe about the world was half-truths and out-right lies; beyond that door was a mystery that transcended her simple life, and opened to a world, possibly even worlds of undiscovery.

“Unfortunately,” said Luna in a hushed tone, “we... that is I was unable to perform to the fullest of my ability. It seems that Our return from exile has left Us... left me, much weaker than I had anticipated.”

“As such,” Celestia continued, “we were only able to find the location of the guardian, we were unable to summon him. The magic required is enormous.”

“The spell.” Twilight, finally understanding for the first time how all these pieces seemed to fit together.

~ ~ ~

There were several things over the course of hundreds and thousands of years that had been kept secret for one reason or another inside of Canterlot Castle. Some of the more important artifacts and trinkets, and oddities, and objects, were kept in the vaults lower down. In fact it seemed that the most valuable items were kept lower and lower in the basement, and the further one descended, the more important the item became.

Situated in the next chamber room however, which was located some great depth in the castle, was the very chamber that housed the before mentioned portal. A terribly large and clunky looking circlet of braided metal and scroll-work.

Now it has been implied that these portals are of a technology and industry that pre-date the known Equestris Historica, and though perhaps mention should be made of their origin, that would be impertinent at this point. So it should suffice to say that these devices are both ancient, and mysterious. And the fact that this individual portal was glowing and activated, only served to increase the curiosity of all on-lookers, historians, technophiles, and or dragons as the case may be.

The circle shaped gateway seemed to bristle with energy as it hummed, and in the center of the threshold was what looked like snow, warbled and distorted by multiple panes of glass, making it impossible for anything on this side to merely peer through.

While the portal was not huge, it was however still awe inspiring. Larger than twice that of a small wagon cart, or carriage, and what with the humming, the crackling and bristling of energy, and the shiny reflective snowy center, it made for a most impressive display.

Standing in a semi-circle around the portal, the four regarded the object for a bit before Celestia motioned her hoof toward Spike. “It would be best if you gave us some distance, little one.”

“We have used a location spell to find the warrior,” said Luna. “However that is as far as my magic was able to be stretched.”

Twilight watched the snowy reflective surface of the portal aperture for a second or two, then turned to Luna. “So, the guardian's just on the other side?”

“Yes. Were the spell fixed in one location, we would be able to see through it, but alas, this is the best we can do,” Luna said. “We are unaccustomed to dealing with this sort of technology.”

Twilight felt a strong sense of importance at this moment in her life. Not that it was a self-gratifying importance, but that she was, of all ponies, standing on the verge of a magical breakthrough; a pathway of new history in the making was right before her eyes, and she knew that every hour, and moment, and second beyond the next decision she made, would affect her life forever.

Taking up a stance directly in front of the portal, Celestia checked to ensure that Spike was a safe ways away, and that he wouldn't become a casualty of the spell should something go awry. Then turned to Twilight.

“When you are ready Twilight, we need you to lend power to the spell of summoning that I will perform,” she said. “Though of course, the choice is yours to make. Should you choose to refrain, then you may do so now, as this spell is highly dangerous.”

There are many types of magic incantations and spells available to those ponies that are fortunate enough to be born with the ability. Most of them, namely the unicorns, are only adept at minor feats of magic, and their powers do not go beyond the ability to levitate objects, or manipulate small items. Those with considerable magic prowess are usually encouraged to develop their skills into something more advanced, and are often encouraged to pursue a career as a mage, or wizard.

As a method of testing for higher functionality in magic in young unicorn foals, an aptitude test is given at an early age to determine the extent of their potential. Should the ponies prove to display considerable levels of magic, they are often-times recruited for the academy of magic at Canterlot, which is overseen by Princess Celestia herself.

Being one such unicorn, Twilight showed great aptitude for magic, even to the point of surpassing everyone's expectation. In fact, her skills were hardly measurable on the test, and once her power manifested itself in the test, it instantly went haywire. Resulting in random shapeshiftings, and oddities of those onlookers of the exam.

Concluding that she was in the single digit percentage of adept students, Twilight Sparkle was placed directly under the sole tutelage of the Princess herself.

Now, as she stood face to face with a strange portal from eons past, Twilight was well aware of her role here. And though no-pony had said as much, it was entirely plausible that the course of her planet's history would hinge on her participation, or disinclination.

“What is thy decision, Twilight Sparkle?” asked Luna as she stood behind her.

Twilight thought briefly, “Of course, Princess. I will help you any way I can.”

Looking from Luna, then to Twilight, Celestia nodded her head. “Very well. Come stand next to me, and I will begin the spell. Once I start, you will strengthen the spell with everything you have, while I bring the warrior from his world to ours.”

“I understand,” said Twilight, as she steeled her resolve. This wasn't a test, or an exam. This was the real thing, the real deal, this is what her past years of magical training had been for, and now was the time to come through.

Resolving herself, Twilight stood next to Princess Celestia while she waited for the spell to begin. Instantly Celestia's long slender horn began to emanate a bright glow near its tip, and Celestia closed her eyes in deep concentration.

As soon as the spell began, Twilight began casting her own spell to reinforce Celestia's magic, and immediately, Twilight could feel a huge drain on her magical power, as if her stomach suddenly went empty, and her whole body wanted to swoon. The drain was enormous, as she had to focus more on her power to keep from losing it all to the force of Celestia's spell.

Once the spell was underway, the portal began glowing bright, and the spinning braided metal of the outlying ring began to hum louder as it increased its spinning to incredible speeds, turning the snowy image inside into swirling super-vortex.

The force from either the portal or the spell began to increase, and Twilight could feel her hooves begin to slide slowly on the stone floor away from the portal, as the force of their magic began to draw pressure from the otherside towards them.

Closing her eyes, and focusing harder, Twilight's horn began to glow brighter and hotter, sending tiny sparks of constituted magical fragments away like a lit sparkling firework. She was near the point of collapsing from the strain, and relaxing her mental concentration when she could feel that something was about to happen.

All at once the portal gate began to make a terrible whistling noise as its outer ring moved at speeds so intense it seemed to meld into a single glowing object that began to slowly expand away from the aperture of the portal, and with a huge explosive flash of white light and smoke, the center of the device ruptured outward toward both Celestia and Twilight, as a large bubble emerged through the portal and dissipated as soon as it made contact with this side.

At the noise of the blast, both Celestia and Twilight ceased their spell, and opened their eyes to see who or what had come through the portal, as it screeched to a halt, and the aperture vanished away into nothing.

Twilight was the first of the two to stumble to her knees, followed a second later by Celestia. Luna was still standing to the side of them, and moved to stand next to her sister's, when she saw stirring in the thick cloud of smoke left behind by the device.

Spike had resorted to cowering in the farthest corner of the chamber the moment the device began emitting the high pitched whistle, clinging to his tail, and using the flat tip to cover his eyes from the unknown horrors that the two had made.

Though he often appeared to be more mature in character and mannerisms, he was still only an adolescent dragon, and large spinning objects making loud pitched noises, and erupting smoke were still very much terrifying.

As the smoke began to dissipate around the chamber, Twilight looked up to see a silhouette moving amidst it. It was a huge shadowy figure that loomed over her by nearly two full feet, though while crouched on the ground was more in the area of three or four.

Celestia also noted the motion of the figure in the smoke as she began to try and lift herself from the stone floor. Her power so thoroughly exhausted that she felt as weak as a newborn kitten, and the loss of the magic, left her trembling in near shock. It is no stretch to say that in all the days of her life, that she could remember anyway, she had never before felt as she did now.

Inside the cloud of still dissipating smoke, the figure let loose with a terrible series of coughs and gasps, and there was some discernible flailing of arms as attempts were made to clear the smoke. This of course causing all four of those gathered in the chamber to catch their breaths, and watch with wild anticipation at what was to happen next.

Taking three steps forward to reach an area of the chamber that had the least amount of smoke, the figure appeared before them, standing exactly five foot, eleven inches; dressed in a brown leather jacket, and wearing faded blue denim jeans, and exquisitely expensive converse shoes—with the Union Jack pattern.

To their utter surprise, it was a man, with jet black hair, and light brown eyes, and he had a look on his face that reminded Twilight of amazement. He coughed once more, while he took a survey of the chamber before him, noticing Celestia and Twilight kneeling on the stone floor in front of him, and Luna standing a few feet away.

“WHOO! What a rush!” he shouted in abstract delight, waiving at the smoke still gathered around his long legs. “Did you see that just now?”

To her disbelief, Celestia watched as the human male swiped at his clothes, still grinning like a fool while he looked around. She was about to offer her customary words of introduction, or at least the words she had recited in her head, when she was first to meet with this living hero of their past, but he kept speaking.

“At first, I thought... OH SHIT! This is an alien abduction! And I just knew that some weird, strange, crazy aliens from another planet were hoisting me up to their mothership to stick who-knows-what into me.” The man was waiving his arms around, while looking excitedly, as he spoke. “Then I was like... there is no way this is aliens, cause I mean, let's face it, if this was the work of aliens then why would they pick lower New York for a place to nab a human right?”

Getting close to Twilight—who instinctively recoiled slightly at his approach—the man squatted a bit to look down at her, while never missing a beat in his near constant babbling.

“Hot damn! I never expected to be here... I mean holy shit! I spend my whole life listening to stories about this place, and then BLAM-O! Here I am!” Clapping his hands together at the word blam-o, which caused Twilight to shriek in fright at the unexpected shock of the noise.

Twilight Sparkle was confused, horrified, and scared of what she was witnessing. She wasn't sure what she expected to see when the hero appeared, and she wasn't sure how to respond to his string of near unintelligible ramblings. She wasn't sure, but Twilight thought perhaps the human was broken in his head.

Just as quickly as he was squatting in front of Twilight, the man rose back up into an up-right position, and took a few steps back, bringing his hand to his stomach. He got wide eyed and then said, “Ponies!” before falling face forward to the concrete floor, and didn't regain consciousness for several hours.

Rushing forward, Luna knelt by the human male. “Fa...” she started to say, but instead sniffed at his face and placed her hoof on his chest. “He's alive,” she eventually said.

The Third Chapter

After several hours of unconsciousness, the man awoke to find himself in a most peculiar place. He was after all standing in the middle of a large chamber spouting nonsense and gesturing frantically with his hands before this moment. Now upon waking, his head seemed filled with a fog, and his stomach felt empty and hollow, as if he had gone without food for a week.

As he looking around to bring some focus into his vision, he heard a voice say that, he had come around, and he turned his head to see the source of the voice. To his minimal surprise, it was the deep blue pony with a long slender horn on its forehead.

Coming to stand beside him, he found himself face to face with the white pony, with the similar long horn from before. “Thank goodness,” the white pony said, as she leaned down to examine him closer. “Are you feeling better?”

“I feel like I just went up against the Raven's offensive single-handedly and lost.” His tongue was dry in his mouth as he spoke.

There was no reply from either the white or blue ponies at his answer, and as he looked around more, he noticed that he was lying in a huge ornate and plush bed, in a brightly lit room, in what reminded him of antique Victorian décor.

“Stop me if you've heard this one,” he said slowly and softly. “You're horses, right?” The two nodded their answer.

It took some effort, but despite the discomfort in his head and stomach, the man slowly sat up on the edge of the bed, and observed his surroundings more.

“Sorry if I scared anyone back there,” he said, as he caught sight of the purple pony standing some ways away, “I have a tendency to rattle off at the mouth when I get excited.”

“Do you know where you are?” the white pony finally asked him.

“Yeah, I think I have a pretty good idea,” he said watching her slowly. “I'm in Equestria, right?”

“That is correct, Guardian,” the white pony said, which made the man raise an eyebrow, and regard her curiously. “To be more specific, this is Canterlot, and you are in the royal palace.”

“You sure I'm not dead?” he asked after some thought. “I mean, is this the afterlife? Or maybe I'm in a dream?”

There was again no reply from any of the ponies in the room, as they observed him with deep curiosity. Then as if to prove to himself that he was in fact alive and neither dead or dreaming, the man slowly extended his hand out in front of him toward the white pony.

At the movement, the white pony made a motion with her head to move away, but slowly the man leaned forward and gently touched her forehead at the base of the long slender horn. The moment his hand touched her head, he made a quick gasp, and felt a chill course through him.

“I knew it. You are real,” he said as he rubbed his hand down her long face and rested it at her muzzle.

“You see, you are not dead, Guardian,” she said slowly, staring into his eyes deeply, “and this isn't a dream.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” he said, bringing his hand back and rubbing it together with his other.

“Because you are the last Knight of Equestria.”

The man gave a funny expression as if were suddenly zapped by a small current of electricity, and frowned deeply. “Huh? No I'm not.”

Now it was the three ponies in the room that had a look of shock and frowning. “You are not the defender of the kingdom, the last Knight of Equestria, the Guardian of the Elements?”

“Oh, hell no,” he said sliding off of the bed, and planting his feet on the stone floor, testing his strength to stand. “I'm afraid you've got the wrong person. The man you're looking for is, Thomas Montgomery.”

There was another round of disbelieving looks as he said this, and he couldn't be sure, but judging by their expressions, they didn't seem to believe him.

“Then where is he?” the blue pony said, finally speaking up.

The man looked down for a second to formulate an answer, as he reached to massage the area of his stomach near his side. “I'm afraid he's passed on.”

The two ponies gasped in unison at the news. They both looked distraught and visibly on the verge of tears. But there was no helping the truth, and the truth was; their guardian had died.

“How do you know these thing? How do you know about this place? And just who in the name of hellfire are you?” demanded the white pony as she stomped her foot in frustration at the man.

“Whoa, there!” he said throwing his hands up in surrender. “One question at a time.”

“Who are you human? What is your name?” the blue pony asked after exchanging a few glances with the white one.

“My name is Eli, Eli Montgomery,” he said. “Thomas Montgomery was my father.”

Eli wasn't sure, but he was beginning to think that perhaps ponies here didn't handle shocks very well, or they were extremely asthmatic, because he had never heard more air sucking and gasping before this day.

“You are his son?” asked the white pony, making herself taller in an attempt to intimidate him, though up against Eli, she didn't stand more than bust height at the crown of her head.

“Yeah, that's right,” he said sternly, attempting to match stance with the pony. “To answer your other questions, I know about this place, because of my father. He told me everything he knew about his time here—which to be honest, I thought was a load of crap. But... then of course, I also believe Elvis is hiding out in Cuba somewhere, smoking cigars and enjoying the beach.”

Twilight Sparkle had been keeping a wide berth of the situation while it unveiled, and though her curiosity at seeing the human up close was strong, she was more afraid of him than she admitted. So chose to remain safely in the scenery as it were.

“Okay,” Eli said, after he successfully stared down the white unicorn pony. “I have a few questions myself.”

The white pony looked him up and down, and snorted, then slowly nodded her head.

“Okay,” he said again, walking away from the side of the bed into the main area of the room, slowly to keep from careening. “If this is Equestria, then you must be part of the horse tribes that my father told me about. It's also pretty clear that you weren't after me, so who are you, and why is it so important that you find my father?”

Before an answer could be given, Eli interrupted and began mumbling again, and then with a comical expression on his face, he pointed first at the white pony, then at the blue. “Wait! I know who you are! You're the little brats aren't you?”

The white pony scoffed at being called a brat, but Eli was on another excited roll, and was pacing the floor gesturing back and forth between the two horned ponies while bursting into fits of laughter.

“Yeah, Celestia and Luna,” he said snapping his finger. “Oh, man... this is too funny. And you're horses. That's just golden... right there, that's amazing.”

It was now Princess Celestia's turn to interrupt, as she stepped forward and approached the hyperactive human. “We are in fact Celestia and Luna,” she said curtly. “We are the rulers of this realm, and we were attempting to summon the guardian of Equestria in the hopes that he could assist us in our great time of need.”

At this, the laughing man stopped laughing and regained his composure. He seemed momentarily lost in thought as he mentally chewed the last bit.

“Oh so that's how it is. And here I thought that after all this time, you were making good on the promise to my father. Instead you only bring him back when you need him. Is that it?”

“I'm afraid I don't quite follow,” said Celestia, as she looked from Eli to Luna.

“Maybe not, but there is someone here that does,” he said lowering his tone. “Where is Queen Stella? Maybe I can get some answers out of her.”

“Queen Stella is gone,” said Luna coming to her sister's defense. “She passed away long ago, when we were still very young. There was much we only recently became aware of, due to the events that are happening in our world.”

Eli looked downcast for a moment as he let the gravity of the situation settle on him. He felt confused, and bombarded with a reality that he half never expected would go beyond the adventures of a storytelling father. And now that he was physically here, present in their fantastic world, he reluctantly came to grips with the knowledge of the surreal.

“If the guardian is indeed gone, then perhaps we can appeal to you for aid, Sir Eli,” said Celestia. “We have no one else whom we can turn to.”

“I bet you don't,” he said flatly. “I think I've figured out what this is. It's the Kellpersvale right, the Dark Legion? They're coming back, or else they're already here?”

With an angry look to him, Eli moved up to Celestia, and folded his arms across his chest. “You want my father to save you again. You don't need him for years and years, and now when you are about to lose everything a second time... now you need him.”

Again, all the ponies in the room were silent, as Eli leaned close to Celestia almost whispering in her ear. “Send me back.”

Twilight Sparkle was nearing panic at the interchange between Eli and Princess Celestia. In her mind she rationalized things going a completely different way, though honestly she had no clue what to expect. Only, any course except for this.

“No,” said Celestia firmly.

“What?”

“I will not send you back,” she said matching his furious gaze. “You are all we have to rely on.”

“My father died a crushed and broken man because of you horses!” Eli said shouting at her in fury. “When he needed you the most in his life, you weren't there! I hardly think you're in a position to ask me for help!”

“It is your duty!” Celestia said attempting to raise her voice louder than that of Eli. “As the son of the Guardian...”

“I don't know you,” he said. “And I certainly don't owe you!”

“Then you are not your father's son!” Celestia said, all but spitting the words at him in disgust.

“As far as I'm concerned, you and this whole fucking world, can go straight to...”

“ELI MONTGOMERY!” came the voice of Princess Luna from next to him.

Eli jerked in shock at the amazingly loud decibel of her tone, and instinctively brought his hands to his ears, as did everyone else gathered in the chamber, or unfortunate enough to be eavesdropping at the door, were there anyone eavesdropping at the door.

As an interesting note, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were raised at a time in their royalty when it was popular to speak with much use of third person, and when speaking, to do so at monumentally loud volumes so that the royal subjects can hear the words while occupying space at the rear of the crowd.

In the thousand years that Luna had been on the Moon during her exile, the use of Royal Conversing was abandoned in favor of more informal speaking. Upon her return, she found it difficult to drop the extra volume at times, or the use of third person referencing. Now it seems that the tone of Royal Canterlot Voice was quite called for.

“You are mistaken if you think we are the fools you take us for!” said Luna directly between him, and Celestia. “We did not know of a war, or of the Dark Legion, or your father for that matter.”

“What, you've never heard of a history book?” he muttered aloud.

“SILENCE! Your time for speaking is past.”

Reluctantly, Eli took his gaze away from Luna, and looked down at the floor. Obstinately he ground his teeth while she continued.

“We did not know of our true history until only recently. Were it not for the misplaced book of an ancient conjurer, we would be blind to the peril that is stirring in the heart of Equestria.” Snorting at him with emphasis, she said, “We were merely infants when your father left us to return to his home. We knew nothing of a promised return, we were told nothing of a war, or of the Dark Legion.”

“Forgive us, if we seem earnest for your help,” she said bringing her voice down to a lower volume. “We only knew what was written in the diary, and in the prophecy. We have no preparation for another conflict, no knowledge of combat, we have lived at peace for two thousand some-odd years... we only knew of a legendary warrior that saved us once, and all our hopes rested on his return.”

Call it exhaustion, or simply defeat, but whatever the reason, Eli slowly sank to his knees, and sat on the floor with his back to a table leg, looking up at the ornate ceiling above, and breathing slowly.

“It wasn't supposed to be like this,” he finally said very softly. “We were supposed to be happy, and live free from all the terrible things in our world.”

“Is there a way to stop them?” asked Celestia after some moments.

Looking back up at her slowly, Eli shook his head. “It's complicated. It's not normal technology; it's sorcery and science, like alchemy. They are coming through, probably right now as we speak. The gate can only be closed if we know the proper code to use on the dials, the symbols, the language. Or, destroy it, which my father already tried that... it didn't work, it was damaged, but it wasn't destroyed.”

“Then how did he shut it?” asked Luna.

“He had a wizard, use a spell on it. A sealing spell that would hinder the mechanisms,” Eli said, still staring at the ceiling. “There's possibly a third way, but it's nothing you could use.”

“Where did the portals come from?” asked Celestia, standing over Eli. “Who made them?”

“I don't know. Know one did, not even your mother.” Shaking his head. “They've been here since forever. Someone used them long ago to travel the stars, and the worlds... and the one in Wrathborn Forest is permanently opened to the world of the Dark Legion.”

Kneeling down in front of Eli, Celestia lowered her head to him. “I'll give you anything you desire. Say the word, and it's yours... only save us.”

“Sister,” Luna said, about to protest, but stopping short.

“I guess I should consider my military training a blessing in disguise now, huh?” he said as he reached out once more, and touched Celestia on her head, stroking it softly.

“Name your price guardian,” Celestia said quietly, “and in addition to sending you home, I'll pay what ever you ask.”

Thinking hard for a moment, Eli began to feel a mixture of emotions. He felt sorrow, and grief, and fear. His brain was telling him to protest and walk away. But his heart was telling him something far more different.

Though Eli was stubborn, and prideful, he was still a self-possessed man of noble character. When he saw a need, he acted on behalf of those that needed. By his own rationalization, he knew the moment they mentioned the Dark Legion, and the dire events that were pressing down on them, that he was going to help them.

“I'll tell you what I want,” he finally said. “But you are not going to like it. In fact, it may be the most difficult task anyone has ever ask you, it will be nearly impossible to provide. But I've made up my mind.”

Looking up at him, Celestia felt a twang of sadness at the idea that he would take reward for helping them, but the offer was made, and he took it, nevertheless.

“What is it you wish of me?” she said, lowering herself down further, in a never before seen act of humility.

“I want a glass of water,” he said at last. “But not just any water; I want a glass of cold fresh ice water. My trip through the gateway has left me very thirsty.”

Shocked at the absurdity of the wish, Celestia jerked her head back up, nearly skewering Eli's hand in the process on her long horn. “Are you being serious?”

“Hell yes I'm serious,” he said. “You get me a glass a water, and I'll kick those Dark Legions' asses all the way back to whatever hell they crawled out of!”

Twilight Sparkle had been so intently listening and watching the scene transpire that she forgot herself, and spoke aloud. “Unbelievable!” she shouted, then catching herself, she brought her hooves to her mouth.

It was too good to be true. The guardian was going to do this for them for nothing, for a simple act of kindness, for a glass of water. A neighborly act, a piece of generosity.

She hadn't been aware of it, but Twilight let out a long sigh as she had been off and on holding her breath.

“Unless, of course... you were lying about giving me anything I wanted,” said Eli deliberately poking fun at Celestia.

Celestia and Luna both wore similar looks of disbelief on their faces, at the absurdity of the request, but regardless, Celestia knew that Eli was a good person. Even if he clearly had issues.

“If that's the case. Then one glass of ice water coming right up,” she said.

~ ~ ~

Several minutes later, Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Spike were gathered around the human as he held the glass of water with three cubes of ice floating in it. They each watched him intently as he brought the glass to his lips and swallowed quickly.

With half the glass of water drank, Eli brought it down and sat it on a small wooden table near him, and regarded the ponies. “I have a lot of questions,” he said, “but for right now, the most important question is, when the spell on the other gateway was broken.”

“Today,” said Celestia. “We were already in the process of attempting to bring you here when the portal ruptured.”

“Okay.” Eli brought his hand up to his face and absently rubbed at his chin, as if there were stubble, or the thick swatch of a goatee. “What exactly do you know about the war against the Dark Legion?”

“Only what was in our mother's diarym” said Luna. “Before that, we discovered a book of lost prophecy by a wizard named...”

“Star Swirl the Bearded, right?” Eli said with a grin at his knowledge of the names, and how ridiculously stupid they sounded coming from his mouth.

“That's right,” said Celestia, with a look of questioning on her face.

“Yeah, he was a character all right. My father mentioned him a lot.” Eli mused thoughtfully for a second. “So you found his nonsense, and figured it meant something?”

“Yes, he predicted that a war would return to the land of Equestria. He mentioned the only salvation being a returning champion, and legendary warrior.”

“We had no reason to doubt him,” said Luna. “But his implications were too difficult to ignore; so we began a search for information, and discovered our mother's diary. Then the portal, and the rest that has transpired.”

“What sort of army do you have?” asked Eli.

“None. We have royal guards, and law enforcement specialists. Nothing so grand as a force for warfare,” said Celestia.

“Well, then you are going to need one,” he said, “since we may have to fight them back, and force the gate to close, either through sabotage or magic.”

“You mentioned a third possibility,” Celestia said recalling his words.

“It's nothing we can use,” he said shaking his head.

“Are you so certain?”

“Well, yes. The third way would actually be the easiest way, but we would need a key,” he said. “Each gateway has a key designed for it, which activates a lock of some sort, that completely renders them useless. But my father never found a key, and believe me he looked. Which is why they had to resort to trying to destroy it, and ultimately seal it with magic.”

“A key,” said Celestia silently, as her eyes darted back and forth between Eli and those around them.

“Uh-huh. But like I said, it's nothing we can use. We don't have them, they've been long since lost, and you don't have the luxury of time it would take to excavate the whole planet looking.”

“Come with me,” said Celstia to Eli, “I want to show you something.”

~ ~ ~

Eli followed a ways behind Celestia, as she and Princess Luna escorted them back to the chamber housing the portal device.

Now it wasn't because she was worried about what the servants or guards in the palace would think, that she had sent them all away prior to his waking, Celestia simply wanted to minimize the risk of any pony seeing him unprepared, and left to formulate their own thoughts on the matter. So the coast was more than clear upon their departure of the room to the portal chamber.

As they moved along the corridors of the palace, Twilight Sparkle found herself watching Eli from the corner of her eye. She was sure he had regained his composure, and though ultimately he had chosen to aid Equestria, she was still very much concerned about him.

After all, not more than a few hours before it was a common fact that, humans were the devout stuff of fantasy. Not real. Not factual. And most certainly not walking mere feet away.

Spike on the other-hand seemed perfectly accepting of the new tall fleshy human wearing odd garments, and swaggering about the corridors and passageways. Perhaps this was due to his youth, or his trusting and accepting nature, but once the conflict had settled, and the loud words were passed, he seemed perfectly at ease with the new addition to the world.

“I'm sorry,” Eli said in Twilight's direction after he caught her glances at him; “if I upset you.”

For a second Twilight was too embarrassed to reply, from being seen watching him. “It's... it's okay,” she eventually said, offering him a forced smile, which Eli returned with a nod.

Once inside the massive underground basement chamber, Eli let out a long whistle, as he walked up to the circle shaped portal. He had to admit that, he was not prepared for the size of the gate, nor had he expected it to look so well preserved. In his own mind, he half expected the gate to look like a rusty archaic ruin, and not something that could have easily been built or constructed recently.

“I feel that I owe you an apology, Sir Eli,” said Celestia, as she approached the now deactivated portal device. “In my distress, I failed to put any of the pieces together.”

Moving close to the portal as well, Eli reached to put a hand on the side of the metal braided circlet on the outer exterior, but drew his hand back quickly. “I don't understand.”

“Two keys were found,” said Celestia.

Eli frowned as he turned to face her. “What?”

“Yes,” Celestia said. “It was written in my mother's diary. She mentioned finding two keys after the guardian's departure, and she enshrined one with this gate, and the other was secreted away and deposited on the bottom of a now long vanished lake.”

“I'll be a son of a bitch,” Eli muttered under his breath.

“Yes well, because the key was not mentioned as being part of the activation of this particular portal, I took it for granted that they were significant.” Celestia bowed her head down to Eli remorsefully. “I am truly, very sorry.”

With some of her magic now restored from the earlier transportation spell, Celestia's horn glowed brightly as she levitated a box from a nearby bookshelf and brought it over for Eli to inspect. As it slowly descended into his hands, he opened the lid, and saw inside a small golden reflective metal object, shaped like a tube with ridges and grooves in the surface of the cylinder, and a flat part at the end. No bigger than his hand, the key was surprisingly light when he extracted it.

“That's no moon! It's a space station!” Eli suddenly shouted in excitement, holding the key up.

“I take it, that's a good thing?” asked Luna, watching as Eli continued excitedly.

“Yes, Princess. It is a very good thing; because with this, we just might be able to save Equestria.”

At those words, Celestia and Luna exhaled a huge sigh of relief, as Twilight began to clap her hooves together excitedly. There was no denying that the tension in the atmosphere had been somewhat lifted.

Clutching the key firmly in his fist, Eli regarded the gate. “This doesn't change the fact that we still have to find the gate in Wrathborn Forest, and close it.”

“If by Wrathborn Forest, are you referring to Everfree Forest?” asked Celestia.

“I guess. It's the forest of darkness, and living nightmares, and such,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, aside from that description, the forests must be the same, though no-pony has called it that in all the time I'm aware of.”

“Guess there was a lot of things that were changed,” said Eli. “Nevertheless, it doesn't change the fact that we have to go into the forest to find the gate. Not only that, but if there is another key, then I'd like to try and find it as well.”

“Two would certainly be better than one,” said Luna, nodding her head at the logic.

“My thoughts exactly.”

“According to the diary, the second key was sealed inside a similar box, as you have there; then sank to the bottom of Lake Luck-Shoe,” said Celestia.

“Yeah, and?”

“There is problem,” she said shaking her head.

“It's no problem. I can swim,” he said.

“As can we all,” she said frowning. “The problem, is that Lake luck-Shoe does not exist. The location for the lake is wrong, there is a stream, but certainly not a lake.”

“Well, what's there other than a stream?”

“The town of Ponyville.”

“Well, maybe if you got an older map.”

“We did. It's the oldest and most accurate we have in the castle, more than five hundred years old.”

Covering his face with his hands, Eli let out a massive groan, then quickly removed his hands and laughed a crazy loud laugh at each of them. “I think I know what being crazy feels like!” he said. “Well, unfortunately, we're going to have to dig up this Ponyville town, and find that key. I'm betting the landscape's changed after two thousand years of erosion and geographic shifting.”

“Wait,” said Twilight, finally posing her own question, “you want us to dig up Ponyville?”

Leaning forward, Eli grabbed his knees and chuckled a few times before bringing himself back upright. “I guess there's no way we could just pack up and all escape through the portal to another world?”

“No,” said Celestia, unimpressed with the humor.

“But I hear Bermuda is really nice this time of year.”

“No!”

The Fourth Chapter

After another two hours, Princess Celestia was putting the final attention to an official letter which would accompany Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville once she returned with Spike and Eli.

While she proofed her work, to check for errors, Eli found his way to the first chair he could find to sit in, and reclined back in Luna's throne on the dais of the throne room.

Clearing her throat, Luna glanced harshly at Eli in an attempt to get him out of her seat, to which Eli merely waved her away.

It begs to be said that, Eli Montgomery is a peculiar man, even in a world of peculiarities, he seems to take his eccentricities to high levels, and while he isn't insane, he has certainly given that impression to others, due to his erratic nature, and his ability to go from soft spoken, to out-right loud and boisterous, seemingly in the same breath.

Born the son of a soldier, Eli's world was wracked with trial and upset at a very early age, and while he spent most of his early years in the tender loving care of his mother, his world became the stuff of the bizarre and the strange at the age of ten, when his father seemingly returned from the grave, and took Eli to live with him.

Most of the bizarre and strange that surrounded Eli's life came in the form of his father and the tall tales that he brought back with him from the jungles of Vietnam. Of course, none of those stories had anything whatsoever to do with Vietnam or fighting in some foreign part of the world.

What the stories did entail however, were of adventures in a magical world occupied with strange and fantastic creatures, epic battles and stories so amazing that Eli fell in love with the world of Ethereal Earth and the promised notion of he and his father's return.

Now seated in the throne room of the royal palace in Canterlot, Eli behaved strikingly calm and subdued, especially for a man both living out a far-fetched fantasy, and told he was the living embodiment of the country's hope and salvation.

With another loud clearing of her throat, Princess Luna motioned to the throne which Eli occupied. “You are sitting in my chair.”

Throwing his hands up, and exhaling in defeat, Eli removed himself from the throne and went to stand with Celestia as she rolled the parchment and passed it to Twilight Sparkle.

"Are you certain you are up to this task?" said Princess Celestia as Twilight took the scroll.

"I understand what I have to do Princess, I won't fail you," she said reassuringly.

“The letter will be sent out to all the major cities and towns in Equestria. I've explained the situation as best as I can, and hopefully have prepared them for our new human guest,” said Celestia as she glanced side-long at Eli.

“Yeah, about that,” he said. “I'm not so sure how your royal subjects are going to take to me just wandering around their town. Can't I just stay in the castle?" said Eli. "Besides, it's one thing to be around a few, but a whole town of talking horses is just too creepy. I'm trying to think of you here, if I go crazy I'm worthless."

"What sort of Guardian of Equestria wants to hide in the shadows of the castle keep?" said Luna, scoffing at his behavior.

"Apparently this one," said Spike, a little more comfortably, as four royal guards appeared to escort them to their chariot.

“Regardless, Ponyville is closer to Everfree Forest, and you departing from there is more fortuitous than launching an expeditionary from Canterlot.” Celestia had an eyebrow raised as she said this, and Eli couldn't dispute the logic.

As the group made their way from the inner area of the palace, and onto an adjacent landing, Eli caught sight of their ride. It was a golden and white chariot pulled by four different royal guards. Each wearing a stoic expressionless look to them as they each quickly giving their human passenger a brief once over.

"We are Ponies," said Celestia, correcting Eli.

“What?

“That's what we're called,” she said. “Horses is a bit crude.”

"Yeah well, you weren't always ponies," said Eli, as he cautiously stepped into the chariot, scrunching himself down, so as to hide from anyone that might happen by and spot him.

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked, frowning at him.

Looking over the lot of them, Eli could see that they honestly had no clue what he was talking about. "Man, you guys need new history books. None of you started out as little purple, and blue, and gray, and pink ponies. You were all made that way.”

"What!?" was all Twilight could say, and by the look on Celestia's face, she was in disbelief as well.

"My father said that all the horses in Equestria were huge majestic creatures of the same color, and that sometime after he arrived, they changed." Sniffing indignantly, he added, "It's possible, that it's because of the portals, or gates, or whatever you want to call them; but the bottom line is, those gates are bad news. The longer they stay open, the more chances there are that all you horses will change again.”

"How long do we have?" asked Celestia.

"How in the hell should I know," said Eli crossing his arms. “There was a lot my father went into detail about, and some things he didn't. That's one of the things he didn't have a lot to say about."

"Any advice on what we should do while waiting on word of the portal in the forest?" asked Celestia.

"Yeah," said Eli, as the chariot lurched forward to depart. “It's probably best if you start praying that we live long enough to see what you change to next."

“That is not very reassuring,” said Celestia, as the chariot pulled away.

“Sorry!” Eli shouted back waving. “It's the best I got!”

The ride to Ponyville was a lot shorter than Eli would have liked, and the fact that Twilight or Spike stared at him mercilessly only compounded Eli's unease. Not that Eli was bothered by flying, he quite liked high places. His problem was that he was in the hands, or hooves as the case may be, of four flying ponies and pulled along the sky high enough, that falling would be disastrous.

He almost told her to kindly look the other way, but it seemed as if something was bothering her, as she wore a worried expression.

"Are we really going to change?" asked Twilight, breaking the silence.

Eli twitched at the sudden sound, which made his unease at the ride-along that much more uneasy.

"Most likely, yes," he said, forcing himself to watch the horizon. "The gateway is an unnatural thing in this world, and it will change everyone eventually." He thought about it for a few seconds; "maybe even me too."

“Oh,” she said, letting out a soft sigh. “I guess it makes sense, considering how much of our history has been changed.”

“Change can be a good thing sometimes,” he said, making a small effort at consolation.

"So what's it like where you're from Eli?" said Spike wanting to talk about something else, for which Twilight was thankful.

"It's... busy," said Eli, unnerved by the reptile in his presence.

"So what do you do, where you're from?" asked Spike, still curious about him.

"I'm a drafter," said Eli, hugging himself with his arms, and briefly imagining that Spike were a cat or small furry animal.

"What's that?" asked Twilight, excited for the change of topic, and eager to learn something new.

"I draw the technical plans for buildings and things, so that other people can build them."

"That doesn't sound very exciting," said Spike, being brutally honest.

"Well," said Eli glowering at the two of them. "That's sort of the point."

Spike gave back a confused look, not understanding why someone would want to purposefully do something boring. To which Eli elaborated.

“I got tired of doing what I did before; the rushing and the nonsense-- and I wanted to do something that was less exciting,” he said waving a hand nonchalantly. “I figured short of being a librarian, drawing technical plans was as boring a life as I could choose, and still make decent money.”

The chariot came to a stop outside of the Tree Library, and Eli hunkered down even further into the chariot, in an attempt to make sure he wasn't spotted prematurely by the locals.

"I just need to take this letter from the Princess to the Mayor, explaining what's going on," said Twilight as she turned to Eli. "You can just wait in my boring library house with Spike until I get back. The last thing we need are ponies flipping out, before they get a chance to hear it officially."

"At which point they'll flip out officially," said Eli with a smirk. "Look, if it's all the same, I think I'll just wait in the chariot." Pulling his jacket collar up higher, and adjusting himself a bit more in the seat.

"Aww come on Eli, this place isn't so bad,” Spike said encouragingly. “I mean there are lots of interesting things here, and interesting ponies too."

There was a loud “ahem” from one of the pegasus ponies that was pulling the chariot; and Eli took that as an indication that he was not welcome to loiter any longer.

"Fine," he said, stepping out. "Let's see what interesting things Ponyville has to offer."

Eli's first reaction to seeing Ponyville was less than enthusiastic, as he took his first look around at a real town in this world. His experiences in life had taken him to many different places, and this one, while rather rustic, reminded him more of a Renaissance recreation in Europe than anything he could relate to in America.

His fascination with the designs of the building notwithstanding, he still wore a heavy frown as he glanced around at the scenery. He could see several ponies some ways away walking about, and some tending to their small gardens, and while he had to keep reminding himself that this was a different world than the one he was used to seeing, he found himself slightly overwhelmed by the idea that he was the only living human on the whole planet.

Without warning—which should have been established by now, that most things are without—Pinkie Pie emerged from a random direction shouting, "Twilight! Twilight!" and rushed upon the three of them as the chariot was pulled away, and screeched to a halt as soon as she saw Eli.

"I can't really talk now, Pinkie," said Twilight, trotting off in the direction of the Mayor's Office. “I have to deliver this letter.”

For a brief moment, Eli stared down at the bushy haired, big eyed, pink pony; and Pinkie stared up at the strange, tall, oddly dressed creature she had never seen before.

"Um, hello," said Eli, figuring he should at least attempt to be cordial, and putting on his best charming smile.

As soon as Eli spoke, Pinkie jumped a few feet off the ground gasping a high-pitched gasp, and bolted away from the three of them as fast as she could.

"Now why does that seem so familiar?" asked Spike, looking after where Pinkie had gone, and scratching at his head.

"Yeah, that was really interesting," said Eli. Then turning to Twilight. "I think maybe you better hurry up, Pony, the panic in the streets is probably about to start soon."

"It's Twilight Sparkle... my name I mean, and my friends are hopefully handling the panic from earlier," she said as she trotted away. "Don't worry, we'll explain everything to them."

“Yeah, just wait till they get a load of me,” he said under his breath. “You may be eating those words.”

Walking into the tree library, Eli suddenly felt as if he were in one of J.R.R Tolkien's novels. Everything looked like it was made and intended for a Hobbit, and not someone one inch shy of being six foot tall.

Amazingly it didn't smell dank, like most of the libraries he'd been in, and it was also surprisingly clean of dust.

"You can just make yourself at home, till Twi gets back from the Mayor's," said Spike, as he busying himself with some menial tasks.

Eli, despite his apprehension at being on such strange soil in a strange world, was rather mystified at the collection of odd books and parchments, and to his regret, he also noted that the library had no electricity, though there was ample lighting from lamps placed about.

Despite any normal person's reluctance at accepting living breathing talking ponies, and then swiftly coming to terms with the fact, Eli was beginning to feel mentally fatigued from all that he had been bombarded with over the past several hours, and as he looked around, the cozy environment seemed to cast a sort of lullaby spell on him, and he wanted more than anything, to just rest and sleep.

Feeling a familiar vibration in his jacket pocket, he reached in for his phone, just as the thought occurred to him that he was in another dimension, and not anywhere near the earth he was familiar with.

As an interesting fact, Eli was a technophile of massive proportions. His affinity and fondness for electronic gadgets and gizmos, was on par with Twilight Sparkle's love of literature, and books. Were Eli capable, he would no doubt remove his heart, and replace it with a Cyan-Rhodes 3500 ambient Processor. But of course, that was fantasy, not real life.

Tapping the standby button on the android phone, it blazed to life with one bar of signal, and indicated that he had gotten a text message.

"I'll be damned," he said out loud. "There is an Easter Bunny, Charlie Brown!"

Amazingly, he had enough signal across worlds to receive a message, but not enough to make a call.

Pulling down the notification bar at the top, he noted that the message was from one of the assistants at the office.

Hey jackass, we've been trying to call you for an hour!

Along with the message, came the realization that Eli had real world obligations, and that he was no doubt going to be unable to call in absent to his job for the next few days, or weeks, or perhaps months. "I Guess this adventure is going to end my career," he said to the message, turning the phone back into standby to preserve its battery life.

"Who's Charlie Brown?" asked Spike, walking into the main room, carrying a dustpan and broom.

"A devout pessimist," said Eli, as he secreted the phone back into his pocket.

Finding a place to sit, Eli regarded Spike the Dragon with a mixture of fright and fascination, as it is not common knowledge that Eli's greatest fear was focused solely on reptiles. Oh sure, surround the man with a horde of ravenous arachnids and fields of rabid bunnies, and he was as comfortable as a newborn nestled in a blanket. Send him out into a battlefield laced with landmines and guts, and he was ready for a relaxing vacation. But place a lizard, or snake within a hundred yards of the man, and he lost his ability to control his calm serene demeanor, and could possible behave in ways that would make him slightly less credible as this new-fangled guardian.

Obviously Spike was a baby dragon, and for all intents harmless, but what surprised Eli the most was how obviously domesticated he seemed especially given the fact that he had not encountered a living breathing dragon before this day.

"You wanna play a card game, while we wait on Twilight?" asked Spike, reaching over behind some books on a table and producing a deck of small cards.

"Sure, why not."

~ ~ ~

Not far from the center of Ponyville near some shops and quaint buildings stood the town hall. A respectable building that rose several stories in the air, and peaked at the top. Around the base was a large wooden platform which served as a stage for large gatherings and meetings, and for the occasional school production.

The town hall of course was relatively new, though mostly just renewed construction, as it had recently been remodeled on account of the weather ponies, and some errant bolts of lightning that waywardly wandered into the top of the building, causing substantial roof damage.

Now, it should be pointed out that while the office of the mayor is an elected position, the current mayor was so well loved and respected that she has retained her role for well past the normal duration of time the position permitted.

After the third re-election, the ponies in town simply refined the voting process to a show of hooves at each election gathering, to simply affirm that Mayor Mare would hold the office another term.

Seated inside the town hall, behind her ornate redwood desk, Mayor Mare scrutinized the letter from Princess Celestia regarding the recent events. It didn't take an expert to know that she was clearly disturbed by the news, hoping like the others would, that the events were something simple, and easily remedied; such as a volcano, a rampaging dragon, or a series of natural disasters that caused the continent to split down the middle.

"So the plan is to excavate the town while this Eli human searches out Everfree Forest?"

Twilight merely nodded.

“I have to say, this isn't the news I had hoped to get back from the Princess on the mater of today's earthquakes,” said Mayor Mare as she glanced from Twilight, and then back to the letter.

"Is he certain that the second key is somewhere in Ponyville?" the Mayor asked.

"He seems sure, as does the Princess," Twilight said.

There was no denying that the mayor's reaction was reserved. Twilight had her suspicions though that despite the calm and cool exterior, there was much turmoil underneath.

“The worst part of this, is the fact that everything that we thought we knew about ourselves has come to mean very little,” Mare said. “Not to mention that the burden of informing the ponies has fallen to me, and I don't have to remind you that they can be a fickle lot.”

On multiple occasions throughout the Mayor's terms in office, one crisis or another had arisen, and despite her best efforts, the ponies of Ponyville were dead set on unified panic as often as they could manage. Whether it be an infestation of Parasprites, or a horde of runaway rampaging bunnies, the slightest disturbance to their normal daily lives was grounds for sheer unrestrained chaos.

“I wish we could do more Mayor,” said Twilight feeling caught between wanting to help the town, and following the Princess's wishes.

“There's nothing to be sorry for. If the Princess asks that we help find this lost artifact, and if it will help us stave off a terrible ruin, then we will of course do our part.” Mayor Mare patted the document in front of her. “Besides, there is some small part of me that looks forward to seeing this human with my own eyes.”

Taking a long drawn out deep breath, the Mayor looked at Twilight thoughtfully, then asked, “Do you believe that this Eli Montgomery can really save us?”

“From what I've seen of him Mayor, I don't really know,” said Twilight truthfully. “But the way I see it, having him on our side is better than not having anyone at all."

Giving Twilight a hard frown, the Mayor adjusted her glasses with her right hoof. “Well, I certainly agree that having a protector is better than nothing. Though there is still no telling how the ponies of Equestria will react.” Thinking more, Mare said, “What happens if he cannot protect us from these Legions that are coming through the forest?”

Twilight just shook her head, causing her deep purple mane to toss slightly. “I don't really want to think about that Mayor.”

"Neither do I," Mayor Mare said, as she contemplated the discussion thus far. "Very well, I will call a town assembly in an hour; please let some of the others know, will you."

~ ~ ~

Seated on the floor of the tree library, Eli was frowning at the cards he had in his hands, as he took another quick glance at the "dead" cards he had already lost, and were placed in a neat stack on the floor next to him.

The game seemed to Eli to be some sort of Go Fish combined with Canasta; and Eli was certain that the little purple dragon was taking advantage of his nubile understanding of the rules, considering how many times he had to toss cards into the now growing pile of death.

The object of the card game was relatively simple, the first player to lose all their cards is the loser, and the player with the most cards is the winner. Any additional players that still have cards but are less than the player with the most are also losers.

To achieve this, the deck is properly shuffled, then split between how many players are present. If more than four players, then two decks are used, and if more than eight, then three. Any player with an Ace must hold the card until someone with a Joker card calls for Aces to be dead, since players with a Joker card could call for two suits to be dead.

Just as Eli was about to call out that all “5s” in play were dead, the door to the library thrust open and Applejack and Rainbow Dash both entered in excitement.

They had their mouths open to shout things at Twilight, but as soon as they saw Eli seated on the floor playing cards with Spike, their mouths went from that of forming words to a huge jaw drop, and Rainbow Dash skidded to a halt, causing Applejack to ram into her from the back.

Startled by the impromptu entrance, Eli visibly jerked, and almost sent his cards in his hand into the air.

"Oh hey ladies. If you're looking for Twilight, she's gone to deliver a letter to the Mayor, and will be back in a while," Spike said, as he turned to Eli, and tapped the floor in front of him. "It's your turn by the way."

Briefly, the two ponies regarded the human as he did everything he could to lower himself down, not sure what to expect. Based on the pink pony's reaction earlier, Eli wasn't sure he would get a similar bit of fright, or sheer panic from them.

After a couple of seconds, that seemed to drag into moments, the orange pony wearing a cowboy hat was the first one to break the silence, as the blue pony with wings wore an angry expression, and held her head high staring down her nose at him.

"Um, sugar," said Applejack, with some hesitancy to her voice. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend here." She was a little uncertain of what to make of Eli, while Rainbow Dash stomped up to him, and snorted once giving Eli her best “stink eye” stare, which caused Eli to move away from her closeness.

"Well, he was supposed to be introduced by the Mayor, but since Pinkie already saw him, and since you ponies are here, I guess it's okay to show him to you."

Figuring that this was as good a time as any to work on his diplomacy with the locals, Eli slowly rose to his feet, towering over them, and caused them to both look up and take a step back. Which only seemed to make the blue pony more uncomfortable, and irritated

"This is Eli," said Spike gesturing toward him. "He's been brought here by Princess Celestia, with Twilight's help."

Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were speechless, while they stared up at Eli, who only lifted an eyebrow, and smiled flatly. He had a feeling that his efforts at diplomacy were failing him.

After a long pause, Applejack was the first to respond. "Beggin' yer pardon, but..."

"What are you?" said Rainbow Dash cutting off Applejack mid sentence.

"Yeah... what she said," Applejack said, still looking up at him, while Rainbow Dash began fluttering around Eli eyeballing him from every angle.

"I'm a human," he said holding out his hand to Applejack, making some effort at civility. "See?"

Rainbow Dash landed back on the floor in front of him, and regarded his outstretched hand toward Applejack, eying it suspiciously.

Wiggling his fingers at her, Applejack delicately brought her front hoof up and stroked the palm of his open hand, at which point he strummed his fingers around her hoof, causing her to jump with a short chuckle.

"Yeah right. Humans are like a myth, fairy tales and such," said Rainbow Dash as she resumed hovering off the ground eye to eye with him, and slapping the back side of her hoof into the other for emphasis. “In other words... they, don't, exist.”

"Yeah well, pegasai don't exist on my world," said Eli, with a touche.

“They don't?” Rainbow asked, surprised at the come-back.

“Nope,” Eli said, shaking his head. “At least, if there are any, they don't like being seen.”

“Oh,” said Rainbow Dash still persistently giving Eli a stern looking over, and even going so far as to tap at his jacket hem with her hoof.

"Like, um, Spike said, Princess Celestia and Twilight brought me here from another world, so I could help them with a bit of a problem they have, and well... here I am. Behold the myth."

Suddenly, Eli's arm began shaking up and down fast, as Applejack had his hand in both of her hooves shaking it vigorously. "Well, I reckon that any friend of Spike's here is sure good enough for us."

"My name is Applejack, and that there pony with the rainbow mane is Rainbow Dash. I'm not too sure I follow what all is going on, but if y'all are here to lend us pony-folk a hand, and if'n the Princess herself brought y'all here, then we is sure excited and glad to know you Eli."

"Thanks," Eli said, smiling as his arm continued to rise and fall with fervor. He couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at her Southern accent, which made the brown hat all that more explained.

Being born and raised in New York, Eli was unfamiliar with Southern accents and dialects as his own regional dialect superseded most other forms of speaking, and he had grown up hearing Southern twang mostly in films and television.

While serving in the military, Eli once encountered an officer from Fort Hood, which spoke in a somewhat Southern accent, though nothing as refined and deep as what the orange pony had just spouted at him.

It is not known if the Apple family learned their Southern dialect through natural phonetic evolution or if there were more direct involvement, but Eli found it mesmerizing to his ears.

After Applejack let go of his hand, Eli extended it toward Rainbow Dash, who eyed it briefly, then grabbed it with her hooves. "Rainbow Dash," she said. "I'm the fastest pony in Equestria; practically a legend."

She gave a single firm brisk shake, then let go.

"Really?" asked Eli. "I once did the 500 meter in one minute and eight. Maybe we should race sometime."

"Uh, I wouldn't take that race Mister Eli, Dash here likes to cheat and use her wing power whenever possible," Applejack said leaning around and frowning.

"I do not!" Rainbow Dash retorted as she turned to face her accuser. "It was one time!"

"Now what's this y'all said about Princess Celestia needing help?" said Applejack ignoring the argument that Rainbow Dash was about to start.

"Oh, right," said Eli, sitting back down to be more level with them. "It's like this. Apparently that earthquake earlier was the start of a whole bunch of bad, and well not to put too fine a point on it, I have to take this key into Wrathbo... I mean, Everfree Forest, and close a gate before a bunch of bad guys come through and make trouble for all you hors... um, ponies.”

Fishing in his back pocket, Eli presented the cylinder shaped key to Applejack and Rainbow Dash for their inspection. "If I don't use this to close the gate for good, then it could be real bad for this world."

“Is that right?” said Applejack, looking from the key to Eli with interest.

“It's possible that the armed men that come through will attempt to destroy Equestria.”

"Now when you say, 'Destroy Equestria,'" Rainbow Dash said. "Are you talking places like Cloudsdale too?"

"I don't know," said Eli. "I wasn't the one to shut the gate the last time. My father was, and I only know what he told me; and what he told me, was that the Kelpersv... the Dark Legion are bad business."

"You mean this gate thingy has been opened before?" Applejack asked.

"Yes, a long time ago.”

“Sounds fishy, if you ask me,” said Rainbow, glaring at Eli nose to nose, and cutting her eyes at him. “You're not telling us everything. Why don't you fess up mister!”

“Whoa there. Take it easy,” Eli said, while bringing his hands up defensively. “No need to go all Tony Soprano on me, I'll talk.”

“Why don't you sit down Rainbow Dash and let him speak his peace,” Applejack said, pulling Rainbow away from Eli, scooting her back a few feet.

“It's a long story,” said Eli.

“Then just give us the quick version,” Rainbow said, sitting down on her haunches stubbornly.

The fact is, Eli was not good at telling stories, and since most of his recounts of events were for debriefings, he had a proclivity for facts and not much else, which made people uneasy when he got to parts that should be worded more delicately.

Under normal circumstances, he would take his time, but after the entire afternoon had been spent in a lengthy back and forth session between himself and the Princesses, he was all too eager to get to the chase.

“Well, here goes,” he said, clearing his throat. “About two thousand years ago, my father came here with seven other humans, and helped someone named Stella fight off a horde of evil nasty men called the Dark Legion. All the humans on the planet were killed, as were lots of ponies, and lots of pegasus and unicorns, and in the end, my father barely pushed the army back and closed the gate.”

Taking a deep breath, Eli continued before they could interrupt. “Eventually my father goes back to his world, and now after a long, long time, the magical spell used to seal the gate in Everfree Forest has been broken, and thinking I was my father, Princess Celestia and the purple unicorn brought me here to close the gate again. Only this time we have the key, and we can close the gate for good, and save the whole world from total annihilation.”

"How long do we have before that happens?" asked Rainbow Dash with a stern serious expression.

"I don't know. Days, maybe weeks," said Eli, looking from Applejack to Rainbow Dash. “I do know that with this key, I have a better chance of saving your Kingdom, though I could probably die in the process.”

Applejack felt nauseated at the information she had just been told. Everything in her pony heart told her that what the human had just told her was the truth, as her inner element was that of honesty, she had a sixth sense for truthfulness, and there was nothing devious and dishonest about the words he said.

For several seconds, they watched Eli as he frowned back at them. Rainbow Dash was visibly upset, and wanted to stomp her hooves in frustration, but she held her attitude in check for the sake of not looking hot-headed in front of the stranger.

Like Applejack, Rainbow knew all too well that what she was told was the truth too. No one could concoct such a harebrained story, and based on the events, the letter from Celestia, and Twilight coming straight back to visit the mayor's, this was all too real.

“I'm sorry,” said Eli softly, as Rainbow Dash grew fidgety and began to pace around Eli. “It seems that everything you've ever known about the world has been wrong. It shouldn't come from me, not like this.”

As they sat there in silence, Spike took the chance to sneak a peak at Eli's cards he sat down before the conversation, and eyed them with interest, while Eli glanced up at the ponies sitting around him.

For a second or two Eli wasn't sure he saw what he saw, but without even thinking about it, he reached his hand out and touched Rainbow Dash on her flank, on what was clearly a picture of a cloud and rainbow lightning bolt.

The instant Eli's hand touched her, Rainbow Dash spun about on her hooves, and growled at Eli. “Where the hell do you think you're touching buddy? It's called personal space!”

“Sorry,” he stammered, annoyed with himself at the thought that he just touched her on her butt. “I just never noticed your brands before.”

“So what? You just go around touching everything? What are you blind?” Rainbow Dash was visibly agitated, as she rubbed at the place Eli handled. “They're not brands, they're called cutie marks.”

“Well, excuse me,” said Eli in defense. “I don't make it a habit to go around staring at a horse's ass.”

“Now just simmer down Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said, raising a hoof to her friend. “I'm sure he just didn't know any better.”

It hasn't been mentioned at this point, but a Cutie Mark is something similar to a tattoo on each pony's flank, and is a sign or symbol of their inner talent. Each pony on Ethereal Earth receives one at a certain time in their life, and usually signifies their purpose.

Of course, the marks themselves are somewhat mysteriously exclusive to nature, and are impossible to duplicate or simulate. Any attempts to artificially create a cutie mark has been met with failure, as the patterns or marks disappear as soon as they are applied.

It should be especially noted that there is no requirement for a pony to do or follow after the type of mark they get, but there are many purists that believe once a pony receives his or her cutie mark, that they are destined to become the thing for which it stands.

Many books have been written on the subject of cutie mark lore, and of them, the most popular among the young ponies is the book, Your Cutie Mark and You by the famous earth pony philosopher, Dandelion Dew. In which Dew explains that cutie mark acquisition for ponies usually occurs around the time of their puberty, and scientifically attests that it is a subconscious thing, which manifests on the flanks of ponies as a result of latent magical abilities present within all ponies in the world, including earth ponies.

The ideas while controversial are big selling stuff, and the young ponies buy more and more copies of the book each year. Currently it has been on the Manehattan Book Review's Top Fifty best-seller's list for 174 weeks.

Rainbow Dash herself has a white cumulus cloud with a rainbow colored bolt of lightning descending from the bottom, while Applejack has a trio of bright red apples adorning her flank. These signify that Rainbow Dash's inner talent is flying and speed, and is presumably destined to achieve great things with that strength of character.

Applejack's talent is closely tied to that of her family's heritage, and thus it signifies her natural desire to be close to the family orchards and farm.

Before Applejack had an opportunity to explain to Eli the point of a cutie mark, the door to the library opened, and Twilight entered, looking about at everyone gathered around Eli. "Well, I guess you've already met then," she said with a crooked smile.

Everyone in the room had a strained look on their faces, and Twilight knew instantly that something was amiss.

“What did I miss?” she asked glancing among them.

The Fifth Chapter

It took several minutes between Eli and the ponies to work out what exactly had happened, but in the end, Twilight managed to explain to Eli's satisfaction about what cutie marks were, and their importance to the ponies in the world.

He listened intently, asking a few questions here and there for clarification, but for the most part seemed to take in the mysterious markings as something that was simply a part of their culture.

Once the brief lesson on cutie mark lore was over, Twilight informed Eli that he was needed, as was the rest of them, at the town hall for a meeting the Mayor was calling. Eli of course knew that it was unavoidable, yet groaned inwardly at the thought of being confronted with more of the ponies.

“Well, then I reckon we'll meet y'all at the gathering,” said Applejack motioning her head toward the door of the library, and placing a hoof on Rainbow Dash, who still seemed slightly off-put by the recent groping of her flank.

“Yeah, we'll be sure and get some good spots,” Rainbow Dash said, following Applejack's lead. “I don't want to miss the spectacle.”

“Oh, now I don't think it's going to be that bad,” said Twilight reassuringly at Eli as the others made their way outside.

The walk to the town hall was not what Eli was expecting it to be in the least. For one thing, as soon as he exited the library he noticed that the sun was still shining high overhead, and he instinctively brought his watch up to check the time.

The dial read, six thirty-seven.

“Is something wrong?” Twilight inquired, looking over at him as he frowned at his wrist.

“No, not really. I was thinking it sure was bright out to be so late in the day.”

“Well that's because the Princesses haven't set the sun yet,” she said flatly. “Why, is it normally darker now on your world?”

Nodding his head, Eli pondered the time differential between his own earth and this one. He knew there was a serious acceleration, but he didn't know about the manual changing of day into night, and it left him uneasy.

“Has there ever been a time, when they didn't change the day into night, or night into day?” asked Eli resuming his pace. “The Princesses, I mean.”

Twilight thought about it for a few moments. “Not that I can think of. Though Princess Luna did threaten to make the world dark forever once.”

Then as if realizing she had spoken out of turn, Twilight fumbled to explain. “That was a few years ago, and she was a different pony then.”

Eli simply cut Twilight a sharp glance, “I see.”

“Oh, by the way,” said Twilight. “The Mayor wanted to meet with you for a little while before every-pony in town shows up to the assembly. I hope that's alright.”

“Sure. It's probably best that we discuss this meeting.”

After a moment, Eli cleared his throat. “I have a question.”

“Sure. What would you like to know?”

“It's about your name,” Eli said watching Twilight's reaction.

“My name?” she said getting awkward. “Is there something wrong with it?”

“No, it's not that,” Eli assured her. “It's just that, I was wondering why the hors... I mean, the ponies here have such flowery sounding names?”

“Well to be honest, I was sorta curious about your name too,” she said looking over at him.

“Well, it seems to me that all your names are either synonymous with your marks, or what ever it is that you do for a job.”

“Well, that's because ponies place a lot of importance on their names,” she said. “We believe that a name instills a sort of power to the one that gets the name, and it's rare for a pony to be given a name that like you said, doesn't some how define them as an individual later on in life.”

Eli found himself nodding with complete understanding at the explanation. “We humans do something similar, or at least we used to.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Uh-huh. Some names mean things like power or strength,” he said. “But then, some of the more recent names don't seem to mean anything at all.”

“What does your name mean?”

Eli pondered his response for a moment. “I don't really know,” he said. “I do know that I was named after a powerful prophet.”

“Wow, was he like a famous wizard?”

“Not really. He was a servant of God,” said Eli wondering momentarily about pony religion.

“I don't understand,” said Twilight, frowning.

“Well,” said Eli coming to a stop and placing his hands on his hips in thought, “it's like this; some humans believe in a deity we call God, just God; and instead of prophets and servants of God getting power from magic or sorcery, they are bestowed their power and insight by the divine will of God.”

“How many deities are in your world?” Twilight asked.

“Too many,” he said, resuming his walk to the town hall.

“So you have to pick just one to follow?”

“Yeah, it sucks huh,” he said suddenly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation turned.

“Are you a follower of the God whose servant you're named for?”

“Sometimes,” he said, not bothering to look back at her.

~ ~ ~

The meeting with the mayor was without incident, and to Eli's relief, she didn't react untoward about seeing him for what he was at first sight. Though he had been expecting a ton of questions lobbed at him, he was also relieved that the mayor restrained her bombardment.

“I'm going to do everything I can to sooth over the crowd with the answers that Princess Celestia provided,” said Mare. “However, you will of course be expected to answer the ponies' questions, and alleviate their concerns.”

Eli was sure that regardless of what he said, or how he said it, there was going to be a general sense of panic, once the town's ponies learned the terrible truth about their past. Saying as much to the mayor, Eli asked what sort of plan they had for when ever the ponies decided to bolt and go chaotic.

“The truth is, we will have to hope that is not the case,” she said. “We cannot deny them the truth, especially since it will be staring them in the faces. But on the other hoof, there is no denying that they may riot.”

“Oh great,” he said.

“You have to give the ponies here more credit,” said Twilight. “They may be prone to panic and mayhem, but deep down they always see to reason.”

“Yes,” said Mare, “which is precisely why you must be as convincing as possible; make them understand that you are here to shoulder the weight that they themselves cannot carry.”

Eli was standing with his back to a wall in the town hall as he conversed with the Mayor, and while what she said was correct, he felt that the best thing was to let them in on what they needed to know for now, so then what they didn't, would work itself out easier later on, rather than hit then with it all at once.

“Perhaps you're right,” said the Mayor considering what Eli said. “Perhaps they shouldn't be told everything at once. But now or later, the truth will be revealed, and the gravity of the situation will be made known.”

“I understand that Madam Mayor,” said Eli still standing with his back to the wall, with his arms folded, “but I think the idea of total destruction is beyond their grasp at the moment. Sure from what you've told me, they have faced quite a few hardships, and trials, and even some things that could potentially devastate the place. But I'm talking about a force of evil that wants to utterly destroy them. That's not something we can expect them to readily comprehend”

Eli brought his right hand up and snapped his finger. “In as long as it takes to snap my finger, they could go from just upset, to panic stricken, and then how are we going to get them to cooperate?”

The mayor and Twilight were silent, as they took in what he had to say.

“We need the public at large to believe without a doubt that we have everything under control.”

“Do we have everything under control?” asked Mare, looking for a sign on Eli's expression she could take for hope.

“Not in the slightest,” he said. “Not until I know more about what I'm up against.”

“What exactly is your plan then, Guardian?” asked the Mayor giving him a stern look.

“I'll need to conduct a deep reconnaissance into the interior of the forest to determine the strength of the enemy. Once that's been established, and once a layout of the forest's infrastructure is known, then we'll launch a strike at the gateway.” Eli watched her close as he spoke. “If an opportunity presents itself, I'll attempt to close the gate, but only if it presents itself. Once the reconnaissance is over, I'll coordinate a plan of action based on the facts, and we'll go from there.”

“You seem to have done this sort of thing before,” said Twilight chuckling at the mild tension in the air.

Eli smiled a crooked grin, while bringing his hand up to stroke at his face. “You could say that.”

~ ~ ~

In all the years that the town of Ponyville had existed, there have been ample times when the inhabitants found themselves gathered in front of the town hall, whether to hear a speech, or celebrate an event, witness the bestowal of an award, or listen as the Mayor gave long tedious announcements about various mundane things.

This time however, as Eli and Twilight followed Mayor Mare out of the door of the building, there were dozens of the town's ponies gathered to hear and see something that they had never seen before, and as soon as Eli emerged from the interior, he was met with several unified gasps and stares from hundreds of eyes, and a sea of multi-colored four legged ponies.

He did his best to look confident, and though he had done this sort of thing before, he had never done so in the presence of ponies. He knew he was an outsider, he knew that he was an enigma, and an oddity, and the confusion on their expectant faces made him uneasy.

The first order of business that the Mayor addressed, moving to stand behind her small podium, was the letter from Princess Celestia, which she read aloud to the gathered ponies, though taking Eli's advice, and censoring the parts that would not serve any purpose but to cause panic and unrest.

For the most part, the crowd listened intently to the letter, and only occasionally mumbled to themselves, or caught their breath. Otherwise, it appeared that the general state of panic was still slightly abated, until the Mayor motioned with her hoof at Eli, and began her introduction of him, near the last of the letter.

The eyes that focused on Eli as his part to play in the letter was explained, was like being hit with a million laser beams, and he struggled hard to maintain his composure at the growing apprehension beginning to present itself in the faces of the crowd.

He knew good and well that the line between awe and disarray was a fine one, and he hoped that the crowd of gathered ponies wouldn't descend into a rabble of shouts and cries.

"Well, that's about the short and long of it, fillies and gentle-colts," said the Mayor at last putting the letter down on the podium. "You now know everything I know about the strange phenomenon that happened earlier today, and the Princess's plan to handle the danger."

Standing next to her on the platform in front of the town hall was Twilight Sparkle, and Eli, who still wished that he didn't have to say anything, but knew that as the now introduced Guardian of Equestria, he would need to say a few words, to put everyone's minds at ease. Fortunately, Twilight approached the podium next, and began going over the cursory plans for the town-wide excavation.

"We are going to make this as unobtrusive as possible for every-pony," she said. "We'll begin the excavations around town and along the river area tomorrow, and we'll divide up into teams of four. The object we are looking for should be identical to this one."

At this point, Twilight gestured with her foreleg in Eli's direction, and he retrieved the key from his back pocket and held it up high for the crowd to observe.

"In addition to looking for the other key, Eli will begin a systematic search of Everfree forest to learn the exact location of the Other World gate, and make plans to close it, before more intruders come through."

Twilight looked over at Eli, and could see that he was strained. Nevertheless, he was going to have to make a statement.

Eli wasn't feeling apprehension because he hated being in front of crowds; he was also anxious, because he just got outed as the next Guardian of Equestria to a bunch of peaceful ponies that had never known war, or global peril; and now their expectation level had just sky rocketed.

It didn't matter that he had been here for less than ten hours, or that the entire world was in grave danger, or that everyone could die, it was now up to him to stop this from happening, and he had no real idea of how he could do that. Despite his promise, and despite the assurances he had made to the two Princesses, he was still only one man.

Walking up to the podium, he glanced out across the crowd of multicolored ponies with expectant face, and squeezed his eyes shut. He felt a growing laugh of craziness wanting to build in the back of his throat, and swallowed hard to choke it back. Now was definitely not the time for dramatics.

Eli took a moment to gather his initial thoughts, and reasoned that this was no different than the time he was in South America, though he had military support, guns, intel and a whole host of tools at his disposal. Regardless, if he had come this far, he might as well go all the way.

His father was fond of the old saying, in for a penny; in for a pound.

Looking out at the gathered expectant ponies, Eli noticed that Applejack and Rainbow Dash were among them, eagerly watching him as well. Applejack gave him a brief wave, and while it wasn't much, he sought for whatever encouragement the gesture had to offer.

"I know that this uh, must be hard for everyone to understand; and I know that you are being asked to place a lot of faith in not only my ability to resolve this situation, but to ensure that the people, uh, I mean ponies, are safe from any potential threat that may arise as a result of the intruders that have entered through the other world gate.”

Eli paused for a second to look back at Applejack, and saw that she was listening intently, though there was no additional waved of encouragement. “For now it is imperative that everyone maintain a sense of calm, as no concrete information has been learned about the condition of either the gate, or those that have come across. It is my goal to determine the extent of the threat, and only then, take action, whatever that may be, with the full support of Princesses Celestia and Luna, and their Royal Guard.”

“This is not the first time an incident like this has occurred here on your world,” said Eli, finally getting to the part that he was going to have to step carefully on. “Long ago, my father, with the assistance of a select few other humans successfully defeated the intruders, and sealed the gate. I am confident that I can do the same, and knowing now what it is that we are facing, accomplish this in less time, and with less potential loss of life.”

At the mention of life loss, the ponies in the crowd began to mumble amongst themselves. There was no point in sugar coating the fact that what they faced was bad, there was no point in denying them that truth; even if he felt they lacked the common frame of reference to understand about global conquest, he knew that they would understand terror.

“There is no denying that the danger we face is very real,” said Eli, after clearing his throat to resume. “But I assure each of you, that I will do everything in my ability to see this through to the end; what ever that may be.”

There was a moment there while he gazed out at the faces of the crowd, and waited for the inevitable uproar to begin; but like before, there was no surge of overwhelming emotion, no distraught rabble, and no insane force of hysteria that assaulted him full force in the face.

He smiled big, wondering how bad that had gone. The next part was the part he hated the most. "Does anyone have any questions?"

It was like a roar that suddenly swept over him, and he could feel the physical blast of their combined voices all shouting to get a question asked.

"One at a time please," said the Mayor holding up a hoof in an attempt to bring them to some order.

"Um... yeah, you right there," said Eli, pointing toward a tan pony. There was a flash as a pony from somewhere off to his left took his picture.

"How long have you been the Guardian of Equestria?"

"Since about two o'clock this afternoon," he said. Pointing to another pony, "Yes, you Sir."

"What happens if we can't find this second key exactly?"

"We will proceed to use the key we already have, and shut the gate regardless. The second key is nothing more than a fail-safe, in the event something unforeseen happens to the one key."

Another pony had her hoof up, which Eli noticed was heavily bandaged. "Yes you ma'am," he said motioning in her direction.

"So then, what is on the other-side of this gate way anyway?"

Eli, shook his head. "I honestly don't know. Everything I know about what happened before was told to me by my father, and his explanations about the Dark Legion were vague at best."

"So let's suppose that you can't find the other key, and something happens, and you can't use the one you've got... will you be able to protect us from these invaders?"

Eli looked up to see the question had come from Rainbow Dash. He had to admit that she was pretty swift on the up-take.

"I don't know," he said as he met her gaze. “I'll go until I have nothing left.”

The crowd was starting to get restless again, and the Mayor knew that if the questioning wasn't stopped soon, then there would be no end to them; so she stepped up, and announced that there were to be only two more questions.

Eli was very grateful, and pointed to the next pony.

"What is the connection between Everfree forest and this gate?"

He thought hard how to explain, but based on what he knew of his father's fight against the dark legion, and the sealing of the other gate, it was more speculation than anything.

"Everfree Forrest is merely the location of one of the gates on this world."

Motioning for him to lean down, Twilight whispered in his ear. “Everfree Forrest is a place that has strange things happen, the weather there is unnatural, and it operates without the assistance of the ponies,” she said. “They're probably thinking that since the gate is there, then there may be a connection to the abnormal behavior of the region, and the gate.”

“Right,” Eli said, “it makes sense then, that if the spell used to seal the gate was powerful enough, it could have affected the ecology of that area.”

Turning back to the podium, Eli cleared his throat. “It is also believed that the spell used to shut the gate previously may have in-fact caused the permanent change to the region. Though that is simply a theory at this point, and bears no relevance to the mission at hand.”

There were times when Eli wanted to be more forthcoming in his facts than others, and this was certainly one of those moments. He knew that there was one major event that was about to happen, that they surely needed to be aware of, and if he didn't inform them about it, it would potentially be a P.R. nightmare later on.

Taking a couple of quick breaths, Eli waited for the crowd to provide their attention again, and then motioned a hand up. “There is one more piece of information, that you should all be aware of,” he said, as he casually found himself gazing at a spot in the crowd. “Soon, I don't know when... but a major change will come to every single pony in this world.”

Every eye was now glued to his every movement, and all the pony ears were keenly listening to his every word.

Eli didn't shift his gaze next to him, to know that Twilight Sparkle and the Mayor were staring at him with concern. He figured, that if he was going to divulge information, it was going to be at his own discretion, and not mandated from above.

“Before my father arrived here in this world, two thousand years prior, the equine life here were not as you all appear,” Eli said trying his best to choose his words carefully. “At some point, all of you were changed into the unique beings that you are now. I do not have evidence to support this, but it is believed to be directly linked with the events surrounding the other world gate, and the Dark Legion, and if that is the case, then it is highly likely that you will each change again.”

The crowd suddenly began to mumble louder, no doubt fearful of this new bit of information, and deep down Eli regretted having to tell them anything at all, though he knew things would be much worse, if the change happened to them at a critical point in some eventual conflict, and they were all too distraught over their forced evolution.

“It is imperative that we each remain focused on the task ahead of us,“ Eli said, having to raise his voice to be heard above the crowd. “The sooner we can get the gateway closed, the less effect it will have on the indigenous life here, and the least impact it will have on your lives.”

By this point, it was useless to attempt to calm them. Every pony there was scrambling to get ask questions, calling for their Celestia to help them, and some swooning from fright at the very idea that some unknown force was at work in their lives, which they had little to no control over.

Eli stood behind the podium looking down for a moment at his hands, as he allowed them their time to get the shock out of their systems. He hadn't intended to bring them to this, but events were beyond his control, and no doubt afterward he was going to get a stern lecture from either the Mayor, or the Princesses.

In the end, order was never quite restored to the ponies gathered at the hall, and Eli was eventually whisked away from the stage to maintain his safety, should they decide to lunge for him all at once, and throttle him to some sort of action prematurely. He felt sorry for them, and knew that any life was valuable and something to be cherished, he knew that he himself wouldn't settle for sitting idly by, while he watched all of humanity suffer a change, and he couldn't blame them for their fears.

~ ~ ~

Inside the town hall, Eli stood propped with his back once again to the wall with his arms folded across his chest, gazing as Twilight Sparkle and the Mayor paced in front of him. He could feel the Mayor's thought process running through her head.

“I hope you know what you are doing Mister Montgomery,” she eventually said to him. “That was quite the uproar you instigated.”

“It was actually, the lesser of two evils,” Eli said casting his gaze downward. “One crisis at a time, rather than many at once.”

“Well, it looks like every-pony has already gone,” said Spike, from his spot at the window, looking outside.

“I suppose we need to find some place to put you up for the night,” said the Mayor turning to face Twilight as she said it.

Feeling a little heat coming from her neck, Twilight began to awkwardly fidget on her hooves. She was only just becoming comfortable with Eli, and while he and she were two totally different species, it just wouldn't be proper for a male and a single female to share a place to sleep, even for one night.

“I'll ask around, perhaps some of my friends will be able to find a perfect place for Eli to rest tonight mayor,” she said quickly averting any offer of the Tree Library.

“Very well then,” the Mayor said, casting her eyes over Eli a few more times. “We will see if the Guardian of Equestria is everything the Princesses hope that he is. A pleasant evening to you, Mister Montgomery.”

Taking this as a sign to leave, Eli nodded his head toward Mayor Mare. “Mayor,” he said as he opened the door of the Town Hall, and exited with both Twilight Sparkle and Spike in tow.

As soon as Eli stepped outside, he noticed that the shadows on the ground around him were moving. He frowned as he cast his gaze across the town, picking up on the subtle shift of light.

Looking sideways at Twilight, Eli noticed that she was unconcerned with the movement, as was Spike, as they made their way along, paying no mind to what was happening

It wasn't until Eli finally looked up into the sky to pinpoint the shifting of the shadows, that he noticed the sun was moving, and not slowly, it was visibly moving through the sky toward the horizon. It was the single most awe-inspiring thing that Eli believed that he had ever seen in his life. Of all the things he had witnessed, both in his life as a soldier and in the normal world of the common man, this was by far the most spectacular.

At this moment, Eli realized that he was finally seeing for the first time, what it was that made this place so important for the ponies here. He was sure that this was some small part of the bigger picture, that he was only just now beginning to see the depth and scope.

“That was quite the show you guys put on,” came the voice of Rainbow Dash, as she swooped in from the evening sky behind Eli and the others.

Turning quickly to face her, Eli regarded the frowning pony with some amazement as she hovered near him with her front hooves folded across her chest. He was still fascinated by the sight of a flying pegasus, and he imagined that no matter how many times he watched her fly, or saw her use her wings, she would manage to instill a sense of awe every time he watched.

“I can only hope that they don't stay too upset by the news,” he said turning back to watch, as the last of the light faded from the sky and a huge pale-blue moon slowly rose against the now midnight-blue canvas of the night.

“Ah, they'll be fine,” Rainbow Dash said, with a casual shrug. “They've had to endure Twilight's speeches before.”

Eli couldn't help but laugh at the small jab at the purple pony.

“Hey, I'll have you know, that my speeches are both informative, and entertaining,” she said with a hint of uncertainty. “Though they could use some more refinement, I'm sure.”

Once the moon finished its rise into the sky, Eli turned back to see that the others were watching him. “It's really, the most amazing thing I've ever seen,” he said to no one in particular.

“You get used to it,” Dash said, as she landed softly on the ground and gazed back at the sky.

“So, where are we headed now?” asked Eli spreading his arms wide, in a gesture of submission. “Hopefully some place to get food.”

“Well, I still need to figure out where we can put you up for the night,” said Twilight, rubbing at her chin with her fore-hoof. “But, yes, we should all have something to eat, and then we can decide the details after that.”

Spike allowed a small grin to spread across his face, knowing good and well what was to come once they made their way back to the tree library, but seeing as how Eli was new to this world, Spike wasn't going to spoil any surprise that lay in wait for him.

While they walked back through the town, Eli noticed that Twilight was walking slower, and drooping her head down toward the ground ever-so-slightly. He was just about to ask her if something was the matter, when she abruptly broke the silence.

"I'm sorry if this is overwhelming for you," she said. "Who would have thought that we would find ourselves in such a predicament?"

"It's alright," said Eli, matching her quiet tone. "I had my whole life to prepare for this day, and instead just focused on the parts I wanted to believe in, and never considered what it meant to be something more."

“I've been thinking about something,” Rainbow Dash said, walking beside Eli as she matched pace.

“What's that?”

"You said that your father came here two thousand years ago. So does that make you really old or something?” Dash said, frowning. "How exactly does that work?"

"I don't know," said Eli, "it's something about this planet, I'm pretty sure that Ethereal Earth moves faster than my Earth. For me, it's only been about forty years since my father came here."

"By the way Eli," said Spike. "You mentioned a few times now that you were a soldier once before, were you like the royal guards for the Princesses?"

"Soldier, huh?" said Rainbow Dash hovering off the ground to get a closer look at Eli in the dark. "He doesn't look like he can fight much at all. So how about it. Can you really fight, or are you just pretending?"

"Well, it's a long story. But suffice it to say, that my father was pretty unrelenting in turning me into a bad-ass soldier from early on in my youth. Before I resigned my commission with the Army, and went into drafting, I was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Special Forces, and served my final tour in Iraq; my last assignment in Kandahar was part of an anti-insurgency countermeasure."

Shaking her head slightly at the unfamiliar terminology, Rainbow Dash gave Eli a puzzled look. “What does that mean?”

“It means, me and my team did things so dangerous and secret, that we are forbidden to discuss them with anyone.” He gave her a flat smile. “And we blew lots of shit up.

Arriving at the door of the Library, Twilight observed that Spike was smiling, and rubbing his little claws together. She had a hunch what was coming, but figured it was best to just get it out of the way and let it happen, rather than try and fight it.

"Um, Eli..." she said, pausing briefly, "you might want to brace yourself."

"For what?" he said, just as they walked in through the door of the library.

The lights were off, and Twilight took a deep breath. In her mind, she counted to five, and all at once the lights blazed to life, and multiple voices shouted, "Surprise!" at the top of their lungs.

Whether by instinct, or autonomic reflex, Eli instantly threw his right hand behind him to the small of his back, and in less than a heartbeat, had retrieved his Sig Sauer P226 from its holster, bearing it down ahead of him, just as streamers and confetti fell from the ceiling.

A sizable crowd of ponies were in the middle of the library, and Pinkie Pie and a few others were blowing on noise makers. Behind them was a banner that read "Welcome to Ponyville Eli!"

Instantly aware of what he had done, and what was happening, Eli swiftly placed the gun back in its holster under his jacket, and prayed that no one there witnessed the act. Though considering the amount of confetti falling on him, and the balloons bouncing around, he was relieved that no pony there seemed to realize what it was that he had.

"Welcome to Ponyville!" shouted Pinkie Pie running up to Eli and blowing the noise maker once more. "I bet you weren't expecting this were you?" she said hoping up and down. Eli recognized her as the pony from earlier that bolted away from him as soon as he spoke to her. He wasn't sure if she was hopped up on prescription drugs, or if she was just high on life, but he nevertheless found himself smiling broadly at her overly jubilant personality.

"I can honestly say, that I was not expecting this in the least," he said, meeting the other ponies gazes, and smiles. Among them was Applejack, smiling big behind the noise maker in her teeth.

"I knew as soon as I saw you that I didn't know you, and I know every-pony in Ponyville, and I figured if I didn't know you, it must mean that you were new in town, and that means that I just had to throw you a party, and that was why I was like 'GASP!' and you were like, 'Whoa'!"

All Eli could do was just stare at Pinkie while she recounted her meeting with him in the street, he didn't realize it, but he wore a rather dumb expression on his face while he watched her almost continually bounce.

"Yeah, first I was like 'WHOA!', then I was like 'whoaa', then I was like 'whooooa'," said Eli imitating a line from the movie Finding Nemo, which Pinkie Pie didn't get, but didn't stop her from giggling and slapping a hoof on his shoulder.

“I like you Eli, you're funny.”

Feeling a hoof poking him on his hip, Eli turned to see Rainbow Dash. "Welcome to Ponyville, Guardian of Equestria. It's not official till Pinkie Pie throws someone a party."

"Ooh, ooh, you should try the cake, and the punch, and the cupcakes; oh and don't forget Applejack's fresh baked apple pie, with apples!" said Pinkie bobbing and weaving around Eli like a disturbed wasp, or a boxer practicing in a sparring match.

"Aww shucks, it weren't much, I just threw one of Granny Smith's old recipes together at the last minute," Applejack said looking down, as Eli walked over to the table loaded with desserts and goodies.

Though most of the ponies present had been witness to the events shortly before at the town hall, they seemed more docile and relaxed in this party environment; Eli could still feel their eyes on him, and he could see them whispering amongst themselves as he made his way through them to the table. But he was sure that now that he was mingling among them, the sense alarm and dread was subsiding some-what. He was also extremely glad, that none of them approached him about the change he spoke of.

Eye-balling the table of assorted things, Eli finally gave in to his stomach, which had been doing roller coaster loops for the past hour without anything to eat. And though he didn't really want to pack his hungry stomach with pure sugar and confections, he figured the apple pie would be more filling.

Watching him closely as he hovered over the table, Applejack grabbed a knife with her teeth, and cocked an eyebrow.

“I'll take a piece of that apple pie,” he said, all but drooling on himself as he spoke. His taste buds were working overtime at the thought of it.

Watching her, Eli was fascinated with how dexterous Applejack was at slicing the apple pie, and how easily she put it on a plate for him. "Hope ya like it," she said grinning, then looking away quickly, feigning nonchalance. "It's one of ma favorites."

While most non-magical ponies in Ethereal Earth have learned to manipulate objects and tools with their hooves, it is still required of them to mostly use their mouths and teeth for some basic things.

Over the centuries as their society has progressed, the amount of fine manipulation has also progressed. With great exception being given to the unicorn ponies, that use their magic for details. Many artisans have emerged from the unicorn breed, as have been many ponies in service positions, such as waiters, chefs, secretaries, and even on occasion, public officials.

So while the idea that Applejack can use a knife to slice pie, and place that slice on a plate is a breakthrough in equine behavior to someone like Eli, it is nothing more than the usual everyday actions of a non-magical pony that must work harder to achieve small goals and desires.

"It looks very filling," said Eli, grabbing the pie and taking a huge bite, while Applejack beamed with delight at his choice of foods.

"So this is the human Guardian of Equestria," came a voice from behind Eli, as he turned to see the pony from the crowd earlier with the bandaged hoof. Only now, not only was her hoof bandaged, but she was in a wheel chair, encrusted with precious stones and gems.

Rarity's mouth sort of slackened in disgust when she saw that Eli was chewing an enormous amount of food in his mouth. "Mm hmm." he mumbled, nodding slightly.

"The names Rarity. I happen to be Ponyville's premiere fashionista and garment designer." She eyed Eli's clothing ensemble, and turned her nose up slightly at the brown leather jacket. Cow hide was so, last decade.

Swallowing his barely chewed bite he said, "Are you alright there Miss Rarity? You look worse off now than when you were at the town meeting."

"Well of course I'm not alright!" she retorted. "This whole Other World gate nonsense has ruined my ability to work!" She threw a bandaged hoof over her forehead and laid back in the wheel chair in a defeated posture.

"At this rate, I'll be a living pin-cushion, what with all the times I've jabbed my delicate hooves trying in vain... VAIN I tell you, to work in this crisis!"

Eli made a sucking noise out of the corner of his mouth as he sucked some of the pie crust from his teeth. "Uh-huh." He nodded.

~ ~ ~

In the top balcony of the library, three small adolescent ponies were huddled together watching the party through the railing.

Gathered around them were all sorts of snacks and goodies they lifted from the party un-noticed, as they wanted to scope out the new human in their midst from relative safety.

"He doesn't look that big to me," said Apple Bloom, laying on her belly peeking through the bars of the railing as Eli conversed with Rarity below.

For those that are less adept at keeping up with long tales and narratives, it should be reiterated that Apple Bloom is the younger sister of Applejack, and Big Macintosh.

Her coat is a soft butter color, and her mane is deep red, like that of a rose. And though she often seems cute and innocent, and wears a bow in her mane is no reason to assume that she isn't capable of making a complete nuisance of herself, given the right time or place. Or the wrong time or place.

Apple Bloom's biggest desire in life, at this point in it anyway, is the pursuit of her cutie mark. To this end almost everything else in life is secondary. Except for when Applejack makes her do dishes, or take a bath, or do her chores, or homework assignments from school. Then once those are completed, the cutie mark adventuring continues.

"Why, I bet Big Macintosh could whoop him in five seconds," she whispered reassuringly to herself. She didn't want to admit it, but she was more than a little fearful of the human.

"As if," Scootaloo said, scoffing as she leaned over close to her punch glass and sipped, "he's a human, those things are like even more legendary than King Lioncolt's holy saddle!"

"Wow," said Sweetie Belle—the third and final member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders—as she got big eyed and scooted closer to get a better look, "that's pretty legendary alright." Nodding her head in feigned comprehension.

It is a common point of fact, that anytime one of the three fillies are seen, then the other two are not far behind. To the extent that they have made of themselves a micro-herd. Seldom separated, and often at ends, the self-proclaimed cutie mark crusaders have become the stuff of fame around Ponyville, notorious as it may be.

The other two members, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo lay on their bellies similarly to Apple Bloom, and while they regarded Eli with apprehension, they didn't seem as fearful. Mostly because of the novelty of his presence.

Loud, and slightly aggressive—true to her pegasus heritage—most definitely a tom-boy, burnt orange coat, and lavender maned, Scootaloo was the exact opposite of her young friend Sweetie Belle; who was mostly quiet, surprisingly adept under pressure, and yet humorously naive.

Has it been mentioned yet, that Sweetie Belle is also the younger sister of Ponyville's premiere fashionista? If not, then that must be addressed, but later on, and at a more appropriate time.

For now, it is enough to simply be aware of the fact that Sweetie Belle is the sister of Rarity, and aside from her purple hair being slightly different shades, shares the same brilliant white coat as her sister, and even a small foal sized unicorn horn to match. Even if their personalities are as different as daylight and dark.

After a few seconds, Scootaloo felt Sweetie Belle tapping her on the tip of her wing. "Psst. Hey Scoots."

"What is it Sweetie Belle?"

"Who was King Lioncolt?" she whispered.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Now why does Sis insist on talking to him so much?" said Apple Bloom, as she observed Applejack walk over to join in the conversation with Rarity and Eli. "If she ain't careful he might devastate her with his beams of fire from his eyeballs or sumthin."

Shivering slightly, Sweetie Belle tapped Scootaloo on the shoulder again.

"What now Sweetie Belle?"

"Do humans have beams of fire in their eyeballs?"

“How should I know?”

All three of them jumped and shrieked at the sound of Big Macintosh clearing his throat, and turned to see him standing at the top of the stairs with a casually stern look in his eye.

"Maybe instead of hiding up here like scared little fillies, you could go down there are find out fer yerselves if he as fire in his eyeballs."

Standing up to meet Big Macintosh's gaze, they each shuffled their front hooves in turn, and looked down at the floor. “We ain't scared of him,” said Scootaloo defiantly, as she looked back up to face the fire engine red colt, as he looked down on them.

“Is that so?”

Suddenly, with a giggle, Apple Bloom bolted to the left, followed a split second later by Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, who ran in two other directions, each of them squealing and giggling with delight at the thought of running away from big Macintosh.

~ ~ ~

"...and that was how I got us all across the raging river and past that sea serpent. Not that I'm bragging or anything," said Rarity, forcing a laugh while looking away.

"Oh, yeah, far be it from her to brag," Applejack snorted with incredulity, while Eli and Pinkie Pie laughed at the way Rarity glared at them.

The night and the party wore on, and with it Eli felt the weariness from the day settle on him with mass effect, and he began to grow anxious for a place to withdraw to himself. Combat was one thing, pressure under fire was one thing, but then spending an entire day surrounded by anthropomorphic horses was enough to ensure most rational minds a securely padded cell in a clinic for the mentally ill.

It was about the time that Pinkie Pie started the second round of pin the tail on the horse, that Eli took it as an opportunity to slip away out back of the library, and get alone to contemplate the day. On his way out, he passed Twilight looking around in a mild state of confusion and concern.

“Is everything alright?” Eli asked her as he stepped up.

“Well, probably,” she said, still looking this way and that. “I'm trying to find my friend, Fluttershy. She was supposed to be here, and I really wanted her to meet you.”

“Oh, I see,” he said. “What does she look like?”

“She's got a bright yellow coat, and pink mane.”

Looking around, Eli realized that even with that description, he was still somewhat at a loss, considering that every pony at the party was one shade or another of the rainbow, and made identifying one particular color the same as locating a needle in a haystack.

“That really doesn't help me much, is there more to her? What about that cutie mark thing?”

“That's right!” Twilight said. “She has three butterflies for a cutie mark, and she has wings, she's a pegasus.”

Looking around a bit more, Eli finally admitted defeat. “I'm sorry, I don't think she's here.”

“That's too bad. I was really hoping she would muster up her courage to come.” Twilight wore an expression that implied that this sort of occurrence was typical of her friend.

Once outside, Eli was hit with a sudden sense of relief. He felt his shoulder ache, his brain felt frazzled, and try as he might, he had a small section of his conscious that refused to easily accept that this wasn't some sort of dream, or that worse, he was in fact dead.

Looking up at the night sky in Ponyville reminded him of almost any other sky in almost any other country, or foreign land. In the distance Eli could hear the crickets, and the distant shining stars, mingled with the night air had a calming feeling to it.

"Some party ain't it?"

Turning to his left, in the direction of the sound, Eli saw a deep red pony sitting against the outside wall of the tree library chewing on a piece of straw.

"Yeah... it's uh crazy in there," Eli said putting some strained cheerfulness to his tone. "A little too crazy. I need some time to think."

What Eli actually wanted more than anything at the moment, was a drink, a stiff one.

Observing the large male pony, Eli regarded him for a moment, then chanced the question.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to know where I could find something a little stronger than fruit punch would you?"

The red pony looked in the direction of a two wheeled apple cart, parked next to him. "He'yup," he said. "In the back of Sis's cart there is my bag. I always keep a little something stronger in that."

"Finally. Dude, you are like my personal Jesus!"

Walking over to the cart, Eli fumbled in the bag and brought out a bottle of hard cider with a rope tied around it for easy pony grabbing.

"Aged to perfection," said Macintosh as Eli brought over the bottle.

"You sure you don't mind?" asked Eli.

"Help yerself," he said. "The name's Big Macintosh; but folks around here just call me Big Mack."

Eli Popped the cork, and poured some of the cider into Mack's cup. "I'm Elijah, but uh, you can just call me Eli though."

"Glad to know you Eli," Mack said, gulping down the hard cider.

"Same," said Eli feeling the rush of alcohol in his system. "Damn, this is better than I thought it would be."

Mack chuckled, "Aged to perfection."

The Sixth Chapter

The next morning, Eli opened his eyes to the sounds of quiet talking. He felt a sharp pain in his head, and knew instantly that it was the result of drinking too much.

"See I told you I saw him in your apple cart."

Rubbing his eyes to bring them more into focus, Eli roused up a little and saw a yellow pony standing with Applejack outside.

His first reaction, was one of shock. But quickly realized that he was still in Ponyville, and still in the Ethereal Earth. Though the revelation did nothing to soothe his throbbing temples.

"Why of all the things that knot-headed brother of mine could do." said Applejack stomping a hoof into the ground, before turning to storm off. "MACINTOSH!"

The volume of her yell made Eli's head hurt worse and he winced at the pain, as he squeezed his eyes closed.

It is no surprise—to most that know him—that despite his ability to perform feats of heroism in combat, to tackle the most complicated illustrations with drafting, and even on occasion, prepare a fried egg without breaking the yoke; Eli, is incapable of holding his liquor.

While he has tried for years to move himself up the social drinking ladder, his body's inability to properly process chemical alcohol in his system, has ensured that he remain firmly in the light to middle-weight class as a recreational drinker.

Granted, he usually maintains more self-control when in the company of his peers, or subordinates, Eli has on occasion, more than once mind you, given in to the siren song of drink, and made more than the fool of himself. The thoughts of which have strikingly come home to his memory now, as he fumbled to gain his bearings.

Looking around a little, Eli realized that he was in the apple cart, and had been left there all night; though someone had at least brought him a blanket.

The yellow pony just stood there nervously shifting her weight from one side to the other, as Eli lifted his head to peek over the side of the apple cart only exposing the top of his head and eyes.

"I'm uh," she started, but trailed off and stopped.

Eli felt the world spin slightly as he jogged his addled memory, realizing that he was still in the pony world of Equestria, and that there were still actual horses, no... make that ponies, that talked and behaved unlike normal ponies from his own world.

"I'm... Flutter... Fluttershy," she said looking down at the ground, then finally cowering a little.

Eli was sure he had heard the name before, but the pain throbbing in steady rhythm behind his forehead made it difficult to concentrate on anything but the discomfort.

"I'm... not feeling so well," he said lifting himself out of the cart, and gingerly placing his feet on the ground. Fluttershy still shyly cowered in front of him, as he looked around to gather his wits and location.

“Is... is that your name?” He heard Fluttershy whisper.

“Uh, no. My name is Eli,” he said holding a hand to his stomach, and then to his head. “Was that Applejack that was here a minute before?”

“Oh yes, she left to go yell at her brother in their house over there.” Eli could see that Fluttershy was trembling as she held a hoof out and pointed toward the big red painted barn shaped house.

“Are you always this scared?” asked Eli tucking in the hem of his shirt.

“N..no. It's just that you're a big scary human that might do horrible things to me, and go on a rampage before the authorities have a chance to stop you.” She was almost laying on the ground at this point, with her front legs over her head.

Eli couldn't dispute her logic. From her point of view, and given the strangeness of the situation, she did have every reason to be afraid of him.

“Well... I'm not in much of a condition for rampaging,” he said turning to the house. “I lost my rampager a long time ago.”

~ ~ ~

After a few minutes Eli made his way to the Barn House and lightly knocked on the door. He was only going to ask for a drink of water, but Applejack opened the door and hustled him in, while still yelling at her brother.

"I mean honestly Big Mack, of all the things you could've done with the Guardian of Equestria, you go and leave him in my apple cart outside for the night!"

Eli winced at every word she shouted. "I'm a little..." Eli tried to interrupt, but was talked over.

"Well, what else was I gonna do with em?" asked Big Mack, "He was passed smooth out, and I didn't figure he'd want to bed down with any of us, or the cows in the barn."

Fluttershy just lingered in the doorway, as Applejack shoved/directed Eli towards the kitchen table, and pushed him into a chair, causing Eli to flop back into the chair with a thud, as his head bobbed back and forth.

"Why look at him Big Mack, I bet he's near dead from exposure," Applejack said a few inches from her brother, who just averted her deathly stare.

"Well, I did give him a blanket."

Going to the stove and preparing a plate of biscuits and gravy and three hard fried eggs, Applejack set the plate down in front of Eli. "He gets served first!" snorted Applejack at her brother.

Turning to Fluttershy, "Now don't y'all go mentioning to anyone that the Guardian of Equestria was found in my apple cart, or else folks'll think bad of us out here, and I'll lose my hard earned reputation around these parts cause of my brother's ignorance."

Hunkering down in the doorway, Fluttershy meeped once, then looked past Applejack at Eli sitting at the table, still bobbing his head back and forth while staring at the plate in front of him.

"Oh, don't worry Applejack, I won't breathe a word."

Sitting across the table, Apple Bloom took a huge sip of her orange juice while eying Eli sidelong as she swallowed loudly. "You know Sis, he don't look so good."

"You alright sugar?" said Applejack, suddenly aware of Eli, and walking over to check on him. "You look greener than the spring grass on the back forty."

"Can I have some water?" Eli said.

"Why sure, why didn't you just say something?"

Bringing him a glass of cool water, Eli gulped it down hurriedly, and felt the pressure in his head relax. Then the fragrance of the breakfast plate in front of him hit his nostrils, and he bolted from the table and ran out the door past Fluttershy, looking for a bush to barf in.

"Too much hard cider," said Apple Bloom, biting on her biscuit.

"Too much hard cider," said Macintosh in agreement.

Finally sitting down to eat, Eli was forced to use a coffee-spoon to eat with since most of the ponies never required a fork.

Eli still felt like crap, if the truth be told, though puking works wonders on a hangover, at least better once the souring alcohol on the stomach is purged.

"Feeling better?" asked Applejack.

"Yeah, thanks," Eli said as he once again regarded the plate of food in front of him, as his stomach betrayed its desire for food regardless of its present delicate condition.

"I wasn't sure what sort of food you humans ate, so I figured no pony could go wrong with biscuits and eggs," Applejack said, rubbing at her head with her hoof. "You did look mighty famished."

"I'm sorry about all this," said Eli, as he shoved a generous amount of eggs in his mouth.

"Huh? What'cha sorry for? You was jes hungry"

"I mean, I'm sorry if I've caused you any trouble, to you and yours," said Eli pushing his empty plate away, and slowly looking up to meet the gaze of the Apple family.

Apple Bloom wasn't sure she understood, and just frowned; while Big Macintosh pretended to read the morning paper, suddenly uncomfortable with the conversation.

“Aw, now there t'wern't nothing to be sorry for hon, it weren't no trouble at all, and besides; how many folk can claim to have the honest to goodness Guardian of Equestria sleep in their apple cart?” Applejack was grinning and waiving her hoof around as she spoke, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, having a stranger passed out in their yard.

“Yeah, some guardian,” mumbled Eli, glancing past the table at the spacious living area of the house. “You really have a wonderful home, and a wonderful town. If my father were here, he'd be all over this like a fan-boy at a Comi-con merch booth. Me, what do I do? I just get drunk and pass out in an apple cart.”

“Oh now it ain't that bad.” Applejack frowned at him, as she adjusted her orange juice glass around her place setting.

“I doubt really if I'm even all that fit to be your guardian.”

"Does that mean, you don't wanna help us ponies?" asked Apple Bloom.

“That's not it,” said Eli, taking his glass and holding it at an angle on the table top, absently toying with it. “It's just that after spending years trying to be better than my father, I finally realize, that I am nothing... not even a mere shadow of him, and the things that he actually really did here.”

Applejack opened her mouth to say something, but Big Mack cut her short.

"I think that whether you want to admit it or not," he said looking over the table at Eli, "you are the Guardian. Maybe not the same as yer pa, but you are the Guardian whether you like it er not."

"I know," said Eli, looking down at his hands as he folded them and unfolded them. "I know I'm not the same as my father; and that's okay. I don't have to be him in order to do what I know is right."

"I think..." said Eli.

"Maybe you done too much thinkin' and not enough doing," said Big Mack. "Now why don't you finish up here, and get out there and find that key, and stop tryin' to measure up to yer pa, and jes work on bein' Elijah Montgomery."

Eli glanced around the table, and saw them all looking at him earnestly. He couldn't help but smile at their overwhelming confidence in him.

"Yeah, I think I can do that," he said, and finished off his glass of orange juice.

"Yer name is Elyjuh!" said Apple Bloom rubbing her head with her hoof. "That's bad. I'd sure go with Eli as my name too, if my name was that terrible."

"Apple Bloom!" yelled A.J. frowning at her little sister, then looking over at Eli and rolling her eyes.

~ ~ ~

"Okay every-pony, here is a map of the town, and the surrounding areas that the geological society has provided for us," said Twilight Sparkle as she stood outside the Town Hall, as more than a dozen ponies gathered around her.

Though the town of Ponyville did indeed have a geological society, it wasn't so high-brow as to be easily recognized, and the few ponies that actually knew of its existence payed the four members little attention as they made their way around the countryside, poking and prodding at the soil and the rocks.

As it happened, the near unrecognized society now gathered front and center as the best resource for the town, when their detailed and meticulous data was called upon to aid the town in its time of need.

"Most of the areas marked on the map in dark blue are the areas with the most mineral and sediment deposits,” she said, as she used her magic to levitate the map high so the crowd could see. “Which means that these are the most likely places the key could have become buried over the past two thousand years of change in the region."

“We've done our best to reconstruct the exact layout of where Lake Luck Shoe once rested, and using our analysis of the present data, we believe the center of the location to be here,” said Chrysalis, one of the members of the society. “The most efficient means of excavation should be to divide up into small groups and begin the digging at the focal point, then proceed outward away from the center of the ancient lake. This will prevent us from indirectly overlooking an area.”

There were a few nods of either comprehension or confusion, but for the most part, everyone there understood what they were to do. Though a lot of them were too busy searching for the tall human Guardian, that seemed deliberately absent from the local gathering.

As it was, the Guardian of Equestria was absent from the gathering for fashion reasons, as he was at that very moment under the diabolical clutches of the town's premiere fashionista, Rarity.

"Is this going to take much longer?" asked Eli, as he squirmed under the length of cloth laid over his shoulders and draped down his back.

"Tuss, tuss. You do want to at least look the part of the Guardian of Equestria don't you?" said Rarity, pulling the fabric tighter around Eli's shoulder, as she used her magic to pin together a folded area. "Now hold still, please."

After the breakfast at the Apple family's estate, Eli was cornered at the edge of town by Rarity, and hustled into her boutique. Of course it was under the pretense of outfitting him with new better attire, and while she was at it, cashing in on the opportunity to put her own brand on the local legend.

It didn't take Eli long to realize that the process was going to be a long and grueling one, and that by the time two hours had passed, he would have already explained away damned near everything about fashion for both male and female humans, as well as demonstrate the correct procedure for wearing most of them, as she drew frantically in an attempt to pattern out what he described, and take as many notes as her glowing horn could make a pencil fly across the paper.

Rarity was of course in heaven at the thought of being the only garment maker in the whole realm to have such knowledge, and as the morning wore on, the more Eli became impatient.

"I think they're starting without me," he whined.

"My dear, there is such a thing as fashionably late, and who best to make you fashionable than yours truly?"

As if on queue, Rainbow Dash bounded through the door of Rarity's boutique and hovered over near Eli. "Ooh, nice get-up," she said with a giggle. "You'll be guaranteed to have everypony in Ponyville staring at you in that."

Instantly Eli felt a flush of heat gather around his neck, as he found himself thinking of the pending humiliation, and frustration.

"I don't have time for your distractions Rainbow Dash," said Rarity hastily placing an unfinished jacket on her sewing machine. "I must make Eli shine as the Guardian of Equestria, and this is my one and only opportunity to let the world know that his unique attire was created by me!"

"Yeah well, they've already started digging," she said, hovering over to Eli while lounging on her back in the air. "If I were you, I'd have run the minute she said 'try this on'."

Eli just frowned as Rainbow Dash playfully flicked his chin with her back hoof. "Sucker!"

“It's strange you know?” said Rarity as she sewed on the new garment, at her sewing table. “Before all this, the thought of a human would have been a terrifying notion. The very idea that your kind even existed outside of foal's stories and myths was unbelievable.”

Eli considered what she had said, and watched as Rainbow Dash continued to hover around the inside of the shop. “What, don't I look terrifying?”

Rarity stopped sewing for a moment, and looked back over at him, to see that Eli was standing in the middle of the room, with layers of cloth and streamers, and ribbons hanging from him. Clearly, not the image of terror.

“Oh yeah, he's horrific,” stated Dash bursting into laughter.

~ ~ ~

Thirty minutes after Rainbow Dash came into the shop, she and Eli were with Twilight near the edge of one of the digs in town. Eli felt bad that so many areas were having to be dug up to search for the other key, but he was fairly optimistic that with such a show of pony power, they would find it in no time. Or at least he kept telling himself that.

Eli still wasn't convinced that he could manage the monumental feat of facing off against an enemy of legendary proportions equal to his own legendary proportions, but he was sure that if two opposing legendary forces of equal proportion were met together, one of them would break, or either both legendary forces would self-annihilate.

"So now that they have this underway, I guess we get to locate portal thing... er, Other World gate," said Eli as he tugged on the new black and silver jacket he was wearing; courtesy of Rarity and her skills.

He was glad she opted to just make a copy of his T-shirt in a different color, instead of something too elaborate. Though he wasn't entirely certain that a sequin pattern of the sun symbol of Princess Celestia was in proper form, he let it go for the sake of time, and urgency.

It did take some convincing to keep her from designing him a hat to complete the ensemble, and now he only felt partially foolish at being seen in this, as opposed to completely stupid, when Rainbow Dash playfully laughed at him, and then nodded her approval.

"That reminds me, here take this," said Twilight as she placed a basket down in front of Eli, and using her magic unicorn powers, pulled out a pale blue stone medallion on a small chain.

"What is it?" Eli said taking it and flipping it over, "some kind of good luck charm?"

"Not really," said Twilight, giving one to Rainbow Dash. "Why don't you fly over to that tree over there Rainbow."

"What for?" she said looking at the stone skeptically dangling from around her neck.

"Just do it."

Once Rainbow Dash had flown to the tree and stopped, Twilight instructed Eli to speak into the stone, and to be certain that he said Rainbow Dash's name before talking or it wouldn't work.

Eli held the stone up to his face and said, "Rainbow Dash, can you hear me?"

"Whoa! That's freaky!" came the reply from the stone.

"I used a spell on these stones to turn them into sound-stones. They can be used anywhere, as long as one of us has one, and the whomever wanting to talk specifies the pony or person to talk to, we can communicate with you while in the forest."

"This is without a doubt the most bizarre and freaky shit I have ever seen in my life!" said Eli, with a look of sheer awe on his face, as he turned the stone over in his hands inspecting it. "It's totally cool!"

"It's like eighty percent cooler than that!" said Rainbow Dash flying back.

“You really think so?” asked Twilight, aglow with enthusiasm at the praise. “It's nothing really, I just had this old book of enchantments sitting around collecting dust, and I remembered that there was this old enchantment that could make stones into two-way communication devices, and so I figured since we wouldn't be able to talk for a while...”

Rainbow Dash held up a hoof at Twilight's explanation. “It's okay, we get it. You're a nerd and you like books, let's just leave it at that.”

Twilight frowned visibly at Rainbow's rudeness, and tossed her head the other way away from her in annoyance, while making a humph sound.

"So have you decided on who gets to go with you into Everfree Forest?" asked Spike, standing next to Twilight as he reached inside the basket to examine a stone, and nibble at it just in the off chance it was edible.

"Rainbow Dash is going,” Eli said, “so she can give us a higher view of the forest where needed, and we needed a strong fast pony that could get us out of there in a pinch if things get ugly."

"That would of course be me," said Applejack trotting up with Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom close behind them.

"When I heard that Eli and Rainbow Dash were going into Everfree Forest, I knew I couldn't just sit back and let them wonder off in there without the best protection Ponyville had to offer." Applejack made a flexing motion with her front hooves as she did a few push-ups off the ground.

Taking a pack off of his back, Big Mack passed it to Eli. "Here this is in case you find yerself wanting more than Sis's apples."

Eli opened the pack to see it loaded with biscuits and some canned beans, a compass and a box of matches. More than what he had often been left with while doing survival training at Camp McCall in North Carolina.

"Thanks a lot Big Mack, these will come in really handy," said Eli reaching over to pat him on the shoulder.

"We have everything under control here," said Twilight, as she regarded the three of them. "When we find the key, we'll be sure and let you know," she said as she motioned at the stone.

"Well, I guess we better get going," said Applejack turning to Apple Bloom. "Now you be good and mind your big brother while I'm away, we won't be gone long so you jes know that if you and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo make trouble, I'll whoop the tar out of each one of you when I get back."

"Yes, Applejack," she said, "we'll be good, I promise."

“See you when you get back,” said Twilight as she regarded Eli with a serious look. “Make sure and be careful, there's no telling what sort of things you'll see, or who you're likely to meet in there.”

Smiling, he reached out and tousled her hair. “Well, If I meet myself, I'll hit myself so hard, I won't know what hit me.”

"Be safe little brother," said Big Mack pushing on Eli's back to get him going.

"We'll see you all in a few days," he said as the three of them set out towards Everfree Forest.

~ ~ ~

As the three of them made their way through Ponyville, Eli reached behind him to check that his pistol was still secure in its spot. It had taken some quick thinking earlier when Rarity noticed the holster; but he merely explained that it was a human took used for protection, and he thanked his lucky stars that he didn't have to go into detail.

Just as Eli, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were about to reach the edge of town, Eli heard Twilight calling from behind him, and turned to see her standing a foot behind him.

“Holy crap! I didn't even hear you come up behind us,” Eli said, taken slightly aback by the purple unicorn's closeness.

“That's because I teleported here,” said Twilight, as she reached in her saddle-bag and produced a rolled map. “The guys at the Geological Society wanted me to give this to you.”

“You can teleport?” Eli asked with amazement.

“Yeah, see.”

Instantly, Twilight was several feet away from Eli, and still holding the rolled map in her mouth. “Tada,” she said

Unimpressed with her display, both Applejack and Rainbow Dash merely shrugged, and looked on. Though they could tell that Eli was most astounded.

“Too bad we can't use that to get us in and out of the forest,” he said as he took the map from her, and put it in the bag of supplies he got from Big Mac.

“Yeah, unfortunately, I can only teleport over short distances. I'm reading up on advanced techniques, but moving more than a hundred or so yards is the most I've ever done.”

Giving her a smile, Eli nodded at her as he took the map. “Take care of yourself pony.”

“You too, Guardian.”

“I'll be right back,” he said, motioning behind him with his thumb. “I just have to go do this thing.”

Twilight watched as they left, and fought back her worries, as her friends went off in the search of uncertainty.

Despite being tougher than she looked, Twilight was prone to fits of worry that would near debilitate her for days on end. But with the promise of the Guardian's assistance, she could for once allow someone else to help her shoulder the worry, and the burden she often placed on herself.

“Be safe my friends,” she said under her breath.

~ ~ ~

It took surprisingly less time than Eli imagined for the three of them to reach the entrance of Everfree forest. Though calling it a forest was something of an understatement, as it more closely resembled a massive jungle instead.

Standing at the edge of the forest, Eli and company came to a dead stop, and just stood there eying the dense foliage beyond. It wasn't as if Applejack or Rainbow Dash were really scared of anything inside, it was more the new unknown element of the creepy Other World gate, that gave them each pause.

"So, this is it," said Applejack. "We're going into a dark and creepy place, to find somethin' even more dark and creepy."

"Uh-huh," said Eli as he took the jacket off that Rarity had made for him, and folded it up to stow in his bag. "We don't have a lot of time, we need to find the gate, and then get back here as quickly as we can."

"According to the survey teams that went here last year, they estimate the forest is more than forty miles deep," said Rainbow Dash. "Which means we aren't going to get very far on hoof."

“Yeah, well not all of us have the luxury of being able to fly,” he said pointing at her wings as he tapped the ground with his foot. “Me and Applejack are grounded, so to speak.”

"Well, we have nothing to do, but to do it," he said, taking the first step into the forest. Close behind him Rainbow Dash and Applejack followed, and even though Rainbow Dash hated hoofing it, she stuck close.

"You don't s'pose some of them watcha-thangs have already come through that gate, do you?" asked Applejack.

"I do," said Eli. "But a best case scenario would be, that they haven't; and if not, we'll be seeing something after a few more days."

"So, this is just a thought," said Rainbow Dash. "But how are you going to fight them off if they show up? I mean, if like a lot of them show up."

In all truth, Eli had not considered what would happen were he to face off more than a few of the Dark Legion, his pistol only held a limited number of bullets, and being stuck in Equestria meant once he fired the last shot, he would more or less be left to defend with just his bare fists.

There was of course, unconventional means, he knew he would have to fall back on his training, and methodology as a Special Forces combatant, but despite his adaption and overcoming at a moment's notice, he was left to ponder all possible outcomes.

Eli was not in the business of letting his friends down. Many times in his career, he had taken reprimands for breaking rules he felt not only served to endanger his team, but seemed outright useless in the fight.

If it came to it, Eli would fight to the end, and to his last breath, but he knew that above all, he was the only real trained soldier on the Equestrian side. The only real one that had any inkling at the force that was soon to be upon them.

“I will cross that bridge when I get to it,” he told Rainbow Dash, as she bounded along beside him with a worried look. “I promise, I'll keep you all safe.”

~ ~ ~

Initially, the path that the three of them took would seemingly lead them straight into the heart of Everfree Forest, and it did not escape Eli's observation, that for a forest that was filled with dangers and horrors, and monsters, there sure was a well kept area leading into it.

Looking around at the foliage as it grew denser, and darker with every moment, Eli began to feel a growing apprehension at the fact that he was playing the role of escort. He was used to working alone, or with a team of specialists that knew him well enough, to discern his movements, and derive subtle things like, direction, intent, and action.

Now, Eli was just concerned that he would be able to properly respond to a threat, with all the stomping and noise they were making. Surely as they moved deeper into the forest, the ambient noise of the region would help to quiet their passing.

"Alright, this is boring!" said Rainbow Dash, as she trotted along, "Between you and Applejack, it's like I'm trapped walking between two tombstones."

"Sorry," Eli said, “I forgot to talk.”

“That's not what I mean,” Rainbow Dash said, letting out a snort of annoyance. “It's just a long way, and if I don't have something to do, I'm gonna go crazy, and I'll take the two of you with me.”

"We certainly wouldn't want that," said Applejack, swatting at a bug of some sort with her hoof.

"Why don't you tell us about yourself, Eli," said Rainbow Dash, slowing down to hold a hoof out to stop him. "I mean, we're your friends right? We don't know much about you."

"What do you want to know?" he asked, never having considered that they knew as little about him as he did about them.

"Well, why don't you start with how old you are," said Applejack.

"I'm forty-one," he said. "Well, at least by my own calendar."

"Is that old for a human?" asked Dash.

"Not really, there are humans that live to be well over a hundred. Though for the most part we do good to see seventy or eighty."

"Spike said you did something called drafting for a job," said Dash. "I thought you said you were a soldier. Is drafting something to do with your army?"

"No, it has nothing to do with the military. It's like architecture, but more along the lines of drawing blue-prints for the builders."

"Why would you go from being a soldier, to being one of them?" asked Applejack.

“It's sort of complicated,” he said, as he glanced at Applejack. “But seeing as how it's a long walk and we have plenty of time, I guess I can fill you in on some of those details.”

Stopping and resting on a fallen tree; Eli ran his hands over his face, and through his hair. He didn't want to bore them with a long and drawn out story, but since they asked, he felt obligated to explain.

"When my father came back from this place, he was a changed man. He didn't live life the same afterward. He pretty much only came back to wrap up his affairs, find me and bring me back with him to Equestria.

"He eventually realized that he wasn't going to come back I guess, and he and I settled down as some sort of family. He did good for a long time, I didn't stop believing him, until about the time I went to college. About the time he had his first breakdown, was when I joined the army."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were listening intently to Eli's narrative, and were so completely caught up in the story of his life, they hadn't realized they were sitting at his feet like school-fillies listening to a harrowing tale of adventure.

"Needless to say, I spent the next several years in the military, and then about the time my father died, I gave up on everything to do with the army and decided I wanted something more relaxing."

There was a certain tension in the air, as Eli found himself explaining his past. In a way he found it more therapeutic than standing before a priest, or spilling his inner life's troubles to a psychiatrist. In this world, and in this place, he found more solace in the eager expectant and sympathetic faces of the ponies than he could have ever hoped to find in the faces of his own fellow man.

“You know the thing that really bothers me the most, is that I spent so many years of my life trying to live up to the expectations of my father, and really wanting to be like him, only to end up like everyone else, and turning my back on everything he taught me to believe.” Eli made a shrugging motion with his hands, “I was no better then any of them. And now I come here, and learn that I was probably the biggest fool of them all.”

Against his better judgment, Eli found himself with watery eyes, and a deep look of sadness across his face.

"Hey!" Dash said, with her bottom lip trembling slightly. "You know it's rude to cry alone, and I don't feel like crying today." Grabbing his face and rubbing at his eyes with the side of her hoof, while her own eyes began to glisten with moisture.

Applejack just stayed close, feeling both pity and compassion for Eli. She wasn't sure exactly why it mattered, but she felt as if she understood him better now, and could also see what it was that Big Mack could see in him from the start.

Eli just smiled at Rainbow Dash, as he wiped his face with all the manliness he could muster, and put his hand out to stroke her rainbow colored mane. "Thank you," he said, as he took his other arm and put it around Applejack and squeezed.

After a few moments, the three of them began once again to head into the forest. When Eli was startled by the touch of a hoof on his back.

“Hey, Eli, what's this thing you've been carrying around with you in your dressings?”

Eli turned to see that it was Dash behind him, giving him a quizzical look as she reached back to touch his gun through his waist band.

Running his hand behind him, Eli brought the gun from its spot, and extended it towards the two ponies, careful to aim it away from them.

“It's a weapon,” he said, as matter of fact as he could, without causing their curiosity to sky-rocket. “It's called a gun.”

“Is that something you human's use on your world?” Applejack asked curiously, but careful to keep her distance.

“Yeah, it's very dangerous, and can kill with one shot if aimed at a vital part of an enemy.”

Rainbow Dash was intrigued, but looked skeptical that such a small device could kill something, or someone with one fire.

“Is it magical?”

“Not really, no,” Eli said, “it's mechanical. It fires small lead pieces at an enemy fast enough to go into their body and wound them; and with any luck, wound them bad enough to kill them.”

“That sounds terrible, Eli,” Applejack said, with mild disgust at such a thought.

“Yeah, it's terrible. War is very terrible, and I'll be the first to admit that I wish it didn't exist, but when it comes to bad people doing unspeakable things to people that I care about, I'll put a hundred of these in someone without a moment's hesitation.”

“Have you ever had someone hit you with one of those?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yes,” Eli said.

“Is this what you plan to use against those Dark Legion fellas if'n they come through the gate lookin' to start trouble?” asked Applejack.

“If I have to. But this is only good nine times and then it's empty. So I hope it doesn't come to it.”

“So, have you killed anypony?” Applejack asked as Eli resumed walking.

“Yes.”

“That's terrible,” she said. “Taking a life is jes wrong.”

“That's easy to say when things are going fine and dandy,” Eli said with a sternness to his voice. “But if it was between the person looking to kill someone you love, and doing what you have to do to save them, the line isn't so blurred!”

Suddenly the snapping noise of branches in the forest behind them made Eli instinctively bring his already withdrawn pistol up toward the noise. while straining hard to see into the shadowy woods, to discern the source of the sound.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were on alert as well, both of them had their ears up, and were each ready to take on what ever was about to be thrown at them.

With a fresh series of crashes and twigs breaking, a horrible ghastly growl was heard from up ahead, and a large pink blur erupted from the dense undergrowth and bounded toward the trio.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash shrieked like the girls that they were, and Eli jumped back so far, he tripped over a small root and landed on his butt. The swiftness with which it happened would no doubt become legendary in the retelling, as Pinkie Pie stood before them all with her eyes squeezed shut, and roaring like an angry beast.

Eli, realizing what it was that had bounded out of the woods placed his gun carefully back in his jeans behind him, and was about to say something, when from Pinky's pink unruly hair leapt a small green reptile that proceeded to snap at Eli in every place one could think of.

"Get it off! Get it off!" Eli shouted, dancing around as Pinkie's pet Gummy snapped and bit him all over.

Realizing rather foolishly that Gummy was doing no damage, Eli grabbed him by his head, and merely held him at arms length; staring at Pinkie Pie with a look of utter defeat and confusion.

"Huh! You aren't monsters?" said Pinkie Pie blinking rapidly. "I thought for sure you were a bunch of vicious pony gobbling monsters, and I was gonna have to show you all what for!" she said striking her best attack posture.

"PINKIE PIE!" yelled Applejack and Rainbow Dash in unison.

"I swear Pinkie Pie," Applejack fussed while she stomped the ground, "you scared the living hellfire out of me!"

"Not to mention that I think I just got a dozen white hairs now!" scolded Rainbow Dash as she examined her main and tail.

"Well, duh! This place isn't called the Happy Nice Forest," said Pinkie Pie patronizingly. "It's the creepy dark scary Everfree Forest!"

Throwing her head back. "The fact is; the three of you scared me first!" she said putting her hooves on her flanks.

"Pinkie Pie," said Eli calmly, still standing there with Gummy in his hand. "What in the name of Willy Wonka are you doing almost a day's walk into Everfree Forest?"

"Why do you think?" she said reaching behind her and producing a burlap sack. "Truffles!"

"It figures she'd come wanderin' in here cause of sweets or goodies or somethin'," said Applejack. "I swear, if'n y'all was to crack her noggin' it'd be filled with jelly beans, and corn syrup."

"Now see, that just sounds gross," said Rainbow Dash picking her head up from her tail as she finely parted the hairs looking for any that were white.

Handing Gummy back to Pinkie, Eli sighed heavily. "You really should go back Pinkie Pie. We're headed into the forest to find the gate, and by the time we do, strange things could come from it."

Walking ahead of them, Pinkie Pie just tossed her head at them. "I'm not afraid of the mean old meanie-pants in there," she said with a bounce in her step.

Turning back to Dash and Applejack, Eli suggested that they go. "We might as well just let her go. I doubt seriously there is any reasoning with her."

"Yeah, when that one gets her mind on somethin' it's easier to scrape the fuzz from a peach with a butter-knife than gettin' her to change her mind," said Applejack fussing as she followed Eli after Pinkie.

Rainbow Dash realizing that the rest of them were leaving her called out for them to stop and let her catch up.

The Seventh Chapter

After what seemed like an eternity of walking, and listening to Pinkie Pie recount story after story about her adventures in sweets, Eli felt as if they weren't making up enough time. Absentmindedly reaching into his back-pocket to retrieve his cell-phone, he brought the display up, just in the off chance that he had managed to get another impossible text message. The time on the display indicated that it was half past twelve noon.

He doubted seriously that the same hours applied in Equestria, but considering the sun didn't actually move until compelled to do so by the Princesses, it was actually anyone's guess as to the exact time.

"What's that?" asked Rainbow Dash fascinated with what he had in his hand.

"It's my cell-phone," he told her holding it out to let her get a better look.

"What's it do?" she said giving him a raised eyebrow.

"It's sort of like the stones that Twilight gave us before we left, only this one doesn't use magic to work; it uses science and technology." Shutting it back off. "It also runs on a battery cell that gives it power, and that cell is almost used up. I imagine it'll be useless after another day."

Placing his phone back in his pocket, and reaching in the sack for the map, Eli stopped momentarily, and scrutinized the approximate distance the four of them had traveled. Taking this as a good time to take a breather, Applejack motioned to the edge of the path, and announced that any pony needing to pee, should follow her.

“Pass,” said Rainbow Dash. “I've got a bladder like a Rhino.”

“I'm pretty sure I was doing just fine never knowing about something like that,” said Eli, frowning as he rustled the map for emphasis.

Dash just laughed at him, as she flew up a few feet to give her wings a stretch, and have a look around. “You getting anywhere with that map?”

“I hope so,” Eli said. “That is, if we assume the gate is in the center of the forest, we're going to need to go West from here.”

From inside the woods Applejack yelled out, “Hey Eli, you're gonna want to take a look at this!”

“No, thank you!” he yelled back. “You've seen one, you've seen 'em all!”

“No, you're gonna want to see this,” said Applejack as she re-entered the path from the woods.

Folding the map back up, Eli motioned for her to lead the way, as he and Rainbow Dash fell in behind her, and entered the thick brush.

“I overheard you talking to Dash about needing to go West, and if'n that's the case, y'all are gonna have problems,” she said as they reached a small standing tree-line.

Moving the brush aside with the back of his hand, Eli cautiously stepped through, and looked around.

“Yeah, this is a problem,” he said as he peered over edge of a massive canyon, the bottom of which seemed more than three hundred feet down, ending on jagged rocks and dead trees.

“It's not a problem for me,” said Rainbow Dash, as she leapt from the edge of the canyon and hovered near them out in the open maw.

“Ooh, I wanna do that too!” yelled Pinkie Pie as she tried flapping her front legs, in a vain attempt at flying.

“That's not gonna work sugar cube,” said Applejack as she pulled Pinkie away from the edge. “And unless you feel like hoisting us all over, you're flying does none of the rest of us any good Rainbow Dash.”

“Can we get around it?” Eli asked Dash.

“Hmm, give me a minute,” she said before flying off ahead of them down the length of the canyon.

After a few moments, Rainbow Dash returned, and landed back at the edge.

“Good news and bad news.”

“Give us the good news,” Eli said crossing his arms over his chest.

“Good news, is that there is a way to cross about half a mile down that way,” she said, pointing in the direction to their right. “A huge tree is laying over the canyon. It's big enough for you three to cross over.”

“Well, that's cartoonishly convenient,” Eli said. “What's the bad news?”

“We have to go past an Ursa cave.”

“I'm out,” said Applejack, as she took a step back. “You'll have to find another way.”

“There isn't for about four miles,” Dash said with frustration.

“What's an Ursa?” asked Eli, looking from Applejack to Rainbow Dash.

“Only 'bout the biggest bear you ever saw in your life, and meaner than a mess of hornets with a stick up their backsides,” Applejack said.

“How big?”

Lifting her hoof above her head as far as she could, Rainbow Dash flew straight up about twelve feet, and stopped as she made a horizontal slicing motion with her hand.

“Shit.”

“You can say that again,” Applejack commented as she nervously shifted back and forth on her hooves.

“We should be able to get around them if we're quiet,” said Rainbow Dash. “Ursas mostly come out at night.”

“Mostly,” said Eli skeptically.

“I don't think you have much of a choice,” Dash said. “I mean we want to get to the gate before a bunch of those Dark Baddies come through right?”

Eli knew that given the terrain of the forest, four miles would translate to eight hours of lost time, meaning they wouldn't make it to the other side before they had to make camp for the night.

“Alright,” Eli said, “we take the short-cut, and make for the crossing.”

Applejack looked unconvinced, and Pinkie Pie didn't seem to care, but Eli had a gut feeling that if things took a turn for the worse, this bear cave would be the least of their problems later on.

“I guess we'd best get this over with then,” Applejack said as she adjusted her hat.

“I'll be right back,” Dash said heading for the thick part of the woods.

“Where are you going?” Eli asked. “I thought we were going that way.”

“We are,” said Dash, “but if we're going past an Ursa cave, then I'm gonna go take that pee now.”

~ ~ ~

It was slower going than Eli had calculated in his head. And the path next to the canyon edge was more harrowing in places than he would have preferred.

He had insisted that everyone stay as quiet as they could, so as not to alert the sleeping Ursas as they neared the cave. Though he feared that if any one of them would be the one to make noise, it was certainly going to be Pinkie Pie.

He looked back to see her bouncing along the path, with a huge grin on her face, as if it were a game, instead of a life and death ordeal that the four of them had found themselves in.

He tried several times to motion for her to remain as calm and unexcited as possible, but to no avail. She only responded to his gestures with gestures of her own, and even a few goofy facial expressions.

“We're nearing the cave,” Rainbow Dash said quietly, as she turned her face toward Eli. “We have to calm Pinkie down, or we're all going to be lunch.”

“I'm trying,” Eli said. “It's like dealing with an Edward Cullen fan-girl.”

Taking matters into her own hooves, Applejack grabbed Pinkie and plugged her mouth with her leg.

“Now y'all listen here Pinkie. We gotta walk past that Ursa cave, and if'n y'all keep up your jitter-buggin' we're all gonna get a first hoof look at the inner workin's of an Ursa'a belly.”

Pinkie said something, which was muffled by Applejack's leg, and Applejack gave her a stern shaking. “I don't care about none of that. Y'all don't make a peep! Y'all listenin'?”

Going limp in defeat, Pinkie said something else which was muffled, and looked sternly at Applejack.

“We're good here,” said Applejack as she let go of Pinkie.

Taking it a sign that things were under control, Eli motioned the group onward, and they quickly came to a slight clearing near the edge of the canyon, that opened up to reveal the cave in the side of the mountainous landscape.

Eli was grateful that he was in front, but still overly cautious as he inched along. He was hoping that Ursas were like most nocturnal creatures, and wouldn't be overly sensitive to noise, though since they mostly came out at night, he clearly interpreted it to mean that they also came out in the day.

The cave was monstrously huge, as the four of them passed in front of it. And try as he might he could not see far into the interior of the cave, though he was glad, debating if he really wanted to see what one looked like.

Applejack was breathing hard, as she gingerly placed one hoof in front of the other, and Rainbow Dash was hovering quietly off the path, to minimize the possibility of noise.

No sooner did they reach the exact middle of the cave, then Eli looked down at his feet to notice a large green snake had coiled itself around his shoe, and he instinctively kicked it away and screamed a scream that would make the Wilhelm Scream pale in comparison.

Instantly, the four of them froze, as the scream reverberated inside the Ursa cave.

Holding their breath, the three ponies looked from the cave, and then back to Eli, as their very blood seemed to run cold in their veins.

“Well at least it wasn't me,” said Pinkie, as she defiantly folded her hooves across her chest.

As the seconds passed, Eli strained to listen, and finally the four of them exhaled in unison. Eli looked back at the others and gave them an apologetic expression, just as a faint rumble began emanating from the interior of the cave.

“Shit,” was all Eli could muster, before a louder rumbling, followed by crashing noises and rocks falling came from the inside.

“Run for your lives!” Rainbow Dash yelled, as the first Ursa appeared enraged from the cave.

At once, the four of them bolted as fast as they could.

It's difficult to properly describe the sheer terror that coursed through each of the four as they scrambled and sped perilously along the path, and even with Eli leading them ahead, his own heart pounding in his ears, he felt an indescribable fear, the likes of which he hadn't known since his early days in combat.

The Ursa that erupted from the mammoth cave at once began charging after them, and though Eli didn't want to see the terror behind them, he had no choice but to look, to adequately gauge the distance placed between it and them.

Breathing hard and running as fast as she could, Applejack felt the rocks and stones under her hooves breaking and flinging away from her like small projectiles. She saw Eli turn his head, and she too looked over her shoulder to see that the Ursa wasn't alone anymore, it had been joined by two more, and while every thought in her head was to freeze in terror, her desire to get away from it overpowered her fright.

“Keep running!” yelled Dash as she swooped down to the ground and hoisted up a bunch of rocks, and began pelting the Ursas with them.

“That's not really helping Dash!” Applejack screamed at her over the roar of the Ursas hot on their tail. And being hot on their tails was something of an understatement, as the Ursa closest to them, took a swipe at Applejack, stirring the wind behind her.

“There's the tree!” Eli shouted, as he reached behind him, and pulled his gun. He was hesitant to start shooting off his only rounds of ammo, but figured the situation actually called for it.

Slowing just enough to let Pinkie and Applejack pass him, he swung around and took aim at the closest Ursa's leg, and squeezed off a round.

Incidentally, it's worth noting that mechanical objects and magically born creatures have something of no effect on one another. The bullet from Eli's gun, which would have been enough to cause mild to moderate injury to any normal creature that size, did little more than the rocks that Rainbow Dash was heaving at it. So that in the end, the fury of the Ursa only gained greater purchase, and the roar increased its volume.

Deciding it was time to take things to the next level, Rainbow Dash abandoned the idea of the rocks, and instead swooped into the dense foliage of the jungle next to the canyon, and emerged with a huge vine clutched in her teeth. She figured that if she couldn't slow them down one way, maybe the situation called for more creative means.

Flying as fast as she could, Dash cut across the path in between Eli and the first Ursa, and shot in front of him just as he was about to fire another round. Fortunately, he held his fire as he caught on quickly to what she was doing, and it seemed the best idea to him as well. It might not stop them, but it would certainly buy them time to make for the tree.

Bringing the vine down level with their feet, Dash pulled as hard as she could, stretching the vine taunt as the first Ursa's leg snagged the vine, and careened forward. The force of the creature was enough that it jarred the vine clear out of Dash's grasp, and she lost control and slammed against the inner wall of the ravine.

Eli barely had enough time to see Rainbow Dash hit the canyon wall, before he was already running to the other two, who were already at the foot of the fallen tree.

To his surprise, it was a lot larger than he thought it was, and neither of the two Earth Ponies were capable of making it onto the tree's trunk to cross.

Chancing a quick glance behind him, to see the whereabouts of both Rainbow Dash and the three Ursas, Eli noticed that she was already back in the air, and sailing toward them, and the Ursas were a mass of glowing blue fur, entangled by one another on the top of the canyon.

“We need a bit of help here,” said Applejack, as she jumped a few times to try and reach the landing of the tree side.

“Hang on!” Eli shouted at her, as he hoisted her up in his arms and tossed her, where she instantly began scrambling for secure footing on the old tree.

As soon as Rainbow Dash appeared, she assisted by grabbing Pinkie Pie and lifting her to the tree, while Eli scrambled as best as his arms and feet could carry him afterward.

The roars of the three Ursas was a jumble of bellows and rage fulled anger, and Eli was sure, that Dash's stunt had only served to provoke them further. He just hoped that Ursas were afraid of heights. Which very quickly proved to not be the case as he reached the top of the tree side and looked back to see them charging directly for them.

At first glance, it didn't seem that either Pinkie or Applejack were surefooted enough to cross the tree, but as soon as the first of the Ursas reached the tree, they abandoned their uncertainty and started hustling across the divide. Rainbow Dash was doing everything she could to distract the Ursas, by flying in their way, dodging their swings when the first Ursa shoved on the tree, and caused Eli and the other two to momentarily lose their footing, and fall to their sides.

Rainbow Dash looked with horror as her friends fell and started sliding down the edge of the tree's side. Applejack and Pinkie Pie both managed to slide right into the cleft of one of the tree's broken branches and wedged themselves in firm, but Eli slid off and grabbed on with one arm to a smaller branch, and dangled precariously.

“Alright that's enough!” shouted Rainbow Dash, as she charged the first Ursa and sent a high-speed kick straight for its snout, causing it to stumble backward into the two behind it. It was a good move, but it came too little too late, as the Ursa had managed to weaken the tree from its position, and the whole object began sliding into the canyon.

“This is bad! This is bad!” was all Pinkie could say, as she latched onto the branch she and Applejack were wedged in.

“Eli! Do something!” Applejack shouted at him, not sure if he was still with them, or if he had fallen to his oblivion.

“I'm working on it!” he shouted back up at them. Then turning to Rainbow Dash, he shouted for her to keep the Ursas away from the tree as long as she could.

Three more fast strikes at the Ursa's face, and the three of them were once again a tangled mass, though a lucky swipe from the second Ursa caught Rainbow Dash in her midsection, and sent her catapulting across the canyon.

The tree slid for a ways until it came to rest on a small rocky outcrop six feet down the inner side of the canyon, giving it an almost thirty degree pitch of ascent to reach the other side, which Eli knew was just enough to get them to safety.

He had climbed back just enough to get his foot on the solid body of the tree, when the second Ursa appeared over the side of the canyon's edge and swiped at the end of the tree, in one last effort at reaching its prey.

“No!” was all that Eli managed to get from his mouth, before the tree lost its security on the side, and slid down gaining speed.

“Hang onto something!” was the last thing he was able to shout, before the tree came loose and plunged into the canyon.

The swipe which the Ursa gave the tree, was low enough that it set the huge creature off balance, and it too lost its footing and went over the edge behind them, twisting and growling as it fell.

~ ~ ~

Rainbow Dash lay on her side gasping for her breath, as the impact against the opposite side of the canyon knocked the wind out of her, and she landed on a small ledge twenty feet from the top of the canyon wall.

Immediately upon gathering her wits, she looked across from her to see the Ursas bellowing in fury, and noticed that the tree was missing from where it was supposed to be. Her heart leapt into her throat as she peered down into the canyon and saw the tree at the bottom.

“oh no, oh no!” she cried as she took a deep breath and launched herself down at full speed toward where she hoped her friends were.

Applejack was lying on her side in a large mud-hole, which had miraculously cushioned her landing between two jagged and gnarled rocks jutting from the ground. Above her, she noticed that the tree had fallen and came to rest straight down like a javelin in the bottom of the canyon. She looked around, swiping the mud from the left side of her face and eye, and immediately looked for her friends.

The mud was like half-dried glue, and it took all her effort to get her hooves through it, as she made her way out to examine the surroundings.

The first thing she noticed was Pinkie Pie bobbing her head up from a large bush that was clinging to the edge of the canyon. She looked unharmed, but Applejack asked her anyway if she was okay.

“I'm okay,” she said, dragging the oh sound out.

“Have you seen Rainbow Dash or Eli?” she said, rubbing at her flank with her hoof to remove more of the gooey mud.

“Nope,” said Pinkie as she reached in her main and pulled Gummy from the pink wiry tangle, and began petting him.

“Hey, are you guys alright down there!” shouted Rainbow Dash out of breath and in a fright as she swooped down towards the two of them.

“We're okay, but I can't find find Eli,” said Applejack with some worry to her voice.

Flying back up, Dash examined around the other side of the tree, and noticed the body of the Ursa where it lay mangled and speared through on a old near petrified tree. Just past it, lying on the ground on his back Eli was unmoving.

“Over here!” Dash shouted as she sped to the fallen human's side, and began checking him for signs of life.

Rushing up to Eli, Applejack knelt down and pressed her ear to his chest to listen if he was breathing. She knew Earth ponies could take a bit of a pounding, but she was unsure of what extremes a human body could endure before it broke.

“Is he alright?” asked Pinkie Pie worrying her tail in her hooves as she and Rainbow Dash gave Applejack space to examine him.

“I don't rightly know,” she said. “Come on Eli, please be alright.” She nudged him with her muzzle a few times.

With his eyes still closed, Eli opened his mouth and began singing; “Take me home, oh muddah, faddah. Take me home, I hate Granada. Don't leave me out in the forest, Where I might get eaten by a bear!”

Opening his eyes, he saw that each of the ponies were wearing a look of shock and bafflement.

“Are you alright?” asked Rainbow Dash as she rushed to him and grabbed him by his shoulders and started shaking him. “You're not brain-damaged are you?”

“Rainbow Dash! That shore is a good way to give him brain damage!” Applejack rebuked. “Y'all alright sugar-cube,” she said leaning close to give him a good sniffing.

“I'm fine,” he said lifting himself up on his elbows, “just got the crap kicked out of me by the ground is all.”

“You guys had me scared out of my mind,” said Rainbow Dash sitting back on her haunches, and finally breathing normally holding her side.

“I guess being big comes as a disadvantage,” Eli said looking at the body of the dead Ursa. “You're right, Applejack, that thing was meaner than any bear I've ever seen in my life.”

Applejack didn't want to see the dead Ursa, but she couldn't look away from it either. She felt sorry for it, that it was dead, but it was now that she understood what Eli meant earlier about the difference between saving those you care about, and those trying to harm them.

“Hey Eli,” said Rainbow Dash pointing at something metallic on the ground a ways away from them, “isn't that your gun thingy?”

Turning to follow her gaze, Eli told her it was, and that he must have lost it from his holster when he fell. Then as if a new thought occurred to him, he jumped up into a standing position, and began to pat down his jeans, and pockets.

“Aw, son of a bitch!” he growled as he began to frantically look around the ground in the canyon's bottom.

“What's wrong?” Applejack asked frowning. “You lose something?”

Stopping momentarily from his looking, he turned to face the three ponies. “I don't have the key.”

the Eighth Chapter

The Eighth Chapter

After more than two hours spent looking for the cylinder shaped key, Eli was forced to admit total defeat. It wasn't a defeat that he wanted to willingly admit to, but under the circumstances he didn't have the luxury of waiting, and searching.

“Hadn't some-pony better give Twilight a shout?” Applejack asked, as she picked at the residual dried mud still clinging to her mane.

“I suppose so,” he said. “But first, it might be a good idea if we get out of this canyon, and back on the right path.” Turning to Rainbow Dash, “Any ideas?”

“I can fly Applejack and Pinkie up to the other side,” she told him, as she paced around them. “But you look a tad heavy. I doubt my strength will hold out long enough to reach the top with you.”

Thinking it over for a few moments, Eli snapped his finger. “What about getting more of that vine you used to trip the Ursas?”

“What about it?”

“You get me enough of that, and I can climb out on my own,” he said. “I've done it a thousand times.”

“I don't know,” Dash said, giving Eli a quizzical look. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, probably.”

~ ~ ~

The digging in Ponyville was going about as well as Twilight had hoped, they had made good progress, despite the fact that many of them had never before worked a shovel in their lives.

“Ugh, this is without a doubt the worst thing you've ever asked me to do, Twilight Sparkle!” Rarity said, as she rested her shovel beside a growing pile of dirt, and used her magic to run a delicately embroidered handkerchief across her forehead.

“Worse than the time you got covered in sap and branches, when that tree crashed through the library window?”

“Oh, it's a thousand times worse than that.”

“I don't mind digging,” Fluttershy said, popping her head up from the hole next to Rarity.

“That may be, but you have your creature friends to help you,” Rarity said, pointing down into the hole, where several squirrels, and badgers were busy clawing away at the soil. “I on the other-hoof have to resort to manual labor!”

“I'm sorry, Rarity,” said Fluttershy, as she brought her head down sheepishly.

“I don't want you to be sorry,” Rarity said in exasperation. “I want you to be sorry!”

Twilight was just about to sternly rebuke her friend, for her attitude, when the sound-stone around her neck called her name. It was Rainbow Dash's voice.

“I'm here,” she said, as she gave Rarity a glare.

“We just wanted to let you know what was up.” Twilight could hear the sounds of grunting and straining through the magically enchanted stone, and to her it sounded like Eli.

“Is everything okay there?” she said.

“For the love of god, someone give me a hand here!”

“I ain't got no hand pardner, but I can give you a hoof.”

More grunting, followed by Pinkie Pie. “Ooh, I have two hooves, no wait, make that four!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted into the stone's surface. “Is everything okay there?”

“Oh, sorry, my bad,” she said with a chuckle. “We sort of ran into a couple of problems.”

Walking away from the dig site, Twilight glanced around to make sure that no-pony else heard too much if it was bad news. “What kind of problems?”

“The Ursa kind!” came Eli's voice through the stone.

“Ursa?” Twilight said. “You met an Ursa?”

“We didn't just meet one, we met a whole cave full, and sort of got tossed down into a canyon.” Eli was panting hard as he spoke.

“Is every-pony alright?”

“Just some scrapes and bruises,” Eli said. “That's not the worst of it though.”

“What could be worse than running into a bunch of Ursas?”

“When we fell, I lost the key.”

“Oh, no.” Bringing the sound-stone down a little, Twilight looked around once more to make sure that she was the only one who heard that.

“Tell only who you have to,” said Eli.

“What are you going to do?”

“Complete the objective,” he said. “With the key, or without the key, I still have to find the gate, and determine the situation. Nothing has changed, except now, if an opportunity arises to shut it, I can't.”

There was a long pause, as no one spoke, each of them allowing the gravity of the news to cycle through their minds. Twilight wanted to believe that Eli was capable of pulling through, but without the key, it was massive hurdle.

“How is the excavation going?” Eli asked. Twilight could hear the exhaustion in his voice.

“We haven't found anything;” she said, “but we are on schedule, at least.”

“Hey.”

“Yes?” Twilight whispered.

“With the key, or without it, we're going to stop them. Whether it's with magic, or force, or something; we will stop them.” A moment later the stone fell silent, and Twilight knew that her friends had gone.

It was not in Twilight's nature to deliberately hide anything from Princess Celestia, but she reasoned with herself that it was too early to begin reporting bad news. Still, she knew that eventually the Princesses would need to know that the key was missing, everything depended on it, and now, it seemed that everything depended on her efforts, and those of the ponies in Ponyville.

“Well, that's certainly not pressure!” Twilight shouted abruptly at the sound-stone, causing her friends to look over at her.

“Is everything alright, Dear?” Rarity came up beside her and put a hoof on her shoulder.

Twilight stood there for a few moments, not speaking, only thinking about the future, and the past, and everything that had happened in such a short time.

Looking up at Rarity, and then at Fluttershy as she came over to them, Twilight said, “No. Everything is not alright.”

~ ~ ~

With the map once again in his hands, Eli stood in a small clearing getting his bearings. He checked the compass that Big Mack had given him against his heading, and decided that they were in fact going the right direction. The only issue now, was the matter of the time it would take to reach their destination.

“Okay,” Eli said, tucking the compass and map back in to the sack, “we're all set, again. If we just keep heading in this . . .”

Before Eli could finish what he was about to say, that is, that if they kept heading in the direction they were on, they would make up their time lost before night-fall—a loud boom, and whistling noise began to emanate from the middle of Everfree Forest, much the way it had prior to his arrival, and the three ponies with him, began to look up toward the sky in horror.

Holding his hands over his ears, Eli shouted, “What the hell is that noise?”

“It's not good!” Rainbow Dash yelled back, holding her hooves over her head.

Applejack was hugging the nearest tree by the clearing, while Pinkie Pie ran in circles shouting as loud as she could, to match the same pitch as the shrieking noise. Eli contemplated joining her, but running and shouting with insanity at the noise.

“It's about to get bad!” Rainbow screamed in the direction of Eli's ear, while trying to wrap her mane around her ears, to muffle sound further.

“Nothing can get much worse than this!”

The beam of light that erupted from the forest, brought with it a similar trembling, and earthquake as the time before, and Eli felt his teeth start chattering together from the vibration racking his whole body.

Looking up as best he could through the canopy of the forest, he watched as the shaft exploded outward, and spread out in a disc shape rift, causing the trees of the forest to sway harshly outward from the center of the light shaft. For the strangest of reasons, Eli couldn't help but be reminded of a smashed nuclear warhead going off, except flat like a pancake, and without the distinctive mushroom plume, and less heat.

When the blast subsided, Eli rubbed at his ears, and called out to his friends. Applejack and Pinkie Pie emerged from the edge of the clearing as Rainbow Dash struggled to undo her knotted mane from around her head. There was something at least positive about the blast, Eli noted as he reached in the bag and brought out the map once more; and if he was right, it would take them straight to the gate.

“Hey Dash, can you do us a favor, and fly up above the treeline, and see if you can get a fix on where that blast came from?”

“Yeah, no sweat,” she said, as she crouched down ready to blast off from the ground, only to catch her stomach with her hooves, and double over in agony.

Eli watched as she fell to her side, and clutched her belly, and let loose a few hissed curses. Behind him he heard both Pinkie and Applejack begin groaning in discomfort, and for several seconds, he watched as all three of the ponies dropped to the ground and began shrieking.

Going first to Dash, Eli knelt down beside her and pressed his hand to her stomach, asking if she was alright.

“It feels like a heard of buffalo are charging across my guts!” She was gritting her teeth, and Eli noticed a discernible sheen of sweat break out on her face and muzzle.

“It wasn't like this before,” said Applejack, as she did her best to crawl over to where Eli and Rainbow Dash were at. She was sweating hard against the gut-clenching pain, and Eli knew that whatever it was, it was certainly something to do with the portal. Though try as he might, there was nothing in his father's stories that mentioned this, nothing to give him a clue as to what was happening to the ponies.

Oh God! He realized that these were not the only ponies in the world. Right now, everyone in Ponyville was probably experiencing the same thing. He ran a free hand across his own stomach to be sure he wasn't suffering a pang of discomfort, but he couldn't say the same about the rest of them in Ponyville and even Canterlot.

He didn't want to think about it, right now, he could do nothing for them, he was here, and Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were his first concern.

“It's going to be alright,” he said, as he reached down to stroke Applejack's mane. “Somehow, it'll be okay.”

Beside them Pinkie started crying, and Eli fought hard against panicking. Hysterics were for solders with arms and legs blown off in combat, and office administrators that didn't get their spreadsheets on time. This was of course nothing like that, it was magical, or mechanical, or even supernatural; there was no real basis of reference, and try as he might, for the next half hour, all he could do was sit in the clearing, cradling the three of them in his arms, as they languished under the affliction, with which they were besieged.

Another ten minutes passed, and neither of the ponies seemed to be doing much better, though to Eli's relief, it seemed that they were at least able to bear up under the discomfort. He had already taken his jacket that Rarity had made for him, and draped it over the three ponies, as best he could; he knew that individuals in pain were prone to physical shock, and the last he needed was ponies beginning to convulse on him.

“Is this the change . . . is it happening?” Applejack's voice sounded fluttery, no doubt she was using all of her strength to suppress the pain.

Applejack's little sister suddenly came to his mind, as he looked down. What was her name again? Apple Bloom. Yes, that was it. A clear picture of the little filly suddenly writhing in agony, and Eli fought hard to keep from screaming out in anger and frustration. “I don't know.”

“Hey.” Rainbow Dash's voice was barely a whisper as she looked up at him, with watery eyes. He reached down and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, acknowledging to her that he was still with her. “Can you please talk about something?”

His head suddenly filled with a million and one things, that had little or no relevance to the even at hand. Dammit! Why was it so hard to concentrate beyond warfare, strategy and combat? He could recount to her a thousand and one ways to execute a night drop into enemy territory, and secure a living person, but when asked to just talk, his mind went blank.

“I don't know what to say,” he said, looking down. He could feel their small bodies trembling and tensing sporadically, as they each underwent their own private hell. “I'm not good at telling stories.”

“Please . . . anything.”

Closing his eyes, Eli let his mind relax, it didn't matter what they heard, as long as they heard something. And that something was Kosovo. He didn't even know why it had popped in his mind. He hadn't thought about it for over a decade, still, Kosovo was easy to remember.

“Okay,” he said as he brought his sound stone up beside him. There was still time. If they got worse, then he would have to call for help, if there any help to be had.

“About ten years ago, my team was given an assignment in a place called, Kosovo. It's this province of Surbia. The thing was, the RUSBDE had caught a guy at the boarder crossing with a gun, and notebook with coordinates to a location. LCE determined that it was a facility of some sort, and then all hell broke loose.

“KFOR soldiers took the guy to a Russian compound and interrogated him until he squawked. It was just as everyone had suspected; a terrorist training camp. Well, as soon as Washington found out about it, we were scrambled, and my team was shot over there. We would do a high altitude jump, and land in to rendezvous with the LCE and the KFOR, my team breaching, and the KFOR and LCE providing extra cover, though we all knew the LCE wanted to be the ones to take credit for the capture since it was their guys that caught the informant.

“Turns out that the training camp was about forty miles from the Surbian boarder, in a place called Vela Glava Valley, and it was a gold mine. They had everything from entrenched weapon systems to mortar pits, and more than thirty terrorist members.

“My team and I were to maintain a cover at the wood-line, and wait for the patrols to come around, and then eliminate them. We used sound suppression assault rifles, and took out the first four men, but a lucky bastard managed to squeeze off a warning shot, and for the next half hour it rained bullets.

“As soon as the KFOR moved in they took fire, and we did our best to cover them, but between the LCE and RUSBAT, and all the shit that was being thrown our way, we didn't get much of a chance. I took my second bullet in that firefight. But we got the bad guys. Nine prisoners were taken, out of thirty, seven of them didn't even have a scratch on them.

“It's funny,” Eli said. “There I was standing in the middle of another country, a bullet hole in my arm, muddy, in pain, and those guys that had been caught . . . they just looked at me, and never said a word. They didn't look angry, or surprised that they were taken, just passive, almost at peace with it.”

While he had been speaking, the pain had subsided enough that Applejack and Pinkie Pie had fallen asleep. Eli gently nudged them, and brought his ear down to listen to their breathing from their noses. It was a start, at least.

Moving beside him, ever-so-slightly, Rainbow Dash, turned to look up at him, she had stopped tensing, and was finally relaxing. Her eyes were looking deep into his, and he knew she wanted to say something. Instead, she smiled and closed her eyes, allowing herself to finally give in to the comfort of sleep.

~ ~ ~

Two hours later, Eli opened his eyes to the sound of Twilight Sparkle calling his name. His arms were covered by warmth, and he only vaguely remembered that he had moved the girls to the edge of the forest, and made a camp for them to rest.

“Eli?”

Her voice sounded so soothing to him, it was almost as if she were standing over him. But that wasn't right. She was back in Ponyville, and he was in the middle of the forest. Then he remembered the stone, somewhere to the left of him, where he currently lay, with three sleeping ponies curled in various positions around and on him.

Pulling his arm out from under a heavily breathing Pinkie Pie, Eli rolled over and clutched at the stone, and brought it to his mouth. “I'm here. Are you okay?”

“We're alive.” She sounded groggy. No doubt about it, she must have underwent the same experience. “I sent a letter to Princess Celestia, but I haven't heard from her.”

“Was it bad?”

“For some of us, it was worse. The children were spared most of it.”

Thank God. Eli, felt relief, at hearing that. Though, now there were more questions, and more answers would be needed that he didn't have.

“How are the girls doing?” Taking that to mean the three sleeping ponies around him, Eli rolled back and gave them a quick once over. “They're fine. Sleeping it off. It hit them pretty hard, they seemed to have been in terrible pain, and it lasted for over an hour. But they're okay now.”

“Really, pain?” Twilight's voice betrayed her surprise, and Eli knew that what Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie experienced, were obviously more intense than Ponyville's ponies. “All we had here was some stomach cramps and nausea.”

“It's this place,” Eli said. “Proximity to the gate, or the strangeness of the forest, something. I won't be sad when we get out of here.”

“What are you going to do? Princess Luna will be raising the moon in about three hours.”

He hadn't figured on being detained by Ursas, and pain inducing blasts of light from the sky, but all good commanders planned for Murphy's Law. The one constant in the universe, set into motion to deliberately fuck with someone's well planned day.

“I don't see any point in pressing on today.” There was little he could do, unless he left them there, and that wasn't going to happen. All he had to do was look down at their sleeping faces to know that he was destined to stay with them until the end of this adventure. “We'll just stay here for the night. The girls need their rest, and I need to come up with some sort of contingency plan in case Murphy's Law decides to show up again.”

There was silence from the stone as Twilight thought about it all. “What's Murphy's Law?”

“You know those days where everything goes wrong all at once?”

For Twilight she could count at least a dozen in the past year. “Uh-huh,” she said, hesitantly.

“Well, you can blame Murphy for it.”

~ ~ ~

“Father!” Princess Luna awoke with a start, her forearm off of her bed, reaching up as if to grasp at some object that mere moments ago existed, yet now vanished. It was a dream. Nothing more.

Letting her arm fall back down, she rested it on her forehead, as she allowed her eyes to adjust to the light pouring in the windows of her bed chambers. Her alarm clock had not rang. She hated waking early. Why couldn't she remember the dream? Whose face was she seeing?

Why bother. It was useless to ponder on the past. Days and days, and still more days would merge together, endlessly, and when enough days were gone by, there was always the next. Dreams had their place, and it was not in her waking thoughts. There were more important things to do.

She laid there until the alarm-clock began to clatter loudly beside her on her night stand. Infernal contraption. She only selected it, because few clocks were loud enough to pull her from her sleep, and this one wasn't just loud, it was horrifyingly loud.

Using her powers of manipulation she forced the clock silent, and removed herself from her bed one leg at a time, and allowed the evening air to caress her lower form. First thing she was going to do was find herself a strong cup of coffee, and take a walk, while there was still a few moments before raising the moon.

Nothing was more distracting than the terrible stomach pains she felt during her daytime sleeping, and then Celestia barging in her room, and going on about the shaft of light again. Between her sister, the stomach pains, the dreams, and the damned clock, she was going to need coffee strong enough to kill a timber-wolf.

Sliding her hooves across the stone floor of her bedroom, Luna made for her personal lavatory, and caught a glimpse of her haggard complexion in the ornate mirror, before she backed up to the toilet, and relaxed her haunches against it.

Pony toilets being what they were, they were not like any contrivance of humans, so that while certain functions required a human to actually sit upon the toilet, or stand, depending on the gender; for ponies, the piece of plumbing was designed so that they neither had to sit, or face it. They merely back up against the device, and pressed their back ends to the padded oval orifice, and did their business. Which brings us back to Princess Luna, who was right in the very middle of doing her business, when she noticed something most odd about the shadows on the floor of her lavatory.

To an untrained eye, the shadows meant nothing. But to Luna, who was not only a magical creature, and the presiding ruler of the night, the most subtle of motions involving her moon was as discernible as an off note to a composer.

Giving just enough attention to the washing of her hooves, and the cleansing of her teeth, Luna fought hard against a growing surging panic in her stomach. Why was this happening now? She felt her old claustrophobia begin to swell in her thoughts, and forced back the sensation of the walls around her moving.

Stepping from her chambers, she passed her guards, and made for the kitchen, where she was sure Celestia had prepared her breakfast despite the hundreds of times she voiced her disgust at eating within mere minutes of waking. Glanced back over her shoulder she heard the familiar tones of her guards falling into trot behind her, and she moved her muzzle forward with a determined look, making every caution to keep from glancing sidelong at the windows of the palace.

“You can wait out here,” she told her guards, though not turning to face them, and used her magic to close the doors of the dining hall behind her.

“You're up earlier than usual, little sister.” Celestia's voice was even, and deliberate. “Finally come to have some food?”

“No, I haven't,” she said as she walked through the doorway of the dining hall into the kitchen area, where Celestia and two other palace workers were making busy. Right now all she could think about was finding the coffee pot and drinking a cup as fast as she could. “I'll just have coffee.”

“Now sister,” said Celestia, as she turned from her preparations to regard Luna, “you know that the first meal is . . .”

“. . . the most important meal,” Luna finished for her. “Yes, I know, you do not fail to instruct me each and every morning.”

There is was. Luna could tell in the way that Celestia was regarding her that she knew something was wrong. Celestia had a keen sense of knowing, and Luna could only watch as she came face to face with her older sister.

“Luna, what?”

Looking past her sister, Luna told the two palace workers to leave the kitchen. “And close the door behind you.”

As soon as Celestia heard the door close, she repeated her question, to which Luna merely allowed her gaze to drift to the windows to their left, and beyond into the evening world of Equestria. “Things are very wrong, sister.”

Following Luna's eyes, Celestia turned her head to see what it was that was worrying her sister, when she instinctively almost immediately understood; it was beyond imagination, and all reason, but it was there staring her in the face non the less.

“The moon!” she cried, as she moved to the window.

“Sister,” Luna said with a quiver of fear to her voice, “what are we going to do?”

~ ~ ~

The night had been relentless, and Eli wasn't able to rest as much as he would have liked, though he was sure the others weren't faring much better than himself. Even if he was a former Special Forces commander, and capable of withstanding this sort of hostile environment for weeks on end, he was sure the girls were not going to last under the same rigors for the same duration.

Rainbow Dash looked as if she hadn't seen civilization in a month, and Pinkie Pie was beginning to wane under the monotony of the walking. The only one that seemed even remotely at home, or didn't appear as fatigued as the rest of them was, Applejack. Though Eli wondered how it was that she could maintain her same usual outward attitude despite the fact that they had been two full days in Everfree forest, and had been chased by Ursas, nearly plunged to their deaths, and then had some sort of physical attack due to an otherworldly beam of light.

“Something on your mind, partner?” Applejack asked him, bringing him out of his thoughts. She smiled broadly from under her cowboy hat, as he walked beside her.

“I was just thinking,” he said.

“Oh yeah, 'bout what?”

“You.” Eli watched her get nervous, as she glanced around.

“Was I doing sumpthin' I wasn't 'spose to?”

Eli laughed out loud, and waved his hand back and forth in front of his face. “I was just thinking, that you seemed pretty comfortable here in the woods.”

“Oh,” she said, finally understanding why he had thought it was funny. “Well, I reckon so. I've been used to roughin' it since I was no higher than a coon-squirrel to a cornstalk.”

“I guess that means you'd be out of place in some big city like New York, huh?”

“Is it some fancy big place?” she asked.

“It's the largest city in America, it has a population of well over eight million people.”

Applejack gave a long whistle. “That's a bunch of y'all ain't it?”

Yes,” he said. “But New York is just one city in a whole state of others.”

“What's all that mean?”

“Hmm, well, you know how this country is called Equestria, right? Well, my country is called The United States of America, or America, or The U.S.”

Applejack thought about that for a moment, and wrinkled her nose. “What's a state?”

“It's a mapped off area of cities and towns.” He was trying to put it in language that he figured she would more easily understand, but he had to wonder it was taking.

“Huh,” she said, “you don't say. Well, the biggest place I know of, is prob'ly Manehattan. It's 'bout as big as I could handle.”

“Manehattan,” he said stopping to look at her, which caused the others to stop behind him. “You have a city named Manehattan here?”

“Shore do,” Applejack said beaming with pride. “It's North-East of Canterlot, and it's high-class out the wazoo.”

“What's the deal?” Rainbow Dash said as she stood behind him, staring. “You want to suddenly go to Manehattan?”

“No,” he said. “It's just that in my world, there is a place called Manhattan, and it's in New York City; it's one of its five boroughs.”

“Burrow?” Applejack said, looking as confused as ever. “Like a hole in the ground?”

“Not exactly, no.” Eli rubbed his chin, and thought of the best way to explain it to them. “It's like one of five smaller cities that became a larger, much larger city, but get to keep their identity.”

“Is that so?” Applejack looked as if she were trying to comprehend it, but was obviously lacking a common frame of reference. “And there's five of 'em?”

“Yeah, Queens, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Any of those others sound familiar?”

Rainbow Dash just shook her head. “Can't say they do.”

“It's like this is some bizarre pony version of my own world,” Eli said, as he resumed walking.

It was a damn strange coincidence. Eli knew that there were many similarities in this world and his own Earth, but the more he learned, the more he was genuinely disturbed and troubled. Things were mirrored at times, but in a odd sort of mirroring, as if they were imitation of things he knew, or alternate variations.

Above all that though, his newest concern was on a higher level, as he walked and continuously checked the sky. It wasn't until he absentmindedly looked up to get his bearings with the sun, that he realized what exactly it was that was troubling him.

It didn't take long before Rainbow Dash noticed it as well. She trotted up in front of Eli and pointed a hoof up at the sky, noting the shadows on the trees. “Is it just me, or is there something wrong with the sun?”

All together the three others stopped, and looked up at the sky above them, looking at the position of the sun, as it seemed to be in a place in the sky at an angle instead of being straight up in its usual noon position.

“No, it's not just you,” Eli said, carefully trying to determine the speed in which the sun had moved along the sky. “I've been watching it do that all day.”

“Wait, the sun is moving?” Applejack sounded skeptical.

“It seems to be.”

“What does that mean?” asked Rainbow, looking worried as she continued to stare.

“It means that this world is starting to change, sooner than I thought.”

“At this rate it looks as if it'll be dark in a few hours.” Applejack watched Eli for a sign of reassurance, but he just met her gaze with his own uncertain expression.

Too bad this wasn't Panama, then at least if he were running interference against a group of gun-runners, he'd have a linear and stable mission, and nothing that was going to get as derailed as this assignment has been since the moment they left Ponyville.

“Ooh, does this mean we get to make a fire, and tell ghost stories, and eat marshmallows, and poke the fire with little sharp sticks?” Pinkie came bouncing up in front of Eli as she was speaking, and his first instinct was to shove her away, so she could resume her top-spinning elsewhere, but figured even she needed to vent her excitement or frustration in her own way.

“We probably need to think about making camp soon. We've already walked all day with no real troubles.” Applejack adjusted her hat, and turned in the direction of the path ahead of them. “I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I take that as a good sign.”

~ ~ ~

For the next few hours, they covered as much ground as they could manage. The path had disappeared at one point, and they were forced to trail through the dense forest, going one clearing at a time, until they were back at what could pass for another pathway, though it was denser on both sides than the main path that lead them in.

Slowing his pace, Eli suggested that they find a place to rest for the night, since it wouldn't do them any good wandering around in the forest after dark.

Pinkie Pie on the other-hand continued to bound off into the forest, and Applejack called out for her to turn around that they were making camp.

Pinkie Pie seemed to be ignoring her, and frolicked on. Eli was half willing to let her go off and do her own thing, but rolled his eyes, as he caught Applejack's gaze.

“Maybe you should go stop her, before she hops off another cliff.”

"Confound that pony," said Applejack, snorting and going after her.

Getting down on one knee, Eli started pulling some things from his pack, as Rainbow Dash looked around for sticks and twigs to make a camp fire with. In the distance they heard Applejack yell at Pinkie Pie to come back that they were making camp.

"Okie dokie!" They heard from the woods, and then a high-pitched scream.

Instantly, Eli was upright on his feet, straining his ears to listen to the surrounding jungle forest, fully alert and in fight or flight mode.

Another scream wafted toward them.

Without a thought both Rainbow Dash and Eli were moving through the foliage and the trees in the direction of the scream. Eli could feel his feet pounding the ground under him, and could hear his breathing in his ears.

Up ahead he saw Applejack running, and he changed directions to intercept her. "Pinkie Pie's been nabbed!" she hollered towards him as Rainbow Dash soared past Eli, dodging the thick branches.

Eli was not liking this at all, as with each passing second the darkness in the forest was growing more and more intense, and his visibility was dropping to single digits. If this were a normal operation, he'd have night vision equipment, and state of the art tools at his disposal.

Just ahead of them, he could make out the subtle color of pink being bounded through the forest, and instantly heard another scream. Only one much closer.

Still at a dead run he saw Applejack literally get swept off her feet and dragged off to his right, in the complete opposite direction that Pinkie was being taken.

“Aw shit!” he yelled, waving his arms at Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash, hearing the scream from Applejack, slowed enough to see what was happening, and spotted Eli waiving his arms.

"Go get Pinkie!" He yelled, as he changed directions in full run to go after Applejack.

Rainbow didn't hesitate for a second; setting her ears back she charged forward, making sure not to lose sight of the pink haze through the thick brush.

Eli on the other hand was huffing as he ran; every muscle in his legs were aching, and still he was no closer to reaching Applejack. He knew that if he could only make up a little bit of ground, he would have her, but as it was the gap was ever-growing larger between them, as his opponent was more deft at negotiating the thick forest floor.

Giving one last gust of strength, Eli lurched forward as a loud cracking noise sounded near him in the darkness. Turning just in time, Eli saw a huge branch swing from his left and catch him across both ankles sending him sprawling forward, where he hit the soft soil of the forest floor on his face, and chest and rolled to his side.

Dazed and out of breath, and shaking off the face-planting, he leapt back to his feet in time to hear Applejack scream again, only further in the darkness, and too far for him to reach now.

“No!” he shouted, as he strained to listen.

Taking a quick couple of breaths, he bounded off again after the scream, and headed into a darkness of nothingness; as he ran he managed to hit everything in his path, both shrub and branch. His clothes were snagged, and torn, and every sharp object seemed to barb his flesh, but his relentlessness pushed him forward, as his soldier mode was activated at one hundred percent; nothing was stopping him from getting her back.

~ ~ ~

After ten or so minutes of being pulled by her ankles, Applejack came to rest in a small clearing near a cave. She looked around to find her attacker, but saw nothing in the pitch black darkness. She was trembling and frightened, but still managed to muster her courage.

"Whose out there?!" she yelled, as she tried to bite the ropes from her hooves. "Show yerself so I can whoop yer ass!"

Pausing from her biting, she realized that the ropes were awful thick on her hooves, and it would take too long to rat-bite them. She tried to let her eyes adjust to the darkness, but it was next to impossible. The night had hit Everfree Forest, and it was true to its legend as being darker than black.

Come on Applejack think, the said to herself, as she struggled more with the ropes. There was always a way out of every situation, and this was no different. If whatever it was had wanted to eat her, she would already be soup in some big bowl.

Jerking her head, Applejack was alerted by some rustling, as a hooded figure approached from within the cave, with a torch.

Applejack couldn't make out the figure, even with the torch-light. But it didn't stop her from from being pissed. “Why you two-sided sidewinder, when I get my hooves on you, I'm gonna put the hurt on you so hard, your ancestors will feel me!”

The hooded figure came to within a few feet of where Applejack was laying and tied, and stooped down. For just a second, Applejack's eyes widened, as she saw the face of the hooded figure, and she stammered her words. “Y . . . you!”

"This game I play, I most regret," the hooded pony said, "but not on ponies I will place my future's bet."

The Ninth Chapter

9 Hours Earlier

Apple Bloom sat in her living room, waiting on the timer to go off on the oven. Granny Smith had left shortly before that to fetch a few things from the market, and had insisted that Apple Bloom stay behind and keep a watch on the baking pie. Of course, it had everything to do with keeping her from over-exerting herself, that Granny had decided to make the trek into town.

Running a hoof over her stomach, and then up to her forehead, Apple Bloom frowned. What the heck did the doctors know about being sick anyway? She felt fine, and she didn't even have to throw-up her lunch.

Apple Bloom wished more than anything she could have gone with Applejack, but both Granny Smith and Big Mac had freaked out when she suggested the very idea to them after breakfast the morning before last. Eli was the only one that didn't protest, but then he was a human and Applejack hadn't filled his head with her big sisterly ways yet.

The timer rang, and Apple Bloom went into the kitchen to retrieve the pie from the oven, using pot holders to carefully remove it and place it on the window sill for cooling, just as Granny had instructed her. Stupid pie, she mentally admonished. If it wasn't for her having to wait, she could have already been off playing with her friends.

Well, enough of this. She tossed the pot holders onto the counter top, and with a quick glance at the clock over the kitchen sink, she skipped out of the apron, and bolted out of the front door.

Apple Bloom was cleaver, though young, and like most fillies her age, she still let her youth dictate her actions. Her goals for the past few years had been the gaining of her cutie mark, and while it seemed at times that she was ready to abandon the drive, and accept her fate as being a late bloomer(no pun intended mind you), she would give in to the siren song of misadventure and let loose with the typical Apple family streak of stubbornness.

The town was in an uproar, everywhere Apple Bloom went there were areas marked off with caution tape, and ponies digging up everything that looked like a hill. All the while, Apple Bloom took it as some big game that she wasn't let in on, simply because they thought she was too small, or just too young.

One good thing to come from all the fuss at least, was that school had been canceled, and according to Miss Cheerilee, they could be canceled for several days. Not that any of that bothered Apple Bloom in the least; it would just mean more time for her to work on getting her cutie mark, and that required at least two more things, or as the case may be, two more ponies to pull off.

Walking past one of the vender carts, Apple Bloom heard a familiar voice.

"Took you long enough," Scootaloo said stepping from behind the cart, followed by Sweetie Belle. Both of them dressed in camouflage. "Are you ready to earn your cutie mark?"

"Yes Sir!" said Apple Bloom excitedly striking a salute.

~ ~ ~

"I can't hear YOU!" yelled Scootaloo inside the Cutie Mark Crusader's club house, pacing the front of the room with her hooves behind her back, and wearing a military jacket with way too many stars on the sleeves.

"SIR! YES SIR! WE ARE READY!" yelled both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle in unison.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were at attention in the club house, both wearing their fatigues and each with a grim hardened expression of resolve on their pony faces.

"Crusaders," began Scootaloo as she came to a stop from her pacing at the window and gazed out dramatically, "our world is in peril, and it has fallen to us to save it!"

Turning swiftly to face them she added, "This mission will be wrought with peril, and danger! And we will each probably have our hides and guts scattered from one end of Equestria to the other!

"Um Scootaloo. Does it have to be our guts?" said Sweetie Belle sticking out her tongue in disgust at the thought.

"Of course it does Sweetie Belle," said Apple Bloom. "That's why it's called warfare. Guts has just got to be all over."

"Attention Privates!" Scootaloo yelled. "We need to focus."

"Sir! Yes Sir!"

"Right now, at this very moment, the enemy is planning to conquer and destroy Equestria, and they have sent their spies ahead of them for just such an attack."

Walking back to the middle of the room, Scootaloo faced each of the Crusaders. "Fillies and... fillies. Their spies are already here."

There was an audible gasp from Sweetie Belle.

"They look like us, and they talk like us," said Scootaloo, "but they are not one of us!"

"Behold the face of the enemy!" said Scootaloo, pulling down a retractable white-board with a photo of Ditzy Doo on it.

"That's not the enemy," laughed Apple Bloom. "That's jes Ditzy Doo."

"Really?” said Scootaloo with a twisted grin. "Then tell me, why is it that Ditsy Doo is seemingly everywhere around Ponyville, and yet nowhere? Why is it that she works two jobs, and a third in Cloudsdale? Why is it that sometimes when she's pretending to be a doofus and walking around all brain-tarded you find her secretly looking at you?"

Sweetie Belle was nodding her head in total agreement, but Apple Bloom just rolled on the floor laughing at the two of them. With material as good as this, Apple Bloom could go on tour as a traveling comic-pony.

"The reason Ditzy Doo works three jobs is 'cause the Post Office only delivers mail once a day," said Apple Bloom still laughing. "She only works for the movers and the Weather Service, when ponies is out sick. And that bit about staring at ya, is 'cause she's cockeyed, she can't help but look in two places at once."

Apple Bloom finally stood up, and wiped at a tear from her eye from all her laughter. "Trust me," she said, "Ditsy Doo is no spy for the enemy."

"If that is true," Scootaloo said, still smiling, "then perhaps you'd care to explain this," she said, tossing a photo ID on the floor with Ditzy Doo's picture, though bearing the name as that of one Derpy Hooves.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both gasped loudly as Scootaloo threw her head back, laughing triumphantly as her eyes seemed to flame over in victory.

~ ~ ~

An hour later the trio of crusaders were silently huddled together in the bushes along the path where Ditzy Doo would be delivering mail.

Now before anyone comes to any wrong conclusion concerning Miss Ditzy Doo, and the obvious harassment soon to ensue from the Cutie Mark Crusaders, it's worth noting that were there no identification card, or seemingly spurious employment from Miss Doo, the three fillies would regardless come to a similar conclusion of suspicion regarding some other pony in the town; as it was in their nature to fabricate their own adventures, should fate choose to take a break from constantly provisioning them with makeshift mayhem and chaos.

As it happened, Ditsy Doo was perfect fuel for the three, as her mannerisms, her general expressions, and overall oddness of being, made for the formulation of randomness in the three fillies' heads unlike most things that had passed that way before.

"She always comes this way," said Apple Bloom, jerking her head to avoid a hoof to the muzzle, as Sweetie Belle shuffled inside the bush. "This is her last street."

"She's coming," said Sweetie Belle in a whisper, as she spotted Ditzy in the distance. "And she's got the mail bag with her."

Down the ways, trudging along the path to the set of houses, Ditzy swaggered and trotted, with an almost comical expression on her face: her mail bag swinging lazily at her side—not that her expression gave away any notice—swaying with each clumsy step.

When she arrived at the first house, she walked up to the mail box on the side of the post and paused. She looked around swiftly, and then as if an after thought, she dug and dug in her bag until she finally had the desired envelope. Placing it in the box, she proceeded to the next house on the path.

"I don't see anything suspicious about her," said Sweetie Belle as she brought a pair of binoculars up to her eyes and fixed them on Ditzy. "She just looks like she's doing what she always does."

"That's what she wants you to think." Scootaloo scolded as she shoved on Sweetie Belle to get her off of her. “It's a tactic, I tell you.”

The three of them watched Ditzy deliver all her letters to the houses on the path, and then watched her return back to the Post Office to return her bag, and pick up her pay.

An hour later, feeling defeated, and looking down and frowning, the three Cutie Mark Crusaders gathered around the cafe in town, and slurped on berry smoothies. Caution tape, shovels, and the random hole complete with mount of dirt were everywhere.

"I still don't understand what this has to do with getting us our cutie marks," said Apple Bloom as she rested her chin on her hooves on the edge of the table, shifting her eyes from the cold glass, to the hole next to the cafe, and back again.

"Think about it," said Scootaloo. "If we can prove that Ditzy is really this Derpy pony, then we can save the town, and that's got to count for something."

"Hey Scoots," said Sweetie Belle. "Where the heck did you get that picture of Ditzy, or Derpy?"

"I found it in Sugar Cube Corner," she said. "Since then, I've been watching her like a hawk."

Bringing the ID out once more and setting it on the table, the three look at it with a sense of new found resolve. Certainly their had to be something to this picture. It couldn't be a coincidence that they both Ditzy Doo and the pony in the picture had the same cockeyed expression, and the the same colored fur, and yet have two totally separate names.

Apple Bloom was about to pick the picture up from the table to examine it closer, when the sounds of Twilight and Fluttershy's voice wafted across the cafe to them, and Scootaloo snatched up the ID and put it away.

“So, I finally sent the letter to the princess, and I'm just waiting on what she's going to say about it.” Apple Bloom could hear Twilight speaking to Fluttershy, from behind her.

“Oh, dear, is she going to be angry you suppose, now that the key is gone?”

“I don't expect she's going to be happy about it . . .” Twilight broke off as they reached the table with the three fillies.

"Hello girls," said Fluttershy. "How are things with your cutie mark adventuring?"

"It's crusading," said Sweetie Belle indignantly.

"Oh my, my apologies," said Fluttershy, "any luck with your crusading?"

"Not yet." Apple Bloom gave Scootaloo a hard and stern glare as she said it. She was beginning to seriously question the reasoning behind this particular adventure, that is to say, crusade.

Twilight sat down at the table with them, and exhaled an exhausted sigh from her supervision of the excavations. "Well, girls, like I've told you before, these things take time. You have to find your talents and then you'll understand what we've been saying."

While Twilight was speaking, Scootaloo rolled her eyes, and let her head fall back with a heavy sigh. If they'd been lectured on the patience of getting their cutie marks once, they'd been lectured a thousand times. Then as Scootaloo brought her head back up, pretending to nod and feign agreement, her eyes grew wide as she spotted Ditzy near the Town Square, looking as if she was searching for something.

"That sounds great," said Scootaloo, fumbling for a way to interrupt the conversation, “but I think we need to get going. Right Apple Bloom?"

Using her tail to slap at Apple Bloom's leg, she got her attention and nodded in the direction of where Ditzy Doo was at. Apple Bloom instantly took the hint, and followed Scootaloo's eye-line, and reacted on cue.

"Right," said Apple Bloom, "we gotta go, something terrible important has come up. Ain't that right Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom raised her eyebrows at Sweetie Belle and subtly nodded to get her attention toward Ditzy, who already seemed to be moving away from them.

"No, we don't have anything important to do, except follow after Ditzy Doo," she said, looking into her smoothie cup at how much smoothie was left in there. "Ow!" she yelled as Apple Bloom kicked her. "I mean, no . . . I mean yes . . . we gotta go."

Twilight just shook her head as the three of them scurried off in the direction of Town Square just as Fluttershy came back with a tray of sandwiches. "Oh, they left already?"

"Looks that way," said Twilight digging into her lunch. She didn't want to say it, but she was very worried for her friends. It must have shown, because after a few bites from her sandwich, she caught Fluttershy looking at her with concern.

Adjusted the sound-stone on her neck, Twilight almost considered checking in with Eli, but thought better of it. After all it had only been the evening before, when they last spoke, surely there wasn't much that could happen in that short of time.

"They're young," said Fluttershy, breaking the awkwardness of Twilight's thought process, "once those little fillies do some more growing up, I expect that we'll be hearing great things from them."

Taking a tentative sip at her lemonade, Fluttershy let out a loud sigh. "We're never going to find the stone at this rate," she said, fearful of Twilight's reaction at her negativity, but pressing the matter. "It seems as if we've been digging up the whole town, with nothing but holes to show for it."

"It can't be that bad," said Twilight looking around and noticing the dozen large holes nearby, just as an absent-minded pony with a top-hat wandered right into one with a dramatic yell, and a thud.

"Okay, so it is that bad," she said, sighing in frustration. She didn't want to imagine the worst of it, but she couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they couldn't find the key, or what if Eli couldn't make good on his promise, or if worse, somehow the enemy came through the portal completely enslaving all of pony-kind, and there's a Parasprite invasion to top it all off. These were just a few of the thoughts she had to constantly keep from entertaining, and getting the better of her sanity.

~ ~ ~

Ditzy Doo seemed completely indifferent to the town's efforts at digging up Ponyville to locate the lost key, and wandered almost aimlessly around various places sniffing at this, and looking at that, as the three young fillies followed close after her, careful not to attract her attention.

One moment, she was in the park leisurely strolling, while the crusaders were hidden in three separate locations blending in with the background—Apple Bloom painted to match the water fountain, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo disguised as shrubs; and another moment she had taken them to the fruit stands, while she pored over the contents of the day's variety.

Unbeknownst to Ditzy, she lead the three fillies on a town-wide chase. One moment at the spa, the next at the record store, then as deft as a ninja, she seemed to vanish.

"Well," said Scootaloo, exhausted and out of breath, as she collapsed on the ground, "that Ditzy sure has good instinct. We can't find her anywhere!"

"I'm beginnin' to wonder if that pony in the picture really is Ditzy," said Apple Bloom allowing her frustration to rise at Scootaloo for the near day-long chase. "Maybe she's got a twin sister or somethin'."

"Hey wait I see her!" Sweetie Belle said, waiving her hooves to get her friends' attention. "She going towards South Gulch!"

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both looked to see what had Sweetie Belle excited, and sure enough Ditzy was trotting along, heading out of town toward the South Gulch, a place with a few houses, and nothing really big enough to call a town anymore.

"We've gotta go after her!" said Scootaloo with fresh energy.

"Okay fine, but this is the last place we go," said Apple Bloom still looking peeved at Scootaloo. "If she doesn't do something amazin', and I mean dang right spin ma'self around and do a dance of glory and hallelujah, amazin', I'm gonna go back to the club house and hide all your Buck Against the Machine records!"

"Okay, okay, I get it. Let's just go already."

They had barely made it out of town, when Sweetie Belle commented that it was already starting to get late, and that Rarity would scold her if she was out past dark. Looking up, she could see that the moon was already starting to make its rise over the land, and while it didn't occur to her that it was moving on its own volition, Sweetie still had reservations about the three of them leaving Ponyville.

"We aren't going to be that late," said Scootaloo. "If Ditzy doesn't do something amazing, and hallelujah-like, we'll go back soon."

By the time the trio reached the beginnings of South Gulch, Ditzy was no where to be found, and the sky was already bleeding its rays of light far off into the distance, leaving behind wispy trails of red and gold from the dying day.

As nightfall seemed to be an inevitability, the three fillies soon discovered that South Gulch wasn't just an abandoned part of the outskirts of Ponyville, it was a ghost town. What few houses and barns were there, were long since deserted in favor of Ponyville, and it only just now occurred to them that this was the reason no one in town really ventured South anymore. They didn't need to; all the life was North.

"Maybe we shouldn't worry with finding Ditzy Doo anymore." said Sweetie Belle, jumping at the shadows, as they hastily formed from amongst the houses, and carts, and trees.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were nodding their consent to this idea, and were just about to turn around, when a gentle humming was heard from down the trail into South Gulch. Instinctively the three girls hugged each other, wide eyed and trembling, as a long figure emerged from the old abandoned town.

At the exact moment they were about to scream, and run in panic, Apple Bloom stopped and squinted. "Why that's jes, Trip Trap."

"Who?" asked Sweetie Belle, still visibly shaking.

"He's the colt that sometimes works out on the farm with Sis and Big Mack," she said, nodding her approval. "I wonder what he's doing out here in South Gulch though? Last I saw him, he's back at Sweet Apple Acres helping Big Mack with some plantin'."

The humming stopped as soon as Trip Trap noticed the three fillies in the road, and approached them slowly. "Hello there," he said. "It sure is late for three young fillies like yourselves to be wondering around South Gulch."

Apple Bloom noticed that Trip Trap had a rather large bag on him, as she explained to him that they were out exploring, to gain their cutie marks.

Trip Trap narrowed his eyes, and laughed slightly. "Cutie marks huh?" he said nervously looking around.

"That's right, our cutie marks," said Scootaloo getting defensive. "Is there a problem with us not having them yet?"

"Not at all," he said. "Say, does your folks know that you three are out here this far away from town? I'm sure they'd be awfully worried, seeing how it's this late."

"It's okay," said Apple Bloom. "Sis is off with Rainbow Dash and that Eli feller."

"Well, it's not safe for you sweet fillies to be out here all by yourselves after dark," he said, smiling broadly. "I think it would be best if I walked you back into town before ponies started getting worried about you."

The three looked disappointed that their search for Ditzy had to be called off, and nodded reluctantly as Trip Trap shook his mane and started trotting again. Falling in behind him, the three looked equally downcast, but were relieved that they didn't actually have to wander into South Gulch.

"You know," Trip Trap said, stopping suddenly. "I think I know of a sure-fire way for you girls to all get your cutie marks. Right now as a matter of fact." He paused and then looked around. "But I think it might be too late, since it is practically night."

The three were too excited to care. "Really?" asked Scootaloo. "Where? How? Will it take long?"

"Well I guess that depends on how much you struggle," he said, turning to give them a wink before heading back into South Gulch. "We'll need a place to work."

Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo could barely contain their excitement as they followed Trip Trap to an abandoned house, and went inside.

Going to a dusty table and taking a match, Trip Trap lit a lantern, and placed his big bag on the table next to it.

"Now then," Apple Bloom said, "hows about you give us our cutie marks."

"Certainly," he said. "I'll just reach in my bag here, and get them for you."

Sticking his muzzle into his bag, he pulled out the end of a rope with his teeth, and looked at the three of them with a silly expression. "Oops."

"That's not a cutie mark." said Scootaloo, giggling at his antics. "That's just a piece of rope."

"Well, we are going to need it so that when the cutie mark appears, you don't get bucked away by the force of the mark," he said, pulling the rope out and walking over to Sweetie Belle first. "Hooves please.”

After a few minutes all three fillies were tied at their hooves, and both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were blind folded. Apple Bloom however was tied differently, as she was to be the first to get her cutie mark.

Her front hooves were tied close together and folded in a front kneeling position, with the rope looped through a large eye-bolt in the floor, while her back hooves were tied in such a way that forced them apart about as a foot and a half. Apple Bloom felt a little awkward with her back legs open, and her rump out, but just figured that Trip Trap knew what he was doing; and besides, he was going to get to her flank, to put the cutie mark there.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" asked Apple Bloom. "We've already tried durn-near everythin', and it didn't work at all."

"Oh, I'm not going to be using magic," he said securing the rope a little more. "You are definitely going to be earning this yourself."

"Well then, how am I gonna get my cutie mark if you got me tied to the dang floor?" said Apple Bloom, pulling against one of the ropes on her back hoof.

Due to the unfamiliar surroundings, and being blindfolded, Sweetie Belle started crying when she heard Trip Trap began breathing hard. Scootaloo tried to reassure her, by telling her that it was just a way to get their cutie marks, that the blind folds were there to keep what Trip Trap did a secret, until the surprise.

Moving up behind her, Apple Bloom jumped when Trip Trap ran his hoof across her back flank, and her instinctive reaction was to kick, only with her hooves tied, she couldn't do that very well.

"Now then," Trip Trap said, leaning close and breathing in her ear, "this is going to be amazing. Oh my dear, sweet filly." His breath sounded ragged as he rubbed on her back and slowly moved his hoof down her flanks.

Apple Bloom was not understanding at all how this was going to get her a cutie mark, or help her to find her true talent. And after a few minutes of listening to Trip Trap breathing hard, she finally asked what exactly it was that he was going to do.

"First," he said, letting out a laugh, and putting his front hoof on her back once more, "I'm going to mount you, and you and me are going to find out if yours is as nice of an ass as I'm constantly seeing on that tomcolt sister of yours."

"Are you nuts?" she asked, still not fully comprehending as she tried to look back at him. "How is that gonna help me get a cutie mark? I'm not even wearing a saddle yet."

Laughing once again, Trip Trap allowed himself the luxury of taking in the simple yet ignorant question. It was almost more than he could bear. He loved little fillies, and their innocence.

“Oh, my dear, I'm not going to ride you, I'm going to rape you.”

Clearly, Apple Bloom was unfamiliar with such terms, and as annoyed as she was by the breathing, and the rubbing, she was too ignorant and uninformed to be truly scared.

“And that's how I'm gonna get a cutie mark?” she asked, as she craned her head as far to her left as she could, to glimpse Trip Trap from her side vision.

"Cutie mark?" Trip Trap, was at his limit now. “Cutie mark!? Is that all you can think about!?”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both were crying silently now, scared of what they clearly didn't understand, and couldn't see.

"If all you care about are cutie marks, well than I've got a few of them for you, right here!" Going over to his bag, and dumping it over on the floor, a sickly assortment of colored fur swatches landed in a pile.

"Which one would you like? I've got some that have Arrows, and some that have Candy, or ones with Flowers . . . well you won't be needing any flower when I'm done."

Going back over to her he ran his hooves over the back of her flanks, and she jumped again. "See I've got a secret," he said, almost at a whisper. "I've been collecting ponies' cutie marks for myself, and since you want one so much, I'll be more than happy to sew one onto your hide when I'm done banging the shit out of that rump of yours."

Apple Bloom managed to turn her head enough to barely see the pile of items on the floor, of what looked like strips of hide with colorful markings, and she wasn't certain but they looked like the hides from ponies.

"No!" she screamed, as Trip Trap moved around behind her laughing to himself, and placing both hooves over her.

Kicking for all she was worth, Apple Bloom began to slowly realize that she was in trouble, as her eyes began to well with tears.

"Are you ready?" Trip Trap said. "This is guaranteed to be . . . amazing!"

Apple Bloom continued kicking, but her hooves were tied securely, and the more she struggled the more they seemed to tighten.

She could feel his hot breath on her ears, as he leaned down to bite on her mane, the smell from his half opened mouth was awful, and though she wasn't sure what he was about to do, she was certain she didn't want her cutie mark that badly, if she even wanted one anymore.

Then, just as Apple Bloom squeezed her eyes closed, she heard a loud voice behind them. "Why don't you try that shit on some-pony that can fight back, you sick fuck!"

A loud thud was heard from behind Apple bloom and the weight of Trip Trap removed as a gray streak landed on him, and the two rolled to a stop several feet away. Apple Bloom couldn't see what was going on, because it was all happening behind her.

"Oh, what have we here?" Trip Trap said, scrambling to his feet. "If it isn't the town retard."

Apple Bloom looked down through her legs to see that the other pony was Ditzy Doo, and she was on her feet pacing around Trip Trap. She could also see that Ditzy had a hoof-blade and was holding it steady at him, while moving between him and Apple Bloom.

“I think maybe you just wandered into the wrong place, little filly,” Trip said to Ditzy, as he cautiously backed up to his pile of pony hides, stepping on some of them as he did.

“I think you just reached the end of the line.”

Taking only a brief second to catch sight of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle tied in the corner and blind folded, Ditzy allowed Trip just enough of a time-frame to pull his own blade from under the pile of hides strips and brandish it at her.

Cursing herself for her oversight, Ditzy had to make a choice, the first was no longer an option, and the second may now prove more difficult in the long run.

Trip was behaving menacingly, as he made slicing motions with blade, still wearing that stupid grin on his face. Ditzy knew that the seconds she had to work with were fast reaching zero.

As if the thought occurred to him, Trip Trap made a lunge for Apple Bloom, no doubt to use her as a shield against Ditzy, but she was prepared for it, and charged him, bringing her blade down in a jabbing motion for his shoulder. But his size and his agility were such, that he caught her foreleg with his free hoof, and brought his blade across to slice at her ribs.

Using her free hoof, Ditzy deflected his attack, and pushed as hard as she could with her weight, sending both Trip and herself off balance, where they landed on the floor, next to the strips of pony hide, decorated with their cutie marks.

Trip was sputtering, as Ditzy landed a few well placed blows in his mid section with her hoof, still unable to get a cut on him with her blade.

“You freak! You cockeyed whore!” Trip was scrambling from under her, as he coughed out the words. The strikes to his abdomen coursing pain through to his lungs.

On his feet once more, Ditzy lunged again, but this time Trip was ready. He caught her with his shoulder and sent her falling toward the wooden table, where she collided with it at her mid back, flipping her over it, and sending her blade from her wrist into the darkness.

Next to the table was Trip's bag, and just as he shoved the table away, to take a well arched stab at her, she brought the bag up, and blocked his hoof in the stretched taunt sack, wrapping it around his foreleg, and twisting it behind his back. The pain in his fetlock causing him to cry out, as he shoved backward and rammed her into overturned table.

Ditzy didn't release her hold of Trip as the two of them landed on the floor; she twisted the bag on his leg until his pastern began to crack, and the blade slipped off, Trip was enraged with pain, and began to throw his head back to strike her in the muzzle.

Taking this chance, Ditzy brought her forelegs up and wrapped them around Trips throat, and arched her back as much as she could, to add leverage to the act. Trip's eyes bulged as he suddenly found himself with no air, and frantically pounded on the gray hooves strangling the life from him.

To ensure that she succeeded, Ditzy relaxed one hoof enough to bring up Trips bag, and circle it around his neck, and once done, she secured both ends in her wrists, and flipped over, using her wings to roll the two of them. Now with all of her weight on Trip's back, she pulled as hard as she could bringing his head back, as she leaned with all her strength against his muscly throat.

Ditzy, could feel his body flinching and twitching, as he desperately struggled to breath, and to resist, but one last pull, and Ditzy could feel the air passage in his throat collapse, and his struggle decrease.

After Trip had stopped moving, Ditzy, still pulled on the sack. Long enough to ensure she had finished her job.

Breathing heavy, and sagging from her spot on top of the now dead pony, Ditzy ran her hoof over her nose, where a steady stream of blood was running. No doubt Trip had landed a few head blows.

Apple Bloom had closed her eyes when the fighting started, too scared to open them, and she jumped and screamed when she felt Ditzy untying her.

“It's alright, it's me,” she said to her. “You're alright, you're perfectly safe.”

Together they released Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who proceeded to hug on Ditzy as hard as they could and cry, and sniffle.

Ditzy led them outside of the shack, careful to avoid the scene of Trip's body, and patted them, and reassured them more that everything was alright, smiling her best Ditzy smile behind her cockeyed expression.

"I'm sorry, Ditzy Doo," said Apple Bloom, she was so confused about what happened, and what almost happened. "I guess Trip Trap was a bad pony."

"Yeah, he was a very bad pony," she said, stroking Apple Bloom's mane.

"We're sorry too, Ditzy," the other two said, as they hugged her more.

"How did you know we were in there?" asked Apple Bloom, looking up at Ditzy's odd set eyes.

"I knew you three had been following me all day, and I thought that I had given you the slip that last time," she said, exhaling slowly. "I had been following Trip Trap, and thought I him in the Gulch, but I lost sight of him. It wasn't until I saw the light on in that shack that I investigated, and saw the three of you were in there."

"You knew we were following you?" asked Scootaloo, feeling ashamed for underestimating Ditzy's intelligence.

"Not only that, but you three have something that belongs to me don't you?" said Ditzy, eying them sternly. "As in, my government ID tag?"

Their eyes went wide at the revelation that the ID was hers, after all.

"What?" said Sweetie Belle. "You mean you really are this Derpy Hooves pony?"

"Well, girls," she said taking a step back. "I guess I can trust the three of you to keep this a secret, since you did sort of help with my investigation, and since whatever is happening with that gateway is likely to be far worse than that trash in there on the floor."

She cleared her throat, and stood tall. "I'm actually a Wrangler; Derpy Hooves is my codename. I'm a special agent in her Highness's Secret Service."

The three were speechless. They just sat there with their mouths open in shock.

"Now girls, you have to promise to keep my identity safe," she said looking at them sternly. "When I'm not working for the Princess, it's important that ponies think I'm just goofy Ditzy, that messes up the mail, and drops pianos, and likes muffins. Can you three promise me?"

They nodded their heads in unison, and looked at Ditzy with new found admiration and revere.

“Do y'all really like muffins as much as every-pony thinks?” asked Apple Bloom.

Smiling, Ditzy just shook her head. “No, I can't stand them.”

At that moment, overhead in the dark night sky, a rumbling was heard, and little drops of rain began to fall. The four of them looked up at the sky, as the light shower slowly turned into a downpour. The weather it seemed was now operating on its own.

"I sure hope those three find that gate, before this whole world goes blazes," said Ditzy.

Bringing her wing up to her face, Ditzy spoke into a small stone amulet clasped around the wrist, above the feather line. “This is Agent Hooves to HQ.”

“HQ, we read you.” A crisp small voice sounded from the amulet.

“I'm going to need a clean-up crew at South Gulch, and tell Princess Luna, 'Mission Complete'.”

“Acknowledged, mission complete; there on their way.”

Turning back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Ditzy could tell, that they were going to be fine. They were unaware of what was happening, and she knew that their hearts were strong. These events would have to be explained, but only after she could come up with a plausible explanation.

"How's about, we get you fillies home,” she said, smiling at them, as they hugged on her more.

~ ~ ~

Deep inside Everfree Forest, miles from where the Cutie Mark Crusaders were being led to safety, Rainbow Dash was charging through the woods. Covered in sweat and breathing hard, she only had one thought on her mind.

Save Pinkie Pie at any cost.

As she ran, she could hear thunder in the distance, and from the sound of it, it was going to be a bad storm.

Another crash of thunder, and rain began to fall.

The Tenth Chapter

Rainbow Dash was pacing her breathing as she ran; when Eli had shouted to her to go after Pinkie she set her ears back and charged forward, making sure not to lose sight of the pink haze through the thick brush.

Using every inch of her skills, she dodged against shrubs, branches, and trees, using everything she could grab to secure better footing and propel herself forward faster and faster.

Rainbow Dash knew that if she were to fly up she would be able to cover more area, but would no doubt lose sight of Pinkie Pie over the canopy of the treetops; which was something she didn't want to consider. She didn't have time to think about what had happened to Applejack. She could only hope and pray that Eli was capable enough to find her, and save her from what-ever had nabbed her.

As she ran, Rainbow Dash began feeling lightheaded from the furious pace. Her Pegasus body wasn't accustomed to the harsh terrain of the Everfree Forest, but her unrelenting drive pushed her to her maximum. Covered in sweat and breathing hard, the only one thought on her mind: save Pinkie Pie at any cost.

The more she ran, the more the moments seemed to crawl, and the night seemed to only accelerate. In a short span, darkness was completely over Equestria, and Rainbow Dash became brutally aware of the pain her reckless charge was tolling on her body.

Despite her efforts, her skills, and her above average athletics, Rainbow Dash was as helpless as the next pony when it came to seeing in the dark. Nothing she did could illuminate her path, and she ran headlong into so many bushes and trees, that she feared she would be the instrument of her own flank stomping before she was ever able to catch up to Pinkie, or her pony-nabber.

"Dammit!" she yelled in frustration, as she ran into yet another tree, and stopped for a brief moment to focus, gather her wits, and catch her breath. She knew that her usual tactics of “leap first, look later” were no good here. She had to come up with another plan.

Closing her eyes and listening to the sounds of the forest, she was suddenly struck with the realization that she was in the middle of Everfree Forest alone. Not that she was the sort of pony to let a little bit of isolation in a dark a creepy forest drive her to fear; but at the moment, she rationalized that Pinkie was more alone than she was, without any-pony there to save her.

With her head down slightly, and her ears twitching in full alert, Rainbow Dash calmed her breathing, and focused intently on the sounds of the forest around her. She could hear the wind rushing through the overhead branches, the sounds of scurrying from the nocturnal critters, and underneath, the sound of her heart beating against her chest.

A faint almost inaudible scream was heard from up ahead. Rainbow Dash prayed to the maker that it was Pinkie Pie, and not some random animal, crying in the darkness. "Found you,” she said, bolting off again.

As she ran, she could hear thunder in the distance, and from the sound of it, it was going to be a bad storm. Another crash of thunder, and rain began to fall.

Immediately following the downpour, distant flashes of lightning spread across the sky like fingers of gnarled light, reaching out above the tree tops, and for the briefest of seconds, the forest came alive with brightness.

After the first few flashes of lightning, Rainbow Dash noticed something up ahead. She wasn't sure, but she thought she could detect the faint glow of light bleeding through the foliage and undergrowth, and she slowed to a slow crawl. Either she had finally reached the end of the line, and Pinkie Pie was somewhere up ahead, or she had gone the wrong way, and this was an unknown danger the cursed forest had yet to reveal. Either way, driven by loyalty, or plain stupidity, Rainbow Dash took a quick look behind her, and turned back to pursue her prey; she was now the hunter, and that which stole Pinkie was her enemy.

~ ~ ~

Night and rain had come to Ponyville, and every-pony working on the excavations had left at the end of the day, greatly troubled. Not only had this next day's work revealed nothing of substantial interest, but the strange slow rising of the moon, and the unscheduled rain across the country had dampened every-pony's spirits greatly.

"Don't worry," said Twilight as she and several others gathered in Sugar Cube Corner to ride out the weather, “I'm sure this is just a hiccup with the weather center.”

Shrieking from a small flash of lightening, Fluttershy moved to a corner of the room, and covered her face with her hooves. “That's some hiccup,” she said, as she trembled.

Twilight did her best to remain composed; she didn't want to appear as disappointed as she felt. Though the more she was honest with herself, the more it would manifest on her expression, and her friends were pretty keen on picking up her moods.

You have to get a hold of yourself, Twilight Sparkle, she admonished herself. This is no time to be sinking down in the gloomy glums.

"Hey Twi," said Spike walking up to her, "has any-pony seen Pinkie Pie? I asked the Cakes if they had seen her, and they said that they hadn't seen her since she went truffle gathering."

"Come to think of it Spike, no, I haven't seen her." she said a little alarmed. "Where does she normally go truffle gathering?"

"Near Everfree Forest," said Mr. Cake walking in on their conversation. "I tried to stop her, and I kept telling her that truffles were not important at a time like this, what with all that horrible stuff that's been happening around the forest; but you know that filly."

"Oh no!" Twilight said, reaching for the medallion around her neck. This wasn't just bad, it was very bad. Not only was the world undergoing some terrible change, with terrible monster dark legion armies skulking about in Everfree Forest, Pinkie had to go and look for truffles.

"Eli, can you hear me?" she said into the blue stone. "Eli where are you?"

She shook the medallion with her hooves in frustration. "Where could he be?"

Little did Twilight know that Eli would not be hearing her pleas. Not from where he was in the forest at the present. His bag, along with everything in it, as well as the sound-stone were abandoned at the spot they were making camp. Discarded as soon as Pinkie screamed, and forgotten as soon as Rainbow Dash and Eli gave chase.

At the present moment, Twilight's voice was barely audible over the sound of rain, and thunder, as the stone sat in a goo of mud, slowly being covered over.

"Eli please?" said Twilight, fighting panic as Rarity walked up to her.

"Is everything alright, darling?"

"No. Pinkie Pie went truffle gathering in Everfree Forest the day before, and she isn't back yet, and I can't get reach Eli on this stupid thing." Her voice wavering as she spoke.

"Well, try Rainbow Dash or Applejack," said Rarity calmly. "And please, try and remain calm. Like me," she said twirling a half turn to saunter off, when a flash of lightning and thunder made her jump and shriek.

~ ~ ~

Rainbow Dash was drenched. Her rainbow colored mane was hanging in dark strings, and her tail was filled with trash, as it had managed to snag almost every loose twig and burr as it drug against seemingly everything in the forest.

She was leaning against a huge wet and gnarly oak, with her back to the source of the glowing light, peeking around it to get a better view of what she was up against. She reached up to the sound-stone dangling from her neck, and considered calling for Eli, but figured he'd be too busy getting Applejack. Unless something had happened to him in the process.

She shook the thoughts out of her mind. Eli was pretty resilient for a non-pony, and he was cleaver and courageous; those were qualities that Rainbow Dash admired and liked about him. Nothing was going to happen to him, or Applejack. She was sure of that.

Taking a breath and inching further around the oak, Rainbow Dash noticed that the source of the glowing light was coming from a stone ruin, that resembled a toppled watch tower, no doubt the remains of the previous war against the Dark Legion. Inside she could make out the dancing reflection of firelight, which meant that somewhere in there, amidst the danger was Pinkie Pie.

She glanced up at the sky, and a thousand tiny drops of rain landed in her face. If only I could fly, this would be easy, she thought, but pegasus wings were relatively useless once they got drenched, and hers were soaked to the bone. She might do good to get a few feet off the ground before the water weight wrecked her flight path, maybe in a pinch, but not as a tactic.

Taking a few more deep and deliberate breaths to pump up her adrenaline, Rainbow Dash built up her nerve. Come on Dash, move your hooves!

Moving away from the oak and crouching down low to the ground, she began inching her way to the far left of the ruin, fully exposing herself, when the sound-stone began speaking in Twilight's voice.

"Rainbow Dash! Please be there!" the voice said.

Panicking, Dash threw both hooves over it in an attempt to muffle the volume of Twilight's voice. She knew that even over the roar of the thunderstorm, and the noise from the rain, whatever was inside the ruins no doubt heard it.

~ ~ ~

Eli was trudging through the forest, with the trail growing colder by the minute. No visible moonlight or stars to illuminate his path, except for the occasional flash of lightning, and nothing to suggest that he was even going in the right direction.

Once the rain had started, Eli was forced to slow his pace. Not that the trees and the dense forest environment didn't already make his moving a chore. Now they made his movement through the undergrowth a near impossibility.

Wet, cold, and tired; Eli moved slower and more methodical, reverting back to his life in the army, as he focused and drove himself deeper and deeper along a straight a path as he could manage.

Instinct and past experience told him that he was not alone. Someone or something was out to hinder his rescue of Applejack, and the first order of survival in this instance was to arm himself. Touching the gun behind him, he hesitated. He could use it, but as a last resort. What he needed was something that wouldn't be exhausted as quickly, or with as much noise.

Eli knew that the branch that sent him into the mud earlier was a deliberate trap; meant to slow him down so that whoever it was ahead of him could buy themselves more time. They were obviously baiting him, and as long as he could survive the snares, he was certain that as long as the traps were consistent, he was sure to be going in the right direction. Junky logic, but it worked for the time being.

Several times as he made his way along, he stumbled on small rocks in the forest floor, and when his shoe struck the next, he dropped to the ground and began to examine the muddy soil, using the lightning as momentary clarity in the darkness.

With both knees in the mud, he began to dig with his fingers until he found a stone the size of his fist, and unearthed it. Where he had stopped was a small group of stones, surrounded by a few larger ones. Glanced around making sure his movements were concealed, and that no one had approached him during his efforts, he ran upon a larger stone in the ground and slammed the smaller stone onto it as hard as he could, splintering and splitting the smaller stone into shards.

Holding the stone shard in his teeth, Eli climbed a nearby tree, and felt along the tender branches until he found one to suit his purpose. Pulling on it straight down, he used his weight to break it free, and then twisted it off from the green bark and skin holding it.

Taking a few hurried glances around, making sure that he was still alone, he set in to chipping away the tiny off-shoot baby branches, as the rain turned from hard to harder. Using the stone shard, he whittled away the end of the shaft forming a sharpened point. He figured if he must fight, then he would ensure that he would damn-well win, even-though he wasn't sure why anyone—pony or other—would want to interfere with his closing the gate, unless it was the Dark Legion, and if that was the case, he was going to set them straight, literally as well as figuratively.

As Eli scraped furiously on the makeshift spear, he glanced quickly ahead of him to make sure he hadn't had any unexpected visitors. He knew this forest was dangerous, and so far, he had only encountered a few such evil dwelling here. It was very possible that nighttime provided the perfect opportunity for them to work their wickedness.

Several low noises in the darkness and rain caused Eli to look around, as he completed chipping away at the end. He knew it would be a half-assed spear, but even blunted objects could cause trauma, if he were to thrust hard enough into soft flesh. Good thing too, he thought, as more low noises and growls emanated from the surrounding forest.

Spinning around in a full circle, Eli noticed twin sets of green glowing eyes appear from all directions, like fireflies that were stuck side by side in the night. Then the first one appeared through the blackness, under the temporary flash of light from a lightning strike. A creature made entirely of living wood, four feet tall, and snarling.

As soon as the one appeared, the whole forest began to move, and at once, every set of green eyes moved through the veil of darkness. Two, then four, then eight—more.

Holding the spear up defensively, Eli stepped back, only to see more of the strange wooden wolves appear from behind him. This was not good. Every moment spent here, was more time Applejack was in peril.

Another flash of light and the wolves attacked; teeth bared, and roaring. His only thought at the moment, was that it was going to be a long night.

The first wolf made for his mid-section, and Eli swung the spear like a baseball bat, striking it on the snout; the impact sending small bits of wood and branches off into the night, in a spray. The second wolf landed on him full force, and he had the sensation of being struck with a cord of firewood, before he hit the ground on his back.

Dammit! He had to think. As long as he was down in such a defensive posture, he was doomed. Using the rock shard, Eli jabbed into the underbelly of the creature, and heard a shriek of discomfort, as his hand sunk into the hollow space past the layer of woven branches, and twigs.

Using the spear to push himself up, Eli brought himself to his feet, and noticed that the rest of the wolves were circling slowly around him. He had to get out of the circle, or he was going to be one-two'd to death by the barrage.

A few flashes of lightning later, Eli saw his chance, when the wolves left a small gap between them, and the forest, and Eli didn't hesitate to use it to his advantage. Placing the spear on the ground, he made a jump, similar to that of a pole vaulter, and sprinted past the circle of timber wolves. Timberwolves, now that's irony.

Landing on the ground, Eli barely missed the large stone he used to smash the smaller one into his shard, and he instantly looked to his left. If he was going to be chased, then they could damn-well chase him in the direction he needed to go; and if all went well, then he could make some good use of what he suspected was coming up.

Launching himself at a dead run, he hoped to put as much distance between himself and the wolves as possible, but the concept was harder to accomplish, than it was to concoct. The undergrowth and the condition of the rainy forest made his mad dash as difficult as when he didn't have a trillion wood wolves after him.

The wolves were obviously not impressed with Eli's decision to run away, and their howls and snarls grew in intensity as they charged behind him, better capable of navigating the forest at night and in the rain, than he ever thought possible.

The closest wolf lunged at him from behind, and he felt a swipe at his foot, nearly causing him to trip forward, but Eli quickly regained his balance, until the ground dropped out from underneath him, and he felt the sensation of falling down a slope in the forest.

Falling head over heels down the sharp ravine, Eli reflexively held the spear out, and came to a sudden stop, as wolves rained down past him, unable to stop themselves as suddenly. Several landed on him on their way down, and a few of their claws found his body on their sudden downward descent.

The force of his sudden stop nearly jerked his shoulder out of socket, as he looked up behind him, seeing the spear lodged sidelong between two small saplings, as the brief lightening shed some light on his condition. The next flash revealed that the direction he dangled was toward another ravine, deep enough that the lightning didn't show the bottom.

The wolves that fell were gone, and lost to the void, but a few were either smart enough, or wary enough to have stopped at the top of the slope, and he could hear their howls and snarls above him. Not that it really mattered. His position didn't allow him much movement to turn his head and see.

With only the flashes of lighting to see by, and dangling, Eli slid the stone shard into his back-pocket between his jeans and his soaked wallet to ensure that it didn't fall out once he set out again. Now with a free hand, he reached up and grasped the spear, and rolled over to get himself right side up. The wolves were ahead of him now, slowly making their way down the precarious slope.

Below him, Eli pressed his feet into the soft wet mud, and pulled himself up, just as another wolf slid past him with a howl, off to the void with the others. Keep coming, you bastards.

Getting enough sure footing to pull himself up, Eli locked his leg over the small sapling with his left leg at the knee, and shifted his weight on the other with his right arm. Then took the spear from its crossways position, and held it out in front of him toward the sound of the wolves.

Even with the lightning flashes to act as temporary light, Eli couldn't make out how many of the wooden wolves were waiting for him at the top. Then another howl and the dark shape of another wolf slid past him, and he had to smile at the thought of it going off into the ravine. Until he heard the sounds of snarls behind and below him.

Twisting backward slightly, Eli heard growls from under him, as some of the wolves were crawling back up the ravine's slope toward him. Turning and looking back up, he heard more growling, and realized that he was once again surrounded.

“Come on! You persistent mother fuckers!” he shouted.

Using as much strength as he could manage he pulled against the trees, and brought himself up into a better crawling position, and held the spear out, to hook it into another small tree trunk to latch onto, and slowly make his ascent.

His choices were bad regardless. Let the ones under him reach and maul him from below, or move upward and face the ones on top of him. Which to Eli didn't sound like good options all around. But better the devil he could see, than the ones he couldn't.

Another flash of lightning, and he could make out two solid shapes ahead of him, at the top of the incline. Bringing the spear up, he waited for the next flash, and shoved it as hard as he could at the closest wolf, striking it in the foot, breaking the wood, and causing it to howl and careen forward, and down to the dark hole. The wolves below him howled in turn, and he could only hope that the son of a bitch took one of them with him.

Another flash of lightning and Eli saw the wolves at the top, and realized there were only three of them left, while most of the rest were either, one: down in the ravine; two: making their way back up the ravine, or three: moved on in frustration. He could only hope it was all of the above, and not some random fourth thing, where they were all waiting behind the three at the top for a surprise party, with Eli as the guest of honor.

More movement from the top, and Eli watched as one of the three made for him, and began creeping. It wouldn't have been a problem, but at its current spot, it would meet him face on, and if it lost its balance and fell, it would probably take him with it to the bottom of the ravine.

Sure enough, as soon as the wolf was five feet from him, it lost its grip on the muddy incline, and started gaining momentum toward Eli's face. With a few seconds of reaction time, Eli kicked his leg loose from the sapling and threw all of his body weight to the lone tree on his right, just as the snarling wood-ball careened past him, snapping and growling.

That just leaves two of you, Eli thought, as he dangled more precariously on the single sapling. Next to the sapling, less than a foot away, Eli could make out a small group of trees in a cluster on the side of the ravine. A flash of lightning confirmed it, and he scrambled for them as quickly as he could.

The cluster of trees joined others, forming a natural line toward the top, where he was sure the wolves were going to be ready.

The bark on the trees had turned into near slime, and several times Eli's foot slipped as he pulled and crawled, and with only a few feet left, he made a small jump to the top of the slope, and landed right at the feet of the last two wolves. Jabbing the spear into the soil, Eli leaned back enough to pull the pistol from the back of his jeans, and fired two rounds into their foreheads, shattering their craniums like giant erupting bird's nests.

Granted, he didn't want to resort to using the gun, but the cost of two bullets was worth the price, so long as it cleared his path, and gave him a better head start.

Once more at the top of the ravine, Eli quickly regained his direction, and began sprinting as best as he could, while the wolves from the ravine began making their crest over the rise, and started their pursuit once more.

After what seemed like another ten minutes of running, crawling, and wading through the intense environment, with no less than a half dozen snarling, weary and pissed wolves hot on his heels, Eli saw an object on the ground in his way. With only a second's reaction time, he swung down and scooped it up, not breaking his stride. It was soft and formed, like hardened fabric—dark and soaked.

Holding Applejack's wide brimmed beige hat, Eli was unsure if it was dropped on purpose, or if it was simply dropped as Applejack was drug into the unknown. One thing he knew for certain, was that he was definitely going in the right direction; though at his present speed, he felt sure that the wolves were going to be devouring him before he ever reached his destination, or Applejack for that matter.

Even though the wolves were wooden, it was becoming apparent that whatever magic resided in their wooden bodies was being depleted, or he would have already felt their teeth on his ankles.

The flashing of lightning revealed a small log laying across the direction he was going, and Eli high-jumped it, only to snag a few vines, nearly causing himself to stumble; except it quickly became clear that they weren't vines: they were ropes.

The sudden loud sound of breaking branches in the treetops ahead of him, caused Eli to look up just in time to see a giant horizontal tree crashing through the trees straight for him like a classic movie style Indiana Jones swinging log trap, complete with wooden spikes.

In that same instant, Eli heard the wolves behind him as they cleared the felled tree, and using his momentum, he fell back and slid on the wet mud as the log's spikes missed him by inches, and collided with the wooden wolves behind him, shattering them into a few thousand bits.

Eli laid on the ground, as the log trap swung back and forth, slowly coming to a stop directly over him. Forty minutes of solid running for his life had left him exhausted and wasted.

Reaching up and touching one of the wooden spikes on the tree, Eli let out a roar of frustration, and broke it off in defiance. “I'm still here, you bastard,” he spoke to the unseen.

~ ~ ~

Rainbow Dash was holding her hooves over the sound-stone, clearly shaken at the thought of discovery, and frozen in place. She waited to see if perhaps her presence had been noticed, and after a minute, she moved more to the far side of the stonework. "Twilight," she whispered into the stone. "You have to shut up; it's too dangerous to be talking right now."

Inching as best she could to the closest wall of the ruin, Dash placed her side against the wet slimy stones and prayed that Twilight would get the message, and not bother her. With a few more quick breaths, she attempted psyching herself up.

Taking a quick peek over her shoulder in the direction of the ruin that was behind her, she picked up her hoof to take another step, and heard the sound of gargled breathing beside her. Turning her gaze just enough to look, she saw a metal axe whizzing at her head. She took a hasty step back as it collided with the stone wall, sending sparks into the night.

"Oh, shit!" Rainbow Dash yelped as the dark looming axe-wielder raised his arm to swing again. Dash jumped forward, and rolled to avoid the blow; spraying rain water and mud in all directions as her wings splayed to balance her odd physical rotations.

Once on her feet, Rainbow Dash turned to face her attacker, noticing that it was a dark skinned creature of some sort. His body was covered in a layer of ragged leather armor, and he was roughly the same size as a human, though it was clear that it was pissed off and gnarly. No doubt it was one of the Dark Legion.

"You want some of this?" said Rainbow Dash as she brought her hooves up, in a classic boxing posture. "You're about to get a flank-stomping from Ponyville's three-time martial arts champion!"

The ogre-like creature howled and swung again at Rainbow Dash, as she ducked and rolled once again, this time at the completion of her roll, she pivoted around onto her back hooves. Using her forward motion, she swung her hind hoof up to the creature's forearm, sending the axe off into the forest, as the beast-man roared in fury and frustration.

"Yeah! You want some more of that?" Rainbow Dash taunted, as the monster bellowed with rage. “Yeah, fuck you too!”

As if accepting the challenge, the monster lunged at her—but being naturally more agile on her feet than the creature, Rainbow Dash dodged the lunge and kicked it in the face, sending him sprawling backward.

"Come on!" yelled Rainbow, as she scrambled backed up to the wall and felt dislodged stones hit her on her back. If she didn't turn the direction of the fight more into her favor, she was going to have her flank stomped into a mud-hole; literally.

Looking around for her advantage to the fight, Rainbow saw a hole in the side of the wall just past where she was backed against it; there was light coming through, and she scrambled for it, careful not to dislodge anymore of the ruin, she clambered into the hole.

The creature wasted no time getting on its feet, and charged again at Rainbow Dash just as she brought her back hooves into the hole in the stone wall. Following her, the creature lunged hard wedging the upper half of his torso in the process, causing a shower of small stones to pour down around him.

It took Rainbow Dash less than a heartbeat to find her advantage, as she suddenly charged with a leap, and bucked at the decaying wall above the bellowing beast, causing the top portion of the stone wall to topple over and bury him completely.

Trembling with fright and adrenaline, Rainbow Dash could feel her heart pounding inside her chest so hard, it reminded her of her first Sonic Rainboom, and for a moment she felt as if her legs would buckle under her.

Not wanting to be around in case that Dark Legion guy, or beast-man, or whatever it was, decided to come back to life and climb from the rubble; Rainbow Dash gave the pile of stones and boulders a quick inspection, and after deciding the beast was dead, moved quickly to find Pinkie Pie in the rest of the ruins.

The room she backed into was connected to the area with the light, and following the source of the glow, she discovered a fire in the center of the tower's stairwell, with a huge makeshift cauldron sitting on it, and hanging upside-down over the cauldron was Pinkie Pie: unconscious and unmoving.

"Pinkie?" said Rainbow Dash, approaching cautiously, as every fear and terror coursed through her. “Pinkie Pie, can you hear me?”

Moving as close to the fire as she could, Rainbow Dash felt her heart lodge in her throat. "Pinkie Pie!" she finally yelled.

"Do you think we can find a new game to play now?" asked Pinkie Pie with her eyes still closed. "I don't think I want to be a stew anymore."

Letting out a sigh of relief and welling up with tears, Rainbow Dash rushed to her and pulled her down. "Sure. I doubt a Pinkie stew would be any fun at all."

"Where's Applejack and Eli?" asked Pinkie, after Rainbow Dash had gotten the ropes off her, checking to make sure the coast was clear.

"I don't know," she said, "the last thing I saw was Applejack being taken away into the forest, and Eli running after her." She sighed again. "We can't stay here, in case more of those monsters come back. We need to try and find them."

Turning back toward Pinkie, Rainbow Dash saw her reaching into the cauldron, and dipping her hoof in. “This is pretty good; though it could use some garlic,” she said tasting it.

“You were about to be cooked in that, you know.” Rainbow Dash had her hooves on her flanks, as she watched. “Isn't it a bit odd for the food to question the ingredients?”

“Well, excuse me,” said Pinkie in annoyance. “If they're going to make me into a stew, the least they can do, is get the seasoning right!”

~ ~ ~

The inside of the cave was illuminated by a single burning torch, as Eli stepped inside from the rain.

Shivering from the cold, and covered in blood and mud, he held the spear at the ready over his shoulder in one hand, while in the other he clutched Applejack's hat.

It was bad tactics to walk straight into such an open maw, but Eli knew that this place was to be the point of confrontation with whoever kidnapped Applejack. He was certain that what lay ahead inside the cave was both the answer to the mystery of the nabber, and the whereabouts of Applejack.

Not wanting to damage the hat further, Eli sat it on his head to free up his hand to take the torch. He half expected it to trigger a trap, too keenly aware of all the action films he'd seen, with complicated traps and dungeon pitfalls.

He hesitated for a moment before he proceeded, then taking deliberate steps, he steeled his resolve and went deeper into the side of the mountain as the sounds of the storm outside grew fainter with each step.